[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

Select Board 02.16.21

Transcript