[1:11] If we could stand for a moment of silence to remember all those that have died, and that are

[1:19] today making great sacrifices for this great country.

[1:28] Thank you.

[1:36] The First Order of Business

[1:37] is approval of prior minutes. We're going to defer April 14th minutes because of

[1:46] purposes. I could use a motion for proving June 9, 2026 Board of

[1:53] Saltman Minutes.

[1:57] Is there a second? Second.

[2:00] Thank you. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

[2:06] Community input.

[2:14] Thank you tonight. There's a three-minute limit per person on

[2:17] community input, I'd like to start with Tim Davis.

[2:31] Tim Davis, 13 to 5-bridge street.

[2:32] I know it's not on the agenda, but I want to speak to those board members who might be on the fence.

[2:37] About requesting extension for the new school project through the MSBA.

[2:41] I don't know when that vote is going to happen.

[2:43] I do know we have a deadline of 831.

[2:46] The no school side of this debate, of course, is absolutely correct that the original plan was not approved by Dr.

[2:50] of voters. This is, I mean, that the project is dead and the MSPA has given us a

[2:55] great period of two requests. This is 120 day extension and reworked the plan in such a

[2:59] way that a tax impact is more acceptable to our residents. The other way we're going to move

[3:04] past this issue is with a tax increase. So the real question is, is this drag you want to eat

[3:10] 100% of the repair cost and 100% of any redistricting cost? Or do we want to pay 50% of a new

[3:16] cost. The dollar amount was pretty even between repair and replace, but I don't know what

[3:21] redistricting is going to end up costing. We have this opportunity to redesign lower the tax

[3:27] impact for new school, decreasing the total cost for residents, but we can't even entertain

[3:31] the idea to tell the extension letter is signed. There's talk about increasing economic development

[3:38] and drag it to offset tax burden. I think that's a wonderful idea, but it doesn't seem like

[3:42] There's a lot of incentive for businesses to move into Drake it.

[3:46] And we're not really incentivizing families to move here as well.

[3:50] I don't think any more pizza or roast pea places is going to shore up the budget.

[3:53] And bigger businesses aren't going to skip right over Drake, go to Boston or go up to New Hampshire

[3:58] where they have either a tax incentive or a larger talent pool.

[4:02] The only way we're going to remain competitive is if we start to invest in ourselves.

[4:08] We have to own our decisions.

[4:09] If we say goodbye to the MSPA grant, we're going to pay for repairs and redistricting.

[4:15] If we decide to close the school and redistrict families with no other plan, people will

[4:20] move.

[4:22] Businesses aren't going to move in and save the day of the town continues to spiral.

[4:26] We have this opportunity and the board really needs to do something to positively affect

[4:30] this town.

[4:30] I would encourage everyone and I think we've all seen me up here enough to vote yes,

[4:36] on this extension request when the time comes. Don't abstain, don't quibble, vote.

[4:41] You guys got to show us what this town, what you stand for in this town,

[4:44] drink a voter's deserved to go. Thank you.

[4:48] Thank you.

[4:53] Next, Sabrina Heissie, please.

[4:59] Good evening. My name is Sabrina Heissie, 1465 Lakeview Ave.

[5:04] I listen to Don Plummers interview with Warren Shaw this weekend about why the Campbell School

[5:08] Project failed. Don's explanation was incomplete. He blamed the failure to pass the project

[5:14] on the stream relationship with the school committee. That is not the answer. The school committee

[5:18] did not run this project. They are not in control of capital planning. The Board of Selectman

[5:23] did, and this Board failed. So Warren, here's the answer that you were looking for. Josh Taylor.

[5:31] Over the last year, Josh has turned too many issues in this town into political battles based on

[5:35] opportunities instead of opportunities to solve problems. He damaged relationships, created

[5:39] divisions and made it harder for Drake to move forward.

[5:43] Look at the relationship with the school committee, instead of building trust, disagreements

[5:47] became political theater.

[5:48] Two elected boards could not even sit down without a taxpayer-funded mediator.

[5:53] That is not leadership.

[5:54] Then came the $25,000 school audit.

[5:57] It was presented as accountability, but it became another source of conflict.

[6:01] This audit is still ongoing, but residents deserve transparency about what problem this audit

[6:06] is intended to solve.

[6:07] That way this process, the way that this process has been handled already, has damaged more

[6:12] relationships.

[6:13] Then came to the Campbell School Project.

[6:15] Josh Sheller was the only select man to oppose it, and he didn't just vote no, he celebrated

[6:20] its failure.

[6:21] He posted that he was, quote, honored to stand alone, while congratulations, used stand alone

[6:26] while art children sit in outdated classrooms, used stand alone while 82 million dollars

[6:30] in state funding might walk away.

[6:32] Used stand alone while taxpayers might lose one of the biggest opportunities trick it has

[6:35] had in decades.

[6:36] that is not something to brag about, that is a failure of leadership and it goes beyond

[6:40] Campbell. Josh served at the chair of the Board of Select when for a year and the

[6:45] calendar. I would just ask you to, please continue, but do not, one of the things we ask

[6:53] in the committee input is no slandering.

[6:56] Absolutely. Don, and as my timeout is on this, I'd like to point out that it is not a personal

[7:02] attack. A personal attack would be if I said Josh is an angry elf and runs meetings and underground

[7:09] rat sewers. Okay, like that's not what I'm saying. I'm talking about public records. All you

[7:15] can search yourself. So I will continue. Josh served as chair of the board of select one for a year,

[7:21] and the town still lack the planning needed to move projects forward. He never convened a single

[7:25] capital planning committee meeting, never appointed a single person to that board.

[7:30] On head to clean that one up. Thank you, Don. On economic development under Josh's leadership, there has been none. The board itself admitted that this was a quote,

[7:38] object failure in economic development. Yet the answer seems to be asking residents for more money through an operational override next year. That is backwards.

[7:46] We also have vacancies on boards on town boards across town because people are tired of politics replacing progress. We've had entire committees such as finance, quit.

[7:54] And Warren, you are at the MBTA zoning meeting, you heard Josh say that he hoped it would not pass it all.

[8:00] Now, Drake is facing legal action in more lost money over non-compliance, and residents are left dealing with the consequences.

[8:06] The Campbell School Project did not fail because of the school committee.

[8:09] It failed because the people responsible for moving it forward.

[8:12] The people in this room did not have the leadership collaboration and urgency required.

[8:17] You asked why the Campbell School Project now you have the answer?

[8:20] It was not the school committee's relationship with the Board of Selectman.

[8:24] It was this town's leadership and Josh Taylor.

[8:27] Thank you.

[8:29] Thank you.

[8:37] Next agenda item is time-managers report.

[8:40] I don't have the time-manager, but Allison is there anything to report?

[8:45] Yes, I just wanted to take a minute in the absence of that report and let you guys know

[8:50] that we're seeing a pretty dramatic uptick in requests for records.

[8:55] So I just wanted to kind of give a quick overview.

[8:58] Happy to answer any questions.

[9:00] Generally, when a records request comes in,

[9:03] it comes in to the town clerk or it's directed there by staff.

[9:07] It then is kind of logged in and goes out to department heads.

[9:10] The first thing that we do is look to estimate the number of hours

[9:14] that's going to take us to amass all of the records.

[9:19] So typically we're looking at emails,

[9:22] we're looking at digital files for current staff,

[9:25] we're looking at digital files for past staff, we're looking then at paper, active files,

[9:31] the ones that are still up in offices, and then ultimately sometimes down in the basement.

[9:35] And we take all of that information based on what we found and we estimate how many hours.

[9:41] We are allowed to build generally $25 an hour after the first couple of hours.

[9:47] We try not to go in that direction unless it's becoming a huge burden on staff.

[9:54] So, once that we have a number of hours that goes back to the town clerk, who responds formally to the requester, letting them know that they can either, you know, bring in a check or refine their search, you know, provide generally the most effective way initially to kind of pair things down as with specific dates.

[10:15] IE looking for the last six months, the last year as opposed to all of the building records

[10:21] on an address and then we're kind of going back to the beginning of time and then people

[10:27] in topics, it can be helpful if someone's looking for a specific document or documents on a specific

[10:33] topic. It's helpful for staff to kind of have some understanding of that just so that we know

[10:38] what we're looking for. So I just wanted to kind of provide that overview

[10:44] You know, the town clerk is spending a lot of time on these.

[10:48] It impacts all the department heads, ultimately as we're all kind of looking for things.

[10:54] And particularly now, you know, well, there's vacation time in the summer,

[10:58] but there's also just kind of inadequate staffing.

[11:01] So we're seeing more and more, you know,

[11:05] that staff and departments are forced to prioritize,

[11:08] and that's getting increasingly difficult.

[11:11] So just a heads up.

[11:12] I would like to thank that freedom of information act in the Massachusetts version of that

[11:23] anyways is a just invaluable asset for society that we can ask public officials to produce

[11:42] is usually the beneficiary of that, but citizens are allowed to, but if we don't use it

[11:49] judiciously, it gets diminished. So I guess that's what. And so specificity would be

[11:58] the key word and we will do our best, but we can't stop running the town. And once it takes

[12:06] more than two hours of work. I guess we're allowed to pull that trigger on charging.

[12:14] Based upon the rate we're paying the town manager, that's $25 is not really

[12:21] defraining the costs of the activity. So there's that.

[12:30] But I'll continue speaking with you in the

[12:34] back about the best way to approach and kind of make sure we can do our best for all the citizens.

[12:42] Thank you.

[12:43] Thank you.

[12:46] So I have a quick question on that.

[12:47] Who is our records access officer?

[12:50] Does it mean in our town hall?

[12:53] I would have to confirm this.

[12:55] I believe that it's the town clerk.

[13:01] Thank you.

[13:01] And is it just one point of clarification for my own knowledge?

[13:06] is the time-allotment per request or per individual per request?

[13:17] In terms of kind of that two hours or yep.

[13:21] So it's all of those hours from staff get lumped together.

[13:25] And typically there's time to find the records.

[13:28] There's also time to go through them and make sure that there isn't anything that needs to be redacted

[13:33] to make sure that the results are responsive to what was being sought.

[13:38] We try and do that, you know, as economically as possible.

[13:42] That said, some of the requests and some of the key words

[13:47] and things started, you know, when they get more complicated

[13:51] or more to our litigation or something like that,

[13:55] then it very quickly rises up.

[13:56] And sometimes it's the town manager who needs to go through.

[14:00] That's the only person kind of kind of privy to all of the topics covered to weed out what's

[14:06] going on.

[14:06] And we need to generate an estimate based on each individual request.

[14:11] Got it.

[14:12] Would it be appropriate for the board to discuss whether additional resources or process improvements

[14:18] are needed to support compliance?

[14:23] Do you have any input?

[14:27] I don't know what is our access to temporary resources.

[14:31] do we have? We have, you know, the only labor budget we have is from people who have

[14:40] left the town and maybe we're not spending their salaries currently. Everything else

[14:46] is budgeted for. So with recent departures, there may be opportunity on a short-term basis

[14:54] for additional funding until those positions are filled. That's another way of saying that

[15:00] I mean, I think there are temporarily, there are dollars available. I think part of the difficulty is kind of the knowledge and background needed to know where to look.

[15:11] So it's not, you know, each, each department has their own set of files.

[15:17] So it's, I'm not sure, I don't think a temporary person would be able to come in and know where to look through conservation files or how to access all of the different pieces.

[15:29] Sure, so I guess the other question would be, is there temporary resources available to cover those resources that do have that subject matter expertise looking at it from a different perspective.

[15:39] So ultimately, we're required by the law to provide the information to provide an estimate of exceeds the time, which is sounds like we're doing.

[15:48] Though we do know it's still a resource drain for our current resources with summer schedules and other responsibilities.

[15:56] So, I guess the question I would pose is, what approval would be needed to allocate funds

[16:02] as needed to obtain interim resources if any approval is needed to help cover that?

[16:12] I would suggest we don't know what that is that we would need to approve until the initial

[16:17] work is done.

[16:20] So, we have to log and then create the estimate.

[16:24] Excellent.

[16:24] I think generally, if I'm understanding, I don't know how viable that would be.

[16:31] I had a conversation earlier today with the town clerk as an example, and he's concerned

[16:36] looking forward that once we get closer to the election, he needs to focus in the town

[16:41] clerk's office to do their current, you know, their regular dog licensing, marriage certificates,

[16:46] birth certificates, and elections, legally mandated, and records requests, legally mandated.

[16:52] and that's where it starts to get difficult when we're so lean

[16:58] that we start to kind of impair our ability to respond to all of the legally required pieces.

[17:04] And that's when I, you know, I don't know what we do with that point.

[17:08] Yeah, I think our only solution is resources.

[17:10] So figuring out what our opportunity is for

[17:13] to delay any of those legal requirements that allow us by law

[17:17] or ultimately finding additional hands.

[17:20] There's also a, we can also argue whether something is a reasonable request.

[17:25] So if you say, I want every, I want every email that the time manager has, you know,

[17:35] we've received or sent in the last three years.

[17:40] And that's going to include with council and perspective employees.

[17:46] And so every one of those would have to be reviewed and edited or redacted.

[17:54] And it just may not be practical in this.

[17:57] So we would have to then go to the state and basically go to the petitioner and ask for if there's a scope that can be reduced,

[18:11] which is within the rules.

[18:13] And if it can't be, then we can go to Matt to Boston and that's for further relief.

[18:23] And further relief can be, you know, charging the, the perated,

[18:28] hourly rate of whoever has to work on something by the way.

[18:32] So there is a process and there is a problem.

[18:34] The time manager would follow that process.

[18:35] You can't just ignore it.

[18:37] Got it.

[18:40] I would only add that I think within that process if it requires like attorneys to look at it, I think that could actually help the 25 bills know as well, right.

[18:58] There are any report requests that the assistant time manager can take to the town manager on RBS.

[19:06] I'm still waiting for my report on legal cost for the last fiscal year, which I asked for

[19:17] and I'll last meeting.

[19:18] No, the meeting before last.

[19:29] Dallas, and I am still waiting for a debt retirement schedule that is meaningful descriptions

[19:40] of what project drove the debt, what their meaning balance is, and what the payment schedule

[19:47] is for the duration of the debt.

[20:01] Thank you.

[20:04] A community calendar,

[20:08] summer compost states, the compost site located at Dough and Center

[20:11] will be open on Saturdays for the months of joy, August, Dan, September.

[20:17] It will accept leaves, brush and grass clippings only with proof of residency.

[20:21] The hours of operational will be from ADM to 4 p.m.

[20:26] If you have any questions, call the DPW.

[20:31] Current Board Committee vacancies.

[20:34] The Board of Selectman appointed boards and committees.

[20:38] The Affordable Housing Partnership Committee has still won opening.

[20:43] The Agricultural Commission, 3 openings,

[20:45] Draked Cultural Council five openings for Tom Andrew pointed boards and committees the Board

[20:52] of Accessors has two openings capital planning committee seven openings although names

[21:00] are coming in for that thank you and the Conservation Commission has one opening for Tom

[21:06] moderator pointed boards and committees the finance committee we are still seeking anyone

[21:12] who would like to join the Finance Committee from pre-Synx 4-5 and 6.

[21:19] And the Drake at Cable Advisory Committee is another, if you're looking for a committee

[21:27] that doesn't meet very often, but does really important work in terms of negotiating

[21:32] the X contract with the Comcast.

[21:35] This is the perfect committee for you, we're looking for four additional members.

[21:47] The first agenda item tonight's short agenda list is Wendy Shaw, owner of ML Shaw's restaurant,

[21:56] requesting a one day outdoor beer and wine license on Saturday, August 22nd, 2026

[22:02] from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 14 room Hill Road.

[22:08] Wendy, welcome.

[22:08] Thank you.

[22:10] Wendy Shaw, 103, Horsheur Road.

[22:12] And drink it.

[22:14] Some of you know, ML Shaw is celebrating our 40th anniversary the summer.

[22:19] We are requesting permission to extend our existing beer in wine license outdoors for the

[22:24] anniversary celebration.

[22:25] So we can serve beer in the most during the event.

[22:28] The event will take.

[22:31] It will be a family-friendly community celebration. We'll have our own staff over seeing local health sales. The event is August 22nd. We're requesting our door service from 10 to 4.

[22:47] Any questions for the applicant?

[22:51] None from me, Mr. Chair. I'll make a motion to approve.

[22:55] Second,

[22:58] there's no further deliberation on favor, please say aye. Aye. I have a great time. Thank you very much.

[23:07] The next agenda item, William Cassotus, owner of Lazy River Products LLC,

[23:14] requesting a one day outdoor bear in wine license on Saturday, September 12,

[23:18] 2026 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 149 Broadway Road.

[23:26] Hello.

[23:26] Good to see everybody again.

[23:27] Shannon, Tony, in the Palace.

[23:29] I know there's some faces I haven't had yet.

[23:31] Good to see you both.

[23:33] Meet you.

[23:34] We're up here.

[23:35] First off, I'm William Casotis.

[23:37] The CEO of Lisa River Products.

[23:39] I'm over at 149 Broadway Road and Drake it.

[23:44] This is our, I believe,

[23:45] fifth maybe six the year of putting these events on. Over the years we have

[23:50] tailored down the number of events when we first started off. We're doing

[23:53] many of these maybe eight in a year and now we've got them down to two. Because of

[23:58] cost and just a fact we're building for larger events bigger turnouts but

[24:03] just a few are of them. So we've already held our first event at the beginning of

[24:09] the summer and the event that we're seeking permission for today on September

[24:12] 12 is our final fall event for the year. We have a couple of live outdoor music acts coming.

[24:20] If you don't know, we feed the community for free. Anybody that shows up from town and comes in,

[24:24] gets a coupon. If they're 21 years of age or older, a coupon allows them access to food trucks.

[24:29] We also do beer and wine on site as well and get the appropriate permitting for that.

[24:35] So we are just again. For one more time this year, seeking the boards approval.

[24:40] This is a big turn now. We have a lot of community members that turn out for this event not just customers of

[24:46] lesie river products from from around the state. A lot of local people turn out for this and it's a great opportunity for us to connect with the local community.

[24:56] Yeah, Baron wine is that sold. It is sold. It's represented by bearwolf brewery out of Amesbury, Massachusetts and they've provided the appropriate

[25:05] insurances and licenses to be, to be at the event and allow us to take.

[25:12] And this is where I turn to Shannon and say this is everything in order.

[25:17] Affirmative.

[25:21] Great.

[25:23] Anyone have any questions for the applicant?

[25:26] No.

[25:27] Motion to approve.

[25:30] Second.

[25:32] If there's no further deliberation, everyone of favor, please say aye.

[25:37] Aye.

[25:38] The motion passes very good.

[25:40] I appreciate it. Thank you very much guys.

[25:42] Great seeing everybody.

[25:47] The next agenda item Peter Bartwood.

[25:49] Chief of Police.

[25:50] Peter is not here tonight,

[25:53] but he asked if we will approve

[25:55] his stop sign that Harold Avenue

[25:57] and Nancy Avenue North.

[26:03] I see no reason to question the Chief of Police on this.

[26:08] I'll make a motion to approve.

[26:10] Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously.

[26:19] And we have a request for

[26:22] Gottfried, paying not, paying you to be appointed to the Open Space Committee.

[26:31] This application has been approved by the Open Space

[26:34] committee, so this is just a formality to welcome God Freight to the Open Space Committee.

[26:45] We're looking for a motion.

[26:46] Motion to approve.

[26:47] Second.

[26:50] All in favor, please say aye.

[26:52] Aye.

[26:56] Are there any subcommittee reports?

[27:00] Maybe from the Solsbury subcommittee, you may be the old watch, it's the old watch, it's the old

[27:08] Orchids subcommittee.

[27:12] No, we have an education subcommittee or joint subcommittee meeting tomorrow.

[27:17] Great.

[27:20] In that case, I'll just remind everyone that the next Board of Salatman's meeting is August 11th,

[27:25] and the meeting is adjourned.

Board of Selectmen 7-21-26

Agenda

Transcript