[0:03] Yeah, I don't think so. All right. I'm opening the meeting at 6:30 PM on

[0:09] 7/16/2025. This meeting is being recorded. We have one member remote,

[0:15] so we will be doing roll call vote and we have two members absent.

[0:21] So please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[0:25] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:31] Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,

[0:36] with liberty and justice for all.

[0:43] Alrighty, so citizen statements and petitions

[0:47] looking at anybody online or in the room would like to approach and speak to the

[0:55] board.

[0:57] All right. Seeing no hands, we'll move on to #3,

[1:01] which is correspondence. The first one is the request for town

[1:06] assistance that came from Oakland. Yeah, so another community reached out,

[1:12] asked the town to sign on to a letter opposing.

[1:16] Energy storage facility in their town. I talked with Emergency Management,

[1:20] talked to the chair as well and we don't feel the town should weigh in on such a

[1:25] thing and sign our sign our name to it. Each each instance of the battery storage

[1:29] facility is is different and we don't want to tie their fight with anything

[1:34] that we're doing and we wouldn't.

[1:36] Never ask them to sign on a letter for us. So the letters letters in your packet for

[1:40] you to review, but it's been Emergency Management and

[1:43] Public Safety's recommendation and mine as well to tell them thanks,

[1:47] but no thanks.

[1:50] Is there any discussion? I would tend to agree.

[1:53] There's nothing for us to really do here just to acknowledge that publicly.

[2:00] All right. So the other correspondence was from the

[2:03] town clerk with the new open meeting law guide.

[2:06] And so there are a lot of different individual documents to go through as

[2:11] well as that large, there's one large coalesce document.

[2:15] And so tonight there's no vote on this.

[2:20] But tonight the board signed off on receiving those new updates,

[2:24] as will every member of every committee and board that meets publicly here in the

[2:30] town. And so just small adjustments and

[2:33] reminders of how we need to run these meetings.

[2:37] So hopefully we're doing a good job.

[2:41] Um. So community events and announcements we

[2:46] have.

[2:48] I'm going to make 635 watching. We have two community events coming up.

[2:54] We have the 25th Taft Public Library Cardboard Boat Race,

[2:59] which is July 23rd at 6:30 PM and I believe the 18th is the last day for you

[3:05] to sign up. You can do that.

[3:08] Uh, get that link on the library website and.

[3:14] The Mendon Lions Circus is gonna there's going to be a circus here on the 17th.

[3:19] There'll be one show and on the 18th there are two shows and you can buy those

[3:24] tickets at the Charles River Bank right across the street from where it's going

[3:30] to be held up here on the corner.

[3:32] You can search them on Facebook, Mending Lions on Facebook as well and

[3:38] find the information there. So and you can see a select board member

[3:44] Mr. Chanel there as well with his.

[3:47] I should have talked a little slower cause. So yeah,

[3:51] I'll be a judge at the carpool boat race. So I I hope to see some folks there.

[3:56] I think the select board is going to have the select board needs to get its act

[4:01] together and build a boat. We're going to at least try on Saturday

[4:06] to get something.

[4:07] Started. So, uh, Elena, yeah.

[4:12] So I just a little a point of order, I think just having recently reviewed the

[4:17] open meeting laws, I believe that Jason, the chair is supposed to say the names of

[4:23] any board members who are attending remotely, not just the number.

[4:29] OK, I'm gonna assume I didn't say that

[4:33] because you're telling me that, but we can't rewind. So yes,

[4:40] Elena Brugos is attending remotely, so and.

[4:45] Chair Member Maroli and Goddard are absent. Thank you.

[4:50] Thank you.

[4:51] Thanks.

[4:55] All right, so it's 6:35 and we have a public hearing

[5:00] to open. And so I will do that now. The Mendon Select Board will hold a

[5:07] public hearing on Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 at 6:35 PM in the upper.

[5:14] Town Hall located at 20 Main St. and in Massachusetts to consider the

[5:20] transfer of a package store license for the sale of wines and malt beverages

[5:26] under NGL Chapter 138, Section 12. The license is currently held by you can

[5:32] come up.

[5:33] 147 Hartford Ave. Hartford Ave. Mendon LLC doing business at Savon being

[5:39] transferred to MKG Mendon Incorporated doing business at Savon and all

[5:45] interested parties are invited to attend and will be given an opportunity to be

[5:51] heard.

[5:53] And I am making a motion to open this public hearing second.

[6:00] Discussion. All those in favor.

[6:06] Hooter, aye. All right, motion passes. So welcome. Thank you.

[6:07] Up.

[6:09] Rugo's eye.

[6:13] We were we are with Savon with MKG and in case you had any questions,

[6:21] we just wanted to be here.

[6:24] Well, my first question, it's Savon, not Savon. It's they call it Savon. OK,

[6:30] just want to make sure I pronounce properly.

[6:34] So I guess the big open question is why are we transferring this license?

[6:40] Really quickly after you guys have opened. Yeah.

[6:43] So just I'll start with my spiel and if you have any follow up questions,

[6:47] could you say your name before you start? Yes, I'm Sydney Procos.

[6:51] I'm a attorney with VR and DJ and Philippo. Here's my client,

[6:55] Marcel Georges, who is the new owner and proposed new

[6:58] manager for this slipper store.

[7:00] So we represent MKG Mendon Inc and we are seeking your approval to transfer the

[7:06] beer and wine license from 147 to our client and acknowledging you may be

[7:11] familiar with this license. It was recently approved to 147 and now

[7:16] it's getting transferred to our client who is the.

[7:20] The new owner. So with that new ownership that license

[7:23] needs to be transferred as well and it's a requirement by a VCC that we go before

[7:28] the town just like we did the first time and now to to have it be approved to our

[7:33] client Mr. Marcel Georges. But this is an internal change and I want

[7:37] to highlight that everything that.

[7:39] That you just approved. None of that changes the location,

[7:43] the hours of operation, then even the name, like nothing changes.

[7:46] This is just a requirement by ABCC to go before you guys and approve the transfer

[7:51] of the license itself. OK, so internally management ownership is

[7:55] changing and therefore we need to update everything.

[7:58] Nice and officially, but everything else we've previously

[8:02] talked about in front of the public here has been the same. No external changes.

[8:08] Yeah, just the just this one particular

[8:11] location, correct? Yes, just this one location.

[8:15] Yeah.

[8:16] Right. So if there's no more comments from the

[8:20] select board, I would open up comments from the public.

[8:29] And seeing none, I would just ask the board one more time

[8:34] if they had any more questions or if it's clear, it's very semantic. OK,

[8:39] so then I would make a motion to close this 635 public hearing second.

[8:45] Our discussion.

[8:48] Hearing none, all those in favor Kuder aye.

[8:52] Rugose eye.

[8:55] Motion passes. So now we would need to then make a

[8:58] another motion. So I'd be looking for a motion to do the

[9:02] approval. I move to approve the transfer of the

[9:06] package store license for the sale of wines and mall beverages to MK MKG Menden

[9:11] Incorporated does business as save on.

[9:15] 2nd.

[9:15] All right. Any discussion? It's a lot simpler when two of us are

[9:22] missing.

[9:24] Seeing as there's no discussion, all those in favor Kuder Aye.

[9:32] Brugos eye.

[9:33] All right. So thanks. You're all set. Congratulations on your new purchase and

[9:40] we look forward to a successful business. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much.

[9:46] You too.

[9:48] All right, so we have 5 minutes before the next

[9:51] public hearing. So we're gonna jump forward and we'll

[9:56] talk about #7, which is the Mending Cultural Council.

[10:00] They are requesting permission.

[10:03] To host the second annual Scarecrow contest across town.

[10:06] And I know this went super well last year. Everybody was super excited to see all

[10:11] those awesome scarecrows around town. So why don't you tell us more about it

[10:15] and start with your name? I'm Joanne Lamothe.

[10:18] I'm a member and committee chairperson for the Mendon Cultural Council.

[10:22] Once again, the Mendon Cultural Council would like to

[10:25] do in another scarecrow contest. The contest with registration would be

[10:30] September 1st to the 27th. They can e-mail the Mendon Cultural

[10:33] Council to register. I'll be also putting Flyers out through

[10:37] town and.

[10:39] Advertising it through the town website and Facebook social media.

[10:43] Scarecrows have to be out by October 1st and October 1st to the to the they can

[10:48] display them October 1st to the 31st. However, judging will be from October 1st.

[10:53] With the winner announced on the 27th, which we will do a reception and invite

[10:58] all participants to come and you know, see,

[11:01] we'll put pictures out of all the scarecrows and all of that stuff,

[11:05] but at least to be able to see and we can thank them and they can get to see other

[11:10] the other participants in this contest.

[11:13] As well. And we'll once again, we'll do trophies and award medallions

[11:18] for people, participation medallions, the same rules of last year.

[11:22] They can't block the line of sight of traffic.

[11:25] They can't be in the middle of the road.

[11:28] You know the same exact rules. The only exchange that we're making this

[11:32] year is when you register, we will give you a QR code.

[11:35] So people will come and they'll take a picture of that QR code and that will be

[11:40] their vote when they take that picture. So it'll go to a website and it will

[11:44] tally the votes and that will be their vote and that way.

[11:48] We will know and as I did last year, I will update Facebook all the time to

[11:53] let people know where they stand. And I hope again the Town Hall Select

[11:57] Board participates in this contest because it was a fun thing last year.

[12:02] Yeah, there was a lot of really great

[12:04] department participations last year, so yeah.

[12:07] So let's do that again. I'm here just to get your approval on

[12:11] that so that we can move forward with this cause we'd like to continue to make

[12:16] it an annual event if we to keep it going. All right.

[12:19] So we have these two points on here. We have to do 2 separate motions.

[12:24] For the reschedule and one for the annual. So I'd be looking for a motion to approve

[12:31] the Cultural Council to hold the second annual scarecrow contest from October 1st

[12:38] through the 31st.

[12:41] 2nd.

[12:43] And do you want to chat? Because I see that you have your hand up.

[12:46] So I did have a question. Joanne mentioned the the reception for

[12:49] Yes.

[12:51] like at the end and I wondered if you could say a little bit more about that.

[12:57] Will that be on town property as well?

[12:58] OK.

[13:01] What we were thinking is we'd have it up here in the Town Hall.

[13:05] We'd have it on the evening of the Town Hall on the 27th.

[13:06] OK.

[13:08] When we announced the results, it would be at the reception here at the

[13:12] Town Hall and we, you know, serve some beverages and cookies and

[13:16] stuff like that. But at least that way that everyone would

[13:19] be together.

[13:20] Conflict. So we can reserve sure. Yeah. OK, so all those in favor.

[13:23] Break.

[13:26] Thank you.

[13:29] Kuter aye. Chanel aye. All right, so with reception to be held here in Town

[13:31] Rugos eye.

[13:35] Hall. And then we need to reschedule the

[13:39] scavenger hunt because Oh right, it's two separate events.

[13:45] Because it was, it was rained out. We didn't have a rain date.

[13:49] So you'd like to move it to September 21st, I think. Yes, it's a Sunday morning.

[13:54] We do it from 9:00 to 12:00. It's the same route. Nothing's changed.

[13:58] It'll start at cleft and end at cleft. It'll be of the old village of Mendon.

[14:02] Same questions, you know, you get to 1 and.

[14:05] QR codes are there to redirect them to a conditional website,

[14:09] which would give them more information and it's just the exact same.

[14:12] The only thing is we just couldn't do it cause of the right thing.

[14:16] So do we do we want to add a recommendation?

[14:19] We're gonna do this rain or shine, OK?

[14:21] This is the the the vote we've done. Rain or shine.

[14:24] It is happening on the 21st. If it's raining, stick your mud boots on,

[14:28] get the rain gear on. We're doing it. All right,

[14:30] Right.

[14:30] well then I'd be looking for a motion to approve this rain or shine event.

[14:35] I move to approve the.

[14:36] Historic scavenger hunt on Sunday, September 21st,

[14:40] 2025 from 9:12 PM starting 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM starting at Henry Cuff School on

[14:45] North End.

[14:47] 2nd.

[14:49] Are you discussing?

[14:51] Just want to add, there was a rain date for the the what

[14:52] All.

[14:54] Yes, it was.

[14:55] it's just you may recall like every Saturday for like 3 years was rainy.

[14:58] I That was one of the 14 stretches. Yeah, I'm sorry. I did forget because I was.

[15:05] But yes, I I believe, yeah, there there was a rain date.

[15:06] I was soggy brained.

[15:09] It's just the rain date got rained out as well.

[15:10] Yes.

[15:12] Yeah. So we're going to try the fall. All right.

[15:15] Good, good, good strategy to go with rain.

[15:17] So all those in favor of the rain or shine event, Kuter, Aye.

[15:24] Rugo's eye.

[15:27] All right. Sorry to rush. We have to start a meeting.

[15:30] Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All the the Cultural Council does.

[15:35] These events are really awesome. Thank you. OK,

[15:39] so quickly we're going to go back to #6, which is the public hearing about PJS.

[15:44] At Miss Mendon Diners. So just continue it.

[15:47] It says continue to a later date. I don't even have to read the whole thing.

[15:51] OK, well then we're going to continue it to a

[15:53] later date and that's that. Yeah, we'll we'll publish the time that we have

[15:57] it. They were did not have everything

[15:59] necessary to have hold this hearing. So we'll continue to a later date and

[16:03] notify the public.

[16:04] All right, I love Russian today.

[16:09] So take a breather.

[16:14] And talk about donations. So brothers of the brush,

[16:18] see some gentlemen in the audience. You guys want to come up and talk about

[16:24] the park benches?

[16:26] Good evening. Good evening. Chair, congratulations. Thank you very much. Mr.

[16:31] Select Board member. Remote Select Board member greetings.

[16:36] Well, first off by introducing myself for the

[16:39] general audience. My name is Tom Pickner. I'm a member of the Brothers of the Brush.

[16:45] I've been for roughly 2021 years. I currently serve on the Executive Board

[16:50] as Treasurer of the organization.

[16:53] Introduce my wingman here this evening. We have Mr. Tom Bellen,

[16:57] who's been a member of the Brothers of the Brush for, excuse me,

[17:01] a period of time, three years. OK. He also serves on our Scholarship

[17:05] Committee as well. And we also have Mr. AJ Burn.

[17:08] Who's a member of the Executive Board. AJ also is our membership coordinator as

[17:13] well and also handles a lot of other things that you may not formally have a

[17:18] title for, but does many things, a lot of many things.

[17:22] So we're here tonight.

[17:24] To present a donation to the Town of Mendon on behalf of the Brothers of the

[17:29] Brush. And I have a letter. Unfortunately, our president was unable to be here

[17:35] tonight either way. So if I may, I'd like to read a letter here. Yeah,

[17:40] we'd like to hear. Read that in. OK, great.

[17:45] Those is to the Men and Select Board, Town Administrator regarding donation for

[17:50] new tables and benches at Memorial Park. Greetings to the Select Board and Town

[17:56] Administrator, the Menham Brush Association,

[17:59] AKA Brothers of the Brush.

[18:01] Would like to present to you the enclosed donation in the sum in the sum of $4906.

[18:07] 64 for the purchase of new tables and benches to be installed at Memorial Park.

[18:12] The need for these tables and benches was brought to the attention of our

[18:17] association by a resident of Mendon.

[18:20] And our membership voted unanimously to support this worthy cause. Additionally,

[18:25] the Brothers of the Brush are prepared to offer our services toward the labor

[18:30] aspect of installing these tables and benches.

[18:33] Just don't make us sweat too much.

[18:35] Since its founding in 1967, the Manhattan Park Association has

[18:39] operated under two key principles to support individuals,

[18:42] families and organizations in Mendon and surrounding towns,

[18:46] and to improve and promote public spirit and cooperation in our community.

[18:50] Our 40 plus strong membership consists of individuals dedicated to these principles.

[18:56] We continually strive to improve and enhance our support for the people in our

[19:01] community. Warmest regards, Chad Lavasty, Manheim Brush Association President. Well,

[19:06] that's quite generous of your organization. Can you tell us?

[19:10] A little bit more about the park benches. You're not talking about the stuff

[19:14] underneath the gazebo. You're talking about physically installed

[19:18] benches along the paths. Is that? So as as I understand it,

[19:21] it's not the benches under the in the pavilion area.

[19:24] There's apparently a couple of benches that are out in the field.

[19:28] And that I guess in.

[19:32] Tough condition. And so these are the tables that we're

[19:36] talking about replacing. Specifically, as I understand it,

[19:40] it's two tables that are handicapped accessible and I neglected to bring a

[19:45] photograph that I was going to.

[19:47] Show you folks exactly what it is where there's a bench on one side,

[19:51] it's open on the other, right. The table kind of extends out so a

[19:55] wheelchair can come underneath, correct? Yep. And then it's also 5 benches,

[20:00] I believe along with that just benches that would be positioned in various.

[20:04] Points in the park. Where exactly? I'm not sure. Yeah,

[20:08] I can kind of take off my brother's hat as a Parks Commissioner.

[20:12] So Dan and I reviewed the benches yesterday.

[20:15] So they will be identical to the ones at the beach for the metal type benches for

[20:21] longevity and they'll be.

[20:23] If you've been up there by the playground area,

[20:26] those benches are pretty much falling apart,

[20:29] so they'll be up in there and we're trying to remove the picnic tables that

[20:34] are again falling apart because they're all wood up in the park area.

[20:38] We to some extent we were hoping for the parks.

[20:41] Side of it that the bench, those will be available for the block

[20:46] party as well. So we're not sure as it's going to be

[20:50] tight. We probably won't have it, but fortunately the the park is used a

[20:55] lot, you know, as you may probably know, so I sat on those benches outside the

[21:00] playground.

[21:01] Yeah. And I think what happened was the

[21:04] brothers, as you probably know, I mean, I'm, I'm love being a member,

[21:09] but very generous with and so we had a golf tournament that was very successful

[21:15] for our first one. So and that was.

[21:18] Part of the discussion at the meeting to kind of see how we did and we did well

[21:23] enough to be able to provide the benches and you know it's just it came up.

[21:27] Brothers just said you know let's let's do this and everybody on like

[21:31] memorializing any of the benches or they're just going to be benches or yes

[21:35] either way if the brothers don't do it we.

[21:38] Talked about former brothers, possibly. I know Ellen Barrows is already oralized

[21:45] at a one of the bleachers. If not, Dan and I talked about looking at maybe

[21:51] doing kind of lean towards veterans a lot, but it could be.

[21:56] You know, we can talk more about it, but either way, yes, we'd like to.

[22:00] I'm glad AJ brought it up. I spoke with Dan Byer,

[22:03] the Parks Recreation Director. This is, this is something that Parks wants and

[22:08] needs and will use and is appropriate for a space. So it's not, you know,

[22:12] a donor directing what we should do. This is something that the.

[22:16] The town needs and they're going. So administratively we have to make two

[22:21] motions, one to accept the gift and then one to

[22:25] create an account for it to be placed in and we're not going to be creating

[22:31] separate.

[22:32] Accounts, correct. I I spoke with accounting and I said can

[22:35] we create just a Jeff Parks gift fund so we don't have to do this every time when

[22:39] it something comes in. And they said no, they want because this is a specific

[22:43] donation, they want an account specific to that

[22:45] donation. So that's more work on their end,

[22:47] but they're the one doing it and they're the one suggesting it.

[22:50] So it's it's too motion.

[22:52] Very specific.

[22:54] All right, so I'd be looking for that first motion

[22:57] to accept them. Thanks. I move to accept the funds from the

[23:01] Brothers of the Brush for the installation of park benches.

[23:05] 2nd.

[23:06] Any discussion?

[23:11] Yeah. Thank you for your generosity. Sure. All right. All those in favor, Kuter. Aye.

[23:18] Brugos eye.

[23:19] OK.

[23:20] Excellent. And then the second motion I'd be looking

[23:24] for to create a gift account to hold and expend the funds that were just accepted

[23:29] from the Brothers Department. I move to create a gift account to hold

[23:34] and expend the funds for.

[23:36] 2nd.

[23:39] Any discussion?

[23:42] All those in favor, Kuter aye.

[23:45] Rugose I.

[23:47] All right. Motion passes. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[23:51] We really appreciate it. As always, your organization does a lot for our town.

[23:57] Thank you so much. This is gonna go to this guy right here.

[24:02] Thank you for coming. Thank you.

[24:05] Yeah. Do you guys want to do a picture? Oh, yeah,

[24:09] we should do a picture for the brothers. Yeah. We need a picture. Come on up.

[24:16] Hold on, I'll get on my fancy shirt. I brought a picture.

[24:23] We'll just stand up in a row here, guys in the middle.

[24:28] Katie will be out in the middle.

[24:35] There's the same time.

[24:40] That's my face. Thank you. OK, yeah, 1/2.

[24:51] All right. Thank you. Awesome. Great. All right. Thanks. Thanks.

[25:01] Yeah, how much is that 153 by 10s and 67 by

[25:05] five sizes. Yeah, we're only doing ornaments this year.

[25:10] Sorry. Thanks, guys. Thank you.

[25:16] All right. And so um.

[25:19] Bye.

[25:25] I'm just going to pause for a minute to ask Elena how the sound has been this

[25:29] meeting because we're remote and we want to make sure you can hear us.

[25:33] Thank you. It's been great so far, so much, much clearer from the beginning.

[25:34] 8.

[25:35] Awesome.

[25:39] So thank you for checking, although I would have spoken up again.

[25:40] All right. Thank you very much. All right. So another donation.

[25:45] Thank you. Thank you for checking.

[25:48] Um.

[25:50] So we have an anonymous donor that has donated a gently used Blackstone Grill to

[25:57] the fire department so that they can get their cooking on and outside the

[26:03] department there during on-call.

[26:06] Chief, you're here. Do you want to say anything?

[26:09] This came through the the town minister's office and it was just a donation that

[26:13] they're looking and they're probably going to use it for the different events

[26:18] we do in the open house, public safety type things. Awesome.

[26:22] And once again, checked with the department.

[26:24] It's not like a milk gel for them, right? It's something that they want and use.

[26:28] So yeah, the resident have used it once, said the fire department can get better

[26:32] use out of it and want it to stay anonymous.

[26:34] So I I just be looking for a motion to accept the anonymous donation.

[26:38] I move to accept the donation of a gently used Blackstone grill.

[26:44] 2nd.

[26:46] Any discussion?

[26:48] As always, our generous residents stepping up to

[26:51] help out. So that's pretty awesome. All right, all those in favor? Cooter.

[26:55] Aye, Chanel.

[26:57] Brugo's eye.

[26:59] All right. Thank you very much. Anonymous Blackstone Grill donor.

[27:06] All right. So #9 special town meeting considerations.

[27:11] Yeah. So we had talked about the floodplain

[27:15] bylaw not being in its particular.

[27:19] Um.

[27:20] That the specifications didn't comport with FEMA requirements.

[27:26] There's one person in town who is under this program.

[27:33] Town planner has without success yet tried to reach out to this person to see

[27:37] when their renewal date break because if their renewal dates in February,

[27:40] it doesn't matter whether we pass it in. So we're trying to get some more

[27:43] information on this individual before we consider a special town meeting

[27:47] specifically for a revised home plain model.

[27:49] So working on it. It'll probably be next meeting.

[27:52] We're trying to reach out to the point. OK. Thanks.

[27:58] All right. And the Zoning Bylaw Review. So you received a a list of proposed by

[28:06] Zoning Bylaw Review changes earlier today.

[28:11] Um.

[28:14] I'm reading through the notes there.

[28:18] So we should wait until the next meeting before we talk about all this or we

[28:23] should talk about it. This is certainly just an FYI.

[28:26] The point was just to say, here's what the Zoning Bylaw Review

[28:30] Committee is on certain things. So I'm sharing on the screen now.

[28:34] A lot of it is grammar changes, some some clarifying and textual changes,

[28:42] the removing what we think is a unenforceable and unallowable restriction

[28:49] on marijuana signage.

[28:51] ADU bylaw we passed at the 2024 Fall Town Meeting, but we got, like I said,

[28:57] a 17 page response from the Attorney General's office.

[29:01] So the Town Planner is working with Town Council now to rectify that.

[29:07] That's the large one.

[29:09] And then the number 10 and #11 new proposed zoning bylaw to allow by special

[29:14] permit a limited number of common driveways with specific conditions and

[29:20] new proposed zoning bylaw flag lots which are lots with reduced Rd.

[29:25] frontage and larger.

[29:27] Area behind it looks like flagpole with a flag on it,

[29:30] subject to special permit specific conditions.

[29:32] So those are two of the two of the new ones that are on here. Again,

[29:36] this has been circulated to to the Select Board and before the Fall Town Meeting

[29:40] warrant is closed and these are placed on them,

[29:43] we'll have greater discussions with the board.

[29:46] And then there's also kind of an FYI of stuff that they're also working on,

[29:50] stuff about photovoltaic facilities, moving definitions, other small changes,

[29:54] and then organizational changes to the document.

[29:57] There wasn't a meeting yesterday, so I was planning on having the planner

[30:00] here today to talk about what happened yesterday, but they didn't have a form.

[30:05] So we'll have this, we'll have a update from the Zoning Bylaw

[30:10] Review Committee in in advance of Fall Town meeting. All right.

[30:14] Thank you for that update. All right. So building inspection fees.

[30:20] So you also would have received a memo from the Town Administrator as well as a

[30:27] table of proposed fees that listed off both new existing fees,

[30:32] new fees and fee schedules from towns in our area so that you could do a

[30:38] comparison there.

[30:40] And so I see that the Building Commissioner is online. John,

[30:44] do you want to talk about these proposed fees and why we think it's a good idea to

[30:50] make these changes for our town?

[30:51] Yes, I would. Thank you. You know, as the memo says,

[30:55] I've I've had a chance to review the fees recently.

[30:58] The last time the building department fee, building permit fees were updated was

[31:03] 2013. Plumbing and gas, plumbing, gas and electrical fees were last updated

[31:07] and.

[31:08] 2014, you know, with the building department being a

[31:12] fee-based department, of course the fees are meant to cover

[31:16] inspector salaries, direct costs or direct expenses,

[31:20] indirect expenses, et cetera, the the.

[31:23] The adjustments here are pretty basic on the building permit fees.

[31:27] The major one is just moving the fee for a commercial occupancy permit into the

[31:32] building permit fee so that it's paid up front instead of at the end of a project.

[31:37] It just makes it better for all involved. Along with that,

[31:40] it's what I would consider a nominal.

[31:43] Increase of roughly a dollar per thousand of the cost of construction across the

[31:48] board, plumbing, gas and wiring fees. The the structure didn't make a whole lot

[31:53] of sense. We had a lot of or not a lot, but we had certain types of projects that.

[31:58] Didn't even fall into a category such as, you know, on electrical solar,

[32:03] which is probably our largest number of permits in building and iron.

[32:08] So without getting into too much nitty-gritty,

[32:11] I've given you the current fee schedule, the proposed.

[32:15] Increases and a list of towns to compare it to and I'm here for any, you know,

[32:21] try and answer any questions.

[32:25] Yeah, I mean, so from my point of view, this all looked pretty valid.

[32:29] Nothing really jumped out at me is extraordinary or and and I really

[32:34] appreciate the the comparison with the other towns that was bottom line very

[32:39] helpful. So I I'd open it up to the board like.

[32:42] Is is there anything different you'd like to see in this fee schedule?

[32:47] Is it confusing? Do you understand where John's going with

[32:50] all this?

[32:53] Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's it's relatively clear and

[32:57] the comparison makes it clear that you know we we have to be in line with

[33:01] surrounding towns and gets us there a little bit.

[33:05] I want to just reiterate a point that the Building Commissioner made that you know

[33:09] the the permit fees are a large local receipt for us,

[33:12] but also our building inspectors are paid not directly from these fees,

[33:16] but paid out of the general fund which is then supported by these fees.

[33:21] And having not changed them in over a decade,

[33:23] the purchasing power for us of those fees has been drastically reduced.

[33:28] Yeah, get getting in line without extraordinary

[33:32] measures. I mean, you know, most of these are not going up a terrible

[33:36] amount. Or if they are going up, they're going up, you know,

[33:41] because they're so archaically old.

[33:43] So it all seems very reasonable. This is got a big impact as a whole,

[33:49] right? But on the individual should be pretty

[33:52] minor.

[33:54] Uh, Elena.

[33:56] Sorry, I just also glad to see this being

[33:57] Exit.

[33:59] addressed and I don't know if I missed it, but what is a more appropriate schedule

[34:05] for us to revisit these fees? Cause clearly 11 years is too long.

[34:10] Did you say like, did you have advice about how often?

[34:14] Uh, typically these would be addressed.

[34:17] I I haven't really thought about that. I would say it should be looked at every

[34:22] two to three years. In some sense, you know there is a an inherent increase

[34:27] because when the cost of construction which some permit fees are based off of

[34:31] increases.

[34:32] The, you know, the related permit fee does increase.

[34:36] But on some of them we had something so archaic that you know a plumbing or I'm

[34:37] Mhm.

[34:41] sorry, a gas inspection that required 2 permits

[34:44] where we pay our inspector $40 per inspection was a $48 permit.

[34:48] So that clearly didn't make sense so.

[34:50] I I would, I mean, I think I should keep an eye on it on an

[34:51] Thank you.

[34:54] ongoing basis, but you know, every two to three years to just revisit

[34:55] Mhm.

[34:58] Mm.

[34:58] and you know, make minor adjustments. I don't think there would be any major

[35:02] adjustments needed.

[35:03] Right. Yeah, I think, yeah, that does seem like a a better strategy

[35:08] to have it be percentage versus a flat fee.

[35:12] Great. Thank you.

[35:12] And.

[35:13] Yeah, with the drastic changes in supply costs

[35:16] and whatnot over the last few years especially.

[35:20] And I was just gonna add it's a it's a typical structure that most towns use

[35:25] some some types of work is a flat fee and other is you know a percentage of of the

[35:30] job cost and it's I think we're you know all towns are using both methods.

[35:35] But I I think, I think this really tightens it up to

[35:38] what we really should be doing. You know, considering we don't want to do

[35:43] necessarily what every other town is doing,

[35:45] but we we want to take some of that into consideration. But I think,

[35:49] I think this is a a very solid fee schedule.

[35:53] And John, this simplifies the electrical permits

[35:57] too, is that correct?

[35:59] Yes, drastically to the extent that we can now

[36:02] put that into our software system. So when somebody applies for a permit,

[36:06] it will generate the fee, whereas in the for the past forever since

[36:10] our online permit came in or even before that one was paper-based.

[36:16] We have to somehow try and correlate the the ambiguous fee schedule with the scope

[36:22] of work, which now we can just, you know, we can set up in the viewpoint software

[36:28] and when somebody.

[36:30] Applies for a certain, whether it's a solar permit or anything

[36:33] else or a swimming pool, the fee will be generated and it's going

[36:37] to save time. So we don't have to wait for the the

[36:40] reaction of of permits applied for. Then the wire inspector logs in and

[36:43] reviews it, sets the fee and then it goes back to the

[36:46] contractor. So it's.

[36:48] It's definitely going to expedite things and make things more convenient.

[36:48] Yeah.

[36:51] Certainly and it it allows folks to know the cost before it.

[36:55] It took that extra level of staff work and it wasn't clear to the applicant.

[37:00] So the simplification of the fees eliminates both of those like operational

[37:05] Lex and that's a slim seat.

[37:08] Network. That's great. OK, so.

[37:15] Think there are no more questions and there's really no opposition to the

[37:20] proposed fees by the admin or the board. I'd be looking.

[37:26] To get a motion to approve, I want to make sure this is covered.

[37:29] This was in the proposal as well that permit fees are waived by select boards

[37:33] for all by the select board for all municipal owned properties.

[37:37] So that happened on a case by case basis. So this proposal is saying the default is

[37:41] for the. So in those cases we would waive the

[37:44] permit fee. We would still end up.

[37:46] Paying our inspectors, but it you know it's one pocket versus

[37:49] the other, right? We're still, we're still submitting the permits.

[37:53] So there are the permits and we're paying the inspectors,

[37:57] but we're not taking money out of one pocket, right?

[38:00] Because when we have a contractor do it, if we require them to pull the permit.

[38:05] In half the case, they mark that up and then we end up

[38:08] paying more for a thing where we can just waive it all together, right? Makes sense.

[38:13] So this is in our procurement documents right now saying fees have been waived

[38:18] for blah blah blah blah blah, but it takes individual votes.

[38:22] Uh, this would make it.

[38:27] All right. I move to accept the fee schedule as

[38:31] presented by the Building Commissioner.

[38:37] 2nd.

[38:38] Any discussion?

[38:42] Don, appreciate all the effort that you put

[38:45] into this. Thank you. Um.

[38:45] If I can just ask for clarification, that would be in effect immediately

[38:50] Yeah.

[38:50] because we were hoping to do this in June for July 1st to go into effect on July

[38:56] 1st, but being July 16th or 15th, whatever it is today,

[38:59] would that be the case?

[39:00] Do we have to change our motion? All right.

[39:04] So then I'm going to ask you to amend the motion. Yeah, amend the motion.

[39:10] So I move to approve the schedule of fees as presented by the Building Commissioner

[39:16] effective date immediately.

[39:21] 2nd.

[39:22] Thank you. All right. Any discussion?

[39:26] Right. Seeing as there's none. All those in favor, Kuter. Aye.

[39:31] Brugos eye.

[39:33] All right. So the motion passes, John. Those fees go into effect immediately.

[39:37] And so you can go ahead and make your updates. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[39:40] Thanks. Thank you all.

[39:45] All right.

[39:47] Um.

[39:49] Is a fire fire before the appointments? Yeah.

[39:57] What number is that? Um.

[40:02] Okay, number 16.

[40:06] On call fire credit rates. Yeah, sorry Sir,

[40:09] you got got buried in a very long agenda.

[40:14] So we're going to talk. We're going to skip forward because Chief

[40:18] is here and we don't want to keep him waiting to #16 to talk about on-call

[40:22] firefighter rates. Base Banwin, Fire Chief. Welcome.

[40:25] After the last meeting, there was some questions regarding the

[40:28] on-call rates.

[40:30] Did a little digging and found that they haven't been receiving the call up

[40:34] increases that everyone else in town has been getting.

[40:37] So Jeremy and I got together and figured out where they should be at.

[40:42] And then streamline the promotional part of it. They were,

[40:47] they're kind of all over the place with the percentage increases for each rank.

[40:53] So there's the current proposal and I'm just going to say that this will get us.

[40:59] To the bottom of the pay scale still for the area towns for the on call.

[41:05] So this will just be a.

[41:08] For now, I'd still be looking for the bigger

[41:11] market adjustment in the future to get them where they future are you looking

[41:17] for? What's your time frame? I believe when the next fiscal year the

[41:23] compensation study to match what everyone else receives fiscal.

[41:28] Make sure we're all on the same page. Yeah, so,

[41:31] so Select Board member Goddard was pretty adamant about ensuring we knew what we're

[41:37] talking about and the town admin had made mention that that report is wrapping up.

[41:43] So we should have that meeting on the 23rd to finalize.

[41:47] Imminently, which means I hope to be talking about

[41:52] this in September. So OK, great. So we'd be looking to then do these catch

[41:59] up rates as noted here and you're you're gonna.

[42:04] Keep the recruit rate at 15. Yes, the recruits are non-trained firefighters.

[42:08] They're just they're learning the job. Once they become certified firefighters,

[42:13] they will get the bump to the. All right, so they're gonna get that $3.

[42:17] 81 bump once they complete their training, their certification.

[42:21] And this keeps the stipends. So we talked about during the chief's

[42:25] proposal at the last meeting to eliminate the stipends and bring the hourly rates

[42:30] up to much greater than this. So this because this is just a COLO,

[42:34] so this this applies the 20 as it says in the memo,

[42:37] the last one they received was July 21.

[42:40] So this applies the colas that other town employees have received and then creates

[42:44] this 10%. It applies that the firefighter then

[42:46] creates this 10% spread between the ranks and then it keeps their stipend.

[42:50] So as we talk about the 27 budget, this is all kind of up for up for debate

[42:54] at that point, removal of the stipends and the market

[42:57] adjustment, but I want to be very clear that that

[42:59] stipend.

[43:00] This.

[43:01] All right. And is this uh?

[43:05] Clear enough for your on-call fire person. Like,

[43:08] do they understand what's going on here? Yes. Yeah, they understand that it's.

[43:12] I don't want to ask if they're OK because I'm sure they wouldn't be OK.

[43:16] They just don't want to say that. So that's fine. I get it.

[43:20] But they understand. Yeah. OK. None of them are there for the money.

[43:24] I I don't think anybody does the civil job.

[43:27] It's just getting the rate in a better place will help keep the people we do

[43:32] have, keep them. And I want to reiterate, you said this just gets us to the bottom

[43:38] of the pay scale. We really need to go up higher to eat

[43:41] talent.

[43:42] And I just want to point out that the talent that we're talking about here

[43:47] isn't just firefighters, but you have to bring in lieutenants,

[43:51] captains and deputy chiefs at a time to cover these spots.

[43:54] We just don't have enough staff, right? So this isn't just.

[43:58] Just the operations. This is the whole right leadership and

[44:02] OPS. We currently do not have any on call

[44:04] Lieutenants. The three Lieutenants we have are on

[44:08] career. OK, so that's just there for the future there

[44:11] for the future and it happens.

[44:13] And you were on call deputy chief before? I was on call deputy chief for three

[44:19] years, two or three years before I became chief.

[44:23] So we usually get some pretty good talent from that poll. We try.

[44:29] Um.

[44:31] Does the board have any discussion on this?

[44:35] No, I think we also covered it last time just

[44:38] to make sure that going forward this.

[44:42] Doesn't slip again. Two points on that definitely won't.

[44:45] He's the department now. And 2nd, I I'm never in a position to speak for

[44:50] another select board member, but Select Board Morali called me and

[44:53] expressed his desire that we get these rates up and do it quickly.

[44:57] So he's not here to vote tonight, but he was,

[45:00] I can't say about his specific.

[45:02] Civics on these specific rates, but his desire was to to have this done

[45:06] and done quickly. I mean, it's only fair and these would be

[45:10] retroactive to preempt the question that John asked the board.

[45:14] These will be retroactive to July 1st, one pay period.

[45:18] And they get paid monthly. So we wouldn't even have to really do

[45:23] that. All right. Well, I think it's an easy enough thing to

[45:27] understand. So I don't have any additional questions.

[45:31] I'd be looking for a motion to approve.

[45:36] I move to approve the on call firefighter rates as presented by the Chief and the

[45:41] Town Administrator.

[45:43] 2nd.

[45:44] Right. Any discussion?

[45:49] So seeing there's no discussion. All those in favor Hooter. Aye.

[45:55] Rugose I.

[45:56] OK.

[45:57] So the motion's approved. Thank you so much, Chief.

[46:00] I waiting to get to you a little earlier.

[46:03] Have a great night.

[46:10] All right, I'm going to run through. I'm going to jump back to 12 and we're

[46:17] going to run through some reappointments here. And so there's a lot.

[46:25] And they're all gonna be different, so we're gonna have to go through each

[46:31] one. So the first one is.

[46:35] I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna state the first one and then

[46:39] Brendan's gonna read the motion, then Elena's gonna 2nd and then we'll go

[46:44] through it, I guess like that. All right. So we're looking to reappoint Peter

[46:48] Denton to the Agricultural Commission for a three-year term to expire June 30th,

[46:53] 2028.

[46:56] I move to reappoint Peter Dent to the Agricultural Commission for a two year

[47:01] term to expire June 30th, 2028. three-year term. three-year term.

[47:05] It says two, but it's three. I should think about it.

[47:09] 2nd.

[47:11] Discussion. All those in favor Kuter. Aye, aye.

[47:17] Brugos eye.

[47:20] Great. So that passes. The second one would be to appoint Lisa

[47:24] Vandervalk and Kristina Want. Is that Want or Wante Want to the

[47:29] Agricultural Commission? I moved to appoint Lisa Vandervalk to the

[47:34] Agricultural Commission for a three-year term to expire June 30, 2028 ending.

[47:40] Uh, the completely like UF extreme.

[47:43] Thank you. Discussion.

[47:43] 2nd.

[47:49] All those in favor, Hooter aye.

[47:53] Brugos eye.

[47:56] I move to appoint Kristina want to the Agricultural Commission for a two year

[48:01] term to expire June 30th, 2027 pending issue of the.

[48:05] 2nd.

[48:06] Discussion.

[48:09] All those in favor, Kuter Aye.

[48:13] There goes I.

[48:15] Thank you, Kristina and Lisa. I just want to be clear on these motions.

[48:20] These are the Select Board had posted these vacancies for for all these

[48:24] commissions for expiring terms. So we're going some of these are

[48:28] reappointments for folks who are interested.

[48:31] But the Agriculture Commission, those are two new ones in terms of Select

[48:34] Board goal to reinvigorate the Agricultural Commission.

[48:37] So now we have a we have a quorum there and we'll be reaching out to those folks

[48:40] shortly to to get that committee back, back up and running. Yeah, that's great.

[48:44] That's gonna be great.

[48:46] I didn't smile in ear to ear. All right.

[48:48] All right. Um.

[48:51] So we need to reappoint James Thash Capital Planning to the Capital Planning

[48:57] Committee. That was a very shy, read it directly. All right,

[49:02] I I move to reappoint James Thash to the Capital Planning Committee for it to be

[49:08] returned to expire on June.

[49:10] Maybe.

[49:12] 2nd.

[49:14] Discussion.

[49:16] All those in favor, Kuter. Aye.

[49:19] Rucus I.

[49:21] Thank you, James. And so now we need to reappoint Michael

[49:25] Goddard to the Community Preservation Commission as the Select Board

[49:31] representative.

[49:33] All right, I move to reappoint Mike Goddard to the

[49:37] Community Preservation Committee for a three-way challenge.

[49:44] 2nd.

[49:48] All those in favor Hooter aye.

[49:51] Rugose eye.

[49:53] All right, we need to reappoint Diane Howell and

[49:58] Donna Sun.

[50:01] To that Council on Aging, do the same term for the same things you

[50:05] can combine that into one. That sounds good.

[50:08] I move to reappoint Diane Howell and Donna Sun to the Council on Aging for a

[50:13] three-year term to expire June 30th, 2020.

[50:17] 2nd.

[50:18] Discussion.

[50:21] All those in favor, Hooter aye. Aye.

[50:24] Rugo's eye.

[50:27] All right. Thank you very much, Diane and Donna.

[50:30] And now we need to reappoint Tom Merolli to the Economic Development Committee.

[50:36] I move to reappoint Tom Merolli to the Economic Development Committee for a

[50:41] three-year term to expire June 30th.

[50:45] 2nd.

[50:45] Sure.

[50:47] Discussion.

[50:50] All those in favor Hooter. Aye.

[50:52] Brugos eye.

[50:55] Thank you very much, Mr. Tom Roli. All right,

[50:58] now we need to reappoint Jim Stover to the Cultural Council.

[51:03] I move to reappoint Jim Stover to the Cultural Council for a three-year term to

[51:08] expire June 30th, 2028.

[51:11] 2nd.

[51:12] Discussion. This has an MGL which limits the term

[51:15] someone can serve on the Cultural Council and Elena and I have talked about this

[51:19] before. I don't know why the Cultural Council is

[51:22] the one subject to term limits, but it is and but Jim Stover has not

[51:25] reached that. So he will after this and have to take a

[51:28] year hiatus, but we confirmed that before.

[51:31] Very interesting municipal fact. Thank you. That is extremely interesting.

[51:36] I would love to know the history of that. Sounds are tracks this and is cognizant

[51:41] of it and it's good to go.

[51:44] Um.

[51:46] All right. Shoot. Where are we at? That was discussion. Discussion.

[51:52] Thank you. All right. All those in favor, Kuter. Aye.

[51:58] Brugos eye.

[51:58] OK.

[51:59] Thank you very much, Jim. All right. We need to reappoint Kristina Campbell to

[52:06] the Historical Commission and to and to the Historical District Commission.

[52:12] I move to reappoint Kristina Campbell to the Historic.

[52:17] Commission and the Historic District Commission for a three-year term to

[52:23] 2nd.

[52:23] expire June 30th, 2020. Discussion. All those in favor Kuter. Aye.

[52:29] Rugose eye.

[52:30] Thank you.

[52:32] Thank you very much, Kristina. All right. We are reappointing Debbie Broe to the

[52:38] Historical Commission. I move to. I move to reappoint Deborah Broe to the

[52:44] Historical Commission for a three-year term.

[52:48] 2nd.

[52:50] Discussion. All those in favor, Kuter. Aye, no aye.

[52:56] Rugose eye.

[52:58] Thank you very much, Deborah. We need to reappoint Elena Brugos and

[53:04] Anne Mazar to the Land Use Committee.

[53:09] Should we do? OK, that'll be fine. Is there anything you can do that with

[53:14] two appointing yourself cause she asked to do we have to pass that to the next

[53:16] Yeah, is this gonna be an issue?

[53:19] one so we can have three or I don't know those goals.

[53:22] You have a quorum here and you need a majority of the quorum,

[53:26] so two votes is a legitimate vote, OK?

[53:29] So, so Jason can second.

[53:29] Sounds good.

[53:31] So I will second Anna and then we will. Yeah, you'll abstain. That'll be good fun.

[53:37] OK, yeah, let's do Anne separately. That sounds good.

[53:39] Can we do and separately or?

[53:41] I I moved to reappoint Elena Brugos to the Landies Committee for a three-year

[53:46] term to expire June 30th, 2020.

[53:50] Second discussion. All those in favor Kuter. Aye.

[53:56] I'll abstain.

[53:58] All right, motion passes. Next, I move to reappoint Amy's Active Land Use

[54:03] Committee for a three-year term to expire June 30th.

[54:07] 2nd.

[54:08] Discussion. All those in favor, Kuter. Aye.

[54:13] Brugos eye.

[54:15] Thank you very much, Elena and Anne.

[54:19] All right, we need to reappoint Matthew Clark to the

[54:23] Zoning Board of Appeals. I move to reappoint Matt Clark to the

[54:27] Zoning Board of Appeals for a three-year term to expire June 30th, 2028.

[54:33] 2nd.

[54:33] Yeah.

[54:35] Discussion.

[54:37] All those in favor hooter aye.

[54:41] Rigose eye.

[54:43] Thank you very much, Matthew. All right, the next one and the last one is to

[54:48] reappoint Lonnie Tinio as the alternate Zoning Board of Appeals for a one-year

[54:54] term. I move to reappoint Lonnie Tinio as an

[54:57] alternate to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a one-year term to.

[55:05] 2nd.

[55:06] Discussion. Is this the whole thing? It's always one year. OK,

[55:11] All those in favor, Hoot or aye.

[55:15] Brugos eye.

[55:17] All right. Thank you very much, Lonnie. And so on the point of appointments,

[55:23] there are two that are not on here, 2 committees.

[55:27] So there's the Conservation Commission and the Finance Committee,

[55:32] both of which have multiple folks interested in openings. So with.

[55:37] With the Conservation Commission, there were two openings with two

[55:41] incumbents. One incumbent was interested in being

[55:43] reappointed, the other incumbent was not. And we have Katie,

[55:46] I think there's three other two or three, there's multiple other people interest.

[55:50] So we've got, we've got three to four people that the

[55:53] chairs on and can can elaborate a little bit.

[55:56] Multiple people for for the vacancy. So in the Finance Committee we have two

[56:00] incumbents who are interested in reappointment and one new candidate

[56:04] interest in reappointment. So what the chairs of both committees are

[56:08] looking for is guidance from the Select Board on how.

[56:11] They should be approaching this. So ultimately the appointment is the

[56:15] Select Board's appointment. Historically, when there has been an opening,

[56:19] committees have interviewed interested parties and come to the Select Board with

[56:23] their recommendation, it becomes a little more difficult.

[56:27] I shouldn't say that there is less precedent in recent times when we have

[56:32] incumbents kind of interviewing and standing for reappointment to their own

[56:37] position against folks who were not currently on the committee.

[56:41] So both chairs are looking for guidance on, you know,

[56:45] should we interview everybody.

[56:47] But the folks who are up for reappointment and interested discussion

[56:50] and votes, do you want the board to to meet and

[56:53] provide recommendations that the constituent committees to meet and

[56:56] provide recommendations to the board? Does the board want to interview people

[57:00] individually? They're just looking for some guidance on

[57:03] how you think they should, they should.

[57:05] Proceed.

[57:07] This is one that we probably need the whole board to discuss,

[57:11] but we will get started. Carl, why don't you, if you got your hand up,

[57:15] why don't you chat about what's going on and then we'll get next to the board.

[57:17] Right. Well, my question is what is the current policy?

[57:21] The 2018 policy very clearly states what should be done in this circumstance,

[57:26] but I've been informed but not seen the draft proposal that's being reviewed by

[57:32] Town Council. Does that draft change the process for

[57:36] interviewing?

[57:39] So as I understand it, the policy is relative to openings on the

[57:44] committee. So when I had said that there wasn't

[57:47] recent precedent on this, it was my understanding that we haven't

[57:52] had.

[57:53] Both incumbents and you know, newcomers, outside folks, whoever you want,

[57:58] new new faces at the same time. So I think there will be an interview

[58:03] process, but I I think having specific guidance

[58:06] from the select board is useful.

[58:07] OK, what I have done with the candidates for

[58:10] the Conservation Commission is that I've extended them an invitation to attend our

[58:16] next meeting. We will be interviewing the three new

[58:19] members as well as Peter Coffin, the incumbent.

[58:23] The incumbent, Peter Coffin, would not be participating in the

[58:28] deliberations. After we interview all four candidates,

[58:29] Goodbye.

[58:32] Yes.

[58:32] I would ask the Conservation Commission to entertain a motion as to whether they

[58:38] wish to make a recommendation or whether they wish to.

[58:42] HC.

[58:43] Just leave that U for the select board.

[58:49] That's a great way to approach it. Yeah, I think that's pretty reasonable.

[58:53] I'm just our policy, the one that's under review right now is

[58:56] is pretty high level in it and it and it says essentially that it's desired but

[59:01] not mandatory for a board to interview, yeah.

[59:02] Exactly.

[59:04] So um.

[59:07] Yeah, I I think it's fair for every person

[59:10] looking for the spot to talk about why they want that, even if they're incumbent.

[59:16] Yeah, right. And I think.

[59:19] I think I would prefer that the committee make a choice,

[59:24] but I understand that there are times it can't so.

[59:27] What we what we did the last time we had a contested position,

[59:31] we had two candidates and both of them had strengths and weaknesses.

[59:36] Both of them had different, very strong backgrounds.

[59:39] And the letter I prepared for the select board laid out what those were and I left

[59:45] it up to the select.

[59:46] Board to say, OK, what kind of experience do you want on

[59:50] the the Commission?

[59:53] I remember that one, Carl. That was extremely helpful and and I

[59:58] think that's a that helpful way to go. Yeah,

[1:00:01] I think if the board has context to make the decision and that context is backed

[1:00:06] by the expertise of that board.

[1:00:09] Then we should be able to do that, right? Like,

[1:00:12] but it's when the it's when the recommendation doesn't come with any

[1:00:16] context or there's no context and it's, you know,

[1:00:19] you make the choice when we're not the experts in that space,

[1:00:22] it makes that pretty difficult. So that's why I'd like the committee to

[1:00:25] Right.

[1:00:27] provide that context. It sounds.

[1:00:29] Like you're going to. So yeah, that's.

[1:00:30] Yes, what's happened in the past is after the.

[1:00:35] Commission or the committee appoint does the interviews.

[1:00:39] The Select Board can then have another round of interviews and and talk to

[1:00:43] people if and and as I could also appear as the Con Com chair saying here's what

[1:00:49] the Con Com recommendation is.

[1:00:55] All right, that's fair. And so we'd be, we'd be looking to have that discussion

[1:01:01] the first if you're going to meet at the next week. So the first meeting in August,

[1:01:07] right, Elena.

[1:01:09] So I just wanted to add, I know one one question that comes up

[1:01:11] OK.

[1:01:13] often when potential candidates come to select board meetings for interviews is

[1:01:18] we ask whether candidates might be interested in other boards or committees.

[1:01:23] And I know with so many people interested in serving the town, I would.

[1:01:28] Love to like take the opportunity to see if any of them might.

[1:01:33] Clearly we can't appoint all of them to the this one open spot,

[1:01:38] but like consider whether there might be other openings where these people might

[1:01:44] be able to contribute to the town.

[1:01:46] So just a little planting that seed there.

[1:01:47] Sounds like a good one pager. Yeah, it sounds like Katie,

[1:01:51] if you could print like a one pager to hand out.

[1:01:57] Do that. There are plenty of open spots, so they all come to the next meeting.

[1:02:03] Like all the people who are, we'll have to wait for Carl to get back

[1:02:08] to us.

[1:02:09] Well, even even after we interview all four

[1:02:12] candidates, I would say that the Select Board should

[1:02:15] do the same, but they would be guided by what our

[1:02:19] recommendation would be.

[1:02:21] Yeah, yeah.

[1:02:22] It's it's your appointment, not ours.

[1:02:25] Yes, thank you.

[1:02:29] Is that enough guidance, Carl, or do you want more more sustain?

[1:02:35] No, no, that's that's fine for the Conservation

[1:02:39] Commission. I will now put on my other hat as someone

[1:02:42] interested in the Fincom and say, Yep, let me know what the Fincom's doing.

[1:02:49] So yes, the Todd administrator is memoing our

[1:02:53] statements right now. So I I think that's fair and I think it's

[1:02:59] clear and it there's precedent for it, so.

[1:03:04] All right. Um.

[1:03:10] So there's nothing we need to specifically do here.

[1:03:14] We've spoken about what our guidance is. We just need to follow through on what

[1:03:20] we've said and wish Carl good luck in both his hats.

[1:03:25] So thanks Kyle for hanging out to you know an hour and and so into the meeting

[1:03:31] to to ask those questions and get us to clarify publicly. That's that's good.

[1:03:36] The advantage of attending remotely is you can multitask.

[1:03:37] All good stuff.

[1:03:41] Yeah.

[1:03:43] All right. Well, does anybody have anything else to add?

[1:03:46] Otherwise we can move on to the next agenda.

[1:03:51] All right, so agenda item number 13 is meeting

[1:03:55] minutes from approval. You'll remember that one of them was held

[1:03:59] back for amending, and that amendment has been made and

[1:04:02] approved by Select Board Member Goddard, so we're ready to move and approve them.

[1:04:09] I move to approve the meeting minutes from March 18th 2025 and June 18th.

[1:04:15] 2nd.

[1:04:17] Discussion.

[1:04:19] Are we caught up? Yep. Sweet. That's really awesome.

[1:04:24] I think that's like the first time since I've been here. Yeah, I want to.

[1:04:33] We had a senior tax abatement worker, but got all of 2024 done and then caught

[1:04:38] up on 2025 while learning the rest of the job. So yeah,

[1:04:41] I'm pretty proud of that as well. That's really exciting news. All right,

[1:04:45] All right. All those in favor, Cooter Aye.

[1:04:49] Brugos eye.

[1:04:51] All right, motion passes. Thank you. And then item number 14 in your packet

[1:04:56] were minutes for circulation from the last meeting.

[1:05:00] So make sure that you look at those and make any updates to get them to Katie.

[1:05:06] Before our next meeting, please.

[1:05:10] The MEC merger update, this is a fun one. Would you like to give an update on that?

[1:05:15] Yeah, certainly. So MEC, Metacomet Emergency Communications Center,

[1:05:20] our regional dispatch, we've been exploring A merger with SEMREC,

[1:05:25] which is.

[1:05:26] Same thing, but with Foxborough, Mansfield, Easton, Oregon.

[1:05:30] This was based upon getting a state 911 grant to expand the facilities at Semrec.

[1:05:36] Obviously the whole operation moved over there and we unexpectedly were denied

[1:05:41] that grant from state 911.

[1:05:44] So earlier this month, the MEC's Interim Executive Director,

[1:05:49] Bill Keegan, and the Chair of Semrak's Board,

[1:05:52] the Town Administrator from Easton, the Chair of our Board,

[1:05:57] the Town Administrator from Franklin.

[1:06:00] And then some folks from State 911 and the Executive Director of SEMRAC all met

[1:06:05] to say what what happened. So the state just hasn't dealt with this

[1:06:09] before, the merger of two regional, 2 regional entities and what do we do

[1:06:14] with the equipment and everything that state grants paid for initially?

[1:06:18] How do we you know?

[1:06:20] So it's we're kind of in uncharted waters. So it's not a no,

[1:06:23] it's a not right now from the state. So they're looking to initiate a study on

[1:06:28] how regionals will merge and hopefully clear up the enabling statute stuff

[1:06:32] because the way Mecca is set up, we have a special act,

[1:06:35] the way SEMRAC is set up, they have an inter municipal agreement,

[1:06:39] it's.

[1:06:39] I might not think that's right, but we've got two separate governing

[1:06:43] structures. So that's been one of the points of

[1:06:45] contention about which governing structure do we adopt as well as what

[1:06:49] funding structure do we adopt. Myself and the rent and the TA have been

[1:06:53] tasked with figuring that out.

[1:06:54] So the state's doing a study this fall and they're looking to have guidance in

[1:07:00] advance of the next round of state 911 funding in fiscal 2027.

[1:07:04] So we may just kind of shift the whole timeline out a year. So it's not.

[1:07:10] It's it's not it's not dead like I initially thought it was when we when I

[1:07:13] first talked to to the executive director interim executive director.

[1:07:16] So they're not just stretching it out like they really want to know.

[1:07:19] Yeah they're they're trying to they haven't been there before and they want

[1:07:23] to make sure we do it right. How do they give like are we going to

[1:07:26] turn into a pilot because there's other waiting.

[1:07:28] Regional mergers in the wings or I think, I think grow or die has kind of been the

[1:07:35] mantra of these regional dispatch centers because there is such efficiency and

[1:07:42] scaling and small communities can't do it on their own, so.

[1:07:47] There hasn't been one yet. I think they're trying to set the

[1:07:51] groundwork that there are sometimes that's beneficial.

[1:07:55] And then, so I am going to the MEC to meet with the

[1:07:59] interim Executive Director and the Wrentham TA on Tuesday next week.

[1:08:04] So we'll get an update then and I'll tour the facility and all that next week.

[1:08:10] So lots more to come on that.

[1:08:14] All right. That's going to be like a all year

[1:08:17] discussion. Certainly I will say one of the one of

[1:08:20] the advantages of our of the MEC's governing structure is that I'm I'm on

[1:08:24] the board of MEC as our representative and we vote there and that's about the

[1:08:29] TAS, the board members vote and that's the

[1:08:32] binding resolution.

[1:08:33] And that's the binding outcome for Mac Semrec's governing structure.

[1:08:37] They have to go back to all their select boards,

[1:08:39] get votes to the select boards and then come back to the which is which is pretty

[1:08:43] much, yeah. So we like ours a lot better because

[1:08:45] we're a board of people who know what it's like to deal with boards and so we

[1:08:49] move things pretty quickly.

[1:08:50] And we proposed that our structures survive.

[1:08:55] That makes sense. Bill managed. Yeah, you would.

[1:08:59] You would hear it from Chief Kerzey and Chief Bangmap wasn't going.

[1:09:06] Surely you're not talking about our board.

[1:09:10] OK, so we we did 16 already. 17 is the Blackstone Valley Opioid Task

[1:09:16] Force. We talk about this IMA. This is a yearly approval, correct?

[1:09:21] Correct. And Chief Kurtz is on if you want to give

[1:09:25] any more context. Yeah. Chief, do you want to just say anything?

[1:09:30] Thing about how the region uses this opioid money to to do work across

[1:09:37] departments.

[1:09:41] Sure. We're looking at clinicians and such.

[1:09:44] This is actually fairly new. That's why we need you to sign up for it.

[1:09:48] It's several departments that Chief Matt and me started to put together from

[1:09:53] Oxbridge, got all the chiefs together and we made

[1:09:56] this task force in order to have all of our money that comes in.

[1:10:00] From the opioid settlements be matched by a state grant so we can double the amount

[1:10:04] of money for all the communities and then put it towards a program that we're going

[1:10:08] to start up in the future. So once all the agreements are signed

[1:10:12] with all the towns, I think Uxbridge signed those yesterday.

[1:10:15] A few of the other towns are in line right now,

[1:10:17] then we're going to get together and.

[1:10:19] Pretty much start the task force and figure out how the funds going to be used.

[1:10:26] Right. And Jeremy, you feel comfortable signing on perhaps

[1:10:30] the board and all that good stuff. Yeah, certainly. So this similar to Mac,

[1:10:35] it's not exactly the same as Mac, but where?

[1:10:39] Our dollars go a lot further when we leverage them together and attack

[1:10:43] problems like this regionally, rather than trying to stop opiate abuse

[1:10:48] and stopping those efforts at our borders. I think that's not how the problem exists.

[1:10:54] Yeah, I would, I would like to hear updates on this.

[1:10:59] You know, this epidemic is one that I don't think

[1:11:02] stops at any time. So yeah, if we could hear how that's being applied

[1:11:08] across the region, I don't know if it's, you know, Narcan boxes, it's convenient.

[1:11:14] It stores or whatever it is I'd like to hear about.

[1:11:17] I think it's good for the community.

[1:11:17] Once it's up, once everything's up and running and we

[1:11:20] How to?

[1:11:20] start having regular meetings, I'll make sure I forward that to Jeremy

[1:11:24] and the board.

[1:11:25] Great. And just to be clear, the Town of Uxbridge is kind of the lead

[1:11:28] municipality on this. So they do their record keeping and all

[1:11:31] of that. So we will get periodic reports from

[1:11:34] Uxbridge on the kind of back end, right, because this there's money coming from a

[1:11:38] settlement which comes through the state, right.

[1:11:40] So everything needs to be and this IMA obligates us to contribute to that.

[1:11:44] December, right. That makes sense. OK, so I'd be looking for a motion to approve.

[1:11:51] I believe that the Select Board approved the IMA and authorized the Town

[1:11:55] Administrator to sell.

[1:11:57] 2nd.

[1:11:57] All right. Discussion. All those in favor, Hooter. Aye.

[1:12:05] Rugose eye.

[1:12:07] All right. Thank you, Chief, for your extended efforts with this type

[1:12:10] of regionalization.

[1:12:15] All right. So, all right, #18 TA review process discussion.

[1:12:21] We need sound for that. All right. So when we hired Jeremy a year ago, right?

[1:12:29] Yeah. All right. When we started, when we hired Jeremy a year ago.

[1:12:35] Part of his contract said that after one year we would do a review and so a

[1:12:44] performance review and so I talked with.

[1:12:49] HR who is online. Sorry Jen, you had to wait the whole time about how

[1:12:55] we would do that and she got a template for us and I just during the middle of

[1:13:02] this meeting sent that template to all of you and we just adjusted.

[1:13:08] Just a little bit. This is the first time we're doing this

[1:13:13] and So what I'd be asking you to do, including the TA,

[1:13:18] would be to fill out this review. So clearly his will be a self review.

[1:13:24] Those reviews will all go to Jen and she's.

[1:13:28] Going to go through the efforts of combining those reviews into a single

[1:13:34] Select Board review document and then we will have Jeremy's self review document,

[1:13:40] you know to compare that Select Board document with.

[1:13:44] Going forward, oh, and so in this review document,

[1:13:48] it talks about, you know, it's just like every other performance

[1:13:53] review where it talks about goals. We did not put goals specifically in

[1:13:59] Jeremy's contract when he started. We did have goals.

[1:14:03] But we didn't write anything down. So this is like the first time through.

[1:14:08] And so I'm just going to ask all of you, including Jeremy,

[1:14:12] to just pick five goals a little easier for us because we're going to combine

[1:14:17] them all and they're going to kind of look very, you know, similar.

[1:14:22] But your I can share the.

[1:14:23] The ones we did in January, if you want to use that as that,

[1:14:27] we can do that. I was worried that we had too many on

[1:14:30] there and that some members might want to pick their specific goals.

[1:14:34] That was my only thing. And if we and I would like to make it

[1:14:37] more official next time around so that you have essentially career objectives

[1:14:42] that then you can write.

[1:14:43] Against next year that you're not kind of scrambling for that.

[1:14:47] That was the one little piece of this I wanted to have that discussion about.

[1:14:52] It's like how how all the rest of it is like you know normal employee stuff that

[1:14:57] we have to capture those metrics of. But when we talk about your your actual

[1:15:01] you know.

[1:15:02] PA personal goals. That wasn't something that we, you know,

[1:15:07] we did very generically in your contract. So yeah,

[1:15:11] the the select work set five goals in January to be achieved by.

[1:15:17] The end of the fiscal year and they had like sub points to them.

[1:15:20] It's on the charts. Yeah, there's, you know,

[1:15:23] maybe half a checked office point. So my anticipation was that I would be

[1:15:27] measured against those goals. Because what I really don't want is you

[1:15:30] to write down a goal that you had for me to do that I didn't know about and then I

[1:15:35] get measured against that goal.

[1:15:37] And so I think that's the perfect piece of the HR combining.

[1:15:41] I would expect that Jen wouldn't include set goal if it were completely

[1:15:47] unreasonable and only from a single individual, but.

[1:15:52] Only issue I have with that. So you didn't have goals before that

[1:15:56] point, but that is not your entire career or

[1:15:59] your whole year. So that's judging you on the performance

[1:16:03] of the last couple months. The story's a little more so like to.

[1:16:07] Yeah, include those goals, but also more general job.

[1:16:11] That was my sense is that it wouldn't like, yes,

[1:16:15] we would love for you to say that you checked off all those,

[1:16:19] but we also didn't make that up, you know, while you were being hired.

[1:16:25] That was something that after we had.

[1:16:27] Discussions with you after you work with departments after after after. So yeah,

[1:16:34] exactly. I do think we can do it next year.

[1:16:37] I think that we can probably out of the review process. And so by the way,

[1:16:43] so then legally we have to then present that summary and.

[1:16:47] Public meetings and discuss it with you and so that would happen.

[1:16:52] So I I'm giving you guys a month to to work this out and send that document to

[1:16:58] Jen and then so we'll present this at the last meeting in August.

[1:17:03] And that way Jeremy knows where he's going and for the next year and how he's

[1:17:09] done and and maybe we can move this up a little bit next year and and kind of

[1:17:15] maybe correspond with a goal setting session so that you can have those

[1:17:20] physical actual goals.

[1:17:23] Which Jeremy will probably mention in his town administrator notes. So Elena,

[1:17:30] did you have any comments on the process or or anything else you'd like to see

[1:17:38] added?

[1:17:40] I mean, I do think it would be nice to have that

[1:17:43] write up at our fingertips of the goals that we talked about in January.

[1:17:49] And I think also some of the things that we talked about in, is it September?

[1:17:57] I think just it would be useful to contextualize.

[1:18:03] Terri and I will do that. We will go down to the flip chart and get

[1:18:08] that and send it out to you guys.

[1:18:08] And September was that meeting with the Collins Center.

[1:18:12] I know that we talked about some goals, but right,

[1:18:16] none of these were formulated at, you know, at the beginning,

[1:18:20] He has like that call center report is in our e-mail that they sent,

[1:18:20] but I think they've.

[1:18:24] Mhm.

[1:18:24] but that's it's I've looked and it's yeah, I didn't feel comfortable.

[1:18:27] It was very sparse when like, sorry, what I remember seeing from that.

[1:18:36] Yeah, it was a it. It felt like a summary of of our thoughts.

[1:18:40] Right. And I think it it would probably also be

[1:18:41] Which we probably can hear.

[1:18:44] helpful for us to review Jeremy's contract because it's been a while since

[1:18:50] I've read through it.

[1:18:50] I will set now on too, yeah.

[1:18:52] Yeah, I mean, I I know, I I'm, I know that I have it,

[1:18:56] but it's just something that I'm realizing would be useful.

[1:18:59] I'll wrap it all up in a nice little bundle for you. Appreciate that.

[1:19:03] Thank you.

[1:19:04] No problem. Just writing some notes to myself.

[1:19:15] All right, so um, I'll get back to you guys by Monday.

[1:19:19] All right. So, Jen, did you have anything to add?

[1:19:26] Do you want to?

[1:19:29] No, nothing to add. Like like Jason said, we had met and instead of recreating the

[1:19:35] wheel, sorry, I'm babysitting and the dogs are barking.

[1:19:39] Instead of recreating the wheel, I went to MMHR and grabbed a couple of

[1:19:43] templates and sort of merged them together to make one for Jeremy.

[1:19:48] Yeah.

[1:19:50] It's great.

[1:19:51] And I'd like to say from a corporate side, it's pretty close to what we do on core,

[1:19:57] at least at my company. So yeah, it felt very familiar.

[1:20:01] And so I had also sent an e-mail to to all department heads.

[1:20:05] We'll be having an all staff soon.

[1:20:08] That says, you know, do some goal setting with your own staff

[1:20:11] because I want to get performance reviews to be an annual part of kind of all staff

[1:20:16] stuff. Maybe not as not definitely not as in

[1:20:18] depth as this, but by the same token, as I talked about, you know, secret goals,

[1:20:22] I I want to make sure that expectations from supervisors are laid out first.

[1:20:26] And then at the end of the fiscal year you do a review and then in that meeting

[1:20:31] you said next year's and then then it becomes a yearly meeting,

[1:20:34] but we haven't quite done that. So we'd be looking to to get supervisors

[1:20:38] on that yearly performance review cadence for all staff.

[1:20:42] And just on that note of expectations, you are not required, but you are.

[1:20:46] Welcome and encouraged to schedule time with Jeremy to just talk about his,

[1:20:51] you know, what your statements are going to be on

[1:20:55] your paper. Like it doesn't have to be a secret and

[1:20:59] it's fine if it is, it doesn't, you know, either way is is.

[1:21:03] So on that document it says.

[1:21:05] You know, you're welcome to schedule time to talk

[1:21:09] about this. Some people are better talking about it

[1:21:12] one-to-one. If you want to do that before you write

[1:21:16] it, that that's that's that would be a a

[1:21:19] suggestion of OK.

[1:21:20] But not a requirement.

[1:21:25] OK. So in a month, then a month and 1/2 or so,

[1:21:30] we'll come back and and talk about what we thought about Jeremy.

[1:21:38] The best simple.

[1:21:40] I think Jeremy knows we love them. All right, so.

[1:21:46] Just real quick checking to make sure I didn't skip over anything. Nope.

[1:21:52] All right, so Tom Administrator report.

[1:22:00] #19 All right, so like I sent out to to all of you,

[1:22:03] I spent more time out of the office than typical the last two weeks for a couple

[1:22:09] of reasons. But so website we we pushed out our roll

[1:22:13] out date to the week of the 21st, so next week.

[1:22:17] There was a lot of so we had a cut off date on when stuff was migrated from our

[1:22:22] old to new and then whatever was uploaded to the website between then and now we

[1:22:27] have to go and duplicate and redo. That wasn't quite clear to us until.

[1:22:32] Kind of recently. So there's a lot of a lot of document

[1:22:36] upload that I felt it was kind of unfair to ask the town clerk to do all of it on

[1:22:40] top of her radio job. So Civic Plus is doing some of that to us

[1:22:44] now and that pushed out like a week. So we have a whole press release and

[1:22:49] everything to go and we'll.

[1:22:50] Again, it would be the same domain, domain name and it'll just click over

[1:22:54] immediately. Right now we I have all department heads

[1:22:57] going through. I sent them what the website,

[1:22:59] the new website is right now on the test side.

[1:23:01] So going through their department descriptions and this is an opportunity

[1:23:05] to say either it got ported over incorrectly or in the case of the

[1:23:08] Veterans Services page.

[1:23:10] Which it, you know, gives a history of, I feel like half the wars the United

[1:23:14] States have been in and that's not really what folks are navigating there for.

[1:23:18] So the chance to kind of rewrite it as well. So when it switches over,

[1:23:22] what happens to the old website? Is it going to archive somewhere if we

[1:23:25] need to go back? Yeah, so we have three months or something.

[1:23:29] Yeah, six months.

[1:23:30] Three months, something like that to be able to go back

[1:23:33] and say we missed this sort of thing. And I said in my e-mail to all staff and

[1:23:37] I want to say in the meeting too. I've been, you know,

[1:23:40] been on all of the the sessions and and driving a lot of stuff.

[1:23:44] But really the Yaleman's work on this has been through Ellen Agro,

[1:23:48] Katie Moxam and Dan.

[1:23:49] And buyer, they've done a ton of work to get this.

[1:23:54] So thank you to those three. Thank you. Come class,

[1:23:59] we've study before you move on. So one thing that's missing that I

[1:24:05] couldn't find on the new website is how to ask.

[1:24:09] Highway to do to fix something for you that I saw like on every other website.

[1:24:14] I know I don't know if John's ready to take Internet work orders yet, like,

[1:24:20] so that's fine. But if we are ready to do that,

[1:24:23] there should be a button some place. It's like we bought that software.

[1:24:29] So let's get it working and the the biggest thing we can because I know that

[1:24:33] a lot of the ways that they get information is like by people emailing

[1:24:38] and contacting Darlene or like comes from the Police Department like it just comes

[1:24:43] from all random different spots that we can get people going into the website to

[1:24:48] make.

[1:24:48] Those requests, it would take some operational load off.

[1:24:52] Yeah, I totally agree. OK, that's all I have. Thank you. Thanks.

[1:24:57] Comp class said we've had some reviews, some feedbacks and edits and I talked

[1:25:02] about last time about the assistant town administrator not having data.

[1:25:07] Goddard and I had a conversation with that.

[1:25:10] So based upon my time out and our consultant's vacation,

[1:25:13] we're meeting on the 23rd to close it out. So next week we'll close it out and we'll

[1:25:19] just Polish it up from there and we'll have it shortly after that.

[1:25:23] Presentation or like a document that we read and then talk about.

[1:25:27] So I will initially it will be a public document.

[1:25:30] So we but initially I'll schedule an executive session to go over it with

[1:25:35] Select Board in terms of our negotiation strategy with the unions.

[1:25:39] So at that point, I want to be very clear, it will be a public document and everyone

[1:25:44] will see it. But the first time the board will see it

[1:25:47] will be in the context of of labor negotiations.

[1:25:49] So we'll schedule an executive session once we have it and are able to able to,

[1:25:54] you know.

[1:25:54] Do something with it because you can do everything. You'll have the data there,

[1:25:59] but then it becomes a discussion. Where do we want to fall in bands and

[1:26:03] it's gonna get very subjective. Yeah, couple of unions already chomping up a

[1:26:07] bit to sit down his table and kind of told him to hold off a little bit.

[1:26:12] On goal setting, goal setting meetings. So in July the date that worked.

[1:26:17] So I I don't think I've heard from everybody,

[1:26:20] but from who I have the 28th worked for or for the folks I did hear from.

[1:26:25] I don't think I've heard from Mike Morale. It's the 28th of Monday.

[1:26:30] And then if we go into August, I know some folks were still firming up

[1:26:34] their schedule a little bit, so we don't have any firm dates in August.

[1:26:39] But does I know the 28th worked for Elena and for Jason and if I got it works for

[1:26:44] you, Brendan.

[1:26:45] 28th All right. I will confirm with Mike Murali 'cause

[1:26:48] he's not here. I think it's important that everybody is

[1:26:51] at the goal setting meeting. Yep. So Monday the 28th.

[1:26:57] I plan to be back in Massachusetts.

[1:27:01] Yes.

[1:27:04] IT So I had a meeting with with our IT vendor Worldband about.

[1:27:12] And what we pay for about licenses, how we're consolidating the the license

[1:27:18] periods to get everybody on the same same cycle.

[1:27:22] So we have you know aligns with our fiscal year,

[1:27:26] so we're not paying for duplicate services.

[1:27:30] What are we paying for boards and committee members?

[1:27:33] Do we have superfluous stuff for them as opposed to as opposed to staff and also

[1:27:39] doing an inventory of our hardware so we can come up with A and so capital

[1:27:43] planning can also weigh in on what the tech refresh.

[1:27:47] Budget and cycle should be. So I thought that was a really productive

[1:27:50] meeting. Katie and I both sat in on that and had

[1:27:53] that meeting sat in. Awesome world band.

[1:27:58] That's like we're hang breach because of the.

[1:28:03] Relationship of the world bands owner being a former public official.

[1:28:08] I got confirmation from ethics from their lawyer of the day that there's nothing.

[1:28:14] That conflicts with any ethical provision or a forever ban on a former selected

[1:28:20] person having a or selecting member at that point having a contract with the

[1:28:25] town confirm there is not, but that person can no longer.

[1:28:29] Be who puts together a proposal when we re procure these services because the

[1:28:34] contracts not at the end of this year. So he has to have somebody else put

[1:28:38] together the proposal. He cannot be the one who authors and

[1:28:41] sophisticated proposal. They have joined a I'm not sure under.

[1:28:45] Under which guys this was procured initially,

[1:28:48] but they have current vendor has gone on to a state contract which would make

[1:28:53] procurement a little bit quicker on re procurement,

[1:28:56] but I don't think it's a state contract that.

[1:29:00] Explicitly covers what they are providing to the town.

[1:29:04] So they are trying to get on this other state contract. In any event,

[1:29:08] we still need to solicit and get 3 proposals.

[1:29:11] So if it's for this type of work, it's a contract under $250,000 and we use.

[1:29:17] A state contract, we have to have a written scope and get

[1:29:20] proposals from at least three vendors to be able to issue a contract.

[1:29:25] So I've met with a couple other vendors about anticipated re procurement and I

[1:29:29] would want to do this.

[1:29:32] Fall winter time. So we have a proposal off of which to

[1:29:36] build a fiscal 2027 budget. So whether it's the same vendor or new

[1:29:40] one, there will be a new number for fiscal 27

[1:29:43] because this contract only runs through fiscal 26. So that's good.

[1:29:48] Right now what we have, well, you're gonna start with what we have.

[1:29:53] Are you gonna expand? So I have asked other vendors for other

[1:29:58] scopes from other communities of our size and say what don't I know what?

[1:30:03] What? What are these things is no one else

[1:30:05] asking for that we are most purposely? And what other things should we be asking

[1:30:09] for that other folks find useful? I mean kind of building.

[1:30:13] So it's gonna be a big lift. I'll circulate it here to the board as

[1:30:18] well, just because it's it's so central to what

[1:30:21] we to what we do. Yeah, it's it's nowadays no different than

[1:30:25] electricity or water, so.

[1:30:28] And a lot of what they do is manage our licenses and then do 24/7 help desk

[1:30:33] support. That's the that's the two main functions.

[1:30:36] They're not our Internet service provider, they're not our phone provider or

[1:30:40] anything like that. They are, they are.

[1:30:43] In some sense, it's like our device provider though,

[1:30:46] right. So we procure a lot of hardware through

[1:30:48] them, which like are you separating that part

[1:30:51] out? So I'm also concerned a little bit about

[1:30:54] that because we're taking a $10, 000 threshold on a particular device and

[1:30:58] we're not competitively procuring that we're procuring under a we're procuring.

[1:31:02] Goods under a service contract. So I think best practice is often to

[1:31:07] split those things apart and there are separate state contracts under which you

[1:31:13] can procure those things. So thinking about how to manages that

[1:31:17] bring the management back onto the town.

[1:31:20] So I think I would have the.

[1:31:23] The vendor manage the the inventory and the cycling and the upkeep,

[1:31:27] but we don't necessarily have to purchase it through that vendor because I'm not

[1:31:32] sure what markup is being being addressed there.

[1:31:35] Really I want them to function as our IT director, right?

[1:31:38] We're outsourcing our IT director and if we had one in house,

[1:31:42] they would go out procure.

[1:31:43] Stuff, but not necessarily through the same

[1:31:46] person all the time. OK, yeah, there's certainly at least as many

[1:31:51] questions as I have answers.

[1:31:54] I met with dot twice this week, once about a small bridge replacement

[1:32:01] program, the for Providence St. Culvert.

[1:32:07] We had been meeting, you know, we appropriated the town appropriated

[1:32:12] $300, 000 in free cash to to fund a design

[1:32:15] contract. We then applied for a phase one small

[1:32:19] bridge repair program grant to fund design work.

[1:32:22] And said in our application, we've already said what we did and then

[1:32:26] the state said this is an unusual order of things. Usually people coming,

[1:32:30] coming to us looking for money before they have,

[1:32:33] before they have anything going on. So we wanted to show the town at skin of

[1:32:38] the game. We were serious about this and we're

[1:32:40] doing it and that's what our.

[1:32:42] Our consultants were on board with that. We talked to dot ahead of time and then

[1:32:46] when it went up a couple levels because we got approved for the grant and then

[1:32:50] they realized what they did and now I've waited on approval. So they're trying.

[1:32:54] So what we'll end up doing is kind of fracturing the contract into task orders

[1:32:58] and saying the state task order is going to pay for this 100.

[1:33:02] $1000 that is yet to be done because it's not reimbursable. So we spent 74,

[1:33:05] 000 out of the 300, so they're not going to pay for anything

[1:33:08] that we've done, but we're going to pick $100,

[1:33:10] 000 in the middle or at the end that they can fund.

[1:33:13] It just takes a little bit more administrative lift than I would have

[1:33:16] anticipated, but it's largely on the state to comply

[1:33:18] with their reporting stuff. We're going to do the same thing anyway.

[1:33:22] We likely will get that $100,000, which is less fell off because of the

[1:33:26] order of operations or they were, they were confident that they could

[1:33:31] figure it out.

[1:33:34] I asked a lot of questions about phase two.

[1:33:36] So phase two is the construction grant that is for $500,

[1:33:39] 000 and about our order of operations and how we should do it.

[1:33:42] So I've got notes on that and I said I'm before we do a lick of appropriation or

[1:33:46] debt authorization, we'll have this follow.

[1:33:48] We'll have a conversation with them ahead of time because $100,

[1:33:52] 000 it's great to have.

[1:33:53] $500, 000 for construction is kind of like

[1:33:56] almost need to have for us.

[1:33:58] So we'll be cognizant of it on the front end in ways that we were.

[1:34:02] I thought we were, but we apparently weren't for.

[1:34:05] There's music playing, right? Yeah, I hear it too. OK,

[1:34:09] it's been going the whole time, so I'm just wondering.

[1:34:13] The other dot meeting, Chief Kerzey, Chief Bangla and John Dudley were also on

[1:34:19] it today. There is Mendon St. There's a state-owned bridge in

[1:34:23] Northbridge that is being.

[1:34:25] Being replaced and there will be detours for an indefinite amount of time.

[1:34:30] They didn't even commit to it being done in a year, which which road is that?

[1:34:36] Mendon St. So off. So Northridge, Northridge, yeah,

[1:34:40] where comes in the North of there. So yet to work on the on the.

[1:34:45] On the detail on the details of the.

[1:34:50] I'm meeting with with our stakeholders to to go over it and we so it's going to be

[1:34:56] disruptive and when we have more information on how disruptive it will be,

[1:35:02] we're going to share that it starts on the 25th.

[1:35:06] So it's it's most likely going to be Parker.

[1:35:09] Yeah, East, right. Up to 16. It will be up big. Yeah. Yeah.

[1:35:13] We were informed of this on Friday, Thursday or Friday. That's nice.

[1:35:18] Is there anything that we can do to help keep the the pressure on to keep moving?

[1:35:24] Yeah, and we can be the squeaky wheel, but it's it's not an army style. Yeah,

[1:35:28] exactly. It's not other air controls. Yeah, I mean,

[1:35:31] when we have lights at Hartford at East, it would be a lot easier to deal with

[1:35:35] that type of traffic, but I'm sure Chief's ready to.

[1:35:39] Yeah, we're meeting. I think I got to send an invite,

[1:35:42] but I think we're gonna meet tomorrow. What kind of communication are we gonna,

[1:35:46] are we gonna take care of any communication or?

[1:35:50] So we'll put out something on the website when we have, you know,

[1:35:54] similar to how we do other kind of alerts. Yeah,

[1:35:57] so I'll use the text my Gov system that I've used before to push stuff out and

[1:36:02] say check the website for the detour. Use our Facebook, put it on the.

[1:36:07] And in bulletin board group, I put it on our website.

[1:36:10] So this is one of those many times where I wish we had a, you know,

[1:36:14] weekly paper or something where we can do this kind of stuff.

[1:36:20] And then the last thing on my list, also schedule an executive session for

[1:36:25] the first meeting in August where the Town Council will join is about the

[1:36:30] resolution of the life estate at the Trask property.

[1:36:34] So we received an appraisal.

[1:36:36] Document praising the life estate and the market value of the property,

[1:36:40] which you know will be a public document that we can share with the holder of the

[1:36:46] life estate. But strategizing over procurement of real

[1:36:49] property will hold an executive session of council.

[1:36:53] Brief us on our options. The August 2nd meeting, August 6th,

[1:36:59] the first meeting in August. Yeah, sorry.

[1:37:05] All right. So thank you for those up. Yes, Sir. Before we go on,

[1:37:09] do you have an update on the street schedule? No,

[1:37:11] we didn't even get our debrief with the contractor over what's.

[1:37:15] It seems like they stopped doing anything there. Yeah, so we got a bunch of trees.

[1:37:20] That was just the two day thing.

[1:37:22] I'll I'll endeavour to have one for the next regular meeting.

[1:37:26] I haven't even seen a big save.

[1:37:30] No, I don't think it's March. I mean, there are way ways.

[1:37:33] I I said this a couple of times. They wanted to start in April and then

[1:37:37] they want or they want to start June and they said it was the first of April and

[1:37:41] then in May and they're like, well, we don't quite have a date yet.

[1:37:45] So it's been, yeah, I'm just, I'm worried about for, you know, John.

[1:37:49] On these plans that it's it's also delaying our our plans.

[1:37:54] So yeah and we wanted to get it done before June 30th because the we're on a

[1:38:00] collective bid with Milford for the excavation,

[1:38:04] the milling and then for the paving.

[1:38:07] And Milford extended the bid, which had the unilateral ability to

[1:38:11] extend the bid for a year on one of those two, I can get with one,

[1:38:16] but not the other and didn't notify us until May or June.

[1:38:20] So we are having to go out and procure one of those services on a competitive

[1:38:25] basis on our own.

[1:38:27] So we're not ready to do it right now anyway because we don't have a a contract.

[1:38:31] So really you want to do these bids in February and March,

[1:38:34] so you have them ready to go July 1, but we were informed pretty late by

[1:38:38] Milford as my understanding. So yeah, we wanted to line it up and get it done

[1:38:42] before June 30th, so we had everybody, but.

[1:38:45] Obviously could happen, but yeah, we're really cognizant of Highway being

[1:38:51] able to tie in. I'm confident.

[1:38:53] I guess at what point do we just say, I mean,

[1:38:56] but we got to do it at least before the plants close, right?

[1:39:00] Or otherwise we'll have to get done for another year, so.

[1:39:04] And we were due.

[1:39:09] We're told of an additional, you know, Chapter 90 funding additional 200 and

[1:39:14] some $1000 to the bond bill allocated solely on road miles.

[1:39:17] Bond bill has yet to materialize and with with the state budget passing

[1:39:21] miraculously nearly on time, the governor veto has the line item veto

[1:39:25] power and vetoed a lot of slide on spending in the face of.

[1:39:29] Federal uncertainty. So we're now, whereas when the bill was filed in

[1:39:33] January, we're pretty confident this was going to

[1:39:37] go through. We're less confident in the supplement of

[1:39:40] Chapter 920 right now.

[1:39:44] And we're operating under the assumption that we want to have.

[1:39:48] That's a big chunk of change, 200 and something $1000, yeah.

[1:39:57] Right.

[1:39:58] Anybody have anything else? All right, so next meeting.

[1:40:03] So Jeremy had already talked about the goal setting meeting and he'll check with

[1:40:09] Mr. Broly and see if he can make that first

[1:40:12] date and then our next meetings in August would be.

[1:40:18] Wednesday, August 6th and Wednesday, August 20th. Does that make sense?

[1:40:28] I want to bring up one thing on future items that I got an e-mail about and

[1:40:34] should be on here planned for the Mendon Senior Center,

[1:40:39] what our what our goal is going forward. So I.

[1:40:43] Have two emails from our consultants Abacus that I, you know,

[1:40:47] I owe them a couple of things to be able for them to be able to move forward.

[1:40:53] And because one of the proposals is adjacent to the current library,

[1:40:57] I owe the library trustees.

[1:40:59] A conversation before we, you know move forward with any real

[1:41:04] efforts on what that looks like. So it will be we'll add it to the to the

[1:41:09] future agenda items on what we discussing the advocates report and what the town

[1:41:15] wants to.

[1:41:15] What the board would like to present to Town Meeting as the future of the Do you

[1:41:20] think we could do that in the first week of September?

[1:41:23] I want to talk to Abacus first. I mean, they need to finish their reporting this

[1:41:28] calendar year. I'm confident they will. Their hold up right now is.

[1:41:33] They're holding up right now. I want to be really clear too.

[1:41:36] This is like Abacus isn't holding stuff up. Like I need to get them stuff.

[1:41:40] This is me getting them things. So I don't want to pin a date on it

[1:41:44] because OK, they'll hit the previous ones.

[1:41:48] All right. Then we will throw that on the next

[1:41:52] upcoming events thing so that it pokes you in the eye every week. All right.

[1:41:58] So yeah, the regular meeting time of the 1st and

[1:42:02] 3rd Wednesday. Everybody feel OK about that,

[1:42:05] at least in this room.

[1:42:07] All right. All right. So then I would be looking for a motion

[1:42:13] to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

[1:42:17] 2nd.

[1:42:18] Discussion. All those in favor Cooter. Aye.

[1:42:23] Rugose eye.

[1:42:24] All right. Meeting adjourned at 8:12. Have a great night, everybody.

[1:42:29] Thank you so much. Bye, Elena.

[1:42:31] I.

[1:42:33] See you soon. Have a good trip.

[1:42:35] Thanks.

2025 7 16 Select Board

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