[0:00] For

[4:19] which it stands, one nation, under God,

[4:23] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[4:27] Did Andy leave?

[4:28] He did.

[4:28] Yes.

[4:29] Oh, okay.

[4:32] Well, good evening, everyone. I'd like to call the Fremont Selectboard meeting to

[4:36] order for the 8th of October.

[4:38] We're

[4:41] a couple of minutes late getting started here, but we're underway.

[4:44] So,

[4:45] I have some announcements, many of them actually.

[4:49] So just to remind everybody that the Grass Drag event is happening this

[4:53] weekend, starts on Friday and runs through Sunday, and

[4:57] I'm sure that it's busy out there now and all kinds of setups and

[5:01] inspections and things going on, and it'll be

[5:04] busy on that end of town, so keep that in mind.

[5:09] Basically, you're saying avoid it.

[5:12] Or just plan for it if you have to go that way.

[5:19] So, Monday is the 12th, known as Columbus Day in

[5:22] many parts of the States,

[5:25] but all town offices will be open on their

[5:29] normal schedule, and there are no delays in trash and recycling

[5:33] collections next week. I believe there's no school on Monday, though.

[5:36] That is correct. We did learn that.

[5:38] Yeah.

[5:38] Yep.

[5:39] And also on Monday, the 12th, Scribner Road will be closed from Thunder

[5:44] Road to Abbott Road,

[5:49] for the day, I guess, because there's a guardrail replacement occurring on the

[5:53] bridge, and so if you can choose an alternate route, that would be really good.

[5:58] I imagine local people will be able to get in there, but-

[6:01] Yep. Yeah

[6:01] ... because there's no school, there'll be no

[6:04] student buses.

[6:04] No buses, and we did it on a non-trash day.

[6:06] Yeah.

[6:09] So next Tuesday,

[6:11] the 13th,

[6:13] Heidi and officers from the Fremont Fire Rescue Department will host a

[6:17] community discussion on upcoming changes for EMS services in

[6:20] Fremont to include

[6:24] that we're losing our ambulance contract, and so we're looking

[6:28] to get a new one, and a potential five-year contract with

[6:32] Plaster ALS Paramedic Intercept Service that we

[6:36] have been using the last couple of years. Right?

[6:39] Mm-hmm.

[6:40] And they have a

[6:43] crew stationed out in the Brentwood Fire Department.

[6:46] And anyway, that meeting will occur at 6:30

[6:50] at the library on Tuesday the 13th.

[6:55] The Parks and Rec Commission will sponsor a trunk or treat on Sunday, October

[6:58] 25th from 3:00 to 4:00 PM at Ellis School.

[7:01] Check their Facebook page for a registration link.

[7:06] And Parks and Rec will sponsor an all-day scary tales event

[7:10] at the Meeting House

[7:12] on Friday, October 30th. So check their Facebook page for a

[7:16] link as a pre-registration is required.

[7:18] Limited seating is available at the Meeting House.

[7:22] And Parks and Rec will also sponsor an adult scary tales event at the Meeting House

[7:27] on the evening of the 30th.

[7:31] So check their Facebook page for that event, too.

[7:36] East Kingston Fire Department and Plaistow Fire Department

[7:39] and their ALS Paramedic Intercept

[7:43] program will host a community forum on these services and

[7:47] what it'll mean to our communities. So Fremonters are invited.

[7:51] It will be held at the East Kingston Elementary School, 5 Andrews Lane, on Friday,

[7:55] October 30th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.

[7:58] And

[8:00] this group of people have heard that presentation. It's very informative.

[8:05] And then the Fall Bulky Day will be Saturday, October 31st from 8:00

[8:09] AM to noon at the Highway Shed. Danville Road will be

[8:13] closed. It'll be one-way traffic only during

[8:17] the event. And then later that day, the annual trick or treat will be held

[8:20] in Fremont

[8:23] from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

[8:25] And then the last bit of news here I have is that

[8:28] the property tax rate has been set.

[8:33] We got the information yesterday.

[8:36] It was the first one in the state.

[8:39] Wow. Is that good or bad?

[8:42] Well, if you're like me and you-

[8:44] Yeah

[8:44] ... need to get the money in the coffers-

[8:46] You need to get behind

[8:47] ... you need to do it.

[8:47] So the tax rate is

[8:50] down from 1695 to 1652 a thousand.

[8:55] So that's what I have for announcements.

[8:58] And so I'm going to move on to liaison reports.

[9:01] Can you go through those announcements again? I didn't quite hear those.

[9:05] Well, I think you need to check on your hearing.

[9:09] Yeah.

[9:09] All right. So liaison reports.

[9:12] The planning board met last night at 7:00 PM in this meeting room,

[9:17] and the following items were discussed.

[9:20] The first item was Map two, Lot 162.

[9:24] This is 364 Main Street.

[9:28] 564.

[9:29] Sorry?

[9:30] It's 564.

[9:32] That's right.

[9:32] What are the plans with-

[9:33] I thought you said 364.

[9:34] No. 564.

[9:36] Okay.

[9:36] And the applicant is Hemlock and Birch.

[9:40] This is a major site plan application to

[9:43] operate a paving operation. And

[9:47] this

[9:48] site is that

[9:51] old logging operation-

[9:53] Behind

[9:53] ... by the library. Exactly.

[9:57] So it consisted of a conditional use permit for use

[10:00] within the flexible use residential district and

[10:04] then site plan review.

[10:06] I feel like we talked about this a little bit last year. Did we not?

[10:09] Yeah.

[10:10] Sorry. Continue.

[10:11] Yeah. So the board took jurisdiction of the application.

[10:16] They granted a conditional use permit for the

[10:20] operation and granted waivers.

[10:24] And then let me turn the page.

[10:26] There were comments from

[10:29] RPC, Rockingham Planning Commission, and the town engineer,

[10:33] and the board voted to continue the public

[10:37] hearing until Wednesday, 21st of

[10:40] October, which is two weeks' time.

[10:44] And we anticipate we'll be

[10:47] giving approval to that application at that time.

[10:51] The second item was Map three, Lots

[10:54] 187,

[10:56] 188 to 9, and 188 to

[11:00] 10. These three parcels

[11:04] located at the intersection of Sand Down

[11:07] Road and Victoria Farm Road

[11:10] belonging to the Nee Trust, and this was a

[11:14] preliminary review. So the board had a

[11:17] preliminary review meeting to discuss the proposed lot

[11:21] line adjustments of these parcels.

[11:26] Then Map two, Lot 141

[11:30] and Lot 141-1. This

[11:34] is Montana Realty Trust, and this is a lot

[11:38] line merger and subdivision. And this is

[11:42] basically the parcel off Route 107

[11:46] opposite Red Brook Road.

[11:50] We haven't had anything from them in a while, and they were

[11:54] due

[11:56] yesterday, and at their request, this

[11:59] meeting was

[12:01] continued to our 4th of November meeting.

[12:06] Then finally, there were a number of zoning

[12:10] amendments that were discussed, and these are

[12:14] zoning amendments that are triggered

[12:17] by state RSA changes that

[12:21] really require us to change our ordinances.

[12:27] With that

[12:28] finishing, the next meeting is

[12:32] in two weeks on Wednesday, 21st of October.

[12:36] Thank you.

[12:37] Very good.

[12:39] Any other

[12:41] liaison?

[12:43] Yeah, just that I went down to senior coffee hour today at

[12:47] the end of coffee hour at 11

[12:51] o'clock.

[12:51] Sure.

[12:52] And met with a group of probably 18 or so of the seniors who

[12:56] had been there, and had a great conversation with them about the ALS

[12:59] and the ambulance service stuff. A lot of great questions,

[13:03] just some shared information processes, all that kind of stuff.

[13:05] It was really, really good.

[13:07] All right. Yeah.

[13:08] I'm sure that they're paying attention.

[13:10] Yes.

[13:12] All right. So,

[13:14] the minutes from

[13:16] our meeting last week,

[13:19] and then it was continued to

[13:23] meeting yesterday morning, they're not available yet,

[13:27] so we should defer on approving them or reviewing them and for approval

[13:31] until next week.

[13:37] Do we have any

[13:40] appointments tonight?

[13:41] No.

[13:41] Okay.

[13:42] So,

[13:43] the next thing I see here is under old business is that

[13:48] we've been talking about a highway supervisor job description and

[13:52] job ads and compensation. And

[13:55] we've been kicking this around for a while. No decisions have been made.

[13:59] But Kathy Braun has put together some information.

[14:01] Looks like this.

[14:02] Yeah, I have it.

[14:03] It's on your-

[14:04] I have it right here.

[14:05] Yep.

[14:07] Kind of really looking at this exempt, non-exempt-

[14:11] Yeah

[14:11] ... kind of stuff.

[14:12] Yeah.

[14:12] She gave me two job descriptions, one which kind of

[14:16] meets the exempt criteria, one that doesn't.

[14:18] Yeah.

[14:19] And kind of put it together like this and wanted to draw your

[14:23] attention to it. The thing that I wrote in there is that in

[14:27] order to really meet the salary, which is the

[14:29] exemption,

[14:32] it has to be more than 50% administrative.

[14:35] And the position here really is not that. This is a working position.

[14:39] Yeah.

[14:41] So she really felt like,

[14:44] she said to me, "I don't have a horse in this race.

[14:46] It is what it is." But what I asked her was, "Can you really just dig into the

[14:51] FLSA?"

[14:54] Which is the federal labor-

[14:55] Fair Labor Standards

[14:56] ...

[14:57] law. As well as New Hampshire, but I think it's the federal that really covers

[15:00] this.

[15:00] I would be hard pressed to think that New Hampshire would be more restrictive.

[15:05] Right.

[15:07] So, this again is new to you. She gave this to me at 3:00

[15:11] today.

[15:11] You're talking about this one pager?

[15:14] I'm talking about this one pager.

[15:16] Yeah, she's got it.

[15:16] Yeah, I'm sorry. I thought you had the tax rate thing in your hand.

[15:20] So,

[15:23] I don't know if you're prepared to make a decision about that yet or not.

[15:27] I haven't talked with Leon about this at all.

[15:30] That was one of the things he was interested in.

[15:32] I know.

[15:32] And I think he will be here next week.

[15:36] You had said you wanted to make a decision about this

[15:39] depending on what we're going to do with this.

[15:40] It needs to be in the highway budget, and obviously there's a lot of moving

[15:44] parts.

[15:44] There's a lot of moving pieces.

[15:46] Yeah.

[15:46] All right. Well, thanks for that.

[15:47] So she had this, if you want to take a look at it.

[15:49] And if you wanted either me to copy this or I can pass this around tonight.

[15:53] She highlighted some stuff that's important.

[15:55] Because she's got tabs all over it, I didn't go make copies of all this, but

[15:58] there's a couple of things that are key to this that she gave me.

[16:03] This is a wage and hour thing. Prolonged course of

[16:06] specialized intellectual instruction.

[16:10] The learned professional exemption is not available

[16:14] for occupations that may be performed with

[16:17] only the general knowledge acquired by an academic degree, knowledge

[16:21] acquired through an apprenticeship, training in the performance of routine mental,

[16:25] manual, mechanical, or physical processes.

[16:29] And at the bottom, which is what she circled, the exemption also does not apply to

[16:32] occupations in which most employees acquire skill by experience.

[16:38] Which obviously,

[16:40] it was part of that. She felt like one of the things that she used when she was

[16:43] terming it to me, the exempt positions are those that are

[16:47] really management, administrative, engineer kind of people who are

[16:51] public works directors, that kind of thing.

[16:54] But I'm happy to give this to any of you that want to take it, or I will make

[16:57] copies and re-tab it or re-highlight it if you want to look at it.

[17:00] I'll let Kathy copy it.

[17:01] Okay. Whatever.

[17:02] I think I got just-

[17:04] Okay. And like I said, I'll pass this around.

[17:06] I'll put it in the mail folder that way if you want to take a peek at it, it is

[17:08] yours.

[17:08] Okay.

[17:10] Wait, there's some notes in here.

[17:12] All right. So,

[17:16] there's a 2027 warrant.

[17:20] So I put that on there because I've been handing this out the past couple weeks,

[17:23] and we have not taken any time to talk about it. I did not print it again tonight.

[17:27] I just want to call your attention to it.

[17:30] The other reason I'm bringing this up, one of the things that came up today

[17:34] at Senior Coffee, was somebody who was there said to me they really felt

[17:38] like potentially the reason why

[17:41] some of our warrant articles failed was because there was just so much there.

[17:45] That the CIP committee had really gone to town, that might have even been the words

[17:49] that he used.

[17:51] And there was just a lot for people to take in, which we all knew that was going to

[17:55] happen because there were so many items that Leon put

[17:59] such depth into that CIP,

[18:03] that

[18:04] it asked for every possible thing you ever might want.

[18:06] I know.

[18:07] Which makes the list huge, and it makes the

[18:10] savings plan for it longer, bigger numbers.

[18:14] Sure.

[18:15] Kind of sticker shock, perhaps.

[18:17] Yeah.

[18:17] And I think we knew that this was going to take an education process.

[18:22] But that's something else to think about.

[18:25] And

[18:25] I have left all of last year's warrant articles, the fire truck, the

[18:29] police equipment, the new fire equipment one.

[18:33] I left all those on here in the same amounts they were in last year because we

[18:37] need to talk about it.

[18:38] Can you email us that draft?

[18:40] Of course. Yeah, sure.

[18:47] So just that-

[18:48] Well, I think you should put that on as agenda item next week.

[18:51] Next week? Okay.

[18:51] We should come in here prepared to comment on this.

[18:53] So, the capital reserve for the bridge, the capital reserve for fire

[18:57] apparatus,

[18:58] highway equipment,

[19:01] the computer expendable trust fund, which is empty now because we've replaced two

[19:04] servers, the library maintenance, the museum capital

[19:08] reserve fund, the part-time librarian, a

[19:12] new expendable trust for police equipment, a new

[19:16] expendable trust...

[19:18] I'm sorry, a new capital reserve for fire rescue equipment,

[19:22] the contract with Plasto ALS, and some type of an ambulance

[19:26] contract, which isn't even in this draft yet.

[19:28] Right.

[19:29] The town clerk tax collector salary, which is not a big item,

[19:34] and then additional road work, and also mosquito control.

[19:39] Is it about 20 of them?

[19:40] I don't know. They're not numbered.

[19:41] I'm just calling them by name at this point, but I just read, there's at

[19:45] least 15 things I just read there.

[19:47] Right.

[19:47] This doesn't include zoning. It doesn't have the master budget article.

[19:50] I'll send you the whole thing, but this was just individual warrant articles, not

[19:53] the budget, not the zoning, that kind of stuff.

[19:55] I don't know how many zoning articles there are going to be, but-

[19:58] Right

[19:58] ... it's a lot. It's a lot for people to take in.

[20:00] So I will absolutely do that, and I'll add it next week as 10:15 agenda.

[20:05] Got it.

[20:07] All right.

[20:11] So,

[20:15] I'm going to move on to new business.

[20:17] And so I have a

[20:21] consent agenda that includes payroll in the amount of

[20:24] $53,099.92, and

[20:27] an accounts payable manifest of

[20:30] $1,088,504.54

[20:34] for the current week,

[20:36] dated 09/09/26. We got department head time sheets

[20:40] for the period ending 10/03/26. We got a manifest for avoided and

[20:44] reissued payroll checks with a net expense of zero after avoiding

[20:48] checks totaling $584.61 and reissuing

[20:52] checks

[20:53] in the same amount, $584.61.

[20:58] That's a total of four checks

[21:00] from various dates from June until September.

[21:03] We have a second issue property tax warrant of

[21:07] $7,569,665.

[21:11] This is down from the first issue, which was

[21:14] $7,841,469.

[21:20] So,

[21:22] and then we have a letter to Steve Bonaccorsi thanking

[21:26] him for his time on the budget committee.

[21:28] Can I just confirm something?

[21:31] When it comes to the accounts payable manifest-

[21:34] Yep

[21:34] ... in the amount of one million and 88-

[21:38] There's a million of that's going to the school district.

[21:41] Oh, okay.

[21:41] I was going to say.

[21:43] Yeah, there's a million to the school district.

[21:44] A million dollars is a transfer to the school.

[21:46] Yeah. It's a transfer.

[21:47] Based on that, I will make a motion to approve the

[21:51] consent agenda as read.

[21:53] Second.

[21:54] Motion has been made and seconded to approve the consent agenda as read.

[21:58] All those in favor say, "Aye."

[21:59] Aye.

[22:00] Aye.

[22:06] Thank you, sir.

[22:07] The printed agenda says 9/9. It's really 10/9. It's a typo.

[22:11] The date on those checks tomorrow is 10/9, which I think

[22:15] is what you said, but it says 9.

[22:17] All right.

[22:18] Just so you know.

[22:19] Let me correct.

[22:20] So for the current week, I said 9/9, because that's what's written here,

[22:24] but it's really 10/9.

[22:25] Sorry, 10/9, which is tomorrow. Yeah.

[22:26] All right.

[22:28] No, it's change noted. Thank you.

[22:30] Okay. My motion is to

[22:32] amend as read.

[22:36] Second.

[22:38] Okay.

[22:39] All those in favor?

[24:46] Aye.

[24:54] Here you go, son.

[25:15] I know what you're doing.

[25:17] Uh-huh.

[25:17] I know what you're doing. I know what you're up to.

[25:24] You watching him?

[25:25] Yeah.

[25:26] Like a hawk.

[25:27] He bears watching.

[25:28] Like a hawk.

[25:30] There is nothing there.

[25:31] Oh, okay.

[25:54] Oh, here we go.

[25:57] I knew you were going to say something.

[26:01] What?

[26:02] This will make a fool of my haircut.

[26:05] Oh, you had that cut since I saw you this afternoon.

[26:08] Yeah, see. I did.

[26:09] I didn't even notice that.

[26:11] I wanted to apply for a job at Unitil, the interview at Unitil, they wouldn't take

[26:14] me.

[26:16] And for good reason.

[26:28] Here.

[26:29] I'll let you get started.

[26:30] All right. Thank you.

[26:32] Because I'm thinking that if you don't have something to do, you might get in

[26:34] trouble.

[26:45] Yeah. It's like the old days, Roger,

[26:48] when you play in the house and dad goes, "Go mow the lawn."

[27:39] Here.

[27:40] Have some more.

[27:58] Oh, I understand this now, Heidi.

[28:02] I didn't understand it. I know what it is now.

[28:05] Those are your copies of them, just so we have the old number, new number with

[28:09] them.

[28:10] It's a redo for lack of cashing or something?

[28:13] Yes. Lost, went through the laundry, whatever.

[28:16] Okay.

[28:16] My dog ate it.

[28:16] I would hope one of these-

[28:17] Oh, a lot of that going on. A lot of it.

[28:21] Just tell them tough luck.

[28:23] Yeah.

[28:24] He wants you to tell them about the-

[28:25] Kathy Braun won't let me do that, she says

[28:26] ... virtues of-

[28:29] Direct deposit.

[28:31] One of those employees I got on direct deposit today.

[28:32] Well, that's what you did to me after my last one.

[28:36] Yeah.

[28:37] You chastised me-

[28:38] Yeah

[28:38] ... and told me I have to do-

[28:39] Enough so that you just felt like I had to do it, so that you don't...

[28:44] It will never happen again.

[28:45] There we go. That's what we like to hear.

[28:47] Well, if you've ever stood in line in a bank lately, you would probably go

[28:51] for the direct deposit. Here.

[28:52] Yeah, right.

[29:09] Here's the last of it.

[29:10] Perfect. Thank you.

[29:52] Like this.

[30:05] Oh, thank you.

[30:32] For you.

[30:35] I'm done, sir.

[30:37] So,

[30:37] our

[30:41] mail file includes

[30:45] email from JD Gross about Bulky Day,

[30:49] and a copy of intent to apply

[30:52] form for the Meeting House Window Moose Plate Grant.

[30:54] Andy Cole offers to put the application together.

[30:58] And then a

[31:00] copy of the,

[31:04] Budget committee vacancy posting. It's all in here.

[31:10] So anybody want to look at it?

[31:15] I found

[31:16] information on here about some of these information on job

[31:20] descriptions for road agents and

[31:23] various titles, and it varies quite a bit by scope of

[31:27] responsibility, such as a public works director and things like that.

[31:32] But I found that rather interesting. There's a lot of information there.

[31:35] Anybody want to see it, please-

[31:36] Just one minute.

[31:38] That probably wasn't in there when you looked at it earlier.

[31:39] I didn't see it.

[31:39] I'm sorry. No, it was out.

[31:40] No, that's okay.

[31:42] It wasn't-- I didn't even have it when you went in.

[31:44] I saw the request by

[31:47] an individual who's

[31:50] working to fund an Eagle Scout program.

[31:51] Eagles, yeah.

[31:52] I was looking to do a-

[31:53] Program

[31:53] ... bake sale at Bulky Day.

[31:54] Right.

[31:55] I saw your

[31:57] response to him, and I wholeheartedly agree.

[31:59] We do not want to get into any distractions down there in the

[32:03] Bulky Day, because it'll just slow up the whole process.

[32:06] Okay.

[32:06] We need people to move through and get out of there.

[32:09] I was going to suggest-

[32:10] Again, we have never allowed any campaigning down there or any of that sort.

[32:14] Right. Right. I was going to suggest

[32:17] Election Day. I might have even suggested that to him in the email-

[32:20] That's fine

[32:20] ... I'm not sure. Election Day.

[32:22] Maybe he wants to hook up with Bill Lutt.

[32:26] Paul, because Paul's raising that for one too.

[32:30] Oh, is that what Bill was talking about before?

[32:32] Yeah.

[32:32] Okay.

[32:32] It might be a little bit premature for it because he's working on it a year from

[32:36] now. But

[32:38] maybe team up and have a big yard sale.

[32:41] I mean, a big, big sale. I don't know.

[32:44] Okay.

[32:45] That's a lot of people down there. A lot of people are stressed out, and they want

[32:48] to grab three muffins on the way out the door.

[32:52] The other thing I'm thinking of is I wonder

[32:54] if he did it in the parking lot at the library that day or something.

[33:00] People come and go on a Bulky Day.

[33:04] Yeah.

[33:06] I don't know. I was just trying to think of alternatives.

[33:07] You want to do something that's obviously safe, but it's very difficult when

[33:11] we have any kind of a slowdown in there.

[33:13] It's b****r about-

[33:13] We'll put a big sign on the exit that, "Hey, there's a-

[33:17] Bake sale at the town hall or something

[33:19] ... Eagle Scout-

[33:20] Project or-

[33:20] ... bake sale in the library parking lot."

[33:24] Yeah. You could do it here would be real easy, but it's further away from the site.

[33:27] Right.

[33:27] I'm just thinking.

[33:27] Library would be best, and I wouldn't do anything without talking to

[33:31] Eric.

[33:32] No, but I could write back to him and give him Eric's email or something like that,

[33:35] and just see if it's a...

[33:37] Because there's-

[33:37] Is there a-

[33:37] ... a lot of people at the library on Saturday mornings, too.

[33:40] Yeah.

[33:41] Correct.

[33:41] All right. So I just wanted to-

[33:42] Okay

[33:43] ... run that by you and if that's the answer.

[33:44] All right. So

[33:48] it's mentioned earlier, but the DRA has set our tax rate at

[33:52] 1652.

[33:55] And so

[33:59] we just approved the

[34:03] amount of that in

[34:06] our consent agenda. So-

[34:08] All right. There's another grid-

[34:09] The bills are being prepared, and they're going to go out.

[34:11] They will be. Yeah.

[34:12] Okay. So-

[34:13] Debbie and I are going to talk about that tomorrow.

[34:15] Okay.

[34:15] There was another

[34:17] grid-

[34:19] Yeah

[34:19] ... in the pile of stuff I left for you tonight-

[34:20] Yeah. It's here

[34:21] ... that looks...

[34:23] Yeah, I can't seem to lay my hands on my own copy of it, but

[34:27] Kathy really dug into the grit of the

[34:31] changes in the tax rate. There was obviously some increases in the county one,

[34:35] which I'm assuming have to do with the new building.

[34:38] This would be the first year we would've had a bond payment on that new county

[34:41] building.

[34:41] Uh-huh. In Brentwood.

[34:42] In Brentwood.

[34:43] Yeah.

[34:44] But there are some pretty significant...

[34:47] And she went back to 2024-

[34:49] Right

[34:49] ... which is obviously pre-reval.

[34:51] So 2025 and '26, you have some consistency in terms of

[34:55] the values there because values almost doubled from '24 to

[34:59] '25 with the reval.

[35:00] Yeah.

[35:00] But there were some very significant increases in the school budget in

[35:04] '24.

[35:06] Right.

[35:06] A little bit less in '25, but the amount of state aid to

[35:09] education

[35:11] was

[35:12] very reduced in one of those years.

[35:14] Twenty five.

[35:14] It's almost like a negative number. Yeah.

[35:16] Twenty five.

[35:17] And then that's back to normal this year.

[35:19] That state does-

[35:21] But yeah. So you can-

[35:22] ... not do well in supporting education

[35:24] ... kind of just see the meld of it. I don't know.

[35:27] It would take me a little while, and I can't do it until I get on the other side of

[35:31] getting some of this budget stuff done, but

[35:33] to put together our... I usually do,

[35:36] not a fact sheet, but just an information about what the changes in the tax

[35:40] rate were.

[35:41] And I will still endeavor to try and do that this year.

[35:43] We have less questions when the tax rate goes down than we do when the tax rate

[35:47] goes up.

[35:48] Yeah.

[35:49] Not to say that it's still we don't get questions, we certainly do, but...

[35:52] Sure.

[35:53] All right.

[35:58] All right.

[36:00] So we're moving on to number five, is that correct?

[36:03] Yeah. So last Friday night I was here,

[36:06] and I took a call

[36:08] from a Brentwood resident who lives on North Road,

[36:11] on the Brentwood side of North Road, if you will, on the other side of 125 from

[36:15] here.

[36:15] Yeah.

[36:16] Just to let us know, said to me, "Hey, did you know that there's

[36:20] 100 unit..."

[36:22] I don't know if he called them apartment units.

[36:23] I think it's 118 units.

[36:25] Oh, okay. He said, I wrote in here, "Townhouses" is what he called them.

[36:28] Yeah.

[36:28] With a pickleball stadium.

[36:30] Yeah.

[36:31] So you know about this?

[36:33] Yeah, it was in the paper-

[36:35] Oh, okay

[36:35] ... the local paper today.

[36:36] Apparently, the hearing might have been last Thursday night-

[36:39] Yeah

[36:39] ... if that's when the Brentwood Planning Board meets.

[36:41] And it's really funny because Matthew Thomas was in my office

[36:45] at the time, picking up or

[36:49] dropping off something. And he had just mentioned it to me.

[36:53] And I said, "Oh, well, I don't really know much about it except somebody who's in

[36:56] my office just mentioned it to me." Anyway, he just said he was talking about the

[36:59] water usage, so... And it sounds like an open space because there's a lot of

[37:02] townhouses, and it's only 29 acres, so it's got to be a reduced density-

[37:06] Yeah

[37:06] ... kind of setup. But anyway, it was recessed to December.

[37:10] But he said it's from a well-known developer who I actually, I knew the

[37:14] developer he was talking about, who comes to meetings with engineers and lawyers

[37:18] and-

[37:18] Oh, sure

[37:18] ... just ready to go to town.

[37:21] And he was just encouraging us to watch it on YouTube or-

[37:25] Right

[37:25] ... he told me what

[37:27] venue they watch their meetings on. I think it's YouTube.

[37:35] All right. I didn't know what to do.

[37:36] I think the one thing I would say is that-

[37:38] I think you said it was... Oh, it is you two

[37:39] ... to reassure residents is that

[37:43] when you have zoning

[37:46] and you have the requirement for X number

[37:50] of acres per unit,

[37:54] and particularly when you talk about Brentwood or

[37:58] Freeman, where you're in well and septic-

[38:01] Mm-hmm

[38:01] ... then

[38:04] the requirements for your

[38:08] overall acreage

[38:12] per unit is such so that it can

[38:16] sustain the water usage and

[38:21] the septic. And although they may be

[38:25] doing open space development where they're compacting

[38:29] everything,

[38:31] at the end of the day, the overall space,

[38:35] including all the conservation

[38:39] land, is meeting that overall

[38:43] requirement. And so there shouldn't be

[38:47] overly concerns over, oh, is the water

[38:51] supply going to be

[38:53] sucked up because you're talking about a development

[38:58] spread over a number of acres, and the

[39:02] consumption per acre is within the

[39:06] normal limits of what the town allows.

[39:11] So I just wanted to make that point.

[39:16] So 28,000 gallons a day over 29 acres is like

[39:20] 1,000 gallons per acre.

[39:21] I'm not sure what the-

[39:23] I'm not sure where that number came from. That was what was quoted. I don't know.

[39:26] But in terms of if you're talking about number of

[39:30] units and the number of acres, the density

[39:33] is within the limits of what

[39:37] their zoning allows, and their zoning is

[39:42] allowance takes into account that you're in an

[39:46] aquifer or that you're dealing with wells and not

[39:50] town water.

[39:52] So lot size is determined by, a lot of the times, determined by

[39:56] water usage and sewer disposal?

[39:59] Well, no. Look,

[40:00] in terms of a single dwelling or-

[40:03] Yes. Yeah

[40:04] ... multiple dwellings-

[40:05] Right

[40:08] ... there's a density of

[40:13] units-

[40:14] Yeah. I get it

[40:15] ... and acres. And when we talk about open

[40:18] space, it's a part one and a part two.

[40:23] The part one is if you were doing a conventional development-

[40:27] Right

[40:27] ... of just regular single-family units-

[40:30] Okay

[40:30] ... with the acreage you've got and doing the

[40:33] roadways, how many units can you sustain

[40:37] on that?

[40:38] Got it. Okay.

[40:39] Like use 200 feet and two acres per house.

[40:42] Right.

[40:42] Traditional.

[40:43] And so you end up with, say,

[40:47] based on your land, you can do 30 units.

[40:50] Right. Okay.

[40:51] So when you then go to an open space

[40:54] development, you-

[40:55] What do you mean by that?

[40:57] Open space means you're compacting the

[41:00] development area, and you're putting aside

[41:04] land-

[41:04] Okay. Understood

[41:06] ... for conservation.

[41:07] Okay. Got it.

[41:07] And so if you're dealing with a 30 unit,

[41:12] rather than regular roads and everything else-

[41:15] Right

[41:15] ... you're compacting it to a smaller area.

[41:18] Understood.

[41:19] But you're putting land in conservation

[41:23] open space-

[41:24] Right

[41:25] ... to be able to offset that development.

[41:28] Got it.

[41:30] And what it does for the developer is allow them

[41:33] to develop a parcel, a

[41:37] smaller footprint,

[41:39] which means your unit cost per unit, because you

[41:43] got less road infrastructure-

[41:46] Cost-efficient. More cost-efficient

[41:47] ... more cost-efficient, and then

[41:50] the offset is you've got that open space for

[41:55] use.

[41:56] Okay. I understand. Thank you.

[42:00] You're welcome.

[42:00] It's basically-

[42:01] I'm putting my-

[42:02] If you had several lots, and you're only developing

[42:05] maybe a 5,000 square foot area in each lot, and you

[42:09] have two acres, you got,

[42:13] what is that? Close to 100,000 square feet

[42:17] of land, so you just start pulling up that excess land and

[42:22] create a larger open space.

[42:24] A good example is if you go off Susan Way-

[42:27] Yep

[42:28] ... to that new Lewis-

[42:30] Builders

[42:30] ... Builders development.

[42:32] Yep.

[42:33] They've compacted the development area, but

[42:37] have...

[42:39] And they were talking-

[42:40] A lot of extra land around it

[42:40] ... have they put any walking trails in or anything?

[42:43] Yes, I believe they have. Yes.

[42:44] They're going to. Yeah, that's part of it.

[42:45] Okay.

[42:45] There was a lot of wetland on that lot.

[42:47] And yeah, Black Rocks Village is-

[42:49] Same thing

[42:49] ... the same deal. There's open space there.

[42:51] Mashed together, but there's plenty open area around it.

[42:53] Open area around it.

[42:55] Yeah.

[42:55] Okay.

[42:56] Thank you. I was just trying to figure that out.

[42:58] Okay.

[43:00] Okay.

[43:03] So we're ready to move on to some budget items.

[43:05] So Heidi has presented us with the solid waste collection.

[43:08] I already got the solid waste one done, yeah.

[43:10] And solid waste disposal. We should know that I

[43:13] looked at the letter from Waste Management, and they

[43:17] are able to adjust their prices for inflation and the cost

[43:21] of-

[43:22] Fuel

[43:22] ... fuel. And so because fuel had been down

[43:27] in '25 compared to '24, we were getting

[43:31] a reduction

[43:33] for this year as a result of that. And now with the fuel costs-

[43:36] Yeah, we were getting a credit. Now we're getting-

[43:38] Yeah. And with the costs being what they are, it's gone up $350 a month

[43:42] above what it was At its previous highest point.

[43:45] So now it's $400 more a month.

[43:48] And for this year?

[43:49] I don't think it's going down anymore. I think it's done going down.

[43:53] Well, if they pick a high number now and they look back again next year,

[43:57] it might be lower than this high number.

[44:00] But in general, I understand your point.

[44:04] So,

[44:06] solid waste collection

[44:08] is

[44:11] in here at 402,000, and the recycling process,

[44:18] all the pickup is at 402,000 in round numbers here,

[44:22] and recycle processing is 64. And then our

[44:26] turnkey tonnage

[44:29] tipping fee is 143,000, round numbers again.

[44:36] Do we get that DES surcharge back?

[44:39] We do, but because they did not get that figured out until

[44:43] September-

[44:44] Yeah

[44:44] ... so we have only gotten one quarter so far.

[44:47] Oh, okay.

[44:47] So

[44:48] it's never going to get to be four quarters in a year.

[44:51] Well, it might by next year. We do get it back, but it is

[44:55] sluggish, and it is a pain.

[44:57] Okay. All right.

[45:00] That's mandatory. That's a state law.

[45:01] And then

[45:05] our recycling publicity is in here, our

[45:10] 53B dues.

[45:12] Our site improvements are down for a dollar, so I don't think we're going to be

[45:16] doing any.

[45:16] Right.

[45:16] That's just a placeholder.

[45:17] Yep.

[45:18] We got bulk recycling.

[45:19] Yep.

[45:20] That's bulky day, right?

[45:21] It is, yep.

[45:22] Yeah.

[45:23] So that's

[45:24] up slightly from this year.

[45:26] Yep. So this is one of the places where if I had realized

[45:30] how desperate our budget was, I would've asked you not to hold a fall

[45:34] bulky day,

[45:35] because I could've saved maybe upwards of $10,000 by not doing that.

[45:39] Yeah.

[45:41] So that's one of the things that we will look at real hard next year if we get a

[45:45] default budget.

[45:46] That'll just mean the other one is going to get overrun.

[45:49] It absolutely is. But

[45:52] something has to change.

[45:54] Yes.

[45:54] Yeah.

[45:54] So.

[45:55] I understand.

[45:55] There's some pretty big increases in this budget, and

[45:59] the vast majority of them are contracted because we have the contract with Waste

[46:02] Management that was voter approved-

[46:04] Yep

[46:04] ... which increases by 5% on top of an updated

[46:08] count based on how many new houses were built.

[46:11] Right.

[46:11] So this year, when I did that count in July of this year, it was only

[46:15] three new COs, whereas the prior year it was 22.

[46:19] Right.

[46:19] And next year, it's going to be more than 20.

[46:22] It won't be the whole 52, I don't think, but it'll be a good chunk of those houses-

[46:25] Right

[46:26] ... on Copyhold Mill.

[46:27] Right.

[46:27] So,

[46:29] our growth is what drives this.

[46:32] More people means more trash.

[46:34] Sure. Okay.

[46:35] Yeah, exactly.

[46:36] All right.

[46:37] Now that's a bulk recycling of-

[46:40] That's bulky day

[46:41] ... 16,000.

[46:42] The 16. Yep.

[46:42] That's for

[46:44] spring and fall.

[46:45] Well, it includes both, right.

[46:47] Okay. Because right now we have a

[46:50] 7,075 today.

[46:52] Yeah, we've spent half of it based on-

[46:53] Because that's the spring.

[46:55] Yeah. Yep, exactly.

[46:56] Yeah.

[46:57] Okay.

[46:58] Well,

[47:00] these numbers are what they are.

[47:03] Right.

[47:03] And so if you're looking for a

[47:07] recommendation?

[47:09] Yeah, I am.

[47:10] Okay. I'll recommend

[47:12] 4323 solid waste collection

[47:17] in the amount of

[47:18] $466,187.

[47:24] Then there is 4324

[47:28] solid waste disposal in the amount of

[47:32] $170,975.

[47:39] Then with the

[47:42] taken into the revenue-

[47:45] Those numbers don't take that into account.

[47:47] Okay.

[47:47] It's just that 631 is just the total of the two.

[47:49] Okay.

[47:49] So I'm looking at a grand total of solid waste,

[47:54] recommending

[47:55] $631,162.

[48:00] I'll second that.

[48:02] Motion's been made and seconded to recommend

[48:05] $631,162 for expense group

[48:09] 4323 solid waste collection and expense group

[48:12] 4324 solid waste disposal. All those in favor say aye.

[48:15] Aye.

[48:16] Aye.

[48:17] Aye.

[48:19] It's unanimous.

[48:22] All right.

[48:32] What would you rather-

[48:33] Our tonnage just keeps going up.

[49:02] The other thing I copied for you, which is too much to read through tonight,

[49:06] and I don't have the budget done obviously because there's so many moving parts to

[49:10] it, but the health insurance renewal package came today.

[49:13] Yep.

[49:14] It's a pretty long document. I did print it out so that you could see.

[49:18] Obviously, the largest part of that is health insurance.

[49:21] It looks like our rates weren't terrible, but certainly it's still a big number.

[49:24] It was like a 5% change.

[49:26] No, it's 5.9.

[49:27] Okay, it's 5.9.

[49:28] So say 6.

[49:30] And the other packages, I don't have last year's comparison,

[49:34] and it only gives you, in general, the group change by X.

[49:38] It doesn't mean Fremont's rates were, so I haven't figured that out.

[49:40] But those are very small numbers in comparison, the amount

[49:44] we pay for short-term and long-term disability and life insurance-

[49:47] Yep

[49:48] ... policy. It's not very big coverage at all.

[49:51] Okay.

[49:52] So that's one of the largest budgets still to finish is the personnel

[49:56] administration. That's where all those costs go.

[49:58] So we are starting to work on that.

[50:00] All right.

[50:04] Okay. Anything else on budgets today?

[50:07] I don't have any more, no. I had hoped to get more done, but-

[50:10] All right.

[50:12] Got bogged down in the tax rate and some other stuff.

[50:16] Okay. Anything on works in progress?

[50:20] No, there's all kinds of works going on. I just didn't detail out anything here.

[50:24] All right.

[50:26] Well,

[50:28] just

[50:30] kind of recap where we are on the meeting house,

[50:33] because with all the stuff we're dealing with, it'd be real easy to

[50:37] backburner that.

[50:39] Yeah. Thankfully, Andy and I think Matthew

[50:43] is doing a little bit behind the scenes too.

[50:45] But thankfully, Andy Kohlhoffer has really taken that ball and run with

[50:49] it. Today, I gave him a copy of the lead assessment,

[50:53] and I gave him the two quotes that Justin had, which are very

[50:57] different from the quotes he's collecting from specific

[51:00] restoration historical-type contractors.

[51:04] Very different approaches, very different numbers.

[51:07] But at least it was two more sets of quotes.

[51:09] He met with a second architect tonight down there.

[51:12] That's when he came in before the meeting, he was returning.

[51:14] Yeah, I drove by, and they weren't in there.

[51:16] Okay. So he's working on that. He's going to get started on the

[51:20] Moose Plate grant.

[51:22] Yeah.

[51:22] And

[51:24] Matthew and I have both offered to be a backup, but I can't carry that ball

[51:28] this time of year, so-

[51:29] So what about-

[51:29] ... he's planning to do that.

[51:36] Elchipp and Moose is the same, right?

[51:40] I don't know if that's the same grant.

[51:43] I don't think it is.

[51:45] Okay.

[51:47] I guess so much for that going on.

[51:47] I know that

[51:49] we submitted our notice of intent. I think I had put that in the mail file.

[51:52] I did that last Friday afternoon.

[51:55] Yeah.

[51:55] And

[51:58] Andy was going to start working on the Moose Plate.

[52:00] There was an email back and forth between Andy and myself, and Matthew over the

[52:03] weekend

[52:04] about working on that grant and stuff like that.

[52:07] So I don't have any more of an update than that.

[52:09] Okay.

[52:11] I know it's going to be a substantial amount of money to do just even the window

[52:15] work.

[52:15] Right.

[52:15] He was talking tonight, $150,000 to $200,000.

[52:19] Right.

[52:19] So.

[52:24] Oh, and the other thing I did today was I reached out to...

[52:26] There's a person in town I know that does asbestos testing, and I did reach

[52:30] out to her to try and figure out what that was going to cost us.

[52:33] Because the two questions that Justin was getting from every contractor he

[52:37] spoke to was, is there any lead paint, and is there any asbestos?

[52:40] Right.

[52:41] We don't necessarily think there's a...

[52:43] There's nothing in there that would make you think that there's asbestos unless it

[52:46] was used in something-

[52:47] Well, yeah

[52:49] ... I don't know.

[52:49] Sometimes-

[52:50] But

[52:50] ... adhesives or something, but-

[52:52] It could be. The building is so old

[52:53] ... given how the building was built and given how it's been maintained, I don't

[52:56] know that-

[52:57] I don't either, but we need to be able to answer the question, because Justin said

[52:59] there were some people who wouldn't come unless he could say yes, no, whatever to

[53:03] those questions.

[53:04] That's fine.

[53:04] So, yeah. So I am planning to meet with Gina on

[53:08] Monday.

[53:09] Okay.

[53:15] Anything

[53:17] do we need to follow up on in the near term here with regards to the concession

[53:21] stand and those folks?

[53:24] There is. I went down there today to take some pictures.

[53:26] I did talk with Debbie yesterday, I think, about that.

[53:30] I would like to follow up with the FAA.

[53:33] There's less stuff in there than I was expecting there to be in there, so I don't

[53:37] know if some things have been moved or not.

[53:39] But I do want to follow up with the FAA to find out about the...

[53:42] I'm assuming the five-gallon joint compound pails are

[53:45] paint,

[53:47] but I don't know that.

[53:49] Because I didn't look at the labels.

[53:50] I was in there. We were in, I didn't pay attention.

[53:52] Okay. And I could see the paint machine and that kind of thing in there.

[53:55] But

[53:56] they are very anxious to get going and to take a couple things to bulky day.

[54:00] I know that the stove belongs to us because I actually donated that stove

[54:05] 20 years ago.

[54:06] I don't know if it works or not. I don't know if-

[54:08] I would toss it

[54:08] ... they were not going to use it as a concession stand.

[54:10] The fridge is in pretty rough shape.

[54:12] Yeah.

[54:12] And again, the Coke machine, I'm pretty sure-

[54:14] Yeah, we've pretty much talked-

[54:15] ... probably must be returned

[54:16] ... that all of the appliances-

[54:18] Should go

[54:18] ... need to go.

[54:19] Okay.

[54:20] So there'll be some fees to get rid of some of that stuff, the fridge at least.

[54:23] Yeah.

[54:24] I don't know about the Coke machine.

[54:26] Like I said, I think that probably belongs to Coke and that somebody owes them it

[54:29] back. But the town didn't orchestrate getting that there, so someone from the FAA,

[54:32] probably years ago.

[54:34] Right.

[54:34] I'm assuming.

[54:35] I'm sure Coke doesn't want that, unless they got an antique collection.

[54:38] Okay. And maybe they don't. Okay.

[54:41] So we are working on it. I told Debbie to keep kicking my chair about it.

[54:44] She's very anxious to make something happen with it, and I'm-

[54:53] Yeah, we got a number of things going on.

[54:56] Yes.

[55:01] Anything else for the public portion of this meeting?

[55:05] I'll entertain a motion to go into non-public for our personnel.

[55:09] I'll make a motion to go into non-public,

[55:12] help me with the numbers.

[55:13] 91A 32C.

[55:14] 91A 32C.

[55:16] Yeah, I always had that tip of the tongue. I'll second that.

[55:19] All right.

[55:20] The motion's been made to go and

[55:22] seconded to go into non-public under 91A 32C.

[55:26] Aye.

[55:26] All those in favor say aye.

[55:28] Aye.

[55:29] Aye.

Fremont Select Board meeting, October 8, 2026

Transcript