[3:47] online. I am ready when you are, my
friend.
[3:49] » I am not online yet, but I'm here.
Everything's working. I hope
[3:53] » you want to wait till you get online.
>> One minute.
[3:55] » No, that's all right. It we can get
pulled anything up. We'll take two
[3:59] seconds from here.
>> Can we go ahead?
[4:01] » Go ahead.
>> Thank you.
[4:04] » Uh, good evening everybody. This is the
board of selectment meeting for
[4:08] September 8th. 2026. We remind you that
we're being video recorded as are you.
[4:15] Um, and we always start with a moment of
appreciation for our troops serving
[4:20] around the globe, especially at the
moment when we've been at war for about
[4:24] six months.
[4:29] Thank you.
Uh our first appointment is uh with Ian
[4:35] Rogers, veterans agent, to present on
how Medfield can become a Purple Heart
[4:39] community and request funding through
the economic vitality fund if approved.
[4:44] » Oh, there he is.
>> Welcome.
[4:52] » Thank you for having me. Um coming
>> the first item that I have is
[4:59] uh I'm respectfully requesting that the
select board consider designating
[5:03] Medfield as the official Purple Heart
community through the military order of
[5:07] the Purple Heart. This designation
recognizes the extraordinary sacrifices
[5:12] made by the members of the United States
Armed Forces who were wounded or killed
[5:16] in action while serving our nation.
Uh, becoming a Purple Heart community
[5:21] demonstrates Medfield's enduring
commitment to honoring our combat
[5:25] wounded veterans and ensuring that their
service and sacrifices are remembered by
[5:29] current and future generations.
Um, it's a relatively simple process.
[5:35] Uh, step one would be adoption of the
proclamation that I have uh, drafted up
[5:41] for you. Um, I would then submit to the
military order of the Purple Heart for
[5:47] official recognition.
And once we're officially recognized,
[5:52] um,
we would then per purchase the Purple
[5:56] Heart community signage through the DPW.
Uh, the estimated cost, which I believe
[6:01] I also provided to you, is approximately
$172 per sign, including installation.
[6:09] Um, and my recommended placement at
least at the very beginning would be up
[6:13] to and including both ends of 109 and
both ends of 27. Um, and installation
[6:20] would be coordinated through the
Department of Public Works.
[6:24] And then lastly, I think we don't want
to rush anything, but if we take the
[6:30] time, we get the signs in. Um,
Purple Heart Day is recognized annually
[6:36] on August 7th. So, my plan would be to
uh have a Purple Heart um community
[6:44] event around August 7th every year. Uh
as we know, August 7th is not always
[6:50] pleasant outside. So, I'm hoping to get
an indoor facility. Um and just shoot
[6:57] for as close to August 7th as we can
get. Uh luckily August 7th in 2027 is a
[7:04] Saturday. So
>> uh I should be able to get um
[7:11] use of some buildings, some indoor
facilities for August 7th and 2027.
[7:16] And there we would invite uh current
Purple Heart recipients, um members of
[7:22] the community, town officials and
representatives and just give ourselves
[7:27] um the opportunity to recognize and
thank the Purple Heart recipients um in
[7:32] Medfield.
[7:37] » Okay.
>> Uh Mr. Murby,
[7:41] » uh so just two questions. one. Have Have
you talked to the Legion about the Is
[7:46] there any Have they expressed support or
>> I have not spoken with the Legion about
[7:50] this? Um
>> I'm thinking I'm assuming they probably
[7:53] would support it. So I'm I'm uh but I
was just curious to know whether they
[7:58] had weighed in one way or the other on
it
[8:00] » and I think that would probably be an
ideal location for that that ceremony.
[8:04] » Well, that that was the next thought I
had. But then on top of that, I'm
[8:08] thinking that I understand the desire to
be close to Purple Heart Day, but I also
[8:14] am, you know, acutely aware of how empty
this town is at the very beginning of
[8:18] August. So, I uh
I actually'll be interested in how the
[8:23] two of you react to this. I'm a veteran,
so I have I'm going to probably be
[8:27] supportive of it for sure. The only
thing I was concerned about is whether
[8:31] depending on what that kind of a a
recognition day was. And I think you're
[8:35] talking about doing it every year.
>> Yes.
[8:37] » Um that's a hard time to draw people in
for a meeting. Uh and it's specifically
[8:44] not a time that the Legion meets. Part
of me almost was thinking, you know what
[8:48] I'm thinking back to is the Legion had a
meeting about a year ago where they were
[8:53] recognizing different different veterans
and and we actually had veterans come
[8:59] that were on the on the plaque and that
was a regular Legion meeting so they
[9:03] could kind of make it during the year.
That's the only reservation I had. Not
[9:07] that it's a bad thing to do as close to
Purple Heart Day as we can make it, but
[9:11] it would be kind of a shame if either a
lot of Purple Heart veterans can't make
[9:15] it because they're not in town or they
all show up and nobody else is there. Uh
[9:20] to include probably some of the Legion.
So I
[9:24] » So hopefully with getting this approval
in early September, I'll have basically
[9:27] a year to try and find the Purple Heart
recipients, see when would be the best
[9:32] time for them. I mean, I think the
important thing is recognizing them, not
[9:36] so much that it's on that exact day. So,
I'm definitely open to moving it to
[9:42] whenever we can get the most attendance
and honor the most Purple Heart
[9:46] » receives. Let's just leave that part
there to figure out down the road. And
[9:49] so, from a financial standpoint, you're
asking for the town to pick up what
[9:52] looks like $684
to to at least for four the four signs
[9:57] you're recommending, which would be
logical to me. There may be some other
[10:00] smart places to put signs, but before we
do that, getting four up there.
[10:04] » Yep.
>> I was, you know, the thing that
[10:05] surprised me, you go through towns and
you'll walk through towns and go, "This
[10:09] is a Purple Heart community." And every
time I do that, I go, "I wonder what
[10:12] they did to merit being a Purple Heart
community." But I guess it's having
[10:17] somebody that's gotten the Purple Heart
in town and being willing to buy the
[10:20] signs.
>> So, yeah. And and just getting it
[10:23] approved through the select boards and
[snorts] Yeah. and going through the
[10:26] official channels.
>> Okay. and then just making the
[10:29] commitment to honor them every year,
which I think is more than appropriate.
[10:33] » Okay, that's those are my questions.
>> Murphy,
[10:37] » uh I absolutely support it and uh and I
wouldn't even be opposed unless you you
[10:41] meet with some Purple Heart recipients
to give the first year a shot. You never
[10:44] know, like I I do see as we creep into
August, people start coming back for
[10:48] their kids for sports and whatever. Uh
June, end of June and July is a ghost
[10:52] town around here. Um, so I'm not opposed
if we were to do it that day, but if
[10:55] you're talking to people and they say,
you know, push it more towards
[10:58] September, it's just like as we get into
September, October, everyone's back in
[11:01] town. They've got soccer, they've got
this, that. So it's like anywhere around
[11:05] August 7th is the closer to that, I
think, the more realistic it's going to
[11:09] be. Uh, but I think it's it's a it's an
honor uh that this town should certainly
[11:14] recognize.
>> Thank you.
[11:17] » So, thank you for bringing this forward.
I think it's a good idea. Um, I just had
[11:22] one question which is do do you know how
many Purple Heart recipients we have in
[11:26] town?
>> I don't know the exact number. I know we
[11:30] have at least three. Um, so
definitely worth honoring even if it's
[11:37] just those three.
>> Yeah.
[11:41] » Considering we're celebrating our 375, I
I think we probably had a few of them
[11:44] around, right? So,
>> yeah. Yeah.
[11:48] All right. Uh do we have are anything
further
[11:52] » on the Purple Heart community? No.
>> Okay. Do we have a motion then to
[11:57] » motion so moved?
>> Second.
[11:59] » All those in favor? I I
>> thank you for bringing this forward.
[12:03] Good luck with executing.
>> Thank you.
[12:05] » That is number two.
>> He's not item two.
[12:11] And then number two is as we had talked
about in the past um I
[12:17] we the town started the hometown hero
banner program. Um,
[12:22] and the one thing that I, you know, I
wanted to charge a reasonable amount per
[12:27] banner to keep the banner program going,
not to make money, but um, the initial
[12:33] cost that I did not want to pass along
to the initial applicants is the initial
[12:39] setup cost of the $700 for the hardware
for the banners to be put up onto the
[12:46] poles. So my uh second item here is to
request 800 or not to exceed 800. Um I
[12:54] believe the quote is somewhere in and
around 700 uh from the economic vitality
[12:59] fund just for the initial hardware cost.
>> Mr. Burby. So just I think this I think
[13:07] this is a rhetorical question. Uh
because this is the start of the fiscal
[13:10] year. I assume we have a combined $1600
in the economic fatality fund to support
[13:15] both of these. Okay. Just uh good
discipline to make sure we haven't
[13:19] already over spent our our budget.
>> Yeah. I I think it's a good idea.
[13:23] » Yeah. No, I absolutely support it. We've
gone this far. Why would we hold back,
[13:26] right? I mean, so thank you again.
>> Thank you.
[13:29] » I'm in favor of doing this, too. Um do
we have a motion then?
[13:32] » We do. Motion so moved.
>> Second.
[13:34] » All those in favor? I
>> thanks very much, Ian. Appreciate you
[13:38] coming in tonight.
>> We got one more to do. Part of that is
[13:40] just authoriz
whether
[13:44] » so in order in order to um do the
hometown hero banners on utility pools
[13:48] we need to sign agreements with both
Eversource and Verizon. So we don't have
[13:53] those fully prepared for them yet. But
if you want to authorize me to sign them
[13:57] » Sure. Yeah. Do we have a motion to that
effect?
[13:59] » Uh motion to authorize the town
administrator to sign the agreements
[14:02] with Eversource and Verizon to utilize
the utility polls for the hometown hero
[14:06] banner program.
>> Second. All those in favor?
[14:09] » I.
>> Okay. Our third appointment is with
[14:13] Deborah Herurwitz. Requests permission
to display an outdoor electric manora
[14:18] approximately 6 to9 ft tall at Baxter
Park during Hanukkah this winter,
[14:22] December
uh 14 to 22nd, along with a brief public
[14:27] lighting celebration on one evening of
the holiday and further to make this an
[14:32] annual event. Is Deborah here?
>> Thank you for coming.
[14:44] moral support.
Um, to be fair, I didn't know that I was
[14:48] going to be coming up and speaking. So,
I sent that letter in and as you read
[14:52] it, I'm recognizing that the dates are
actually incorrect. So, um, it would be
[14:56] December 5th is the first night, the
12th is the last night.
[14:59] » Okay.
>> Um, that's subject to every year. It
[15:03] does shift within the calendar year. Um,
but just, you know, I think that I've
[15:07] been on the Festival of Lights committee
for the past few years and we've been
[15:10] recognizing um, Hanukkah with teaming up
with Parks and Rex. Um, and we've been
[15:15] using the COA as our location and I
think just uh, to increase awareness and
[15:22] make Medfield all that community that
we're hoping for and we know it is. Um,
[15:26] displaying a Monora in Baxter Park would
be creating that inclusive environment
[15:31] for all people.
Um I think there's a lot of information
[15:35] in the letter that I sent you. Um we
would be fundraising for the manora
[15:40] ourselves. Um so we're not asking for
anything. We're just ask well we're not
[15:44] asking for funding we're asking for the
permission um to display that manura and
[15:49] then also um to have a one night event
that we would instead of the festival of
[15:55] lights still continue the work with
parks and wrecks but the location would
[15:59] shift to Baxter Park.
[16:03] Okay. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. So, so,
>> so I have the letter. So, I have a
[16:07] number of comments. Uh, first off, I
like the idea. Uh, but I want to broaden
[16:13] the idea and, and I think the three of
us actually have a policy issue around
[16:18] how we want to approach the use of Back.
We, the select board, now has care,
[16:23] custody, and control Baxter Park. So,
parks and recck may be teaming with you
[16:28] for an event, but we kind of I just want
to make sure you knew that that had
[16:31] changed. And I'm glad that Russ is here
because uh part of my comments have to
[16:37] do with the fact that the events that
take place over what I'll call the
[16:41] holiday season memo has the lead
responsibility on that. So, my the
[16:45] issues I have around policy aren't about
the idea. I actually like the idea. And
[16:49] I'm not sure if the reason I like the
idea is exactly what you said, but it
[16:53] might be. Uh
over the years the holiday season in my
[17:01] view has been gutted of much of its
religious significance and it's kind of
[17:08] like we all in in government say oh it
absolutely has to it's just a holiday
[17:12] and it's and and it becomes I think back
to when I was a kid and the things that
[17:16] happened then and the impact it had on
me and continues to have on me
[17:20] throughout my life around how I look at
things and I look sometimes that what we
[17:24] have in our society today and some of
the some of the despair and I can't help
[17:29] but think part of that is because we
don't have the messages for for kids
[17:35] that we had when I was a kid. It's hard
for government to step in because we
[17:39] have rules about separation church and
state. But the difference is between my
[17:43] view is there is a difference between
government promoting a religion and
[17:48] government enabling
religion. And I'm not talking a
[17:52] religion. I'm talking about religious
recognition this holiday season. That's
[17:56] what that that's where that came from.
The roots are all there if you don't cut
[18:00] the roots off. It's hard and and Mark,
I'll invite you to join and push in
[18:05] anything legal here if I'm going way too
far out. But having finding a way for a
[18:10] town like us to allow the recognition of
the religious and faith I'm not only see
[18:16] religious I'll say faith dimensions of
this season I think is a good thing for
[18:22] us to do. So from my view, I started to
think about, well, what would Baxter
[18:28] Park look like if we actually had a more
liberal policy about what groups could
[18:35] do during the holiday season to make
Baxter Park even better than Baxter Park
[18:41] normally is? And I said, and I Yes,
Manoras, the one that had went over the
[18:46] road was one of the best things on that
whole thing last year because it lit up
[18:50] and it flashed and it did all sorts of
stuff. Uh but imagine the whole park
[18:55] having more of that and undoubtedly from
a broader set of of perspectives.
[19:01] But the com my words and this is just a
draft. My words as long as what we're
[19:06] doing in Baxter Park promotes the
thought of peace on earth and goodwill
[19:11] to all and that. So I'm absolutely on
board with the idea. I would like to see
[19:18] us figure out how to do that. I have a I
drafted and this is absolutely a draft.
[19:24] I drafted some guidelines around how I
would how I would approach it and this
[19:28] came off the top of my head and for
starters the very first one is
[19:32] recognizing that memo has is the primary
sponsor principal sponsor of what goes
[19:39] on at Baxter Park and what goes on
during what I'm calling a holiday
[19:43] season. Uh, so I was reluctant to put us
in the position of making specific
[19:52] decisions about what particular, you
know, displays could go in, where those
[19:58] displays might be. And I'm talking about
from a purely logistical standpoint. I
[20:02] would actually defer given the role that
Memo plays as the principal sponsor of
[20:08] what goes on there for the better part
of a month or more that Memo be the
[20:13] principal coordinator for that with the
understanding that if if it becomes more
[20:19] than a logistical question oh we'll put
you here oh you need that much room
[20:22] you'll give that to you and we can
figure out how to make it work in the
[20:25] context of everything else if it's if
it's not that kind of a thing it's like
[20:29] I'm not sure that your display is the
right kind of display then it probably
[20:33] kicks up to us.
>> Yes.
[20:34] » But otherwise it's sort of we recognize
the principal role that memo plays. We
[20:40] reinforce the notion that you have that
principal coordination role. We adopt a
[20:45] policy that says but we want to
encourage that. Uh and and again I I
[20:50] haven't thought I'll tell you what I'll
briefly tell you what my five things are
[20:53] because I only brought five copies of
this and I did not intend it to be
[20:57] final. So, the first one had to do with
we are we're introducing this on a trial
[21:02] basis. You asked it to be permanent. I'm
saying, well, I I want it to be
[21:06] permanent, but I'd like to know that we
know what we're doing before we commit
[21:10] to permanent. So, I'm suggesting it's a
trial basis. Memo is the principal
[21:14] coordinator and we defer to that. Uh,
all accepted displays support. It
[21:20] doesn't have to be these words, but I'm
saying peace on earth, goodwill to all
[21:23] or something that captures the essence
of the holiday season. Uh, we have to
[21:29] figure out, we have a couple things that
we probably have to figure out in other
[21:32] in terms of what the holiday season is.
I kind of random, not randomly, but I
[21:37] took a crack said from the 1st of
December to the 6th of January. Uh, and
[21:43] what I wanted to check with is actually
what first thing I'd look at is what are
[21:48] the dates that the town puts up the
lights and what are the dates the town
[21:51] takes down the lights. And that would
>> Yeah. So, I mean, I picked the 1st of
[21:58] December just because it was the 1 of
December. I picked the sixth because
[22:00] it's epiphany and I don't think there's
any major things I'm aware of that go
[22:05] beyond those bounds. And I think that's
about what happens with the DPW. If you
[22:10] wanted to put a display up only for a
portion of the time, you could. Uh the
[22:15] 1st of December certainly encompassed
the 5th of December, so I knew I was
[22:19] starting early enough on that. Uh if you
didn't want to leave it up, okay, but I
[22:24] would think probably a lot of people
would even if there's a principal time
[22:27] that it's significant.
So, you know, okay. Uh if if the day of
[22:32] the normal major lighting of everything
is not good enough to have the lighting
[22:38] of the manure, then heck, have a have
another day. Yeah, it's going to be
[22:41] coordinated just to make sure that but
great. If we have more events at Baxter
[22:45] Park,
why not? Why? If we can do more over the
[22:49] course of the month, that's great. Um
I I did make one thing one I do have one
[22:55] thing that I think you'd be able to do.
I think requests for these displays
[23:01] should be submitted by a sponsoring
organization. Now, obviously, religious
[23:06] institutions are going to be an easy one
for some of it. I'm not saying some sort
[23:10] of a longestablished large organization.
What I'm getting at is that from the
[23:15] standpoint of the town knowing who to
hold responsible for what happens with
[23:20] the display, it's probably not us trying
to chase down individuals who happen to
[23:26] be the one person out of 20 people who
kind of got together one day. It's just
[23:31] have an identity that's the sponsor. Uh
I don't think that's a scary
[23:36] responsibility. It's just it helps
reinforce accountability. Uh so those
[23:42] are the five things I had. I I more than
happy to share more. In fact, you can
[23:46] take one if you want. Uh and it's a
draft. It's not intended as I'm not even
[23:52] I just tried to figure it out.
>> And uh I'll send those to you too if you
[23:56] want to see it and one for you. And I
have yet one more that I'll stick there.
[24:01] Uh
>> anything else?
[24:04] » Now that I've now that I've given Russ
everything he's going to need to do, I
[24:06] think he wants to react.
>> He's got to take his turn. We're going
[24:09] to we're going to do the select board
first. We'll get to you then later.
[24:12] Okay.
>> Okay.
[24:13] » Are you done?
>> I'm done. I'm done.
[24:14] » I won't be as long as him. Um I when I
saw your requests immediately in my head
[24:20] I'm like the schools recognized the
Jewish holidays, right? And then when I
[24:23] went to high school, they didn't. So I
was like I was thrilled when I saw
[24:25] Medfield started doing that. So to have
that inclusion in the center of town is
[24:30] a no-brainer. Um, so I appreciate the
level of detail that you put into this
[24:34] Gus and I certainly we can review this,
but I think in the spirit of um,
[24:37] absolutely it it it's talk about
bringing the community closer together
[24:41] because I was at the the lighting the
celebration of lights last year at the
[24:45] senior center and there was a lot of
people there and I like wow like they're
[24:49] kind of like your and my my
brother-in-law is Jewish, my niece and
[24:52] nephew were raised Jewish. Like I would
much prefer to have that celebration
[24:55] with all the other kids in town than
just have it set off to the side. Right.
[24:59] So, that was the first thing I thought
of when I saw your letter. Um, I don't
[25:02] disagree with the whole concept of memo.
If if you're looking to have it in a
[25:06] area that we already have activity, um,
it's almost like with what's going on
[25:10] right now at the 375th parade, anybody
that wants to be doing anything, we're
[25:14] deferring them to the committee just so
that we're not tripping over one
[25:17] another. So, I think that's more out of
respect that we don't want to have two
[25:21] parallel activities going on. Um, so if
if Russ's group is is open to that,
[25:27] great. The one thing I would be 100%
against is if they said no, we don't
[25:30] want them there because then it's like
getting territorial and that would
[25:33] bother me greatly because that's I look
at it as it's the community park. So I
[25:37] want to make sure that no one has
authority to say no. But they may be
[25:40] saying well we this has already been set
aside for the dance class thing that
[25:44] goes on. So we wouldn't want to put you
in a certain area. Um but you know in a
[25:48] nutshell I absolutely support it.
[25:53] » Mr. Sell.
>> All right. So I don't obviously park and
[25:57] rec
control what they've done in the past in
[26:01] the past you have care custom control
and it's ultimately your responsibility
[26:07] you want them to attempt to work it out
that's fine but you have the ultimate
[26:14] authority
[26:20] » the potential for other requests so it's
just going to be something else that
[26:24] you're going to have to deal Well, I I
assume there at least over time there
[26:28] probably will be some other requests.
Uh, and I think this is a case where
[26:35] hearing
different traditions from different
[26:38] people who actually or different groups
of people that have a connection with
[26:43] this broad thing I'm calling the holiday
season is a good thing.
[26:46] » And Baxter Park is kind of a big park.
So, I think we could probably figure it
[26:51] out.
So, um, I'm an attorney and I don't
[26:56] always know the answers, the legal
answers, but I I can spot issues. And
[27:01] so, for me, where my brain went, oops,
religion, government, that's an issue.
[27:07] Um, and so I checked and sure enough,
um, there's the establishment clause,
[27:12] which apparently says that that, uh,
government's not allowed to establish
[27:17] religious things. And there actually is
a 1989
[27:21] Supreme Court case about manoras in
public property. Um, and they upheld the
[27:28] uh right of the town to have a manora on
public property in I think it was in
[27:34] Pittsburgh. And it was very interesting
in that case because there was another
[27:38] request for a crush and the Supreme
Court said the crush could not be on
[27:43] public property because it was a
religious symbol and they said the
[27:47] manura was not primarily a religious
symbol and so um
[27:53] » I can I do you mind if I interrupt for
one second? um on Zoom somewhere is one
[27:58] of the Habad representatives that we've
been working with and she informed me
[28:01] which I didn't know that the Manura
actually represents freedom and is not
[28:05] connected originally to any religious
and I if she's on and could speak to
[28:11] what is her name
>> um Roshi Ro hy
[28:16] um I don't know how to say I don't know
she want to present she want to talk to
[28:21] us we didn't we didn't
>> it's RMK Maybe
[28:25] » the only R one is RMK.
>> It probably is then. I can go double
[28:30] check on my phone. I don't have her last
name on my brain, but
[28:34] » So, it was it was very informative to me
to to spend a little time looking into
[28:38] it and figuring out that uh it is an
issue, but that the Supreme Court has
[28:43] said that manurs are are fine. And so
and I know that in the past I had
[28:48] wondered because I in my m brain I think
of them as religion related. So um I was
[28:56] » so I Google too. I [laughter] googled
specifically in the state of
[28:58] Massachusetts and I googled specifically
what the scenario is and as long as we
[29:02] are not funding anything we are not
that's why as you put in your letter all
[29:06] the surrounding communities. If we said
if you came to us and said could you
[29:09] cover the 2500 that's where we get into
hot water. But as long as your
[29:13] organization brings it forth and we're
just saying it's public property, to the
[29:16] best of my knowledge, we are not.
>> Yeah. And a lot of the surrounding towns
[29:21] have um a similar display
>> either in right in front of town hall or
[29:26] some other, you know, a local park, some
prominent place around town. Um and
[29:30] Kabad helps out with organizing setting
up physically setting up the actual
[29:35] monora and maintaining it and um putting
together or helping put together like
[29:40] just a little celebration kind of akin
to what has to do
[29:45] » and again my interest is to make sure
that all traditions can be can get that
[29:50] down. So I I we we may have to if
there's fine lines between something
[29:55] that is religious and isn't to me the
courts and I'm not a lawyer but there's
[30:01] a difference between establishing
government establishing a religion and
[30:07] government
suppressing religion and we we have to
[30:12] try to figure out how to thread the
needle maybe but the whole point is to
[30:16] be able to broaden that. I mean is is
Quanza religious? I mean I'm I'm talking
[30:21] about I want all of that stuff
>> by people who care about they want you
[30:25] know they have something Mark
>> in previous years there's been um a
[30:29] large manora and a canara which is
representative of Kwanza um in front of
[30:34] Park Street Books. One year we tried to
do it in front of the library but it was
[30:38] too tippy. We have done in front of Park
Street Books the past couple years. Um
[30:42] by we I mean just a couple people who
have been looking to help out. Um but
[30:47] yeah so the the the want is there the
desire is there for representation and I
[30:52] think this is a great first step for
>> for everybody
[30:56] said in 1989 was that
>> quote particular physical setting close
[31:02] quote was the really determinative
factor for them and in that case the the
[31:07] manura was next to a a Christmas tree
signing
[31:13] liberty yes Mr.
it.
[31:16] » So, I am an attorney. I have dealt with
these issues. They're very complex.
[31:22] There aren't not necessarily answers.
There's more gray areas than there are.
[31:28] Uh however on the one extreme was the
case out of uh uh Lexington
[31:37] where they basically
uh shut down everything nothing because
[31:42] they they originally were allowed but it
got so crazy they said okay nobody and
[31:48] the uh Knights of Columbus sued the town
and that was upheld. So the starting
[31:54] point is if you if you don't allow
anybody as with other situations we've
[31:58] discussed that's the cleanest situation.
Now we've already we allow memo. They
[32:05] they put up uh lights. They also put up
uh they're not all just lights. They're
[32:13] they're representations of various
symbols and all. So we've opened it up
[32:18] to some degree. Uh
so uh the there is you know as far as
[32:25] I'm concerned you're probably in a
stronger legal position to permit it
[32:30] than not. Again also because virtually
all the surrounding towns uh have been
[32:37] doing it for some time. Franklin
included Medway, Hollist, Walpool,
[32:44] » Milis, you name it. So, uh,
you know, it's ultimately your decision,
[32:52] but, uh, as I said, I I think there's
already some,
[32:58] um, recognition of the holiday season
that's been permitted. And so now, so
[33:04] it's not coming onto a fresh initial
where nothing's been done before.
[33:10] basically that that 89 Supreme Court
decision decided that it was a a
[33:15] celebration of the holiday season.
>> Hopefully 40 years later we're good.
[33:20] » Oh, with the makeup of the courts right
now that there's no question in my mind
[33:24] they'll support
[33:29] » celebrations
>> an okay thing in schools I think. um
[33:37] » check with us.
>> Let's see. We we do have Mr. uh Hales
[33:42] that wants to
>> So, yeah, before I got too far along, I
[33:46] was going to say
>> I can't speak. Is this on?
[33:49] » Yeah, you it doesn't echo for you. It
helps people at home.
[33:51] » Oh, okay. Um
I can't speak for memo on the spot here.
[33:56] I'm only one of a group of board. We
have a board meeting on the 10th uh come
[34:02] uh coming up. Um, but I don't see why we
wouldn't welcome being your sponsor for
[34:11] this. It's it fits very much like a hand
and a glove for what we do. Um, and to
[34:18] be part of uh the planning of this with
both parties together makes total sense.
[34:26] Um, we do have a manora hanging in the
as a silhouette in the middle of the
[34:31] park. It had also been hung uh across
the street for a number of years. Um
[34:40] so uh then the question is where is the
best place to put it and I think it
[34:46] makes sense for both of us to contribute
to that decision. Um it needs to be
[34:53] plugged in and so that's another factor
uh on this. Uh I just want to get
[34:59] clarity. You were saying that you this
is this particular year it's 5 to 12 is
[35:05] the holiday.
>> Yes.
[35:07] » And you were considering having some
sort of a presentation or
[35:12] » something going on on one of those days
>> ideally. Yes.
[35:16] » So between the fifth and because on the
I'll be asking for the Joy to the World
[35:21] concert uh to be on the fourth. So that
wouldn't be a conflict. Uh we have a
[35:28] parade on the 5th and and that's it. So
we w I think we would welcome
[35:34] having them be part of our group in the
planning of this whatever year you want
[35:40] to be.
>> So I just want to react to what you just
[35:43] said very to the words you said we'd be
happy to be your sponsor and I'd said
[35:47] » you had said you were looking for a sp
>> Yeah. And that's why that's why I'm
[35:50] making a distinction here. I'm saying
that anybody who comes with a request
[35:55] should be that request should come from
a sponsoring organization. So you
[36:00] shouldn't be the sponsor of this group's
sponsoring organization. You're the
[36:04] princip memo is the principal sponsor of
the entire season. All of the
[36:10] collaboration that you're talking about
is exactly what I would hope would
[36:13] happen. But I would still hope that you
could get and it's not because I'm
[36:17] worried about you. Actually, it's to
your point if Lexington had stuff all
[36:20] over the place. If we have this thing
open to where any individual can come in
[36:24] and say, "I got a display I want."
That's how we're going to get to chaos.
[36:28] If we basically require groups to come
in with sponsors and who will then work
[36:34] with with [snorts] memo,
that's what I'm hoping for. And I'm
[36:38] hoping that would keep it under some
degree of manageable chaos. This this
[36:42] year it might be real easy. It might
just be you guys. But if this takes hold
[36:46] and people have time to think about it,
I think we would see more over the
[36:50] coming years. So, uh, part of part part
of me is saying Russ, you don't have to
[36:55] have everybody that wants to make a
display be a member of me memo or be on
[36:59] the committee. It would be if you want
them on that's fine, but it would be I
[37:04] didn't want to throw all that at you
that you have to manage everything. It
[37:07] was that a matter if they came really
well. Why was it I don't want to
[37:11] undercut your undercut memo by us making
decisions here about what's going to
[37:16] happen when you're the guys that are
actually driving the whole truck. We
[37:20] want you to be driving the whole train.
>> So, a couple of thoughts. Um number one,
[37:26] uh I think it it makes absolute sense
that you coordinate with memo. Um and
[37:31] I'm sure you guys can and Memo can do
that. Uh the second one is I think
[37:35] asking it to be a a permanent event is
not the right thing. I think that memo
[37:41] comes back every year and asks for
permission. So I think uh permission a
[37:45] year at a time is probably the better
the better course for the town to take
[37:49] instead of creating some sort of
permanent thing. Um
[37:54] yes, Mr. Sell,
you only you don't have authority for
[37:59] multi-year.
you can't find a future select board. So
[38:04] » in addition to which we don't have
authority apparently [laughter]
[38:07] » I think just because there would be a
big financial obligation that we're
[38:10] taking on with fundraising.
>> Yeah. So we want to know that this is
[38:14] some or hope that this is something that
we can do year after year but we
[38:17] understand that
>> and my last thing is I don't Mr. Murby
[38:21] cares about us sponsoring organization.
I I care less about that. I mean I think
[38:26] that if a group of citizens are willing
to do it that's fine. and that's all
[38:30] that's needed. So,
>> so Pete, I think that's a policy
[38:33] decision we have to make as a select
board to set the guidelines. So, I
[38:37] appreciate your opinion. You've heard
mine. We haven't done what we need to
[38:41] do.
>> Yep. We don't have a policy on this yet.
[38:44] » Okay.
>> And this something that the audience
[38:46] will want to speak about.
>> Say again.
[38:48] » You're you're good.
>> Okay.
[38:54] » Anything anything further or
>> That's it. Unless you have any more
[38:57] questions or
We have a motion.
[39:00] » Yes. Motion to Yeah. Motion moved. So
moved.
[39:03] » No, no, because
>> Oh, we have to clarify. Okay.
[39:05] » Went beyond the first year.
>> Just a motion to authorize them for this
[39:09] year.
>> Oh, right, right, right. Yep. Yep. Yep.
[39:12] Good catch. Um, so motion
>> subject to guidelines of the policies
[39:16] that we set. Still got work to do.
>> So that would mean just every year we'd
[39:19] have to come back in front of the select
board and do the same thing. Okay.
[39:22] » Yeah. And everyone does it for different
events to to Mark's point that
[39:25] » email me.
>> Okay. We we can't tell every future.
[39:28] Yeah.
>> Well, to the
[39:30] » we can't commit future board members to
our decision.
[39:32] » To the extent that the cost of this was
was driving, please tell us we're going
[39:36] to be able to use it for more than one
year. I hope what you've heard from us
[39:39] is our sentiment is that's what we want
to see. We just need to kind of work our
[39:44] way into exactly how this works.
>> Okay. Thank you. And just to clarify, I
[39:49] believe the manora we're request
is solar um driven. So would not need to
[39:55] be plugged in. But even better. I love
that.
[39:58] » I think you have somebody like
[40:03] » you have someone that has their hand
raised.
[40:07] » Would you like me to is the rabbi? Do
you want
[40:10] » No, I think they're two different
people.
[40:14] You okay with her putting something up
to speak?
[40:17] » They they're asking, "Do you want
Someone's asking to speak?"
[40:20] » Oh, well, sure. Yeah, let them speak.
[40:27] Hi. Um I am the wife.
We are responsible of all
[40:39] including village
[40:44] north.
[40:47] Um and um we do celebrations every year
at a different
[40:53] And um just to give a little
perspective, the way we dealt with all
[40:58] the towns is a lot of the town actually
purchased the monora like Franken
[41:06] I think um Milis actually bought the
monora the town bought the monora and uh
[41:12] puts it up every year and stores it and
it's basically considered just like all
[41:17] the holiday decorations.
um it gets put up by the town and gets
[41:21] put down by the town. So all the other
monoras uh also gets Franklin we donated
[41:27] the minor to them and they store it and
they put it up and every year I just um
[41:33] send paperwork for request but I don't
have to go to the town and um ask every
[41:39] year for the you know if they would
approve it. It's just paperwork that
[41:45] gets done every year and um it's been
wonderful and we really been seeing a
[41:50] lot of inclusion and the town usually
comes and a lot of
[41:56] town officials come and speak at at the
minor lighting and it's been a great
[42:00] experience.
[42:03] » So I just wanted to put it out there
maybe if we have you see the first year
[42:07] how it worked out maybe instead of
coming up every year to ask for
[42:11] permission maybe maybe uh paperwork uh
just like one of the application could
[42:17] be put um and could be sent in a year.
>> A a lot of the things that we do are
[42:23] done on paperwork. People don't always
have to show up. It's helpful the first
[42:27] time we do things that people show up to
explain it and answer questions. But
[42:32] this is the sort of thing that would
just get typically approved probably in
[42:35] subsequent years.
[42:39] the the the
>> the logistic side of this I again
[42:44] speaking just personally I don't think
the t I don't think it's a good idea for
[42:49] this town to get involved in buying
holiday decorations storing holiday
[42:54] decorations
uh because if what we're talking about
[42:58] here is opening this up this is not a
matter of buying one decoration this and
[43:02] we don't we don't store I think memo
memo is fully aware of how the challenge
[43:08] how challenging it can to store and
maintain holiday decorations, but the
[43:12] the town has deliberately stayed out of
that. I would actually think that if
[43:16] there's issues around separation in
church and state, those issues would be
[43:20] compounded issue,
>> right? Then we could make it an issue
[43:24] and then we could get in trouble. So I I
my as a policy I don't think at least
[43:28] speaking personally I would want us to
get into that business in any way shape
[43:32] or form both because it's a precedent
for anybody else that wants to do
[43:36] something if we're talking about doing
things the way we're doing it and
[43:39] because I think that does put us in
legal jeopardy
[43:43] » anything like give an idea for the town
of Medway they have the holiday
[43:50] celebrations right the tree all the
lighting and then they have that they
[43:55] store and they also store a Quanza which
the town actually bought a Quanza uh
[44:00] thing and what I think is just like the
town stores all the holiday decorations
[44:06] which is Christmas decorations really
what what does the town want to store
[44:11] » we don't we do not
>> we don't you guys are like don't ruin it
[44:15] right like
>> yeah no I I think at the end of the day
[44:18] like we we were very comfortable
accepting the responsibility to fund
[44:22] raise um I think we have enough people
in our community that would support a
[44:26] couple dollars towards a manora. So, I
don't think that that's the I don't we
[44:30] don't want that to be the reason. And as
far as storage goes, I think plenty of
[44:35] us have a basement. I know we this
manora collapses down to minimal size.
[44:39] So, I think we're we're comfortable with
taking that on.
[44:41] There there's another reason in my again
my mind is that if if a town is
[44:47] dependent on a government to do stuff
and that's the only way we get it done.
[44:52] The town buys it, the town stores it,
the town decides how to do it. Something
[44:56] like this should be something that gives
people who care the leeway to do things
[45:02] the way that they would like to do them.
couple years ago when we had all the old
[45:07] lights, the question was, "Well, gee, we
think the town should go and replace all
[45:09] the lights." And we basically said, "No,
we're not we're not getting into the
[45:13] decoration business, we we're strapped
enough as it is paying for the things
[45:17] that are essential." So, uh, for me, at
least philosophically, there's another
[45:21] piece piece of this that says sometimes
I'm I have a libertarian tendency here.
[45:26] The government ought to stay out of
people's lives when it comes to things
[45:29] that people do because they want to do
it. Let them have the room to do it. If
[45:33] you can support them, if you can't
support them, stay out of their way.
[45:37] But, but if you can support them and
make it a little easier for them to do
[45:40] it, give them the ability to do what
they see fit. And that's how I look at
[45:44] it at least.
>> So, motion,
[45:47] » tell me if I'm going to read the
[laughter] Please go ahead.
[45:49] » Uh, all right. Uh, so motion to permit
permission per uh permit
[45:56] a display of an outdoor electric monora
in Baxter Park during Hanukkah this
[46:00] winter. um along the brief public
lighting celebration on the evening of
[46:05] the holiday and further um pending and
Gus can help me pending approval of the
[46:10] policy guidelines.
>> Pend pending compliance with the policy
[46:13] guidelines set by the select board and
in coordination with memo.
[46:18] » Okay.
>> Before you do that, can I ask a
[46:21] question?
>> Grab the mic if you wouldn't mind just
[46:24] so people at home can hear you.
>> And if you can speak louder, I couldn't
[46:26] hear you. Sure, my voice is gone. But um
the holiday is eight nights. Um is this
[46:33] is what you're reading does it preclude
someone or a group of people for light
[46:40] from lighting the minora each of those
eight nights?
[46:45] » I think that's what they typically do
when the others
[46:48] » I'm fine with that.
>> It's electric light, right? You're
[46:51] really not lighting it. So you're just
flipping the switch. Yeah. All right.
[46:53] [laughter] All right. No firesation on
one night and then
[46:56] » fire department
go and
[46:59] » we're not letting
>> Yeah, I think that that Yeah,
[47:02] » just wanted to check. Thank you.
>> Actually, another thought occurred to
[47:07] me. So, our lights are on a timer. They
go on at 4:30 and they go off around 1.
[47:15] How are you You're not going to have
your manure on all night, are you?
[47:19] » She said they're solar.
>> Solar.
[47:21] » I believe it's solar driven. Don't solar
items stay on longer than the sun.
[47:27] » It probably have a light sensor on it as
well? I don't know if
[47:31] » And there are multiple options. They're
different. Um,
[47:33] » well, 4:30 is when sun goes down. It
>> you're not going to want this to go off
[47:38] at 4:30. My thought.
>> No.
[47:41] » Anyway, there should be consideration as
to when this is going to be on and off.
[47:46] Y
>> and how you're going to flip the switch.
[47:48] » Okay.
>> My only thought. you're buying it in
[47:51] 2026. There's got to be an app.
>> Yeah, [laughter] I'm sure. Yeah.
[47:54] » You said it's being done in multiple
communities. There's all kinds of
[47:58] resources.
>> Yeah, we're good.
[48:00] » All right. So, we'll give that motion.
>> Yep. Second.
[48:03] » All those in favor?
>> I
[48:05] thank you.
>> Thank you very much.
[48:07] » Appreciate you doing it.
Our
[48:12] next appointment is with Rob Quinn,
facilities director, and Ben Jackovitz,
[48:18] project and procurement manager, to
request the following vote to sign the
[48:21] investment grade audit agreement with
energy efficient investments, Inc. for
[48:27] project development services to identify
economically feasible energy
[48:30] conservation measures. B. He vote to
sign Green Community Standard
[48:34] Commonwealth contract for $212,537
to fund energy conservation measures,
[48:41] hybrid rooftop, heat unit, pump unit,
heat pump, and roof insulation and
[48:47] ceiling and municipal facilities,
including high school. C. Vote to
[48:51] authorize a six-year contract with Vadar
Systems for tax collection software in
[48:57] the amount of $177,14.
Annual cost of the contract is
[49:02] $28,452.32.
[49:05] Welcome and thank you for coming. Thank
you for pursuing all of this too.
[49:09] » Thanks for [clears throat] having us. Uh
so you want to start with the first one,
[49:12] I take it, the audit. So
>> [clears throat]
[49:14] » uh we've been working on this for a few
months now. Um the process was we did an
[49:19] RFQ um for uh energy management
services. We received a handful of bids,
[49:26] review of those bid documents, and we
[clears throat] determined after
[49:29] reviewing the bid documents that EI
would best serve the town. So, with that
[49:35] being said, uh the next step in that
process is this contract that's in front
[49:40] of you. um that would allow EI to do a
full audit of each building
[49:46] independently in each building um and
present that audit to the town with
[49:53] multiple projects independent projects
in each building u with the goal of
[49:57] saving energy and upgrading
[clears throat] equipment. Each project
[50:00] would be reviewed independently
um and independent contracts will be
[50:06] signed to move forward on each project.
I would just add that the audit is uh
[50:12] with this particular company is uh no
charge. So essentially they would be
[50:18] doing a high level audit of every
building you know with utility
[50:24] incentives and uh energy savings
identified that would allow us to you
[50:30] know decide if the projects that they
identify are worth doing or not.
[50:35] That's good.
>> The other value of the audit for myself
[50:39] is um it's going to help us build a
roadmap for our 20-year capital plan.
[50:43] We'll see a handful of projects. We'll
see uh budgets thrown out over the next,
[50:47] you know, 10 to 12 years, figure out
which projects we want to slate, which
[50:51] projects we want to move forward, and
it'll also help us with green community
[50:54] submittals. [clears throat]
[50:58] » Okay. Thank you. Um Mr. Ricky,
>> so these guys know what generally what
[51:03] I'm going to say. I've spent about two
and a half hours with them going over
[51:06] this one particular contract and I'm
going to make a few editorial comments.
[51:09] I I endorse recommend we approve it. So
my position is that we should approve
[51:14] it, but it took me two and a half hours
and two different conversations to
[51:18] satisfy myself on a couple things.
Three. Well, I was [laughter]
[51:22] » I don't want to make it sound that bad,
but yeah, it was probably three. The um
[51:26] the issue here, so as you just heard
this audit, this company is doing it for
[51:30] free. There are terms in the contract
that relate to what this downstream work
[51:36] will be if they get it. And so, as I I
commented to the two of them, there's
[51:42] for me there's an issue around good
faith contracting. Uh if you were to
[51:46] just say, "Oh, they're going to do this
for free. We'll get that and then we'll
[51:48] just kick them out the door." There's an
issue of this is on pure ethical
[51:52] grounds, good faith contracting. and
potentially if they were like a
[51:57] fraudulent pre-notion that we weren't
going to use them, there's probably even
[52:01] legal bad faith contracting. That's not
what's happening here. I'm satisfied
[52:05] that's not what's happening here. Uh
I don't like in principle, I don't like
[52:11] negotiating a contract for this piece of
work that contains terms and conditions
[52:16] for what the follow-on work is going to
look like because you're in that that's
[52:20] the weakest position you could be in to
negotiate. Having said all that, Rob
[52:24] sent me the other two biders. Uh, and
part of why they bid that way is because
[52:29] that was the format that the RFP called
for. Uh, and in fact, I am convinced
[52:34] that this particular company of the
three biders, they all did something
[52:37] very very similar in terms of in fact
the third bidder did was worse on cost.
[52:43] I can't see how it wouldn't have been
far worse. It was we're going to charge
[52:45] you for the audit. We're going to charge
you more as our markup on the projects.
[52:50] So I I am satisfied that this we
basically we got three bids and they
[52:55] were comparable bids and this was the
only company that said we'll do the
[52:58] audit for free but their markup was at
least in line with the other two uh and
[53:05] it was definitely better than one of
them. So I'm holding my nose on the
[53:09] stuff I don't like about contract
management uh and think we should
[53:14] approve this.
>> Okay. Anything further
[53:18] » from myself? No, that's it. You're all
set.
[53:22] » No, I'm good. I read through it. I
understand what you guys are up against.
[53:25] I love the fact that it's going to help
us sitting on the budget, the the
[53:28] capital budget. We have some challenging
years ahead. So, I appreciate this.
[53:35] » I think you actually have a comment
to speak.
[53:39] » Okay,
>> go ahead.
[53:43] » Yeah. Hi, good evening 24 Marlin Road.
Um, thank you so much to to to to Rob
[53:50] and the facilitative department for
taking this on. I'm thrilled to see that
[53:56] the town is looking to uh work on energy
efficiency in in our buildings. Um my
[54:04] first question relates to you know the
audit you said it was a high level audit
[54:10] on energy usage, energy efficiency and
utility incentives. Um, how is this
[54:18] different from the audit that was done
uh what a year and a half ago or two
[54:22] years ago uh where we looked at the
energy efficiency and the sort of
[54:28] potential costs of upgrading buildings.
Um
[54:33] » I think that I believe that this audit's
going to dig much deeper. Uh I believe
[54:37] that the audit that was done a year ago,
we'll call it was more of an overview.
[54:42] This is going to be job specific. um
much more in depth directly in get
[54:49] directly contact the utilities directly
chase grants show the town how they can
[54:54] save energy on these maybe
electrification who knows but at the end
[54:57] of the day it's going to be a much
deeper dive than the audit we received
[55:00] in the past
>> that that is fantastic I'm I'm very
[55:04] happy to hear that the other question I
have um and that's something that the
[55:09] energy committee has has sort of talked
about for for many years is the the um
[55:15] sort of calibration of existing
equipment and then energy savings that
[55:20] could be done by adjusting uh efficiency
of existing equipment of um educating um
[55:28] you know personnel even the users of a
building on how to to use the equipment
[55:34] efficiency efficiently so we don't have
heating to 80 degrees and windows open
[55:40] in the winter and that sort of thing. Um
does that audit some of these questions
[55:45] as well.
>> They'll address all those questions.
[55:49] » Fantastic.
Thank you to both of you and to the
[55:53] department for um pursuing this.
>> Thanks, Ellie.
[55:59] » You want a motion on that individual
item?
[56:02] » I'm sorry.
>> Chris, do you want in a a motion for
[56:05] that individual item?
>> Yes, please.
[56:06] » Okay.
>> Is there anybody else, Chris, or was
[56:08] that it?
>> Nope, that was it. Just Hilly. Not just
[56:10] Hilly. It was Hilly. [laughter]
>> Sorry, Hilly. wonderful thing that you
[56:14] guys are doing and I appreciate you
doing it and seeing if we can save some
[56:18] energy, save some money.
>> Absolutely.
[56:20] » So, want to have a motion then?
>> Motion. So, moved.
[56:23] » Second.
>> All those in favor? I I
[56:28] » B green communities money.
>> Uh so it's it's RTU5. I don't have that
[56:34] literature in front of me. It's RTU5,
which is the rooftop unit that feeds the
[56:38] auditorium at the high school.
[clears throat]
[56:40] unit was installed in 1996.
Parts are obsolete. The refrigerants
[56:45] R22. Um it's a difficult unit to to keep
running and to um it's very costly. Um
[56:52] we've been working on this again for
months. This is the submitt that we're
[56:56] we're putting forward for the green
communities for this year. Um it's
[57:00] pretty cut and dry on what's in front of
you. And um and then we're what we're
[57:04] looking to do is we're looking to get
rid of a larger unit that's up there.
[57:07] Get a more efficient with a heat pump
backup which will be the energy savings
[57:12] there. That's what that's the goal.
>> Didn't we have to replace one of the
[57:16] units up there recently that we
>> replace five this summer?
[57:21] » Now what you replace on the emergency
basis was uh condensate tanks at Dale
[57:25] Street.
[57:28] Um the only [clears throat] question I
had it was just a curiosity question was
[57:32] given that we just when we talked about
the investment grade audit taking a
[57:36] comprehensive look at all the
opportunities when I read this one is
[57:39] the next one I was saying yeah actually
we've got a moving train and I was just
[57:42] curious about how a project like this
does or doesn't intersect with the
[57:47] investment grade audit.
>> Well we had to have a greens community
[57:50] submitt right
>> and we knew that this had to be done. So
[57:52] we had to move forward with that because
you know how long it takes to get that
[57:55] submitt and we weren't aware
[clears throat] we weren't positive
[57:57] we're going to get this audit signed. So
either we stand still and do nothing and
[58:01] we move.
>> Okay. So maybe my question is is will
[58:04] this still be part of the audit or
>> they will audit that? Yes.
[58:08] » Oh, they will. Okay.
Okay.
[58:12] » Miss Murphy, any questions?
>> No, I'm good.
[58:14] » I'm good, too. Do I have a motion then,
please? A motion to vote to sign the
[58:20] Green Community Standard Commonwealth
contract for $212,537
[58:25] to fund energy conservation measures,
hybrid rooftop unit, heat pump and roof
[58:30] installation and ceiling in municipal
facilities including high school.
[58:33] » Second.
>> All those in favor? I
[58:35] » I
>> and C the uh uh tax collection software.
[58:43] » [snorts]
>> So, uh, the
[58:47] software that the town has used for
numerous years informed us recently that
[58:52] they're discontinuing service at the end
of this year. So, we put out an RFP to
[58:58] solicit bids for a new software that we
could implement. Um, which was done
[59:03] recently and we received five bids and
the consensus was that this software
[59:08] that Vadar uh is proposing
was the best for the town. Um, so this
[59:14] contract is a three-year contract that
would essentially get us the transition
[59:21] from Patriot Collect Pro over to this
new Vadar system. And it would be for,
[59:27] you know, three years of, you know,
maintenance and service and whatever
[59:30] else the town will need. Um,
so
[59:34] » is it very
>> So it's not a six-year contract.
[59:37] » It's not
>> it's not a six-year contract. Um, where
[59:40] the six years comes from is as part of
Vadar's proposal, they offered it's
[59:45] essentially six years of fixed pricing,
um, which distributes the what would be
[59:52] a very expensive upfront cost. Um
essentially we'll distribute that
[59:58] through uh you know three years which
will you know give us the benefit of not
[1:00:03] having to pay right
>> you know three times as much upfront.
[1:00:06] » Yeah. So, to give you a little a little
more context, um, Ben, thank you. Uh,
[1:00:10] you summarized it better than I could,
but to give you a little more context,
[1:00:13] when he says we've had collect for a few
years, it was 26 years ago. Um,
[1:00:16] [laughter] when we put it in, and Ben
probably wasn't born yet, but, um,
[1:00:22] it's killing me these days, people. Um,
anyway, um, they notified us two years
[1:00:28] after town meeting. So, normally this is
a request that you would have seen in
[1:00:31] the capital budget, um, especially for a
cost this, uh, expensive. Um, we
[1:00:36] anticipated, if you'll remember last
year, we upgraded AssessPro to
[1:00:39] cloud-based. We did that through the
capital budget. Uh, we anticipated in
[1:00:43] talking to CollectPro, CollectPro, that
we had three more years to do that. It
[1:00:47] was anticipated it would be added into
the capital budget this year. They
[1:00:50] notified us, like I said, two weeks
after town meeting and said, "We can't
[1:00:54] support it. We've tried repeatedly to
get them to give us an extra year
[1:00:58] because we don't have an appropriation
for this." Um, Ben immediately got the
[1:01:02] bid on the street, which was fantastic.
We worked on it all summer and got this
[1:01:05] in front of you. I think that Vadar
recognizes we're not the only town in
[1:01:10] this situation um that has a huge
capital expense with no appropriation,
[1:01:13] which is why I think you see the
generous six-year u payoff for that. Um
[1:01:18] I've talked to um the chair of the
warrant committee and I will be be
[1:01:22] bringing a reserve fund request. We hate
to do that right at the beginning of the
[1:01:26] year. Um but we also need to collect
taxes in order to have a second year. um
[1:01:31] is probably the most key piece of
software we have uh in the town. So I
[1:01:34] will be asking for a reserve fund
request to fund the first year and then
[1:01:38] subsequent years will be uh budgeted in
the IT budget going forward. Um and that
[1:01:43] will that cost will be offset by what we
currently budget for the collect pro
[1:01:46] system. Um but this was definitely an
emergency basis.
[1:01:51] » Thank you Mr. Burby. Any issues?
>> Just just one clarify. You you and I
[1:01:55] have already exchanged an email. So just
I'm doing this for the record. The
[1:01:59] agenda on the on our meeting agenda,
this is a six-year contract. Is this a
[1:02:04] the contracting term that we're
approving tonight is a three-year
[1:02:10] contract.
>> They are provided for years four, five,
[1:02:14] and six, the pricing that will be in
place. And the only question I have for
[1:02:19] you given in this conversation is when
you and I exchanged the emails, it
[1:02:23] sounded like it was a three-year
contract with three one-year extension
[1:02:27] options to make it six years. Is that
the right way to characterize it?
[1:02:31] » Yes, that's correct.
>> Okay. Just want to make sure. Okay,
[1:02:35] » M. Murphy.
>> And then if I read correctly, the the
[1:02:38] challenge you have or the should we say
uh the opportunity you have here is that
[1:02:43] 26 years of using this software package,
there isn't an easy transition. So, it's
[1:02:47] not like the two are mildly compatible
and one can.
[1:02:50] » So, is that a little uh gut-wrenching or
>> uh So, I it'll mostly be the treasur's
[1:02:57] office and assessor's office.
>> So, George is ready.
[1:03:00] » Yeah, we uh Georgia actually um she
might have had a fever today when she
[1:03:03] told me she was excited about this
transition. Um but she is excited. Uh it
[1:03:07] comes with a lot more bells and whistles
as you can imagine the software we've
[1:03:10] had for 26 years.
>> Um she's excited about the transition.
[1:03:13] Vadar has done multiple transitions from
Collect Pro um to the Vadar system. So,
[1:03:18] we feel prepared um that they can do
this seamlessly for us.
[1:03:22] » Okay, great.
>> It's funny. The question I did have for
[1:03:24] Christian earlier today is like how did
Ben get roped into this? [laughter]
[1:03:27] » Because now our procurement specialist,
so
[1:03:31] » just just you to help.
>> Yeah, he moves things more than help.
[1:03:34] » Yes, he's moving projects along much
more quickly than I can. So, I
[1:03:38] appreciate that.
>> What's out of Actton?
[1:03:42] » Actton. Yeah.
>> So, my question had to do with the fact
[1:03:45] that I saw that it was not compatible
with Munis and with GIS and that we
[1:03:51] didn't get the 10-year data conversion
that we were looking for. And I'm
[1:03:54] gathering that you guys don't care about
that so much.
[1:03:56] » So, yeah, like I said, I was one of the
three reviewers, uh, Georgia and Ivonne
[1:04:01] as well, and that was not a, you know, a
dealbreaker by any means. So,
[1:04:06] » okay. Do we have a motion then?
>> All right. Motion to
[1:04:12] authorize a six-year contract with
>> threeear.
[1:04:15] » Oh, yes. Soon as I saw them to cross it
out. Yeah. Three year. Uh vote to
[1:04:19] authorize a three-year contract with
Vadar Systems for TA Collection Software
[1:04:22] in the amount of 177,14.
Annual cost of contract is $28,452.32.
[1:04:31] » So I'm guessing that $177,000
is the sixyear number then. Is it
[1:04:35] » correct?
Yes, that's the total six years.
[1:04:39] » Yeah, that sounds correct.
>> So, we will vote to authorize a contract
[1:04:43] of three years at $28,452.32
[1:04:47] » per year.
>> Per year. That which I read. Yeah.
[1:04:50] Annual cost of the contract is.
>> Is there a second to that?
[1:04:54] » Second.
>> All those in favor?
[1:04:55] » I I thank you so much.
>> Thank you guys.
[1:04:59] » Thank you guys.
>> For the town. Our next appointment
[1:05:02] number five is with Carolyn Casey,
school building committee co-chair and
[1:05:07] Jeff Demo, Dale Street owners project
manager to discuss market conditions for
[1:05:13] school construction projects and bills
here too. Thank you for coming.
[1:05:23] » Miko, thank you for taking us on. I
understand you're a Medfield resident,
[1:05:26] so
>> proud resident of Medfield. Absolutely.
[1:05:28] It is.
>> Do you want me to start sharing right
[1:05:30] away or do you want to introduce me
first couple minutes?
[1:05:32] » Perfect. Thank you. Um Carolyn Casey 29
South Street Jeff
[1:05:38] 170 Granite Street
>> and co-chair with me Bill Warner
[1:05:41] » Ten Gary
>> Tengary. Um thank you so much for having
[1:05:45] us here tonight. Um I was here just you
know a couple weeks ago and gave you an
[1:05:50] update as to the what the school
building is working on at the moment.
[1:05:54] And for those who don't know, we're
started the design process which starts
[1:05:58] with gathering data. So there are many
things happening. We're have um a forum
[1:06:04] on the 15th, a virtual forum to explain
data about the space at Dale compared to
[1:06:12] what MSBA wants for space in a school
building. We have a visioning session on
[1:06:18] September 29th. Everybody's invited. The
focus of that visioning session is on
[1:06:24] the educational programming because you
have to get your educational programming
[1:06:28] done before you can do your design
because the educational program
[1:06:32] programming drives the design. So, as
we've been gathering data um all over
[1:06:38] the community in that Dale, I've been
talking to many people about what we're
[1:06:42] doing. Uh lots of interest, lots of
enthusiasm, which we really appreciate.
[1:06:46] Uh but we also had a lot of questions
about well what do schools cost and
[1:06:51] there's been all kinds of ranges that
people have offered to me. So, I thought
[1:06:55] it might be helpful if we brought the
expert who builds schools um in
[1:07:00] Massachusetts and elementary to just do
a short presentation on the current
[1:07:05] market conditions to help everybody sort
of understand for schools out there
[1:07:11] being built a couple years ago or right
now or just out to bid what they are,
[1:07:16] what the size is, and what they cost. So
Jeff's going to do that for us and then
[1:07:20] when he's done, Bill's gonna share a
little more information.
[1:07:25] » Okay.
>> All right.
[1:07:27] » We have a couple slides to cover. Um
just before I jump into cost, I'll cover
[1:07:30] timeline because you know, now that I
I'm in front of you as a committee, I
[1:07:33] want to talk to you about when we're
going to engage you along the way, too,
[1:07:36] so you understand the road ahead. Um so
as uh Britney brings up the slide, you
[1:07:41] can go to the third slide.
Right there. Thank you. So up on the
[1:07:46] screen there is is a general timeline.
So the overall process with the mass
[1:07:49] school building authority is broken into
three major milestones. Uh each of them
[1:07:53] has acronyms that are alphabet soup. Um
the first one is called the PDP. So
[1:07:58] that's the preliminary design program.
That's just what Carolyn has explained
[1:08:01] to you just now which is information
gathering and that's broken into three
[1:08:05] parallel tracks.
One is what's happening on the existing
[1:08:09] site. You've already chosen Dale. So
we're we're zeroed in on the site. We're
[1:08:12] looking at the existing building. That's
been happening in August and through
[1:08:15] September. We're doing traffic counts,
uh, geotechnical boring surveys, uh,
[1:08:20] combing through the existing building,
looking at the mechanical systems.
[1:08:22] That's all happening in parallel. Now,
we'll, uh, give the community an update
[1:08:26] for that and their forum on the 15th of
September. In parallel to that, there's
[1:08:30] that educational visioning session. So,
uh, many meetings with the various
[1:08:34] teachers, department heads, uh,
leadership at the school to talk about
[1:08:38] how you deliver education today in
Medfield with the four or five and how
[1:08:41] it's going to be delivered tomorrow. Um,
that visioning session is broken down
[1:08:45] with the educators during the day and
then there's a community session at the
[1:08:48] end of the month to be invited in to
talk about the specifics of that
[1:08:51] program. And the third one, which is the
most uh, desirable from the public, is
[1:08:55] what does it look like? And we're to
start to do the long list of options. So
[1:08:59] looking at your existing site, where can
a building massing go? So at this point
[1:09:02] in the stage, we're not nailing down
what the building looks like or the
[1:09:05] geometry or exactly where it lands.
We're looking at many addition
[1:09:09] renovation and new construction options
on the Dale site and where those kind of
[1:09:13] amoeba shapes might bolt onto the
existing building or where they can fit
[1:09:17] around that building or where modulars
or swing spaces may need to be done as
[1:09:21] we look at all the various options that
are on the table. That's the current
[1:09:25] phase. uh we're looking to wrap that up
at the end of this year and submit that
[1:09:28] to the state. From there, we go into the
preferred schematic option, which is the
[1:09:32] middle part of the of the leg. That's
where the meat happens, right? That's
[1:09:35] where you really get to the grind
looking at cost, looking at the actual
[1:09:38] ad rena and new construction options and
come to a conclusion with the building
[1:09:42] committee about what's the most fiscally
responsible and educationally
[1:09:46] appropriate solution for the town of
Medfield. Uh we're looking to wrap that
[1:09:49] up in the spring time frame. Uh and
hopefully by the beginning of April,
[1:09:52] we're at a point where we're able to
make a decision about whether to go add
[1:09:56] rena or new construction. We'd then
bring that back to the various other
[1:09:59] committees in town such as yourself and
the school committee to make a
[1:10:02] presentation, explain the why uh and
hopefully collect your endorsement
[1:10:06] votes. Uh at that point in the process,
we'll then submit it to the state where
[1:10:10] they'll accept the recommendation. That
becomes the option. That's when you've
[1:10:13] made the final decisionation on what
you're building and where it's going.
[1:10:16] There's still a third leg in the process
and that's schematic design. that
[1:10:20] ultimately dials in all the final
decisions. What is the overall cost of
[1:10:23] it? What does the building start to look
like? Uh are you going to pick a general
[1:10:27] contractor versus a construction
manager? Uh what are the final decisions
[1:10:31] of the mechanical systems, the
sustainability decisions? All that feeds
[1:10:34] into cost. Uh there's opportunity costs
with that, but there's upfront versus
[1:10:38] longevity costs and life cycle cost. And
we'll talk about that during that leg.
[1:10:42] uh we'll we'll have a recommendation
from the school building committee on
[1:10:45] the final totality of that scope and
budget and then again bring it back to
[1:10:49] the school committee and the select
board for your support votes uh before
[1:10:52] we move it forward to the state and
that's targeted for October of next
[1:10:56] year. Any questions on the overall
timeline before we jump into costs? I
[1:11:00] know there's a lot there.
>> Just had a quick one and it's probably a
[1:11:03] question you can't answer yet but I'm
going to ask it. You were talking
[1:11:06] earlier about building massing and I'm
just curious. Do you have have any sense
[1:11:10] not around the actual configuration of
the footprint but about the square
[1:11:14] footage of the footprint? Is this
building going to be 50% bigger than
[1:11:18] what we currently have? You have any you
have anything that gives you an
[1:11:21] indication of that yet?
>> Um we're at the start line of that now.
[1:11:23] We're having those conversations
starting to develop. Really the
[1:11:26] educational program will dictate that.
Uh we know that the building will be you
[1:11:30] know smaller than previous studies
because the enrollment has been set.
[1:11:33] Right now we're only at 460 students
which is a reduction from the prior
[1:11:37] program. Um so we know the building will
be smaller but the final square footage
[1:11:41] of where we we're dialed in is not yet
there. Um the MSBA program spits out the
[1:11:45] baseline which is your floor and then
you customize it to to your town
[1:11:49] specific needs which will add some
square footage.
[1:11:54] Right. So with that we'll jump into
cost. Um there's a lot to digest with
[1:11:58] cost. I don't expect you or the viewers
at home to really read this, but it's
[1:12:01] available on the MSBA's website, and
that's um they've been trending data for
[1:12:05] 20 years. So, the MSBA reformed back in
in 2008. Uh and they've been trending
[1:12:10] their data. So, everything you see as an
orange square is an actual bid dollar
[1:12:13] that was awarded to a contractor,
whether GC or CM, it's all in there in
[1:12:17] the same data sheet. Um this is all new
builds on this particular slide here, uh
[1:12:22] which has the greatest amount of data.
the um the red bar in the middle is kind
[1:12:27] of the when we hit COVID. And I I bring
that up as a data point because it
[1:12:31] really changed the trajectory of
building in the in in the United States
[1:12:35] and in in Massachusetts. It used to be
inflation was kind of up or down at at 2
[1:12:39] to 3% over the year. Sometimes you'd hit
a high year and then it would dip down.
[1:12:43] Well, in 2020, we certainly throttled
back that first year, but then it
[1:12:46] throttled forward and went to 8 and a
half and then 10 and a half% and then 6%
[1:12:51] and that all compounded and it never
recovered postcoid. It then normalized
[1:12:55] back at the pre-COVID uh escalations of
3% but has stayed on that stiff
[1:12:59] trajectory and that's been proven out
with all the data that you see here on
[1:13:02] the slide and that is available for
anybody at home on the MSBA's website.
[1:13:07] Important things to note that what's
happened over time. So from 2008 uh to
[1:13:12] 2029 which is where I think the graph
ends over that 10 20 year uh horizon it
[1:13:17] went from $200 a square foot to over
$1,50 a square foot. So the jobs that
[1:13:22] are currently being envisioned today to
move forward for their funding boats are
[1:13:27] between $800 to $1,50 a square foot,
which is an astounding number. You know,
[1:13:32] all of us that uh build at our homes
understand that, you know, the cost of
[1:13:35] construction has gone up, but that's
astronomical compared to where it's gone
[1:13:39] in 20 years. The why, well, a lot of
things have changed over that time. Uh
[1:13:44] certainly codes have changed. So each
year building codes both state and
[1:13:47] locally get increased. Um, individual
towns opt into the specialized energy
[1:13:52] codes or or things related to that with
sustainability goals, all electric. Um,
[1:13:56] the MSBA adds program requirements along
the way such as, you know, second sinks
[1:14:00] and classrooms or other programs such as
science and technology and things like
[1:14:04] that that get added along the way. And
so that's some of the reasons at a very
[1:14:08] high level of where we went from the
$200 20 years ago to the projected over
[1:14:13] $1,000 a square foot uh for for future
projects. um what could we do to impact
[1:14:18] that? Um the next slide u probably kind
of covers some u contemporaries as we'll
[1:14:24] call them. Um so these are the the all
the recent elementary school projects
[1:14:28] that were approved within the last two
years on the MSBA's website. And so I
[1:14:31] pulled out the data there to kind of
show where the dollars per square foot
[1:14:35] are and also the total project uh
budget. And so the dollars per square
[1:14:39] foot is related to just the construction
dollars itself. So not the uh consultant
[1:14:44] costs, not the contingencies you carry,
not the insuranceances, not the
[1:14:48] furniture, the technology, all those
things are in addition to that. We call
[1:14:50] that the soft cost of the budget which
is essentially if you want to do simple
[1:14:55] math, it's between 25 to 30% on top of
the construction budget depending on the
[1:15:00] size of your job. If you have a much
larger job, it'll end up in the lower
[1:15:03] end of the scale. If you have a smaller
school, which Medfield does fit in the
[1:15:06] smaller school uh metric with 460
students, uh it'll be on the larger end
[1:15:11] of that range, but we'll dial all that
in. Those will be decisions that the
[1:15:14] building committee will make. Um real
proposals will be put forward with
[1:15:17] before we get to the final overall
numbers. Another thing to consider here,
[1:15:21] when you look at the dollars per square
foot, uh these are all the recent ones
[1:15:24] in the last two years. They run from
$815 a square foot up to uh $964.
[1:15:31] That's projecting out two years from now
when those jobs go out to bid. So when
[1:15:34] we get to the point where the Medfield
needs to make their decision, you'll
[1:15:37] also be projecting out, you know, a year
and a half at a minimum to when you
[1:15:40] would go out to bid from the time you
lock in your overall budget. So that's
[1:15:44] why we build in contingencies and things
like that that are occurred.
[1:15:48] Size of the building. One more important
factor is that if it's a larger school,
[1:15:51] if it's a, you know, 600 700 person
school, there's lots of fixed costs and
[1:15:56] so the dollars per square foot will go
down. The gym is same size. the
[1:15:59] cafeteria is essentially the same size.
The parking lots, the roadways, the
[1:16:02] circulation, uh the demolition of other
buildings, those are all fixed costs.
[1:16:06] The elevator when you have a smaller job
is a lot less square footage to spread
[1:16:10] that over with. And so that really is
part of the reasons why the slide in
[1:16:13] front of you kind of runs that gamut
from $815 to $964. Now along the way,
[1:16:19] the building committee make can make
important decisions to help keep that
[1:16:22] number as low as possible. um what they
skin the building with, what the
[1:16:25] finishes are look like in the building,
you know, the approach we take for GC
[1:16:29] versus CM. Um but there's all trade-off
costs and opportunity costs and we'll
[1:16:33] bring those decisions to the building
committee to make and then bring it back
[1:16:36] to the public and let them understand
the why. So I know I kind of threw a lot
[1:16:40] at you there. Um and that was what I
wanted to kind of cover in terms of
[1:16:44] overall cost. Oh, one other point I did
want to make is that what was happening
[1:16:49] precoid was there was a gap uh between
what the MSBA was reimbursing and what
[1:16:54] the market was bearing. And in postcoid,
they've started to close that gap back
[1:16:58] down. So that's good news for Medfield
that the reimbursement rates that the
[1:17:01] state is giving um has gone up uh for
the dollars per square foot for the
[1:17:06] building. At the time when CO had hit,
they had never increased their
[1:17:09] reimbursement rate for furniture or
equipment and technology. it had stayed
[1:17:13] the same from 2008 up through 2020. Uh
and at that point they've actually now
[1:17:18] increased it and that went up over 50%
from what they were originally
[1:17:21] proposing. So there are lots of benefits
uh to where we are in the pipeline right
[1:17:25] now that there is additional money from
the state. Um the last and final point
[1:17:29] I'll make is that the sustainability
goals have changed. They used to offer
[1:17:32] two percentage points for reimbursement.
Now you can get up to 4% but you have to
[1:17:36] do more to get that and so there'll be
opportunity costs that the committee
[1:17:39] will debate related to those. So, that's
a lot. Um, I'll pause here if there are
[1:17:43] any questions before I turn it over to
Bill.
[1:17:47] » Mr. Ky.
>> Nope.
[1:17:49] » Oh, Bill.
>> Yeah. No, I I just wanted to add, um,
[1:17:52] first of all, thanks for having us. Um,
you know, I I remember when I joined the
[1:17:56] committee and Augustus, I think we had a
conversation one night. Um, my biggest
[1:18:00] risk in terms of like getting this
project done all along was like I see
[1:18:04] where the costs have gone in our
business every day and they just keep
[1:18:07] going up. And the biggest risk the whole
way along was that we were going to run
[1:18:11] the perfect play, deliver the perfect
project, and that, you know, the
[1:18:14] taxpayers at the end of the day would
say, "No, it's too expensive." Because
[1:18:17] there's certain things we just can't
fight. And there's a lot about that
[1:18:20] curve that you saw that we're just not
going to be able to fight. So that
[1:18:23] that's the bad news. The good news, as
Jeff mentioned, reimbursement rates have
[1:18:27] gone up. That's good. The, you know,
committee with the the support of the
[1:18:30] warrant committee had the foresight for
the tax mitigation stabilization fund.
[1:18:34] that's going to pay dividends when we
get to the vote in terms of helping the
[1:18:37] taxpayers understand that we have put
aside a down payment. I think that's a
[1:18:41] great kind of structural thing to do for
the long term. But like regardless,
[1:18:45] we're going to wind up ahead on costs
where we were the last time around. And
[1:18:48] that's nothing. We have 12 like very
very incredible people working every day
[1:18:53] to get a great project delivered. Like
we can't go back in time. Like we got to
[1:18:57] deal with what we have. And so part of
this education is for for this team, for
[1:19:01] the public to make sure that we continue
to just like sound the drum around it's
[1:19:06] going to be more expensive. We're trying
to plan for it. We're going to do the
[1:19:09] best we can to mitigate costs, but we
kind of have to come to realization
[1:19:12] that, you know, the data is what it is
and we have to move forward. So, um, you
[1:19:17] know, I guess my one ask of, you know,
this team is to continue to stay
[1:19:21] involved, you know, raise awareness. Um,
you know, M. Murphy has been a great
[1:19:26] supporter from the select board. Um
we've tried to do our best with
[1:19:30] everything from letters to the editor in
the hometown weekly to you know weekly
[1:19:35] recaps to the videos. Um you know
everybody tries to show up on the
[1:19:39] videos. I think Christine just got the
most likes of all time on the video from
[1:19:43] the last time. So she may [laughter]
become a permanent fixture on our
[1:19:46] videos.
>> A good thing or a bad thing for you?
[1:19:49] But I think that like we've um we're
doing our best on community engagement
[1:19:52] and um you know it's been a little bit
of a struggle so far because I think
[1:19:56] people will show up at the end when the
dollars and the plan are in front of
[1:19:59] them and and you guys know that better
than anybody in terms of um you how the
[1:20:03] public engages. So um you know I would
just ask you know the three of you as
[1:20:07] huge proponents of what we're trying to
do. You know stay informed like call us
[1:20:11] with questions um you know read the
newsletters, watch the videos. Um, we're
[1:20:15] trying to get all the information we out
that we can and the more that um, this
[1:20:18] entire team can kind of raise the
awareness of the town, the better we'll
[1:20:22] be when we get to the vote because I
think we all agree that we we got to get
[1:20:25] this right and we can't deal with
another failed project vote. So,
[1:20:30] » Bill, I could make one comment just as
because you didn't bring it up, but
[1:20:34] couple years ago when this re was
re-energized, um, even then the
[1:20:39] projections this was is coming out of co
the projections what you showed there,
[1:20:43] Jeff, it's like all right, we're
fighting we're fighting a strong current
[1:20:47] and the one point that I made at the
time is that unlike the last time around
[1:20:52] where affordability total cost of the
school was first and foremost on my
[1:20:57] mind, a the impact on the taxpayer
is first and foremost in terms of where
[1:21:04] I'm coming from. And what I mean by that
is if we're building a 50-year school,
[1:21:09] I don't necessarily think we need to do
20-year financing so that people for 30
[1:21:13] years have a school handed to them and
they have to maintain it. So just
[1:21:18] because I understand what you're showing
here, the other piece of that eventually
[1:21:23] will be what can we do to minimize the
impact on the taxpayer? And I'm saying
[1:21:28] upfront. If people are still paying for
the school 30 years from now, they're
[1:21:33] the ones that are getting the benefit
from the schools 30 years from now. I I
[1:21:36] don't want to go out 50 years because
there's renovations, but you know, so
[1:21:39] I'm hoping that we'll have some
flexibility with through the state to be
[1:21:43] able to look at that dimension as well.
>> Yeah, I hope so. And again, this is why
[1:21:47] we thought it was really important. I
know there's a discussion at the
[1:21:49] beginning of like MSBA, no MSBA, you
know, I think with the reimbursement
[1:21:52] rates and they've been a great partner
so far. And so, um, it was just really
[1:21:56] hard as we sit here today, right? Like
shovels won't be in the ground until
[1:21:59] this time, you know, hopefully two years
from now. And so, like the projects at
[1:22:03] work that we're working on in our
buildings, like we're still projecting
[1:22:07] 10% inflation for the projects that
we'll do two years from now. And so, all
[1:22:10] the data that Jeff showed, like there's
still more inflation coming. And then
[1:22:13] the other barrier we have is interest
rates, right? every point that the
[1:22:16] interest rates move, you know, could go
for us, it could go against us, but
[1:22:19] we're just dealing with very much moving
target. And so, again, the the more that
[1:22:23] we can just make the public aware and
have your support as we go through this
[1:22:26] journey, uh, you know, it'll it'll serve
us all well. So,
[1:22:31] » anything else?
>> M. Murphy. Uh, I just want to say being
[1:22:35] the select board member that sits on the
amount of work that Carolyn and Bill and
[1:22:41] Michelle have done this summer, I the
public needs to know between picking out
[1:22:46] the OPM, picking out the design. There
were a lot of meetings, a lot of
[1:22:51] paperwork. There was a lot of time you
guys put in when people might have been
[1:22:54] sitting on the beach or in the mountains
or on a boat. Um, I I I saw all the
[1:22:58] meetings you had to sit in. I saw the
the data that you had to crunch through.
[1:23:01] Um, so I I would I want to thank you for
that and I hope the town really
[1:23:05] recognizes that there's a lot of work
put in now. There's still a lot of work
[1:23:07] ahead. Um, Jeff's team has been
phenomenal. The design team came in the
[1:23:12] last meeting. So the there's really good
positive momentum. And I think the the
[1:23:17] thing I keep hearing over and over and
over is community involvement, community
[1:23:20] involvement. They are thinking every
which way, every angle they can to try
[1:23:25] to reach out to all age groups. So I
applaud that. So, the virtual meeting is
[1:23:29] coming up on September 15th is huge. The
they'll be at all the back to school pin
[1:23:33] nights starting next week. So, look for
the tables that we'll have the uh school
[1:23:37] building committee members there. And
then obviously Medfield day, we're going
[1:23:40] to have two booths side by side. So, it
you know, as parents are coming back
[1:23:44] from the summer break and the kids are
in school and people starting to
[1:23:47] chatter. I chatted with my neighbor last
night whose daughter started
[1:23:50] kindergarten today and he was like, "Oh,
wait. She actually might make Dale." So
[1:23:55] like you think of it as these
kindergarteners today and every you know
[1:23:58] any pre kindergarten like these are the
kids that this building can impact. So
[1:24:03] um I just want to say thank you for you
guys. I know you put a lot of work in.
[1:24:07] » I'll second that because I know it's a
huge amount of work. I've watched it a
[1:24:11] couple times now and uh and thank you
guys for doing it and and I want to
[1:24:15] compliment you also for the amount of
outreach you are doing. You are just
[1:24:19] pushing huge amounts of information to
the town. Um, so thank you for doing
[1:24:24] that as well.
>> The parade has a speed at this point.
[1:24:28] [laughter]
[1:24:32] » Can I say one thing too that I forgot?
>> Grab the mic. Y [clears throat]
[1:24:35] » let me turn.
[1:24:39] » Maybe I said maybe I said it, but then I
think maybe I forgot. So for people um
[1:24:44] out in the community, we have to
eventually choose the design as Jeff
[1:24:49] mentioned. So you have to give us input
now from now into December for the like
[1:24:56] at least three designs. So if we don't
hear from you or you don't take part
[1:25:01] then we don't know what the committee
wants. We are going to try to do surveys
[1:25:05] and forums and visioning sessions but
you need to sort of pay attention and
[1:25:10] say oh I like this I don't like that I
want this because that's the only way we
[1:25:14] can make a decision that the community
will support. And then from December to
[1:25:20] April, we have to narrow down to one as
Jeff mentioned the preferred design. So
[1:25:25] again, we need your help to get three or
more and then we're going to need your
[1:25:29] help to get from three or more down to
one um when we have to vote on the
[1:25:35] preferred one. So I'm just going to tell
the community if you wait till May, it's
[1:25:40] too late. The design has been chosen. So
please let us know. It will help us.
[1:25:44] Thank you. So Carolyn, is is it by
surveys that you are going to be pushing
[1:25:50] out to the community? Is that how you're
looking to get that in?
[1:25:53] » We're we're going to look at it several
ways. We're going to do forum. So people
[1:25:58] come and tell us and we talk about it.
Um we're going to do surveys
[1:26:03] um asking about certain features as we
gather data and begin to do the design.
[1:26:09] Um we're also going to be doing some
coffees. people have told me that they
[1:26:13] will host a coffee and I can go to the
coffee and talk to people and they can
[1:26:17] we can talk about design and they can
share some thoughts. Um and as the
[1:26:21] design team Jeff and FAA start you know
putting up uh examples of designs then
[1:26:28] we have to say to people what do you
like? Do you like this? Do you like the
[1:26:32] building here? Do you like it here? Do
you want to save this part? Do you want
[1:26:35] a rena? Do you want new? There's so many
decisions. Um,
[1:26:40] » neighborhood captains.
>> Neighborhood captains. Yes. I'm sorry. I
[1:26:42] should have mentioned that. We have a
neighbor.
[1:26:43] » I was going to ask you that in two
seconds. Just knowing pin night coming
[1:26:46] back if we can put that list out so
people can look at the list and be like,
[1:26:48] "Oh, I didn't even know that so and so
was my neighborhood captain."
[1:26:51] » Yeah. Um, so I had neighborhood
captains. They've been great. we just
[1:26:54] met last Monday and they're going to um
put out on Instagram and X and all the
[1:27:00] different things um what's happening and
also try to get you know coffees and
[1:27:07] other ways to get people to give
feedback that can be shared. So I mean
[1:27:12] it's a big project it's a lot of money
and we want voices to be heard and we
[1:27:16] want a proposal in the end that
everybody supports.
[1:27:20] I think that uh uh the reality is that
uh social media is the way for you to
[1:27:25] connect with people. I mean, you can
hold a forum and if you get a 100
[1:27:28] people, that's a huge crowd, but that's
not a huge crowd compared to our our
[1:27:33] almost 10,000 voters now in town. So,
>> 50 likes,
[1:27:37] » you [snorts] guys are you guys just need
to keep pushing it out the way you're
[1:27:41] doing, I think. And the the videos that
you do after your meetings are very
[1:27:45] informative, very helpful. So,
>> all right. Thank you for coming.
[1:27:51] Anything?
>> Just one one more. There's a comment in
[1:27:53] the chat. Eileen, if you want to read
the comments.
[1:27:55] » Someone in the back. I don't know. Did
that anyone have any questions?
[1:28:01] » Question.
>> Okay. Can you get the mic?
[1:28:03] » I don't even know how to ask it.
>> Hold on one one second.
[1:28:08] » There you go.
[1:28:12] » The question I have has to do with the
current tariff environment.
[1:28:15] » Yourself for the record, please.
>> Sure. Robert Autry, 9 Caran Drive,
[1:28:20] Medfield,
resident since 1980. Uh the question I
[1:28:25] have has to do with the uh the red line
that you had on your chart going up this
[1:28:30] way and you mentioned COVID, but how
much of that red line in building costs
[1:28:35] is influenced by the current tariff
environment that we are experiencing in
[1:28:40] this country and with Canada for and as
I understand it a lot of our building
[1:28:46] materials come from Canada now. So, how
do you see that playing out over the
[1:28:52] next two years? You said you would put a
shovel in the dirt for about two years.
[1:28:58] Uh, a lot's going to go on between now
and then. How do you see all that
[1:29:02] playing out?
>> If I only had a crystal ball, right? No,
[1:29:06] it's a great question. It's an absolute
great question. You know, something
[1:29:08] we've talked about internally, too. Uh,
it does eb and flow with our current
[1:29:12] federal administration. You know, as we
all saw, tariffs were a very big thing
[1:29:15] last year. Tariffs on almost everything
across the board. it started to be creep
[1:29:20] into the overall bid prices last year
and then it got repealed and so now
[1:29:24] we're trying to peel all that back out
of last year's tariffs and then more
[1:29:27] recently to your point uh the steel
tariff has been put out there and steel
[1:29:31] does come from Canada and that is an
impact and something we're really
[1:29:34] watching right now. Um the good news is
that currently we're getting uh very
[1:29:38] favorable bidding this current summer
right now. So it hasn't hit the last
[1:29:42] couple of months but it is part of the
conversation that we're doing as we
[1:29:45] project out. um we won't need to set our
entire budget until fall of next year.
[1:29:51] So, we'll have the benefit of writing
this one out and seeing what the next
[1:29:55] one is um that comes out there. But, um
that's where we're going to rely on the
[1:29:58] professional estimator. So, in order to
set an overall project budget, we have
[1:30:02] two data points. Uh we have an estimator
hired by your own owners project manager
[1:30:06] and one hired by the designer to make
sure that they're both seeing the market
[1:30:10] uh as appropriately. We also have a lot
of relationships with many construction
[1:30:14] managers and we pull their data points.
they're more than happy to give us their
[1:30:17] literature uh to we see where we see
where their trend in the market is. And
[1:30:20] so we bring that all back to the
committee and then make an informed
[1:30:23] decision. A few years pre-COVID we used
to carry a lot leaner contingencies
[1:30:28] because when you set the overall budget
for an MSBA project it's at 30% design
[1:30:33] and you've got to project out finishing
design expecting whatever codes are
[1:30:37] going to change locally and nationally,
whatever market conditions are going to
[1:30:40] happen and then project out the two to
three years of construction. So that's a
[1:30:44] risk conversation that the building
committee will have about do we keep a
[1:30:48] 5% or 6% or 7% contingency in our back
pocket to mitigate those waves that may
[1:30:53] come at us or not.
[1:31:01] » Um there's a comment from
there's
[1:31:05] » there's a comment on the board from
Chris.
[1:31:08] » You want to read it?
[1:31:11] I thought the chair might, but okay.
[clears throat]
[1:31:14] » Jeeoff, can I just ask you while she's
looking that up? Um,
[1:31:17] » you mentioned that uh that uh the
the sharing that the state the MSBA is
[1:31:25] is going up.
>> Yes.
[1:31:27] » Is it Can you give us some sort of idea
of the magnitude of that?
[1:31:31] » Sure. So, uh great question. So, the uh
most recent upgrade uh went up to $678 a
[1:31:38] square foot. So, of that hundred thou of
that $1,50
[1:31:42] a square foot you saw, they'll
participate up to $678 a square foot of
[1:31:48] the total project cost. But you then
have to multiply that by this is where
[1:31:52] you need math. You got to multiply that
by your reimbursement rate, which I
[1:31:55] think you know Medfield's around 40% and
then we start to get bonus points for
[1:31:59] how well we maintain our buildings and
then bonus points for um the uh the
[1:32:04] sustainability goals that you choose or
not to choose to pursue. you can get up
[1:32:08] to another 4%. You can also get a few
extra percent depending on the
[1:32:10] renovation scheme that's out there if
you choose that. So that will then be
[1:32:14] multiplied by that uh $678 a square
foot. There are other programs out
[1:32:19] there. You started to talk about
sustainability and the the pres
[1:32:21] presenter before me. Um should the
committee choose to go geothermal, there
[1:32:25] are rebates out there, significant, you
know, six figure rebates from the
[1:32:29] federal inflation reduction act um that
many of your neighboring towns have been
[1:32:32] able to achieve. We were able to get $5
million back in Weston uh sorry,
[1:32:36] Westwood for their Pineh Hill school. Uh
I was able to get three million back for
[1:32:41] Ashlin for their school. Um and then uh
we have a couple more in the pipeline
[1:32:45] right now. And the current federal
administration renewed the geothermal.
[1:32:49] They did not renew the solar last year.
So the solar uh credits are are uh
[1:32:54] phasing out this summer, but the
geothermal has been funded uh to the
[1:32:59] future. So those million dollars are
still available should you choose
[1:33:02] geothermal. and mass save is always
available as well. So all that will be
[1:33:06] part of the package that comes back in
front of the voters, what the states
[1:33:09] giving you, what the federal government
may give you depending on your program
[1:33:12] and what you can get from Eversource as
well.
[1:33:17] » This this is probably an unfair question
to ask you, but I'm going to ask it.
[1:33:20] When when you start talking about those
kinds of incentives and rebates, do you
[1:33:25] have a sense whether we would be able to
do things that would take advantage of
[1:33:29] those rebates that would at least have
no net impact on the cost of the school
[1:33:35] or not? Or is it we'll get rebates, but
the school cost is going to go up
[1:33:39] because of the things we're doing? I The
reason I ask is because that was a
[1:33:43] really important question to me last
time around and when I started to look
[1:33:46] for answers, nobody had their hand on
the tiller. Um,
[1:33:50] » I think I think
>> like the world's going to change in the
[1:33:54] next 12 18 months. So, I think we'll
have to
[1:33:56] » but that's why that's why I said you
probably can't answer [laughter] the
[1:33:59] question, but I figured I'd ask you to
commit right now because we just don't
[1:34:02] know what's going to happen.
>> Okay. You got to you got to size the
[1:34:04] building. You got to look at all the
things. You got to look at the capacity
[1:34:06] what you have and what
>> I think with the electrification that's
[1:34:09] going on today, you know, there's a wave
coming of all the other communities. The
[1:34:13] more people that are buying into it, the
more the cost of that technology starts
[1:34:15] to come down too. So, those are also
things that we're looking at. uh you
[1:34:18] know, if you're at the bleeding edge,
you're going to pay more than if you're,
[1:34:21] you know, riding the wave out.
>> Okay.
[1:34:24] » Most of the schools that are getting
built now are all electric, aren't they?
[1:34:28] » That's correct. So, to get those, you
know, bonus points, a lot of the ways to
[1:34:31] opt in there are an all electric
building. So, they're choosing to either
[1:34:34] go all electric or geothermal with
electric. Uh, and that comes down to
[1:34:38] even your kitchen appliances. Uh,
because in order to be part of the
[1:34:41] program, you know, it's fossil fuel free
with the exception of a generator. So,
[1:34:45] you get an exception for a generator,
but the the building itself would need
[1:34:48] to be all electric if you're depending
on which of those programs you're
[1:34:50] entering into.
>> And there's just a comment in here from
[1:34:54] uh Chris Cupott, [clears throat]
7 Curve Street. MSBA data is skewed
[1:34:58] towards new builds and MSBA regulations
allow for some degree of flexibility
[1:35:02] with square foot requirements with AD
rens. Just a couple of points that are
[1:35:07] important for the public to know. Not to
be taken as an advocate for AD or
[1:35:10] Renault, but just assuring the community
understands some of the nuances.
[1:35:16] Yeah, the the data for new builds are
much clearer, right? There's not a story
[1:35:19] behind every one. That's why that data
tells a good story of where the market
[1:35:23] is going and what the construction costs
are of the building. Whether you go AD
[1:35:26] rena or new construction, the addition
portions of those buildings are going to
[1:35:30] be the same type of material, right? And
so when you look at the ad rena uh tab
[1:35:34] on the MSBA website, which does exist,
it's very thinly populated because every
[1:35:38] story, every building has a different
story. And so you can't tell which
[1:35:42] portion of it was renovated, what the
percentage of renovation versus new. So
[1:35:45] from a big picture standpoint, which is
what we're presenting tonight. It's
[1:35:49] about the market and that's but but
appreciate the comment.
[1:35:52] » Okay.
>> Thank you for all the information, Jeff.
[1:35:55] Thank you for taking the town on.
>> No problem.
[1:35:59] » Anything else, Carolyn?
>> No. All set. Thank you very much.
[1:36:02] » Thanks, Carolyn. Thanks.
>> Thank you. As we go through the agenda,
[1:36:07] it weeds out.
>> And uh unfortunately due to a work
[1:36:11] commitment, Bill Harvey has had to
postpone for this evening.
[1:36:14] » We had some last minute travel.
>> Okay.
[1:36:16] » Okay. Does that impact the ability for
it doesn't take effect until the next
[1:36:20] bill? So it's
>> Yeah. No, they're they're all set. No,
[1:36:23] it was just moreformational for you.
Okay.
[1:36:25] » Okay. So, we'll skip number six and
we'll go to number seven. uh memo to
[1:36:30] present its annual request for their
holiday [clears throat] lights program,
[1:36:33] joy to the world performance, holiday
parade, and signage as detailed in the
[1:36:37] packet materials. Mr. Alice,
>> thank you very much for having me. So
[1:36:43] [clears throat]
those three basic uh things uh the
[1:36:48] Friday night no I'm sorry the package of
lights we generally start sometime in
[1:36:55] November uh to hang them uh Stumpy we
have to go by Stumpy's uh scheduling and
[1:37:02] we're kind of kind of at their mercy and
generally we find out like the day
[1:37:07] before sometimes it's the morning of um
but uh anyway way and we [clears throat]
[1:37:13] schedule the the hanging of the lights
in the canopies of the trees uh wi with
[1:37:19] them and we you know need to get
volunteers and and all for that. So um
[1:37:26] so that's the first part of the request
to use your trees to hang our lights on.
[1:37:33] Also, we started LA we started last year
with hanging our silhouettes of lights,
[1:37:39] you know, the various forms of the
lights and we have a wire that goes
[1:37:46] across the park uh kind of in the middle
of the park and so we hang them in
[1:37:50] there. We used to hang them in the
street. Uh but as you know for the
[1:37:55] various reasons that we stopped doing
that and
[1:37:59] and it turned out last year to be a very
great uh look I think for hanging them
[1:38:06] there. You could they were very visible
from the street uh as well. So that was
[1:38:12] good. So hang them in the canopies,
hanging them in the silhouettes and then
[1:38:18] also in various bushes. So, we got
bushes in Baxter Park, and I didn't
[1:38:23] mention this, but we also do bushes in
front of the library and in front of
[1:38:28] town hall. So, I I guess I'd kind of add
lib them in at this point and try to get
[1:38:35] your permission to do that as well. Um,
also last year we for the first time we
[1:38:43] brought in a cut uh tree that was about
eight or nine feet tall and that was
[1:38:51] supplied by levels
uh and and such. And uh that was done
[1:38:58] because we had a lot of grief uh simply
uh from social media uh the year before
[1:39:07] when our lights were basically falling
apart and burning out on our main
[1:39:14] holiday tree that we were using for many
years. Um, so we brought this one in,
[1:39:20] decorated it all by itself, and I think
it turned out to be a lovely uh
[1:39:26] addition, and it really stood out uh
very well. We had a lot of compliments
[1:39:31] about that one. So, we'll be doing that
one again uh bringing that in as a cut
[1:39:35] one and and decorating it and stuff. So
uh the second uh part of uh so the
[1:39:42] second part of this particular request
is the actual
[1:39:47] used to be called the tree lighting uh
midnight madness and now with the stroll
[1:39:54] the night of the stroll Friday night uh
we have a performance where we have uh
[1:40:02] student uh dancers and student singers
that are brought into the park and it's
[1:40:08] about an hour ceremony. It starts about
6:00 and it ends up about 7 on the
[1:40:13] Friday night. So in this case, December
4th, same night as the stroll makes
[1:40:19] sense to be part of that because by
itself it's it's nothing. Uh so uh
[1:40:29] as we as you have uh decided the stroll
will be on Friday the 4th. We would like
[1:40:35] to have the tree lighting ceremony and
Joy to the World performance on that
[1:40:42] Friday night. Performance being for just
about an hour. And then uh at the end of
[1:40:47] the performance, we'll light the new
style holiday tree. Uh at that point,
[1:40:54] the lights will already be on Friday
night uh before anybody gets to the
[1:41:00] park. It's uh we used to
have them off until we did the tree
[1:41:06] lighting and switched them all on, but I
felt that the park was too dark and
[1:41:12] needed more lighting so people wouldn't
bump into each other. It was really
[1:41:16] dark. So now what we've been doing the
past few years is turn them on four
[1:41:22] o'clock that night for the first time
and uh then the the park is very well
[1:41:28] lit and then the holiday tree just gets
lit at at the end. So that's my first
[1:41:34] request if you'd like to take that in
and of itself. And if you have any
[1:41:38] questions,
>> I just had one. I'm trying to when I
[1:41:42] think Jean came in and we switched it. I
think you So Jean moved the holiday
[1:41:48] stroll to Sat to Friday and I think at
that point in time the tree lighting was
[1:41:53] still on Saturday. You've now moved the
tree lighting to Sat to Friday.
[1:41:57] » There was a mis miscommunication. The
memo was never contacted.
[1:42:01] » Yeah.
What started this was the police
[1:42:05] department wanted to have everything on
Saturday because the concept of closing
[1:42:12] the street to them was easier on a
Saturday than a Friday. Jean went to her
[1:42:18] » and and so the police tell you that
that's what they'd like to do. That's
[1:42:22] what seems to happen. So, it sort of
happened that both events, the stroll
[1:42:29] and the memo event
were going to be on Saturday.
[1:42:34] The next thing that happened is Jean
came in because she went to her vendors
[1:42:38] and they didn't want to be on Saturday.
So, she came and said, "I really need to
[1:42:43] be on Friday." And that's what you guys
voted on. Um,
[1:42:47] » so, so
>> it was sort of a surprise to memo on how
[1:42:50] this was transitioning. We probably
should have been here for that for that
[1:42:55] hearing three weeks ago. A little less
confusion. So I I listened in on this
[1:43:01] and I saw the conversations and the
surprise as to why would memo want to be
[1:43:07] in a different night. Exactly the case.
Okay.
[1:43:10] » So anyway,
>> but this is so I apologize. It's I
[1:43:14] really try to I don't trust my memory as
much as I used to is the problem. be
[1:43:18] confused. I
>> So what what I'm what I think I'm
[1:43:20] actually hearing is that actually things
are staying pretty close to the way
[1:43:25] they've always been once they're on a
Friday.
[1:43:28] » They'd be exactly the same as we've been
doing them for years.
[1:43:31] » Okay.
>> Everything, you know, these events will
[1:43:34] be on Friday and the parade on Saturday
by itself.
[1:43:37] » Got it.
>> But the concern there would be is the
[1:43:39] police we when that night we realized we
weren't going to have any barriers.
[1:43:42] There was going to be no reason to But
now we have to worry about that.
[1:43:45] » Now I've got to go back to the chief.
Yes. Right. Okay.
[1:43:47] » Okay.
>> That's why I'm over here when you're
[1:43:49] saying this. I'm like, "Wait a minute. I
thought we agreed like what's just going
[1:43:51] to be the everything down by the library
and by on that up by Lord's area, but
[1:43:57] now it's going to be the traditional
stroll, which I'm fine with. I just I
[1:44:00] need to make sure what's happening
here."
[1:44:01] » So, I'm not sure. So, two things. Number
one, I don't think that we need to close
[1:44:05] the street. We never closed it before.
We tried it last year. Apparently, there
[1:44:09] were issues. Um, and uh, Jean meant Jean
ma made this comment. Her stroll was
[1:44:17] only going to be on the one side of the
street,
[1:44:20] » right?
>> I don't know if that's I mean that does
[1:44:25] that's what she said. But
>> yeah,
[1:44:27] » are the businesses not going to do stuff
on that side of the street? You know,
[1:44:31] are other people
>> that was thinking of like where um be
[1:44:34] charmed and all that is they've been
involved in the past if I'm not
[1:44:36] mistaken.
>> But I don't think there's a need to
[1:44:39] close the street. I I don't think it was
necessary last year. It seemed to be
[1:44:43] fun.
>> Police chief would disagree with you
[1:44:46] » um about closing the street. She thought
it was very necessary to close the
[1:44:49] street for safety reasons.
>> It was Yeah, it was so people could go
[1:44:52] home the street.
>> When Jean was here, it sounded like the
[1:44:55] street was not going to be closed.
>> Right. Because we thought you were
[1:44:58] sitting thing wasn't happening.
>> Our thing is only an hour from 6:00 to 7
[1:45:02] and it's the same side of the street.
People don't crumb and cross at our
[1:45:07] event. It's more her event that people
crossing are, you know, ours
[1:45:13] historically ours are on one side of the
street.
[1:45:15] » I don't want I don't want to speak for
the police chief. Why don't we have her
[1:45:18] come in and have a discussion with you
about why she wanted it closed? Y
[1:45:21] » if the board does not want to close it,
we won't close it. There was a concern
[1:45:24] for safety.
>> Even though we put the barriers around
[1:45:26] that corner, you have people in the
street. Yeah.
[1:45:29] » And we have a lot of kids there.
>> Um I think the police chief felt safer
[1:45:33] when it was closed. I will have a
conversation with her tomorrow and see
[1:45:36] how she feels or how she wants to
continue for this year.
[1:45:39] » Okay.
>> Well, again, our event is 6 to 7,
[1:45:43] » but to me it's a community event, right?
I mean, like everyone's doing their
[1:45:47] thing at at they're down at at at
Brothers, they're at the library,
[1:45:50] they're roaming around, then they all
merge down at the end, right? So, it's
[1:45:54] not just everyone just goes right to the
tree. It's really opening up the main
[1:45:57] street for the community. Um, I don't
think it's ever I've never felt like
[1:46:01] it's two separate events. have always
felt like Friday night it's one big it's
[1:46:05] one big night. So
>> when the [clears throat]
[1:46:07] three meetings ago or three weeks ago or
whatever it was
[1:46:10] » I was like oh that's kind of a bummer.
And then hearing you just now I'm like I
[1:46:13] thought we were doing two separate
dates. So if we go back together that's
[1:46:15] great but my concern we'll be going back
to the chief because I know last year
[1:46:19] when they closed down between brothers
and the CVS it allowed vendors to be in
[1:46:25] the street. It allowed parents to not
have to worry about their kids being too
[1:46:29] close to the curb near where Noon Hill
Girl gives out hot chocolate and people
[1:46:33] are coming out of, you know, the the
bank would to get their shirts for the
[1:46:36] Angel Run that Sunday. So,
>> we'll talk to the chief. Okay.
[1:46:40] » Yeah. There. No, there it sounded like
there were not going to be any vendors
[1:46:44] in the street for for Jean, right?
>> I don't I don't I can't even speak to
[1:46:49] anything right now because I don't now
that she's changed it. Now that this is
[1:46:52] happening on the same night, it could
change the dynamics of what's happening.
[1:46:57] » Russ, when the when the street was
closed last year, I the store I think of
[1:47:02] is the butterfly tree, which is now not
there either. But a lot of times when we
[1:47:06] would go down, that was one store we
always somehow or another always swound
[1:47:10] up in. And that always had a great flow.
when the street was closed, did you get
[1:47:14] any feedback from memo members that
they, you know, that they had improved
[1:47:19] activity in the stores that exist there
or
[1:47:22] » Yeah, the memo members that we heard
from all did not like the street closed.
[1:47:26] They all felt it hurt their business. In
particular, Noon Hill, uh, but even
[1:47:31] Butterfly Tree,
>> okay,
[1:47:33] » felt that she lost business because the
street was closed.
[1:47:37] » Um,
>> okay.
[1:47:41] » Yeah. Anything
[1:47:45] else?
>> I'm not sure what we're doing right now.
[1:47:48] » We got one.
>> Well, we're asking to have the uh
[1:47:52] [clears throat] holiday the holiday
lights in the park.
[1:47:57] » Okay.
>> Number one. Number two is the Friday
[1:47:59] night uh Joy to the World performance
from 6:00 to 7.
[1:48:04] » Okay.
>> Uh with the lighting of the holiday tree
[1:48:07] uh right after that.
>> Okay. Do we have a motion to that
[1:48:12] effect?
>> Oh, and also as part of this, uh, we
[1:48:16] bring a tent in, an entertainment tent
in case there's inclement weather that
[1:48:20] gets delivered on a Wednesday generally.
So, the request would be to allow the
[1:48:25] tent to be delivered on Wednesday
uh, and up a few days before we use it.
[1:48:32] » Yep. Do we have a motion to that effect?
>> Uh, motion move. Some moved.
[1:48:36] » Second.
>> All those in favor? All right,
[1:48:39] » Russ, have you guys given any thought to
leaving the lights up year round?
[1:48:44] » So, LED bulbs are much tougher.
[1:48:50] » It had been mildly discussed and the
negatives that came out was trees grow
[1:48:56] » and so the lights get
uh they don't really stay up all year.
[1:49:01] They get blown down. I mean, even during
the holiday season, we've had trees have
[1:49:06] the lights blown off.
>> Number two, and then they also break
[1:49:11] » uh at times. So, uh it even though it
would be a lot less labor intense,
[1:49:18] » uh
>> I think it's smart to take them down.
[1:49:21] » It uh had had been thought it'd be
better to take him down.
[1:49:25] » Okay.
>> Um yeah. So, the se next one is the
[1:49:30] holiday parade. uh on Saturday as as
usual uh starting at one o'clock at the
[1:49:37] uh high school uh and then going
downtown Pound Street and South on
[1:49:42] December 5th, Saturday, December 5th uh
goes down Pound Street, South Street,
[1:49:48] Main Street, Park Street, Metac Comet,
and then going into the high school
[1:49:54] around uh 2:00.
Um
[1:49:59] we will invite the fire and the police
departments as usual to participate with
[1:50:04] their trucks and uh people. Um and then
the high school marching band gets asked
[1:50:10] and they they they participate unless
it's inclement weather. Uh girl scouts,
[1:50:15] boy scouts, some dance troops and then
we invite businesses to enter their own
[1:50:20] floats, their vehicles get get dressed
up and then of course Santa and Mrs.
[1:50:25] Claus will be invited to uh participate
again to close out the parade and we'll
[1:50:31] of course uh coordinate with this with
the fire and the police departments for
[1:50:35] the roads.
>> Okay, Mr. Murphy.
[1:50:40] » No questions, Mr. Murphy.
>> No, no questions.
[1:50:42] » Okay, how about a motion then?
>> All right. Motion to approve the parade
[1:50:46] on December 5th.
>> Second.
[1:50:48] » All those in favor? I I Thank you, Russ.
And then the third piece of this would
[1:50:53] be to place our sandwich boards uh
around town um for the Joy to the World
[1:50:59] performance and for the parade. So we'll
have pairs of sandwich board signs uh
[1:51:06] various places. So the request would be
South Street and Route 27
[1:51:12] uh corner uh the corner of North Street
and Main Street and then the transfer
[1:51:17] station driveway entrance uh exit pro
the more the exit uh of the of the uh
[1:51:24] driveway and then one of each of those
signs and they're doublesided.
[1:51:30] um one of each for the uh uh lights and
the uh the joy to the world and the the
[1:51:37] parade at each location and to place
them uh nove Saturday, November 22nd uh
[1:51:45] until Sunday, December 6th, the day
after the parade.
[1:51:52] Mr. Murby,
>> no questions.
[1:51:54] » Questions.
>> How about a motion then?
[1:51:57] » So moved.
>> Second.
[1:51:58] » All those in favor? I I
>> I
[1:52:01] » Thank you.
>> Thank you much.
[1:52:02] » Thank you, Russ.
>> Be well.
[1:52:03] » Thanks, Russ.
>> Okay, we're on to our action items.
[1:52:07] Board and committee appointments. First,
appoint Lisa Thompson to the capital
[1:52:11] budget committee. Chris, do you want to
do these separately or all at once?
[1:52:16] » All at once.
>> Uh, I think you do them all at once.
[1:52:18] Yeah.
>> Okay. Uh, second is appoint uh Nick
[1:52:22] Scaffarato
as a full member of the historical
[1:52:25] commission. Third is appoint Marian Tawa
to the Medfield Outreach Advisory Board.
[1:52:33] Fourth is appoint Doug Lawrence to the
Medfield School Building Committee as
[1:52:36] the planning board member. Five is
appoint Kathy McDonald to the Medfield
[1:52:41] Outreach as the Medfield Outreach
employee on the committee for the
[1:52:46] exploration of real estate tax relief
for seniors. Six is appoint Ivonne
[1:52:50] Remlard as the non- voting member
principal assessor to the committee for
[1:52:55] the exploration of real estate tax
relief for seniors.
[1:53:00] Do we have a motion to do so?
>> Motion to move.
[1:53:04] » Before I before I second, I just want to
comment the two newest people that are
[1:53:08] new appointees. Uh I just I suspect you
also were impressed with their resumes,
[1:53:14] but
>> Oh, yeah. That was phenomenal.
[1:53:16] » Couple I'm glad you said that. That was
a note I had to myself
[1:53:19] » an observation that I was sitting there
saying it's good to see people of this
[1:53:24] caliber wanting to volunteer committee.
So, uh, anyway, second.
[1:53:28] » All those in favor?
>> I I
[1:53:31] » um
so, uh, I'll just mention to both of you
[1:53:36] that, um, Sher Autry, who is here
tonight, came to see me, uh, at my
[1:53:42] office hours last Friday, and she's also
interested, still interested, Sherry, in
[1:53:47] being on the uh, um, committee to, uh,
study senior real estate tax relief for
[1:53:54] seniors. And Donna O'Neal is also
interested.
[1:53:56] » So you filled the three citizens at
large at your last meeting.
[1:53:59] » Yeah, we could add more. So if we wanted
to. So
[1:54:02] » yeah, that's up to you if you want to
change the charge of the committee and
[1:54:04] expand it.
>> So there are two more people that are
[1:54:07] interested in in being on that
committee. Donna O'Neal, who used to be
[1:54:11] part of the assessor's office, I think,
wasn't she?
[1:54:14] » She was the administrative assistant.
Yes.
[1:54:19] » With respect.
This is the first I've heard of it. So I
[1:54:23] kind of like to through the issue I have
is first off not suddenly having
[1:54:28] everybody that wants to be on a
committee be able to just come in after
[1:54:31] the fact when when we've already kind of
populated. So this is not a reflection
[1:54:36] on you. It's got more to do with
>> this is a comm this is a committee that
[1:54:41] if it just simply was as big as people,
you know, anybody wants to be on it,
[1:54:45] we'd expand it just because they want to
be on. Uh and it's not I'm not coming
[1:54:49] out against the idea. I guess it would
help me a little bit. It would help me
[1:54:54] to see background to know how you're
adding something that the people we
[1:54:58] haven't already tried to put on the
committee are bringing to the table to
[1:55:02] include uh Don O'Neal. Again, no
disrespect, but we already have Ivon on
[1:55:08] from the assessor's office. So, that's I
don't think what she would be bringing.
[1:55:13] I I just it's kind of this is Yeah. I I
don't want to react just
[1:55:18] » Yeah. So, why don't we uh I I suggested
that they both submit Yeah.
[1:55:22] » an expression of interest and
>> uh but Sher came tonight anyway. So, um
[1:55:28] » okay, our next item is to uh review and
approve the intermunicipal agreement IMA
[1:55:35] with Milis for the animal control
services. Chris,
[1:55:38] » this is due. We have um as you know,
Jenny is on leave currently. So, we are
[1:55:43] looking to um supplement our uh animal
control services. So, this is um just an
[1:55:49] intermunicipal agreement with Milis.
They'll provide some on call services if
[1:55:53] necessary. They also provide them to
Medway as well. Um we may or may not use
[1:55:58] them. We may not need them. Um but due
to insurance purposes, uh they can only
[1:56:02] respond to us if we have the IMA in
place. So, we just wanted to go ahead
[1:56:06] and put that in there.
>> Makes sense.
[1:56:07] » Mr. Murray, I had two questions uh on
paragraphs three and four. Paragraph
[1:56:12] three, obligations of Medfield says
Medfield acting through it select board
[1:56:16] shall appoint a on to work with the
animal control officer. My question is
[1:56:20] who are we appointing or do we not?
>> The chief, I believe.
[1:56:23] » Yeah, the deputy and the chief.
>> Yeah, I think I would say the chief or
[1:56:26] her designate.
>> Yeah, that makes sense.
[1:56:28] » Okay, so we haven't appointed anybody
yet, but that's the plan.
[1:56:31] » And then the next the next paragraph
down term and termination. The initial
[1:56:35] term of this agreement shall commence as
of the date that both parties have
[1:56:38] executed this agreement and shall end on
and I'm guessing it's ending on June
[1:56:42] 30th because the next increment is June
July 1st to June 30th. It just was a
[1:56:48] blank. So
>> yeah, I think we weren't sure how long
[1:56:50] we would need it. We were going to we
were going to pull it um yeah
[1:56:53] » once Jenny returned. So I would say we
could put in June 30th and then we can
[1:56:56] always renew if necessary on the annual
basis. Right.
[1:56:59] » Let's do that.
>> Or or cancel early.
[1:57:01] » Yeah. Yes. that was it was just where I
can
[1:57:05] » I didn't know what the end was
>> and it's just on a on a call out basis
[1:57:08] so there's no there's no cost unless uh
we use it.
[1:57:12] » Okay.
>> Any questions?
[1:57:15] » Nope. I make sense.
>> I'm all set. Do we have a motion then?
[1:57:18] » A motion to approve.
>> Second.
[1:57:20] » All those in favor? I I
>> Next item is approve amendment number
[1:57:25] three to the VHB contract for Medfield
State Hospital redevelopment lumpsum
[1:57:30] tasks. And it's about $36,000 for
crosswalks and sidewalks at the
[1:57:35] roundabout. Is that
>> That is correct. So this is um amendment
[1:57:39] number three. We discussed this um I
can't remember the date off the top of
[1:57:42] my head. It was the day we had our goals
meeting that we asked VHB to move
[1:57:45] forward uh with taking the conceptual
designs for the pedestrian improvements
[1:57:49] and do the full design. Um they have
done the full design and we are uh in
[1:57:54] front of the conservation commission at
the end of the month and then we will be
[1:57:57] able to proceed with this.
>> Oh, good.
[1:58:00] » Mr. Ruby.
>> Yeah. I was just idally curious. So the
[1:58:03] total 39,000 is that the was does that
represent the additional chapter 90
[1:58:08] funds or did we actually I'm just
curious where the money came.
[1:58:11] » So uh right now we believe we are taking
it from the actual grant from the
[1:58:15] massworks grant. Okay.
>> Um we've had some cost savings uh both
[1:58:18] in the contractor's contract. So we are
going to run out the grant uh until we
[1:58:22] can and then the remainder of that will
come from chapter 90. But we're still
[1:58:25] working through the the final on that.
But
[1:58:27] » grant first, chapter 90 second.
>> Got it. Okay. Murphy.
[1:58:30] » Nope. No questions.
>> Then a motion, please.
[1:58:33] » Motion to approve.
>> Is there a second?
[1:58:37] » Second.
>> All those in favor? I I.
[1:58:41] » Uh number 11 requests the approval of
the following contracts for capital
[1:58:45] projects approved in the 2026 town
meeting. A new Elgen Pelican Street
[1:58:50] sweeper for $316,230.
[1:58:54] and B a Ford F250 Superduty pickup truck
for $61,938.3.
[1:59:04] » Both are due to be delivered by November
18th. So, somebody's getting a new car
[1:59:08] before Thanksgiving.
>> We found particularly from since CO that
[1:59:14] you absolutely have to put a deadline
date in because otherwise you could be
[1:59:19] waiting years on these things.
>> All right, motion approve. Second.
[1:59:24] » All those in favor I.
>> Uh number 12, vote to approve the
[1:59:28] Pleasant Street sidewalk replacement
design contract with Beta Group, Inc.
[1:59:33] for $223,900.
[1:59:36] » And this is what Mo had presented uh
when he was here at the last meeting and
[1:59:40] we're moving forward on that.
>> Great.
[1:59:43] » And the plan is to have this done by is
it December 27th or December?
[1:59:47] » What's the deadline to get to spend this
money?
[1:59:49] » 30th 27th.
>> Okay. September 27th.
[1:59:52] » Good design. and then we'll move into
the construction and once we get to the
[1:59:54] construction phase that's where the the
federal earmark will kick in uh with
[1:59:58] mass DOT on the construction.
>> Okay. Okay.
[2:00:00] » So, chapter 90 for design on this one.
Um construction through the federal
[2:00:04] earmark.
>> Okay.
[2:00:05] » Chris my what this raised in my mind was
I saw a reference to the federal earmark
[2:00:10] of 500,000 and I thought the federal
earmark had been higher than that at
[2:00:15] some point.
>> No, we had well we had requested more
[2:00:18] for the Pleasant Street sidewalk
project. I think we requested close to a
[2:00:21] million and a half um 1.8 and it was
brought down to 500,000 which is why
[2:00:26] when Mo was at our last meeting
>> told you the scope had to be uh brought
[2:00:31] in a little bit
>> and the town's going to kick in 125,000.
[2:00:35] » Correct. We have a mass
>> so that we get a for 125,000 we got
[2:00:39] 625,000 of sidewalks.
>> Correct.
[2:00:41] » So good.
>> All right. Bennett will enjoy that.
[2:00:44] » Any questions?
>> No. Good.
[2:00:46] » How about a motion then?
>> A motion. So moved. Second.
[2:00:49] » All those in favor? I I consent agenda.
[clears throat] Vote to sign the
[2:00:54] proclamation recognizing Mason Allen and
Connor McDermott for the earning the
[2:00:59] rank of Eagle Scout. Next, vote to
approve the following sign request for
[2:01:03] Hail Education at the intersection of
North Maine and 109 in Hartford. Uh
[2:01:10] September 29 to 20 Sep I'm sorry,
September 9 to 23rd, fall equinox.
[2:01:17] October 8 to 22nd
alowen
[2:01:21] and November 4th through 18th summer 27
program registration. Next request from
[2:01:28] the friends of the library to use the
gazebo green outside the library for the
[2:01:31] friends
Halloween fest uh October 25th 1 to 4
[2:01:38] pm. Next, request to post signs at the
usual locations. September 13 to 27 for
[2:01:45] the First Baptist Church of Medfield
celebrating their 250th birthday. The
[2:01:51] small yard sign reads the following
text. First Baptist Church of Medfield
[2:01:55] celebrating 250 years of God's
faithfulness. Next, request to post
[2:02:00] signs for the Jouty Group advertising
the annual townwide garage sale
[2:02:06] on September 12th, 800 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
from September 9 to 12th at the
[2:02:12] intersection of North and Maine. Next,
request to post signs for Friends of
[2:02:15] Medfield Theater at the usual locations,
advertising for about two weeks, one
[2:02:20] before the show and one during the show
for both Blake Middle School
[2:02:23] productions, a fall play performed in
early November, and a spring musical, as
[2:02:28] well as the three Medfield High School
performances below. Guys and Dolls on uh
[2:02:33] November 2nd through November 22nd, The
Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulain,
[2:02:39] March 6 and 7, 2027. Student performance
Medfield after dark on May 8, 2027. And
[2:02:47] finally, a request for a block party
permit on September 26 at the
[2:02:51] intersection of Country Way and would
end from 3 to 7. Do we have a motion?
[2:02:56] » We have comments on two items. Uh 16 and
17. We'll start with 17. The 17. The
[2:03:03] only question the only question I wanted
to confirm is that they only want to put
[2:03:07] one sign up in one place at the
intersection north and Maine. just I was
[2:03:12] surprised to see there was only one
location that may be all they want.
[2:03:16] They've been advertising on social
media, so I know it's been
[2:03:19] » Yeah, I thought I I thought when we
talked to them it was just one sign, but
[2:03:22] we'll confirm with them.
>> So, there was just an observation. The
[2:03:26] uh the number 16, given that I attend
the Baptist church here in town, uh just
[2:03:31] so you know, I can be a heavy with
anybody in town. I I uh reached out to
[2:03:34] Hunter Guthrie, the the pastor there,
and said, you know, we use
[2:03:40] We use these street corners to advertise
events, not merely [clears throat] to
[2:03:45] put up a sign making a statement. And
the happened to be the assign that they
[2:03:49] had was just that although actually they
have a celebration on the should have
[2:03:54] this up to my head. I think it's the
14th of October. Uh he said
[2:03:58] [clears throat] that well probably
that's fine if you can't if that's not
[2:04:01] appropriate then don't worry about it.
So we may withdraw that. I did tell him
[2:04:05] that I would check to see I know we
sometimes have people borrow We
[2:04:10] basically said we wouldn't have time to
make a new sign. Uh that's way too small
[2:04:13] probably for the corner. Anyway, I did
said I would check to see I think we
[2:04:17] sometimes have had people borrow the
kind of folding signs. I think we have
[2:04:22] two of them or something if they're not
being used.
[2:04:24] » Yeah.
>> I So I told him I would check to see if
[2:04:26] that was a possibility. So you got a
choice on this one. either to just say
[2:04:31] no, which as it's written right now, I
would recommend we not do it because
[2:04:35] it's simply
>> sets a precedent. Yeah.
[2:04:37] » Or if you wanted to prove have yet
having a sign and then leave it up to
[2:04:41] him to try to, you know, come up with a
bigger sign that would be better anyway
[2:04:45] and maybe try to borrow the town's
A-frames.
[2:04:48] » If it includes a date, then it's meeting
our if it's just promoting something in
[2:04:52] general, it opens Pandora's box if
everyone wanted to put something there.
[2:04:55] » And he could always come back in in two
weeks. He's trying to do this. He was
[2:04:59] looking for September 13th and 27th. So
the only thing I if we've approved the
[2:05:05] idea of a sign, but with the
understanding it's that kind of a sign
[2:05:08] » we could do.
>> It's got to be for an event.
[2:05:10] » Yeah, it's got to be for
>> an event. Yeah.
[2:05:12] » Why don't we approve it with a sign
subject to approval by the town
[2:05:15] administrator?
>> That's fine.
[2:05:16] » Perfect.
>> Okay. So we'll do that.
[2:05:19] » So move.
>> And 17. What's your issue?
[2:05:21] » It was an observation. They'll double
check.
[2:05:23] » The the sign request is just for that
one.
[2:05:25] » Just for one spot. I just looked at said
that's odd. only one they did. I've seen
[2:05:30] their I've seen them advertise so much
on social media. It struck me as odd
[2:05:33] that it was only one place for an actual
sign, but that's fine. U so I'll second
[2:05:39] » all those in favor.
>> I
[2:05:44] uh gift, citizens comments, meeting
minutes, town administrator updates.
[2:05:49] » Uh a few things. Uh welcome back to all
of our residents who were not with us
[2:05:53] this summer. Um, as hard as it is to say
goodbye to summer, we are already
[2:05:57] starting to uh hit the ground running
with our fiscal year 28 budget. Uh,
[2:06:01] capital budget meets this Friday. Uh,
and Warren committee starts meeting at
[2:06:05] the end of September. So, we are moving.
Um, I want to just call attention again
[2:06:12] to the SBC forum on September 15th. Um,
we just really need people to start
[2:06:16] talking to us now. Now is definitely the
time we need to hear from everybody. Um,
[2:06:21] and that night will focus, as Caroline
said, on the educational programming.
[2:06:24] Um, I have some great news from the LOL
Mason House. Um, as you know, earlier
[2:06:29] this summer, we worked to get the lease
signed so that they could apply for the
[2:06:32] grant. Um, I met with Tom Reynolds this
past Friday and Mass Cultural Council
[2:06:37] um, awarded them $98,700.
Um, and they are able to match that with
[2:06:42] donations that they have in hand. So,
they are starting to move forward with
[2:06:45] their construction. We had a premeating
to just get things forward. I saw the
[2:06:49] design. and it looks fantastic. Great.
Um, so really exciting that we got that
[2:06:53] done in time to to get them included for
that. Um, also our board and committee
[2:06:58] appreciation night will be September
24th at Zulo at six o'clock. I
[2:07:02] » forgot about that. [laughter]
>> Put that in my calendar.
[2:07:04] » Uh, invites will be going out to all of
our board and committee member chairs uh
[2:07:08] this week. And then I'm really pleased
to announce we have 16 members signed up
[2:07:13] for Citizens Academy. Uh, thank you to
Britney and Cameron for running this. Uh
[2:07:17] last year was our inaugural year and we
I guess our freshman class um and we had
[2:07:23] um eight people signed up uh that went
through the program. So to have 16 this
[2:07:27] year is just fantastic and
>> and a wait list if I
[2:07:30] » and uh and we did have we did have more
than we could accommodate. 16 is the
[2:07:34] maximum we can take um in order to
provide the really um personal touch
[2:07:38] that our department heads like to do,
especially the fire and police chiefs.
[2:07:41] So um 16 is the max. So, we're excited
to sad to have to turn people away, but
[2:07:47] we're ready for them next year. So,
>> reputation there, Britney. [laughter]
[2:07:51] » I think it's all about the t-shirts. So,
that's all I have this evening.
[2:07:56] » Okay. Thank you. Select board and
reports. Mr. Murby,
[2:08:00] » been fairly quiet for the last couple
weeks. Uh, I already mentioned that I
[2:08:03] spent apparently was three hours, not
two and a half hours about the IGA
[2:08:07] contract with Ben and Rob and then
subsequently with just Rob. Uh, I tended
[2:08:12] in for the water and sewer public
hearing. So, the bill wasn't here today,
[2:08:17] but I I uh without I just I just
monitored it. Uh, but the fact there
[2:08:22] were no questions at the end led me to
conclude that the public is okay with
[2:08:28] the two increases in the water and sewer
rates. That will be an observation, an
[2:08:34] assumption to be proven out when we get
a little further actually having money
[2:08:38] on the table. But uh at least I thought
I thought Bill did a nice job of
[2:08:41] explaining things really and I thought
his slide in particular that showed that
[2:08:46] relatively speaking the water and sewer
rates for Medfield are, you know,
[2:08:51] they're not the lowest of anybody, but
they're on the low side of that curve.
[2:08:56] And I think that's a a good point to
make for people that don't like the
[2:08:59] numbers that are showing up. Uh I have a
Norfick County Advisory Board meeting
[2:09:05] tomorrow night. So, more more to follow
on that. And uh lastly, on a completely
[2:09:12] personal note, has nothing to do with
the town. I we were happy to learn late
[2:09:17] on Saturday night that our
daughter-in-law had a second son. So, we
[2:09:22] have a second grandson.
>> A That's awesome. Congratulations.
[2:09:25] » I I will never think of Labor Day
weekend in quite the same way.
[2:09:28] » Neither will she. [laughter]
>> So, so we're pretty happy.
[2:09:32] » That's awesome. Congratulations.
>> Name.
[2:09:34] » Congratulations. So the name's
interesting. It's Miller.
[2:09:37] » It's Miller.
>> Miller.
[2:09:38] » Oh, I love that.
>> Yeah. So I think a lot of people have
[2:09:42] never heard it then and you know is that
it first or last name, but no, it's the
[2:09:46] first name. So yeah.
>> Excellent.
[2:09:48] » I love that.
>> My first comment was well like my name
[2:09:52] when you hear somebody call when you
hear your name called out in a room, you
[2:09:55] know they're probably talking to you.
>> So that's a good good thing. Good thing.
[2:09:59] » All right. So I think since our last
meeting, we had the send off for Katie.
[2:10:02] Yes. Nice gathering downstairs. So, it
was a nice gathering, some nice police
[2:10:07] representation, fire representation, a
variety of folks from around the
[2:10:09] community. Um, so that was that was
nice. And she's off and running in her
[2:10:13] new adventure. Uh, Wayfinder meeting we
had last Friday, Wednesday, Thursday,
[2:10:18] one Sunday last week.
>> Um, I kind of chuckled when I saw sign
[2:10:22] there.
>> Uh, so the wayfinder group met in front
[2:10:25] of the town hall. We had a chance to
review the signs. Um, they're looking
[2:10:29] good. uh what uh game plan to get those
out in the public? Uh
[2:10:35] » we were hoping by this fall, but at this
point we don't also want to rush it. So,
[2:10:40] we're going to see if it's feasible to
get everything in before frost.
[2:10:44] » Okay.
>> But I also don't want to do like a a bad
[2:10:47] job of it. So, if we have to move it to
the spring, I think that would probably
[2:10:51] be preferable.
>> Okay. Uh school building committee, as
[2:10:55] uh Carolyn and Bill just reviewed, we
met last week. a lot of moving parts
[2:10:59] there. Um they're they're they're doing
a phenomenal job. So I just hope we
[2:11:03] continue on a good path there. Um I too
sat in the the board and water uh public
[2:11:08] hearing. I thought that Bill did a
really good job and I I know it's in our
[2:11:13] meeting packet if anyone missed it. Um
that does a really nice job of breaking
[2:11:17] down the two rates people understanding
when water's coming in their house,
[2:11:22] what's happening, when water's leaving
their house, what's happening. Um, and
[2:11:24] you know, most people just take it for
granted, but there's not a lot of towns
[2:11:28] that have what we have. And not being a
part of MWR, I personally am thrilled
[2:11:32] that we're not. So, um, if those slides
point out some of the costs that other
[2:11:36] towns that are part of the NWR uh, have
to live with. Uh, a couple of side
[2:11:41] notes. I just want to say I love our
freshly painted crosswalks. I'm walking
[2:11:45] my furry friend a lot and you can tell
that uh, Mo and his group did a lot of
[2:11:49] work over the last two weeks with um,
all of the significant crosswalks. I
[2:11:53] can't see everyone in town, but I do a
loop around here quite a bit now, my
[2:11:57] furry friend, and I was thrilled. They
did a fantastic job. Um, I was sad to
[2:12:01] see the email this morning, um, seeing
that Carolyn Stanley passed away. That
[2:12:05] what a what a beautiful woman. And, you
know, I sent you a note, Christine,
[2:12:09] like, boy, this town's lost two
absolutely positively lovely ladies with
[2:12:13] Eve Pototts passing away a few weeks
back and then Carolyn Stanley because
[2:12:16] Carolyn and her husband did so much for
this town. Um, so it just, uh, it's sad
[2:12:21] to hear, but it's a true celebration of
life. So,
[2:12:23] » absolutely.
>> Um, and I I'll too by I walk my furry
[2:12:27] friend down the roundabout. I'm watching
what's happening there. I think there's
[2:12:30] um it's it's really coming together and
I and I've watched the flow of traffic
[2:12:34] and I it's so nice to see right now as
school's kicking in that as people are
[2:12:39] coming and going. It's um it's it's
coming along nicely. So, it's great. And
[2:12:42] then um the West Street Harding one
looks like it's coming to a close.
[2:12:46] They've done all the work they not
needed to do down by the driveways. And
[2:12:49] then uh the elections, just a shout out
to Marian and her team because I know
[2:12:52] that was a long week with having the
elections, the walk-in elections here or
[2:12:57] the early elections here and then
everything that took place down at the
[2:13:01] um senior center the day of the
election. So kudos to everybody that
[2:13:04] stepped up for that.
>> All right, and on to you.
[2:13:09] » Um and I would just mention about the
water and sewer that Bill did a uh a
[2:13:14] series of slides that I thought were
just excellent to explain it. The thing
[2:13:18] that that really struck me is that when
you when he compares the cost that we
[2:13:23] pay for water and sewer to other towns,
we're paying a lot less than most towns.
[2:13:28] So, um I would just mentioned that I I
was looking at the Beacon, which is the
[2:13:34] Mass Municipal Association monthly uh uh
magazine. Um and I was interested that
[2:13:41] there was a lot of state money that was
being given away in grants. uh 45
[2:13:47] million awarded for projects uh related
to climate impact. South Adley got dam
[2:13:53] removal money. Uh Plymouth and Devon's
got tree planting money. Um 15 million
[2:14:00] awarded for commercial to housing
conversions. That's not really us, but
[2:14:06] uh uh two towns split 20 million in
library money. Felmouth and and uh
[2:14:13] Hudson uh local infrastructure projects
900,000 for technical assistance uh
[2:14:21] dredging projects. That could be us. Um
and the state awards 368
[2:14:30] million in loans for clean water
projects,
[2:14:33] 890,000 for civic education. So there's
a lot of money um and should maybe be
[2:14:39] spending our time figuring out how to
get some of it. So that's
[2:14:43] » so we've applied to most of the programs
that you listed there. We've applied to
[2:14:47] um either through water and sewer or the
town. The wayfinding project that we
[2:14:50] were talking about was funded by a
grant. Um we've had a significant number
[2:14:54] of grants. We talked about the two
federal grants, both Weston 27 and
[2:14:57] Pleasant Street. So um the um
uh
[2:15:03] » we just did the
>> the facade improvement. I'm like where's
[2:15:06] that word? Uh the facade improvement.
Yeah. So, I I you know, I I would say
[2:15:10] kudos to our team. Um
>> absolutely.
[2:15:12] » You know, um we we did uh do a $15,000
earmark for landscaping. Um I did have a
[2:15:19] person call me today who was concerned
that some of our plants had died. Um we
[2:15:22] are working on that. It's been a hard
summer. As you know, our grounds
[2:15:25] department, we did not get a second
person in that. So, it's been hard to
[2:15:28] have somebody dedicated. I know Britney
spent a significant amount of time this
[2:15:31] summer going out to water the plants. Um
so we are we are trying to to fix that
[2:15:36] but um you know that's kind of the level
route but you know kudos to our team for
[2:15:40] for going after the grants that we have
uh been implementing and I you know not
[2:15:45] to forget also the delineator grant
would be me. So
[2:15:49] » we're getting way more grants than we
used to. So thank you for that.
[2:15:52] » Yes.
>> Anything else to come before the
[2:15:56] meeting?
>> Do we have a motion to adjurnn then?
[2:15:59] » Motion to adjurnn.
>> Second.
[2:16:00] » All those in favor? I. Thank you. Oh,
sorry. Killed that quick. Sorry.
[2:16:07] » Christine is hot.
>> Hot on that.
[2:16:11] » I forgot last time. [laughter]
>> Jesus. Was there was there an overunder?
[2:16:15] I wasn't aware of that. It did flip the
>> No goodbyes for you. [laughter]
[2:16:22] » That was harsh.
Start.