[0:00] uh pursuant to governor baker it's march
[0:02] 12th
[0:03] order suspending certain provisions of
[0:05] the open meeting law and the governor's
[0:07] march 15th order
[0:08] imposing strict limitations on the
[0:10] number of people that may gather in one
[0:12] place
[0:12] due to the outbreak of coven 19 this
[0:15] meeting of the town of berlin select
[0:17] board will be conducted via
[0:19] remote participation every effort will
[0:22] be made to ensure that the public can
[0:24] adequately access the proceedings as
[0:26] soon as possible
[0:27] the town of berlin will use best efforts
[0:29] to post an audio or video recording
[0:31] transcript or other comprehensive record
[0:34] of proceedings as soon as possible after
[0:36] the meeting on
[0:38] town of the town's web page the town's
[0:40] youtube
[0:41] channel and approved minutes will be
[0:43] posted to mytowngovernment.org
[0:47] for this meeting members of the public
[0:48] who wish to attend the virtual meeting
[0:50] may attend via the zoom webinar platform
[0:53] with either both audio and video or by
[0:56] telephone audio only
[1:00] and we will call the meeting to order at
[1:04] 703. excuse me
[1:07] chris um sutarian's in the audience and
[1:09] she has her hand up okay
[1:13] would you wanna or maybe
[1:18] sue she's just dude you did
[1:26] okay last week i had the character
[1:30] mirror
[1:30] now mayor always see mary's fingers
[1:34] all right sue your mics on so you can talk if you
[1:40] need to
[1:44] okay i'm gonna um
[1:49] okay i'm just going to lower her hand
[1:51] sorry about that
[1:55] i'll watch for the hand again okey-doke
[2:02] um we have approval of the february 8th
[2:05] open session
[2:06] meeting minutes uh comments questions
[2:12] motions
[2:15] so look for a second
[2:18] okay
[2:19] [Music]
[2:21] then i guess we'll take a vote keith i
[2:24] stone eye clock enzyme that's unanimous
[2:29] uh margaret do we have any
[2:31] correspondence
[2:33] uh no new correspondence
[2:36] um or i should say there is a little bit
[2:38] of uh correspondence there have been
[2:40] some concerns raised about excise
[2:43] bills um and the timing of them and the
[2:45] receipt of the excise bills
[2:47] um i have asked um i have asked dennis
[2:50] to write a letter
[2:51] to the residents that have submitted complaints or concerns to
[2:58] him
[2:59] so i'm in the process of reviewing that
[3:00] letter and i will ask him
[3:02] to send that and then on the
[3:05] poll locations from last week
[3:08] i did outline the board's conditions and
[3:12] attach those
[3:13] to the poll location orders so those
[3:16] will go to
[3:17] the utilities and that's okay what authority does the select board
[3:22] have if any over
[3:24] uh late fees for
[3:27] taxes i i believe we have none correct
[3:28] that's that is correct
[3:30] yes there is and then
[3:33] uh i i'm hoping this is true
[3:36] but i thought when we combined the
[3:38] positions together uh we also got rid of
[3:41] the uh uh
[3:45] the tax collector be able to keep some
[3:47] of the overdue fees
[3:49] because in some ways it used to be that
[3:51] if they worked the collector used to be
[3:53] able to
[3:53] right right no retention of fees anymore
[3:55] it's all general fund revenue
[3:57] yep yep i just i feel bad that
[4:00] the post office has been horrible this
[4:03] year
[4:03] and and as an agency that i work for
[4:05] that does you know we regularly mail out
[4:07] checks
[4:07] uh we're repeats for a lot of clients we
[4:10] mail out their checks every friday we
[4:11] have for decades
[4:13] and some of them are that they used to
[4:14] almost always arrive on saturday and
[4:16] some on monday and sometimes some of
[4:17] them take
[4:18] three weeks and they're going from you
[4:20] know one side of lexington to another or
[4:23] actually one side of lynn to another
[4:25] um and so uh hopefully something can be
[4:29] done
[4:30] in a year where mail has just been
[4:31] horrible
[4:33] we could do everything right and someone
[4:34] still could not get it their bill in
[4:36] time
[4:37] yeah yeah that was that was i had the
[4:40] same question of dennis i didn't
[4:42] know if with with covid and everything
[4:44] going on if maybe the state had issued
[4:46] some sort of
[4:47] um of waiver uh you know one-time waiver
[4:50] but but no they have not so so even dennis is
[4:54] limited in what he can do
[4:55] oh yes oh yeah he's he's absolutely
[4:58] restricted by
[4:59] um he's restricted by the dor
[5:02] regulations
[5:03] right all these rules to make sure we
[5:05] don't play favoritism means when
[5:06] something extraordinary like this
[5:07] happens
[5:09] kind of sucks okay am i allowed to say
[5:12] that in our recording
[5:14] you did sure we'll get britney to scrub it there you
[5:19] go
[5:22] all right then uh we'll ask the public do they have any
[5:29] public comment
[5:35] no questions um
[5:39] and we're waiting for uh
[5:42] chief clark the chief clark he must have
[5:45] training tonight
[5:47] i noticed um in his department update
[5:49] that there was only the report from the
[5:51] fire marshal that wasn't one from chief
[5:53] yeah i don't um i don't know
[5:56] the story on that though let me uh
[6:00] text him see if he's coming
[6:06] because it's a tuesday i guess the big
[6:09] question for me and i don't know if it's
[6:10] something that june can answer is where
[6:12] are we in terms of all the collectibles
[6:14] and receivables and
[6:15] outstanding and what's the next big
[6:18] chunk
[6:18] that we're gonna be asked to you know
[6:21] pass over
[6:23] well um we did get an email uh this week from uh
[6:30] coastal um asking for authorization to
[6:33] send
[6:34] some uncollect well uncollectibles as of
[6:37] now
[6:37] over to the collections agency um so i
[6:41] am trying to set up i i've asked the
[6:43] team
[6:43] oh she's gonna raise her here she's
[6:45] raising her hand she could speak to that
[6:48] um would you like me to promote her
[6:51] chris
[6:52] sure looks like she is promoted oh she's
[6:55] promoted okay thank you thank you mary
[6:58] june oh here she comes
[7:11] i sense a theme for the evening
[7:14] um
[7:18] yeah as margaret was saying we've we're
[7:20] working on it we're getting further
[7:22] ahead
[7:23] um i believe we just received our first
[7:26] from the outstanding stuff that we had
[7:29] turned over to first financial which is
[7:31] our collection agency
[7:33] um i think sharon just received the
[7:34] check yesterday
[7:36] so um we're still working on there as
[7:40] a new chunk to come over to you we have
[7:44] not yet received
[7:48] um i did just get an updated list on the
[7:50] outstanding receivables that are
[7:52] in collections um i did not get a chance
[7:55] to open it today
[7:56] um and
[7:59] as margaret said we were working with
[8:02] crystal
[8:02] on the new billing um the older stuff
[8:06] to we're gonna sit down as a team and
[8:08] figure out which stuff we're gonna send
[8:10] over to collections
[8:11] um and then there's a couple that we may
[8:13] choose to abate but we're not sure yet
[8:15] because we haven't talked about it yet
[8:16] so we stand
[8:19] but it has not been forgotten we are
[8:20] still actively working on
[8:23] it i know you are i appreciate that
[8:26] honestly i
[8:26] asked for a meeting this morning i sent
[8:28] an email and i honestly can't even
[8:31] remember what days i asked for the
[8:32] meeting for i know it was pretty soon
[8:35] i think jamie came back with thursday
[8:37] was good but okay all right so yeah we will catch up
[8:41] on that
[8:43] thank you julian thanks joan
[8:48] all right well
[8:51] do you want to give your ta report while
[8:55] we wait
[8:55] for chief clark if he's coming sure um
[8:59] okay we'll start with the good news so
[9:02] berlin's percent positivity a dramatic
[9:05] decrease
[9:06] uh from 7.9 percent to 4.46 percent
[9:10] in the past two weeks so berlin is now
[9:12] green in the green category
[9:14] uh with lower um incidences uh but
[9:18] uh clinton hudson and marlborough are
[9:20] still in the reds so
[9:21] you know three of our our bordering
[9:23] towns are still in the red boylston's
[9:25] and yellow
[9:26] and uh bolton is in green along with us
[9:29] so we just have to keep
[9:30] uh remain vigilant so you know
[9:33] as with all my reports it seems things
[9:35] change change things change on a daily
[9:37] basis so
[9:38] um as of friday um the state has changed
[9:42] its calls
[9:43] expanded its call center hours uh from
[9:47] whatever they were before now to monday
[9:49] to thursday from 8 30 a.m to 8 p.m
[9:52] and friday saturday and sunday from 8 30
[9:54] to 5.
[9:56] um so residents 75 or older can call the
[9:58] toll-free number at 211
[10:01] or 877 2116
[10:05] to schedule a vaccination appointment
[10:09] individuals who accompany
[10:14] seniors 75 or older can also schedule
[10:17] their appointments for a vaccine for the
[10:19] same day and time
[10:21] at certain vaccination clinics so
[10:25] this is primarily at mass vaccination
[10:27] sites
[10:28] or other clinics that specifically allow
[10:33] individuals accompanying seniors to get
[10:36] to make their appointments and schedule
[10:37] their vaccines
[10:38] it's not happening at every clinic
[10:40] because there isn't vaccine availability
[10:43] to do that um the
[10:47] i don't know if any of you have
[10:48] attempted to call the toll-free number
[10:50] 2-1-1 i decided to just try it this
[10:53] weekend just for the heck of it
[10:55] talk about having to push buttons to
[11:00] connect
[11:01] to certain things and
[11:04] i i didn't have the patience for it so i
[11:07] can understand the frustration
[11:08] uh with people trying to call so people
[11:10] are still encouraged
[11:12] to call our council on aging uh at
[11:17] 978-838-2750 for assistance with
[11:19] appointments
[11:20] uh because it is just no fun is no fun
[11:22] using that
[11:23] um that call number and it's not fun
[11:24] using the uh
[11:26] the online appointment form either
[11:29] now there's also a new independent
[11:32] uh website that has come out it was
[11:35] developed by
[11:37] um a web developer who happens to be out
[11:40] on maternity leave
[11:42] and saw the struggles that massachusetts
[11:44] was having putting together
[11:45] all their covid uh vaccination
[11:48] information
[11:49] so she decided to take it on herself and
[11:51] develop a website that's much more
[11:53] streamlined
[11:55] than the state's vaccination web pages
[11:58] and i'm not promoting this in any way
[11:59] but i think it's worth checking out
[12:01] it's macovidvaccines.com
[12:05] it's a very streamlined web page that
[12:07] lists all the current vaccination sites
[12:10] eligibility requirements appointment
[12:12] requirements and things
[12:14] um and it's really it's much much easier
[12:16] to navigate than than some of the
[12:18] state's
[12:18] web pages despite the state's best
[12:21] efforts
[12:23] um i'm gonna jump all the way to
[12:26] uh don't jump yet margaret um so don't
[12:29] jump yet i just want to
[12:30] uh you know as i troll berlin neighbors
[12:33] connect there have just been
[12:34] tons of kudos to victoria that i wanted
[12:38] to get out there
[12:39] and thank her publicly for helping
[12:42] people get vaccinated whether
[12:43] they're at devon's or whether you know
[12:46] she puts them in the bus and they go
[12:49] somewhere but
[12:51] you know honestly she has just received
[12:53] accolade after accolade
[12:55] uh i know i've forked out her uh her
[12:57] phone number
[12:58] and her email address and people are
[13:00] just thrilled
[13:01] so uh you know please pass along from
[13:04] the
[13:04] i'm going to speak for the town please
[13:06] pass along from the seniors in the town
[13:07] that she's just doing a bang-up job
[13:09] absolutely absolutely i know she'll be
[13:12] happy to hear that it's just been so
[13:14] much work um now um as of the end of
[13:17] last week um
[13:18] we um you know we kind of
[13:22] decided that we're going to start trying
[13:23] to work on transportation protocols and
[13:25] figure out
[13:26] how we're going to get seniors who can't
[13:29] make it themselves
[13:30] uh to their vaccination appointment so
[13:32] that's our next that's our next
[13:34] um challenge is to try to work out the
[13:37] transportation logistics i think you
[13:39] have to go through the websites but i
[13:40] don't know that like with pharmacies now
[13:42] being able to do some vaccinations i
[13:44] know the cvs
[13:45] there's a cvs in hudson that now to get
[13:47] vaccinations as well
[13:48] so you can get them but the the limit is
[13:51] that 2-1-1
[13:52] only gives you appointments that ma
[13:55] massive as opposed to massachusetts mass
[13:57] vaccination sites and so you have to use
[13:59] the state website to get appointments at
[14:03] those sites
[14:04] um yeah yeah it's a maze you know trying to trying to
[14:11] navigate that is uh has been in is interesting and to
[14:15] the two people in town that have stepped
[14:17] up to uh volunteer to give shots margaret i
[14:20] know that you were in touch with one and
[14:22] chief was in touch with the other one
[14:23] so yeah yeah you know neighbors helping
[14:26] neighbors so that's that's kind of cool
[14:27] to see as well yeah and chief said that he's actually
[14:31] tracking um
[14:33] he's actually tracking the uh the names
[14:35] as people volunteer because um as i
[14:39] mentioned i
[14:40] i've attached to my ta report the letter
[14:43] that the legislators sent to the
[14:44] governor
[14:45] about advocating for a regional mass
[14:48] vaccination site in the neshoba valley or north central
[14:52] massachusetts
[14:53] and the town administrator the neshoba
[14:56] valley town administrator's draft letter
[14:58] to the governor
[14:59] um and uh what what we'd like to do
[15:03] is once we get a centralized site up and
[15:07] running we would like to have
[15:09] offshoots into sub-regional vaccination
[15:11] clinics to make it more convenient
[15:14] for people we first have to get the
[15:16] vaccinations here and get
[15:17] this get the devin site up and running
[15:21] we actually even have a storage location
[15:23] vaccine vaccine cold storage location
[15:26] that is on the ready and they're willing
[15:28] to help us establish this location so
[15:31] all signs point to um
[15:35] the devin's site being feasible and then
[15:37] maybe being able to provide
[15:39] additional clinics from them well
[15:41] worcester state opened today
[15:43] yeah they opened today did they
[15:46] actually postpone them because of the
[15:49] ice
[15:50] they were supposed to open today i don't
[15:52] know i saw people on the news that that
[15:54] were from local and said that they got
[15:56] them so they went to
[15:57] worcester state today well that's okay
[15:59] that's that's good too that's another
[16:00] and natick is going to be opening soon
[16:02] too
[16:02] so yeah and i think wegman's in north
[16:04] bro as well they have it yes yeah oh hey look who's here comes chief
[16:09] clack there he is
[16:13] good evening everybody hey chief
[16:16] sorry if you're being cardi for your
[16:18] meeting here
[16:20] um i was do you want me to finish my
[16:21] report or do you want do you want to
[16:23] meet a finisher can you remember where
[16:25] you were i can remember
[16:28] yeah where else that's the
[16:31] door ending at covid okay chief clark
[16:36] you're on
[16:39] how's everybody tonight good i have to be honest i i i don't
[16:45] have a copy of my report here with me
[16:47] tonight so it's like uh i thought i had
[16:50] it in my backpack when i come home all
[16:52] my
[16:52] might but i don't so it's like uh
[16:55] wing it yeah we'll forgive you this time
[16:59] i i think that you did get the fire
[17:01] marshall's uh
[17:02] report uh mine was more centered around
[17:06] it was kind of quiet this month there
[17:07] was no activity on
[17:08] our ems funding and write-offs
[17:12] uh we're in getting to
[17:16] establish another meaning for that to
[17:18] identify some more things that we can do
[17:19] with that
[17:20] there's just been so much going on with
[17:22] the whole ems finance team that
[17:24] it's been hard to get everybody together
[17:26] at the same time so it's like uh
[17:28] that's working uh the vaccinations are
[17:32] going really well
[17:33] the majority of our personnel go for
[17:35] their second shot tomorrow
[17:37] up in uh boxer at the hotel uh
[17:41] the uh incident runs were down
[17:45] slightly last month from the month
[17:48] before
[17:49] they're like in the uh i think it was 69
[17:51] or 70 whatever it was and we've been
[17:53] running up
[17:53] around 80 so it's slightly different
[17:56] they had some weather
[17:57] related activity last night especially
[17:58] on the highway they did a
[18:00] two or three car crash and out there
[18:03] that was like uh a little challenging
[18:05] for a little bit but they got quick
[18:06] control of it and uh
[18:08] and took care of it it was northbound
[18:10] just prior to 62.
[18:13] uh it was a uh we had a really good
[18:16] meeting today
[18:17] interesting for me being the new person
[18:19] and not knowing a lot of history on the
[18:20] riverbridge agreement
[18:22] no uh on that that was uh
[18:25] really good to listen to the people and
[18:27] the institutional knowledge that sits
[18:30] on that on those zoom meetings here that
[18:33] what those people have it's actually
[18:35] impressive so it's like uh
[18:36] i learned something i keep my mouth shut
[18:38] that's a good one to just uh
[18:40] get it through and listen you know what
[18:41] i mean so it's like in learn
[18:44] so uh but it's been pretty quiet at the
[18:47] station
[18:48] nothing to sink our teeth into uh
[18:51] like but a lot of like little things
[18:53] just run around so it's like uh
[18:55] i think the fire protection system up in
[18:57] scott's neighborhood is back up online
[19:00] they've been out for a while doing
[19:01] testing which is a very good thing
[19:03] they had some cistern issues up there
[19:05] with the fire protection system and
[19:07] in the uh the engineer that works
[19:10] lives up there uh got it got his hands
[19:13] on it and got it fixed finally they had
[19:15] a lot of
[19:16] trial and error they had to to fix it
[19:18] was kind of a really tricky fix
[19:20] but they uh pulled together some
[19:21] expertise got that fixed and it was
[19:24] tested
[19:25] i believe it was friday by the fire
[19:27] marshall work with them people
[19:28] everything past flying colors so it's
[19:30] they're ready to rock and roll with that
[19:32] again and not have that big
[19:34] temporary water system sitting above
[19:35] ground up there so that worked out well
[19:37] a little bit longer than they expected
[19:39] but that's life sometimes all the plants
[19:40] don't come together right away
[19:42] but they have an underwater assist
[19:44] ground sister in there that feeds a fire
[19:46] pump that if they have a sprinkler
[19:48] activation it feeds the sprinkler system
[19:50] and some yard hydrants there and uh
[19:53] it was out of service for a while and
[19:55] then a temporary
[19:56] fix was put in that they thought they'd
[19:58] have it done
[19:59] before it got cold in october and it
[20:01] just got down last week so it's like
[20:03] they've been
[20:03] they had they've been like they were
[20:06] tasked
[20:07] mother nature kind of like tested them
[20:09] up there with the cold and they kept
[20:10] everything
[20:11] from freezing so they did really well so
[20:13] we were happy with that and they kept us
[20:15] in the loop good
[20:15] there was good communications back and
[20:17] forth and uh i'm just trying to think of what else
[20:22] we've been dealing with
[20:23] is like uh just a normal
[20:26] run-of-the-mill stuff we did have a it
[20:28] was more on the blue team side today but
[20:30] we had a little roof leak
[20:32] uh in the public safety building that
[20:34] came down
[20:35] and got to it early sharon noticed it
[20:38] earlier when she came in we
[20:40] uh removed the damaged ceiling tile got
[20:42] the water into a big bucket
[20:44] cleaned up the floor got the uh water
[20:47] back on it
[20:48] and then put a fan on it so it would dry
[20:50] and not be moldy in in
[20:52] uh in the office there so that was kind
[20:54] of like one of those
[20:56] it's that time of the year kind of
[20:57] surprises for the public safety building
[20:59] today
[21:00] but other than that uh chiefs away
[21:02] hopefully we took really good care of
[21:04] his of his facility there so it's like
[21:06] uh
[21:09] i'm sure he'll have some questions when
[21:10] he comes back so we had a bucket chief
[21:12] that's the important thing
[21:14] gotta get a bucket we had to get a
[21:16] bigger one today so it was like a little
[21:18] bigger bucket
[21:19] so it was like uh but no dave's guys did
[21:21] a fantastic job on the roof
[21:23] to uh clear up some ice issues and uh
[21:26] and get the problem it stopped the
[21:30] problem
[21:30] didn't probably wasn't a fix but it
[21:32] stopped the problem today
[21:33] so it's like those guys are right on it
[21:35] threw a ladder up we're right up there
[21:36] on the roof
[21:37] digging away and pounding away on the
[21:39] ice so
[21:40] [Music]
[21:42] doing that and it's like uh watching and
[21:44] they were
[21:45] full speed ahead on that right from the
[21:47] arrival on scene so it's like uh
[21:51] other than that we're just kind of like
[21:53] i think we dodged a little bit of a
[21:54] bullet last night with the ice storm
[21:56] it wasn't what they expected with the
[21:58] power outages and we were really low in
[22:00] our community we had
[22:01] a few but not many at all we cut you
[22:04] know
[22:04] you got to take those when you can get
[22:06] them and it's like
[22:07] the national grid municipal room was
[22:10] open
[22:11] but we didn't have to we didn't have to
[22:12] do any communication with them which is
[22:14] really good that's a good sign
[22:15] so i think it was more they had more
[22:17] issues farther i guess it would be to
[22:19] the north
[22:21] to north or north east they had some
[22:24] more issues that they dealt with up
[22:25] there that were
[22:26] that drew a lot of resources but we were
[22:28] quiet in our little neighborhood so it's
[22:30] like uh
[22:31] nope things are plugging along
[22:32] everyone's doing really good we just had
[22:34] an additional firefighter
[22:36] graduate from uh the call firefighter
[22:39] graduate from
[22:40] and be certified as a firefighter one
[22:42] two at the academy now he can get rid of
[22:44] his orange helmet and wear a yellow one
[22:46] like everybody else and uh he's he's
[22:49] ready for a fire so it's like uh
[22:52] and another good one and she had two
[22:54] last week we had a new
[22:56] uh uh jasmine she caught two fives in a
[23:00] week vehicle fires that she was on the
[23:01] nozzle and she's
[23:02] that was her first two tests with via on
[23:04] the highway
[23:06] flying colors did really well set up
[23:08] well
[23:09] they uh she learned her lessons well at
[23:12] the academy
[23:13] so she's like uh i was talking about it
[23:15] she was still excited when i was talking
[23:16] to her a day later
[23:18] so it was like she gets it so it's like
[23:20] ask the right questions
[23:22] so i was happy very very happy for her
[23:24] and it's like uh to see the smile and
[23:26] see like the enthusiasm come out when
[23:28] you
[23:29] like mostly when you talk about fires
[23:31] it's kind of in the blood that you
[23:32] when you do them you want to do them
[23:33] really good and she has that drive
[23:36] and it's someone's property gets damaged
[23:38] but you need to control it and take care
[23:40] of it and it's like and the people enjoy
[23:41] doing that so
[23:42] it's like that's life so everything's
[23:46] going really good so uh
[23:47] that's great questions for me
[23:51] um the people who are getting their
[23:53] second vaccine
[23:54] you said thursday tomorrow wednesday
[23:57] tomorrow tomorrow wednesday
[23:58] how many of them are also working
[23:59] thursday i i've
[24:02] heard an experience that the second
[24:04] vaccine can uh wear you out more than the first
[24:08] one did
[24:09] yep that's kind of yeah good point scott
[24:12] that's like uh we're working on that and
[24:15] we'll just like
[24:16] roll the punches for first if any of
[24:18] them are scheduled to be in
[24:20] thursday or friday you know what i mean
[24:22] if it if they have some ill effects on
[24:23] that but
[24:25] that's like a normal thing that the
[24:26] coverage is
[24:28] 24 7 365 and someone just steps up to
[24:30] take care of it when you're down
[24:32] you know it's like it's that and it's
[24:34] good to see that because uh
[24:37] that uh a spree decor is
[24:40] like it's growing in little short steps
[24:43] a lot of days but other days we take big
[24:44] steps and it's like
[24:46] i really enjoy that seeing that there
[24:48] you know what i mean that culture
[24:50] is starting to come in and and when
[24:52] you're down and you put out something
[24:54] that can you help us
[24:55] someone always steps up like that so
[24:57] good that makes me happy and
[24:59] hopefully it's all positive reactions to
[25:01] it scott but yep it is what it is you don't know it's
[25:04] a roll of the dice
[25:05] it is peg
[25:09] well that kind of rolls into one of my
[25:11] questions is uh
[25:12] like overall how's the staff doing chief
[25:15] you know how are they feeling
[25:17] i know you guys going out on a lot of
[25:18] calls you see it on your
[25:20] page you're out in the middle of the
[25:21] night you're out in the middle of the
[25:22] afternoon i mean how are they doing how
[25:24] are they holding up
[25:25] uh morale wise really good uh
[25:29] but worked really hard to keep everyone
[25:32] uh
[25:34] well you know what i mean and there's a mental health component to it also not
[25:40] just like a an injury like a cut or something
[25:44] like that the mental health issue
[25:46] side of it is just as important as like
[25:48] keeping them healthy like and keeping
[25:49] them safe from injuries
[25:51] probably actually as i get older i think
[25:54] it's more important than the other side
[25:55] you know what i mean it's like uh they've been doing
[25:58] really good the support for each
[26:00] all of each other is good uh
[26:03] if we we have been really blessed that
[26:06] we haven't had to like really deal with
[26:08] any serious issues but we watch it all
[26:10] the time
[26:11] deputy and i talk about it a lot and
[26:14] it's like uh
[26:15] it's kind of like one of those things
[26:16] you just kind of keep yeah pulse
[26:19] on it keep your eyes on them when
[26:22] they're around make sure no one's
[26:23] acting uh like out of sorts for themselves and and then if something
[26:29] comes up we just deal with it
[26:30] and get them the help that they would
[26:32] need we haven't had that yet
[26:34] but i think everyone's kind of like me
[26:37] we're seeing some light at the end of
[26:38] the tunnel
[26:39] so it's like a very
[26:42] positive dim light
[26:46] yeah and so they like if they i and i
[26:49] try to
[26:50] like i did i try to teach him your glass
[26:51] is always three-quarters full it's not
[26:53] like a quarter empty you know so just
[26:55] let's get keep get through this together
[26:56] as a team
[26:58] and keep chugging every day and it's
[26:59] like uh
[27:01] and it's like in the whole the whole i
[27:03] think the whole building even the tas people upstairs have been
[27:06] like that you know i mean everyone's
[27:08] just chugging through it and
[27:09] getting the day getting one day at a
[27:10] time one minute at a time and it's like uh so it's been good to
[27:15] see that and
[27:15] if something comes up we try to work as
[27:17] a team to deal with it
[27:18] and it's like uh and that's important
[27:22] for the whole building not just the public
[27:24] safety but up to margaret's second floor too
[27:29] you have another question peg it did it
[27:31] kind of answered uh chief you kind of
[27:33] answered it because one of my other
[27:34] questions was you know
[27:35] kind of taking advantage of some of the
[27:37] downtime what are you doing for
[27:39] training and keeping an eye on each
[27:40] other but it sounds like you're already doing it without me even
[27:44] asking so you know
[27:46] hats off to you you know and your staff
[27:49] yeah it's kind of a natural thing peg
[27:51] it's like uh
[27:53] yeah you're only as good as your weakest
[27:55] link and if your people
[27:56] aren't good then your organization's not
[27:58] good and you don't perform well on the
[27:59] street
[28:00] so it's got to kind of keep them up it's
[28:02] like uh
[28:03] i think one of my highlights of my day
[28:05] is just simply
[28:06] having lunch with them you know what i
[28:08] mean and we chat and it's like uh
[28:10] the simple things you know what i mean
[28:11] and it's like uh see how everyone's
[28:13] family's doing
[28:14] and that kind of like gives you like almost like a look into their lives
[28:21] and if that's going good then
[28:23] they can be good at the station too you
[28:24] know what i mean so it's like uh
[28:26] so things look bright that way and we
[28:29] got some people back we haven't had back
[28:30] in a while
[28:32] and doing a really good thing and we got
[28:34] some
[28:35] people coming in on that in their last
[28:37] sections of their pre-employment
[28:39] physicals that it's like uh
[28:41] i can't wait to get them on the street
[28:42] they come in with some real game so it's like uh
[28:48] it's like things uh like you know i i i
[28:51] feel good you know
[28:53] and then my final question uh feel good
[28:56] question
[28:57] show me that smile chief how's eva oh
[29:00] [Laughter]
[29:02] oh she was posing
[29:10] this is here with it she has one of
[29:14] those twin spouts one on the top and one
[29:15] in the back
[29:17] dad hasn't got a haircut since last year
[29:19] and so they uh
[29:21] he did the same thing with her and sent
[29:22] me a picture the other day and that's
[29:24] her and her dad like hamming it
[29:26] i don't know if he can
[29:30] that's awesome that is awesome yeah and
[29:33] so
[29:34] uh he's they hamming it and it's like
[29:36] she's just
[29:37] yeah just like that we saw a little bit
[29:40] last night
[29:41] i was helping joe on some projects it
[29:43] he's redoing a cellar and
[29:45] right from scratch we
[29:46] [Music]
[29:48] he has had some outside help but we did
[29:51] a lot of work to help him and it's like
[29:52] uh
[29:53] and so i get to see her run around or
[29:56] i'll be in the cellar i can hear the
[29:57] feet go from one into the house to the
[29:58] other i'm back
[29:59] so it's nice it's like yep
[30:02] see as much as you keep an eye on your
[30:04] staff we keep an eye on you and we know
[30:05] that that's your trigger
[30:07] is to talk about ava so uh you know
[30:09] again kudos to you for everything that
[30:11] you do appreciate you
[30:12] i got some paperwork for scott i got to
[30:14] scan in and sent you
[30:16] we finally got that imc program yep
[30:23] oh it was tough it was like you know you
[30:26] dig a tick out of a dog easier
[30:30] so it was like but we got it for you and
[30:33] it's like sitting on the desk i just got
[30:35] a like
[30:35] i guess or drop it off or whatever it
[30:38] works i i think
[30:39] scan it is the way to do it give that a
[30:41] share tomorrow and send it it's probably about it's
[30:44] interesting you'll like you'll enjoy
[30:46] you're a numbers guy so it's like you'll see it
[30:50] good good because it it helps show some
[30:53] of the work that we've done over the
[30:54] last several years in the fire
[30:55] department
[30:56] now it's improved the town yeah i think
[30:59] the investment
[30:59] with the support of the ta the support
[31:01] of the border selectmen
[31:03] yeah i thought when we first looked at
[31:06] it was under five
[31:07] but it was under just over six minutes
[31:10] contact time
[31:11] from october of 19 when we started the
[31:15] purdue program
[31:18] at 21 hours a day until
[31:21] uh now up to the end of january when we
[31:25] we've been at the uh 24 7 365 since july
[31:29] one july
[31:31] yeah it's just it's either just under
[31:34] just over six minutes on the ems calls
[31:37] for contact time which is
[31:38] in our business beautiful units it's
[31:40] huge yep it's gays and ems time you know it
[31:44] is we're happy with that and i hope you fought and you know i
[31:48] need you to like
[31:49] look at that from your expertise and
[31:51] then send me questions so that
[31:54] uh how i can better use that you know
[31:56] what i mean
[31:57] it tells me what i i know but it doesn't
[32:00] tell me what
[32:00] you probably know you know what i mean
[32:02] so it's like you can
[32:04] recon that and see what you get don't
[32:07] tell my other half
[32:08] and if anyone says quotes about this
[32:10] i'll deny it but if you get it to me
[32:11] before
[32:12] thursday morning i'm on vacation
[32:15] thursday through saturday and i will
[32:16] spend some of my vacation time going
[32:17] over those numbers
[32:19] okay uh see if anything stands out and and uh because i think it's
[32:25] something
[32:25] it might be something that becomes
[32:26] worthy of a story sometime too that
[32:28] we've we made these changes and over
[32:29] time this is how it is improved the
[32:31] services that we're providing our
[32:32] residents yeah
[32:33] it's actually surprising when you look
[32:35] at it it's like and you know how good
[32:37] but you don't really know how
[32:38] exactly good until you do the averages
[32:40] one of the things that we deal with that
[32:42] program is is that skews things a lot is like if the
[32:46] police are out on an incident
[32:48] and then say 20 minutes into an incident
[32:50] they call us
[32:52] to participate in some reason something
[32:53] happened whatever
[32:55] it doesn't start a fight upon time our
[32:57] time starts with the police start time
[32:59] so
[33:00] those units are skewed that way we found
[33:02] out right
[33:03] doing that report so it's like uh but
[33:06] we we work our way through it so it's
[33:08] like yep
[33:09] it's not a really good program but it's
[33:11] what we got and it works okay
[33:13] does this great awesome great thank you
[33:15] very much you're welcome scott thank you
[33:18] chris any questions um i just wanted to
[33:21] ask if you could scan the um
[33:24] scan your report um to us tomorrow
[33:27] oh definitely it's all done i can't
[33:29] believe
[33:30] that that yeah uh that i sent the fire
[33:32] monster one but i don't know why i
[33:34] didn't send mine
[33:35] like one of those things words maybe a
[33:38] few other things on your plate chief
[33:41] okay that's the first one i have done i
[33:44] have mine done before i get the fire
[33:45] marshals
[33:46] always so it's like yep it's like i'll
[33:49] give you a german shepherd look for that
[33:50] one so
[33:53] all right well thank you so much thanks
[33:56] chief nice to see you
[33:57] yep nice to see everybody good night
[33:59] chief see you soon
[34:01] thank you be safe
[34:07] right margaret do you know where you
[34:08] left off
[34:12] i'll just yeah i'll um i'm moving beyond
[34:15] covid
[34:16] now um to community one stop
[34:20] this is that central grants portal uh
[34:23] that the state is launching
[34:25] um we talked about it last meeting with
[34:27] expressions of interest
[34:28] so i had a meeting with other
[34:33] worcester regional managers and cmrpc
[34:36] on friday cmrpc is available
[34:39] and willing to assist us and and
[34:42] starting with
[34:44] uh meeting with a stakeholders group
[34:46] from berlin to talk about
[34:48] how they can help us assemble the
[34:51] summaries that we're going to need to
[34:53] present
[34:53] it's not just one thing what we want to
[34:55] do is we want to compile
[34:57] summaries for all of the ideas for grant
[35:00] funding
[35:01] and this community one stop
[35:04] will actually kind of analyze all those
[35:06] summaries
[35:07] get them to the appropriate departments
[35:09] that are that are hosting the grant
[35:12] programs
[35:13] and get us in the mix so we don't want
[35:15] to lose this opportunity
[35:17] so what i propose is that we have um
[35:20] that we schedule a stakeholders meeting
[35:23] before gosh next week maybe
[35:27] we'll get some key stakeholders from
[35:28] some of our boards and committees
[35:30] that might want to avail themselves of
[35:32] grants
[35:33] and we can have a talk with cmrpc and
[35:36] start working on our expression of
[35:38] interest and get it in
[35:39] asap what do you think of that
[35:46] okay let's do it okay let's do that
[35:49] that's going to be our best chance at um
[35:51] at getting this thing assembled and
[35:54] quickly and
[35:55] into the state quickly okay now
[35:58] i said that i would uh verbally report
[36:00] on a few updates from department head
[36:03] from our department heads meeting last
[36:04] week i'll just pick a few
[36:06] um it's not comprehensive just some of
[36:08] the highlights uh
[36:10] chief was just here he reported um that
[36:12] he's pleased with a cooperative effort
[36:15] between multiple towns to set up a
[36:17] regional site for vaccines
[36:20] uh june reported um and and stated that
[36:23] she is going to close the books on time
[36:25] this year
[36:26] she has been very uh gracious and
[36:29] patient at the end of every fiscal year
[36:31] with departments boards and committees
[36:33] who are late
[36:34] um in their in their final um i don't
[36:37] want to say reports but they're
[36:38] yeah it is their final reports uh to
[36:41] june on carryovers
[36:43] on the the balances um between
[36:46] their expense reports and the
[36:48] accountants
[36:49] uh but she is going to close the books
[36:51] on time this year
[36:53] and if departments boards and committees
[36:55] can't comply myself included if any of
[36:58] us cannot comply
[36:59] um they we run the risk of having to
[37:02] bring articles
[37:03] um uh to special town meeting for
[37:06] funding articles from a prior year to be
[37:08] funded at town meetings so
[37:09] it's it's essential that she closed the
[37:11] books on time and and she really needs
[37:13] to do this so
[37:14] we need to support we need to support
[37:16] her on that
[37:18] um dennis reported that the actuarial
[37:20] study that was discussed with the board
[37:22] a few weeks ago
[37:24] is in process and nearing completion so
[37:27] as soon as we get that well we'll
[37:28] certainly share that with the board
[37:30] bob hodge reported that the library has
[37:33] received its fy 21 certification
[37:36] and the town has already received its
[37:37] first half payment on library state aid
[37:43] molly reported that the board of
[37:47] assessors finished up
[37:48] la i want to say last week on all
[37:50] abatement applications they were denied
[37:53] all of them were denied
[37:54] um uh applicants now have 30 days or
[37:57] from the date of the
[37:59] assessor's meeting to file with the um
[38:02] appellate tax board do we have a sense
[38:04] of like what percentage of those are
[38:06] commercial versus residential
[38:07] i did not get that scott but i can
[38:09] follow up with her and ask her
[38:11] what that i think historically almost
[38:12] all of them are commercial but yeah i
[38:14] think this there it's going to be heavy
[38:16] on commercial i think so but i can
[38:18] follow up with molly on
[38:19] those details richard building
[38:22] commissioner richard hanks reported that
[38:24] he is looking at different
[38:26] permit software that would provide
[38:30] as much benefit to the town if not more
[38:32] uh for less money so we are looking at
[38:35] demos now
[38:36] of this permitting software that would
[38:38] replace the current permitting software
[38:41] um and those are just a few of the
[38:43] highlights from our department heads
[38:45] meeting
[38:46] um special legislation updates uh so
[38:49] i've i've talked with um representative
[38:51] kilcoin twice in the past
[38:53] week um she has contacted the governor's
[38:56] office on the fire chief
[38:57] uh on on refiling the fire chief
[39:01] legislation uh the governor's office was
[39:05] hinting
[39:05] that the town might have to resubmit a
[39:07] letter so things are not moving well
[39:09] uh at the state level as far as
[39:13] special legislation goes i told her that
[39:15] we'd be willing to resubmit the letter
[39:17] the board initially submitted
[39:19] with that request so that the governor
[39:21] could promptly file that with the
[39:23] file the petition with the legislature
[39:25] that would be a filing under home rule
[39:27] she also reported that while the
[39:30] governor
[39:31] himself felt that the initial or the
[39:34] petition
[39:35] for the school committee's special
[39:38] election was not a home rule matter
[39:40] because it involved multiple towns
[39:42] her office has asked the governor's
[39:44] office to check on that again
[39:46] because they feel that it is um that it
[39:48] is home rule
[39:49] um and she is actively working on it i
[39:51] just talked with her today
[39:53] and she understands the time sensitivity
[39:55] of both of those
[39:57] pieces of special legislation so they
[39:59] are trying to really stay on it and get
[40:01] it moving
[40:03] and the last thing i'll report on
[40:04] tonight oh well actually uh
[40:06] chief mentioned the river bridge group
[40:08] so the river bridge uh
[40:10] working group that we had assembled with
[40:12] town officials
[40:14] did me was it this morning it was this
[40:16] morning
[40:17] and um we kind of designated
[40:20] a subgroup of of our larger group
[40:23] comprised of chris mary porter
[40:27] both public safety chiefs and me to have
[40:30] um to schedule a meeting and meet with
[40:32] the proponents
[40:33] of those of those river bridge citizen
[40:37] petitioned articles
[40:38] and we actually have a meeting scheduled
[40:40] with them tomorrow at three
[40:41] o'clock at three o'clock is that right
[40:44] chris
[40:45] three o'clock yes okay three o'clock i
[40:48] have another meeting at two
[40:49] all right so um and then finally um
[40:54] the assabet regional housing consortium
[40:56] met last week and unanimously approved
[40:58] berlin's petition to join the consortium
[41:01] part effective july 1st so the planning
[41:04] board is working on submitting a budget
[41:05] request
[41:06] for that assessment for fy 22 that would
[41:09] be funded in year one from the
[41:10] affordable town's affordable housing
[41:11] funds
[41:12] that's it that's all i have for now
[41:13] thank you
[41:15] check mark say that check back that's a big goal thing that we got done
[41:21] yes
[41:21] yeah yeah so
[41:26] okay that's all i have thank you i have
[41:29] questions
[41:31] that's it for now okay for now um
[41:34] margaret where are we on the highway
[41:36] vacancies
[41:38] do you know yeah um when dave catches a
[41:41] breather hopefully
[41:42] tomorrow i'll talk with him about
[41:44] scheduling interviews in the next week
[41:46] for at least a couple of the applicants
[41:48] see if we can get uh get them in here
[41:50] and talk to them um frankly i also need
[41:53] to talk
[41:54] uh i'd also like to talk with dave about
[41:56] the positions themselves uh because we
[41:59] have a mix of applicants some of them
[42:00] don't have licenses but
[42:02] well some of whom don't have heavy
[42:04] equipment operator licenses
[42:06] but who might qualify for a lower grade
[42:09] position um and then be able to work
[42:11] into that that might be an opportunity
[42:13] so i'll talk to dave tomorrow on that
[42:15] okay cool um and this one is not urgent
[42:18] at all this one is for the grant
[42:20] tracking spreadsheet
[42:21] oh yes if you could whiz those contracts
[42:24] over then i can fill it out
[42:25] okay um
[42:29] a couple weeks back the gentleman from
[42:30] highland commons wanted to come and have
[42:32] a chat with us about potentially
[42:34] selling nips has that ever scheduled
[42:37] 24th it's scheduled oh what is it
[42:40] i think it's like 22nd 22nd yeah okay
[42:45] we were i was hoping that you could get
[42:47] some kind of word out to people so that
[42:49] we could get some feed
[42:52] oh there goes chris again nip okay
[42:56] all right
[42:58] [Music]
[43:04] could you whip up something to just put
[43:06] up online and on our facebook page
[43:09] um to ask for feedback on
[43:12] that particular okay and i'll push it
[43:15] all right um
[43:16] next question you mentioned river bridge
[43:19] where are we with their overdue bill
[43:23] we are nowhere new with their overdue
[43:25] bill
[43:26] okay and then solomon pond i know that
[43:30] you've given them until the 28th so we
[43:32] wait until we figure out next steps
[43:34] until the end of the month waiting yeah and i had a i had a conversation
[43:37] with our town council the other day on
[43:40] these two issues and um so
[43:43] you know we have a possible next step
[43:45] and
[43:46] we'll we'll discuss it and we're going
[43:48] to have to discuss it with the seniors
[43:49] tomorrow
[43:50] okay all right i'm done
[43:55] uh would you like to move on to old
[43:58] business
[43:59] review and vote to include annual town
[44:02] meeting warrant articles
[44:06] um i don't have any uh i've i've started
[44:08] the annual town meeting warrant just
[44:10] starting with the articles
[44:12] that would be presented for the current
[44:14] fiscal year
[44:15] um they're all in draft form um
[44:19] i don't have recommendations on them at
[44:21] this time so i don't know if the board
[44:23] would like to just
[44:24] uh review them um and i'll just keep
[44:26] adding to them
[44:28] well or could we could we possibly
[44:33] ask the board uh whether there's any
[44:35] that you would like
[44:36] to um omit
[44:40] i i didn't see anything that i would
[44:41] omit at this point
[44:44] no i don't say anything we closed the
[44:46] warrant next week right
[44:47] yeah the 22nd yeah
[44:53] the only change go ahead sorry margaret
[44:55] no as
[44:56] far as i can recall i worked on this on
[44:58] friday and i think
[45:00] um these were all articles that i i felt
[45:04] would be needed the only thing would be
[45:06] the capital you know the fy 21
[45:09] capital budget because that's still a
[45:11] little bit uncertain
[45:12] capital planning committee is meeting
[45:14] this week on the hvac
[45:16] and roof and i know that the board had
[45:18] previously said
[45:19] that might be one the hvac might be one
[45:22] we want to vote on and have it effective
[45:24] immediately rather than july first so we
[45:26] could move on a procurement for that but
[45:28] um
[45:29] capital planning will discuss that this
[45:31] thursday if so
[45:33] couldn't we put it on the special town
[45:35] meeting
[45:36] if we have a special town meeting right
[45:38] before
[45:39] you could if you have a special town
[45:41] meeting right before or you could put it
[45:43] right on this warrant um to be effective
[45:46] this fiscal year
[45:47] okay all right
[45:51] margaret the only change that i saw if
[45:53] you and i know it's still in draft form
[45:54] but if you whiz down to the very bottom
[45:56] it still says
[45:57] berlin board of selectmen not selected
[46:00] oh yeah i didn't change
[46:01] that it's got chris lisa and i so
[46:05] okay so that is yeah that's the only one
[46:08] that i saw
[46:09] okay okay i will um
[46:12] i'll fix that um and i'm going to start
[46:15] adding articles
[46:16] that would be um that would be on the
[46:20] annual you know on the annual town
[46:22] meeting warrant for f white
[46:23] effective fy 22. um i did also
[46:26] i oh gosh i hope i uploaded it to the
[46:28] drive
[46:29] um the bulleted list that i had prepared
[46:32] before
[46:33] um there were just a couple of additions
[46:35] to that one was to
[46:37] two well two were today um and it's one
[46:40] of them is a routine article on the town
[46:41] election the election of officer
[46:43] annually okay the other one is a request
[46:48] um that i that i got today on
[46:51] um contributing some funding toward the
[46:54] purchase
[46:55] of welcome to the town of berlin
[46:57] roadside signs
[46:58] um the economic development committee
[47:01] would be interested
[47:02] um in in sponsoring this article
[47:06] and i think that they'd also be
[47:07] committed to um to seeking out
[47:10] additional funds
[47:11] outside of of local funds uh so
[47:14] donations from businesses toward this
[47:17] so i added that as a bulleted as a new
[47:20] bulleted
[47:21] thing today
[47:25] all right so i'll uh i'll add to the
[47:27] list i'll add to the actual warrant
[47:31] okay all right and you want to
[47:35] move on to fy 22 the budget updates
[47:38] yes so i did have three i did have three
[47:41] budget lines
[47:42] um penciled in for possible
[47:45] recommendations tonight i'm not going to
[47:46] make recommendations on those rather i'm
[47:48] going to
[47:49] i'll i'll do it next week um you know
[47:52] with hopefully some additional ones um but a couple of
[47:56] things that i wanted to discuss with the
[47:57] board first of all the contingency line
[47:59] item that we voted in fy 21
[48:02] meant to be a temporary line item to
[48:05] cover some very specific costs
[48:08] and only with the approval the joint
[48:10] approval of the select board and finance
[48:12] committee
[48:13] so the administrative finance team met
[48:16] last week and we're meeting again
[48:17] this week to talk about um
[48:20] things that we might need
[48:24] to keep a contingency line item for
[48:26] first of all would be that this is a
[48:28] negotiations here
[48:29] collect for collective bargaining and to
[48:32] have some place
[48:33] to put funds that would
[48:37] fund any contract adjustments the second
[48:40] is that covet expenditures as you know
[48:43] we're allowed to
[48:44] continue spending from our coveted funds
[48:47] on covet related expenditures until
[48:49] december 31st of this year
[48:52] and in this year's contingency fund we
[48:54] did have coveted related expenses
[48:56] i mean i think it would be advisable to
[48:58] actually have a sum of money in that
[49:00] line to cover
[49:02] covet related costs that will not be
[49:05] covered by
[49:05] fema or coronavirus relief funds we
[49:08] don't know what those are yet because
[49:10] they haven't even reviewed
[49:11] the several reports that we've already
[49:13] submitted to them
[49:15] and given us feedback but in order for
[49:18] us to cover any of those costs that they
[49:20] may reject
[49:21] um we've been very very conservative too
[49:24] um
[49:25] it might be uh it might be advisable to
[49:27] retain the contingency line in some form
[49:30] not to the hundred and forty thousand
[49:31] dollars that it was last year
[49:33] but in some form to try to um
[49:36] cover some of these costs and remind me
[49:39] again the dis
[49:40] difference between a reserve fund line
[49:42] that needs finn come and select
[49:44] approval contingency line that needs the
[49:45] same approvals
[49:47] no all right so the reserve fund
[49:48] specifically under statute a reserve
[49:50] fund is for extraordinary and unforeseen
[49:53] expenditures
[49:54] so i don't know i mean while the town
[49:58] could treat contract adjustments as
[50:00] extraordinary unforeseen i wouldn't typically think of those as
[50:04] extraordinary and unforeseen
[50:06] expenditures coveted expenses certainly
[50:09] would be however we have funding
[50:13] through our coronavirus relief funds
[50:14] that are planned to cover those expenses
[50:16] this would only be if those aren't
[50:18] covered so reserve fund could
[50:20] potentially be used
[50:21] for either i mean historically when we were getting ready to hire a
[50:26] town administrator hiring our last
[50:28] police and fire chiefs and we've had
[50:30] previous contract negotiations we've
[50:31] used the reserve fund for those
[50:34] oh so only okay okay because the the idea being that not all of those
[50:41] are gonna just like for the contingency
[50:42] line not all of them are gonna come out
[50:43] hopefully at the bad end of things
[50:46] and and so you you hedge that some will
[50:49] be worse and some will be better and
[50:51] you you use the the reserve fund for
[50:53] that
[50:54] i just wanted to make sure that the
[50:55] contingency line doesn't have other
[50:56] restrictions or less restrictions on it
[50:59] so the contingency line would actually
[51:02] have
[51:02] additional restrictions because it's
[51:04] going to it would require the approval
[51:06] of the board
[51:07] and fincom as opposed to just fincom
[51:10] however if it's been passed practice
[51:12] here
[51:13] to have these types of costs paid from
[51:15] the reserve fund
[51:17] um and i thought all the reserve fund
[51:20] transfers also are approved by the board
[51:22] yeah i think they were oh they were
[51:25] oh maybe maybe it's better than the the
[51:28] law only requires the finance committee
[51:30] to approve it
[51:31] in berlin and in this town both the
[51:33] select board and fincom approved okay
[51:35] reserved for transfers
[51:37] okay oh june has her hand
[51:49] can you up me okay um i'm sorry
[51:52] just
[51:57] oh mary's giving mary's giving us the
[51:59] finger
[52:03] am i there yep okay so um
[52:06] in the past the reserve fund only needed
[52:08] to have
[52:09] the finance committee but we had always
[52:11] had it as best practice just to have the
[52:14] selectmen be aware of it
[52:15] the only time that it was actually
[52:17] required to have both signatures was
[52:19] in the last two months of the year when
[52:21] we were doing line item transfers
[52:23] yeah those are the end of end of year
[52:25] appropriation transfers
[52:27] okay okay um and we can i mean i'm not opposed uh to that um
[52:34] so uh we can we can talk about that
[52:38] further um
[52:42] i mean it doesn't count approaches you
[52:45] know
[52:47] i'm sorry what is that chris i said it i don't it doesn't matter
[52:52] to me okay okay
[52:55] um so i can discuss that tomorrow night
[52:57] i know janet's here too and uh
[53:00] you could rely
[53:01] [Music]
[53:03] no idea what she just said i
[53:06] you broke up i know chris i don't know
[53:09] what you guys are saying either
[53:12] well tomorrow night is a fincom meeting
[53:15] so i can certainly go over this with
[53:16] fincon too and just kind of relay what the board uh what the
[53:20] board's discussion was
[53:22] and talk about you know talk about this
[53:24] just from reserve fund
[53:26] so and i know janet's here too so janet
[53:28] if i forget
[53:29] jenna will remind me i won't forget
[53:33] um so just a couple more things on on
[53:36] budget
[53:36] the we did receive new rates um
[53:40] for fy 22 for medical and dental they
[53:42] are going to be lower
[53:44] than what dennis has budgeted so he is
[53:46] revising
[53:47] uh he's revising his budget request
[53:49] accordingly
[53:52] um and then finally on um
[53:56] on revenues um and i do our the team is working on our revenue
[54:02] projections and really
[54:03] um getting them into some sort of final
[54:06] form
[54:08] based on actuals or percent of percent
[54:10] of actuals i should not say actuals
[54:12] um it does look like state aid
[54:15] at this point um is going to be an area that we
[54:22] can actually level fund from fy21
[54:26] actuals
[54:27] the governor has committed to a 3.5
[54:30] increase in unrestricted general
[54:31] government aid and
[54:33] the legislature is highly unlikely to
[54:36] counter that in light of everything
[54:38] municipalities have been through so i
[54:39] think for this year
[54:41] and the team again the team we're still
[54:42] talking about it
[54:44] um but i think that's one area and
[54:46] there'll be other
[54:47] adjustments that have to be made and
[54:48] we'll walk the board uh through those
[54:51] at either your next meeting with the
[54:53] following meeting so we can really
[54:54] finish finish our revenue-based budget
[54:58] um so if there are no other questions on
[55:00] that that's all i have on on budget for
[55:02] tonight
[55:04] okay uh
[55:06] then we'll move on to um
[55:09] [Music]
[55:10] the draft select board liaison
[55:12] guidelines
[55:16] did everybody have a chance to look at
[55:18] the actual guidelines
[55:20] were they like everything looked
[55:23] good
[55:26] yes yes yeah i thought they were fairly
[55:29] clear
[55:30] okay do we do we have finals
[55:34] on who's going to who
[55:38] was it no yeah
[55:43] anybody wanted anything that i picked
[55:46] um
[55:50] yeah i apparently was more ambitious
[55:51] because my list apparently was longer
[55:53] than any other list but i also
[55:54] i ranked mine between those i really
[55:56] wanted those that i like you know
[55:58] and then i felt bad just because you
[56:00] know after looking at the list there
[56:02] were some committees that
[56:03] didn't get anybody yeah
[56:07] okay where was it going well you have
[56:09] some definite you have some definite definite choices
[56:13] um
[56:14] scott has agricultural commission scott
[56:17] cho's agricultural commission
[56:19] um chris chose council on aging
[56:22] peg shows energy committee scott shows
[56:25] historical commission scott joe's
[56:26] housing partnership
[56:28] one of the committees that hasn't met
[56:31] since i
[56:31] since i've arrived but very very
[56:33] infrequently so far
[56:35] um and peg has recreation
[56:38] and chris has zoning board of appeals
[56:41] the others are up for grabs
[56:46] so is everybody happy with those
[56:50] that they have yeah i i i'm trying to
[56:52] find the list where it was it was email
[56:54] this was sent and not in today's agenda
[56:56] right
[56:57] it's in today's agenda but not in one of
[56:59] the subfolders
[57:01] ah see i keep trying to figure the
[57:03] folders oh there it is yep
[57:05] it's at the bottom of your uh yep yep
[57:08] policy
[57:09] um uh
[57:13] i think it's fine so i'm fine with
[57:16] community preservation act
[57:17] okay okay i i am fine with
[57:21] peg being conservation commission
[57:25] okay and i think that gives me the cable
[57:29] access committee and cable access
[57:30] advisory committee
[57:31] and the advice which is great because
[57:34] i don't i don't have cable i cut the
[57:36] cord like 10 years ago so is that a non-biased time bias
[57:43] all right so scott that's a lot for you
[57:46] um i know and so i feel it's like i see
[57:50] these others but i already i'm already feeling anxious
[57:53] about the number of meetings i have to
[57:54] attend
[57:55] or actually not have to want to attend
[57:57] because i want to do more so
[58:00] i can take earth work okay
[58:05] janet warned mike
[58:09] um all right so chris then you'll have
[58:11] insurance advisory committee too
[58:14] yep okay good all right we're getting
[58:17] there
[58:18] and then does that put chris on the
[58:20] traffic safety advisory committee as
[58:21] well
[58:22] yes and that could be an elective
[58:24] because i am a non-voting member and i
[58:26] have to attend them all anyway
[58:27] so we can put
[58:30] chris there i'm so elected
[58:34] um the only one left is cultural council
[58:40] well i mean it in the uh guidelines i
[58:43] think it does say that you need to just
[58:45] make yourself available to the committee
[58:47] too
[58:48] so that you may not have to attend every
[58:50] single meeting no
[58:52] i i i was thinking it was attending
[58:54] those that that uh
[58:55] are relevant especially things that are
[58:57] supposed to go back to the board and
[58:58] have a relationship enough with the
[58:59] chair
[59:00] you know to read their minutes and
[59:01] agendas so that you can make sure the
[59:03] communications are working well yep and how are you
[59:08] doing peg with the uh
[59:10] or or or have you did
[59:13] we talk about this uh the minutes making
[59:16] sure there are minutes
[59:18] yeah i had sent and i can forward it to
[59:20] you and scott i had uh
[59:22] gone through and uh when committee by
[59:25] committee enlisted
[59:26] you know their most two recent meetings
[59:28] and their notes
[59:30] if they were there or not and
[59:32] unfortunately i have to say that there's
[59:34] quite a few
[59:35] not meetings uh minute meetings that are
[59:39] just not there i mean what about what
[59:42] about letting us know
[59:44] well if you have this chart yes
[59:47] and then we could actually um
[59:50] mention it when we contact our own
[59:53] committees
[59:54] yeah no absolutely i will uh that's on
[59:56] my other computer so i will get that
[59:59] out to you both tonight um you know
[1:00:02] definitely take a look double check my
[1:00:04] work
[1:00:04] on that but as i say there are quite a
[1:00:08] few that don't have
[1:00:10] minutes uh you know and i'm not talking
[1:00:12] about you had a meeting last week and
[1:00:14] you don't have minutes i don't count
[1:00:15] those
[1:00:16] because obviously you need the next
[1:00:17] meeting to uh approve them
[1:00:20] i'm talking about you know two months
[1:00:22] three four
[1:00:23] five six going back that there are
[1:00:26] no notes none okay
[1:00:30] and and if they have minutes maybe
[1:00:34] they just aren't posting them on my town
[1:00:36] government that's i think what's
[1:00:38] probably happening they're not posting
[1:00:40] them
[1:00:40] the law says and and they should be
[1:00:44] posted as a best practice they should be
[1:00:46] posted
[1:00:47] um the law only requires that the
[1:00:49] minutes be produced
[1:00:50] upon request whether they're in draft or
[1:00:52] final form
[1:00:54] um so it's not like uh
[1:00:57] not posting is um uh is
[1:01:00] not compliant with the law it's just
[1:01:03] that
[1:01:03] it's also not a best practice it's they
[1:01:06] should be easy
[1:01:07] to find that's fine i think it's just
[1:01:09] that
[1:01:10] if we're going to be a lisa liaison to
[1:01:12] this to these committees and we don't
[1:01:14] aren't able to make the meeting it would
[1:01:16] be nice to see
[1:01:18] the minutes of the meeting that we miss
[1:01:20] i i think part of our role as liaison is
[1:01:22] to understand what the barriers are for
[1:01:24] that community get that done
[1:01:25] and help help in some manner shape or
[1:01:29] form
[1:01:29] sort of resolve some of those barriers
[1:01:31] whether it be finding someone who
[1:01:33] actually takes the minutes whether or
[1:01:34] not it's actually getting them uploaded
[1:01:36] you know it will i'm sure vary by
[1:01:38] committee about why it could be the
[1:01:39] committee actually hasn't met
[1:01:41] and that's why there's no minutes right
[1:01:44] okay all right
[1:01:47] um are we all set on that one any other
[1:01:52] questions
[1:01:54] i can finalize the list and get it out
[1:01:56] to you uh in final form or the policy or
[1:01:59] the whatever
[1:01:59] guidelines and the list and get it out
[1:02:02] to you in final form if you'd like to
[1:02:03] vote it
[1:02:06] sure okay sounds good
[1:02:12] and um i think
[1:02:15] margaret you had said you weren't sure
[1:02:18] you were going to be able to address the
[1:02:20] library project the contract
[1:02:24] no um would the board like to vote these
[1:02:26] tonight or do you want to wait till next
[1:02:28] week
[1:02:29] the i'm sorry i'm showing you it and you
[1:02:32] can't
[1:02:34] the liaison guidelines it's like you
[1:02:35] want to vote this okay
[1:02:38] well if everybody's fine with the um the
[1:02:40] policy itself and you're happy with the
[1:02:44] uh groups you have that's fine
[1:02:48] i would take a motion well quick
[1:02:50] question before that so what about some
[1:02:52] of the other groups um
[1:02:53] you know like cemetery and margaret that
[1:02:55] didn't make the list
[1:02:57] i mean are they on the list do we just
[1:03:00] watch them as we can um i want to make
[1:03:03] sure that everyone feels that they are
[1:03:05] supported with one of us
[1:03:09] well it's it's got to do with um
[1:03:12] whether we appoint them or not okay
[1:03:15] but if oh go ahead go ahead
[1:03:18] now all the others can be all the others
[1:03:20] can be elective and could be
[1:03:22] you know the board could that's what i'm
[1:03:24] going to say okay
[1:03:27] all right i just wanted to make sure
[1:03:28] that we were good
[1:03:31] thank you
[1:03:34] and i make a motion just to approve
[1:03:37] margaret's
[1:03:40] liaison guidelines
[1:03:44] second okay we'll take a vote
[1:03:49] uh keith i stone eye hawkins i
[1:03:55] thank you
[1:04:00] all right i'll polish these up and get
[1:04:02] them out to you
[1:04:04] cool
[1:04:08] i'm sorry that is also the assignments
[1:04:10] themselves it's the assignments
[1:04:12] themselves as well yes
[1:04:15] [Music]
[1:04:18] all right library septic project okay um i have a
[1:04:25] draft contract in the works but i don't
[1:04:27] have it here to present to the board
[1:04:29] tonight so next week i'm going to ask
[1:04:31] that um i'm going to present the draft
[1:04:34] and ask that the board
[1:04:35] vote um to authorize the chair to sign
[1:04:38] subject to
[1:04:40] a legal review as to forum
[1:04:44] okay okay we will move on to new business and
[1:04:52] the
[1:04:53] cemetery commission special municipal
[1:04:55] employee designation
[1:04:58] okay i sent a bulleted list uh
[1:05:01] to um to barry today and to the board
[1:05:05] explaining that i would i'm going to i
[1:05:07] was going to present
[1:05:08] um the steps required to the board
[1:05:10] tonight um you should have the bulleted
[1:05:12] list in that subfolder
[1:05:14] um so an outline of what what we've had and uh where we could be
[1:05:21] going with the board's
[1:05:22] approval um the vendor relationship
[1:05:24] between the cemetery commission
[1:05:26] and uh one of its commissioners ended or
[1:05:29] terminated december 31st 2020.
[1:05:32] um an rfq was issued to four vendors
[1:05:36] for cemetery groundskeeping and
[1:05:37] maintenance services
[1:05:39] i received responses from two vendors
[1:05:41] that they declined due to the short-term
[1:05:43] nature of the contract
[1:05:45] and another didn't respond at all and
[1:05:48] the only quote i received was
[1:05:50] from um was from robert geild
[1:05:53] who also serves as a commissioner and
[1:05:55] who formerly provided the uh the vendor
[1:05:57] services to the commission
[1:06:00] um i would ask and i have asked barry
[1:06:04] i've suggested to barry that the
[1:06:06] cemetery commission of the other two
[1:06:07] members
[1:06:08] recommend to the board an award of the
[1:06:11] contract to
[1:06:12] robert geild for vendor services through
[1:06:16] june 30th 2021
[1:06:18] and there are two things that have to
[1:06:20] happen with this
[1:06:22] first the select board will have to give
[1:06:24] the cemetery commission a special
[1:06:25] municipal employee designation
[1:06:28] because mr guild would both be a member
[1:06:30] of the commission
[1:06:31] and a a contracted vendor for his
[1:06:35] municipal agency
[1:06:37] um and the the entire desert the entire
[1:06:40] commission would have to be designated
[1:06:42] as special municipal employees
[1:06:44] a special municipal employee designation
[1:06:47] um
[1:06:48] could be withdrawn in the future
[1:06:52] but it has to be in place while one of
[1:06:54] the commissioners
[1:06:55] is serving as a contract vendor for his
[1:06:57] municipal agency
[1:06:58] the second thing is that um when the
[1:07:01] select board or upon the select board's
[1:07:03] special municipal employee designation
[1:07:05] um mr guile is going to have to file
[1:07:07] a disclosure under 268 a section 20d
[1:07:12] regarding his financial interest in a
[1:07:14] contract in a new in a new municipal
[1:07:16] contract with the commission
[1:07:18] um he had previously filed a um a
[1:07:20] disclosure
[1:07:21] um but it was under the um it was under
[1:07:24] a section that that didn't apply
[1:07:26] um to um to his providing these services
[1:07:30] both of those things could be done at
[1:07:32] the same meeting by the select board
[1:07:34] and i don't know chris and peg you may
[1:07:35] recall you did something similar with
[1:07:37] the cable
[1:07:38] advice cable advisory or not cable
[1:07:40] advisory cable access commission
[1:07:43] with a commissioner who is also an
[1:07:45] employee
[1:07:47] um and then lastly excuse me
[1:07:51] i was just gonna say
[1:07:54] oh
[1:08:03] am i frozen okay you're back i said
[1:08:07] okay does it have to be every one of the
[1:08:09] commission members
[1:08:10] yes it has to be the entire commission
[1:08:13] anybody with a similar role
[1:08:14] must be designated special municipal
[1:08:16] employee so it has to be
[1:08:17] the entire commission so they all have
[1:08:20] to be special
[1:08:22] you would yes they all are they all have
[1:08:24] to be special
[1:08:25] yes okay so um this is the these are the
[1:08:28] steps that would need to be
[1:08:29] um that would need to be taken in order
[1:08:32] to continue
[1:08:33] the um the vendor uh relationship
[1:08:37] margaret there's a ton of questions that
[1:08:38] i have that i don't know if they're
[1:08:40] appropriate to bring up now or if you
[1:08:41] want them in email
[1:08:43] um so you let me know what you want
[1:08:47] um i guess if they're specific to this
[1:08:49] if you want to email me i could i could
[1:08:51] follow up and then
[1:08:52] at your next meeting we could do a
[1:08:54] follow-up report on this
[1:08:56] okay um i have not heard from i have not
[1:08:58] heard back from barry yet so
[1:09:00] i i know the commission's not they they
[1:09:02] haven't
[1:09:03] taken action to recommend this yet so
[1:09:06] and that was one of my questions i know
[1:09:08] that there was a meeting scheduled today
[1:09:10] but no
[1:09:10] zoom uh access so the question was going
[1:09:13] to be how are you meeting if the town
[1:09:15] offices are closed
[1:09:16] and you can't meet this has happened a
[1:09:18] number of times and
[1:09:20] every time um the meeting has been
[1:09:21] canceled and um they have
[1:09:24] just neglected to cancel it on the
[1:09:25] website but uh again
[1:09:27] this i think this will be my third time
[1:09:28] i will follow up with the commission to
[1:09:30] find out the status
[1:09:31] of the meeting all right i'll um i'll
[1:09:33] wish you the questions and then
[1:09:34] obviously i'll um
[1:09:35] include um scott and
[1:09:38] chris in them so in interest of
[1:09:41] disclosure you can all see where i'm
[1:09:43] coming from for questions
[1:09:44] okay and and any replies can come
[1:09:47] directly to me
[1:09:48] cool okay
[1:09:52] all right i'll follow up with the
[1:09:53] commission on today's meeting okay
[1:09:56] good any other questions on that so
[1:09:59] we'll skip
[1:10:00] voting on anything until we hear back
[1:10:02] from cemetery
[1:10:03] and or you oh yeah i would definitely
[1:10:05] say you you should have a recommendation
[1:10:07] in hand first
[1:10:08] all righty okay
[1:10:11] all right did you want to talk a little
[1:10:14] bit about the baker administration draft
[1:10:16] the
[1:10:17] 2030 clean energy and climate plan
[1:10:20] yes so the state is developing a clean
[1:10:23] energy and climate plan
[1:10:24] and this this plan includes long-term
[1:10:27] goals
[1:10:28] a state long-term statewide goals
[1:10:31] for improving our energy infrastructure
[1:10:34] using renewable energy
[1:10:35] and reducing our carbon footprint
[1:10:40] they sent they sent a request
[1:10:44] for community feedback to every
[1:10:46] municipality and
[1:10:48] um on mary sent an email
[1:10:51] to all departments oh gosh
[1:10:55] it was at the at the end of january she
[1:10:58] sent an email to all departments asking
[1:11:00] for
[1:11:00] uh departments boards and committees
[1:11:02] asking for feedback on this plan because
[1:11:05] we have an opportunity here
[1:11:06] to kind of wrap up comments from various
[1:11:09] boards and committees similar to what we
[1:11:10] did on mvp
[1:11:12] um we could wrap them up and get them to
[1:11:14] the state by the um by the public
[1:11:16] comment deadline
[1:11:17] i also see this as a way to put berlin
[1:11:21] on the map so to speak by by submitting
[1:11:24] comments
[1:11:25] on berlin's commitment to clean energy
[1:11:29] and um and reducing our carbon footprint
[1:11:33] we have gotten responses i think only
[1:11:35] from agricultural commission at this
[1:11:37] point
[1:11:38] um i'm willing to i'm willing to walk
[1:11:41] through
[1:11:41] the um the plan a little bit and go back
[1:11:43] to our mvp plan and pull out some of the
[1:11:46] things from that as far as comments from
[1:11:47] the town
[1:11:48] uh but if any board members have
[1:11:50] anything you want to add
[1:11:52] i know the energy committee is meeting
[1:11:53] tomorrow night it would be wonderful to
[1:11:55] get something from the energy committee
[1:11:57] as well
[1:11:58] um but we have until the 22nd monday
[1:12:02] to get our comments in so let's see what
[1:12:05] we can compile and get into the
[1:12:07] state it doesn't have to be anything
[1:12:09] formal
[1:12:10] we can just kind of like i said i can go
[1:12:13] back to we can go back to mvp and take a
[1:12:14] look at the uh
[1:12:16] the letters of support we got for that a
[1:12:18] lot of that touched on climate so okay
[1:12:25] all righty we are moving on to
[1:12:28] board questions and comments
[1:12:34] no margaret answered all of mine so
[1:12:38] i know i had a page and a half so
[1:12:40] between her and chief
[1:12:42] um i'm good and the email that's
[1:12:44] forthcoming so
[1:12:45] i'm all set all right
[1:12:48] scott you got anything i'm good
[1:12:53] [Music]
[1:12:57] um no
[1:13:01] do we need we are going to have an
[1:13:03] executive session