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We've got a pretty good turn already.

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Hey, folks.

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Hi, Chris.

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Hey, Chris.

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How's it going?

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Good.

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How are you?

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I'm alive.

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Mm.

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Just a lot has happened in the past 24 hours, but we're good.

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What's that little guy behind you?

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Oh, that's a little decoration we have.

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We named him Claude. Before, of course, the Claude AI thing really took off.

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Yeah.

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And that was kind of an unfortunate name, but-

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... he's

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a... I don't remember where we found this guy.

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Oh my God.

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But we found him at some thrift place.

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There's another one inside.

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Yeah.

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There's two Claudes. I think you're rivaling Rich's lava lamp there-

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Yes.

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That's right

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... for interesting backgrounds.

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Hmm.

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Hey, Nate.

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Hey there, Marina.

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Is Gary Collins from the Airport Commission?

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Yes, he's the chair.

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Okay. I'll let him know then.

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Is he the only one coming from the Airport Commission or we got some others?

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There might be another.

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Okay.

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So Chris, I'm not seeing the stream at all.

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Oh, really? I got it started.

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Let's try again.

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Yeah, that's weird. Dan says it's live streaming.

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Maybe I'll stop it and start it again, see if it works any better.

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And your camera's not blocked or anything?

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No, I can see-

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I can see you

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... most of us here. Yeah.

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All right.

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I think-

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Try and get it going again. Oh, wait.

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I still think it says custom live streaming in the top right corner, and it's three

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bars going up and down.

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Now it's back again.

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All right. I just restarted it again, Dan.

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I don't know if it's made any difference on your end yet.

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Hmm. No.

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Ugh.

54
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Okay. Well, so you'll have to hit record.

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Okay.

56
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Okay.

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Actually, let me... That reminds me, I should pause it.

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Everyone, welcome to Monday, September

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21st meeting, Selectboard Town of Montague.

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Meeting is being held remotely via Zoom conferencing.

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Topics may start earlier than specified unless there is a hearing scheduled.

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Meeting is being taped and votes may be taken. We'll do a roll call for the board.

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Marina Goldman?

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Here.

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Nate Card?

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Here.

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I'm Rich Kuprewicz. We also have Walter Ramsey, town administrator, Chris Nolan

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Zeller, assistant town administrator, and Brian Camden, airport

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manager, on as town staff.

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First item on our agenda is approval of minutes of the 14th.

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Did everybody get a chance to look those over?

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Yep.

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Yep.

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I'll entertain a motion to approve.

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So moved.

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Seconded.

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Okay. Call for a vote. Marina Goldman?

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Aye.

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Nate Card?

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Aye.

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And Rich Kuprewicz, aye. So voted unanimous.

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Next, we have a period of public comments that's limited to two minutes-

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Okay

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... for things that are not on our agenda tonight.

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Is there anyone that has anything they'd like to bring up? You can raise your hand.

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Okay. We'll move on to Airport Commission business.

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Brian Camden's with us, and I think we have a couple of airport commissioners.

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Tonight is a quarterly check-in. We're going to do these, do similar with

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Clean Water Facility and other departments.

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Just to look at how things are going, Walter added some bullet points for things

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for us to keep us on task of things to discuss and remember.

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So with that,

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I'll kick it off and open it up to Walter or Brian, whoever would like to start.

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I think it'd be great for Brian to start, and then the bullet points are just there

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to fill in in case he's missing points, but let's hear from the Airport Commission

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first.

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Okay.

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Yeah. So thank you.

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I should have two airport commissioners, our commission chair, Gary Collins, and

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Airport Commissioner Josh Lively on the call tonight.

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So, as Walter mentioned, these are going to hopefully be quarterly.

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I think last time we met was in the fall time.

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I wish we were meeting under brighter sky circumstances, but there are some

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difficult

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items that we're going to have to cover tonight.

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As we run down how the last few months have been for us, we had a very successful

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summer season,

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almost to the point where our business exceeded where we even projected.

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Unfortunately, the majority of that was fuel sales driven.

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So we're still lacking our

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revenue, our fixed asset revenue, at the facility.

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So the good news is our operations numbers are up. Very successful summer.

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We brought a lot of business into the area, a lot of people going into town,

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spending money.

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Another

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feather in our cap would be the grant that we received for the Apron project, which

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was just a hair over a $5 million grant.

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So this was awarded a couple of weeks ago, actually probably about a month ago now.

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So that's going to essentially cover the project to do the apron at the Pioneer

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Aviation property, as well as

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A few accessory updates to the property.

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This was something I'd been working on for a little over a year with our consulting

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firm in the FAA and Aeronautics. So it was great to finally get a grant award

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letter for that and get that project going.

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We'll be breaking ground officially on that in hopefully late March, early April of

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next year, and we will essentially be wrapping that up within about 60

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to 65 workdays. Right now, we have it slated for 60. We're five days for weather.

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So that's the good. As we start to look at where we are financially,

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roughly

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10 months ago, we suffered the loss of a pretty good size long-term tenant in one

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of our facilities.

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This tenant was contributing close to $30,000 a year in revenue.

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And when that particular tenant pulled out,

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they were on a month-to-month basis, so it was a shock.

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There was no real notification that they were leaving the facility.

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Unfortunately, it created a significant revenue deficit for us that we did not

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project. There was no prior indications that they were going to be vacating the

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space.

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In an attempt to get the space more up to industry standard to try to re-lease it,

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we also had to expend a significant amount of funds to do some necessary upgrades.

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Some of those included renovating the facility's loading dock, as well as

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doing some upgrades to the entrance and exit points of the building.

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We also did a fair amount of work with the security and alarm system, as it was

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nonexistent in that portion of our facility before.

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All things that were on our radar for years, but we had hoped to gradually address

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over three to four years, not address it all at once.

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And the downside to not only the loss of revenue was the unplanned expenditures

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associated with getting those spaces up to

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some sort of a safe industry standard to try to re-lease it.

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Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we still haven't been able to find a

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tenant for that space. We've talked with a lot of people.

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We just haven't found the perfect fit for that space.

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So this is essentially 4,800 square foot of dry, non-climate controlled

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warehousing space. It does have its own separate electrical service.

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However, there are no adequate functioning restrooms at this time, and that's

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really limited what we can actually do with it.

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During this period of losing that big tenant, we've also had several smaller

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storage/business tenants move out as they consolidate their businesses

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or downsize as they see fit. So we actually have two additional spaces that are

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in need of new renters at this point.

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They're both what we consider small office, climate-controlled storage.

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And we've posted some stuff online for that.

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I'm going to be posting some photos and advertising on the town website.

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So anybody that's listening or watching the meeting, if you have any interest,

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visit the

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montague-ma.gov and look under the Turners Falls Airport.

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And by tomorrow, there'll be some information on there.

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Unfortunately, that loss, that revenue, and the expenditures to try to prepare that

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space to re-renting it also caused budgetary issues, which it's up to you, Walter,

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if we want to go over that now or we want to wait for

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special town meeting articles. I'm happy either way.

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No, we can get into it now.

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Yeah. So essentially, as we start to look at the special town meeting, we have an

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operating deficit of 38,550.27 for FY26.

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And like I said, that was a combination of a loss of that almost $31,000 in revenue

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and almost $19,000 in additional expenditures as we tried to prepare that space

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for a new tenant to make it more desirable.

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This is the first time in four years that we've had a deficit at the end of the

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year. Typically, we've always over-expended on the budget.

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However, our revenues have far exceeded, I think at one year it was 24,000.

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The year before last, it was almost 9,000.

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So unfortunately, this is the downside to having a very lean rent record, is we

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don't have a lot of flexibility. So if we lose one critical tenant,

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it almost certainly is going to create a revenue deficit on that.

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And there really is no great solution to that. We've looked it over.

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I've sat with the commission, we've discussed it at many meetings.

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And

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as businesses begin to evaluate how they're operating in the current economy,

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a lot of them are no longer seeking the bulk storage of commodities.

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The post-COVID world that we were in there for a few years was great because a lot

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of companies saw supply chain disruption.

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So when they were ordering, instead of ordering a month's worth, they were ordering

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three or four months' worth, and it allowed us to really market our space and get

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top value for it. As of right now, like I said, we have three spaces that are

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vacant. Combined annual estimated revenue is $36,000 for those spaces.

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So the last few months, there's been a diligent effort to try to re-lease

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the space, even if it's in small areas, and it really hasn't been so successful.

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We had a couple of potential tenants, and it just didn't work out with what their

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needs were. So unfortunately, one of the several articles we're looking at for the

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special town meeting is going to be to fund that operating deficit from FY26.

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I'm happy to answer any questions on that, or we can continue on with what else we

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have going on, because unfortunately, the news is not going to get much better from

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this point forward. I think we have a tough couple of discussions to have here and

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really evaluate how we're operating, and it's no longer feasible to

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continue with the same business model.

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So I don't know if anybody has any questions before we move on on that or not.

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Any questions on that from the board?

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Nope.

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Okay. And I see Angelica put down everything. Okay. All right.

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Let's move to the next topic.

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Yeah. So as we start to look at capital and revenue projects,

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we always have a lingering list of capital projects that are not financially

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feasible to do with our operating budget.

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And when it comes time to submit capital projects as a town wide,

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it's difficult because we're looking at roof repairs for one of our facilities, two

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of them now,

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and those are rather costly items for not a lot of return on the investment.

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And when we look at the town itself has a $10 million, $8 million, $6 million worth

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of requests,

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it often doesn't make sense for us to

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look at a $300,000 roof overhaul on two of our buildings when there are critical

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infrastructure needs in town. I'm definitely going to have to reevaluate how we

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view that and how we can approach things like that in the future.

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But we do have a significant amount of what we have a small capital list internally

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that continues to grow.

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As we look at some of our revenue projects, which is the other side of that, so we

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have a couple opportunities that I'm currently investigating.

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One of them is going to definitely lead to some additional discussion at another

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time, hopefully not tonight, but we

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have a significant amount of interest from the market in general for battery energy

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storage. So we have a significant amount of property that is not surrounded by

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residential abutters. The airport is zoned correctly for that.

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And if the demand is there, I feel like it would be a good opportunity for us to

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host such a facility as well as the potential revenue.

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As I mentioned earlier, we have the additional spaces that we need to get

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re-leased.

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And there's several other things that we looked at.

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So we have some mixed zone, mixed use potential property around the facility, and

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it's time that we start to really push for

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non-aeronautical revenue sources to offset what we're drawing from the town.

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So there's a couple things I'll be working to get an RFP together over the next few

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months. One of them is going to be for either hosting or co-siting

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cellular communication equipment on one of the two obstruction beacons that the

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airport owns. There's one off of West Mineral and one next to the water tower that

245
00:18:24,612 --> 00:18:29,682
the water department operates. We also have ample property that,

246
00:18:30,553 --> 00:18:35,352
as we looked over the market, would be ideal for some type of mixed-use storage,

247
00:18:35,442 --> 00:18:38,532
mini-self-storage. They're not ideal.

248
00:18:39,612 --> 00:18:44,982
However, it's a good long-term source of fixed revenue, and we're going to need

249
00:18:45,042 --> 00:18:49,032
some support as we do this. I've talked with Walter, and I think we're in agreement

250
00:18:49,122 --> 00:18:54,462
that this is way beyond my capacity and my knowledge.

251
00:18:56,592 --> 00:19:02,232
I'm happy with coming up with the ideas, but overseeing procurement and

252
00:19:02,412 --> 00:19:08,142
RFPs and everything that's involved with that, it's way outside of my capacity.

253
00:19:09,672 --> 00:19:15,432
So I don't want people to think that we're just sitting on our financial ebbs and

254
00:19:15,492 --> 00:19:20,472
flows. We're working the best we can to try to continue to boost our revenue.

255
00:19:21,792 --> 00:19:23,292
I think the reality of it is,

256
00:19:24,612 --> 00:19:28,182
it's not anything that's going to happen immediately.

257
00:19:30,042 --> 00:19:34,992
Where I'm at planning for these RFPs in terms of revenue, I'm looking at FY28,

258
00:19:35,142 --> 00:19:40,812
FY29. So I don't foresee anything that's going to save us in the next three to four

259
00:19:40,872 --> 00:19:46,002
months. Definitely thinking way outside the box here because we know that we need

260
00:19:46,032 --> 00:19:51,372
to continue to grow our budget to handle our internal

261
00:19:51,432 --> 00:19:55,392
projects, but we also need to continue to grow our revenue, too.

262
00:19:55,602 --> 00:19:57,972
We don't want to continue to put the financial burden

263
00:20:00,972 --> 00:20:05,352
solely on the town as we grow. The facility should be growing in line with it.

264
00:20:05,952 --> 00:20:10,962
But I do just want to make the statement, again, I made it before that into the

265
00:20:11,022 --> 00:20:16,812
next few years, I do not see the request from taxation changing to a

266
00:20:16,872 --> 00:20:17,652
significant amount.

267
00:20:19,212 --> 00:20:24,492
Right now, if we see a 5% decrease between '27 and '28, that would be

268
00:20:25,242 --> 00:20:30,732
what I would expect at most. I think the reality of it is, we've tapped out all of

269
00:20:30,792 --> 00:20:36,763
our resources we have now for generation of revenue, and until we can come up with

270
00:20:36,882 --> 00:20:42,462
multiple smaller opportunities, we're going to continue where we are, status

271
00:20:42,553 --> 00:20:42,882
quo.

272
00:20:44,652 --> 00:20:48,642
I'd like to think positively about that, but I've put in hundreds of hours over the

273
00:20:48,672 --> 00:20:51,672
last few years, and I haven't come up with one solution.

274
00:20:53,322 --> 00:20:58,782
I think everybody's aware of the solar energy storage project, photovoltaic

275
00:20:58,872 --> 00:21:00,402
generation energy storage.

276
00:21:02,263 --> 00:21:04,632
I feel like that's a project that we're not going to see happen.

277
00:21:04,692 --> 00:21:06,852
There's just no movement on Eversource's end.

278
00:21:06,942 --> 00:21:07,182
So,

279
00:21:09,132 --> 00:21:12,492
we still have all the documents in place. We still have interested companies.

280
00:21:12,553 --> 00:21:15,072
But as of right now, I don't foresee that happening.

281
00:21:15,132 --> 00:21:15,342
So,

282
00:21:18,672 --> 00:21:23,652
one of the other things that is disappointing, but may not necessarily be a bad

283
00:21:23,712 --> 00:21:29,412
thing, is one of our largest tenants, New England Natural Bakers, was purchased two

284
00:21:29,472 --> 00:21:33,372
years ago by a new company, and they're actually going to be vacating the Northeast

285
00:21:33,402 --> 00:21:35,352
at some point between now and December.

286
00:21:36,582 --> 00:21:39,372
They're consolidating their operations to the West Coast.

287
00:21:40,212 --> 00:21:43,032
So unfortunately, the area's going to lose that business, and we're going to lose

288
00:21:43,092 --> 00:21:48,612
that tenant. However, it appears that we potentially have an existing tenant that's

289
00:21:48,642 --> 00:21:51,882
going to expand their operations and their footprint right here in Montague with

290
00:21:51,912 --> 00:21:57,342
some new jobs and some new machinery that will hopefully release that space from us

291
00:21:57,732 --> 00:21:58,812
as soon as it's vacant.

292
00:22:00,312 --> 00:22:04,422
But I'm just bringing that up now because there might be a one-month period of

293
00:22:05,742 --> 00:22:10,872
limited revenue coming in for that. That's roughly $4,800 a month.

294
00:22:10,962 --> 00:22:14,292
We could see a week or two during transition of the businesses.

295
00:22:14,382 --> 00:22:14,562
So,

296
00:22:16,452 --> 00:22:19,572
we really have a lot going on right now, and

297
00:22:21,642 --> 00:22:26,652
I guess what we'll lead into next is our current grant situation.

298
00:22:27,372 --> 00:22:27,732
And

299
00:22:34,002 --> 00:22:39,312
this is a hard one for me because we have a significant financial

300
00:22:42,432 --> 00:22:44,382
blockade, I guess we'll call it right now.

301
00:22:45,013 --> 00:22:50,592
And a lot of it is due to an error that I made when I was submitting for our

302
00:22:50,652 --> 00:22:51,432
grant. So

303
00:22:52,842 --> 00:22:57,312
I think I know it comes as a shock to everybody that I spend way more than 40 hours

304
00:22:57,342 --> 00:23:02,022
a week at our facility. I put in quite a bit of time. I take pride in our facility.

305
00:23:04,062 --> 00:23:08,232
One of the biggest things for me that I have the most success with is applying for

306
00:23:08,263 --> 00:23:10,362
and getting a considerable amount of grants.

307
00:23:12,672 --> 00:23:15,432
We received a good chunk of money over the last few years.

308
00:23:17,412 --> 00:23:21,553
Unfortunately, when I submitted for reimbursement on a couple of these portions of

309
00:23:21,612 --> 00:23:25,542
grants, I made an error that I was not aware of.

310
00:23:25,662 --> 00:23:30,852
So the reimbursements did not go through as expected, which led to a delay in

311
00:23:30,912 --> 00:23:32,712
getting the reimbursements to the town.

312
00:23:33,102 --> 00:23:37,662
And I think Angelica or Walter could fill in the blanks on this, but essentially,

313
00:23:39,972 --> 00:23:45,942
it led to a backlog that basically led to a discussion of we need to

314
00:23:46,002 --> 00:23:49,032
have some type of funding in place to cover these grants

315
00:23:50,592 --> 00:23:54,522
with the, I guess, potentially the effects of the free cash of the town.

316
00:23:55,212 --> 00:23:58,212
And I'll let somebody with more details on that get into it.

317
00:24:00,702 --> 00:24:05,202
I'm going to own up to the fact that I made a mistake in submitting for the grants.

318
00:24:06,792 --> 00:24:12,162
There is no excuse for it other than I'm in the office doing the work of two to two

319
00:24:12,192 --> 00:24:15,732
and a half people, and it's been a lot.

320
00:24:16,542 --> 00:24:22,122
Between November and February, I spent a lot of time working on snow removal, as

321
00:24:22,182 --> 00:24:25,392
well as writing that grant for the apron, as well as

322
00:24:27,402 --> 00:24:28,482
gobs of other things.

323
00:24:29,712 --> 00:24:33,522
And one of the things I've talked with a few people about, Walter and Angelica, is

324
00:24:33,551 --> 00:24:33,942
that

325
00:24:35,801 --> 00:24:37,751
there is no excuse for this oversight.

326
00:24:37,872 --> 00:24:41,712
And obviously, the repercussions are we're going to have to manage our

327
00:24:43,303 --> 00:24:44,652
oversight of grants better.

328
00:24:45,912 --> 00:24:49,152
But I want to advocate now, and I'll continue to advocate as we move into the

329
00:24:49,182 --> 00:24:53,412
budgeting season in a few months, that we really need some type of minimal

330
00:24:53,502 --> 00:24:55,752
five-hour-a-week clerical support at the airport.

331
00:24:57,222 --> 00:25:00,612
We're the only department in town, I believe, at this point, that doesn't have at

332
00:25:00,672 --> 00:25:03,222
least a part-time office support team.

333
00:25:04,513 --> 00:25:07,362
I'm not looking for a full-time benefited position.

334
00:25:07,572 --> 00:25:12,672
I think five hours a week is a good place to start to evaluate what needs we have

335
00:25:12,732 --> 00:25:14,652
and what capacities are involved with that.

336
00:25:16,992 --> 00:25:22,782
We process anywhere between 20 and 30 paper checks a month, between 50

337
00:25:22,842 --> 00:25:25,032
and 75 fuel accounts,

338
00:25:26,442 --> 00:25:30,792
anywhere between 40 and $80,000 worth of fuel revolving funds.

339
00:25:32,682 --> 00:25:36,132
A couple hundred credit card transactions have to get reconciled.

340
00:25:36,222 --> 00:25:41,232
So we have a laundry list of stuff that eats up a lot of my time and takes away

341
00:25:41,292 --> 00:25:43,033
from being able to do everything I want to do.

342
00:25:43,063 --> 00:25:47,893
And as much as I want to be able to handle it all myself, I do 12-hour days, six

343
00:25:47,953 --> 00:25:53,052
days a week right now. So it's not fair to me, my home life,

344
00:25:54,042 --> 00:25:54,763
and it really

345
00:25:56,082 --> 00:26:00,432
kind of came to a head over the last few months when I realized I made a horrible

346
00:26:00,492 --> 00:26:04,692
mistake with these grant submissions, and we've already corrected what needs to get

347
00:26:04,752 --> 00:26:09,372
corrected. We'll be resubmitting for it, and we'll be issued some new grants to

348
00:26:09,432 --> 00:26:12,313
reconcile for the old ones, and we'll get the funds for them.

349
00:26:12,372 --> 00:26:16,242
It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when we'll get the funds.

350
00:26:17,982 --> 00:26:21,792
But I'm kind of raising my white flag here saying I'm going to need some support,

351
00:26:21,942 --> 00:26:24,192
and I think everybody's on board with that.

352
00:26:26,232 --> 00:26:28,813
And I don't know if anybody has anything else to add to that.

353
00:26:28,872 --> 00:26:31,002
I know that's kind of going to be a discussion point,

354
00:26:32,592 --> 00:26:34,002
I imagine, for a few minutes here.

355
00:26:36,792 --> 00:26:41,412
Thanks, Brian. I guess I'll ask Walter, and then Angelica's on, has joined us as

356
00:26:41,472 --> 00:26:47,232
well to talk about this, and maybe that will lead us into the last

357
00:26:47,292 --> 00:26:52,572
bullet item, which is list the town administrator's proposed financial and

358
00:26:52,632 --> 00:26:58,513
administrative oversight. I think we have started a discussion tonight on how we

359
00:26:58,572 --> 00:27:03,432
might want to look at being able to, as the town, to provide further assistance to

360
00:27:03,462 --> 00:27:08,712
the airport so that the Airport Commission and Brian can focus on the important

361
00:27:08,772 --> 00:27:11,802
activity of keeping the airport running and viable.

362
00:27:12,522 --> 00:27:18,264
And we have expertise in Town Hall that- I think can help supply

363
00:27:18,444 --> 00:27:23,904
some support for things that Brian just mentioned, all from grant oversight

364
00:27:24,715 --> 00:27:26,514
to processing of

365
00:27:27,894 --> 00:27:29,965
credit card apps and so forth like that.

366
00:27:30,054 --> 00:27:32,904
So let's kick it over to Walter for a minute and then...

367
00:27:36,114 --> 00:27:39,355
Yeah. Thanks, Rich, and thank you, Brian, for putting that

368
00:27:41,004 --> 00:27:44,245
presentation together. He covered a lot of ground and a lot of technical terms.

369
00:27:44,574 --> 00:27:49,284
Very informal. I apologize. We'll promise with a nice PowerPoint for the next one.

370
00:27:49,884 --> 00:27:55,764
Yeah. No, that was great. And I appreciate you kind of setting the expectations for

371
00:27:56,725 --> 00:28:02,064
kind of taxation support for the airport moving forward and kind of just setting

372
00:28:02,094 --> 00:28:06,654
those expectations and all of the revenue-generating work that you've been doing

373
00:28:06,745 --> 00:28:10,524
and keeping my office informed of that. That's been great.

374
00:28:11,424 --> 00:28:13,794
So, I put together a memo,

375
00:28:14,995 --> 00:28:19,254
I title it in a financial administrative oversight model, but really this is more

376
00:28:19,284 --> 00:28:25,254
of a model for support from Town Hall to help you kind

377
00:28:25,284 --> 00:28:27,475
of get where we need to be to be at a financially

378
00:28:28,704 --> 00:28:31,314
sustainable point. That's the goal for everyone, right?

379
00:28:32,034 --> 00:28:35,874
And so this is like the path to help get us on that direction.

380
00:28:37,014 --> 00:28:39,654
And the first step involves some course correction.

381
00:28:41,064 --> 00:28:46,014
I think the issue with the grant reimbursements, as you kind of rightfully pointed

382
00:28:46,044 --> 00:28:47,934
out, speaks out to the point that

383
00:28:49,254 --> 00:28:54,264
we found out your limits of your capacity doing so many different jobs and doing

384
00:28:54,774 --> 00:28:56,034
grant administrative oversight

385
00:28:57,654 --> 00:29:02,844
fell low on the priority list. And now we realize that's a problem that we need to

386
00:29:03,684 --> 00:29:07,734
prioritize, and we can help with that between myself and Angelica.

387
00:29:07,824 --> 00:29:07,975
So,

388
00:29:09,534 --> 00:29:15,114
what we're proposing is immediately we work on getting these outstanding

389
00:29:15,144 --> 00:29:17,124
grants reimbursed or closing them out.

390
00:29:17,154 --> 00:29:21,114
We're already working-- Really the things that are on this list are things we're

391
00:29:21,174 --> 00:29:24,054
already working on. It really just formalizes the relationship a little bit.

392
00:29:24,475 --> 00:29:26,814
And to be clear, it's not meant

393
00:29:29,514 --> 00:29:34,734
to usurp the role of the airport commission, who has full kind of authority over

394
00:29:34,764 --> 00:29:40,614
the airport. It's meant to really provide them with support, allow you to

395
00:29:40,644 --> 00:29:43,105
do your operational decisions as an airport commission.

396
00:29:44,484 --> 00:29:47,574
But we start by prioritizing, figuring out

397
00:29:49,734 --> 00:29:55,134
getting the grants sorted out. One of the articles at town meeting is going to

398
00:29:55,194 --> 00:29:59,124
close out a bunch of old grants. So we'll talk about that in a little bit.

399
00:29:59,215 --> 00:30:02,934
So we're already working on that, and we'll have a bunch of those cleared up come

400
00:30:02,965 --> 00:30:05,064
December. And then

401
00:30:06,355 --> 00:30:11,844
as Brian mentioned, the big reimbursement that we were expecting, we figured out a

402
00:30:11,904 --> 00:30:17,454
plan to work around that so that the town can-- The reimbursement's going to come

403
00:30:17,514 --> 00:30:22,855
later, but we can borrow in anticipation of that so that we can get our free cash

404
00:30:22,915 --> 00:30:26,814
in. And I'll let Angelica explain how that works when the time is right.

405
00:30:27,564 --> 00:30:30,444
But that's priority number one, figuring out the grants.

406
00:30:31,884 --> 00:30:36,984
The other one would be monthly meetings between myself, Brian, and Angelica.

407
00:30:37,944 --> 00:30:41,574
We already kind of do this, but now this gets us all in the same room together,

408
00:30:41,934 --> 00:30:45,204
talking specifically about the budget. Where are we meeting projections?

409
00:30:45,234 --> 00:30:46,344
Where are we falling short?

410
00:30:47,574 --> 00:30:50,844
And it's just basically a formal monthly check-in.

411
00:30:53,154 --> 00:30:56,215
And then we formalize our reimbursement standards.

412
00:30:56,394 --> 00:30:59,965
This relies more about the grants, making sure we're doing that in a standard

413
00:31:00,024 --> 00:31:02,995
timeline. Keep track of everything on a spreadsheet.

414
00:31:04,614 --> 00:31:05,004
And then

415
00:31:06,444 --> 00:31:10,614
basically coming up for some rules about when we do these reimbursements and what

416
00:31:11,605 --> 00:31:15,475
type of financial expenses should be brought to our attention.

417
00:31:17,754 --> 00:31:19,855
Doing monthly operating reports.

418
00:31:21,024 --> 00:31:24,654
That's kind of a collaborative of information being provided by the accountant and

419
00:31:24,715 --> 00:31:30,234
for Brian to pull information back to us, just so that we can be able to track

420
00:31:30,745 --> 00:31:32,454
how things are going throughout the year.

421
00:31:33,864 --> 00:31:34,524
Because as

422
00:31:36,264 --> 00:31:40,134
Brian kind of was alluding to, at this special town meeting, we're filling a budget

423
00:31:40,165 --> 00:31:43,105
gap from last year, and we're anticipating shortfalls this year.

424
00:31:43,704 --> 00:31:46,495
And so we're trying to get ahead of that moving forward.

425
00:31:49,915 --> 00:31:51,415
And then capital

426
00:31:52,915 --> 00:31:53,874
project review.

427
00:31:55,704 --> 00:32:00,234
We already do a pretty good job integrating airport's capital planning into

428
00:32:00,715 --> 00:32:04,254
town-wide capital planning. Airport, they already maintain a five-year capital

429
00:32:04,284 --> 00:32:07,704
plan. They have to as part of their FAA requirements.

430
00:32:08,934 --> 00:32:14,844
But I think this really speaks to the need of grants, better coordination of

431
00:32:14,904 --> 00:32:18,804
when Brian applies for grants to do some of these capital things that might not

432
00:32:18,894 --> 00:32:21,174
come to the town's radar until later.

433
00:32:21,924 --> 00:32:27,594
This would let us know and be intentional and plan for grants moving forward.

434
00:32:30,534 --> 00:32:34,915
Obviously monitoring revenue and take a corrective action when there's revenue

435
00:32:34,975 --> 00:32:39,355
shortfalls. But I think Brian really summed it up well

436
00:32:39,415 --> 00:32:44,124
when we lose a tenant, it's going to hurt.

437
00:32:44,605 --> 00:32:48,984
And in this environment, it's hard to fill those spaces sometimes, and so we have

438
00:32:49,014 --> 00:32:53,034
to figure out how to plan for vacancies.

439
00:32:53,725 --> 00:32:56,965
We can't plan for 100% occupancy all the time.

440
00:33:00,715 --> 00:33:04,404
Importantly, annual identification of municipal subsidies.

441
00:33:04,465 --> 00:33:09,294
That's figuring out what we're expecting to ask for out of taxation and town

442
00:33:09,355 --> 00:33:14,484
support each year. I think it's important to monitor and track that number as we

443
00:33:14,694 --> 00:33:20,605
have been doing, and kind of get that number set in the budget and really try to

444
00:33:22,465 --> 00:33:28,254
stick to what that is. I think if we just want to budget for what that number

445
00:33:28,404 --> 00:33:34,014
is, whatever it is, and not be in a position like we are for this year where we're

446
00:33:34,044 --> 00:33:36,114
having to fill a budget gap with

447
00:33:37,674 --> 00:33:39,984
taxpayer dollars at the end of the year.

448
00:33:40,434 --> 00:33:44,334
I think that's the situation that we try our best to avoid, and I know that Brian

449
00:33:44,394 --> 00:33:48,114
has been trying to avoid that. And sometimes this stuff happens, but I think with a

450
00:33:48,144 --> 00:33:50,364
little bit more coordination, we can help

451
00:33:52,014 --> 00:33:52,944
keep that from happening.

452
00:33:55,794 --> 00:33:59,514
Talk about five-year capital plan and quarterly select board review.

453
00:33:59,544 --> 00:34:01,194
We're already doing that.

454
00:34:03,174 --> 00:34:03,444
So

455
00:34:04,704 --> 00:34:08,725
that's pretty much it. So first phase would be reconcile the grants.

456
00:34:08,754 --> 00:34:14,275
That's the priority number one. And then we kind of institute this more permanent

457
00:34:14,814 --> 00:34:18,564
oversight framework, which I'd like to do.

458
00:34:19,284 --> 00:34:22,105
We could go in the direction of doing a memorandum agreement with the airport,

459
00:34:22,975 --> 00:34:27,444
eventually. Or we could just kind of try this out as it stands and kind of see how

460
00:34:27,475 --> 00:34:29,424
it goes and do our quarterly check-ins.

461
00:34:30,895 --> 00:34:31,434
And

462
00:34:33,804 --> 00:34:38,124
yeah, I think this will just bring visibility to the airport's financial planning.

463
00:34:39,145 --> 00:34:43,344
And I think it brings some accountability that town meeting would be looking for,

464
00:34:44,214 --> 00:34:47,124
to help get the airport the resources that it needs.

465
00:34:48,415 --> 00:34:54,324
So, and then of course, we mentioned about the staffing capacity.

466
00:34:55,704 --> 00:35:00,474
Brian made a clear statement of need for some support for

467
00:35:01,164 --> 00:35:05,544
bookkeeping and kind of administrative management there.

468
00:35:06,624 --> 00:35:10,884
I think there's a clear case for a need, but definitely a discussion to be had

469
00:35:10,944 --> 00:35:14,334
about what that looks like, how that staffing happens.

470
00:35:15,414 --> 00:35:19,914
Whether we have existing staffing capacity within the town that could help cover

471
00:35:19,974 --> 00:35:21,775
that or whether there needs to be a new position.

472
00:35:22,044 --> 00:35:26,154
There's a whole bunch of options to look at, and I welcome that conversation as we

473
00:35:26,214 --> 00:35:28,434
move forward. So that's what

474
00:35:29,664 --> 00:35:35,544
I'm proposing. Happy to answer questions from the board, or let Brian respond and,

475
00:35:35,934 --> 00:35:38,334
Angelica, feel free to fill in if

476
00:35:40,164 --> 00:35:41,454
there's any details that I missed.

477
00:35:44,814 --> 00:35:49,134
Yeah, I will just say from the airport's perspective, this is a very

478
00:35:50,844 --> 00:35:53,034
uncomfortable conversation for me to have.

479
00:35:53,094 --> 00:35:58,674
I think everybody knows that when I took on the job 10 years ago now,

480
00:35:59,904 --> 00:36:05,874
it was like 17 hours a week, and the place was just not operating to its fullest

481
00:36:05,904 --> 00:36:06,624
potential.

482
00:36:09,384 --> 00:36:14,724
There's never anything that I've ever done intentionally that would

483
00:36:14,784 --> 00:36:17,904
negatively impact the town or the airport.

484
00:36:19,464 --> 00:36:22,704
As Walter mentioned, my capacity was

485
00:36:24,342 --> 00:36:26,022
Figured out real quick this year.

486
00:36:27,522 --> 00:36:33,252
And it was a combination of a perfect storm of selling $40,000 to

487
00:36:33,282 --> 00:36:39,072
$50,000 a month worth of avgas, lots of tenants, lots of activity,

488
00:36:40,092 --> 00:36:45,462
grant application, grant closeout, as well as a million other little things going

489
00:36:45,552 --> 00:36:46,123
on. So,

490
00:36:47,412 --> 00:36:52,212
unfortunately we found out the hard way where I, no pun intended, crashed and

491
00:36:52,272 --> 00:36:52,662
burned.

492
00:36:55,092 --> 00:37:00,882
I have read the memorandum that Walter sent out. I am fine with it.

493
00:37:00,972 --> 00:37:06,522
I think it allows for significant additional oversight, which is what I need help

494
00:37:06,582 --> 00:37:11,352
with. I want help. I welcome any help with administering grants and

495
00:37:13,662 --> 00:37:16,752
reimbursements and oversight of expenditures.

496
00:37:18,822 --> 00:37:20,772
Anything like that is going to be beneficial.

497
00:37:20,832 --> 00:37:24,492
I don't see a negative, and I've spoken to a couple of the airport commission

498
00:37:24,552 --> 00:37:28,632
members about that, and I think we're all in agreement that there's nothing but

499
00:37:28,692 --> 00:37:31,242
benefits to us by having that assistance.

500
00:37:33,672 --> 00:37:39,252
Thanks, Brian. Okay, Angelica, did you have anything you wanted to add or

501
00:37:39,643 --> 00:37:43,452
anything with the current... I guess there's some short-term borrowing or something

502
00:37:43,482 --> 00:37:46,722
we might do, but anything that you wanted to add for us?

503
00:37:49,722 --> 00:37:55,482
If anybody needs any more details about the process of it, I guess, if anybody has

504
00:37:55,512 --> 00:37:58,722
any confusion on why the grants are hitting free cash or anything, I can answer

505
00:37:58,752 --> 00:37:59,172
some of that,

506
00:38:01,391 --> 00:38:02,893
but I think some of you already know.

507
00:38:04,123 --> 00:38:04,542
Okay.

508
00:38:06,492 --> 00:38:06,822
Thanks.

509
00:38:08,952 --> 00:38:11,742
I guess one comment I'll make, and I see Elizabeth has her hand up.

510
00:38:13,572 --> 00:38:18,222
As far as additional support around receipts and so forth, I think that's a good

511
00:38:18,252 --> 00:38:21,252
discussion to have, Walter, with staff.

512
00:38:21,342 --> 00:38:27,252
And there may be a way that if we can roll that into help from

513
00:38:27,732 --> 00:38:31,873
Eileen and her staff, a treasurer collector, or even if we need to get some help,

514
00:38:31,932 --> 00:38:37,722
it might be having an office where there's somebody during standard town

515
00:38:37,782 --> 00:38:43,272
business hours that can pick up and do that along with other tasks, may give more

516
00:38:43,332 --> 00:38:48,522
flexibility. So it's not trying to jam everything into a five or six-hour work

517
00:38:48,612 --> 00:38:52,182
week, when some weeks it may be heavy, some weeks it may be lighter.

518
00:38:52,212 --> 00:38:53,952
And so, I think a good discussion

519
00:38:55,182 --> 00:38:57,972
to move forward with on that one would be

520
00:38:59,262 --> 00:39:05,143
helpful, where we have some departments that are set up now to do collecting.

521
00:39:05,232 --> 00:39:05,292
I

522
00:39:06,702 --> 00:39:12,462
know we've recently looked at doing credit card transactions at the transfer

523
00:39:12,522 --> 00:39:16,873
station, so I'm sure somewhere somebody's going to be picking up how to get that

524
00:39:16,902 --> 00:39:19,393
all reconciled and everything that needs to happen.

525
00:39:19,512 --> 00:39:22,212
So, might just roll into something like that.

526
00:39:23,802 --> 00:39:26,712
Any other comments or questions from the board, Marina or Nate?

527
00:39:29,082 --> 00:39:29,322
Yeah.

528
00:39:32,052 --> 00:39:34,722
Thanks for your candor tonight, Brian.

529
00:39:34,782 --> 00:39:35,682
I know it's hard to

530
00:39:37,451 --> 00:39:38,621
own up to stuff like that.

531
00:39:40,152 --> 00:39:46,092
So I really appreciate you coming forward today and putting it all on the table and

532
00:39:46,152 --> 00:39:51,282
owning up to mistakes and taking accountability for stuff. I appreciate that.

533
00:39:52,002 --> 00:39:55,992
I think you mentioned working six 12-hour days and that's really...

534
00:39:58,512 --> 00:40:00,702
I also appreciate that you're willing to put so much

535
00:40:02,322 --> 00:40:05,832
effort into your job and your responsibility for the airport.

536
00:40:06,342 --> 00:40:11,592
And I hope that in the discussions with Walter, in this

537
00:40:12,162 --> 00:40:17,232
new oversight proposal, that you two are talking about ways to

538
00:40:19,212 --> 00:40:23,832
protect your bandwidth because nobody should be working six 12-hour days on the

539
00:40:23,893 --> 00:40:24,373
regular.

540
00:40:25,752 --> 00:40:31,302
Even if they feel capable of doing so, that's

541
00:40:32,022 --> 00:40:34,812
a fast track to burnout and we want you

542
00:40:36,042 --> 00:40:40,452
feeling resourced in that position and able to do your best for the long term.

543
00:40:40,992 --> 00:40:41,172
So,

544
00:40:43,512 --> 00:40:45,612
I hope that we can find some way to

545
00:40:46,902 --> 00:40:50,742
give you a little relief there so that you're as resourced as possible for

546
00:40:51,972 --> 00:40:52,992
everything else in the job.

547
00:40:54,432 --> 00:40:58,332
Well, thanks, Nate. And if you'd like to come on up, we'll show you how to pump

548
00:40:58,393 --> 00:41:01,782
fuel on weekends. You can hang out at the airport if you'd like.

549
00:41:04,032 --> 00:41:04,812
Marina, anything to add?

550
00:41:04,902 --> 00:41:05,322
Let's talk.

551
00:41:06,462 --> 00:41:09,882
Yeah. I also just want to thank Brian very much.

552
00:41:10,002 --> 00:41:13,332
I know you do the work of at least three people, if not more.

553
00:41:14,052 --> 00:41:18,912
And I want to encourage you to ask for what you need and

554
00:41:20,352 --> 00:41:25,272
work with-- When you say you want somebody five hours a week, I'm like, "Is that

555
00:41:25,873 --> 00:41:27,192
really all you need?"

556
00:41:30,102 --> 00:41:34,452
And I guess my question is more for the commissioners.

557
00:41:35,322 --> 00:41:40,932
If Gary and Josh would say something, I don't really know what kind of oversight

558
00:41:40,992 --> 00:41:45,102
you guys do, how involved you are. I don't know your

559
00:41:46,873 --> 00:41:51,643
position and our responsibility to you and your responsibility to Brian and the

560
00:41:51,702 --> 00:41:56,922
airport. So if you could just explain a little bit about how you're all thinking

561
00:41:56,982 --> 00:41:57,672
about this.

562
00:42:03,912 --> 00:42:05,202
Will you let Gary unmute?

563
00:42:07,873 --> 00:42:09,042
I think he's a co-host.

564
00:42:10,752 --> 00:42:11,982
I think Josh is, too.

565
00:42:13,602 --> 00:42:14,652
Yeah, they're both co-hosts.

566
00:42:15,582 --> 00:42:18,942
Well, I'm happy to start while we figure out the unmuting thing.

567
00:42:19,002 --> 00:42:22,152
Usually the bottom left, Gary. There's a little microphone.

568
00:42:24,042 --> 00:42:27,912
Or sometimes just holding the space bar on your computer, if you have a computer,

569
00:42:27,972 --> 00:42:28,393
will work.

570
00:42:33,582 --> 00:42:33,732
No.

571
00:42:35,143 --> 00:42:35,382
Yeah.

572
00:42:36,552 --> 00:42:40,512
Well, Commissioner Lively, would you like to start anything with that?

573
00:42:43,662 --> 00:42:44,982
There you go. Gary's here.

574
00:42:46,992 --> 00:42:48,462
Oh, yeah. I know how to unmute.

575
00:42:53,022 --> 00:42:58,452
Yeah. So, as to our oversight of

576
00:42:59,052 --> 00:43:04,332
the airport, our oversight really has to do with overseeing Brian

577
00:43:05,172 --> 00:43:10,902
insofar as decisions that he makes that he needs a vote from

578
00:43:10,962 --> 00:43:15,462
us for. Not everything is required, but some stuff is.

579
00:43:16,092 --> 00:43:21,732
Other than that, Brian's kind of a whiz kid at the airport, so we let him do his

580
00:43:21,822 --> 00:43:27,792
thing, and he always comes back with these amazing grants and these amazing

581
00:43:27,882 --> 00:43:33,612
expansions and hangar doors, and now we're getting a new apron and these upgrades

582
00:43:33,643 --> 00:43:35,172
to the facilities. So,

583
00:43:37,722 --> 00:43:43,512
it's unfortunate that he made a small clerical error to an email, and it's going to

584
00:43:44,112 --> 00:43:47,382
end up costing the town some interest in a short-term loan.

585
00:43:47,952 --> 00:43:53,532
But, I'm happy to hear the support from the select board and the administration for

586
00:43:53,592 --> 00:43:57,102
Brian because he's such an asset to our airport.

587
00:43:57,612 --> 00:44:02,382
As not only a commissioner, but an airport user, it's so refreshing to

588
00:44:03,852 --> 00:44:08,532
have a home airport where it's taken care of and the terminal's clean and the

589
00:44:08,652 --> 00:44:13,152
lawn's cut and the taxiway lights work and the weather reporting works.

590
00:44:13,302 --> 00:44:18,282
And before Brian took over, it was kind of like a flyover airport where

591
00:44:19,242 --> 00:44:22,542
it's on the map, and if you really need to stop there, you do, but you kind of know

592
00:44:22,662 --> 00:44:27,552
that it's like a deer could jump out, it hasn't been mowed in five years, and

593
00:44:28,393 --> 00:44:34,002
the taxiway is all chopped up, and the terminal building smells like cigars, and so

594
00:44:34,062 --> 00:44:37,902
don't go there. So now it's like this inviting place and you go, I'll fly all over

595
00:44:37,962 --> 00:44:41,322
New England and I'll be like, "Oh, yeah." I see other pilots, they'll be like,

596
00:44:41,352 --> 00:44:43,842
"Where are you from?" I go, "We're in Turners." And they go, "Yeah, we're buying

597
00:44:43,902 --> 00:44:46,002
fuel there now. And what a great building.

598
00:44:46,062 --> 00:44:48,792
Man, they really turned the place around." So,

599
00:44:50,322 --> 00:44:54,162
that's kind of my little gist. I hope that covered a lot of it.

600
00:44:54,192 --> 00:44:58,272
I don't have a lot of specifics, but we're not there watching Brian with a

601
00:44:58,302 --> 00:45:02,262
fine-tooth comb. Thank goodness we don't have to because I heard there was a slew

602
00:45:02,382 --> 00:45:02,502
of

603
00:45:03,702 --> 00:45:07,902
airport managers or a few before him where things didn't go so well, and they

604
00:45:07,932 --> 00:45:09,852
weren't so devoted to

605
00:45:11,202 --> 00:45:17,082
the airport and also willing to work so well with the town administration and

606
00:45:17,112 --> 00:45:21,312
the select board. So, we got us a really good airport manager.

607
00:45:21,373 --> 00:45:25,393
They're few and far between, and it's really great to get the support from the

608
00:45:25,422 --> 00:45:25,992
select board.

609
00:45:27,882 --> 00:45:30,792
Thanks, Josh. Gary, anything to add? Looks like you're unmuted.

610
00:45:32,004 --> 00:45:33,594
Yeah, I pretty much

611
00:45:34,974 --> 00:45:37,164
echo what Josh has just said.

612
00:45:39,025 --> 00:45:43,764
I'm really proud of Brian, and I want to pat myself on the back.

613
00:45:43,824 --> 00:45:48,714
I was instrumental in hiring him. I always tell everybody I'm the guy that hired

614
00:45:48,744 --> 00:45:48,894
him.

615
00:45:52,284 --> 00:45:52,525
So,

616
00:45:54,324 --> 00:45:56,124
and I spend a lot of time at the airport.

617
00:45:56,605 --> 00:45:56,874
I'm a

618
00:45:58,314 --> 00:45:58,674
user,

619
00:46:00,894 --> 00:46:05,964
as Josh is. So we do use the airport. I'm at the airport quite often.

620
00:46:06,324 --> 00:46:10,464
I see what Brian goes through, and he gets frustrated, and I don't blame him.

621
00:46:11,634 --> 00:46:14,004
He puts a lot of time in, a lot of effort.

622
00:46:14,605 --> 00:46:20,214
He's qualified in every aspect of the airport from

623
00:46:22,284 --> 00:46:27,355
driving heavy equipment to mowing, to snow plowing,

624
00:46:28,194 --> 00:46:29,004
electrical,

625
00:46:30,444 --> 00:46:31,344
plumbing. He does

626
00:46:33,324 --> 00:46:37,914
numerous work up there that could be hired out, but he does it all himself.

627
00:46:41,544 --> 00:46:47,424
And I was the treasurer for a while, well, between Mickey and Brian, and

628
00:46:48,234 --> 00:46:53,994
that's a lot of work. And I just had to do with the hangar rentals, and

629
00:46:54,384 --> 00:46:58,105
it was a lot of work. So I know what he's going through, and I appreciate

630
00:46:58,164 --> 00:46:59,634
everything Brian does up there.

631
00:47:00,204 --> 00:47:02,994
How often does the commission meet?

632
00:47:04,014 --> 00:47:04,794
Once a month.

633
00:47:05,394 --> 00:47:06,054
Oh, okay.

634
00:47:07,224 --> 00:47:12,144
Unless we... Occasionally, we skip a month when there's absolutely nothing going

635
00:47:12,264 --> 00:47:14,694
on, and there's no point in meeting.

636
00:47:15,204 --> 00:47:15,324
And

637
00:47:17,904 --> 00:47:22,824
Brian keeps us all informed by email if there's something important.

638
00:47:25,374 --> 00:47:30,114
Occasionally, there's something important that we can, and that's the only thing on

639
00:47:30,144 --> 00:47:34,314
the agenda. We postpone it for the previous month.

640
00:47:34,525 --> 00:47:37,764
So it's not a big deal, but we try to do it once a month.

641
00:47:37,824 --> 00:47:40,944
We probably do at least 10 meetings a year.

642
00:47:41,184 --> 00:47:44,424
A year. And do you have minutes up on the website?

643
00:47:46,404 --> 00:47:46,794
I'm sorry?

644
00:47:47,064 --> 00:47:48,954
Do you post your minutes on the website?

645
00:47:49,855 --> 00:47:51,504
No, Brian takes care of the minutes.

646
00:47:51,594 --> 00:47:53,484
Yeah. So the agenda-

647
00:47:53,605 --> 00:47:53,964
Oh. Yeah

648
00:47:53,964 --> 00:47:56,424
... yeah, the agendas and the minutes are up there.

649
00:47:56,514 --> 00:48:01,254
I might lag behind by a month or two, like most boards do, because I'm also doing

650
00:48:01,314 --> 00:48:03,954
all the agendas, all the minute planning.

651
00:48:03,984 --> 00:48:04,374
Yeah.

652
00:48:04,434 --> 00:48:06,264
Minute meeting, I'm doing all that, too.

653
00:48:06,324 --> 00:48:10,794
So yeah, we typically don't let it get more than three to four months behind it.

654
00:48:10,824 --> 00:48:12,444
I'll post everything all up there.

655
00:48:12,504 --> 00:48:12,714
But-

656
00:48:13,105 --> 00:48:13,134
Mm-hmm

657
00:48:13,734 --> 00:48:16,284
... our hybrid meetings will have recordings.

658
00:48:16,374 --> 00:48:19,794
If it's just in person, which most of them are, we'll have the meeting minutes for

659
00:48:19,855 --> 00:48:20,124
that.

660
00:48:20,574 --> 00:48:20,694
Mm-hmm.

661
00:48:20,754 --> 00:48:24,654
And if anybody wants to attend, we do post it on the town's website.

662
00:48:24,714 --> 00:48:28,374
It's typically the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 PM.

663
00:48:29,574 --> 00:48:29,694
Yeah.

664
00:48:30,654 --> 00:48:40,644
Thanks,

665
00:48:40,734 --> 00:48:45,684
guys. Brian, that's a no fun conversation to have.

666
00:48:45,983 --> 00:48:51,684
I'm a public school teacher, so I understand what it's like to have goals and a

667
00:48:51,744 --> 00:48:55,584
space of resources. I was hoping for a bit of history.

668
00:48:56,214 --> 00:49:01,855
I'm wondering, I feel like you used to have some pet interns around the office, and

669
00:49:01,914 --> 00:49:04,344
for a hot second, there was a part-time manager.

670
00:49:04,794 --> 00:49:09,294
Could you tell me who else is working with you now, and what numbers of folks have

671
00:49:09,355 --> 00:49:13,434
helped work with you within the recent memory? Is that a fair question?

672
00:49:14,754 --> 00:49:16,344
Absolutely. Anything from you is fair.

673
00:49:16,794 --> 00:49:18,324
Oh, you guys hear that? Bring it on.

674
00:49:19,525 --> 00:49:24,324
So yeah. So we do have two full-time employees, myself, and then we have someone

675
00:49:24,355 --> 00:49:28,794
who actually started as a co-op employee from the tech school years ago, and he

676
00:49:28,855 --> 00:49:32,364
stayed on since then. So we do have the two full-time positions.

677
00:49:33,355 --> 00:49:38,124
We've been really fortunate with the tech school cooperative education program.

678
00:49:38,514 --> 00:49:42,804
At any given point during the year, we have between one and three of those

679
00:49:42,864 --> 00:49:46,584
individuals. Now, they work 40 hours a week every other week.

680
00:49:46,674 --> 00:49:50,874
So if everything works out as is planned, we'll get a junior, and we'll get a

681
00:49:50,964 --> 00:49:54,084
senior. So essentially, it's three full-time individuals.

682
00:49:54,654 --> 00:49:59,214
One of the issues that we've had over the last couple of rounds of co-op students

683
00:49:59,304 --> 00:50:04,194
is that some of them are not as motivated or as knowledgeable as other ones.

684
00:50:04,254 --> 00:50:09,775
So we might not be able to allow a junior co-op student to do as much

685
00:50:09,834 --> 00:50:13,644
hands-on by themselves as we'd like them to do, as opposed to in the past where

686
00:50:13,674 --> 00:50:15,324
they've been kind of self-motivated.

687
00:50:16,254 --> 00:50:21,775
So my position is geared towards the clerical oversight, compliance,

688
00:50:22,284 --> 00:50:23,754
state federal regulations,

689
00:50:26,154 --> 00:50:28,974
as well as janitorial duties and customer interface.

690
00:50:29,694 --> 00:50:34,764
The other full-time position is purely dedicated, I would say 90%, to the outside,

691
00:50:34,855 --> 00:50:40,314
the grounds maintenance, the equipment maintenance, lining up with contractors, and

692
00:50:40,344 --> 00:50:43,974
then usually one or two of the co-op positions shadows the outside stuff.

693
00:50:44,184 --> 00:50:47,814
We really struggled to find someone from the co-op program that would be good

694
00:50:47,904 --> 00:50:51,534
inside the office, too. And that's been a struggle.

695
00:50:51,564 --> 00:50:53,754
We've tried for a couple of rounds now.

696
00:50:54,414 --> 00:50:58,824
I think we've actually had almost 20 co-op kids over the years, and we've never

697
00:50:58,855 --> 00:51:03,684
really found one that was... We've had some great mower operators, but not so great

698
00:51:03,775 --> 00:51:05,364
in the office, unfortunately.

699
00:51:06,714 --> 00:51:07,344
Thanks, Brian.

700
00:51:09,204 --> 00:51:09,564
Okay.

701
00:51:10,914 --> 00:51:14,754
Ariel, do you have a question? We're running kind of late, so we need to do-

702
00:51:16,254 --> 00:51:17,004
I'll try to be short.

703
00:51:17,065 --> 00:51:17,574
No problem.

704
00:51:18,594 --> 00:51:23,304
I must echo my respect and appreciation for Brian. I'll join everyone else in that.

705
00:51:24,804 --> 00:51:29,694
Just a few drop-in-the-bucket possible suggestions, followed by one question.

706
00:51:30,504 --> 00:51:33,174
Drops in the bucket are drops, but it's better than an empty bucket.

707
00:51:33,655 --> 00:51:37,285
So one question I had had to do with interns, and I'm thinking about business

708
00:51:37,344 --> 00:51:41,244
administration or accounting interns from GCC. Okay.

709
00:51:42,174 --> 00:51:46,134
Next, as far as roof repairs, I don't know if anyone at the tech school can help

710
00:51:46,164 --> 00:51:48,474
with those. But that was a thought.

711
00:51:49,824 --> 00:51:54,054
Another thought on the roof repairs would be if there's a crew at the jail, they do

712
00:51:54,114 --> 00:51:56,574
great work. I don't know if they do roof repairs, but they might.

713
00:51:58,285 --> 00:52:02,634
Also, if you're considering battery storage, get the best fire prevention plan in

714
00:52:02,664 --> 00:52:08,214
the universe before we do that. And Eversource should be pushed on the solar.

715
00:52:09,294 --> 00:52:11,754
The Department of Public Utilities is appointed by the governor.

716
00:52:12,174 --> 00:52:16,854
The governor still insists that she has a very progressive climate plan.

717
00:52:18,054 --> 00:52:22,674
We should try to work through her to get Eversource before the DPU on this, because

718
00:52:22,704 --> 00:52:27,114
it's important. And then my question, it may have been answered when I had to get

719
00:52:27,144 --> 00:52:28,285
out of my car for a minute.

720
00:52:29,934 --> 00:52:34,525
Does the grant delay affect that new gigantic federal grant, that town meeting

721
00:52:34,584 --> 00:52:37,824
allocated about 5%, to get all the rest of it?

722
00:52:39,775 --> 00:52:42,414
Yeah, so great question. And no, it does not.

723
00:52:42,474 --> 00:52:47,724
Each grant is a standalone, and the reimbursements will have no effect on the

724
00:52:48,144 --> 00:52:50,334
federal grant side for that project.

725
00:52:51,324 --> 00:52:52,254
Righto. Thanks, Brian.

726
00:52:52,764 --> 00:52:53,334
Thanks, Brian.

727
00:52:53,544 --> 00:52:53,934
Thank you.

728
00:52:54,804 --> 00:52:57,984
Okay. Thanks everyone for comments.

729
00:52:58,614 --> 00:53:02,664
Again, I'll echo, Brian, you do a great job in the airport.

730
00:53:02,754 --> 00:53:08,004
As I've said many, many times in the last five to seven to 10 years, it really

731
00:53:08,065 --> 00:53:09,894
looks great, and you've really turned it around.

732
00:53:10,525 --> 00:53:10,764
So,

733
00:53:11,964 --> 00:53:14,334
let's commit to doing these at least every quarter.

734
00:53:15,414 --> 00:53:20,754
Walter, please keep working with Brian on the administration and how we can help

735
00:53:20,905 --> 00:53:26,544
assist the airport in getting Brian's time freed up to do those things that he's

736
00:53:26,574 --> 00:53:31,704
really good at. Okay. Thanks, everyone. Thank you, Brian.

737
00:53:32,004 --> 00:53:34,285
Thank you, Gary and Josh, for coming to tonight's meeting.

738
00:53:34,344 --> 00:53:37,764
Appreciate your presence. We're going to move to special town meeting.

739
00:53:37,794 --> 00:53:41,094
There's a couple articles around the airport on that as well.

740
00:53:42,174 --> 00:53:42,504
So,

741
00:53:44,754 --> 00:53:48,264
I think for a special town meeting, it says first reading, but really what this is,

742
00:53:48,384 --> 00:53:52,104
I think, is kind of a review. So I'll kind of read the first one

743
00:53:53,694 --> 00:53:57,864
just to kind of what it is. And then perhaps, Walter, if you want to give just a

744
00:53:57,924 --> 00:54:02,815
five-second kind of overview. If people have questions, we'll stop, but there'll be

745
00:54:02,844 --> 00:54:06,054
more to come. But the first one is a request for

746
00:54:06,144 --> 00:54:12,025
$1,643.02 for a prior year bill coming

747
00:54:12,084 --> 00:54:15,204
out of free cash. It's pretty self-explanatory on that one.

748
00:54:16,074 --> 00:54:18,565
Anybody want to talk more on that? Okay.

749
00:54:20,394 --> 00:54:26,184
Next, we have the two that Brian already mentioned, the airport deficit of

750
00:54:26,394 --> 00:54:31,614
38,550.27, and then an anticipated shortfall

751
00:54:32,184 --> 00:54:36,504
that we're going to look to try to get ahead of, which is $15,000.

752
00:54:37,344 --> 00:54:39,324
Any comments on those, Walter?

753
00:54:44,101 --> 00:54:49,740
Okay. It looks like the next one is to close out of several different

754
00:54:49,830 --> 00:54:50,550
grants.

755
00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:52,951
I think there's a

756
00:54:54,180 --> 00:54:59,160
list of them, but there's quite a few different grants that need to be cleared up.

757
00:54:59,370 --> 00:55:00,750
Angelica, is that something you-

758
00:55:01,110 --> 00:55:01,290
Yeah.

759
00:55:01,320 --> 00:55:02,280
You put that together?

760
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:10,830
Let me just-

761
00:55:10,860 --> 00:55:13,380
Looks like there's a list of a bunch of little ones.

762
00:55:14,130 --> 00:55:14,221
Yeah.

763
00:55:14,340 --> 00:55:16,020
Wildlife management, lighting.

764
00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:22,170
So one of the things the state looks at as they start to review your free cash, and

765
00:55:22,201 --> 00:55:26,310
when you get into the tax recap season, is they look at deficits and grants that

766
00:55:26,370 --> 00:55:28,201
have been lingering around for a few years.

767
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:33,330
So probably about six months ago, me and Brian started to look through some of the

768
00:55:33,420 --> 00:55:37,860
ones that I had noticed had been lingering for the past few years, and there's one

769
00:55:37,891 --> 00:55:43,020
on the town side as well. So I think that these grants have probably been around,

770
00:55:43,620 --> 00:55:45,900
I'm going to go with around three years, most of them.

771
00:55:46,951 --> 00:55:49,860
And so they're what we call structural deficits.

772
00:55:50,641 --> 00:55:53,040
We don't expect to ever get refunds for these.

773
00:55:54,060 --> 00:55:58,710
These were mostly grant matches that were never journaled over is what me and Brian

774
00:55:58,860 --> 00:56:01,471
are assuming, and I think that's what we looked into.

775
00:56:02,250 --> 00:56:06,120
And so at this point, funding them for free cash will help take them off the books,

776
00:56:06,210 --> 00:56:08,641
close them out, clean them all up, and we can move forward.

777
00:56:10,260 --> 00:56:11,971
Great. Any questions on those?

778
00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:19,380
Okay. Next one is a cemetery commission request for

779
00:56:19,891 --> 00:56:25,560
$12,032 having to do with maintenance

780
00:56:25,770 --> 00:56:29,160
and a pretty good description about what's going on.

781
00:56:29,190 --> 00:56:32,070
It looks like that's going to be funded from the

782
00:56:33,780 --> 00:56:37,201
cemetery sale of plots. Is that right, Walter?

783
00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:37,530
Yep.

784
00:56:38,340 --> 00:56:38,731
Yep.

785
00:56:38,790 --> 00:56:39,391
Yeah, that's correct.

786
00:56:40,201 --> 00:56:40,560
Okay.

787
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:47,790
All right. Next one we're going to tackle is a couple of combined

788
00:56:48,721 --> 00:56:53,670
items. There were three different ones for non-capital equipment purchases with the

789
00:56:53,760 --> 00:56:58,320
parks and the police. There was some painting

790
00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:00,960
at the park,

791
00:57:02,340 --> 00:57:07,290
an infield grower machine, and a piece of maintenance equipment for the terrazzo

792
00:57:07,351 --> 00:57:12,000
floors up at the police station, all totaling just a little over

793
00:57:12,030 --> 00:57:17,130
$16,000. Is that anything? Is that close? Okay.

794
00:57:18,780 --> 00:57:24,630
Next one is the big one on the list, is a discussion on the elementary

795
00:57:24,750 --> 00:57:26,580
school building feasibility study.

796
00:57:26,641 --> 00:57:31,500
There's a request for funding a feasibility study.

797
00:57:32,130 --> 00:57:37,981
That amount is $1,750,000. Do you want to hit on that just a

798
00:57:38,040 --> 00:57:38,880
minute, Walter?

799
00:57:41,101 --> 00:57:46,710
Sure. So this was discussed with the board a few weeks ago, I think when the budget

800
00:57:46,770 --> 00:57:51,990
was first established. So the elementary school building committee has established

801
00:57:52,020 --> 00:57:56,641
the project budget for feasibility study at $1.75 million.

802
00:57:56,699 --> 00:58:02,641
That is based on data from other MSBA school projects for this feasibility

803
00:58:02,701 --> 00:58:07,590
phase. This is inclusive of the funding for the owner's project manager that

804
00:58:07,650 --> 00:58:09,750
oversees the architect.

805
00:58:11,310 --> 00:58:16,050
There's a reimbursement component to this.

806
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:20,340
The MSBA does reimburse, although we aren't going to know what that reimbursement

807
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:26,221
rate is until after the town meeting votes it, and the town has

808
00:58:26,280 --> 00:58:28,320
formally accepted the MSBA program.

809
00:58:28,740 --> 00:58:33,870
We expect that reimbursement to be in the vicinity of 75%, 76%.

810
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:40,110
However, the town is required, as part of its eligibility phase for the MSBA, to

811
00:58:40,201 --> 00:58:45,360
appropriate funding for the whole study, knowing that there is a reimbursement

812
00:58:45,420 --> 00:58:46,231
coming down the line.

813
00:58:47,490 --> 00:58:52,440
So we're proposing to fund that through borrowing, initially, and

814
00:58:53,430 --> 00:58:55,710
realistically, it'd be funded by short-term borrowing.

815
00:58:56,190 --> 00:59:02,010
It would not require a prop two-and-a-half debt exclusion, because it would be

816
00:59:02,040 --> 00:59:06,930
funded by short-term, knowing that we would be getting reimbursements from the

817
00:59:07,050 --> 00:59:09,990
state's MSBA program to fund that study.

818
00:59:11,221 --> 00:59:11,790
I think it would be a

819
00:59:13,770 --> 00:59:18,510
two or three year timeline for that study process.

820
00:59:19,951 --> 00:59:25,231
And the MSBA is heavily involved in oversight of that process, and of course, just

821
00:59:25,290 --> 00:59:29,940
reminding people that the select board set up the building committee for the

822
00:59:30,030 --> 00:59:32,731
elementary school building committee. They've been meeting.

823
00:59:34,080 --> 00:59:39,270
And they are planning to present the article at town meeting.

824
00:59:39,660 --> 00:59:40,891
They're the ones making the request.

825
00:59:41,490 --> 00:59:41,610
And

826
00:59:43,981 --> 00:59:47,430
I want to propose to have them come to a select board meeting to talk about the

827
00:59:47,460 --> 00:59:51,150
request in two weeks on October 5th.

828
00:59:51,630 --> 00:59:56,070
If the board's okay with that, I'd be happy to make some time for them to talk more

829
00:59:56,070 --> 00:59:56,971
about the proposal.

830
01:00:00,210 --> 01:00:04,290
If it fits into-- That's an in-person meeting, so I don't know if you're going to

831
01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:07,770
want to have them at, I think it's right around October in person.

832
01:00:07,830 --> 01:00:13,141
If it fits in the agenda, let's have them in, and they

833
01:00:13,740 --> 01:00:15,451
can get somebody here, that'd be great.

834
01:00:17,731 --> 01:00:18,150
Otherwise,

835
01:00:19,800 --> 01:00:23,670
I think it would be important to make sure we do something a couple of weeks before

836
01:00:23,731 --> 01:00:27,240
a special town meeting, so early October sounds good.

837
01:00:27,481 --> 01:00:28,920
Yeah.

838
01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:32,940
Okay. The next two are non-financial.

839
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:36,090
We've been talking about both of these a couple times.

840
01:00:36,150 --> 01:00:40,080
First one is a senior tax work-off program.

841
01:00:40,290 --> 01:00:46,110
We review that, and it's a way to try to help folks on

842
01:00:46,620 --> 01:00:52,290
a limited trial at least to start, to see if we can do some sort of tax

843
01:00:52,351 --> 01:00:57,030
work-off program. So that's going to be, I think, administered through the senior

844
01:00:57,090 --> 01:01:00,451
center at this point, and I'm thinking, if you want to add to that, Walter.

845
01:01:02,550 --> 01:01:03,870
Yeah, just to clarify that the

846
01:01:05,550 --> 01:01:08,399
request is to seek the authority to establish the program.

847
01:01:08,489 --> 01:01:11,340
So all of the rules and guidelines are not established.

848
01:01:11,399 --> 01:01:15,149
Those are yet to be established. It's the authorizing the select board to be able

849
01:01:15,180 --> 01:01:20,340
to develop those policies. That being said, we have had discussions with council on

850
01:01:20,430 --> 01:01:22,231
aging, who's willing to administer the program.

851
01:01:22,860 --> 01:01:27,391
With support from town hall staff, we'll help on the back end on the hiring, make

852
01:01:27,451 --> 01:01:31,800
sure the Corey checks are done, make sure that the time is properly accounted for

853
01:01:31,830 --> 01:01:33,360
and that the tax bills are properly

854
01:01:35,610 --> 01:01:38,851
adjusted. There's a lot that goes into it.

855
01:01:38,910 --> 01:01:43,770
But we are talking about a very limited rollout of the program, of up to, I think,

856
01:01:44,731 --> 01:01:49,740
15,000 total cost to the town to run the program to benefit about 10

857
01:01:50,580 --> 01:01:53,280
seniors who are willing to work up to,

858
01:01:56,160 --> 01:02:00,540
I forget how many hours per year. But these are details we'll be figuring out in

859
01:02:00,570 --> 01:02:03,840
the coming months. But we're looking about benefiting 10 people who can get a

860
01:02:03,870 --> 01:02:07,650
$1,500 tax break through providing

861
01:02:09,060 --> 01:02:10,260
services to the town.

862
01:02:11,790 --> 01:02:14,641
Thanks, Walter. Elizabeth, do you have a comment or question?

863
01:02:15,451 --> 01:02:17,040
I do have a question. Thanks, Rich.

864
01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:20,221
At what point during this process would

865
01:02:21,601 --> 01:02:25,440
townsfolk be able to submit comments and questions and be involved in the process?

866
01:02:25,740 --> 01:02:28,650
Since that's not now with this vote, when would that be?

867
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:36,930
It would be

868
01:02:38,490 --> 01:02:43,920
when the select board will have to take action to formally adopt the

869
01:02:43,951 --> 01:02:46,410
program and the policies associated with it.

870
01:02:46,740 --> 01:02:48,330
That would probably be the best time for

871
01:02:49,710 --> 01:02:50,310
community

872
01:02:51,721 --> 01:02:52,351
engagement.

873
01:02:53,880 --> 01:02:57,451
Okay. So if people want to be involved with this, then they should keep an eye on

874
01:02:57,481 --> 01:03:00,150
the select board agenda moving forward if this vote passes?

875
01:03:01,201 --> 01:03:01,380
Yep.

876
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:02,130
All right.

877
01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:06,570
And if people have specific questions about it, they can reach out to my office or

878
01:03:06,630 --> 01:03:07,471
the Council on Aging.

879
01:03:08,010 --> 01:03:08,610
Thank you, sir.

880
01:03:10,020 --> 01:03:11,310
Yeah. Typically, we do at least

881
01:03:12,570 --> 01:03:18,180
the discussion first reading type meeting before we make a decision one or two

882
01:03:18,240 --> 01:03:19,530
meetings later, typically.

883
01:03:20,190 --> 01:03:20,851
I've noticed that-

884
01:03:20,940 --> 01:03:21,120
Unless-

885
01:03:21,120 --> 01:03:25,380
People would like to be told when their time is to comment, because it's not always

886
01:03:26,190 --> 01:03:28,560
obvious to people who don't follow town politics.

887
01:03:29,580 --> 01:03:29,580
Yep.

888
01:03:29,610 --> 01:03:33,570
So being really clear about when that input part is.

889
01:03:33,900 --> 01:03:39,510
Yep. Probably announce it ahead of a meeting, Walter,

890
01:03:39,780 --> 01:03:42,060
like as an upcoming thing at a meeting.

891
01:03:42,120 --> 01:03:45,930
So maybe it'll hit the local paper, "Montague Reporter" or something.

892
01:03:46,680 --> 01:03:49,770
For sure, yeah. And we can work out when we want to roll out this program and work

893
01:03:49,830 --> 01:03:55,710
back from there and announce the timeline so people can have- Know

894
01:03:55,740 --> 01:03:59,040
when to engage. So, all right, good point. Let me think about that.

895
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:01,380
Thank you. And the last

896
01:04:03,060 --> 01:04:08,760
item that we have at this point is the lease for 34 Central Street.

897
01:04:08,851 --> 01:04:09,930
I think that's been

898
01:04:11,670 --> 01:04:17,400
under lease with Franklin Community Action for a lot of years.

899
01:04:17,520 --> 01:04:17,520
A few years.

900
01:04:18,930 --> 01:04:21,930
So let's just extend that, and we've talked a little bit about that.

901
01:04:22,650 --> 01:04:22,800
Mm-hmm.

902
01:04:25,740 --> 01:04:30,721
Okay. Looks good. Anything else you see coming as potential articles, Walter?

903
01:04:30,750 --> 01:04:31,800
Does it seem like it's pretty-

904
01:04:31,891 --> 01:04:31,981
No.

905
01:04:32,971 --> 01:04:33,150
Solid?

906
01:04:33,180 --> 01:04:36,721
This should be the slate that we're looking at.

907
01:04:37,380 --> 01:04:39,510
This is an opportunity for the board to...

908
01:04:42,420 --> 01:04:46,020
If you don't want any of these articles on the warrant, now's the time just to tell

909
01:04:46,080 --> 01:04:46,231
me.

910
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:53,940
This is the time to comment on the order of the articles and the grouping

911
01:04:54,060 --> 01:04:59,670
of them. One comment I did want to make, going back to Article 6, where we grouped

912
01:05:00,300 --> 01:05:03,090
three different non-capital requests together.

913
01:05:03,150 --> 01:05:07,560
I just want to make sure that the board is okay with that process rather than

914
01:05:08,010 --> 01:05:09,690
breaking it out into three separate articles.

915
01:05:09,750 --> 01:05:14,250
We thought that the requests were small enough that it made sense to put them

916
01:05:14,340 --> 01:05:15,660
together into one article.

917
01:05:17,760 --> 01:05:20,340
And yeah. So,

918
01:05:21,870 --> 01:05:25,650
I just wanted to give the board some time and space to comment on the structure of

919
01:05:25,981 --> 01:05:26,550
the warrant.

920
01:05:28,410 --> 01:05:30,690
Any thoughts on those, or comments?

921
01:05:30,810 --> 01:05:32,310
I think the-

922
01:05:33,810 --> 01:05:37,380
Yeah, I guess I do have a question. Yeah, so I'm seeing

923
01:05:39,721 --> 01:05:45,510
park/police. Is that just because of the nature of these two requests, or is

924
01:05:45,570 --> 01:05:47,280
that a standard-

925
01:05:47,280 --> 01:05:47,280
That's a good-

926
01:05:47,280 --> 01:05:49,891
... grouping? Because it feels like a weird grouping to me.

927
01:05:49,981 --> 01:05:55,351
Yeah, good question. So, yeah, there's three

928
01:05:56,101 --> 01:05:59,910
items that are part of that request. Two of them came from the parks department.

929
01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:01,351
One came from the police department.

930
01:06:01,710 --> 01:06:06,030
The police department one is the floor cleaning machine, and the parks are the-

931
01:06:07,500 --> 01:06:07,560
Yeah

932
01:06:07,560 --> 01:06:11,851
... the other two items. So that's why it was parks/police. It's a little unusual.

933
01:06:11,940 --> 01:06:13,231
So, good question.

934
01:06:16,891 --> 01:06:18,750
I think they can get explanations, and

935
01:06:21,451 --> 01:06:25,560
I think they'll work okay. They're pretty straightforward items, it seems.

936
01:06:25,951 --> 01:06:26,130
Yeah.

937
01:06:28,770 --> 01:06:32,940
I don't know how long the police station's been exactly, because it's always more

938
01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:36,300
years than I think, but it's probably close to 10 years now, right, Walter?

939
01:06:36,420 --> 01:06:37,380
2009.

940
01:06:38,430 --> 01:06:38,550
Yeah.

941
01:06:38,610 --> 01:06:38,731
Right.

942
01:06:39,990 --> 01:06:44,910
And the floor cleaning machine was new when the building was built, and now it is

943
01:06:44,940 --> 01:06:49,500
broken. So it's broken, it needs to be fixed, hence the mid-year request.

944
01:06:50,130 --> 01:06:50,310
Yeah.

945
01:06:50,340 --> 01:06:52,740
Yep. And they have a lot of terrazzo floors up there.

946
01:06:52,770 --> 01:06:55,891
They need the machinery to take good care of them, so.

947
01:06:56,701 --> 01:06:57,330
And also to use the-

948
01:06:57,420 --> 01:06:57,630
Okay

949
01:06:57,780 --> 01:06:58,650
... town buildings.

950
01:06:59,250 --> 01:06:59,370
Yep.

951
01:06:59,971 --> 01:07:00,150
Okay.

952
01:07:00,240 --> 01:07:06,150
So it looks like that clears out. I think we have reason to be moving

953
01:07:06,210 --> 01:07:09,660
forward with the warrant and close in a couple more weeks, right?

954
01:07:10,650 --> 01:07:12,570
Yep. Yeah, so my next step will be to

955
01:07:13,920 --> 01:07:17,460
formalize the warrant, send it to counsel for their review.

956
01:07:18,090 --> 01:07:18,090
Yep.

957
01:07:18,150 --> 01:07:23,520
And I have to work with the MSBA. They're doing a review of Article 7 as well.

958
01:07:24,360 --> 01:07:26,880
So, I would expect to come back with a

959
01:07:28,141 --> 01:07:31,320
final version for your approval on October 5th.

960
01:07:31,710 --> 01:07:33,090
That is the target date for-

961
01:07:33,270 --> 01:07:33,840
Okay

962
01:07:36,150 --> 01:07:39,000
... voting the warrant.

963
01:07:39,060 --> 01:07:41,550
All right, so we'll have to read it that night, so we'll have to allow time.

964
01:07:42,330 --> 01:07:42,630
Yep.

965
01:07:42,660 --> 01:07:45,360
That'll be one where we'll want to look, because you mentioned the school,

966
01:07:45,420 --> 01:07:46,080
potentially.

967
01:07:46,170 --> 01:07:47,550
Yep.

968
01:07:47,610 --> 01:07:51,270
If it gets to be too long, maybe we can even do a 6:00 start or something if we

969
01:07:51,330 --> 01:07:51,900
have to.

970
01:07:53,701 --> 01:07:53,940
Okay.

971
01:07:54,690 --> 01:07:57,330
One, I'm sorry. One small clarification.

972
01:07:58,410 --> 01:07:58,981
You said the

973
01:08:00,330 --> 01:08:04,351
floor cleaner was broken, so replacing it, right?

974
01:08:05,310 --> 01:08:10,981
Is this a case where the broken one is then auctioned, or is there any

975
01:08:11,400 --> 01:08:13,201
repair scenario, or

976
01:08:14,940 --> 01:08:16,620
what happens with equipment in a scenario like this?

977
01:08:17,610 --> 01:08:20,370
Yeah. So we looked into repair. It wasn't feasible.

978
01:08:21,240 --> 01:08:25,201
The repairs were going to approach the cost of a new machine.

979
01:08:26,731 --> 01:08:30,870
And so a broken machine would become surplus property.

980
01:08:31,441 --> 01:08:37,110
As town manager, I'd make the determination as to whether it has

981
01:08:37,170 --> 01:08:41,701
value or not. And I don't have enough information to make that determination right

982
01:08:41,731 --> 01:08:46,830
off the cuff. But, depending on what that determination is will dictate what course

983
01:08:46,891 --> 01:08:48,570
we do with disposing of the property.

984
01:08:49,681 --> 01:08:50,431
Understood. Thank you.

985
01:08:51,840 --> 01:08:56,130
Okay, thanks. All right. Next, we have back on track for good.

986
01:08:57,150 --> 01:09:01,920
This is to execute the warrants. So, Walter, do these need to be read in their

987
01:09:01,981 --> 01:09:06,570
entirety, or did what we do last week suffice, or where are we?

988
01:09:14,340 --> 01:09:15,030
You're muted.

989
01:09:15,240 --> 01:09:15,360
Yeah.

990
01:09:15,601 --> 01:09:16,080
Sorry.

991
01:09:16,351 --> 01:09:19,951
So this is one where you do have to read the warrant,

992
01:09:21,870 --> 01:09:26,580
at least enough so that people know what is being put on the warrant.

993
01:09:27,210 --> 01:09:28,290
All right.

994
01:09:28,351 --> 01:09:32,880
Yeah. It's a lot of reading. This is the three upcoming elections, which include

995
01:09:33,150 --> 01:09:37,231
obviously the tech school and the sixth town on October 6th.

996
01:09:37,290 --> 01:09:43,231
But then also the state warrant in

997
01:09:43,320 --> 01:09:47,971
November was also ready. Now, that's something you could punt to a future meeting,

998
01:09:48,750 --> 01:09:54,030
because it's not as timely as the October 6th ones, if you want it, but it needs to

999
01:09:54,060 --> 01:09:56,520
get done at some point. And they are all ready for you.

1000
01:09:57,420 --> 01:10:01,140
I'm going to handle this because Wendy is unable to make it tonight, so I can

1001
01:10:01,710 --> 01:10:04,140
answer any questions that come up under this business.

1002
01:10:05,731 --> 01:10:10,320
Okay. Yeah, let's just do the first two tonight, and we'll do the

1003
01:10:12,150 --> 01:10:14,670
November one next week. Is that okay with the board?

1004
01:10:16,590 --> 01:10:16,740
Yeah.

1005
01:10:17,010 --> 01:10:17,400
If I may.

1006
01:10:19,080 --> 01:10:21,780
Somebody want to volunteer to read them, or otherwise I'll get started here.

1007
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:23,759
Sure, I'll read it. You read last time.

1008
01:10:25,951 --> 01:10:26,669
Go for it.

1009
01:10:27,149 --> 01:10:31,260
Okay. Election warrant town of Montague, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Franklin

1010
01:10:31,350 --> 01:10:36,780
County Regional Vocational Technical School District, October 6th, 2026.

1011
01:10:37,290 --> 01:10:41,850
Franklin SS. To either of the constables of the town of Montague in the county of

1012
01:10:41,910 --> 01:10:44,610
Franklin, greeting. In the name of the Commonwealth...

1013
01:10:44,790 --> 01:10:46,951
I have to do all this, right?

1014
01:10:48,300 --> 01:10:48,330
Mm-hmm.

1015
01:10:48,420 --> 01:10:50,160
I can't just skip down. Okay.

1016
01:10:50,970 --> 01:10:51,510
Sorry.

1017
01:10:52,231 --> 01:10:55,650
I'm just checking. In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby

1018
01:10:55,710 --> 01:11:01,080
directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the town of Montague qualified to

1019
01:11:01,140 --> 01:11:05,701
vote in elections and town affairs to meet in their respective polling places

1020
01:11:05,760 --> 01:11:08,160
appointed and designated as follows.

1021
01:11:08,640 --> 01:11:12,240
Precinct number 1, the Montague Center precinct to the Montague Center Fire

1022
01:11:12,360 --> 01:11:15,481
Station, 28 Old Sunderland Road, Montague Center.

1023
01:11:15,870 --> 01:11:20,250
Precinct number 2, the Millers Falls precinct to the Franklin County Technical

1024
01:11:20,340 --> 01:11:24,000
School gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls.

1025
01:11:24,540 --> 01:11:28,620
Precinct number 3, the Upper Hill section of Turners Falls, the Franklin County

1026
01:11:28,740 --> 01:11:32,370
Technical School gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls.

1027
01:11:32,941 --> 01:11:36,930
Precinct number 4, the second level of Turners Falls, the Franklin County Technical

1028
01:11:37,020 --> 01:11:40,590
School gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls.

1029
01:11:41,040 --> 01:11:46,740
Precinct number 5, downtown section of Turners Falls, the Senior Center, 62 Fifth

1030
01:11:46,830 --> 01:11:52,590
Street, Turners Falls. Precinct number 6, the South Edge and Montague City

1031
01:11:52,710 --> 01:11:56,880
precinct to the Franklin County Technical School gymnasium, 82 Industrial

1032
01:11:56,941 --> 01:12:01,920
Boulevard, Turners Falls, on Tuesday, the sixth day of October in the year of our

1033
01:12:01,981 --> 01:12:07,860
Lord, 2026, from 12:00 PM noon to 8:00 PM, to

1034
01:12:07,890 --> 01:12:13,201
bring their votes on one ballot to the election officers for question one.

1035
01:12:13,680 --> 01:12:18,660
Do you approve of the vote of the Regional District School Committee

1036
01:12:19,560 --> 01:12:24,300
of the Franklin County Regional Vocational Technical School District adopted on

1037
01:12:24,360 --> 01:12:29,550
June 10th, 2026, to authorize the borrowing of

1038
01:12:30,300 --> 01:12:35,970
$236,572,983 to pay

1039
01:12:36,120 --> 01:12:41,400
costs of designing, constructing, equipping, and furnishing a new Franklin County

1040
01:12:41,490 --> 01:12:46,920
Regional Vocational Technical School and related facilities to be located at 82

1041
01:12:46,981 --> 01:12:52,350
Industrial Boulevard in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, which vote provides in

1042
01:12:52,410 --> 01:12:54,630
relevant part as follows.

1043
01:12:56,304 --> 01:13:01,285
Voted that the Franklin County Regional Vocational Technical School District, the

1044
01:13:01,314 --> 01:13:04,374
District, hereby appropriates the amount of

1045
01:13:04,374 --> 01:13:10,344
$236,572,983 for the

1046
01:13:10,404 --> 01:13:16,194
purpose of paying costs of designing, constructing, equipping, and furnishing a new

1047
01:13:16,224 --> 01:13:20,904
Franklin County Regional Vocational Technical School and related facilities,

1048
01:13:21,294 --> 01:13:26,154
located at 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls, Massachusetts, including the

1049
01:13:26,214 --> 01:13:31,074
payment of all costs incidental and related thereto the project.

1050
01:13:31,495 --> 01:13:36,264
Which school facility shall have an anticipated useful life as an educational

1051
01:13:36,294 --> 01:13:41,964
facility for the instruction of schoolchildren of at least 50 years, and for which

1052
01:13:41,995 --> 01:13:47,724
the district may be eligible for a school construction grant from the Massachusetts

1053
01:13:47,814 --> 01:13:53,724
School Building Authority, MSBA, said amount to be expended at the district of the

1054
01:13:53,785 --> 01:13:58,314
school building committee. To meet this appropriation, the district is authorized

1055
01:13:58,374 --> 01:14:02,544
to borrow said amount under and pursuant to GL

1056
01:14:02,964 --> 01:14:08,844
C71.16N, and the district agreement as amended, or

1057
01:14:08,934 --> 01:14:11,454
pursuant to any other enabling authority.

1058
01:14:12,084 --> 01:14:17,124
The district acknowledges that the MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement

1059
01:14:17,154 --> 01:14:22,794
discretionary program based on need as determined by the MSBA, and any

1060
01:14:22,854 --> 01:14:28,644
project cost the district incurs in excess of any grant approval by and

1061
01:14:28,674 --> 01:14:33,834
received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the district.

1062
01:14:34,434 --> 01:14:39,174
Provided further that any grant that the district may receive from the MSBA shall

1063
01:14:39,234 --> 01:14:41,844
not exceed the lesser of, one,

1064
01:14:42,234 --> 01:14:49,404
66.27%

1065
01:14:49,524 --> 01:14:55,044
of eligible approved project costs as determined by the MSBA, and two,

1066
01:14:55,674 --> 01:15:00,324
the total maximum grant amount determined by the MSBA, and that the amount of

1067
01:15:00,384 --> 01:15:05,304
borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any grant amount set

1068
01:15:05,394 --> 01:15:10,374
forth in the project funding agreement that may be executed between the districts

1069
01:15:10,434 --> 01:15:13,404
and the MSBA. Yes or no.

1070
01:15:14,724 --> 01:15:20,334
Hereof, fail not and make due return of this warrant with your doings thereon to

1071
01:15:20,394 --> 01:15:23,334
the town clerk seven days before said election.

1072
01:15:23,724 --> 01:15:27,444
Given under our hands this day of,

1073
01:15:28,884 --> 01:15:30,264
in the year of our Lord,

1074
01:15:31,614 --> 01:15:33,684
2026.

1075
01:15:35,274 --> 01:15:40,644
Rich Jakubeitz, Marina D. Goldman, Nick Card, Franklin SS Montague, Mass,

1076
01:15:41,214 --> 01:15:46,914
date blank 2026. Pursuant to the within warrant, I have warned the inhabitants of

1077
01:15:46,974 --> 01:15:52,644
the town of Montague by posting attested copies of the same in a conspicuous place

1078
01:15:52,704 --> 01:15:57,384
in each of the post office, libraries, and town hall of the town of Montague at

1079
01:15:57,444 --> 01:16:01,074
least seven days before said meeting, as within directed.

1080
01:16:02,304 --> 01:16:03,984
Signed by the constable of Montague.

1081
01:16:05,844 --> 01:16:06,624
Thanks, Marina.

1082
01:16:07,104 --> 01:16:08,394
Did I get all those numbers right?

1083
01:16:09,594 --> 01:16:14,274
I think so. All right, so we need a motion to-- I guess Marina read and made the

1084
01:16:14,334 --> 01:16:18,624
motion to approve the tech school warrant. Do I have a second for that?

1085
01:16:19,495 --> 01:16:20,064
Seconded.

1086
01:16:20,574 --> 01:16:24,684
Okay. Any discussion? Call for vote, Marina Goldman.

1087
01:16:25,134 --> 01:16:25,314
Aye.

1088
01:16:26,035 --> 01:16:26,754
Nick Card.

1089
01:16:27,384 --> 01:16:27,564
Aye.

1090
01:16:28,224 --> 01:16:31,524
And Rich Kuklic, aye. Okay. Are you up to the

1091
01:16:33,204 --> 01:16:34,944
Great River Regional School District?

1092
01:16:35,814 --> 01:16:35,995
Sure.

1093
01:16:36,054 --> 01:16:37,104
Okay.

1094
01:16:37,164 --> 01:16:37,914
What did you need?

1095
01:16:38,514 --> 01:16:39,354
Second it? Sure.

1096
01:16:39,984 --> 01:16:40,285
You got it.

1097
01:16:40,314 --> 01:16:41,544
Okay. Got it.

1098
01:16:43,974 --> 01:16:46,704
Election warrant, town of Montague, Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

1099
01:16:46,764 --> 01:16:50,184
Great River Regional School District, October 6, 2026.

1100
01:16:50,754 --> 01:16:55,554
Franklin SS, to either of the constables of the town of Montague in the county of

1101
01:16:55,614 --> 01:16:59,394
Franklin, greeting. In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are

1102
01:16:59,454 --> 01:17:02,785
hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the town of Montague

1103
01:17:02,874 --> 01:17:06,834
qualified to vote in elections and town affairs to meet in the respective polling

1104
01:17:06,894 --> 01:17:09,384
places appointed and designated as follows.

1105
01:17:09,954 --> 01:17:13,554
Precinct number one, the Montague Center Precinct, the Montague Center Fire

1106
01:17:13,644 --> 01:17:16,495
Station, 28 Old Sunderland Road, Montague Center.

1107
01:17:17,214 --> 01:17:21,414
Precinct number two, the Miller's Falls Precinct, the Franklin County Technical

1108
01:17:21,504 --> 01:17:24,474
School Gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls.

1109
01:17:25,404 --> 01:17:29,844
Precinct number three, the Upper Hill section of Turners Falls, the Franklin County

1110
01:17:29,934 --> 01:17:33,984
Technical School Gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls.

1111
01:17:34,554 --> 01:17:39,564
Precinct number four, the second level of Turners Falls, the Franklin County

1112
01:17:39,654 --> 01:17:43,194
Technical School Gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls.

1113
01:17:43,824 --> 01:17:49,764
Precinct number five, downtown section of Turners Falls, the Senior Center, 62

1114
01:17:49,794 --> 01:17:55,014
Fifth Street, Turners Falls. Precinct number six, the South End and Montague City

1115
01:17:55,104 --> 01:17:59,544
Precinct, the Franklin County Technical School Gymnasium, 82 Industrial Boulevard,

1116
01:17:59,874 --> 01:18:04,464
Turners Falls. On Tuesday the 6th of October, in the year of our Lord

1117
01:18:05,634 --> 01:18:11,604
2026, from 12:00 p.m. noon to 8:00 p.m., to bring their votes on the ballot to

1118
01:18:11,634 --> 01:18:12,984
the election officers for

1119
01:18:14,274 --> 01:18:20,154
question one, article one. Shall the town accept the provisions of

1120
01:18:20,214 --> 01:18:25,884
Section 16 to 16 (1) , inclusive, of Chapter 71 of the General Laws, providing for

1121
01:18:25,914 --> 01:18:29,544
the establishment of a regional school district that consists of the towns of

1122
01:18:29,574 --> 01:18:34,614
Bernardston, Gill, Leyden, Montague, Northfield, and Warwick, and to be known as

1123
01:18:34,644 --> 01:18:38,484
the Great River Regional School District, the new district?

1124
01:18:39,684 --> 01:18:43,344
The new district should be formed and governed in accordance with the agreement

1125
01:18:43,524 --> 01:18:48,384
filed by the Six Town Regional Planning Board and with the Selectboard.

1126
01:18:49,044 --> 01:18:54,535
Either the Six Town Agreement, the Six Town Regional Agreement, or the Five Town

1127
01:18:54,594 --> 01:19:00,234
Agreement, the Five Town Regional Agreement, depending on the results of this vote

1128
01:19:00,354 --> 01:19:05,484
as described below. Copies of both of which are available for inspection at Town

1129
01:19:05,544 --> 01:19:08,814
Hall and on the website sixtowns.org.

1130
01:19:10,524 --> 01:19:14,214
If a majority of the votes presented and voting in each of the towns of

1131
01:19:14,274 --> 01:19:18,294
Bernardston, Gill, Leyden, Northfield, Warwick, and Montague vote in the

1132
01:19:18,354 --> 01:19:23,483
affirmative, the new district shall be established to include all six towns, and

1133
01:19:23,514 --> 01:19:27,924
the Six Town Regional Agreement shall thereupon become effective and govern the new

1134
01:19:27,983 --> 01:19:32,245
district, subject to approval of the regional agreement by the Commissioner of

1135
01:19:32,334 --> 01:19:34,104
Elementary and Secondary Education.

1136
01:19:34,584 --> 01:19:40,194
Provided, however, that if a majority of the voters of the Town of Warwick present

1137
01:19:40,254 --> 01:19:44,814
and voting on this question does not vote in the affirmative, the new district

1138
01:19:44,874 --> 01:19:49,884
shall instead be established to include only the towns of Bernardston, Gill,

1139
01:19:50,004 --> 01:19:54,144
Leyden, Northfield, and Montague, shall not include the Town of Warwick, and the

1140
01:19:54,204 --> 01:19:58,164
Five Town Regional Agreement shall thereupon become effective and govern the new

1141
01:19:58,224 --> 01:20:02,664
district, subject to approval of the regional agreement by the Commissioner of

1142
01:20:02,724 --> 01:20:04,404
Elementary and Secondary Education.

1143
01:20:05,245 --> 01:20:09,354
Full operation of the new district and dissolution of the Gill-Montague Regional

1144
01:20:09,414 --> 01:20:14,904
School District, the GMRSD, and the Pioneer Valley Regional School District,

1145
01:20:15,114 --> 01:20:20,814
the PVRSD, shall be further subject to enactment of special

1146
01:20:20,874 --> 01:20:26,634
legislation permitting the transfer, A, the transfer of the buildings and other

1147
01:20:26,724 --> 01:20:32,544
assets and liabilities of each of the GMRSD and the PVRSD

1148
01:20:32,634 --> 01:20:37,344
to the new district on the date the new district becomes fully operational at the

1149
01:20:37,434 --> 01:20:40,614
end of the transition period specified in the regional agreement.

1150
01:20:41,154 --> 01:20:46,584
And B, the dissolution of the GMRSD and the PVRSD on the same

1151
01:20:46,644 --> 01:20:49,734
date without further action by any public body.

1152
01:20:51,834 --> 01:20:57,654
Yes or no. Hereof, fail not and make due return of this warrant

1153
01:20:57,714 --> 01:21:01,914
with your doings thereon to the town clerk seven days before said election.

1154
01:21:02,874 --> 01:21:08,844
Given under our hands this blank day of blank in the year of our Lord,

1155
01:21:09,084 --> 01:21:12,714
2026. Richard J. Kuklic, Marina D.

1156
01:21:12,804 --> 01:21:17,035
Goldman, Nick Card, Franklin SS Montague, Massachusetts

1157
01:21:18,474 --> 01:21:24,324
blank 2026. Pursuant to the within warrant, I have warned the inhabitants

1158
01:21:24,474 --> 01:21:29,124
of the town of Montague by posting attested copies of the same in a conspicuous

1159
01:21:29,184 --> 01:21:33,624
place in each of the post offices, libraries, and the town hall of the town of

1160
01:21:33,654 --> 01:21:37,674
Montague at least seven days before said meeting, as with directed.

1161
01:21:38,634 --> 01:21:39,984
Signed, constable of Montague.

1162
01:21:41,694 --> 01:21:45,114
Thank you, Nate. So that was Nate made the motion. Do I hear a second?

1163
01:21:46,285 --> 01:21:46,644
Second.

1164
01:21:47,904 --> 01:21:49,524
All right. I'll call for a vote. Marina Goldman.

1165
01:21:50,124 --> 01:21:50,274
Aye.

1166
01:21:51,054 --> 01:21:51,714
Nick Card.

1167
01:21:52,554 --> 01:21:52,734
Aye.

1168
01:21:53,454 --> 01:21:55,524
And Rich Kuklic, aye. So we're unanimous

1169
01:21:56,898 --> 01:21:57,498
Well, Walter, we're

1170
01:21:58,998 --> 01:22:02,178
skipping the next one till next week. Vote-by-mail clarification?

1171
01:22:03,138 --> 01:22:08,238
Yeah, I wanted to set the record straight on this, because the board had, a few

1172
01:22:08,299 --> 01:22:09,408
weeks ago, voted

1173
01:22:11,028 --> 01:22:16,038
when you set the date for the sixth town virtualization vote.

1174
01:22:16,488 --> 01:22:17,328
You'd voted to

1175
01:22:18,978 --> 01:22:23,988
opt out of vote-by-mail for that election, with the goal to have consistent

1176
01:22:24,049 --> 01:22:28,158
election rules with the tech school district election that's happening

1177
01:22:28,218 --> 01:22:34,098
simultaneously. Well, it turns out that we weren't allowed to do that

1178
01:22:34,428 --> 01:22:38,778
because that voting's happened 45 days before the election, and because the special

1179
01:22:38,868 --> 01:22:40,218
legislation was only passed

1180
01:22:41,748 --> 01:22:45,317
40 days before the election, that vote that the board took was nulled.

1181
01:22:45,888 --> 01:22:51,738
Long story short, there will be vote-by-mail for the Great River

1182
01:22:51,918 --> 01:22:56,448
Regional School District election, and we are prepared accordingly to do that.

1183
01:22:56,508 --> 01:23:01,578
Those ballots are in the process of being produced and will be sent out to

1184
01:23:01,638 --> 01:23:02,178
residents.

1185
01:23:04,518 --> 01:23:07,728
But to be clear, the tech school still is not going to have vote-by-mail.

1186
01:23:07,818 --> 01:23:12,138
That is by state law. A regional district election just can't have that.

1187
01:23:13,818 --> 01:23:18,858
And so just wanted to set the record straight that we are doing vote-by-mail for

1188
01:23:19,278 --> 01:23:20,118
that election.

1189
01:23:21,678 --> 01:23:21,888
Okay.

1190
01:23:23,178 --> 01:23:23,718
Thanks, Walter.

1191
01:23:25,128 --> 01:23:29,328
Okay, Chris, you have a couple of announcements and updates.

1192
01:23:29,868 --> 01:23:33,468
Hi, good evening. I'm happy to be able to start with some good news.

1193
01:23:33,588 --> 01:23:38,718
So I wanted to announce that we just found out the town was awarded a loan grant

1194
01:23:38,778 --> 01:23:42,888
combination from the USDA Rural Development Agency.

1195
01:23:43,848 --> 01:23:49,398
As you recall, we have a capital item from 2025 where town meeting

1196
01:23:49,459 --> 01:23:53,959
approved for the authorization to borrow up to 3 million to pay for phase two of

1197
01:23:54,049 --> 01:23:59,388
the sewer rehabilitation and relining project throughout both Turner Falls and

1198
01:23:59,418 --> 01:24:02,388
Miller's Falls. There are several items that were identified that need to be

1199
01:24:02,418 --> 01:24:04,459
addressed in the town's long-term control plan.

1200
01:24:05,808 --> 01:24:11,238
These are all keeping us in compliance with that plan, and I am happy to report

1201
01:24:11,299 --> 01:24:13,878
that the award we got was actually a lot more than we expected.

1202
01:24:13,968 --> 01:24:19,728
We got a grant award of $1,197,000 matched with a loan

1203
01:24:19,848 --> 01:24:24,828
of 1.9 million. That means that the federal government is going to be picking up

1204
01:24:24,888 --> 01:24:28,278
the tab for over a third of this project, which is fantastic news for us.

1205
01:24:28,908 --> 01:24:34,248
And the $1.9 million loan is a very low interest,

1206
01:24:34,608 --> 01:24:37,848
advantageous loan for us that can have a term of up to 40 years.

1207
01:24:38,058 --> 01:24:38,238
So,

1208
01:24:39,828 --> 01:24:43,518
more details on that coming soon. There'll be grant agreements to execute, but I

1209
01:24:43,549 --> 01:24:47,058
wanted to give the good news that we just got last week on that project.

1210
01:24:49,008 --> 01:24:49,338
Great.

1211
01:24:51,408 --> 01:24:52,218
Chris, does that mean that-

1212
01:24:52,578 --> 01:24:53,028
Anything else?

1213
01:24:53,058 --> 01:24:58,098
Yeah. Does that mean that we borrow less than originally intended, or-

1214
01:24:58,788 --> 01:24:58,938
Yes

1215
01:24:58,938 --> 01:25:01,878
... does that mean we get to do more work? Okay.

1216
01:25:02,118 --> 01:25:04,788
That'll mean we get to do the same amount of work borrowing less than we had

1217
01:25:04,818 --> 01:25:08,928
originally intended. We were prepared to borrow up to the full 3 million, but now

1218
01:25:09,498 --> 01:25:11,178
we only will need to borrow 1.9.

1219
01:25:12,108 --> 01:25:12,918
That's great news. Thanks.

1220
01:25:13,518 --> 01:25:13,788
Sure.

1221
01:25:17,058 --> 01:25:20,959
Next I wanted to give a couple of updates on the library building project.

1222
01:25:21,078 --> 01:25:24,438
I know we have a couple of people from the library building steering committee that

1223
01:25:24,468 --> 01:25:28,368
are here on this meeting too, that I would certainly invite to join me if I miss

1224
01:25:28,428 --> 01:25:33,498
anything. But this is a project that's been making a lot of progress since the vote

1225
01:25:33,588 --> 01:25:35,628
to approve the project happened in June.

1226
01:25:36,348 --> 01:25:40,278
It's been somewhat in the background, I understand, for some folks, so I want to

1227
01:25:40,308 --> 01:25:43,008
make sure that we're shining some light on some of the work that's continued to

1228
01:25:43,038 --> 01:25:44,868
happen with the building steering committee.

1229
01:25:45,558 --> 01:25:49,638
So we've continued to have biweekly meetings with the architect and with the

1230
01:25:49,668 --> 01:25:50,718
owner's project manager.

1231
01:25:52,008 --> 01:25:55,878
We reconvened the library building steering committee, typically about once a

1232
01:25:55,908 --> 01:26:01,638
month, and we've been starting to dive into some of the nitty-gritty details of the

1233
01:26:01,668 --> 01:26:05,959
building. We've talked about lighting, we've talked about flooring, some elements

1234
01:26:05,988 --> 01:26:10,308
of interior design, and most recently, we've engaged Eversource's Mass Save

1235
01:26:10,368 --> 01:26:14,148
consultant for a conversation on how we can take advantage of some of their

1236
01:26:14,209 --> 01:26:18,888
energy-saving rebates. Which is something that we think has potential to have some

1237
01:26:18,948 --> 01:26:22,908
very good cost savings both for the project, but even more so for ongoing

1238
01:26:22,998 --> 01:26:25,278
operations after the facility is built.

1239
01:26:25,578 --> 01:26:30,558
So that's something that we think with a small upfront investment of our time now

1240
01:26:30,618 --> 01:26:33,288
will pay off and then some moving forward.

1241
01:26:33,438 --> 01:26:37,549
So I'll keep you posted on how that goes, but right now we're kind of in the

1242
01:26:37,578 --> 01:26:40,668
exploratory phase of the energy efficiency options.

1243
01:26:43,188 --> 01:26:44,688
Anybody have any library questions though?

1244
01:26:46,488 --> 01:26:51,288
Actually, Chris, somebody questioned me, and I don't know if I'll have any today,

1245
01:26:51,408 --> 01:26:54,978
but maybe while there's some folks on from the library building committee.

1246
01:26:55,398 --> 01:26:58,428
Someone asked if there were bricks that were going to be removed from the

1247
01:26:58,518 --> 01:27:03,588
Strathmore, which is your next item, could they somehow be used as part of the

1248
01:27:03,618 --> 01:27:09,198
library project? So I just think it's one of the-- I thought of it as a

1249
01:27:09,228 --> 01:27:11,748
crazy idea, but just may be feasible.

1250
01:27:11,838 --> 01:27:12,318
So anyway-

1251
01:27:13,218 --> 01:27:14,028
That's a great question

1252
01:27:14,058 --> 01:27:14,448
... thought I'd throw it out there.

1253
01:27:15,018 --> 01:27:18,078
I see Will just raised his hand. I'll try to give the short answer, but I

1254
01:27:18,228 --> 01:27:20,658
definitely want to make sure Will can speak to this as well.

1255
01:27:22,158 --> 01:27:24,648
We did have a conversation about this with the architect.

1256
01:27:26,118 --> 01:27:30,858
I loved the idea personally. I think it would be great to be able to both pay

1257
01:27:30,918 --> 01:27:36,049
homage to the Strathmore, and to be able to maybe pick up some cost savings of

1258
01:27:36,768 --> 01:27:38,898
brick material that would otherwise be new.

1259
01:27:39,948 --> 01:27:45,108
Unfortunately, the answer is it's probably not feasible, that Strathmore is of an

1260
01:27:45,168 --> 01:27:49,668
advanced enough age that the brick material that's holding that building up isn't

1261
01:27:49,728 --> 01:27:54,618
necessarily able to meet modern standards of structural needs.

1262
01:27:56,268 --> 01:27:59,838
So I think we didn't shut the door on it completely.

1263
01:27:59,898 --> 01:28:03,738
We might find ways to be able to incorporate some ornamental brickwork.

1264
01:28:04,998 --> 01:28:08,478
We don't want to completely shut the door on it, but realistically, I do want to

1265
01:28:08,508 --> 01:28:14,148
make sure we set the expectation that that's not going to be a main component.

1266
01:28:15,018 --> 01:28:17,028
All right. I just wanted to ask on behalf of that person.

1267
01:28:17,088 --> 01:28:19,248
Will, you want to-- anything you might want to add to that?

1268
01:28:21,077 --> 01:28:21,799
Sure. Thank you.

1269
01:28:23,507 --> 01:28:27,288
Agree with Chris, as far as setting expectations.

1270
01:28:28,577 --> 01:28:34,459
I also had high hopes for that, one in conversation with the

1271
01:28:34,549 --> 01:28:40,188
architects, both because these bricks are probably structurally

1272
01:28:40,308 --> 01:28:45,588
not certain, they may not be as uniform as we need to use them in an architectural

1273
01:28:45,648 --> 01:28:47,959
way. They may not be exactly the same size and they

1274
01:28:49,608 --> 01:28:52,608
may need a completely different type of mortar product.

1275
01:28:53,028 --> 01:28:55,668
There were a lot of different cautions we were given.

1276
01:28:57,558 --> 01:29:03,078
I also sat in on a meeting with the historic commission

1277
01:29:03,888 --> 01:29:09,138
where the demolition engineers for the Strathmore project presented and

1278
01:29:09,858 --> 01:29:13,488
talked to them a little bit as well, and they had some different comments.

1279
01:29:13,638 --> 01:29:19,518
One of which was that they do anticipate using a great deal of the volume of

1280
01:29:19,578 --> 01:29:23,058
brick in the course of the fill aspects of that project.

1281
01:29:23,148 --> 01:29:23,688
So they were--

1282
01:29:24,948 --> 01:29:29,358
And some of the bricks that do look good, they have plans for using them on the

1283
01:29:29,448 --> 01:29:31,368
exterior of building nine.

1284
01:29:32,568 --> 01:29:35,418
So they were a little bit

1285
01:29:37,008 --> 01:29:42,138
hesitant or maybe more than hesitant to volunteer that there might be much quantity

1286
01:29:42,168 --> 01:29:42,528
of brick

1287
01:29:43,878 --> 01:29:47,088
that would be useful to us and available.

1288
01:29:47,898 --> 01:29:52,038
So I think in the end, we're probably looking at best at having bricks that we

1289
01:29:52,068 --> 01:29:56,088
might be able to use in a non-architectural capacity,

1290
01:29:57,378 --> 01:30:01,308
ornamenting some outdoor patio spaces or something that might have people's names

1291
01:30:01,368 --> 01:30:05,718
on them. But we really have to wait and see how the projects go, particularly the

1292
01:30:05,748 --> 01:30:09,348
demolition project, I think, to be able to say yes to that.

1293
01:30:11,118 --> 01:30:15,648
Great. Thanks. I just wanted to bring it up so folks could have some hearing on

1294
01:30:15,709 --> 01:30:16,308
that. Okay.

1295
01:30:16,368 --> 01:30:16,758
Thanks.

1296
01:30:18,318 --> 01:30:19,008
Next, Chris.

1297
01:30:20,868 --> 01:30:23,959
Thank you. So yeah, segueing into the Strathmore project.

1298
01:30:24,978 --> 01:30:30,738
We are continuing on the timeline that we last gave an update on, which is bidding

1299
01:30:30,768 --> 01:30:35,388
this fall with the expectation that we will have a demolition contractor on board

1300
01:30:35,868 --> 01:30:39,768
for the spring to be able to start work in time for the 2027 construction season.

1301
01:30:40,578 --> 01:30:44,418
I did want to give the board a heads-up that because of the nuances of

1302
01:30:44,448 --> 01:30:49,368
Massachusetts procurement law, the way that we were initially hoping to bid this

1303
01:30:49,398 --> 01:30:55,308
project, under Chapter 30, Section 39M, we found to not

1304
01:30:55,338 --> 01:30:58,518
necessarily hold up with the amount of structural work that's going to be required.

1305
01:30:58,578 --> 01:31:02,598
Meaning, long story short, we're needing to bid this as a building project rather

1306
01:31:02,628 --> 01:31:06,618
than as a public works project, which necessitates having an OPM, an owner's

1307
01:31:06,648 --> 01:31:11,748
project manager. So that is something that we have a fair amount of flexibility in

1308
01:31:11,778 --> 01:31:12,828
defining the scope for.

1309
01:31:14,388 --> 01:31:18,888
We have solicited responses via an RFQ, a request for qualifications, from

1310
01:31:18,918 --> 01:31:21,078
interested OPM firms. We got a lot of interest,

1311
01:31:22,459 --> 01:31:27,168
and we are working to pare down the scope that that OPM will be doing since we

1312
01:31:27,228 --> 01:31:32,507
already have a very structured, thorough scope with Tie and Bond for

1313
01:31:32,538 --> 01:31:33,858
pre-construction services.

1314
01:31:35,178 --> 01:31:39,528
So we are being very cost-conscious about this project while making sure that we're

1315
01:31:39,588 --> 01:31:44,988
following the law. And you're going to be seeing in the next few weeks, possibly as

1316
01:31:45,018 --> 01:31:47,778
soon as next meeting, if not by the one after that,

1317
01:31:49,578 --> 01:31:54,858
the result of our negotiations with the prospective OPM firm, and what that

1318
01:31:54,918 --> 01:31:55,878
contract might look like.

1319
01:31:59,928 --> 01:32:01,578
Walter, I don't know if you had anything to add on that.

1320
01:32:01,638 --> 01:32:04,308
You were also involved in the conversations.

1321
01:32:07,008 --> 01:32:11,748
Okay. Sorry, I was muted. Any other? Okay. Complete Street.

1322
01:32:12,828 --> 01:32:14,418
Sure. So I'm going to share my screen a little bit.

1323
01:32:14,478 --> 01:32:18,378
The Montague Center Complete Streets project is underway.

1324
01:32:19,188 --> 01:32:20,988
We appreciate everybody's patience during construction.

1325
01:32:21,018 --> 01:32:23,988
We know it's never fun to have construction going on in your neighborhood, but

1326
01:32:24,709 --> 01:32:28,248
we're excited for the final results of this project.

1327
01:32:28,308 --> 01:32:30,378
We know it's been long anticipated by the community.

1328
01:32:31,188 --> 01:32:35,238
I've been taking regular trips up to Montague Center to monitor the construction as

1329
01:32:35,299 --> 01:32:36,018
it happens.

1330
01:32:37,938 --> 01:32:41,838
You can see that they've started to install the raised crosswalk at the northern

1331
01:32:41,898 --> 01:32:43,578
end of the town common in this picture.

1332
01:32:45,408 --> 01:32:48,078
This coming week, they're going to be working largely on drainage, from my

1333
01:32:48,108 --> 01:32:52,998
understanding, and then the following week, beginning to work further southward,

1334
01:32:53,718 --> 01:32:56,448
from the town common down towards the post office area.

1335
01:32:57,228 --> 01:32:59,358
So construction's moving along smoothly there.

1336
01:32:59,478 --> 01:33:02,928
We haven't gotten any concerns or complaints yet.

1337
01:33:03,948 --> 01:33:09,198
I think we are still on track to be able to finish construction by late October.

1338
01:33:09,978 --> 01:33:11,838
So it's a relatively small job of

1339
01:33:13,098 --> 01:33:14,898
six to eight weeks total for the contractor.

1340
01:33:16,908 --> 01:33:17,598
Great. Thanks.

1341
01:33:18,978 --> 01:33:20,898
And the final one, I think you have is Avenue A.

1342
01:33:22,158 --> 01:33:26,388
Yes. So Avenue A is substantially complete.

1343
01:33:26,628 --> 01:33:29,178
We have a punch list that's been prepared for the contractor.

1344
01:33:29,778 --> 01:33:34,338
But for this past year's phase of the streetscape improvements, which are in front

1345
01:33:34,398 --> 01:33:38,598
of the Power Town apartments, and then in front of Harvey's and the Dolan and Dolan

1346
01:33:38,658 --> 01:33:40,098
law offices. We

1347
01:33:41,328 --> 01:33:43,608
are very pleased overall with how the work has come out.

1348
01:33:43,638 --> 01:33:46,728
We just have a couple of small details for the contractor to come back and resolve

1349
01:33:46,788 --> 01:33:48,799
before we issue final payment. But

1350
01:33:50,448 --> 01:33:53,658
we're satisfied with their work. They made quick work of it, and it looks good.

1351
01:33:56,959 --> 01:33:58,518
Okay, any questions on

1352
01:34:00,049 --> 01:34:01,998
any of the projects or anything else for Chris?

1353
01:34:03,618 --> 01:34:05,178
Good. Thanks for that update, Chris.

1354
01:34:06,018 --> 01:34:06,468
Thank you.

1355
01:34:07,098 --> 01:34:09,438
Walter, town administrator business.

1356
01:34:11,088 --> 01:34:16,398
Yeah. So, tonight I'd like to talk about the Ferrin and the request for

1357
01:34:16,848 --> 01:34:20,148
proposals process that I'm proposing here.

1358
01:34:22,908 --> 01:34:23,418
So

1359
01:34:24,799 --> 01:34:26,118
in preparation to

1360
01:34:27,438 --> 01:34:31,728
release a disposition, one of the important steps that the board needs to take is

1361
01:34:31,788 --> 01:34:34,158
to declare the property a surplus.

1362
01:34:34,998 --> 01:34:39,258
So I'm going to be asking you to do that, to declare the Ferrin property a surplus,

1363
01:34:39,858 --> 01:34:45,438
and also, I'm asking for your authority to release an RFP, and I can go over the

1364
01:34:45,828 --> 01:34:46,788
general structure of that,

1365
01:34:48,049 --> 01:34:53,718
how we're proposing to do the RFP, and hopefully get some feedback and consensus

1366
01:34:53,868 --> 01:34:59,299
on how to proceed. We've done a draft of that request for

1367
01:34:59,358 --> 01:35:01,098
proposals. It's been reviewed by

1368
01:35:02,299 --> 01:35:05,568
Mass Housing Partnership, did a peer review of it.

1369
01:35:06,228 --> 01:35:09,799
So we think it's pretty close to being ready for release, but I need to--

1370
01:35:11,448 --> 01:35:15,049
I want you all to agree to the important elements of it.

1371
01:35:15,498 --> 01:35:15,738
So,

1372
01:35:18,198 --> 01:35:19,068
I'm going to

1373
01:35:20,598 --> 01:35:26,448
share the screen. This is the proposed subdivision concept that was worked

1374
01:35:26,538 --> 01:35:27,978
out about

1375
01:35:29,838 --> 01:35:34,459
three or four months ago, and it divides the Ferrin

1376
01:35:35,898 --> 01:35:41,598
parcel into three different properties. So this is how Ferrin is currently.

1377
01:35:41,959 --> 01:35:46,368
There's two parcels, the one with the main hospital and the one with the

1378
01:35:46,428 --> 01:35:51,528
outbuilding on it. What we're proposing for a subdivision is to make it into three

1379
01:35:51,588 --> 01:35:56,988
parcels. One and two would be put out for development.

1380
01:35:57,408 --> 01:35:59,808
Three would be retained by the town as public space.

1381
01:36:00,258 --> 01:36:03,528
In this area you're seeing here, this is a future public roadway.

1382
01:36:04,308 --> 01:36:09,948
And this is what it looks like at a potential kind of maximum build-out scenario.

1383
01:36:10,488 --> 01:36:12,108
So parcel one would be

1384
01:36:14,928 --> 01:36:19,608
the smaller of the two development parcels, and two would be the largest

1385
01:36:19,638 --> 01:36:24,018
development parcel. And again, three would be retained public open space with the

1386
01:36:24,049 --> 01:36:25,459
bike path going through it.

1387
01:36:27,408 --> 01:36:30,978
And the way that I'm proposing the RFP be set up is that

1388
01:36:32,718 --> 01:36:34,278
a proponent can bid on

1389
01:36:36,528 --> 01:36:39,378
either one or two, or one and two together.

1390
01:36:40,368 --> 01:36:45,768
The intent is to hope to get to some small developers who would possibly

1391
01:36:46,338 --> 01:36:49,008
be interested in parcel number one,

1392
01:36:50,238 --> 01:36:54,258
whereas larger developers probably going to be interested in parcel number two.

1393
01:36:55,488 --> 01:36:59,028
We don't really have a good sense of where that actual market is for those, so this

1394
01:36:59,148 --> 01:37:02,808
RFP is going to put it out there, and we'll see where the interest lies.

1395
01:37:09,888 --> 01:37:10,459
Okay.

1396
01:37:10,549 --> 01:37:13,728
Just hold on one second. Let me find my notes again.

1397
01:37:16,098 --> 01:37:21,498
So that's one thing. I'd like you to agree to that strategy of doing RFP.

1398
01:37:21,528 --> 01:37:25,518
You can bid on parcels one and two, or one or two.

1399
01:37:26,568 --> 01:37:27,228
That and

1400
01:37:28,818 --> 01:37:31,488
offering these parcels at below their market rate value.

1401
01:37:32,118 --> 01:37:37,608
So per procurement law, in order to do a disposition, you have to establish the

1402
01:37:37,698 --> 01:37:39,258
fair market value of these properties.

1403
01:37:39,828 --> 01:37:42,709
I worked with our assessing office to do a fair market appraisal.

1404
01:37:43,968 --> 01:37:49,608
And so Adam, the assessor, arrived on the value of these properties to

1405
01:37:49,668 --> 01:37:53,868
be a total of just under half a million dollars,

1406
01:37:54,408 --> 01:37:55,698
$490,000.

1407
01:37:57,168 --> 01:38:01,128
But I'm recommending that we offer these properties at below market rate in

1408
01:38:01,158 --> 01:38:05,808
exchange for the public interest of increasing

1409
01:38:06,888 --> 01:38:09,078
supply of housing in the community.

1410
01:38:10,338 --> 01:38:10,488
And

1411
01:38:11,808 --> 01:38:15,378
the board can do this. You can sell properties below market value if it's achieving

1412
01:38:15,468 --> 01:38:16,459
a public purpose,

1413
01:38:17,748 --> 01:38:19,068
which I am--

1414
01:38:26,358 --> 01:38:31,908
Yeah. So I'm recommending that they be sold for a nominal price of $10,000 for each

1415
01:38:32,148 --> 01:38:33,168
of the two parcels.

1416
01:38:35,568 --> 01:38:39,049
I wanted to do $10,000 so that there's at least some skin in the game for the

1417
01:38:39,078 --> 01:38:43,278
developers, and it at least covers kind of the cost of developing the RFP.

1418
01:38:44,118 --> 01:38:47,358
Still very much below the market value, but it puts a little bit of skin in the

1419
01:38:47,418 --> 01:38:47,658
game.

1420
01:38:48,888 --> 01:38:53,928
I'm open to suggestions if the board wants to increase that amount or keep parcel

1421
01:38:54,049 --> 01:38:58,368
one as a lower amount and possibly the larger parcel a higher amount.

1422
01:38:58,728 --> 01:38:59,838
I'm totally fine with that.

1423
01:39:01,158 --> 01:39:05,328
But the idea is to sell it at a nominal rate in exchange for

1424
01:39:06,738 --> 01:39:12,558
housing production and increasing for workforce housing, and public

1425
01:39:12,738 --> 01:39:14,299
improvements that will come along with this.

1426
01:39:17,088 --> 01:39:17,988
Thanks, Walter.

1427
01:39:18,078 --> 01:39:19,908
Yeah. I think that pretty much covers it.

1428
01:39:19,968 --> 01:39:24,078
Oh, yeah, the other item to talk about was the review process.

1429
01:39:24,348 --> 01:39:25,638
I'm recommending that

1430
01:39:27,049 --> 01:39:32,538
we have staff do the initial vetting of the proposals that come in.

1431
01:39:32,628 --> 01:39:38,418
We will review and score them according with the RFP, and rank them and

1432
01:39:38,508 --> 01:39:43,428
bring a kind of ranked recommendation to the select board for you to decide who a

1433
01:39:43,459 --> 01:39:44,898
preferred development partner would be.

1434
01:39:45,378 --> 01:39:48,378
And of course, in this scenario, there could be two preferred development partners,

1435
01:39:48,978 --> 01:39:52,459
if we get separate proposals for parcel one and two.

1436
01:39:54,709 --> 01:39:58,968
And it would be a public decision by the select board who we work with.

1437
01:39:59,959 --> 01:40:00,828
And there would be

1438
01:40:03,018 --> 01:40:08,628
a whole public kind of component to that. Vetting would be done by town staff.

1439
01:40:09,498 --> 01:40:13,218
I just want to make sure the board would be okay with that situation.

1440
01:40:14,959 --> 01:40:15,709
Okay. So

1441
01:40:17,088 --> 01:40:18,648
I guess we have three decision points.

1442
01:40:18,709 --> 01:40:20,268
The first one I'd ask is, folks

1443
01:40:21,948 --> 01:40:26,388
feel like we should declare this surplus property?

1444
01:40:27,618 --> 01:40:28,338
That's pretty-

1445
01:40:29,058 --> 01:40:30,228
Pretty straightforward.

1446
01:40:30,378 --> 01:40:30,558
Okay.

1447
01:40:30,618 --> 01:40:30,888
Yes.

1448
01:40:30,978 --> 01:40:31,098
Yeah.

1449
01:40:31,128 --> 01:40:35,808
Yeah. The price per parcel, I'll just throw my 10 cents in.

1450
01:40:35,898 --> 01:40:36,828
I thought we should ask,

1451
01:40:38,748 --> 01:40:41,808
as it's a larger parcel, a little bit more for parcel two.

1452
01:40:42,198 --> 01:40:44,658
We're going to probably get larger scale developers.

1453
01:40:46,038 --> 01:40:51,288
We can use that fund toward some of the development in the Frontenac area, for

1454
01:40:51,378 --> 01:40:56,268
instance. Might be a way to go in the general fund, but maybe we'll use a get it

1455
01:40:56,299 --> 01:41:00,228
back at that meeting for that. So I was thinking that we ought to ask either 20 or

1456
01:41:00,438 --> 01:41:03,288
30,000 for the big parcel. It's a big development.

1457
01:41:03,318 --> 01:41:06,768
It's going to be millions of dollars. So just my thoughts.

1458
01:41:08,358 --> 01:41:10,008
It's not a lot either way, but.

1459
01:41:10,998 --> 01:41:12,828
That's still way under market value.

1460
01:41:13,308 --> 01:41:14,148
Yeah, I think.

1461
01:41:16,848 --> 01:41:21,468
Yeah. Walter, is the idea that offering it at such a low rate means that

1462
01:41:22,878 --> 01:41:26,148
the developer has less money to recoup, and thus,

1463
01:41:29,058 --> 01:41:33,648
property rental prices or purchase prices would be lower?

1464
01:41:34,608 --> 01:41:37,488
Or is it just like, "Oh, this is really cheap.

1465
01:41:37,578 --> 01:41:38,538
Everybody should jump on it,"

1466
01:41:39,738 --> 01:41:40,698
we make it competitive?

1467
01:41:43,038 --> 01:41:48,108
I mean, a little bit of both. We want to generate interest in these sites.

1468
01:41:49,459 --> 01:41:52,187
And we want to keep the construction cost as low as possible.

1469
01:41:52,278 --> 01:41:54,828
I think that's in everyone's interest to do that.

1470
01:41:56,178 --> 01:41:59,748
And rather see them put that money towards

1471
01:42:01,158 --> 01:42:02,388
kind of public

1472
01:42:03,918 --> 01:42:05,959
benefits and public infrastructure.

1473
01:42:09,828 --> 01:42:13,308
Will there be some expectation of the proposer that that is

1474
01:42:15,318 --> 01:42:17,178
the intention of cost savings?

1475
01:42:19,068 --> 01:42:21,888
Because what I would want to be careful of is we give

1476
01:42:23,478 --> 01:42:29,358
this low rate for the property and then a developer

1477
01:42:29,418 --> 01:42:31,158
just takes advantage of that and

1478
01:42:33,499 --> 01:42:36,499
just makes a huge profit and it's no better for us.

1479
01:42:36,559 --> 01:42:38,749
We just lost out on an opportunity to-

1480
01:42:39,888 --> 01:42:40,008
Right

1481
01:42:40,008 --> 01:42:41,688
... get more money out of the sale.

1482
01:42:42,379 --> 01:42:46,309
Yeah. So this is going to be almost a partnership.

1483
01:42:47,358 --> 01:42:50,358
Because there's going to be this thing called the Land Development Agreement that

1484
01:42:50,478 --> 01:42:54,468
it comes out after you select the preferred developer.

1485
01:42:55,488 --> 01:42:59,508
And before we transfer the land to them, we enter into a Land Development Agreement

1486
01:42:59,538 --> 01:43:01,008
between the town and the developer.

1487
01:43:01,488 --> 01:43:07,038
And as part of that process, we see their whole pro forma and we know

1488
01:43:07,338 --> 01:43:11,028
kind of, we have a close look into their financials.

1489
01:43:11,088 --> 01:43:15,258
And so we'll be able to make that judgment call at that time to make sure that

1490
01:43:15,319 --> 01:43:19,549
we're doing a good deal that's in the interest of the residents of Montague.

1491
01:43:20,328 --> 01:43:21,618
Okay. Is there-

1492
01:43:21,648 --> 01:43:24,978
It's pretty specific, Nate, that-

1493
01:43:25,549 --> 01:43:25,638
Mm-hmm

1494
01:43:25,638 --> 01:43:30,319
... and they have to follow that, and if they don't execute within a timeframe, we

1495
01:43:30,379 --> 01:43:34,848
move on to somebody else, and so on. So it's not like a speculative thing.

1496
01:43:37,158 --> 01:43:39,648
That's good to hear. With the small parcel, I

1497
01:43:41,118 --> 01:43:45,799
understand this is maybe not a thing you can do by law or anything, but I'm

1498
01:43:45,858 --> 01:43:48,648
wondering if that could be limited to nonprofit developers,

1499
01:43:50,238 --> 01:43:52,249
just as a smaller parcel and

1500
01:43:54,078 --> 01:43:56,658
nonprofit developers are going to wind up with better

1501
01:43:58,488 --> 01:44:01,938
rental rates for those seeking affordable housing.

1502
01:44:02,629 --> 01:44:04,158
Just wondering if that's an option.

1503
01:44:11,388 --> 01:44:11,688
I think

1504
01:44:13,458 --> 01:44:16,668
it might be possible to do. I would recommend that we

1505
01:44:18,379 --> 01:44:20,268
keep it open for now and see what's out there.

1506
01:44:20,508 --> 01:44:23,838
We definitely will be marketing this RFP to nonprofit developers.

1507
01:44:23,928 --> 01:44:28,668
Any nonprofit developer in the area that we know of will get a copy of this RFP and

1508
01:44:28,698 --> 01:44:31,518
be invited to submit a proposal. But I

1509
01:44:33,049 --> 01:44:35,749
think we should just kind of see what level of interest there is, right?

1510
01:44:36,768 --> 01:44:37,278
At this point.

1511
01:44:37,488 --> 01:44:37,488
Okay.

1512
01:44:37,518 --> 01:44:38,299
But yeah.

1513
01:44:38,358 --> 01:44:38,598
Right.

1514
01:44:41,658 --> 01:44:41,958
Okay.

1515
01:44:42,049 --> 01:44:46,368
Okay. So are folks okay with just leaving it at 10,000, or do you want us to do,

1516
01:44:46,488 --> 01:44:47,718
say, 10 and 20, or?

1517
01:44:49,188 --> 01:44:51,559
I'd prefer, like, 30. I think you had mentioned 30.

1518
01:44:51,948 --> 01:44:53,418
10 and 30. Okay.

1519
01:44:53,478 --> 01:44:55,938
The relative, it's extreme difference in size.

1520
01:44:56,718 --> 01:44:56,898
Yep.

1521
01:44:56,958 --> 01:44:58,309
That's okay for me, yeah.

1522
01:44:58,788 --> 01:44:59,178
Okay.

1523
01:44:59,569 --> 01:45:00,228
10, 30.

1524
01:45:00,288 --> 01:45:06,078
All right. And then the third one was the makeup of the group all being

1525
01:45:06,648 --> 01:45:12,138
town staff before it comes to us in a kind of a public hearing, public meeting, and

1526
01:45:12,198 --> 01:45:13,008
discussion, and-

1527
01:45:15,618 --> 01:45:15,738
Yeah

1528
01:45:15,738 --> 01:45:19,968
... And then we don't, again, like usually we've done these in the past where we

1529
01:45:19,999 --> 01:45:24,319
hear the proposals, so we do it kind of as a public hearing.

1530
01:45:24,618 --> 01:45:26,418
We don't make a decision right away.

1531
01:45:26,478 --> 01:45:31,038
We let the public have a chance to kind of weigh in on their thoughts and then

1532
01:45:31,728 --> 01:45:33,768
decide we like it or we want to rework it.

1533
01:45:33,858 --> 01:45:38,358
So I think the professional staff to me makes sense, so.

1534
01:45:38,838 --> 01:45:39,559
Yeah. Let the professionals do-

1535
01:45:39,588 --> 01:45:40,819
All right. Okay, great

1536
01:45:40,908 --> 01:45:41,328
... their thing.

1537
01:45:42,078 --> 01:45:44,508
Do their work, yeah. Ariel, do you have a question?

1538
01:45:48,618 --> 01:45:49,578
Yes, thanks.

1539
01:45:50,809 --> 01:45:55,728
My hand was up mainly around the same kind of question, but also a certain

1540
01:45:55,788 --> 01:46:01,398
preference if it's legal. Same kind of question that Nate asked, which is

1541
01:46:02,118 --> 01:46:07,668
can we simply issue an RFP that has, for example, a more advantageous purchase

1542
01:46:07,698 --> 01:46:12,198
price for the land for not-for-profits, or just say as a condition in the RFP,

1543
01:46:13,518 --> 01:46:16,999
preference will be given to not-for-profit developers because most of them are

1544
01:46:17,059 --> 01:46:19,309
actually dedicated more to affordability.

1545
01:46:19,819 --> 01:46:24,768
And the other follow-up question to that is can we put affordability

1546
01:46:24,828 --> 01:46:30,648
conditions into our RFP, especially conditions that are tighter than what the state

1547
01:46:30,768 --> 01:46:34,819
has because the state's affordability standards are not affordable for a lot of

1548
01:46:34,848 --> 01:46:35,658
people in Montague.

1549
01:46:39,708 --> 01:46:44,778
Yep, good question. So the affordability standard is one of the criteria for

1550
01:46:44,807 --> 01:46:49,638
reviewing the proposals. We ask what percentage are affordable units.

1551
01:46:50,059 --> 01:46:53,928
The higher the percentage, the more advantageous the proposal.

1552
01:46:57,108 --> 01:46:59,868
And regarding the purchase price,

1553
01:47:01,578 --> 01:47:05,868
I suppose it is possible that we could offer a lower rate for nonprofits.

1554
01:47:06,078 --> 01:47:09,828
It gets a little complicated to try to keep an even playing field, which is why I

1555
01:47:09,858 --> 01:47:11,598
wanted to just keep a low flat fee.

1556
01:47:13,819 --> 01:47:14,059
But

1557
01:47:15,888 --> 01:47:20,629
yeah, we could possibly put on a thing that says nonprofits

1558
01:47:22,518 --> 01:47:27,438
can pay an even lower fee. But I would definitely want to check around before doing

1559
01:47:27,499 --> 01:47:28,098
that, but.

1560
01:47:29,478 --> 01:47:31,098
Understand. Yeah.

1561
01:47:31,848 --> 01:47:31,848
Yeah.

1562
01:47:31,908 --> 01:47:32,238
Thanks.

1563
01:47:34,218 --> 01:47:37,698
That's something they could request as part of their proposal, too, I suppose, so

1564
01:47:39,108 --> 01:47:43,819
we could consider it then. So I'm going to try to get this put together for our

1565
01:47:43,879 --> 01:47:44,418
motion.

1566
01:47:46,938 --> 01:47:52,129
I'd like to recommend a motion that we declare the Farrant

1567
01:47:52,428 --> 01:47:58,069
property surplus, which is located 330 to 340 Montague City Road,

1568
01:47:58,908 --> 01:48:03,978
parcel ID 12-0-044 and

1569
01:48:04,278 --> 01:48:06,918
356 Montague City Road, parcel ID

1570
01:48:07,668 --> 01:48:13,518
12.0.044A, and authorize the release for

1571
01:48:13,578 --> 01:48:19,428
development for request for proposals with the change noted that the

1572
01:48:19,488 --> 01:48:25,098
parcel identified on the map as one will be a price of

1573
01:48:25,129 --> 01:48:30,738
$10,000. Parcel identified at two will be a price of $30,000.

1574
01:48:31,788 --> 01:48:32,358
So moved.

1575
01:48:33,379 --> 01:48:33,858
Second it.

1576
01:48:35,118 --> 01:48:39,018
Okay. Any questions? Does that sound okay, Walter and Chris?

1577
01:48:39,168 --> 01:48:40,698
Yep. Sounds good.

1578
01:48:40,879 --> 01:48:42,618
Okay. I'll for a vote. Marie Goldman?

1579
01:48:43,188 --> 01:48:43,368
Aye.

1580
01:48:44,028 --> 01:48:44,629
Nate Carr?

1581
01:48:45,228 --> 01:48:45,648
Aye.

1582
01:48:46,398 --> 01:48:51,379
Rich Roukous. Aye. So voted unanimous. Thanks, Walter. Hope we get some good...

1583
01:48:51,438 --> 01:48:56,538
There's a good timeline here, so a lot of room for us to have discussions and get

1584
01:48:56,569 --> 01:48:59,928
the public involved, and let's hope we get some good proposals.

1585
01:49:01,069 --> 01:49:05,538
So yeah. Proposals won't be due till after the holidays at this point, so the end

1586
01:49:05,598 --> 01:49:10,129
of January is when they'll be due. But we should have an idea of if we're going to

1587
01:49:10,158 --> 01:49:12,468
be getting any proposals in by December.

1588
01:49:15,438 --> 01:49:15,588
Okay.

1589
01:49:15,618 --> 01:49:19,428
And we're also waiting on a big grant application we've got to do the public

1590
01:49:19,488 --> 01:49:22,879
infrastructure design. We're really hoping that we get that announcement, and

1591
01:49:22,908 --> 01:49:26,148
that'll parlay really nice if we can get a development partner on board.

1592
01:49:27,750 --> 01:49:28,050
Mm-hmm.

1593
01:49:29,640 --> 01:49:31,680
I still like the team save that house, Walter.

1594
01:49:32,820 --> 01:49:35,701
I know you do. Yeah. Still possible.

1595
01:49:38,640 --> 01:49:42,600
If I can move on to the Soapbox Derby, John Dobis

1596
01:49:43,890 --> 01:49:48,990
asked us to put in a reminder. The Soapbox Derby is this Sunday,

1597
01:49:49,711 --> 01:49:53,160
and that they are always looking for volunteers

1598
01:49:54,360 --> 01:49:56,281
for that.

1599
01:49:57,630 --> 01:50:01,080
They have 30 racers signed up. The race is from noon to 3:00 PM.

1600
01:50:01,590 --> 01:50:05,281
And so he wants to remind the public that First Street's going to be closed that

1601
01:50:05,340 --> 01:50:07,980
morning between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM.

1602
01:50:09,090 --> 01:50:12,750
The closure's going to be at the top of that First Street hill around Kostenski's

1603
01:50:12,810 --> 01:50:18,420
Funeral Home, all the way down to L Street during that time.

1604
01:50:19,620 --> 01:50:23,160
They'll be setting up later this week with equipment coming in-

1605
01:50:24,990 --> 01:50:26,100
... mostly on Friday.

1606
01:50:27,870 --> 01:50:32,670
And John also wanted us to note that Sunday's looking

1607
01:50:32,730 --> 01:50:38,281
pretty rainy, so it's possible that this will need to be

1608
01:50:38,310 --> 01:50:38,941
postponed,

1609
01:50:40,201 --> 01:50:45,151
and he'll come back to the board with a proposed rain date if they have to.

1610
01:50:47,160 --> 01:50:47,281
Yeah.

1611
01:50:47,820 --> 01:50:49,651
Okay. Thanks, Walter.

1612
01:50:50,191 --> 01:50:51,300
Yep. That covers-

1613
01:50:51,360 --> 01:50:53,670
Anything for... Any questions on that?

1614
01:50:57,961 --> 01:50:59,880
Anything for topics not anticipated?

1615
01:51:01,201 --> 01:51:06,750
Yeah. The Gilmanton School District has reopened their superintendent search

1616
01:51:06,810 --> 01:51:09,750
committee, and they're looking to fill a few seats there.

1617
01:51:10,620 --> 01:51:13,110
They're looking for residents,

1618
01:51:14,461 --> 01:51:19,860
people with children in the school, but they're also looking for a resident and/or

1619
01:51:20,401 --> 01:51:24,090
civic representative from Montague, as well as Gil.

1620
01:51:24,961 --> 01:51:29,550
So they've sent an invitation, an open invitation to the board to participate in

1621
01:51:29,580 --> 01:51:34,620
this committee. Otherwise, a general open invitation to the public to participate

1622
01:51:34,651 --> 01:51:35,100
as well.

1623
01:51:36,451 --> 01:51:38,250
Okay.

1624
01:51:38,310 --> 01:51:41,640
Last time they had this committee, the board didn't have anybody on the

1625
01:51:41,701 --> 01:51:43,020
superintendent hiring committee.

1626
01:51:45,750 --> 01:51:49,170
Okay. If there's anybody listening or anybody on the board that's interested, let

1627
01:51:49,230 --> 01:51:49,980
Walter know.

1628
01:51:50,610 --> 01:51:50,880
Yep.

1629
01:51:51,750 --> 01:51:53,970
And we'll make that known to the district.

1630
01:51:54,781 --> 01:51:54,870
Yep.

1631
01:51:55,830 --> 01:51:56,461
Okay.

1632
01:51:56,520 --> 01:52:02,370
And then I learned today that there's a Buddy Bench program to

1633
01:52:04,290 --> 01:52:09,781
establish one of our benches in Peskeomsket Park to become a Buddy Bench.

1634
01:52:10,170 --> 01:52:15,660
This is something that Marina is working on, so I'll let her talk about that.

1635
01:52:17,130 --> 01:52:18,000
Here's my prop.

1636
01:52:19,920 --> 01:52:24,390
So this is an organization that was started in 2019.

1637
01:52:25,740 --> 01:52:29,910
About 150 different organizations

1638
01:52:31,620 --> 01:52:37,560
participate, mostly libraries, civic engagement, community meals,

1639
01:52:37,680 --> 01:52:38,850
Fenway Health,

1640
01:52:40,170 --> 01:52:43,199
Franklin County Y locally, Forbes Library.

1641
01:52:44,610 --> 01:52:44,640
I

1642
01:52:46,380 --> 01:52:51,810
think this particular day, it's called the Happy to Chat Bench,

1643
01:52:52,110 --> 01:52:53,490
and it

1644
01:52:56,010 --> 01:52:59,850
started it was just going to be a day, and then they expanded it to the weekend.

1645
01:52:59,941 --> 01:53:04,020
So it's the last weekend in September.

1646
01:53:04,500 --> 01:53:08,191
So it's a bit of a last-minute request because we didn't know if we were going to

1647
01:53:08,250 --> 01:53:10,800
be able to do it or get the sign, and

1648
01:53:12,300 --> 01:53:17,910
I haven't had that great of communication, but you can look at all sorts of

1649
01:53:17,970 --> 01:53:23,250
information on it nationally if you go to Good Neighbor Day or End

1650
01:53:23,340 --> 01:53:28,860
Loneliness MA, M-A, .com. And it's basically

1651
01:53:28,890 --> 01:53:32,730
putting this sign, which is in Spanish and English,

1652
01:53:34,890 --> 01:53:40,711
just saying, "Rest, relax, chat. Friendship starts here." And

1653
01:53:40,830 --> 01:53:44,701
this sign can go on a bench in Peskeomsket Park.

1654
01:53:47,250 --> 01:53:52,230
It's a wooden bench, so I'm not sure if we need to attach it or if we wanted to do

1655
01:53:52,290 --> 01:53:57,031
something less permanent and, just as for the weekend,

1656
01:53:59,941 --> 01:54:03,240
put it out there, and I think there's certain people that have agreed to come and

1657
01:54:03,300 --> 01:54:08,820
sit on the bench, and we'll see who joins us and what we talk about.

1658
01:54:13,830 --> 01:54:18,270
Do we need any sort of official approval, Walter? It seems pretty straightforward.

1659
01:54:18,660 --> 01:54:23,070
No. At first, I thought they were actually installing a new bench, but they're not.

1660
01:54:23,100 --> 01:54:25,830
They're just putting a sign on a current bench.

1661
01:54:25,920 --> 01:54:27,420
So it's just mostly

1662
01:54:30,720 --> 01:54:35,281
informational since the bench is on Peskeomsket Park, which is under select board

1663
01:54:35,340 --> 01:54:37,770
jurisdiction. I thought it would be appropriate-

1664
01:54:37,800 --> 01:54:37,800
Yeah

1665
01:54:37,800 --> 01:54:40,410
... to bring to the board so that it at least publicly notified.

1666
01:54:41,281 --> 01:54:43,740
I guess if we end up in...

1667
01:54:48,211 --> 01:54:53,490
I think it'll just go temporarily for the weekend, but maybe if we end up wanting

1668
01:54:53,550 --> 01:54:59,220
to install it permanently, then would we come back to the board

1669
01:54:59,340 --> 01:55:00,060
and ask?

1670
01:55:03,060 --> 01:55:06,451
Or report back after and request to make it permanent?

1671
01:55:06,810 --> 01:55:07,140
Sure. Yeah.

1672
01:55:07,170 --> 01:55:07,860
That would make sense.

1673
01:55:08,520 --> 01:55:11,370
Jenna Wald is spearheading this project.

1674
01:55:11,490 --> 01:55:13,470
I think you might have gotten an email from her.

1675
01:55:13,560 --> 01:55:14,100
And,

1676
01:55:18,330 --> 01:55:23,880
so she's the one responsible sort of reporting it to all the national organizations

1677
01:55:23,910 --> 01:55:27,390
that are supporting it, and she'll probably put a picture up on the

1678
01:55:28,590 --> 01:55:29,310
website.

1679
01:55:31,050 --> 01:55:32,340
Great. Thanks, Marina.

1680
01:55:32,401 --> 01:55:32,610
You're-

1681
01:55:32,670 --> 01:55:33,901
So I'll report back on that

1682
01:55:34,020 --> 01:55:36,901
... great. Do you know why this bench was chosen in particular?

1683
01:55:38,670 --> 01:55:38,941
No.

1684
01:55:40,860 --> 01:55:45,151
She chose the one at Peskeomsket, I think, just because of visibility.

1685
01:55:45,961 --> 01:55:46,230
Okay.

1686
01:55:49,080 --> 01:55:51,750
Great. I wonder if we can get something in the paper so that there's a lot of

1687
01:55:52,441 --> 01:55:58,079
attention on that, so it has the impact that it is really

1688
01:55:58,770 --> 01:55:59,399
wanting to have.

1689
01:56:00,810 --> 01:56:03,660
Right. I think she has put it out-

1690
01:56:04,531 --> 01:56:04,711
Great

1691
01:56:04,740 --> 01:56:08,730
... to people. Jenna Wald, she has, and I think she's posted something on Facebook.

1692
01:56:09,660 --> 01:56:12,031
Jeff, can you put it in the paper?

1693
01:56:13,800 --> 01:56:14,760
I can send you a picture.

1694
01:56:17,191 --> 01:56:17,760
That'd be great.

1695
01:56:18,660 --> 01:56:20,010
Yeah.

1696
01:56:20,040 --> 01:56:22,620
Somebody asked me, too, at Peskeomsket Park,

1697
01:56:24,570 --> 01:56:29,130
somebody who lives in the area, walks their dog at home real well, but they were

1698
01:56:29,191 --> 01:56:33,870
concerned because it's kind of dark by where some of the picnic tables are, and the

1699
01:56:33,930 --> 01:56:38,040
band shell in the back area, and there's some pretty good lighting in the front,

1700
01:56:38,100 --> 01:56:42,930
and they asked, "Is there anything the town can do to make lighting a little bit

1701
01:56:43,651 --> 01:56:47,520
more secure in the back?" They feel kind of uncomfortable, they said, and I just

1702
01:56:47,790 --> 01:56:51,330
said I'd bring it up in a meeting, because I know folks are interested.

1703
01:56:51,390 --> 01:56:52,410
I know we've had some

1704
01:56:55,290 --> 01:57:01,110
issues with discarded needles and stuff in that area, too, but it's more about

1705
01:57:01,170 --> 01:57:03,300
some folks were concerned about security, so

1706
01:57:04,860 --> 01:57:07,590
we could ask DPW to do a look at that and maybe-

1707
01:57:07,620 --> 01:57:07,651
Yeah

1708
01:57:07,651 --> 01:57:11,461
... see if they could make it a little brighter in that area.

1709
01:57:11,520 --> 01:57:13,980
I don't know if you have thoughts on that, or do you want to look next time you're

1710
01:57:14,010 --> 01:57:17,820
by there? But it is, even when I go in the morning, early, I go by there at

1711
01:57:19,201 --> 01:57:21,420
5:30 in the morning often, and it's pretty dark.

1712
01:57:25,651 --> 01:57:30,480
Yeah. It's not on the agenda, but I'd be happy to put in some inquiries to look and

1713
01:57:30,540 --> 01:57:30,810
see what-

1714
01:57:31,770 --> 01:57:31,951
Okay

1715
01:57:31,980 --> 01:57:35,820
... options we could do there for better nighttime visibility there.

1716
01:57:36,570 --> 01:57:39,691
Yeah. I just told folks I kind of like asking about the bricks.

1717
01:57:42,510 --> 01:57:42,901
Okay.

1718
01:57:44,640 --> 01:57:46,920
So anything else for regular business? Okay.

1719
01:57:47,070 --> 01:57:49,531
We have an amended agenda this evening.

1720
01:57:49,920 --> 01:57:53,191
Something came up today, so we need to have an executive session.

1721
01:57:53,850 --> 01:57:59,760
That is executive session pursuant to General Law Chapter 30A, Section

1722
01:58:00,211 --> 01:58:05,941
21A3 to discuss litigation and strategy in the case of Snow, Deborah, et

1723
01:58:06,060 --> 01:58:09,090
al. versus the Town of Montague, Franklin Superior Court,

1724
01:58:10,410 --> 01:58:11,550
docket number

1725
01:58:12,300 --> 01:58:18,480
2678CV0006X.

1726
01:58:19,320 --> 01:58:24,090
And if discussing this matter in open session will have a detrimental effect on the

1727
01:58:24,120 --> 01:58:29,490
town's litigation position and the chair declares so, which I do, this is ongoing

1728
01:58:29,550 --> 01:58:33,781
litigation. With that, I'll entertain a motion to go into executive session as

1729
01:58:33,840 --> 01:58:38,220
read. We would only come out of executive session to adjourn our regular meeting.

1730
01:58:39,420 --> 01:58:39,930
So moved.

1731
01:58:41,490 --> 01:58:41,941
Seconded.

1732
01:58:42,990 --> 01:58:44,610
Okay, I'll call for vote. Marina Goman?

1733
01:58:45,211 --> 01:58:45,360
Aye.

1734
01:58:45,990 --> 01:58:46,651
Nick Carr?

1735
01:58:47,340 --> 01:58:47,640
Aye.

1736
01:58:48,390 --> 01:58:53,250
And Rich Koukos. Aye. So we'll announce we will start a second meeting for the

1737
01:58:53,281 --> 01:58:57,000
executive session. Talk to you guys in a few minutes. Thanks, everyone.

1738
01:58:58,170 --> 01:59:00,510
Thank you. Chris, can you start that meeting?

1739
01:59:01,050 --> 01:59:01,740
Yep, will do.

1740
01:59:02,281 --> 01:59:02,550
Thank you.