[5:43] call the meeting to order. >> Since I completely missed the time, uh,

[5:47] could you please stand alone? >> That's right.

[5:54] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it

[5:59] stands nation

[6:04] of all. Apologize for that. I'm still on time.

[6:10] All right. We have all five counselors present.

[6:15] Is there anybody here that would like to sneak on something that's not on the

[6:19] agenda this evening?

[6:23] Seeing none, we'll move on. Jim, here. >> All right. [laughter]

[6:30] They have completed the covert on Oldfield Road. They're just waiting for

[6:33] final inspection from uh MDOT. They flushed coververts on Gr Street in

[6:39] Oldfield Road and roadside mowing still continues. Police Department had eight

[6:44] arrests, seven accidents, 155 traffic stops, and the behavioral health leaison

[6:49] helped 104 people in the last two weeks. The car versus deer incident for the

[6:54] police reserve on August 22nd. Unfortunately, has left that pri total

[6:58] by the insurance company. Wow. >> So, we are looking to get it replaced

[7:02] with reinsurance money and we possibly may need to take some money out of CIP

[7:07] to supplement the purchase, but only going to give us value when it's worth

[7:10] down. We've had that vehicle a few years. Um the insurance company will

[7:13] also cover the cost to take off all the blinking lights off the current cruiser

[7:17] and put them on the vehicle that we get. Hopefully we can get the same kind of

[7:21] vehicle. So it's the easy spot. In fire department, there were 45 calls in the

[7:26] last two weeks with two of them overlapping bringing us to 471 year to

[7:30] date. And both the fire and police are gearing up for the Punkin Town triathlon

[7:34] that's coming this weekend with public safety being um other top concern. code

[7:39] enforcement, seven building permits, two certificates of occupancy, 13

[7:44] inspections, and they're looking into options for online permit payments to

[7:49] make it easier for the public contractors.

[7:52] Planning and economic development, block party planning is underway, and that

[7:55] would be scheduled for October 24th. Multiple meetings with business owners

[7:59] and they have a walkthrough for potential subdivision off road this

[8:03] Thursday. transfer station. Just a reminder, hazmat day is Saturday,

[8:07] September 19th, and we have been having some trouble with people not following

[8:11] the rules or listening to the attendance, which is a high safety

[8:14] concern for us. So, we have purchased a few more signs to keep the messages

[8:18] clear, and we ask people to just be respectful to the staff.

[8:21] Library had 1,255 visitors in the last two weeks. We have

[8:25] six public programs that were attended by 101 people. And September is library

[8:31] card signup month. So swing by behind get your car varations. Um since you're

[8:38] getting later into the calendar year they have decided to delay the delivery

[8:41] of the playground for egg fields because if we were to take the delivery of the

[8:47] equipment now and if weather doesn't cooperate they don't get to us we would

[8:51] have to store all of that through the winter. So we're going to order

[8:54] everything and just delay the delivery until spring and we'll be the first one

[8:58] on their list then. Um they have received several applications for the

[9:03] program coordinator position. Nikki held one interview last week and has a few

[9:06] more this week to complete. Seniors programs they went on a launch last week

[9:11] was successful. They saw a long list. The assessing they are reviewing two

[9:16] applications. They are updating all the ownership changes in the system from

[9:19] April 1st to current. Now that the tax bills have been processed, clerk's

[9:23] office has been very busy. 352 motor vehicle transactions, 20 vital records,

[9:28] 21 notorial acts. They expect to have absentee ballots delivered on or around

[9:34] the first week of October. October 5th is the scheduled date. The state of

[9:38] Maine is providing eight new tabulators to replace the five tabulators that we

[9:42] have been currently using. So all that new equipment will include election

[9:46] upgrade softwares as well. So I need to show you me a picture of those. They are

[9:50] in our possession and are glad to have more of them and up to date. We

[9:55] officially have four nominees for the town council. I uh messed anyone's last

[10:00] name up. I apologize now. Anthony Palazari,

[10:04] Ronald Kusk, Dorothy Bang, and Jane Jane Bren.

[10:10] We have many vacancies in our committees. If you want to be involved,

[10:13] please submit your application into the clerk's office. Finance and HR, we have

[10:18] 72 people that have signed up for the tax club, which is 14 more than last

[10:21] year. and we are scheduling our annual training for staff for late September

[10:25] into early October. Admin, I continue to gather information for the auditor,

[10:30] finalizing year end reports and reconciliations. After some research, we

[10:34] have found that we do not need to go in front of the planning board for the new

[10:37] playground um for Agie Fields. It was already approved back in 1997. So, this

[10:41] has been on the books for to happen for a long time.

[10:45] Um, I attended several meetings for a town hall dealing with some personnel

[10:49] issues and for a town hall renovation update. The flooring on the first floor

[10:54] was completed. The cabinets and the bathroom sinks were delivered today.

[10:58] Windows are being installed on the third floor today as well. Phase one is

[11:02] tenatively scheduled to have a move dates on October 1st and second. We are

[11:07] trying to finalize that with the movers. The new vault system is going to be

[11:11] installed on September 14th to the 16th. So, that'll be really exciting. We're

[11:15] hoping to get a picture of what it was versus what the new system will be and

[11:18] get that out there because it's going to be a very big difference. Um, and that

[11:22] we may need to close the town hall for a day or two when we have a sewer line

[11:26] done that is a clay line and they need to get rid of the roots and do a lining

[11:31] in it. So, we obviously can't have a public building open with no running

[11:35] water. So, we'll keep you posted on that as I know more. And just as a reminder

[11:39] to the public, we were talking about this earlier for next Tuesday. The town

[11:42] council is hosting a listening session to hear from the public about the

[11:45] upcoming budget process here at the community center at 6:00.

[11:50] » I have a question then a statement. So question first. You said,251

[11:55] visitors at the library. >> 1255 the last two weeks.

[11:59] » Wow. >> Isn't that amazing?

[12:00] » That is that is unbelievable from where we were.

[12:03] » They must be going to the cake pants. [laughter]

[12:06] » Okay. My last one, my forearm. You can check out cake pans at the library. They

[12:12] have a few hundred stuff. >> Yes.

[12:14] » So, it's fantastic. >> Now, too.

[12:17] » Yes. Um, Block Park, are they going to use the parking lot on Paul Street

[12:22] again? So, Jay and Ruber should go visit it because there's an abandoned

[12:28] motorcycle that hasn't moved in two years and there's a truck that's been

[12:30] there for probably eight months with the windows down.

[12:34] So they might want to visit that before we have block party that

[12:40] » any questions for Jen. >> All right. Fantastic. Thank you, Jen.

[12:46] Thank you. Uh moving on to approval of the following minutes. First one up is

[12:51] the town council special meeting on July 20th, 2026.

[12:56] » I have a motion to adopt the time council special minutes from July 20th

[13:00] 26 as written. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on those

[13:04] meeting minutes? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. Sam

[13:08] » I. >> Yeah. Paul,

[13:11] » Joel, I vote I also motion passes. 50-0. Moving on to town council special needs

[13:18] minutes July 22nd, 2026. >> Motion to adopt the town council special

[13:23] meeting minutes for July 22nd, 2026. Is written.

[13:26] » Second. We have a motion in a second. Any comment on those? None. S I Paul.

[13:32] » Hi. >> Joel.

[13:33] » Hi. >> All I vote I also that motion passes

[13:37] zero. Next one up is the town council public hearing minutes from August 25th

[13:43] of 2026. I would move that we accept the public

[13:48] hearing minutes of August 25th, 2026.

[13:55] Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Any comments?

[13:58] Hearing none. S. I'm out with stand there. [clears throat]

[14:02] » Paul, >> I

[14:06] » I vote I also motion passes forward with one abstension.

[14:10] Moving down to town council meeting minutes of August 25th, 2026.

[14:16] I will make a motion to accept the town council meeting minutes of August 2th,

[14:20] 2026 as written. >> Second motion in a second. Any

[14:24] discussion? Hearing none. Sam, I assume you're going

[14:28] to stand. Paul I don't I >> I vote I also that motion passes forth

[14:35] with one extension. That takes care of all the meeting minutes. Moving down to

[14:40] the treasurer's warrant. >> Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to sign

[14:45] the treasur's warrant dated 170 or dated September 3rd, 2026 in the amount

[14:52] of $174,272.

[14:55] » I will second that motion in a second. Any discussion on the treasurer's

[15:00] warrant from September 3rd? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. Sam

[15:06] » I, Paul I, >> Joel,

[15:08] » I, >> Mallerie,

[15:10] » I vote I also motion passes 5 Z. There's no computers to my left.

[15:19] » All right. Uh, moving down to unfinished >> unfinished business.

[15:24] » Do you need a card? No.

[15:31] » Um yeah, 26-50 the comprehensive plan

[15:35] amendment growth area map. Um

[15:41] so it over this right last meeting

[15:47] right down to

[15:51] » why did we not take care of this at the time?

[15:56] comprehensive plan. >> No, just did am I I think I'm smart

[16:00] remembering. I thought we we had like had this on our agenda then we decided

[16:03] to put on a future agenda.

[16:09] » Yeah. To adopt the growth area. >> Well, we had a public hearing.

[16:12] » Was that okay Jeff can speak to the what the

[16:17] planning board has been through to get us to this point.

[16:20] » Sure. Thanks, Jeff. Um yeah, so they had the public hearing in

[16:26] June. Um remember the state asked for one more couple more comments. Uh one

[16:32] was um dealing with critical uh species habitat in in the southern growth area,

[16:40] the Punkinatown Route 236 area. So we needed to go back and have those changes

[16:46] incorporated in order to achieve the consistency. Um, and then we had the uh

[16:52] other matter of removing map 12, lot one. I've got that right from the growth

[16:59] area. And so we've done that. Um, we've added language explaining LD1829, LD

[17:07] 2173, which is, I think, what some of the

[17:10] public commenters wanted to see. So, uh, that's why we're back here. Um on the

[17:16] July 21st joint session um that you guys had with the planning board, I think it

[17:23] was made clear that we wanted to bring it back to the planning board and they

[17:28] approved. So they they brought it to you and bring it back to you guys before we

[17:32] go to the state with consistency review. So if you guys approve, we'll we'll

[17:39] bring that to the state. And Todd at the state has already is already waiting for

[17:43] it. So we should be good there. So that's the sequencing we wanted to to uh

[17:49] do. >> So this should be the last time you see

[17:53] » any questions for Jeff. >> So Jeff, are the the changes you made

[17:58] not to the math but to the um the language and planning on it? I mean I we

[18:04] don't where are those located right now?

[18:09] » So those are located on the pages in your packet. would have the summary of

[18:13] the changes, >> right?

[18:15] » You can see each page um where the changes are,

[18:19] » right? >> And then if you go to the planning for

[18:22] change web page, >> all right,

[18:24] » you can see the proposed comprehensive plan as amended there.

[18:28] » Okay. >> So, you can go see what language was

[18:30] actually changed, but that summary in your packet will give you uh

[18:34] » an idea of what was done. >> Okay. Would it make sense to table this

[18:39] until I I haven't gone on that website to look at the act changes

[18:44] you see something I haven't looked at it this is

[18:49] what we're looking for our opinion on it

[18:54] I think changes I mean other than the map the changes are

[19:02] pretty

[19:05] » other than the map the changes are um added a new background section after

[19:10] background regarding explaining recent state housing legislation.

[19:15] Um and it includes language to address um

[19:22] changes required by LD1829. There's also a reference to LD 2003 from

[19:30] a few years ago. um that so page 153 was updated.

[19:36] Um the language on the narrative language on the route 236 growth focus

[19:45] area or growth area >> [clears throat]

[19:47] » um was updated to reference rare species habitat. So the New England cotton tail

[19:54] um and coordinating that with eastern trail planning. So that's really what

[20:00] one that state consistency comment basically being mindful of habitat

[20:05] preservation even in your growth areas. >> 90% of the updates were admin

[20:10] realistically. >> Yeah. I mean, we're talking narrative

[20:13] clarifications and then um SNPDC also updated

[20:19] » [clears throat] >> uh just the text of policies and

[20:23] strategies primarily natural resources and land use to talk about

[20:31] um inventories of rare species, wildlife connectivity overlays. These are the

[20:38] kinds of things that the state suggested we add to the comprehensive plan. Um so

[20:45] there is a new there is one new policy under land use protection of natural

[20:53] resources and shoreline zoning on page 196. But that's pretty much summarizes

[21:02] what we're talking about.

[21:06] » Um on the planning for change among the home or

[21:12] Yeah. [clears throat]

[21:15] » Yeah. So it says draft conference plan with proposed growth area amendment and

[21:21] uh the link change project page. Okay. Here we are.

[21:26] Okay. All right. Got it. Thank you. And we did the summary about 200.

[21:33] » Yeah, I just want to read the pages that are noted off.

[21:40] » I'll take the council's wishes. I mean, understanding councelor Flintstrom's

[21:45] point. Um, I have no issue voting on it tonight rather than kick it down the

[21:49] road and add it to an agenda. Um, we can always revisit it if he finds something

[21:54] he doesn't like, but I'll take the council's wishes on that.

[22:02] » I'm

[22:05] making a motion to approve present a change to be in line with LD1 1829 and

[22:09] LD 2173. >> Second.

[22:13] » Motion in a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll go vote.

[22:18] Sam no >> Paul uh I Joe

[22:22] » I vote I also motion passes 4 one

[22:27] understanding it's because Mr. was not read it. Not that he doesn't

[22:30] agree with it. >> Great.

[22:33] » Make sure we're clear from the public. Uh thank you, Jeff. Has the plan

[22:40] keeps bailing out on me. Um is that on the um

[22:46] site the plan change special

[22:51] set up to capture le29. Okay. All

[22:58] right, moving down to new business 26127.

[23:03] Is there anybody in the public that would like to speak about the block

[23:05] party road closure? >> Seeing none, this go leads into my

[23:10] question I just asked you. >> Yes, it does.

[23:12] » Uh annual second annual block party is

[23:15] going to be October 24th, 2026. Um they're looking for our approval to

[23:22] close Paul Street from 10:24 7 a.m. to 3 pm and Paul Street parking

[23:29] lot from 10:23 at noon until 10:25 26 at noon

[23:36] was a great success last year. So I have all four of this. I will make the motion

[23:41] I can do that in one correct? >> Yes. I'll make the motion to approve the

[23:47] closure of Paul Street from 10:2426 from 7 to 3 7:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. and close the

[23:54] Fall Street parking lot on 10:23 at noon until 10:25 at noon. Second in a second.

[24:02] Thank you. Further discussion on that hearing none. Sam I

[24:08] » Paul >> I Joel Hi

[24:11] » I vote I also motion passes 5 Z uh 26 >> can I make this road closure topic this

[24:18] is a little bit off topic and I was going to correct it off comments but um

[24:21] this drives my memory of we need to take a step to close the road for the LE

[24:25] grade uh that's a step that I think historically

[24:30] we've often missed and so I think we're catching it in time now thank you I'll

[24:35] go to the next >> are we doing the same thing for

[24:38] Agumentist that we always miss and we just do it anyway

[24:42] » which >> we close we usually close the loops we

[24:45] put up barricade because there's someone to keep the cards from going up

[24:50] buttonwood and >> yeah willow

[24:54] there's too many vote on that

[25:00] » yeah that'll keep the people happy yes all the peoples

[25:07] All right. Uh, moving down. Thank you, Valerie. Moving down to 26128. Is there

[25:12] anybody in the public that would like to be calling Violet Flower Cafe the side

[25:16] brand saying?

[25:22] » Yes. There we went one through five there.

[25:33] Uh

[25:36] so we have a we have a committee that is myself, Jeff.

[25:42] Uh yeah, you J.

[25:47] » That's it currently. Right. >> That is it currently.

[25:49] » How it stands. Correct. >> Um we have money set aside by the TIFF

[25:53] for the downtown district area and people can apply. Basically, it's funds

[25:58] that once they pay for it, we will reimburse them once they come to us to

[26:03] give them some funds to dress up downtown, make it look a little better.

[26:06] So, we looked at this grant. Uh we all approved as a committee that it would

[26:10] pass. So, I will make the motion to approve the wildflower cafe application

[26:14] for $250 grant be funded from the transit downtown tip fund.

[26:20] » Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further

[26:22] discussion? >> Um we want to talk about what we're

[26:26] looking to do or

[26:31] » uh I could go back and email. >> Yeah. I mean, so essentially if you've

[26:35] been to the Wildflower Cafe, the outside where the overhang everything is not

[26:39] pleasant and like she has a lot of great thoughts thoughts for it. So that's what

[26:43] she's going to do. Take it more behind.

[26:48] » It was a week or so ago we looked at this.

[26:50] » It was okay. That was like last year. >> It passed.

[26:53] » All right. Thank you, Joe. Um, but you know, I saw that it said the building

[26:58] owner I want to make sure the building owner approved. I mean, she's not the

[27:01] owner of the building. >> Right. So, he approved. I mean, I I

[27:05] couldn't somebody signed the application. I could not tell who signed

[27:08] it or I just want to make sure that the building owner him or herself has signed

[27:14] off on the application. Uh, >> yeah, there's a signature property owner

[27:20] like third page, I think. >> Yeah. Okay. and the ownersh

[27:26] I couldn't see I could read the signature

[27:30] » the first page right there

[27:38] question >> general conditions

[27:40] » sure sorry happy to like happy to pass this just in general I'm thinking in the

[27:45] middle of us wanting to do down country finalization and all this do we have

[27:49] certain design parameters and kind of looks and colors

[27:53] and everything. So things up are cohesive or we don't have it done.

[27:59] » Unless I'm mistaken, nothing on lower outside historic district.

[28:02] » Yeah. Okay. >> For all.

[28:10] » Yeah, we still have we still reserve the right to say no.

[28:14] » Right. That's right. For sure. >> Oh, picture. Oh,

[28:16] » yes. >> Yes.

[28:18] » Of what they expected to look like after the renovation.

[28:23] In this case, she's just she's painting surround the set window ses um adding

[28:28] some tables, some window planters. Uh that's why I told $250.

[28:38] » All right. Any more discussion? We're none. Sam I

[28:44] vote I motion passes five. Jim, thank you again.

[28:48] » You've been busy lately. Yes, sir. >> Uh 26129

[28:53] CI technologies approval. Anybody in the public wish to speak on that?

[28:58] » All right. Hearing none. Um just a background. June 23rd, council voted to

[29:04] wave the RFP process to allow the GIS to continue its work. Um the goal is to

[29:09] increase the amount of available information to improve the accuracy of

[29:12] the mapping, make the information easier for staff and the public to find. Uh it

[29:17] was easier to stay with the company we had honestly than go for someone else

[29:21] and re reinvent the wheel. Um funding for this work is included in the fiscal

[29:26] 27 CIP assessing budget. So it's covered there already voted for. So I'll make a

[29:33] motion to allow the interim town manager to sign the GIS agreement with CI

[29:37] technologies for $30,000 to be funded from the CIP assessing budgets.

[29:43] Motion in a second. Any discussion from the council

[29:47] hearing? None. We'll go to vote. Sent I >> Paul I Jo I

[29:52] » Valerie >> Hi.

[29:53] » I vote I also that motion passes 50 26130.

[30:01] I want to ask if anybody wants to speak on this one because of scheduling a

[30:04] public special town meeting for the highway maintenance overrun. Jen, do you

[30:10] have a day in mind? >> Yes, I do. I'd like to do it at our next

[30:13] council meeting. It was the beginning of it, September 22nd here community

[30:16] center. The warrant article was written by the

[30:19] town's attorney and we are following the state law process.

[30:27] This is the first time I've encountered this. Um we will select moderator. Um,

[30:33] we have one line do the one article coming

[30:38] and we do have I do have some preliminary numbers to make people feel

[30:42] a little bit better about the 40,000 being taken out of und designated early

[30:47] predictions. Um, you know, we haven't had the audit yet or anything, but I'm

[30:50] expecting about 1.1 million to be returning back to the undesated fund,

[30:55] which will pretty much offset the 1 million put in this year.

[31:01] » Sure. NASA Westerner. >> Um, so since

[31:06] clearly some departments were under budget. Um, and I think I read through

[31:12] and this was a little bit ago when we first came when the council first voted

[31:15] to approve that 10% overrun or what not. U

[31:22] within those communications from the attorney had noted that it's possible to

[31:25] move money from another line item to a different one. Would that allow is it

[31:30] still is it not too late to do that now instead of a special meeting?

[31:36] » That would work. There was enough money unspent in the departments that are in

[31:40] the same board article. But unfortunately, that's not we don't have

[31:43] that option. I looked into that first because it would have been easier and

[31:46] not had to go to special committee. That's something that

[31:50] could have done >> but unfortunately that she was not

[31:53] available for us. >> So that's even in the same warrant. that

[32:01] » it's always something. >> Yeah.

[32:04] » All right. Uh so I will hope to schedule a special town meeting for September

[32:09] 22nd, 2026 at 6 p.m. at the community center to go

[32:16] over the uh request for $40,151

[32:20] for winter weather. Second. We >> have a motion and a second. Any further

[32:25] discussion? Al media was this year so we should be

[32:29] good to solve hope Sam.

[32:32] » Hi Paul. >> Hi Joel.

[32:35] » Hi Valerie. >> Hi.

[32:36] » I also motion pass zero >> and vote on signing the reaction

[32:42] warrants as well. >> Uh I will make a motion to approve the

[32:47] warrant as presented. Second motion in a second. Any questions? Dam.

[32:53] » I Joel. >> Hi.

[32:54] » Paul. Hi. >> Valerie. I

[32:56] » I vote I also passes 5 Z. Moving on to 26131

[33:03] board and committee application.

[33:09] The Caleb White Grant.

[33:14] » Um I'll go ahead and make a motion. So Caleb White Grant has applied to both

[33:20] the zoning board and the downtownation committee. So, I'll make a motion that

[33:24] we send an interview with Caleb on September 22nd at 5:45.

[33:31] Um, and we can then after the interview or throughout the interview kind of gau

[33:37] interest and want to know those points like that. Any further discussion?

[33:44] Hearing none. Hi Paul. Hi Bill. Hi Valerie.

[33:48] » Hi. >> I also have a motion

[33:52] 5

[33:55] 26132

[34:00] art. Any questions for council but want to

[34:07] hear done. Get there.

[34:20] want to quickly. >> Sure.

[34:22] » This is you. >> I mean,

[34:24] » but now, right? >> Yeah. Um, so the community art committee

[34:28] met a couple weeks ago and had some questions for the council. Um, I

[34:32] definitely have thoughts. I think we should probably have a discussion about

[34:35] this. Have some thoughts on some of their questions. um when we stood up

[34:40] with community art committee I think and what was kind of built into I guess call

[34:44] the charge perhaps was um kind of some intention to focus around the town hall

[34:50] building and filling out the town hall with artwork from local artists murals

[34:55] etc. Um if I'm speaking as myself I think that I would love to give the the

[35:01] committee direction to pursue that endeavor given that the town hall

[35:04] renovation will be wrapped up in the next year or so. Um, I think that all of

[35:09] these questions, ideas, like the way I see this is that we clearly have a group

[35:13] of people who are interested and energized in doing things in our

[35:17] community, which is a thing that we should never um push back against. Um,

[35:21] so I think the ideas, the creativity, I don't think that there's any I don't

[35:25] have any opposition to any of the suggestions here. I think that as with

[35:28] any ad committee, there's always a final step of approval of the town council.

[35:32] And so I think anything that they would want to propose would come through the

[35:35] cat town council and then therefore have opportunity to have public comment on.

[35:39] So my two cents is I'm not I don't have any concerns with any of their

[35:43] questions. I would say yes to just about all of them. They might not all be yes

[35:47] or no questions, but the bigger thing that I see as a more immediate challenge

[35:52] is just our staffing situation. I think we do probably need a staff member to

[35:59] liaz with this committee and I don't know what how you guys are feeling about

[36:03] that. I feel like we're a little understaffed and so there's part of me

[36:06] that wants to suggest that we provide feedback back to the community art

[36:11] committee saying, you know, hey, can can we kind of focus in on the town hall um

[36:15] artwork situation to start and come up with some ideas for that while we are

[36:20] actively hiring because I believe we have baked in Jeff, you have another

[36:24] person to hire, correct? And so I don't want to assume that that's the case, but

[36:28] I'm thinking that somebody from that department perhaps could kind of be this

[36:32] person. And so maybe giving the community art committee a little bit of

[36:35] direction to kind of center their discussions around the town hall. They

[36:39] can do that in parallel with us trying to find this additional person to help

[36:44] support the community. That's my concent.

[36:48] » It makes it makes clear sense. Again, we are we are running uh bare in the town

[36:54] hall right now. Um everybody is wearing multiple hats. Some people are wearing

[36:58] four hats. Um so if we could just leave it to give them direction

[37:05] for a formal vote to give them direction to basically concentrate right now on

[37:09] the town hall or >> if you guys are ready to do that. Yes.

[37:13] Okay. I mean there's four other people suggesting.

[37:17] » Yeah. I mean I if I recall when we gave the charge initially it was you know the

[37:22] mural was was an issue at the time. I think that should be still and you know

[37:26] I don't want to go down that road right now but I mean that should be that was

[37:30] one of the initial projects that we wanted people to focus on and we we

[37:33] still need hopefully to get that done. Um and I do remember a lot of discussion

[37:37] about new town hall artwork. Um you know I think that could occupy a good amount

[37:42] of the time. I do agree with Mallerie that

[37:45] this sounds like a good task for um whoever Jeff and Jen and I don't know

[37:53] what the timeline is for a new economic development you know assistant which we

[37:58] had budgeted for and set aside money for. Um I certainly don't feel it's

[38:04] appropriate to put this on Jeff's plate right now. I mean some of these tasks

[38:08] involve coordination with a number of other committees

[38:12] and I think you know that's that's that's a big job. Um but I uh I I do I

[38:21] think it's great that this group [clears throat] is is willing to dive

[38:25] into a lot of these issues because these are you know very cool things they want

[38:29] to try to get done. So it looks like someone that might be overlapping too

[38:32] with the downtown which was a little talk and whatnot. And as soon as we had

[38:37] an officer said person >> and I will just remind everybody with

[38:42] the mural. So in the spring we had kind of what started down the path to do the

[38:46] mural on the side of the fellow building and we had pivoted to have the downtown

[38:50] revitalization committee kind of be the lead on that because we hadn't built the

[38:53] community art committee yet. And then with the mural stuff kind of bubbling up

[38:56] again more recently with um the pharmacy building um I think we just kind of said

[39:02] we laid forth the path for that. So, we'll continue down that for the mural,

[39:07] but bathed into mentioned in the um plan for this, there were like different

[39:13] tracks um and one of them was like a track around building out artwork for

[39:18] the town hall and like a permanent art art track where we'd be looking to find

[39:23] pieces that will like be there permanently or a more like rotating kind

[39:26] of display case where it could be like artwork from kids from Central School or

[39:30] the high school or and you know, any number of things like that. was what was

[39:34] baked in and um yeah, I think that that would be a great

[39:38] place to to point them to in the near term to focus while we get everything

[39:42] else sorted out. >> I agree that I [clears throat] mean I

[39:45] think that as far as uh sort of limit for the sake of staff time

[39:53] limiting the interaction with other committees at at this point seems to be

[39:58] the best path in my opinion. So that being said, the town hall art I think

[40:02] would be a good start sort of one thing to focus on let them figure out how they

[40:06] all work together. >> Yep.

[40:08] » And also like you said it's time it's

[40:12] timely. So >> and I also think it's a little bit

[40:15] timely in the sense that we could give that direction to the comm the committee

[40:18] right now and given that September our budget hasn't started yet I you know any

[40:23] work that they're going to do there's going to be some money probably that

[40:26] they need to spend in order to do that. And so we could ask them to say um come

[40:31] up with like a approximate a budget number or something to propose

[40:35] to the council that could be done incorporated um budget cycle in the

[40:38] winter. I am going to though let the rest of the council weigh in more on

[40:43] that but I will not be here when that time comes about.

[40:45] » Yeah, we could get us the dollar. >> Yeah, if

[40:49] us like an estimate of what they think they might need.

[40:51] » Yep.

[40:55] » All right. Was there I don't recall in that committee charge anything specific

[41:01] that would provide them further direction related to town hall building

[41:05] art or >> just let them sort of

[41:08] » take it run with it. >> I mean I there were some suggestions in

[41:13] there for either rotating from the high school or one on the wall. So there was

[41:18] initial Yeah, there was some initial direction in there.

[41:21] » I think Mallerie you had thought about on the third floor. Yeah, there was um

[41:26] I'm not finding it on the website. There's like a whole word document

[41:30] um link inside there that I had put together and if I need to resend it to I

[41:34] can where where I had kind of laid that out like you know ideas for me like just

[41:39] just totally idea as a mural like right when you walk in the entrance one up on

[41:42] the third floor. Um yeah, let's find we'll find that present.

[41:47] » Yeah. >> So sorry.

[41:49] » Go ahead. Okay. Okay. >> Uh yes. So during our first meeting,

[41:54] just because I was the one who was there, they do have all of the charge

[41:57] information, the um our town, our voices um information that we put together for

[42:02] them along with the committee charge. These were just additional questions

[42:06] that they had on top of what was already given to them.

[42:09] » Cool. Okay. Thank you. Can I suggest that maybe perhaps I can

[42:14] reach out to the committee and I'll copy the council and kind of convey, you

[42:18] know, the council discussed we'd like you guys to focus on the town hall in

[42:22] the near term. Come up with a approximate budget estimate to bring

[42:25] back to the council while and just kind of explain the situation to the

[42:29] community art committee. Does that work for everybody?

[42:32] » Works for me. >> Works for me.

[42:34] I'll make a motion that Mallerie will follow up with the community art

[42:38] committee on um what we would like them to do in the near term which is focus on

[42:42] the town hall. Second motion and a second. Further discussion

[42:47] hearing. None. Joel. >> Hi.

[42:49] » Sam. >> Hi. Paul.

[42:50] » Hi. Mer. >> Hi.

[42:52] » I vote I also motion passes. 5 Z. Moving down to our last new business. 26 133.

[42:59] Anybody in the public that would like to speak on nomination of council

[43:02] membership municipal procurement policy ad hoc committee?

[43:05] » Yes sir. >> Please step forward. State say your name

[43:08] and address. Thank you for sir. Tony Palace Eddi Six Whitetail Drive. Um

[43:14] I I feel I need to speak this evening. Uh first of all, as the only current

[43:21] member of this ad hoc committee, uh the council, thank you, uh voted a some time

[43:27] ago. I also want to point out that, you know, my nomination package went in uh

[43:32] within two weeks of the announcement of this committee forming back in July. uh

[43:37] very anxious, very interested uh to get started on this. At the time, there was

[43:42] some conversation about, you know, I was considering a run for town council and

[43:47] what impact that may or may not have uh on this ad hoc committee and my

[43:52] membership in that committee. So, I explained, you know, I I thought if the

[43:56] committee got going right then and there, then a lot of the work would be

[43:59] done by the time the November election rolled around, then we could make a

[44:02] decision, you know, how we would proceed. At this point, we're

[44:07] midepptember. Uh we haven't appointed the town rep. We

[44:12] still haven't filled the second uh public rep.

[44:17] And I know there's a position or two positions for counselors to sit on this

[44:22] committee, this ad hoc committee, but let's face it, there's three counselors

[44:28] that are going to continue after November. And so we've got two of those

[44:32] three. And it's within the council's purview. But I'm not going to tell you

[44:34] it's not within your purview to select somebody at this point. But I guess in

[44:38] the overall scheme of things, the way I'm looking at this is

[44:42] November's coming up right around the corner and the charging documents

[44:48] present a window that keeps this open until November of 2027.

[44:56] It also says that from the time the first meeting happens, the committee,

[45:00] the ad hoc committee should complete their work within nine months. So if you

[45:03] back it up, we basically have, you know, a start date of February of 27

[45:10] to still be able to meet the November 27 deadline that's part of the charging

[45:16] documents. So looking at it all, I'm thinking as much as I was like charging

[45:21] right at it and I really wanted to get moving on this given the totality of

[45:25] what's going on right now, you know, the auditors haven't finished up and that's

[45:29] a big part of the recommendations may come up. We just heard the town c the

[45:34] town staff is short right now and this requires a full-time person from the

[45:41] town staff, somebody who's going to be involved in, you know, financial matters

[45:44] and a second person to provide administrative assistance. So, we'll be

[45:49] adding that burden on the town staff as well. So

[45:54] for consideration to the council, uh first of all

[46:00] I'd recommend that we hold off until after the November elections and the new

[46:06] council is seated and then the new council can make a decision on who the

[46:10] representatives from the council will be. It'll also give everybody an

[46:15] opportunity to determine who the town representative is going to be to this

[46:19] committee. And lastly, it gives the town an opportunity to continue to advertise

[46:26] to fill that second resource, you know, from the community. So, that would be my

[46:32] recommendation that we kind of put this on hold until after the November

[46:36] election and then revisit selection of counselors for the ad hoc committee as

[46:42] well as hopefully be able to appoint the other two members. So, thank you.

[46:47] » Thank you. Anybody else in the audience like to comment on this? Anybody online?

[46:54] I'll bring it back to the council for discussion.

[46:58] Oh yeah, Mr. Chair. Um, with respect to Mr. um I

[47:05] don't agree that it makes sense to wait until the election to keep going. Um, I

[47:10] do anticipate that the town will receive an application of another resident to

[47:14] join the committee hopefully as soon as tomorrow. Um and I hope they they

[47:21] assured me before this meeting that they will be submitting it. So have

[47:24] confidence that they will. Um

[47:29] from staff leaison perspective I I again we talked about being short staffed and

[47:36] down right now and overworked. Um, I think there's still some work that could

[47:41] be done among committee members and reported back to the interim town

[47:46] manager, the remaining members of the finance department that would move this

[47:50] forward and still be able to uh meet the November of next year deadline.

[48:00] So, I just want to approach on one that you just brought up with the work that

[48:04] could be brought back. Um that to me is a waste of effort from the

[48:11] people on the committee and it's going to be a waste of effort on our account

[48:14] staff because so far nobody on the committee uddi has

[48:20] a very thorough background procurement in the federal level doesn't have it in

[48:25] the municipal level. I know neither of you two have it at the municipal level.

[48:29] I don't have it at the municipal level. So, anything that the count that the

[48:33] committee could bring up is in turn going to go back to the staff that

[48:36] they're going to have to either say, "No, this won't work because of this,

[48:39] this, and this." Um, that helps the the interest of the resident works in

[48:45] municipal finance. Um, they're not in front of me, right? Right. So, so my

[48:51] decision is going to be based on what the facts that I have in front of me

[48:54] right now. Um, and again, we could revisit this a month from now, Sam.

[48:58] Right. with if we get another one in. My other concern is we have an election

[49:03] coming up in short of a month or so and we're going to we could end up

[49:08] rebaselining the committee if we have three

[49:12] counselors on there is a chance that he could win. If he wins and it's you Joel

[49:19] and him on the committee so we have to rebalance that committee again. It just

[49:22] does to me at this point I'm all for this idea. I do it um I think it's a

[49:28] good idea. I just don't think the timing is right. I don't see what's setting us

[49:32] to after the election would change with the

[49:37] procurement policy. It's not going to change the budget for next year. Like

[49:40] the budget meetings that you all are looking for want to have before starts

[49:44] working the budget. I don't see where the procurement policy is going to

[49:47] change any of that for us going forward. That's just my opinion. It won't.

[49:52] » Huh. It won't. >> The procurement policy. Yeah. Shut. So,

[49:56] if I'm hearing correctly,

[50:00] the council or at least you do not want to proceed with this committee that we

[50:07] that's been born. I want to put this on hold until after the November election

[50:13] because what was just brought to me from the public makes sense. We only have one

[50:18] person from the public right now on this committee. That's all we have.

[50:23] So we don't have a committee right now to go forward with because we only have

[50:27] one resident. We wanted two. So no, I don't think we can I don't think we can

[50:33] move forward anyway if we only have one resident right now

[50:37] » and for and adding the two counselors wouldn't be making progress towards

[50:40] formal. >> No, I don't feel it is

[50:47] I don't like having two counselors on an add-on.

[50:49] you want my personal opinion. >> I don't like that at all.

[50:54] » Just my just my house believes there's an application come in. I'm happy to

[50:59] remove myself from this. So there there will be three

[51:03] people so that if this start that's okay.

[51:11] I am not placing a vote my own personal vote something that's not backed in

[51:16] front of me. Never have never will. I I'm not going on a promise because I can

[51:20] tell you Jack's not in the minute. >> I mean, right there second there only

[51:25] two people. >> It's just one

[51:30] [laughter] realistically.

[51:35] » No, that's what we're trying to decide right now.

[51:39] » If I could chair. >> Uh yes, you may speak again since we're

[51:42] discussing you. >> Thank you. um you know discussing the

[51:46] committee and one of the concerns I have and and I appreciate that there may be

[51:50] another person out there who's got more experience than I you know that is

[51:54] willing to step up at this point and and join this committee but in the charging

[51:58] document it specifically says that uh for a second the committee shall convene

[52:04] a forum within 28 days of the appointment of the third member.

[52:09] So the charter specifically says once that third member is appointed, it's

[52:14] time to rock and roll. Whether we have another person from the public, whether

[52:18] we have another counselor, whether we have an identified member from, you

[52:22] know, the town staff, uh the charter says once that third person is

[52:27] appointed, it's ready to go. And I think again that's shortsighted. I think we

[52:32] need to get the players involved, you know, in advance and then start this

[52:38] committee off right. And you're right, it was brought up, I don't have

[52:42] municipal experience. Uh, one of the very first things that I want to do as a

[52:46] member of this committee is sit down with the town, look at other towns and

[52:52] how they do things. Where are the problems? Where are the perceived

[52:55] problems and see if there are solutions that are simple versus, you know,

[53:00] complete wholesale rewrites of policy. But again, I need to have as a member of

[53:07] this committee, I need to have a representative from the town who knows

[53:10] this inside and out and access to the attorney if necessary and access to

[53:14] other towns and the way they operate and those kind of conversations to flesh out

[53:19] what the issues really are need to take place before anybody starts focusing on

[53:24] solutions or you know perceived solutions. So again, I have real

[53:29] concerns, as I stated previously, about moving forward at this point. I really

[53:34] think that the council needs to consider holding off until the new council is in

[53:38] place and then revisit the assignment of representatives from the town. Perhaps

[53:44] this, you know, individual who's going to come forward. Maybe there are others

[53:47] that are better qualified than me or this person, uh, who would be willing to

[53:51] come forward with additional advertising, a little bit more time, a

[53:54] little bit more proddding. So I I just think it's in the best interest of the

[53:58] town and this, you know, whole review to hold off until after November.

[54:05] » I will chime in. Uh I I am I think that we should pause on it, but for slightly

[54:12] different reasons. Um the biggest concern that I have is um Mr. P what you

[54:18] were saying is that I don't see how this committee moves forward and makes

[54:22] considerable progress without requiring a lot of debt. in this moment. And as we

[54:27] covered, I think Jen is wearing several hats at this moment. We also are

[54:31] actively trying to hire her a town manager. Um, and Jen is wearing multiple

[54:36] hats. And I don't think we're at a place right now going into audit, going into

[54:40] budget season where we should be allocating a lot of her time toward an

[54:46] ad hoc. Um, I think that it would make more sense. Um, not because of the

[54:51] election necessarily, but I think the timing of it and the, um, the potential,

[54:56] very big potential if we were to move forward this evening with putting Joel

[54:59] and Sam on this committee and then Tony, if you were to make it onto the council,

[55:03] then now that whole thing has to be reworked because then now we have three

[55:05] counselors on it. And so any I I just think that waiting until after the

[55:10] election makes sense. I think the charge is incredibly specific as you've pointed

[55:14] out and really locks us into a timeline which I think is maybe feedback for how

[55:18] we do those things in the future to not like lock us in quite so much. Um and I

[55:23] think we should pause but I think my biggest concern is around Jennifer or

[55:27] Bassie. >> Paul

[55:32] um I might go halfway between both

[55:38] positions. Um I'm wondering if we just take We don't have another applicant. We

[55:42] don't know who that applicant is. We would need to interview them and then

[55:46] have a meeting to appoint them. Correct. >> Correct.

[55:50] » Which probably would not if we uh get the application next week. We would then

[55:57] have that in front of us. first meeting to then

[56:03] » set up a meeting uh an interview with them at the following meeting

[56:09] » which then brings us to >> second October

[56:13] » second in October. >> Yeah. So I I you know I don't disagree

[56:18] with the guidelines. I think it's a good idea. I I just I I you know I'm I'm

[56:23] wondering if if Yeah. you know, waiting until November, but we

[56:28] don't have three council members on it um is a good idea. So, I have one more

[56:35] comment. That's good. >> No, go ahead.

[56:37] » So, just I I hear the the charge I wrote specifically. I mean, it's an adopt me.

[56:44] It needs to sunset. I like to put a deadline on gold. If you can't get it

[56:48] done by then, then yeah, too bad. So in terms of the the first meeting that was

[56:54] uh mostly intended to not end up in a situation where you'd have to remember

[56:59] that it's like when we meet here's kicking the can down road so to speak.

[57:04] That wasn't to say that at the first meeting you have to actually transact in

[57:07] any you know substantive business or anything other than meeting getting

[57:14] introducing each other um you know trying to come up with any bylaws or

[57:19] anything with the committee um and to Paul's point by the time we get

[57:27] assuming that this application comes through if we're essentially landing at

[57:30] the election any push push this kick the can down the

[57:35] road. That's all you're doing because you're going to you're ending up at the

[57:40] election one way or another. And if we end up there and there's three answers,

[57:45] I just feel like that's a trivial solution. Someone leaves committee.

[57:48] » But it does not say that as soon as there's a quorum, then that clock starts

[57:52] ticking. So if we >> if we were to this, correct me if I'm

[57:56] wrong, but my understanding is as if we were to team with the actual presenter

[57:59] this evening that we have three people, then we have a forum, then that clock

[58:02] starts ticking. that we then need to start moving on it. And so if we just

[58:06] simply wait to take this action when along along the same timeline as this

[58:12] new person that potentially might apply, then we just do it all at once and then

[58:15] the clock starts ticking at a more reasonable timeline than even right now.

[58:22] » Yeah. I guess I I'm just not worried about a 9month block, you know, so it's

[58:27] three members meet within 28 days and then it's 9 month correct me if I'm

[58:30] wrong. Nine months from then that we have to present to the council deliver

[58:35] » and it can't be any later than November of next year.

[58:37] » Yeah. >> So it's

[58:40] sort of re I mean so I guess if we table this or go down then you're saving a

[58:46] month. >> Yeah. If we table it, you lose in a

[58:50] month. >> You don't table it.

[58:52] » Yeah. Huh? >> We don't table it.

[58:53] » If we don't get it. >> Yeah.

[58:57] » I said that's why there's five of us sitting here. Um

[59:01] » I would like to make no trip. Uh I would like to table this until the

[59:06] first meeting of the town council after the election, November 17th.

[59:09] » Second.

[59:13] » We have a motion in a second. We're going to go to discussion. You might

[59:17] want to rethink your date, but I'm okay with it.

[59:20] » First first meeting is very hectic because you got two brand new counselors

[59:24] coming in >> and elective chair, vice chair, plus all

[59:28] the stuff coming in. But it's your it's your goal. I won't be here, sir. So, I'm

[59:32] okay with your motion. >> I personally don't think this is a huge

[59:36] agenda. We're out of time. >> We have a motion in a second. Any

[59:41] further discussion? >> The meetings will be the 10th and the

[59:43] 24th. >> Yeah. Then we got our topics

[59:51] » so the second

[59:57] » and I have done so a lot of my homework um procurement policy for the federal

[1:00:01] dollars it's federal mandated the way it's written so that's already been

[1:00:04] written out by the lawyer and the purch

[1:00:09] with date and I have given my recommendations and started to

[1:00:14] discussion So I think a lot of the homework to get started has been

[1:00:19] supplied already. >> I I I agree with everyone else too

[1:00:24] though. We don't want to overtask like maintenance

[1:00:30] and obviously it's important. That's why I brought this up. But like

[1:00:34] considering our situation, it's not

[1:00:40] » anybody else. >> Um Oh, I had one more thing to add. Go

[1:00:44] ahead. Y >> um so 11:24 and then

[1:00:50] I would say just on on top of that and obviously application in here but we

[1:00:54] would still consider we would roll that with consideration as that comes in

[1:00:59] right as >> Yes. Yeah. Okay. Oh yeah, 100%. If we

[1:01:02] get whatever we get for applications, we'll take we'll do the invitation.

[1:01:05] We'll do the invitations. We'll do the interviews. We'll roll them through.

[1:01:09] We'll get everything going through. So, it'll all start on that day.

[1:01:16] » Huh? We got a motion on. Um, anything else? Hearing none. Sam,

[1:01:22] » hi. >> Paul,

[1:01:23] » I vote I also motion passes 5. We're going

[1:01:28] to the fun part evening. Council member comments. Let's start with Paul.

[1:01:34] » Wow. Um, believe it or not, I don't have anything right now.

[1:01:40] » Okay, that's that's fine. Don't put me in the shop. Say,

[1:01:44] » actually, I'm sorry. >> Okay.

[1:01:49] Well, um I do want to inquire about the comprehensive plan implementation

[1:01:53] committee and whether we need to sort of solicit additional members for that

[1:01:58] committee because um we have two >> I would Okay. I just I I don't know, but

[1:02:04] we need to get word out. Talk to Suzanne.

[1:02:07] » Talk to Suzanne about all the openings that

[1:02:09] » I mean, now that we adjusted the growth area map, although I'm not sure how much

[1:02:13] that committee would be involved that um but um yeah, that would be something I

[1:02:19] would like to >> and we've had both

[1:02:23] um verbal and also email exchange with Suzanne to get that going. Okay, great.

[1:02:29] Thank you. Happy

[1:02:34] Are you sure? Yes. All right. Um I got I got a few things. Um,

[1:02:41] one thing was the revitalization committee in February sent us a letter

[1:02:45] related to streetscape design standards and um I don't I think we sort of you

[1:02:52] know acknowledge receipt so to speak but didn't do uh anything else on that

[1:02:58] considering the um downtown traffic light plans and progress we made there.

[1:03:06] Um there's going to be a meeting October

[1:03:10] October 6th. >> Yes.

[1:03:11] » 6th. >> Um I feel like it's important that um

[1:03:17] the town start taking action related to those streetscape design standards and

[1:03:23] putting something together so that in a cohesive manner the town can give main

[1:03:28] dot sort of instruction or direction. Maybe not not maybe not direction of

[1:03:33] construction, but you know, we have our ducks in a row with how we want our

[1:03:37] streetscapes to look. um that project's going to be, you know, 50 plus year

[1:03:42] infrastructure and I'd hate to um Eastmail

[1:03:48] um together something at the last minute and end up with a traffic light, but the

[1:03:54] same type of non multimodal uh situation downtown that doesn't attract or

[1:04:01] interest more in economic development, which I think such design standards

[1:04:07] would accomplish. Um,

[1:04:11] I don't know what the next step would be. I guess it would to some for the

[1:04:14] council maybe to somehow um request that those become a priority

[1:04:19] to put out an RFP for those design standards to be formulated. Um, but just

[1:04:25] wanted to bring that to life. >> Mr. chairman. So we we don't the

[1:04:30] standards haven't been we haven't >> we Scarland at the time does not have

[1:04:36] any streetscape design standards and that would

[1:04:40] correct me if I'm wrong that would include like street street light post

[1:04:44] types uh sidewalk profile like all the stuff that makes up what makes space

[1:04:53] » yeah if I may um you're correct as I understand no kind of formal whole

[1:04:57] streetscape design document. Um there's really two timelines here.

[1:05:03] There's the development of general standards if if if the if you guys want

[1:05:08] to do that. And then those general standards can help inform future

[1:05:13] projects. But we also have a some what I would consider a more time-sensitive

[1:05:20] task, which is what to advocate to do to include in their their project because

[1:05:28] after all, >> they'll be ripping up the sidewalks

[1:05:30] anyway. They'll be putting new conduit in for the signal. It'll be they're

[1:05:36] already proposing some curb extensions and um um design features. In my

[1:05:43] opinion, they're omitting some blockability features that should be in

[1:05:46] there. So the more timesensitive question is what do we do specifically

[1:05:50] about Main Street between Norton and 236. So I think if you do develop those

[1:05:58] generic street safe standards, including going out with an RFP, have a

[1:06:03] consultant develop them, it's going to be a little late to then apply those to

[1:06:09] the Main Street project specifically. So, I think that now is really the time

[1:06:13] for the town to engage with DOT on the details of those plans because we have

[1:06:20] um draft 60% plans. There's the meeting on October 6 that

[1:06:25] you mentioned to really say what do we want to include in this project in terms

[1:06:30] of streetscape elements for main street because as you point out this really

[1:06:35] sets the table for building the building what the street's

[1:06:40] going to look like. One of the things is all sidewalks should be a minimum of 5t

[1:06:44] wide. They've appropriated that plan. We have talked about nice looking street

[1:06:51] lights in that area. >> Is there any like recommended path

[1:06:57] forward that you have for that? Like considering the time it sort of is kind

[1:07:02] of trying to be reactive to the October 6.

[1:07:05] » Yeah. >> I would say this. I we're already as a

[1:07:09] staff going to develop a set of comments to give to DOT. As I understand that the

[1:07:15] downtown revitalization committee will also be developing comments to pass

[1:07:19] along to DOT and then I would just defer to the council. Does the council want to

[1:07:24] come up with a list or endorse what the staff is commenting on and give that to

[1:07:31] the OT? So, it's really up to the bas. And yeah, it's it's a really important

[1:07:39] opportunity. Now's the time.

[1:07:45] » So yeah, that was funny. >> All right. Oh, that was that was that

[1:07:48] that one. I I do have one other one that I do want to bring up that has been sort

[1:07:51] of downtown um related to and I know it was like a year. It was actually last

[1:07:57] year when the um uh block party was happening and I think

[1:08:03] it I think it was D Carlo made a comment to me about the boundaries of that Paul

[1:08:07] Street lot and you talked about the the abandoned car stuff and he he sort of

[1:08:13] was asking what not asking but questioned whether we knew where the

[1:08:17] town's property was on that fall street lot.

[1:08:21] » They do because we bought it. I mean they have a survey. We we bought that

[1:08:25] house. There was a boundary survey. >> Oh, yeah. That Yeah, there was when they

[1:08:30] bought it on a war miracle. There sure is.

[1:08:33] » So, that was that was there's like sort of three areas in town. I'm wondering

[1:08:37] about such boundary surveys. And this is a more this is more just a question. The

[1:08:42] other one was Scott's port because I know there's the um concerns right now

[1:08:46] about the propane tanks that um I guess could be I they're I don't who who knows

[1:08:54] where they Are they in the public right away or are they in the building owner's

[1:08:57] property? Like is there a survey that the town possesses that the link that

[1:09:01] actually defines where the town's property is to help push that along? And

[1:09:07] also I think knowing that the exact location of that right away could help

[1:09:13] again with um that block building and figuring out

[1:09:19] more long term what if anything the town can do to assist with each of those

[1:09:24] tenants to make those more I guess developable for lack of a

[1:09:31] better term or with utility is

[1:09:36] organ izing it essentially that what is in the deeds listed as a private

[1:09:43] rightway but the public right away you know so

[1:09:49] um so the town's rightway is very well

[1:09:52] delineated and the building owner just bought that his property lines those

[1:09:58] tanks are on his property they they are clearly on his property by every survey

[1:10:03] he possesses even though they're not his tanks

[1:10:07] But they are on. >> So, so the town has nothing to do with

[1:10:09] that then >> unfortunately.

[1:10:11] » Yeah. >> Okay. I guess that was I guess that was

[1:10:15] that if that's the case and that answers my question as to whether for town, you

[1:10:19] know, ought to be involved in that situation to begin with. It's not not

[1:10:23] exactly involving the town right away. So, that was Yeah,

[1:10:28] » that was what uh >> we've had several meetings with all the

[1:10:32] different players. Jeff even had another meeting with them last week trying to

[1:10:36] help smooth it out from our side. Cameron Street says 26 feet more or less

[1:10:41] 63 feet more or less. >> So that's where I think a professional

[1:10:46] land surveyor would be able to put a pin in the ground and say this is the

[1:10:50] property line. This is this is >> yeah

[1:10:56] there are four dot surveys that clearly show it. There's a deed

[1:11:02] from 1933 that says it goes two feet off of the foundation of civil consultants

[1:11:10] building as well as off of that pharmacy building. Um

[1:11:15] » that's the problem. >> So that Yeah. So that

[1:11:17] » and you have Mark Lauren arguing it. >> Yeah.

[1:11:22] Okay. So >> that meeting

[1:11:25] » Yeah. Then I got dropped and on the Zoom call. But I I mean he was really being

[1:11:31] ganged up on from what I was hearing online and

[1:11:37] my personal experiences the professional that's supposed to be

[1:11:42] able to read these signs, but the DOT really has it clearly laid

[1:11:48] out and the survey goes back to the written description. So they found it,

[1:11:54] too. I found it. It's all mine. So we're it's it's a catch 22 and right

[1:11:59] now Cameron's being nice. My suggestion was hook a truck to pull. They're on my

[1:12:04] property. They wouldn't be there. >> Yeah. Cameron's being more from

[1:12:07] » Yeah. Can I add a little bit more effective services?

[1:12:10] » Yeah. More from the I say the perspective of finding, you know, where

[1:12:14] where the town owns so that the town knows what what they are or are not

[1:12:18] getting into. >> And we don't want to take away other

[1:12:21] businesses either.

[1:12:26] if I may. Mr. >> Yeah, you you can because I'm biting my

[1:12:29] lip on what Jen just said, but I I respect it too much to answer that back.

[1:12:33] Um, so yeah, as Jen mentions, we've had discussions. We've facilitated

[1:12:38] discussions. They've been really constructive. I want to acknowledge

[1:12:42] thank everybody who's been involved. Uh, and yes, there's a part of this that is

[1:12:49] between businesses. It's a private matter. I have seen the town role as

[1:12:54] three three things. One is as a presumptive owner of Scottsport.

[1:13:00] Number two, any changes made, we want to of course make sure they are to code

[1:13:05] within our authority. And number three, we have a general economic development

[1:13:10] interest in making sure our businesses are happy and that disputes are

[1:13:15] resolved. There's a sense of urgency here because of the specific

[1:13:20] communications that have occurred between from one business to others with

[1:13:26] regard to a worry that gas could be cut off abruptly to a

[1:13:32] business and to tenants who are uh who are you know about to experience cold

[1:13:39] weather. So that's why we wanted to respond to that sense of urgency, get

[1:13:44] all everybody in the same room to discuss it. And I don't see

[1:13:51] I don't see the I actually see the the debate about where the property line is

[1:13:56] as as secondary to this discussion because after all it's not just the

[1:14:02] tanks. The gas line is affixed to the wall of the pharmacy building and it

[1:14:08] seems very clear that Cameron owns his own wall. So even if you debate about if

[1:14:14] the tanks are his property or not, the gas line is. So uh I see it as something

[1:14:20] that can we facilitate a relocation and so what was discussed was

[1:14:28] uh a couple of things. One, putting the tanks behind the building behind Scots

[1:14:34] Court by the old hardware warehouse. There are a number of challenges with

[1:14:39] that. Um so there the alternative was to get those tanks 2 feet off of the wall.

[1:14:46] And again that is presuming for the sake of discussion that Cameron owns two feet

[1:14:53] off the wall. Again we can debate that. We can look to deeds, but it's probably

[1:14:57] a court of law that would be the only one who could definitively establish

[1:15:02] that. So, but if we assume that he does, then we can talk constructively. So,

[1:15:09] moving the tanks two feet off the wall or more,

[1:15:12] still maintaining adequate clearance on Scott's Court for all kinds of vehicles,

[1:15:19] and then trenching the line in Scott's Court. Um, so that's off his wall, goes

[1:15:25] underground, and uh goes back to 279 Main Street where the gas meters

[1:15:33] currently are so that those tenants can not have a disruption of their gas

[1:15:38] service. So that's what we talked about. We are hoping that the parties can, you

[1:15:45] know, express a preference for what they want to do. We think that there's a way

[1:15:50] to reconfigure those tanks to basically address everybody's needs for the most

[1:15:57] part. I think we're just waiting for Mr. Mercier to, you know, give us his

[1:16:04] preference for what we discussed. >> I think he did like about hundred times

[1:16:08] not

[1:16:12] » he doesn't want him there. He can't he can't heat his own building because he

[1:16:17] can't flood the condenser where the heating company

[1:16:22] has proposed putting it because it's less expensive for him, the guy that

[1:16:27] owns the building and his tenants upstairs right now don't have heat

[1:16:31] either. So, but there is a another fuel company that quickly proposed another

[1:16:40] option. However, the building owner doesn't want to look at that.

[1:16:45] » Which building owner? I'm confused about what building owner

[1:16:51] » not Cameron. Not Cameron. >> Not Cameron.

[1:16:53] » Okay. >> And not Cat either. The owner of

[1:16:57] something. >> Yeah. It's [clears throat] not It's not

[1:16:58] Cat. >> Yep. Well, I I thank you for that

[1:17:02] summary. I appreciate it. And you guys work to try and help resolve that. Um,

[1:17:09] I'm wondering uh I was thinking when I started

[1:17:13] thinking about this, I was thinking too about the f just like the future and

[1:17:17] trying to make that a little easier to develop because obviously this is this

[1:17:24] is a decade old thing, right? So it's like um my initial thought and why I

[1:17:32] brought the boundary survey up was that that would be to behind the building

[1:17:37] because everyone's property bust that rightway behind the building and if that

[1:17:41] rightway was wide enough and there was some sort of way the town could

[1:17:47] if it if it was wide enough for emergency vehicles grant some grant some

[1:17:53] an easement behind the building instead of to that side for those uh tenants and

[1:17:59] owners to place their utilities. Um that was

[1:18:05] my brief thought and uh again thank you for the discussion but sounds like

[1:18:11] everything's working towards it's it's working good.

[1:18:16] » Yes, Joel. >> Okay. um uh reporting my last talk with

[1:18:21] the counselors that I had on August 29th had over 13 residents attend uh people

[1:18:26] had a lot of thoughts on our thing. It was a great conversation. We do have our

[1:18:30] next one scheduled for September 26th and I don't know if we have anyone

[1:18:35] for that yet. >> I volunteered.

[1:18:37] » Okay, we have Paul >> nobody knows that.

[1:18:39] » That's okay. That was one of one of one of the plays was uh get the information

[1:18:44] out there sooner be anything like that. of 2012.

[1:18:49] » What's the date? >> 26th.

[1:18:52] » Uh 9 9:30 9:30. I I had to do 10 because I wasn't available before then. Um Jesus

[1:19:00] just earlier budget listening session next Tuesday. Um 6 p.m. in this room.

[1:19:05] Very excited for that. Strawberry Festival is looking for volunteers.

[1:19:09] There's a meeting here at 6 p.m. on October 19th. And also if you are

[1:19:13] interested in being a pole worker on November 3rd, please reach out to Monus

[1:19:21] » Valerie. >> Um I just have something that a resident

[1:19:24] had brought to my attention that I think the council the planning board like all

[1:19:28] everyone should be aware of. Um there is a proposed project in Berwick just over

[1:19:33] the border of 500 Portland Street. It involves AT process technologies, a

[1:19:37] company developed and testing modular equipment used in the product production

[1:19:40] of energetic materials. Um, I will just be very transparent that I do not have

[1:19:45] all the specific information on this. I'm just alerting us to this. Um, based

[1:19:49] on the company's job descriptions and job postings, the work appears to

[1:19:51] involve hazardous chemistry, pilot scale production, testing, and safety systems

[1:19:55] associated with energetic materials. I want to be really careful not to

[1:19:59] overstate what I know, what we know, or suggest that Southgard has any

[1:20:02] jurisdiction over this because this is technically a Burwick land use decision,

[1:20:06] but potential impacts don't necessarily stop at town lines. And I think that

[1:20:09] this is something that we should as a community be paying attention to. Um,

[1:20:13] there's reasonable questions about trucks, hazardous material routes,

[1:20:16] emergency response, delayed groundwater, service water impacts, air emissions

[1:20:20] noise, and what would happen in the event of an accident. There is a public

[1:20:24] hearing in Berwick to um on the third, what day is it? The 8th on the 10th and

[1:20:28] two days from now in Berwick um for this issue. I would really encourage

[1:20:32] residents um who are interested to review the application um and attend um

[1:20:38] or at least pay attention to the public hearing. I'm hoping to be there. Um and

[1:20:42] simply just from a conference perspective, I just think it's

[1:20:44] appropriate for us to determine and this is a maybe an open question.

[1:20:49] This is a situation that I've not experienced. Is it appropriate for us to

[1:20:53] formally request information from Farwick about this project given the

[1:20:58] proximity? Um yeah who anyone just wanted to bring

[1:21:03] this to everyone's attention. Um I don't know Paul is with your past experience

[1:21:08] is there anything? >> Um I think we can do that anytime but

[1:21:11] particularly if anything crosses well we saw the town line it crosses the line if

[1:21:15] they break the property does affect cost. Would it be appropriate for us to

[1:21:20] like I don't know if it's a council or as a town or the planning board or one

[1:21:25] of our organizations to reach out to the bar planning department requesting

[1:21:29] additional information on this project. I'm just like really unsure of how we

[1:21:33] navigate and and move them if we need. >> I can start call the target agenda.

[1:21:40] » That would be great. >> And if anyone has any other suggestions

[1:21:45] um I will try to attend on Thursday if I have possible. If not, I'll try to catch

[1:21:48] it after the fact. >> What's the name of the project?

[1:21:51] » Um, ATP AT process technologies. This was there was a post on a Burwick

[1:21:57] Facebook page about this just to also be transparent about it. Um, so like the

[1:22:01] information that I've got is fairly limited. Um, but again, just want to

[1:22:04] make sure it's on everyone's radar. >> It's on Facebook. It's true.

[1:22:09] » And that's that's all that I have. >> All right. Uh, I have two. So, just

[1:22:14] letting the public know. Thursday night 5:30 we will have a executive session

[1:22:18] Zoom meeting with MRI. They are the firm that we hired to go out and search for a

[1:22:23] new town manager for us. Um that meeting invite will be sent out. Thank you

[1:22:29] ladies. I appreciate that. That way it gets done right and I don't mess it up.

[1:22:33] Uh second thing going down that road, uh Valerie and I again are done in in three

[1:22:39] meetings. the way this is lining up for the town council. Uh

[1:22:45] we're not going to be here when it's voted in. I know we've had talk about us

[1:22:50] sitting in as consultants, which is great. We both agreed to that, but I

[1:22:55] would like to turn over the responsibilities of dealing with Allen

[1:22:59] at MRI to uh councelor Schumacher. He has 30 plus without dating you years in

[1:23:06] the municipal government with SNPDC and that way it stays consistent with when

[1:23:12] Mallerie and I leave. He's your guys be on going forward with MRI if that's okay

[1:23:19] with the rest of the council.

[1:23:24] » Beautiful. You're tag. I already told that one. Uh

[1:23:29] » moving on from there. That's all I have. We are ajourned. Thank you, Hershey.

09/8/2026 Town Council Meeting

Transcript