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[3:58] a
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[5:01] started um select board meeting calling
[5:04] to order November 1st 2023 in attendance
[5:07] you have Molly Keegan Joyce chungo Jane
[5:10] Nevan Smith Randy eizer and myself Amy
[5:16] Parsons in accordance with Mass General
[5:18] Law chapter 202 chapter 22 of the acts
[5:21] of 2022 signed by the governor on
[5:23] February 15 2022 I announced that this
[5:27] meeting of the select board is being
[5:28] recorded by how media the select board's
[5:31] office via zoom and ask if there is
[5:33] anyone present who is also recording
[5:35] this
[5:38] meeting no one
[5:40] else all right let the minutes reflect
[5:43] that no one else indicated that they are
[5:45] recording this
[5:47] meeting all
[5:54] right right so we're going to go ahead
[5:55] and start with 2.1 um housing and
[5:58] economic development mment
[6:02] committee
[6:04] Le um yes so thanks for letting uh
[6:07] committee come tonight I think we have
[6:10] uh Justin paland Mark Howard Bill dwire
[6:14] myself um there may be other people on
[6:17] Zoom um but as you know this is a
[6:19] committee that's appointed by the select
[6:21] board and and we've been working with
[6:22] the select board as well as the planning
[6:24] board we kind of kind of sit in between
[6:26] if you will um so one of the things that
[6:29] we're working on we wanted to uh come
[6:32] before the select board tonight to see
[6:34] if we could get um feedback or general
[6:37] agreement on how to proceed and um
[6:40] specifically it relates to uh having a
[6:44] housing Forum in Hadley and it's
[6:46] intended to be an
[6:48] educational Forum it's not um to
[6:51] advocate for any particular type of
[6:52] Housing and it's actually uh recommended
[6:56] as a u an action item uh as a result of
[6:59] the housing production plan that was
[7:00] completed so I was going to ask um Mark
[7:03] and Justin did the work on the outline
[7:06] that you have in your board documents so
[7:10] would you mind coming
[7:22] and thank you Molly uh name and address
[7:25] record right no you don't need to know
[7:27] it's not necessary okay good um well
[7:30] thank you everybody for hearing us
[7:31] tonight uh as Molly mentioned the
[7:33] housing production plan which is a very
[7:35] comprehensive plan and also involved the
[7:37] survey of residents of Hadley um as far
[7:40] as I understand it was one of the
[7:41] highest response rates that we've
[7:43] received on anything of the like uh and
[7:45] from that survey there were three
[7:47] priorities identified by residents that
[7:50] they would like the town to focus on I'm
[7:53] going to forget the order of them but
[7:54] one of them was uh zoning bylaws one of
[7:57] them was education and and one of them
[7:59] was uh uh access and Equitable housing
[8:04] stock or diversity in housing stock um
[8:06] so we sort of recognized as a committee
[8:08] that the first two weren't really things
[8:10] that we could address without addressing
[8:13] the third which was education so the as
[8:15] Molly mentioned the point of these
[8:16] sessions would be to basically provide
[8:19] as much information as possible so that
[8:21] when issues around these topics come up
[8:23] for vote residents have the information
[8:25] they need to make an informed decision
[8:27] so the strategy uh was outlined in the
[8:30] abstract is that we'd like to hold a two
[8:31] session Forum session one would be
[8:34] basically just providing the information
[8:36] having a set of panelists experts in
[8:38] their field talk about specific
[8:40] situations specific issues things that
[8:42] come up frequently in these
[8:43] conversations perhaps try to dispel some
[8:45] myths around some of these things and
[8:47] then session two after people have had a
[8:49] chance to digest would be a question and
[8:50] answer session format is uncertain at
[8:53] this time but the idea being that we can
[8:55] field questions from the residents from
[8:56] the public and help to May maybe inform
[8:59] that narrative help to craft the
[9:01] narrative so that when anything comes up
[9:04] for vote they have the information that
[9:06] they need their questions have been
[9:07] answered and they can make informed
[9:10] decisions and the intent would be um you
[9:13] know if there's General consensus from
[9:16] the the select board this evening that
[9:18] um either you're you're fine with us
[9:20] proceeding accordingly or you know if
[9:22] you'd prefer that we hold off and you
[9:24] have more questions um The Next Step um
[9:27] is to have the same
[9:29] uh ask for the same audience with the
[9:31] planning board they're meeting next
[9:33] Tuesday um so I think Bill was going to
[9:35] work on getting us on the agenda to make
[9:38] sure that the planning board is also
[9:39] aware of this I mean obviously we didn't
[9:41] want to go out and start planning a
[9:42] public for without letting the uh
[9:45] planning board and select board uh be
[9:46] aware of it so again um educational only
[9:50] it's not intended to promote or or steer
[9:53] anybody in a particular direction uh a
[9:55] lot of people have been asking questions
[9:57] about you know how
[10:00] who changes the zoning you know um you
[10:02] know what is power of planning board
[10:04] what's power of town
[10:05] meeting um Etc
[10:09] so so just any questions from the select
[10:13] board at this point do you have dates
[10:15] set for it Molly any idea no we we were
[10:18] talking about trying to Target um maybe
[10:21] you know January February time frame and the thought is if that you know this
[10:27] goes well again as as Justin pointed out
[10:30] um it's really just trying to get
[10:32] information into the hands of whoever's
[10:34] interested in it um and Bill was
[10:37] thinking along the lines or he made a
[10:39] comment at our committee meeting that
[10:41] you know if the format works out it may
[10:43] wind up um we can learn from it maybe
[10:46] it's a good opportunity so if down the
[10:48] road let's say that there's you know a
[10:50] 40b or a 40R or whatever type of project
[10:54] or you're just a private developer
[10:55] wanting to put in um housing units this
[10:59] could be a good format to come to the
[11:02] public to get feedback in advance of a
[11:04] public um body making a a recommendation
[11:07] or a decision so I think that's that's
[11:10] what we're gearing towards do you see
[11:12] the Forum as being a zoom thing or a
[11:15] public in person or a combo I think
[11:19] we're hoping for hybrid um to get as
[11:21] much participation as possible and then
[11:24] hopefully um we'd probably be hoping
[11:26] that a Hadley media would cover it as
[11:31] well okay Amy got a hand over
[11:37] yes yeah
[11:46] sorry I'm Justin hel resy for the last
[11:51] seven
[11:52] years and I'm Mark Howard I'm a resident
[11:55] for the last 30 something yeah they're
[11:59] members of the housing uh and economic
[12:02] development committee
[12:04] Dan that choice you yeah I mean I guess
[12:07] um I'm just reading your agenda the
[12:11] introduction and and things of that
[12:13] nature um so this is basically how
[12:16] things were going to be talked about and
[12:18] I think uh very important for people to
[12:22] look at these um and it is on the agenda
[12:27] for tonight that if you want to see what
[12:29] it's about I mean introduction uh some
[12:33] are being presented by the
[12:35] pbpc um overview of town government
[12:39] procedures the zoning bylaws uh that
[12:42] would be the planning board again the
[12:45] PBC will be talking you'll have school
[12:47] input on this uh the police chief uh
[12:51] Fire Chief and DPW director will also
[12:53] speak on this so it's all what will
[12:56] involve the whole community and what
[12:58] might be involved D in
[13:00] changing the atmosphere of the town and
[13:03] I encourage people to take a look at
[13:05] this agenda and see what it's about and
[13:09] you know having your input we don't want
[13:12] to do
[13:13] anything you know back door we want to
[13:15] keep people a breast of what's going on
[13:17] and how people are thinking and
[13:19] everybody's thoughts and everything
[13:21] should be heard so please take a look at
[13:23] the agenda um on what they want to do
[13:27] and what they want to present
[13:29] yeah very quickly thank you joice to
[13:31] that point I'll just read the the
[13:33] outline that Justin and and Mark worked
[13:35] on putting together um so basic
[13:38] introduction from pioner Valley Planning
[13:40] Commission and by the way the speakers
[13:42] we haven't actually um again we didn't
[13:44] want to get ahead of ourselves so we're
[13:46] hoping to reach out to the police chief
[13:49] who's sitting in the back who knows
[13:50] nothing about this um but an overview of
[13:54] town government and procedures which is
[13:55] this process uh zoning zoning bylaws and
[13:58] rezoning um process by the planning
[14:01] board um and then
[14:04] uh the H Hadley master plan school
[14:07] system and enrollment infrastructure and
[14:09] services business and economic
[14:12] considerations uh social and Community
[14:14] considerations again that would be the
[14:16] presentation and then uh plenty of time
[14:19] for people to think about it come up
[14:20] with questions that would be a second
[14:22] session if I can um just to clarify that
[14:25] outline is a suggestion I think the
[14:28] intent is when we actually engage with
[14:30] whoever the respective you know call it
[14:32] expert in their field is uh we're trying
[14:34] to provide some guard rails just to help
[14:36] frame the discussion but we ultimately
[14:37] want them to be the ones to author their
[14:39] own information so that you know they're able to give an unbiased and
[14:43] objective opinion on some of these
[14:44] subjects and that I think that's the
[14:46] thing I wanted to present that people
[14:48] should be aware of what the presentation
[14:51] is and what the thoughts are of this
[14:53] committee and how we should proceed as a
[14:56] town because it's not going to be
[14:57] anything that wouldn't happen to go
[14:58] through town meeting but people should
[15:01] certainly be aware of
[15:05] everything Amy friend yes I just have a
[15:10] question how do these two folks this
[15:13] board
[15:27] this sure I can give you um quick
[15:30] background Brenda um the housing and
[15:32] economic development committee was
[15:33] formed four or five years ago at this
[15:37] point um Christian Stanley was still on
[15:39] the select board so I I think it dates
[15:42] back about four years um and some of the
[15:44] players have changed over time but just
[15:47] like every other uh appointed Committee
[15:49] in town every year um we let people know
[15:53] if there are vacancies right so Jennifer
[15:55] puts the vacancies out and then anybody
[15:57] who has a particular interest in
[15:59] volunteering um can reach out and ask to
[16:02] be on the committee so at some point in
[16:04] time I don't remember exactly when both
[16:06] um Mark and Justin I didn't know app
[16:10] that sure I just make sure C is
[16:14] invol that will be part of um when uh
[16:18] whether it's Bill DWI or somebody else
[16:19] talks about process absolutely CBA will
[16:22] be included in
[16:24] that
[16:27] okay so this is really kind of just
[16:29] information and they not really are you
[16:32] asking are you asking for a yes go ahead
[16:36] we approve this and we'd like to plan
[16:38] let's have Forum yeah again if anybody
[16:40] has that we have a forum for the housing
[16:44] uh Economic Development second okay
[16:47] motion did
[16:49] by um Jane second did by Randy any
[16:53] further discussion any questions that
[16:56] the residents have can be
[16:59] you know asked at that point um as
[17:05] well oh sorry all those in
[17:08] favor all oppos same sign excellent
[17:11] sorry the last couple of meetings we've
[17:12] been doing roll call voting thank you
[17:14] for
[17:17] coming okay um so the hearing doesn't
[17:21] start until 6:30 so we'll continue on
[17:23] and we'll go ahead and move into public
[17:26] comments so the public comment is a a
[17:29] period of 15 minutes um please limit
[17:32] your comments to 3 minutes um and that
[17:36] will give other people an opportunity to
[17:38] speak is there anyone here for public
[17:43] comments so um if you're physically here
[17:46] um just come on up to the the microphone
[17:49] here so that the people yeah so the
[17:51] microphone isn't going to like make it
[17:53] loud and here it's going to make it so
[17:55] the people online can hear you speak so
[17:58] come on
[17:59] up just introduce your name you don't
[18:01] have to give your address it's not town
[18:04] meeting well I'm Brenda fing Kevin from
[18:07] havy and um I was just wondering I'm
[18:11] very
[18:12] concerned about I didn't realize until I
[18:15] saw it in the newspaper that we have um
[18:19] residents that are being housed at the
[18:22] nightly Hotel I guess it is up the road
[18:26] how is that going to impact us and has
[18:28] any body did an investigation as to
[18:31] where these folks came from you know
[18:34] I'm I care about people and especially
[18:37] kids but I also care about the town
[18:39] Safety the town's people's
[18:41] safety I wonder how this is going to
[18:44] affect our schools and all of the other
[18:46] things is anybody going to get together
[18:48] and and you know produce some kind of a
[18:51] meeting to talk about this because I
[18:53] know there's a lot of people that are
[18:54] Furious about this they're very upset
[18:56] about this so um what I can respond to
[18:59] you with is that it is on the agenda
[19:01] this evening okay to have um information
[19:05] to the public on that okay because this
[19:08] is really important to an awful lot of
[19:10] folks that we I mean safety is first and
[19:14] foremost and I know that our governor
[19:17] key has
[19:19] been you know uh in in communication
[19:23] with the Biden
[19:25] Administration you know about trying to
[19:27] fund things and I I I hope the heck that
[19:30] they're not going to put this on the
[19:31] backs of the Howley residents to front
[19:33] and it's been happening all over the
[19:35] country so I appreciate that thank
[19:39] you is there anyone else here for public
[19:41] comments physically or
[19:44] online I don't see any handr
[19:47] online
[19:50] okay move on
[19:52] then 4.1 consent agenda warrant AP 2416
[19:58] s ap2
[20:00] 416 AP 2415 AP 2415 D2 ap2
[20:07] 415s also the minutes from February 2
[20:11] 22nd uh March 1st 2023 March 15th 2023
[20:16] April 5th
[20:17] 2023 and April 12th
[20:21] 2023 also we have climate change
[20:24] committee resignation from Susan Moser
[20:27] we have Hadley media appointment Patrick
[20:31] Lael bylaw committee resignation of Dan
[20:35] sedic one day liquor license for a top
[20:38] of Campus fan Fan Fest pull that off um
[20:42] let me finish reading it top of Campus
[20:45] FanFest November 3rd 2023 outdoor
[20:48] Southeast corner of Mullen Center
[20:50] conditional upon fire department
[20:52] approval with fire inspection and or
[20:54] fire
[20:55] watch DPW assistant mchan appointment
[20:59] Seth Wright and also a one-day liquor
[21:01] license for the Newman Center at UMass
[21:04] V1 vodka November 19th 2023 and December
[21:08] 16 2023 can we pull that one for a
[21:11] question we pulling both liquor licenses
[21:13] is Newman Center and Hadley is Newman
[21:15] Center and Hadley at1 vodka yeah so
[21:19] we're just doing
[21:21] them they pull the license B1 vodka the
[21:24] new pulls the license for and they have
[21:27] an event at B1 vodka
[21:28] and the proceed not the other way around
[21:30] no but it is important to note that it's
[21:33] the um mass movement Center will a
[21:35] license but we're here it is here the
[21:38] event is here at their location but it's
[21:40] the m center who the got it think and I
[21:44] think bottom thing on clarifies that do
[21:47] we need any further discussion on do we
[21:49] need the campus so is the um hold on a
[21:53] second is there anything that we want to
[21:55] pull off to further discuss right now so
[21:58] anyone have anything I just wanted to
[21:59] make sure that we were good on the
[22:00] parking and everything for the V1
[22:03] because I know they don't really have
[22:06] any okay then I'm fine with it is
[22:09] everyone fine with the consent agenda
[22:12] okay motion to approve second all right
[22:14] motion by Molly seconded by Joyce any
[22:17] further discussion seeing none all those
[22:20] in favor say I I all oppos same sign
[22:23] excellent
[22:25] unanimous um we still have about 12
[22:28] minutes do you think we can do the
[22:29] Russell school committee feasibility
[22:31] study y all right so
[22:34] um the Russell Russell School
[22:36] feasibility study group um we had four
[22:41] interviews um with four potential indiv
[22:46] uh
[22:47] firms so did you
[22:50] want we had four proposals um all were
[22:54] qualified some were better than others
[22:55] we used a scoring criteria it was uh
[22:58] Scott McCarthy uh because Gary Berg
[23:00] could not be there as Building
[23:02] Maintenance supervisor uh he was at of
[23:04] training so Scott sat in his place Tommy
[23:07] quinland our building inspector Jennifer
[23:11] myself and Amy and so we had several
[23:14] questions we rated the questions we
[23:16] followed the criteria from highly ADV
[23:19] advant Advantage advantageous and to not
[23:23] qualified or you know and so um the good
[23:28] thing is there were two extremely
[23:30] qualified firms the bad news is they
[23:33] were close enough that although some of
[23:37] the interviewers US scored them as
[23:41] first when we scored their numbers Al
[23:43] together they came in second and vice
[23:45] versa does if that makes sense so it
[23:47] didn't NE necessarily mean who was your
[23:49] first choice because we all the numbers
[23:51] were scored so um I I did talk with Amy
[23:54] I I would I think the recommendation
[23:57] should be because they were so close to
[23:59] have that group reconvene with some very
[24:01] specific questions that will meet ahead
[24:03] of time that will really go dig deeper
[24:05] about their qualifications and how it
[24:07] matches to what Hadley's desire is for
[24:09] that re reuse feasibility study so that
[24:11] would be my recommendation is that we
[24:13] would move forward that it's not not
[24:14] necessar that you have to vote on it but
[24:16] that's what we would I think would be
[24:18] the best thing for Hadley and when would
[24:20] you do that when would you as soon as
[24:22] possible yeah and what about the cost so
[24:26] with with RF Q request for
[24:28] qualifications you're not looking for
[24:30] cost you're telling them the max so we
[24:31] had we had authorized 40,000 for that so
[24:35] that the cost of that doesn't um come
[24:38] into play all of them all of them can in
[24:40] under 40 but that cannot be a part of
[24:43] the um when you're doing designer a
[24:45] designability
[24:47] yeah I think what you're asking for
[24:49] makes sense yeah yeah they were very
[24:52] close and whoever had you know one of
[24:55] them as their first
[24:56] place
[24:58] the second place was the other first
[25:01] place so it was those two were either
[25:03] first or second for
[25:05] everybody it's good to bring them both
[25:07] back and then have interview two
[25:11] companies that are yeah there there
[25:12] really was four which was really great
[25:15] to see after you know some of the bid
[25:18] processes that we've been going through
[25:19] so to have two be outstanding was great
[25:22] yeah good thank you all right we're good
[25:25] with
[25:26] that okay
[25:28] moving all right so um we have Scott on
[25:32] the line and so we do have some tree
[25:35] dedications one in memory of
[25:39] David chus
[25:42] Chulas and one uh dedicated to Michael
[25:46] kosi so if you want to speak on that
[25:49] Scott good evening uh I was uh
[25:53] approached by the uh uh chois family
[25:58] or the the town was of all planting a
[26:00] memorial tree for uh him in his memory
[26:04] of uh being a person here in Hadley uh
[26:09] so uh we picked a spite a spot over on
[26:13] North Lane uh Bel the Dyke uh I I I was
[26:18] told that he like to walk that area on a
[26:20] daily basis and uh you know spend some
[26:24] time there and you know do his thing and
[26:27] I thought it was appropriate to uh plant
[26:30] it there uh as the family's request uh
[26:34] so uh the tree was planted a couple
[26:36] weeks ago it's because of the time frame
[26:39] of trying to get in the ground uh and
[26:42] try to get it establish a little bit
[26:44] before uh winter sets in so uh uh that
[26:48] was done and we had another spot over
[26:51] there and talking to uh uh my guys about
[26:56] uh trees and Etc ra it was brought to my
[26:59] attention that the DPW would like to uh
[27:04] dedicate a tree to uh Mr kamasi uh he
[27:08] was a superintendent of DPW for 40 year
[27:11] over 40 years and uh tree Warden here he
[27:15] uh did a lot for the community
[27:17] especially with the trees uh so we
[27:19] thought it was uh be a nice spot for him
[27:22] to have a tree dedicated uh for his
[27:26] service
[27:28] sounds good thank you so moved
[27:32] second I motioned by Joyce and seconded
[27:37] by
[27:38] Molly to approve those dedic to approve
[27:40] the
[27:42] dedications roll call vote no oh I'm
[27:46] sorry all those in
[27:48] favor all
[27:51] opposed excellent thank you thank you all right so we still have
[27:58] five minutes I think we can do the
[27:59] election date one that's you'll probably
[28:00] still have to wait a couple minutes for
[28:02] the hearing this will be quick okay so
[28:05] the election date and early voting we
[28:07] need to do three separate
[28:08] votes so y so I put it on there you have
[28:13] vote to have the special election on
[28:15] December
[28:16] 12th um from at the senior center from
[28:19] 12: to 8 which has been your standard
[28:22] practice uh you have to vote on those
[28:23] two questions and then you have to vote
[28:26] to allow early voting in person starting
[28:29] Thursday November 30th through Thursday
[28:31] December 7th at the Town Hall from 9:30
[28:34] a.m. to 3:30 PM just a note early voting
[28:38] by mail is automatic unless the select
[28:40] board opts out which is at least 45 days
[28:42] before the election after a public
[28:44] hearing it really is a tight tight
[28:46] schedule in order for you to do that if you have a desire to opt out of
[28:50] that why would we want to opt out of
[28:54] it
[28:56] um and can we that the clerk is
[29:01] recommending all of this right she
[29:03] is yes she's recommending the date we
[29:06] went through the date time yes thank you
[29:08] so like for the voting by mail like yeah
[29:10] there's no action that needs to be taken
[29:11] as long as we are all in agreeance that
[29:14] it is okay to vote by
[29:16] mail okay excellent okay motion to
[29:20] approve holding a special election on
[29:22] December 12th 2023 at the senior center
[29:25] within the hours of 12: noon to 8: p.m.
[29:28] second okay motioned by Molly seconded
[29:31] by Randy is there any further
[29:33] discussion all those in favor I all
[29:36] opposed okay unanimous second
[29:42] one okay so the second one we have to
[29:45] vote on the two questions to be put onto
[29:47] the ballot can I get a motion for that
[29:50] please motion I have two questions on
[29:52] the ballot should probably from town
[29:54] meetings read each one vote on each one
[29:57] okay each one each one separately
[30:00] okay so the first question had to do
[30:04] with the fire truck and the second two
[30:07] lockers so if you pull up it's on one of
[30:10] your documents word for word you do have
[30:12] to do with wording for so um motion to
[30:14] select board by the two-thirds vote to
[30:16] seek voter approval at a special
[30:17] election to exclude from the provisions
[30:19] of general laws chapter 59 section 21 C
[30:23] the funds required for the payment of
[30:24] principal and interest on bonds note or
[30:26] certific ific ation of
[30:30] indebtedness I think someone can second
[30:32] that I'll
[30:33] second motioned by myself seconded by
[30:36] Jane any further
[30:39] discussion
[30:41] okay all those in favor please by by all
[30:44] right
[30:47] excellent um other
[30:51] motion
[30:55] was hold on
[31:00] that one do the town administra report
[31:03] in four minutes no no we still have to
[31:05] do the the second we have to do the
[31:07] other motion
[31:09] oh okay
[31:11] [Music]
[31:12] um same yeah no it's I have to find the
[31:16] one for the fire truck if you read the
[31:19] same U moved in SEC the same
[31:23] motion add question to to it Amy I think
[31:25] you'll be all set okay um motion of the
[31:28] select board by a two-thirds vote to
[31:29] seek voter approval at a special
[31:31] election to exclude from the provisions
[31:33] of General Law chapter 59 section 21 C
[31:36] the funds required for the payment of
[31:38] principal and interest on bonds note or
[31:40] certifications of
[31:41] indebtedness um for the fire truck lad
[31:47] soov second all right motioned by Joyce
[31:50] seconded by Jane all those in
[31:52] favor okay and the last one we have to
[31:55] do um is to to vote to um a motion to
[32:00] allow early voting in person starting
[32:02] Thursday November 30th through Thursday
[32:04] September 7th at the Town Hall from 9:30
[32:06] am. to 3:30 p.m. December 7th right uh
[32:10] I'm sorry November 30th through Thursday
[32:14] December 7th at the Town Hall from all
[32:17] right motion by Joyce seconded by
[32:20] second Randy
[32:23] CH all those in favor I I excellent Amy
[32:27] I got distracted you voted on the date
[32:29] correct yes that was the first one that
[32:31] we
[32:32] did we did the date the two questions
[32:35] separately and the um early voting in
[32:38] person so we technically did four votes
[32:40] I don't want Jessica mad at
[32:42] me everything is good
[32:46] there um do you want three minutes for
[32:48] your time Miss report was 28 now so
[32:52] minutes just wait we can wait you can
[32:55] wait we can wait a couple minutes
[32:58] um to continue the public hearing two
[33:18] minut lesser is out
[33:23] there okay I see that
[33:33] almost not in to sit and wait sure you
[33:36] can right
[33:37] there congratulations to you thank you
[33:40] very much how's it
[33:42] going Three's a
[33:44] lot three number three is the
[33:47] best
[33:49] yeah depending on the age difference how
[33:52] old is the oldest one six so almost
[33:54] seven almost three and then August
[33:57] almost yeah he's the best sleeper though
[34:00] so and all males all two girls and a
[34:04] little boy hope you saved the best for
[34:07] last yeah they take care of them yeah
[34:09] already you can tell nice that's awesome
[34:12] thank I've got two girls and a boy it'll
[34:14] change I'm sure I'm sure it they can see
[34:18] it
[34:22] already Okay
[34:35] wanted to know if I wanted preo for
[34:39] dinner it
[34:41] yet no before 9 o'clock or 10
[34:47] o'cl 6:30 go for it all right it is 6:30
[34:52] um so we're going to go into the
[34:53] appointments and the young men's club
[34:56] public hearing
[34:59] continuation all right perfect would you
[35:01] like to start yeah yeah if I may uh for
[35:03] the record Tom re attorney with bacon
[35:05] Wilson out of am here on behalf of the
[35:07] young men's club um so last we were here
[35:11] to discuss this I think was back in June 7th I think and and the directive
[35:17] was to go and to figure out a
[35:22] solution um to look at the license and
[35:24] to figure out if there's something else
[35:25] that that we could do um we have it's
[35:29] taken
[35:30] admittedly at my fault a lot longer than
[35:32] it should have uh but we've had some
[35:35] discussions I've talked to the Town
[35:36] Administrator I've talked with Jennifer
[35:38] we've talked with the abcc I've talked
[35:40] to them a couple times but once jointly
[35:42] with both the Town Administrator and
[35:44] Jennifer uh about just a a plan going
[35:47] forward and so one of the things that we
[35:49] had discussed when we were here in
[35:53] June
[35:55] um um hold on we need pause for a second
[36:00] you are recording
[36:05] us we just have to not it we just have
[36:07] to note in our minutes that you're doing
[36:09] it no you totally can we
[36:11] just can you
[36:15] say sorry no
[36:19] problemes excellent thank you so when we
[36:22] were here in June we had talked about
[36:24] potential Solutions we had suggested
[36:26] potentially
[36:27] you know one of the solutions was
[36:28] getting a general on premisis all
[36:30] alcohol license and for a few different
[36:32] reasons that was disfavored both by the
[36:34] club and likely by the town um and so
[36:38] the solution has turned out to be an
[36:41] alteration of the premises so right now
[36:43] the club has a section 12 which has
[36:45] different facets to it they have a club
[36:48] license and so it would be to have that
[36:51] club license be on a portion of the
[36:53] premises it's really the the Westerly
[36:56] kind of North Westerly side where the
[36:57] building is um today we've hand
[36:59] delivered to Jennifer we've submitted to
[37:01] the abcc that application for an
[37:04] alteration of the license it's
[37:06] alteration of the premises so that be
[37:08] that will be in front of you at some
[37:10] point in the future so we can actually
[37:12] discuss you know that license Amendment
[37:16] but our thought is with that Amendment
[37:18] it eliminates it we'll we'll talk about
[37:21] the public events in a minute but at
[37:23] least eliminates any issue with the deck
[37:25] or anything that occurs outside like the
[37:27] Cars and Coffee so that's the solution
[37:31] um part of the solution the the second
[37:33] part of the solution and this is what we
[37:35] talked about with Ralph sacon the
[37:37] executive director of the abcc was
[37:40] having the ability to have section 14
[37:43] which are one- day licenses on the
[37:45] balance of that property and so we
[37:48] haven't submitted for any of those the
[37:50] intent would be at some point in the
[37:53] future well ahead of time based upon
[37:55] what we've heard from police fire and
[37:57] building so that there's enough time to
[38:00] give everyone time to plan for those
[38:02] events would be to submit applications
[38:05] ideally for the three events that uh the
[38:09] young men's club would be looking for at
[38:10] once ideally to have those issued at one
[38:14] time with whatever conditions the board
[38:16] sees fit assuming that a lot of that's
[38:18] going to be coming from police fire
[38:20] building and then whatever else the the
[38:22] board wants to impose based upon what
[38:25] they've heard to date so
[38:27] if we need take the property as that
[38:28] rectangle all we're going to be talking
[38:30] about when we talk about alteration of
[38:31] the premises is kind of the upper left
[38:34] corner if you're looking at it with
[38:36] north um being the top of that page and
[38:39] then at some point we'll come in with
[38:40] those section 14 application requests
[38:43] for the balance of the property so that
[38:46] was you know thanks to Jennifer thanks
[38:48] to Carolyn that was kind of the result
[38:50] of all the conversations that we've had
[38:52] so you know we're hopeful that this
[38:54] evening um the board decides to take no
[38:57] action and just close this matter and
[38:59] then we'll have opportunities in the
[39:00] future to discuss the section 12 club
[39:03] and then at some point those section 14
[39:06] one day licenses and can I just ask um
[39:09] from a process standpoint whether that's
[39:11] um from you Tom or Jennifer and Carolyn
[39:15] so sorry no I was just okay so are you
[39:18] looking at the process for the
[39:20] alteration yeah I was just going to ask
[39:23] what would happen at the very next so
[39:25] meeting um we can't ask questions
[39:27] tonight about the alteration um what
[39:30] would happen is there would have to be a
[39:33] public hearing about that in the future
[39:37] um so I as long as okay you can ask your
[39:42] question not not discussing it just
[39:45] procedurally yeah yeah so thank thank
[39:48] you Amy okay sorry so I think you
[39:51] answered part of it so um presuming that
[39:54] you want to move forward within
[39:56] alteration of a liquor license um the
[39:59] process would be that you would make the
[40:02] application to the licensing
[40:05] coordinator and then it's been submitted
[40:08] yep again I'm just generally asking so
[40:11] it goes to liquor license that we
[40:13] receive we accept it then I will reach
[40:16] out to the attorney or the lensey
[40:18] depending on work with them for the buts
[40:21] list the butters notification the public
[40:22] he
[40:24] process um
[40:27] will happen December December 6 would be
[40:30] the meeting that I would probably try to
[40:32] put it on for yep um because the license
[40:36] goes until December 31st we would have
[40:38] to get that cleared up
[40:41] beforehand before renal public
[40:44] hearing they'll renew how they are
[40:47] there's no way the abcc is going to be
[40:49] able to renew or alter somebody's
[40:51] premise in the middle of a newal season
[40:53] so they'll stay how they are until then
[40:55] until the ABC has time okay um so my
[41:00] recommendation personally and for the
[41:03] board would be to close the public
[41:06] hearing without finding and move forward
[41:09] with their recommendations I would like
[41:12] to say one thing before we do that Amy
[41:14] I'm in agreement with that I just have a
[41:16] concern about your uh talking about the
[41:20] three major
[41:21] events I believe the board has the
[41:24] authority to Grant a one-day liquor
[41:25] license I don't believe we have the
[41:27] authority to Grant permission to have
[41:30] the event so just keep that in in mind
[41:34] when we're going
[41:37] forward
[41:39] okay so can I get a motion one
[41:46] so what we're what my recommendation was
[41:49] is that we close this hearing that's
[41:51] been going on for three
[41:53] months as no finding
[41:57] that and at a later date we would have
[42:02] because they've already submitted an
[42:05] alteration um to their Club license we
[42:07] would have to go through the process of
[42:09] a public hearing and everything so it's
[42:11] best for us to say today that we have no
[42:16] findings okay I move that we close this
[42:18] hearing with no findings okay she needs
[42:21] to finish her statement no that was it good I'll second that okay so
[42:27] motioned by Jane seconded by chy is
[42:31] there any further
[42:34] discussion okay all those in favor I I
[42:37] all opposed excellent thank you thank
[42:41] you good seeing you again thank Youk you
[42:44] better get home we'll see you
[42:48] soon
[42:50] way say
[42:52] last get
[42:55] SLE being recorded oh
[42:59] no okay so just thank Adam he was so
[43:03] Adam thank you for being
[43:06] here you're welcome nice to see you all
[43:09] you
[43:10] too it's always a good day when your
[43:12] attorney doesn't have to speak
[43:14] much is okay um so we're gonna go
[43:19] into uh
[43:21] 6.3 and we do have Senator Joe here as
[43:24] well as Annie McKenzie
[43:26] um school
[43:27] superintendent um this is in regards
[43:33] to um the well I'm Not Gon to call it
[43:38] that I know it's on I know it's on the
[43:39] agenda but I'm not going to call it that
[43:40] at the moment so me we're going to TP at
[43:42] the shelter right now yes okay yes I I
[43:44] can help kind of segue this so on the
[43:47] agenda item uh that the one one of the
[43:50] topics is to uh an emergency declaration
[43:53] to state of an emergency that discussion
[43:55] was about about a week ago when as you
[43:57] know the task force was got had gotten
[43:59] put together we had had conversations
[44:00] with the senator and the representative
[44:03] and really weren't sure about where we
[44:04] are are at with that um so I spoke with
[44:08] Chief spank Naval he's on vacation but I
[44:10] did speak with him and he feels right
[44:12] now it's premature we're still exploring
[44:15] just so you know that task force is is
[44:18] keeping in contact we have as an entity
[44:21] um graciously allowed Annie McKenzie to
[44:24] be our point of contact for this
[44:26] so she has been doing a fabulous job of
[44:28] coordinating conversations throughout
[44:30] our emails as well as with um Senator
[44:33] cumerford and representative Carrie so
[44:36] I'm really happy that Senator cumerford
[44:37] could be here um that Annie could be
[44:39] here and I I guess I'm not sure which
[44:42] one of you kind of wants to start Annie
[44:44] or Joe but I think it would be really
[44:45] helpful to kind of bring us to where
[44:48] we're at right now I I certainly have a
[44:51] summary Senator and I also defer if you
[44:54] would prefer to start it's entirely up
[44:56] to you superintendent please lead and I
[44:58] will I will catch up um whatever you
[45:01] whatever um is applicable for my part of
[45:04] this that hasn't been covered great
[45:07] thank you thank you for inviting us to
[45:09] speak thank you very much senator for
[45:11] being here and also for other members of
[45:13] the task force that our town
[45:15] administrators so astutely and quickly
[45:17] convened I'm happy to give to provide
[45:20] information just in a general update on
[45:23] the emergency shelter that's currently
[45:25] operating in
[45:26] Hadley the state of Massachusetts has
[45:28] booked 12 rooms and one room is being
[45:31] used to space for the National Guard
[45:34] Storage uh areas and um just for
[45:38] coordination in the remaining 11 rooms
[45:41] there are currently 11 families 32
[45:43] individuals 16 of those people are under
[45:46] 21 and 16 are over 21 the majority of
[45:50] the individuals arrived between October
[45:52] 16th and 17th some did arrive this past
[45:55] weekend
[45:56] although there is not a uh firm
[46:01] definitive date when each family will
[46:02] move out at this point the goal is
[46:05] always to find more stable housing for
[46:07] families our legislative delegation
[46:10] representative KY and Senator comberford
[46:12] worked diligently to secure an on-site
[46:15] service coordinator so right now Service
[46:17] Coordination is
[46:19] happening from somebody uh in the
[46:22] governor's office or in the executive
[46:24] office of housing live communities
[46:27] however thanks to Senator comford and
[46:29] representative krie it looks as though
[46:31] we'll have an on-site service
[46:33] coordinator so somebody that can kind of
[46:35] make sure that everything is going
[46:37] according to plan the site is well
[46:40] supervised Etc thank you also to Our
[46:44] Town Administrator for her fast and
[46:46] coordinated response to supporting newly
[46:48] arriving families the members of our
[46:50] task force which include the police and
[46:52] fire chiefs the director of the Board of
[46:54] Health our building inspector our
[46:56] assessor I hope I didn't forget anyone
[46:58] and myself um we've convened on numerous
[47:01] occasions to talk about uh what we need
[47:04] to do in order to ensure the safety and
[47:07] security and well-being of the
[47:09] individuals who are living in the
[47:11] shelter and for the community at large
[47:13] and a special thanks to Chief spank naal
[47:15] who was boots on the ground immediately
[47:17] to welcome new families our local task
[47:20] force created a workbook that includes
[47:23] an organization chart with names of all
[47:26] the people involved in this project
[47:27] including people at the state level and
[47:29] our leg legislative delegation our roles
[47:32] and responsibilities and contact
[47:34] information for key people we have a
[47:36] running list of tasks questions and
[47:37] needs and a list of community- based
[47:40] organizations and individuals who have
[47:42] graciously offered to volunteer and
[47:44] support families who are in need and I
[47:47] really want to acknowledge I have been
[47:50] overwhelmed with gratitude and just
[47:53] touched by The Compassion of people in
[47:56] the community of Hadley and I even heard
[47:58] a previous speaker reference caring
[48:01] about people and caring about everyone's
[48:03] safety so I'm just impressed and I'm
[48:06] touched once once we have the on-site
[48:09] service coordinator locked in and I
[48:11] think that's coming this week or next
[48:13] week we will share that workbook with
[48:15] the on-site service coordinator so
[48:18] they're really in a position it will
[48:19] just be seamless they will pick up the
[48:21] ball that we've been carrying the
[48:24] schools had held an orientation for new
[48:26] families shortly after they arrived
[48:29] students have integrated very well into
[48:31] the school Community thanks to the skill
[48:33] love and tireless efforts of our faculty
[48:35] and staff and the welcoming attitude of
[48:38] our students they've been so great and
[48:40] joyous and ecstatic to make new friends
[48:43] and again to the community at large for
[48:45] example there was a parent who realized
[48:47] on Monday the Tuesday was Halloween and
[48:50] it was unlikely that Elementary children
[48:52] would have costumes and she was so
[48:54] concerned that that they would feel left
[48:56] out that she took it upon herself to
[48:58] ensure that every single child who may
[49:01] not have a costume would just so they
[49:03] wouldn't feel left out or lonely the
[49:06] district will receive additional State
[49:08] funding to address the educational needs
[49:10] of students and as part of that funding
[49:12] which will become available I think
[49:14] immediately and will draw down upon it
[49:16] throughout the course of the year we
[49:18] will also look at all the ways in which
[49:20] other Town departments have contributed
[49:22] to this effort and make sure that
[49:24] everybody who is who is working um that
[49:28] we share these resources the primary uh
[49:31] goal of the resources is to make sure
[49:32] that we meet the educational needs of
[49:34] students but we are always eager to make
[49:37] sure that we support the town because
[49:39] the town is so good at supporting the
[49:41] schools this has really not been
[49:43] disruptive for the schools I mean just
[49:44] to give you some context this year the
[49:47] 2324 school year we enrolled 36 new
[49:50] school choice students just as a
[49:52] separate aside thank you very much for
[49:54] every single family who chooses kathle
[49:56] yeah we're glad to have you and we're
[49:58] grateful um we enrolled 17 new Hadley
[50:01] resident students so 53 new students
[50:04] total this school this school year as of
[50:07] today 18 of whom started school after
[50:10] the first day of the school year so
[50:12] students coming throughout the school
[50:14] year is nothing new and we certainly can
[50:16] handle that beginning today November 1st
[50:19] 2023 the number of individuals in the
[50:22] emergency supplemental shelter system
[50:23] will be capped at 7500 families the
[50:26] basis for the cap is the program is at
[50:28] capacity and the state has exhausted
[50:32] much of the funding it's set aside for
[50:33] the program there was an advocacy group that filed a lawsuit to
[50:38] block the governor's proposed cap the
[50:40] judge a judge did rule today in favor of
[50:42] the governor Massachusetts has a right
[50:45] to shelter law dating back to
[50:48] 1983 um and so people have the right to
[50:51] shelter that is a legislative right um
[50:54] that is most of my update and I
[50:58] certainly welcome I'm sure that Senator
[51:00] Comerford has additional things that she
[51:03] may want to add but again thank you
[51:05] everyone thank you so much to the task
[51:07] force to Our Town Administrator who I I
[51:09] know gets support from the select board
[51:12] and to the community for being
[51:13] compassionate gracious and committed to
[51:16] the safety and well-being of every
[51:18] single human who resides in Hatley I'm
[51:20] really proud to work in this community
[51:22] and I just want to say thank you again
[51:27] uh good evening friends it's hard to
[51:29] follow superintendent McKenzie um with
[51:32] those beautiful remarks but I let me
[51:34] just start by saying that I Echo the
[51:37] superintendent's enormous thanks to the
[51:39] town of Hadley for your skilled
[51:41] strategic compassionate response uh to
[51:45] having families located at the nights in
[51:47] it's been a privilege to work with you
[51:49] in these last finite period of time um
[51:52] with regard to the nights in of course
[51:54] in partnership with rep Cary um and
[51:57] Dan's an amazing partner through all of
[51:58] this as the superintendent said I just
[52:01] want to I'll build on the
[52:02] superintendent's amazing remarks with
[52:04] just a couple of U
[52:06] details we know I believe after the
[52:08] superintendent talked about the number
[52:10] of families we know that as part of the
[52:13] governor's consideration about capping
[52:16] um shelter residents part of it was that
[52:19] we were running short on service
[52:21] providers that's just true which is why
[52:24] the initial nights in was staffed by
[52:27] members of the National Guard and we're
[52:28] grateful for their service I know Hadley
[52:30] is as well but they they cannot do the
[52:33] kind of work the steadfast day in day
[52:36] out case management they've said as much
[52:39] and we know as much U but they've been
[52:40] great Partners um getting this started
[52:43] so the Emergency Shelters the emergency
[52:46] assistance shelters in the shape of the
[52:48] ones like um knights in are as the
[52:51] superintendent said staffed um in kind
[52:54] of a spoken wheel model so we've come in
[52:57] contact now with the governor's staff
[52:59] who's covering uh Central and Western
[53:01] Massachusetts it's difficult to cover
[53:03] from a distance um again which is why a
[53:06] provider on the ground is really going
[53:09] to be very important I think a game
[53:10] changer for Hadley um so uh you know so
[53:14] this is a um a good event I think a good
[53:17] outcome for Hadley is to get a provider
[53:19] on as the superintendent said there is a
[53:22] provider who has said yes um and the
[53:26] state has recognized um and agreed to
[53:30] work with this provider that's about 90%
[53:33] of the way there they are doing a
[53:35] contract revision to this provider it's
[53:37] a large provider in the
[53:39] area and we imagine that's going to be
[53:41] done as the superintendent said you know
[53:43] this week or next week but we did
[53:45] receive a letter today from uh housing
[53:48] livable communities staff person um
[53:51] responsible for this so that we could
[53:53] send it to the town and I have forward
[53:55] Ed it to the superintendent and uh Town
[53:57] Administrator and a few others in the
[53:59] town just to make sure that you saw what
[54:01] I saw which was the state not just
[54:04] saying that it was working on the
[54:05] contract but actually writing it knowing
[54:07] that it would be forwarded to you for
[54:09] the town's consideration um the second
[54:12] thing I'll say is that uh the
[54:14] superintendent and and and Carol and
[54:16] Town Administrator um Brennan have have
[54:19] already um begun this kind of knowledge
[54:21] transfer which is of course optimal uh
[54:24] and we do have a call scheduled for
[54:26] Friday afternoon um the Su provider is
[54:30] uh very willing to work um before the
[54:32] contract is finalized um and we're happy
[54:35] for that um and the service provider is
[54:37] also really wanting to hear directly
[54:40] from the town and I I believe the you
[54:42] know the superintendent started some of
[54:43] that you know the ways in which they can
[54:46] interface um most effectively um with
[54:49] Hadley um so I I am heartened by this
[54:52] we're not there yet you know we have to
[54:54] have this meeting on Friday we have to
[54:56] get the contract and make sure that the
[54:58] service provider has favorable terms and
[55:00] I'm happy to you know Watchdog that with
[55:02] all of you um I I do believe um I do
[55:06] believe that you know at the highest
[55:07] levels they understand uh that it is
[55:09] going to be a benefit to Hadley to have
[55:11] a service provider on site um and you
[55:15] know and then of course we have to
[55:16] support Hadley Dan and I uh R Cary and I
[55:19] have to support Hadley as you continue
[55:21] to welcome and support um these new
[55:24] residents as superintendent has already
[55:26] done so beautifully uh in the schools
[55:28] and as I know public health and you know
[55:29] First Responders are already thinking
[55:31] about the way of of course the building
[55:33] inspector the town uh needs to make sure
[55:35] that um they are treated with care in a
[55:38] Humane location uh so um and I should
[55:42] also say there is H an other there so
[55:45] there's a Greenfield shelter with a
[55:46] service net as the provider on site um
[55:49] and in that shelter they've uh already
[55:52] begun to work with um Center for new
[55:56] Americans uh which has already been in
[55:58] touch uh offering you know kind of
[56:00] English language classes um Mass hire is
[56:04] another organization Franklin Hampshire
[56:06] Mass hire four people in the shelter
[56:08] have already gotten jobs in Greenfield
[56:10] so there's a quick hustle uh to move
[56:13] folks into a place where they can have
[56:16] more autonomy they all every one to a
[56:18] person who I've met wants to work um you
[56:21] know and the governor and lieutenant
[56:23] governor have made it exceeding clear
[56:26] that the federal government has to um
[56:28] has to must um help expedite the work
[56:32] permits some folks are coming with the
[56:34] ability to work others are not and then
[56:36] very very lastly I'll say the governor
[56:39] has also made it very clear and I'm sure
[56:41] hadly folks have seen this that we
[56:43] really do need financial help in the
[56:46] Commonwealth to respond um you know
[56:49] limits or no um this is still an
[56:52] expensive Venture for the state and um
[56:55] I I believe she's made a very goodfaith
[56:57] effort at the federal level to show uh
[57:01] HHS Health and Human Services what's
[57:03] happening in Massachusetts and to really
[57:06] ask the federal delegation and the Biden
[57:08] Administration for their partnership and
[57:10] I support that certainly as a state
[57:13] legislator uh and I will continue to
[57:15] support that because this is much more
[57:17] this is a bigger issue than what's
[57:19] happening in Massachusetts it's
[57:21] happening Nationwide we just happen to
[57:24] you know have Comm like Hadley that are
[57:25] so wonderful um and you know States like
[57:28] Massachusetts um uh wanting to do right
[57:31] by our families uh so that's it I'm
[57:33] happy to take questions um and thank you
[57:36] so much for affording me the opportunity
[57:38] to join superintendent
[57:41] McKenzie um if you want to come up to
[57:44] the microphone here so she can hear
[57:50] you you know I I do have a question and
[57:54] I wish that you folks had talk to a lot
[57:56] of the other the actual residents here
[57:58] in Hatley because there's a lot of
[58:00] concern with a lot of had it's not
[58:03] Kumbaya I'm going to tell you that right
[58:05] now with all due respect Senator I I
[58:08] really with all due
[58:10] respect and we are not happy and this is
[58:13] not going to be a stop to bring these
[58:15] people and I I and I hope the he that
[58:18] somebody has vetted these people because
[58:21] there's a lot of people coming over the
[58:22] southern border now I hear the northern
[58:25] border there's a lot of problems going
[58:27] on and I feel bad for these people but
[58:30] we didn't ask them to come across and
[58:33] from what I know too and what a lot of
[58:35] other people know that the governor has
[58:39] approached the Biden
[58:41] Administration and many other states
[58:43] have and they haven't gotten a dime and
[58:46] I hope this doesn't fall on the people
[58:47] of Hadley the residents and I wish that
[58:49] you folks had talked to the people of
[58:51] Hadley because there's a lot of people
[58:53] that are extremely concern and I bet
[58:56] it's the
[58:57] majority um I'm sorry that I sit down
[59:00] and listen to your comments but we're
[59:02] not going to I I didn't get your name so
[59:05] forgive me for not addressing
[59:09] you you were working with me on another
[59:12] issue that has oh sorry I I couldn't um
[59:15] I couldn't see you forgive me um for not
[59:17] being able to see who you were through
[59:19] the zoom zoom is a strange thing um so I
[59:22] think it's really important for you to
[59:24] know that Hadley didn't make the
[59:26] decision and I as your state senator
[59:29] didn't make the decision I hope not I
[59:31] hope
[59:33] not so I I hear that you're very upet
[59:36] minute hold on hold on Brenda Brenda let
[59:38] her speak please um so Brenda I I you
[59:42] know I think it's really important I
[59:43] don't think the superintendent or I gave
[59:45] the impression that this was a decision
[59:48] on the part of Hadley or the state
[59:51] legislature um but it is a decision that
[59:54] we're responding to and um again I'm I'm
[59:58] proud to partner with Hadley in this and
[1:00:00] I you know I'm going to be steadfast in
[1:00:02] that partnership and um getting
[1:00:05] resources for the town um and it's
[1:00:08] really important to know that you know
[1:00:10] the Nights Inn is a contracted location
[1:00:12] it's a private business with which the hey Driscoll Administration
[1:00:18] contracted um you know just like the
[1:00:20] days in up in Greenfield so you know I I think think it's really I you know
[1:00:25] Hadley folks may want to speak to um
[1:00:28] Brenda directly too but it's it's not
[1:00:30] something Hadley asked for it is
[1:00:32] something that happened in Hadley and as
[1:00:35] because it has happened as a connection
[1:00:37] to the state I I feel like it's my job
[1:00:41] to jump in and be the strongest partner
[1:00:43] possible um with a town doing absolutely
[1:00:48] Stellar strategic work in the face of a
[1:00:51] you know you know an event that happened
[1:00:54] um where these these folks are now in
[1:00:56] our community um so I was trying to
[1:00:59] paint a um not paint I was trying to
[1:01:02] talk about the fullness of the idea for
[1:01:06] how we can as a state respond including
[1:01:08] English language classes and job
[1:01:10] training and education uh because I do
[1:01:13] think there there is a transformation
[1:01:15] that's possible um through this but I
[1:01:17] don't pretend that it was Hadley's
[1:01:19] decision or the or the legislators I do
[1:01:22] think though it's it is ours to to to
[1:01:25] Grapple with as partners and I'm proud
[1:01:27] to do it actually and I'm happy to do it
[1:01:29] and I'm proud of Hadley may I may I add
[1:01:32] one other additional comment to that uh
[1:01:35] thank you very much Senator and also I
[1:01:37] just want to thank you Brenda for giving
[1:01:39] voice to a question that I think many
[1:01:41] people might be wondering which is you
[1:01:43] brought up the question of safety and
[1:01:46] asked ex explicitly to what extent are
[1:01:49] individuals vetted when they go through
[1:01:50] the emergency shelter system I'd like
[1:01:53] you to know that chief Mason asked very
[1:01:56] specific questions of the state and the
[1:01:58] governor's office he can speak in more
[1:02:00] detail but I can tell you that one of
[1:02:02] the responses that he did received is
[1:02:04] that prior to any family being placed in
[1:02:07] the supplemental or Emergency Shelters
[1:02:10] they are vetted through Department of
[1:02:12] Homeland Security if they are an a newly
[1:02:15] arriving immigrant so that's just to
[1:02:17] answer that question directly which I
[1:02:19] think is certainly a question that as
[1:02:21] you say Brenda is probably on a lot of
[1:02:23] people's minds so thank you for raising
[1:02:25] it and providing the opportunity to
[1:02:27] speak to it
[1:02:28] directly and am Amy can I just um
[1:02:31] because I think it is an important
[1:02:32] question about whose decision was this
[1:02:35] it it absolutely was not Hadley's it was
[1:02:37] not the legislator's decision we got an
[1:02:40] email um I think it was October 11th
[1:02:43] letting me know as the executive officer
[1:02:47] for the town that that 11 families were
[1:02:49] going to be placed at the nights in and
[1:02:52] then within 3 days it wasn't it wasn't a
[1:02:55] matter of any you've got two weeks to
[1:02:58] plan this is what to expect we literally
[1:03:00] just got an email and within two or
[1:03:02] three days we were notified that they
[1:03:04] were placed at the Knight's Inn so our
[1:03:06] response was to put a task force
[1:03:07] together so we could respond I think the
[1:03:09] important thing to use is the term
[1:03:11] humanely we responded humanely we had to
[1:03:14] make sure all of those questions that
[1:03:16] you were asking Annie was amazing when
[1:03:19] we were talking to all of the state um
[1:03:22] stakeholders she every almost everything
[1:03:24] you asked she asked are they vetted
[1:03:26] who's the caregivers do we know who the
[1:03:28] parents are is this exactly who are are
[1:03:31] you verifying who this is she was Stern
[1:03:35] she was firm and she W she was get
[1:03:38] making sure those answers were provided
[1:03:40] for her so she know she knew that who
[1:03:44] was going to be um what kids were going
[1:03:46] to be in what grade where when and how
[1:03:50] so there was so much work done but we
[1:03:53] had literally less in a week's notice so
[1:03:55] the town did had no warning and we had
[1:03:57] no choice this was a private transaction
[1:04:01] well I think and I appreciate that I
[1:04:04] appreciate all the work that everybody
[1:04:06] has done but I don't appreciate the way
[1:04:08] that
[1:04:09] this and I'm not the only one there are
[1:04:13] many many residents that are curious
[1:04:15] over this so you didn't see us the first
[1:04:17] few
[1:04:18] days I'm did job I'm not saying somebody
[1:04:22] didn't do the job please
[1:04:32] straight answers through Homeland
[1:04:33] Security this person uh myus has been
[1:04:39] asked many times and he is live and I'm
[1:04:42] very upset over this if they think that
[1:04:45] we aren't paying attention I feel sorry
[1:04:48] for these small kids I really do I love
[1:04:51] kids I love I
[1:04:55] but you know it's careful to see these
[1:04:58] people coming up through the seven
[1:05:00] border and to see them going they didn't
[1:05:03] ask to have this happen let's get that
[1:05:05] straight right off
[1:05:07] the so I just want can I just say that I think that it's unfortunate all the
[1:05:13] way around and I yes there were some
[1:05:16] people that were upset by how it came
[1:05:18] about without knowing the full extent of
[1:05:21] how it came about and I think with all
[1:05:23] these explanations tonight that have
[1:05:26] been given I think that that gives them
[1:05:28] a little bit
[1:05:29] more information for what they what they
[1:05:32] needed to hear but I also feel like
[1:05:35] Hadley stepped up to a
[1:05:37] situation that was handed to us and I
[1:05:39] think that our Command force has done an
[1:05:42] outstanding job in taking this situation
[1:05:45] and making it Humane as Carolyn said and
[1:05:50] making it better for these people that
[1:05:52] had come here it's not their fault and I
[1:05:55] just think that we just stepped up to
[1:05:57] the plate on it and I I I'm glad I live
[1:06:00] in Hadley and that we're able to do this
[1:06:03] um and we handle situations that are
[1:06:05] handed to us all the time and some of
[1:06:07] the situations you don't know about but
[1:06:09] this one you know about because it has
[1:06:11] hit the news and it's very out there for
[1:06:14] what's around the whole country and um I
[1:06:17] think Hadley has done an outstanding job
[1:06:19] and I thank everybody that's been
[1:06:20] involved that has been doing this
[1:06:23] so
[1:06:24] um I don't know how to ask this question
[1:06:29] appropriately um but I think there I
[1:06:33] know that you know with the governor you
[1:06:35] know
[1:06:37] really okay so Massachusetts is the only
[1:06:41] of the 50 states left that has a right
[1:06:46] to shelter law that goes back to the
[1:06:49] 1980s um I think with the governor you
[1:06:54] know saying that we're at capacity um I
[1:06:57] think there is some concern um with
[1:07:00] residents of the state um and some
[1:07:03] people in this town as well um as far as
[1:07:07] capacity to shelter US
[1:07:12] citizens during the winter months
[1:07:16] that's people that are US
[1:07:20] citizens
[1:07:21] and I just let me that's the most
[1:07:26] appropriate way that I can ask the
[1:07:27] question I suppose and if there is a
[1:07:30] response to
[1:07:32] that
[1:07:34] Senator yeah I'm happy to oh sorry is it
[1:07:38] okay for me to respond yeah yes
[1:07:41] please sure I mean
[1:07:44] honestly you're completely right that
[1:07:47] even before we had the refugee the you
[1:07:52] know the surge of refugees again this is
[1:07:54] Nationwide but here in the Commonwealth
[1:07:57] um we didn't have enough shelter beds
[1:08:00] for for individuals or families in the
[1:08:03] Commonwealth we know that um we also
[1:08:05] know that our affordable housing um
[1:08:08] situation is quite Bleak here both
[1:08:10] affordable and Workforce housing so both
[1:08:13] of those things you know the he again
[1:08:15] I'll just speak to the governor um you
[1:08:18] know both of those things the governor
[1:08:19] spoke about while she was campaigning
[1:08:21] and then she created the housing and
[1:08:22] livable community
[1:08:24] Secretariat you know and we have
[1:08:26] secretary Augustus now who's actually in
[1:08:28] amorist and tomorrow he's in AOL and the
[1:08:31] next week he's in Greenfield talking
[1:08:32] about the housing Bond bill and the
[1:08:35] housing Bond bill is a $4.1 billion do
[1:08:38] investment with 20 I think it's 28
[1:08:41] policy um changes which is off the hook
[1:08:45] bold and I think it's a it was all ready
[1:08:48] in process for some time before you know
[1:08:51] this the crisis that's in our midst now
[1:08:53] um and I think it speaks to just a broad
[1:08:56] awareness and I I share your concern
[1:08:59] that we we don't have enough capacity in
[1:09:01] the Commonwealth um in terms of shelter
[1:09:04] or uh Workforce or affordable housing
[1:09:07] and it and it has to be taken up as one
[1:09:09] of the most urgent issues of this
[1:09:11] session uh and nothing we have done to
[1:09:14] date has generated enough affordable
[1:09:17] housing units nothing um that we have
[1:09:20] done to date to date in the Commonwealth
[1:09:22] and that's not just west Mass that's
[1:09:25] Statewide and you know here in western
[1:09:27] Mass I'm sure you know these figures
[1:09:29] we're projected to have a
[1:09:31] 13,000 unit affordable housing Gap in
[1:09:35] just about five years unless we do
[1:09:38] something right so what I'm excited
[1:09:40] about is that we're doing something as a
[1:09:41] state we are really with this housing
[1:09:44] Bond Bill going to line up both money
[1:09:47] that communities need and then we're
[1:09:49] going to line up tools for smart
[1:09:51] communities like Hadley and then you can
[1:09:54] pick and choose from those tools to
[1:09:56] decide how you might want to raise your
[1:09:58] own capital or you might want to to make
[1:10:00] some administrative changes at the state
[1:10:02] level um to make Hadley a place where
[1:10:06] it's easier to build housing of all
[1:10:08] kinds honestly but especially affordable
[1:10:10] especially Workforce the other thing
[1:10:13] I'll say and this is tangential but I
[1:10:15] think for us it's real friends which is
[1:10:17] that we're losing population in Western
[1:10:20] Massachusetts and that has an impact on
[1:10:22] the schools although hadly is doing
[1:10:24] quite well with school choice
[1:10:25] superintendent um but it's having pop
[1:10:28] you know it's having an impact on
[1:10:29] Workforce on economic base on Town
[1:10:31] budgets on school budgets and part of
[1:10:35] that is attendant to housing if we want
[1:10:37] to welcome in new families who are going
[1:10:39] to help us grow as a community we have
[1:10:42] to have places for them to live at all
[1:10:44] economic levels but especially because
[1:10:46] of the high cost of housing in the you
[1:10:48] know middle and working in poor poor
[1:10:51] brackets of the income spect Spectrum so
[1:10:54] I'm with you it's real um it's real and
[1:10:58] it was real before this there was an
[1:11:00] ache to the fact that we couldn't house
[1:11:02] all the individuals there was an ache to
[1:11:04] the fact that house you know families
[1:11:05] were in hotels um and you know people
[1:11:09] were sleeping rough outside n none of
[1:11:11] that is okay if we think about having a
[1:11:13] Humane Society and this is just this is
[1:11:16] sort of laying it bear for everybody to
[1:11:18] see right we're ripping it ripping off a Band-Aid of something that has been
[1:11:23] real before this year um for us and I I
[1:11:27] look forward to hearing from Hadley what
[1:11:29] you like about the bond Bill what you
[1:11:30] don't like about the bond Bill and how I
[1:11:33] can support you uh in in the work to
[1:11:36] really have a different new day for us
[1:11:38] in the Commonwealth I do think
[1:11:40] communities like Hadley can lead the way
[1:11:42] um because there's so much good about
[1:11:45] the community and there's so much of a
[1:11:47] commitment to do to act humanely as
[1:11:50] Carolyn
[1:11:51] said um then my last question was for
[1:11:54] people that might want to move Beyond
[1:11:56] Facebook um what's a a a
[1:12:00] good contact for them to get into to
[1:12:04] express any of their concerns or
[1:12:07] thoughts on um the
[1:12:11] situation I I can offer that at this
[1:12:15] point in time I'm the point of contact
[1:12:18] between uh the state and Hadley in terms
[1:12:23] of
[1:12:24] um this shelter program so if people
[1:12:26] have questions I'm certainly happy to do
[1:12:30] my best to answer questions or to get
[1:12:32] answers for people if people have
[1:12:35] concerns about legislation a legislative
[1:12:39] agenda um what they'd see in that Arena
[1:12:41] then I would say always reach out to
[1:12:43] your elected officials who um that's
[1:12:46] their that's their Lane and what they do
[1:12:49] there are specific questions pertaining
[1:12:51] to the site in Hadley um I'm happy to
[1:12:54] answer at least try to answer those
[1:12:57] questions um and then also I have heard
[1:13:00] from a number of people who have wanted
[1:13:03] to
[1:13:04] offer to donate items or to help or to
[1:13:09] just help in any way that they can um as
[1:13:12] I said part of the workbook that that
[1:13:14] we've put together includes a tab for
[1:13:17] people who are interested to volunteer
[1:13:19] so folks can certainly email me and they
[1:13:22] can access my email through the school
[1:13:23] department website a McKenzie Hadley
[1:13:27] schools.org and um even if they're a
[1:13:30] private citizen how they would be
[1:13:32] comfortable helping some people have
[1:13:33] said oh I would donate something or I'd
[1:13:37] be happy to help teach in English as a
[1:13:40] second language class as a volunteer and
[1:13:43] email that to me and then I will put
[1:13:45] that in our workbook and let the new
[1:13:49] on-site provider have that
[1:13:52] information absolutely and S just to
[1:13:54] Echo what the superintendent said you
[1:13:56] know we work for you at the state level
[1:13:58] in the legislature Dan and I rep Cary
[1:14:01] and I um we're easily findable um online
[1:14:05] and certainly Carolyn has our cell phone
[1:14:08] numbers as well um well Dan's not here
[1:14:10] so I'll just say Carolyn give out my
[1:14:12] cell phone number um and you know we are
[1:14:15] both in our own emails we resp respond
[1:14:17] directly to constituents we set up lots
[1:14:20] of meetings we both come to the Hadley
[1:14:22] Senior Center fairly regularly for
[1:14:24] office hours that's a joy um that we get
[1:14:27] to do that together so I don't think
[1:14:30] we're strangers in Hadley um and and
[1:14:32] we're delighted to hear from
[1:14:34] constituents we don't imagine we have
[1:14:37] heard from a number of constituents we
[1:14:38] don't imagine you're a monolith to
[1:14:40] Brenda's Point um and we have heard you
[1:14:43] know both we really want to help and
[1:14:46] we've heard some real significant you
[1:14:48] know concerns and I respect both and I
[1:14:51] want to receive both um and I do think
[1:14:54] when we have a service provider on site
[1:14:56] it will be transformative as I said and
[1:14:59] I look forward to that moment and it's
[1:15:00] coming soon um we just give it some
[1:15:02] nudging um but I do think it's coming
[1:15:04] soon for Hadley and again Hadley won't
[1:15:07] be it's going to be there are many sites
[1:15:09] around the Commonwealth that won't ever
[1:15:11] get service providers simply because
[1:15:13] there wasn't one available one willing
[1:15:15] to step up um you know uh so in some
[1:15:19] ways I'm you know I'm breathing my own
[1:15:21] sigh of relief that for Hadley um on you
[1:15:23] know because I work for the town I'm
[1:15:25] glad for
[1:15:28] thisly so
[1:15:32] because
[1:15:34] done as I'm concerned I mean I am
[1:15:37] concerned for these little kids coming
[1:15:38] over the it is not their fault I love
[1:15:42] but this is no way to do it and I
[1:15:46] don't with the director of Homeland
[1:15:49] Security that that can't get it won't
[1:15:51] give straight answers to any and then we
[1:15:53] find out it's not the truth so I'm
[1:15:55] telling you I know and I'm not speaking
[1:15:58] for everybody
[1:16:01] else
[1:16:06] people so let's um I was
[1:16:10] gonna hi my name is Anthony fiden I just
[1:16:13] have a couple quick points and then a
[1:16:14] question for the uh um for the select
[1:16:16] board my first point is that U just kind
[1:16:19] of an obvious one is that we're talking
[1:16:21] about children here children that are
[1:16:22] now our community I'm I'm happy but not
[1:16:25] surprised to know that they're being uh
[1:16:28] welcomed into our schools while they're
[1:16:30] here um as long as they here they're our kids and and just as much as
[1:16:34] anybody else and I'm I'm confident that
[1:16:37] they're going to be treated that way my
[1:16:39] second point and maybe the senator uh
[1:16:41] can address this it one thing I was
[1:16:43] disappointed to hear was that uh the
[1:16:46] National Guard there were National there
[1:16:48] was a National Guard Sergeant National
[1:16:49] Guard troops there that's not the role
[1:16:53] of Our National Guard to be um I don't I
[1:16:57] don't want to say babysitting but uh to
[1:16:59] be caretaking or guarding I I I I I
[1:17:03] don't know what they're doing there I'm
[1:17:04] not happy about that at all National
[1:17:06] Guard troops coordinating their care
[1:17:08] basically right now I don't think that's
[1:17:09] a role for for National Guard
[1:17:12] soldiers um my uh my third point is just
[1:17:16] uh I was I was curious I believe there
[1:17:19] are
[1:17:20] eight um Sanctuary cities in
[1:17:23] Massachusetts and two of them are our
[1:17:24] neighbors amoris and Northampton I think
[1:17:27] and um so it's interesting that with two
[1:17:31] Sanctuary cities surrounding us hady was
[1:17:34] uh hady was selected for this without being asked it was talked about
[1:17:39] had hady is always willing um to do our
[1:17:41] part when asked but it it it does bother
[1:17:43] people when we're not asked so I'm sure
[1:17:46] um again it's a private business there
[1:17:49] was nothing we that we can do and it's a
[1:17:52] sanctuary as a whole my my
[1:17:57] question my question is the um and I is
[1:18:00] I understand it uh last year or recently
[1:18:04] um the nights in was used as a temporary
[1:18:06] shelter for uh for Craigs Craig's doors
[1:18:09] at that point
[1:18:12] um I believe that the the fire chief or
[1:18:15] some some of our town officials had a
[1:18:17] problem with the facilities that it was
[1:18:19] not up to standards and that was
[1:18:21] actually they were moved out of there
[1:18:23] because those facilities were not up to
[1:18:26] standards um so I'm
[1:18:29] wondering um since last year people were
[1:18:32] moved out of there it wasn't sufficient
[1:18:34] as an emergency
[1:18:35] shelter was it changed did something
[1:18:38] change is it still insufficient is that
[1:18:42] um that that seems um I'm just curious
[1:18:46] about why it was not sufficient then and
[1:18:48] it's sufficient now thank you Tommy when
[1:18:52] see people
[1:18:53] can answer that yeah you wna come on up
[1:18:57] for a second just
[1:19:03] to Joe this is our building inspector
[1:19:06] Tommy
[1:19:07] quinland how you doing yes it is um at
[1:19:12] this change of use it should be
[1:19:13] sprinklered however the state we have no
[1:19:16] control over it i' reached out to
[1:19:17] Greenfield other communities and we have
[1:19:19] no no control over making that happen we
[1:19:22] did get guidance from the state back in
[1:19:25] May I think it was May 9th this year
[1:19:28] that we had would be no you know no
[1:19:31] notified and and do an inspection bring
[1:19:32] it up to code but um that is one thing
[1:19:36] little disappointed with but my hands
[1:19:39] are
[1:19:41] tight thank
[1:19:44] you um on the National Guard question
[1:19:47] the gentleman asked directly to me um
[1:19:50] you know the the governor and the Guard
[1:19:52] Leadership made this decision I will
[1:19:55] tell you that Senator John veis uh who
[1:19:57] is an active duty guard was deployed and
[1:20:01] you know John felt really proud and so
[1:20:03] he's my colleague I love him um he's
[1:20:05] just to the south of us he felt really
[1:20:07] proud to serve and he reported to the
[1:20:10] Senate that many of his colleagues felt
[1:20:12] the same that you know they were called
[1:20:14] to serve at a moment of real crisis for
[1:20:15] the Commonwealth um but you know I hear
[1:20:19] you I just want you to know where the
[1:20:20] decision lies it's you know it was it
[1:20:22] was a decision by the governor um but
[1:20:24] also you know with um with input from
[1:20:27] the guard that's my understanding and in
[1:20:30] terms of the inspection I do know that
[1:20:32] the incoming service provider um
[1:20:35] probably thanks to Carolyn and um
[1:20:37] superintendent you know has a sense of
[1:20:39] the town's concerns over the physical
[1:20:42] structure of the building and I I do
[1:20:44] think that's a conversation that can
[1:20:46] happen um hopefully will happen on
[1:20:48] Friday um in part about just laying out
[1:20:51] the concerns for for the town I'm not
[1:20:53] saying it's all going to magically go as
[1:20:55] planned but I I do think this is one of
[1:20:58] the things that are that's possibly
[1:21:02] possible hi Peter matuso I have a few
[1:21:05] questions whereas when I hear the word
[1:21:08] emergency shelter I take that as it
[1:21:10] being a
[1:21:12] temporary situation is this considered
[1:21:16] emergency until their work permits are
[1:21:19] established and then they have a little
[1:21:22] of grounding and then do they move out
[1:21:26] and then another family comes
[1:21:28] in then that's one question then the
[1:21:31] other question is my little notes
[1:21:35] here and
[1:21:38] um if with these families that we have
[1:21:41] at these other 11
[1:21:43] families when it comes to the low income
[1:21:46] housing or whatever we are calling it
[1:21:49] that's well above and beyond the 12%
[1:21:52] that we've had questions about with the
[1:21:54] other hotels can we now say if these are
[1:21:57] going to be established families that
[1:21:59] we've well exceeded our quota for the
[1:22:01] town to not having more than what we are
[1:22:07] people to be expecting of us because
[1:22:09] we've now exceeded that quota and then
[1:22:12] after the other thing is it's great that
[1:22:14] they've been vetted these families we
[1:22:16] don't know where they've been where
[1:22:17] they're from have they all been
[1:22:20] vaccinated from all the vaccinations
[1:22:23] from we don't know from where they're
[1:22:26] from um this town two years ago shut
[1:22:29] down because UMass
[1:22:32] opened because everybody was was worried
[1:22:35] when the students were coming in has
[1:22:37] everything from small poox polio all
[1:22:41] those vaccinations that we take for
[1:22:44] granted for have they all been
[1:22:46] vaccinated for those and the most common
[1:22:48] ones we have now that's my concern and
[1:22:50] I'm sure a lot of the uh people in this
[1:22:53] town are worried about
[1:22:54] to well the Board of Health is on the so
[1:22:58] Annie can answer some of the some of
[1:23:00] those I
[1:23:09] believe about that but I'm more
[1:23:11] concerned about our vaccinations for our
[1:23:14] students and
[1:23:16] our can anyy speak to that about the
[1:23:19] school I think she's ready to answer
[1:23:24] yeah can you speak to that I I can speak
[1:23:29] to the process of uh vaccinations
[1:23:32] obviously and I hold on I just want to
[1:23:35] is talking about vaccinations is that a
[1:23:37] violation of HIPPA so I can speak to the
[1:23:40] process of it I was just about I don't
[1:23:43] sorry I didn't I didn't catch no you're
[1:23:46] F name of the gentleman but um and I
[1:23:48] don't think that the individual was
[1:23:50] asking for a specific health record on every person there I think the
[1:23:54] question that I heard was can somebody
[1:23:57] tell me in general is there a process to
[1:24:01] ensure that a the health care needs of
[1:24:04] the people who are in supplemental
[1:24:05] shelters are being met for their
[1:24:07] protection and the protection of the
[1:24:09] larger Community the shortest simplest
[1:24:12] answer is yes how that happens is um and
[1:24:16] I'm assuming what happens in Hadley is
[1:24:19] probably standard operating procedure
[1:24:21] across the State So within
[1:24:26] um within just a few business days a
[1:24:29] couple of business days of arriving at a
[1:24:33] supplemental shelter the Mass Department
[1:24:34] of Public Health um sends nurses onsite
[1:24:38] medical personnel onsite just to make
[1:24:41] sure that people are in good health they
[1:24:43] don't have any immediate medical needs
[1:24:45] that need to be
[1:24:46] addressed and then the state ensures
[1:24:50] that individuals are connected with
[1:24:52] local Health Care Providers and um
[1:24:57] individuals and supplemental shelters
[1:24:58] are given appointments to see local
[1:25:01] Health Care Providers and as part of any
[1:25:03] routine physical examination your health
[1:25:07] care provider is going to do an
[1:25:11] assessment of what your health in
[1:25:15] general just think when you when any of
[1:25:17] us get a physical what what vaccines
[1:25:19] have we had what vaccines do we need how
[1:25:21] are we feeling just in general and I'm
[1:25:24] assuming that this is standard operating
[1:25:26] procedure in the state but I can tell
[1:25:27] you that that's the process that
[1:25:29] occurred in Hadley so first immediately
[1:25:31] DP Department of Public Health nurses on
[1:25:33] site just to make sure that people are
[1:25:35] okay or within not the day that they
[1:25:38] arrive but within uh business days of
[1:25:40] arrival and then they are matched with a
[1:25:44] local health care provider and um they
[1:25:47] go to a a physical medical
[1:25:51] appointment
[1:25:53] and then I think the other question was
[1:25:55] in regards to being emergency shelter
[1:25:57] the the plan you know moving forward
[1:26:00] once there is work permits um having
[1:26:03] these individuals placed in a more
[1:26:05] permanent situation I would defer to the
[1:26:08] senator on that I think that speaks to
[1:26:09] the larger state plan of
[1:26:13] um is that okay to defer to you on that
[1:26:16] Senator fine it's totally fine um you
[1:26:20] know I'm just going to be honest I I
[1:26:23] um I think the general belief in the hly
[1:26:26] driscal administration is that uh folks
[1:26:31] need access to education and job
[1:26:34] training and job opportunities which we
[1:26:36] know there are plenty of um jobs that
[1:26:39] need to be filled um and the hope is
[1:26:42] that that will lead them to Greater in
[1:26:46] Independence um and you know in other
[1:26:50] shelters that are much longer
[1:26:51] established in southern Western
[1:26:53] Massachusetts and to some extent in
[1:26:56] Greenfield you know housing searches
[1:26:58] have begun immediately um for the
[1:27:02] residents and that's because I think
[1:27:05] probably no one wants to get out of a
[1:27:07] shelter more than the people in the
[1:27:08] shelter right because it's it's hard to
[1:27:11] have kids in a shelter um and people
[1:27:13] want to be able to care for their
[1:27:15] families and themselves um so uh you
[1:27:18] know that is the that is the orientation
[1:27:21] that I have witnessed in other parts of
[1:27:25] the district um and I do believe um
[1:27:29] that's the intention of the he driscal
[1:27:31] administration and the housing and
[1:27:32] livable communities uh folks and they
[1:27:35] are you know they're speaking directly
[1:27:38] to the you know the work of
[1:27:39] organizations like Center for new
[1:27:41] Americans for example but they're
[1:27:43] putting a lot of uh investment and a lot
[1:27:45] on the plate of Hampshire Franklin
[1:27:48] massire um and these are good folks they
[1:27:50] know our employment needs they know how
[1:27:53] to train people and they've already
[1:27:55] risen uh to this occasion in our region
[1:27:58] and they're hitting it um because again
[1:28:00] their employers have lots of openings so
[1:28:04] you know the the hope is that this um
[1:28:07] will move very quickly uh and you know
[1:28:10] we'll we'll support it along the
[1:28:12] way I'm guessing these are going to be
[1:28:15] permanent even though it says emergency
[1:28:17] which is temporary so these will be 11
[1:28:21] permanent
[1:28:25] time not necessarily they can go over
[1:28:27] getting those so when a person is well
[1:28:30] established with their work permits or
[1:28:32] whatever they need to then another
[1:28:34] family will come back in no that's ex me
[1:28:38] sir that is not that's not what I said
[1:28:40] um that's not what I said at all I was
[1:28:42] just talking
[1:28:44] about
[1:28:46] easy don't be
[1:28:48] rude I I was talking about the cohort
[1:28:51] that was
[1:28:53] you
[1:28:58] are I'm sorry go ahead I was talking
[1:29:01] simply about the cohort of families that
[1:29:03] we in Hadley currently I can't speak and
[1:29:07] it would be wrong of any of us I would
[1:29:08] imagine to speak to the administration's
[1:29:12] plans you know going forward um as the
[1:29:16] superintendent said the governor has put
[1:29:18] a cap um that that cap was challenged in
[1:29:21] court court and today we received a
[1:29:24] decision um and she put that cap because
[1:29:28] we are really running out of space um in
[1:29:30] the Commonwealth um so whether you agree
[1:29:33] with that or not I'm not going to talk
[1:29:34] you know I'm you know I don't think
[1:29:36] that's the matter before us tonight but
[1:29:38] I do think that she's she's recognizing
[1:29:41] uh The Strain on communities and budgets
[1:29:44] and um trying to do everything we can to
[1:29:47] get our arms around it um in a way that the state um needs to
[1:29:55] do acknowledges that these additional
[1:29:58] families will go towards that quot for
[1:30:02] the housing that we question about with
[1:30:06] the other hotels that we've exceeded
[1:30:09] that
[1:30:10] 12% I think it's important to note that
[1:30:13] the housing searches won't only be in
[1:30:15] Hadley um right these the people who are
[1:30:18] looking for housing who are currently in
[1:30:20] the Greenfield shelter
[1:30:22] are looking across western Mass across
[1:30:25] Massachusetts um so it is not guaranteed
[1:30:29] um that they'll stay here I mean I you
[1:30:31] know I um but it's not guaranteed that
[1:30:34] they'll certainly not guaranteed that
[1:30:36] they'll stay in Hadley you know because
[1:30:37] the housing searches will be very broad
[1:30:39] I would imagine yeah I'm
[1:30:43] done thank you I just wanted to to thank
[1:30:46] Annie and Joe for being here this
[1:30:49] evening um U as Andy an Annie indicated
[1:30:53] that she is willing to take any
[1:30:55] additional questions via email um in
[1:30:58] regards to um the situation that we have
[1:31:01] right now and thank you Joe for you know
[1:31:04] being here tonight and answering
[1:31:06] questions um and letting us know that
[1:31:09] you're definitely an ear for
[1:31:13] us so and Amy if I can just say like one
[1:31:17] we are meeting on Friday with several different types of stakeholders
[1:31:21] State local as well but one of the
[1:31:23] things we will be talking about how is
[1:31:24] the what's the best way to keep the
[1:31:27] residents updated and to keep everyone
[1:31:29] updated about what's happening there
[1:31:32] yeah and it's also important to know
[1:31:34] that that we're we're responding and
[1:31:37] reacting um that you know there there
[1:31:41] isn't any control that anyone in Hadley
[1:31:45] has in regards to this
[1:31:48] so thank you again than Hadley actually
[1:31:52] has has really exercised quite a lot of
[1:31:55] good thinking I mean I just really want
[1:31:57] to applaud the community because
[1:32:00] immediately with the task force you were
[1:32:01] already Leaps and Bounds ahead of many
[1:32:04] communities and while you're responding
[1:32:06] you're really you're putting in I think
[1:32:09] some very good parameters that the state
[1:32:11] has to respond to um and that's again I
[1:32:15] think to be respected and applauded on
[1:32:17] behalf of the community and the select
[1:32:19] board in the town and of course the
[1:32:21] superintendent
[1:32:23] thank you thank you thank you thank you for having us thank you
[1:32:27] everyone thank you for the questions
[1:32:30] thank you
[1:32:31] coming y I'm going calm
[1:32:36] down moving on to 8.1 Town Administrator
[1:32:43] report just pull
[1:32:46] it we did make some progress with um
[1:32:50] some hiring
[1:32:55] um remember
[1:32:58] that's so yes we are still um I think
[1:33:01] we're oh Mike left oh Mike left yeah I
[1:33:06] was gonna ask about the dispatcher I had a chance to do that but uh we are
[1:33:10] still looking to hire a DPW Labor uh we
[1:33:15] did hire uh made an offer to an
[1:33:18] assistant mechanic who very experienced
[1:33:21] and also so will'll share in other
[1:33:23] responsibilities um we had some very I I
[1:33:27] think very good candidates for the
[1:33:28] Council on Aging director we've
[1:33:30] interviewed how many did we interview
[1:33:32] Jane no we only more than one we have
[1:33:34] two coming we interviewed one there two
[1:33:36] more interviews next week oh that's it
[1:33:39] yes okay all right thank you uh the
[1:33:42] collective bargaining agreement for the
[1:33:43] hadly Municipal Employees that's
[1:33:45] continuing because we the wages went
[1:33:47] through at town meeting and you had
[1:33:49] approved them but we're still working on
[1:33:51] the collective bargain agreement as a
[1:33:53] whole so that will be a future executive
[1:33:55] session for the S board to review and
[1:33:57] reprend um I'm I'm just skipping the
[1:34:00] areas that are in
[1:34:01] process uh I think you know that the
[1:34:04] open house went really well and to the
[1:34:07] DPW that vote was successful so the
[1:34:10] schematic design was approved at the
[1:34:11] special town meeting um what I would
[1:34:14] like to ask the select board on the 15th
[1:34:16] we'll put it on the agenda for you to
[1:34:18] decide whether you want to keep that
[1:34:20] committee the same or uh make a change
[1:34:23] but I'll have that before you at the
[1:34:26] next on November 15th and then we'll
[1:34:28] move forward for there for
[1:34:30] procurement uh I just I really wanted to
[1:34:33] focus a little bit on the risk
[1:34:34] management update on my report um Susan
[1:34:36] glatsky as you know you you've um
[1:34:39] designated her as our risk manager um
[1:34:41] she is working diligently to do
[1:34:43] trainings for not only DPW workers but
[1:34:47] other other entities and um she actually
[1:34:50] wrote a grant and received funding for a
[1:34:53] drone and to train an operator of our
[1:34:57] drone so that will help us with um
[1:35:01] inspecting especially all the municipal
[1:35:03] owned roofs hard areas to see the wells
[1:35:07] all of that and Wade is um Wade
[1:35:11] vski veloski I was you had I needed time
[1:35:14] to correct it um he's right now is our
[1:35:17] only licensed operator but we have about
[1:35:19] 14 who are interested in getting um
[1:35:22] their certification for that it's really
[1:35:24] a license it's a license not a
[1:35:26] certification so it's an aircraft and um
[1:35:30] she continues to coordinate the the
[1:35:32] quarterly safety committee meetings and
[1:35:34] so all of this she does saves US money
[1:35:37] we get reward points for our insurance
[1:35:39] so we haven't had that before and this
[1:35:41] has been great that she's been doing
[1:35:42] this the past couple years and I talked
[1:35:45] about the schematic design we also are
[1:35:48] beginning our uh procurement for the
[1:35:50] girl softball field parks and wreck had
[1:35:52] gotten an earmark last two years ago to
[1:35:54] do a girls softball field at North
[1:35:57] Station um I explained the Russell
[1:36:00] school and I just wanted to give you
[1:36:03] guys a reminder as well as other boards
[1:36:05] and committees I'd sent out uh a notice
[1:36:07] of a webinar being put on by the mass
[1:36:09] Municipal Association for how to set
[1:36:12] yourself up for Success increasing the
[1:36:14] efficiency of meetings that's something
[1:36:15] I get a lot from the Committees and the
[1:36:17] boards on how to hold hold a meeting the
[1:36:20] agenda prepar ation um and drafting the
[1:36:24] meeting minutes so I will keep
[1:36:26] forwarding those to our boards and
[1:36:27] committee chairs and hoping that they
[1:36:29] participate in that so that is all new
[1:36:32] that I have to the Town Administrator
[1:36:35] report
[1:36:37] okay um are there any members that have
[1:36:43] items that they want to have for future
[1:36:45] discussion yep okay I do um think three
[1:36:50] couple of repeats um one is just making
[1:36:53] sure um at special town meeting it was
[1:36:56] clear that the finance committee is very
[1:36:58] interested in having a joint
[1:37:00] meeting so hopefully we can get um that
[1:37:03] scheduled soon um and then I wanted to
[1:37:06] come back to I'm hoping to get an update
[1:37:08] um from Carolyn on
[1:37:10] how uh she's doing against the goals
[1:37:13] that we agreed upon at the end of or
[1:37:16] yeah end of the last fiscal year
[1:37:17] beginning of this year I guess um and
[1:37:20] then third uh looking for I think this
[1:37:23] was brought up before about you know
[1:37:26] likely an executive session but just um
[1:37:28] getting an update on everything that the
[1:37:32] town uh outside council is working on so
[1:37:36] starting to lose track of some of those
[1:37:37] things so right now all of them are in
[1:37:39] executive session so yeah I mean just a
[1:37:42] um like just one update you know on
[1:37:44] where we stand on each of
[1:37:47] them so can I just ask for clarification
[1:37:49] you want that as the attorney is coming
[1:37:51] in to give that or no I think you I
[1:37:54] think because everything everything
[1:37:55] we've been going to Executive session
[1:37:57] has been those but I'm welcome if you
[1:37:59] want me to do that all in one I can do
[1:38:01] that that that's what I was thinking
[1:38:02] yeah if you could just um do give us
[1:38:06] like a rundown of what's closed what's
[1:38:08] still outstanding how close we are
[1:38:11] to you know getting something over the
[1:38:13] finish line that kind of thing
[1:38:20] nothing I just have one I still want us
[1:38:23] to work on the U painting of the Town
[1:38:25] Hall oh I'm on it okay I just had to get
[1:38:28] through the town meeting I know but and
[1:38:30] now I got to wrap up on everything that
[1:38:31] happens after town meeting I know but I
[1:38:33] think you know just have it at the
[1:38:35] Forefront that if we're looking to get
[1:38:38] it on the um CPA for bring town meeting
[1:38:43] that would be a good thing I agree and
[1:38:45] it's going to take you know you know um
[1:38:48] of course the CPA is going to want how
[1:38:50] much is it going to cost and then you're
[1:38:52] going to have
[1:38:53] some citizens I'm sure wanting to know
[1:38:57] what we're going to use to paint the
[1:38:59] building again or is there some other
[1:39:02] option that they would want to do I've
[1:39:05] heard other remarks from different
[1:39:07] people about that
[1:39:09] so um anyway topic for discussion yeah
[1:39:13] okay I have a question about your report
[1:39:16] which is the openings for senior and
[1:39:18] Veterans tax workof is at 5 in each
[1:39:21] division or five between the two seniors
[1:39:24] and
[1:39:26] Veterans so that was given to me by uh
[1:39:29] for btim from Haley so um I believe it's
[1:39:35] five each but I it's not clear here and
[1:39:38] that's why I would I would have to go
[1:39:39] back to Violet Violet it is five
[1:39:43] each thanks
[1:39:46] Susan um is there any other items for
[1:39:49] future discussion
[1:39:53] okay are there any liaison
[1:39:57] reports that one okay um
[1:40:02] announcements I just have one okay to
[1:40:05] the condolences to Jeffrey Thorton's
[1:40:08] family he was a town resident he had two
[1:40:12] children and three grandchildren so
[1:40:14] condolences to them his family and
[1:40:17] friends
[1:40:19] okay okay okay so we
[1:40:23] are and oh sorry any other announcements
[1:40:26] okay all right so
[1:40:30] um I'm going to move pursuant to General
[1:40:33] Law chapter 3A section 21 a three that
[1:40:38] the board go into executive session to
[1:40:40] discuss strategy with respect with
[1:40:42] respect to potential
[1:40:44] litigation um I've as the chair I've
[1:40:47] determined that the board um any public
[1:40:50] discuss discussion of which will have a detrimental impact on the litigating
[1:40:56] position of the board um so we're going
[1:40:58] to close we need to know what we're
[1:41:00] going into executive session for for the
[1:41:02] cable renewal
[1:41:04] negotiations um and not to reconvene an
[1:41:07] open session second okay seconded by
[1:41:11] Randy any
[1:41:13] discussion all those in favor roll call
[1:41:16] no oh sorry roll call yeah for session
[1:41:20] back and forth say J thank you Ro ke
[1:41:24] yesung yes Parsons yes Neon