[0:13] I will call to order the September 8th,
[0:15] 2026 uh town council meeting to order.
[0:18] If you could please stand for the pledge
[0:19] of allegiance and moment of silence.
[0:24] To the flag of the United States of
[0:26] America and to the republic for which it
[0:29] stands. One nation under God,
[0:33] indivisible, with liberty and justice
[0:35] for all.
[0:42] Thank you.
[0:47] We have no proclamations or
[0:49] presentations tonight. So that brings us
[0:51] to public petition uh public petitions.
[0:54] Uh and as a reminder, this first session
[0:57] is with a threem minute limit. Um if you
[0:58] could just provide your name and address
[1:00] uh if you'd like to participate and I
[1:02] will start in the room and invite anyone
[1:04] to come to the table if they would like
[1:06] to
[1:14] Nelson 206 Anderson Road.
[1:19] Uh this is regarding the new business
[1:21] agenda item 8.2 consideration of a
[1:23] resolution to adopt proposed town
[1:25] naming.
[1:27] When Talent considers a policy for
[1:29] naming Talin owned public use areas, I
[1:32] believe we need to start with one simple
[1:33] principle. The name should have a
[1:35] meaningful connection to the place being
[1:36] named. And we need only look at Taland's
[1:39] own history, not neighboring towns,
[1:41] other states or national trends.
[1:44] Connection should come first and
[1:45] foremost. Talent has been here since
[1:48] 1715
[1:50] and for more than 300 years areas have
[1:52] been names rooted in our history, our
[1:54] land and people who have been part of
[1:55] our community. People whose lives or
[1:58] contributions have a meaningful
[1:59] connection to the particular place being
[2:01] named.
[2:03] The town has purchased areas of land and
[2:05] some of those names reflect the longtime
[2:07] stewards of that land such as the CW
[2:09] loose loose conservation area. Residents
[2:12] have also donated land to the town that
[2:15] became conservation areas, hiking
[2:16] trails, parks, and other places like
[2:18] Crandles. Names like Sumar's Pond and
[2:21] Skunkamog also reflect Talland's history
[2:23] and connection to the land, including
[2:25] our Native American heritage.
[2:28] I think of my first grade principal,
[2:30] Donald Parker, who spent 18 years in the
[2:32] Talland school system. After his
[2:34] untimely death in 1973,
[2:37] Metobrook Elementary School, where I
[2:39] went to first grade, became Parker
[2:40] Memorial. I was six years old but I
[2:43] still remember him. That names mean that
[2:46] name means something because Mr. Parker
[2:48] was connected to that school and
[2:50] generations of talent children. It told
[2:52] a story. I'm sorry my foot is to stand
[2:55] up. That is the standard we should
[2:58] preserve. I also believe politicians
[3:00] should not be considered for naming town
[3:02] own public places. These places belong
[3:04] to everyone and their name should unite
[3:06] us and reflect Talland's history. There
[3:08] are other ways to honor deserving
[3:10] individuals such as scholarships,
[3:12] fundraisers, memorial plaques, or
[3:14] dedicating a room or smaller area rather
[3:16] than naming a large building or public
[3:18] area after someone with no direct
[3:20] connection to that place. Before
[3:23] adopting a policy, I believe we should
[3:24] hold a public hearing so residents can
[3:26] share their knowledge and ideas. We
[3:28] should also make better use of our town
[3:30] historians. They have dedicated
[3:32] themselves for preserving Talin's
[3:34] history and we should cherish that
[3:36] knowledge and draw upon it when making
[3:38] decisions about names that will become
[3:40] part of our historical record. We have
[3:43] more than sorry we have more than 300
[3:46] years of Taland history. Let's preserve
[3:48] those connections, listen to our
[3:50] residents, and let the names of our
[3:51] public places tell story.
[3:53] >> Thank you.
[3:56] >> I will go online. If you'd like to
[3:59] speak, please raise your Zoom hand.
[4:05] Seeing none, I'll go back to the room.
[4:11] See, I'll go online. Anyone who would
[4:14] like to participate, please raise your
[4:16] Zoom hand.
[4:20] Back to the room for a final time for
[4:22] public participation.
[4:26] and back online. Last call for public
[4:28] participation. Please raise your Zoom
[4:30] hand.
[4:34] Seeing none, we'll close public uh
[4:36] petitions and uh there are no public
[4:38] hearing items, so we'll move right into
[4:40] reports of boards and committees
[4:42] responsible to the council. Um
[4:46] the firehouse subcommittee, any update
[4:48] there?
[4:49] >> We are having a we just talked about
[4:52] this. We're having a pre-construction
[4:53] meeting on the 14th, which is next
[4:55] Monday next week. Um, so we'll be having
[4:59] more report after we go through that
[5:01] meeting that is Monday afternoon. So,
[5:04] >> thank you.
[5:06] Um,
[5:07] Brian, contaminated wells, anything or
[5:11] any movement in terms of um the funding
[5:14] from the state when that might get
[5:15] working for the vineyards?
[5:17] >> No change at this point.
[5:18] >> Okay. We are there was some issue with
[5:21] water
[5:22] quality in the Lake View Heights. Um I
[5:25] met with the DPW director about uh
[5:28] cleaning out the catch basins um ceiling
[5:30] cracks. Um where are they in the paving
[5:32] schedule? We'll look at that um moving
[5:33] forward. The standard stuff that we had
[5:34] done in the vineyards um years prior to
[5:37] show that we're doing our part on the uh
[5:41] least the runoff of the roads. Um has uh
[5:45] our consultant uh have they did they
[5:47] test them?
[5:48] >> They they tested there was new results
[5:50] they've been given to Langden. At some
[5:51] point you might expect um Mike to come
[5:53] forward uh with this budgeting questions
[5:55] in relation to that.
[5:56] >> Okay. Thank you.
[5:57] >> Yep. Um
[6:00] Crag Ehd that kind of thing.
[6:03] >> Sure. um CCM um we went over some of the legislative uh items that they're
[6:09] looking at uh of highlight today was u
[6:13] state support for warming and cooling
[6:14] centers. We look at a town like Taland.
[6:16] Uh we have really neither after hours.
[6:18] We have the senior center, we have the
[6:20] library when they're open. Um there
[6:22] would be funding they're trying to get
[6:24] funding for after hours if something
[6:26] were to happen. Uh that being said, we
[6:29] have at times sent John or someone to
[6:32] the senior center. um and 0.0 people
[6:35] have showed up um for that. Um so it's iffy how far CCM is going to take
[6:41] it. Other towns seem to echo what we
[6:42] said. You know, the cities are are a
[6:44] different uh different uh situation than
[6:47] we're in. However, uh we talked about
[6:49] the uh everyone in the state is
[6:52] concerned with the uh ambulance and fire
[6:56] vehicles, fire trucks, and the length of
[6:58] time and cost it is to do it. and
[7:00] forever. I sat here for years and said
[7:02] it's John and said it's you COVID and
[7:05] supply chain and now um it looks like
[7:08] that these conglomerates have bought up
[7:10] and hedge funds have bought up all the
[7:12] places. Uh basically creating a
[7:14] monopoly. Um a $1.4 million firet truck
[7:18] a few years ago is now 2.4. Um and four
[7:21] years out for um a fire truck and three
[7:24] for an ambulance is what they were
[7:26] looking at. uh today looking at the
[7:27] state for some uh remedies with that. Um
[7:30] there was some social media stuff in
[7:32] regards to law enforcement but nothing
[7:34] that would affect Taland so much and
[7:36] some talk about again block cameras
[7:37] again not affecting talent. Uh CCM I
[7:40] talked about the salary survey. Uh we we
[7:42] had a meeting um and they are also
[7:45] offering uh AI training and local
[7:48] government uh for uh staff. So I'll I'll
[7:51] be floating that out to some uh
[7:52] different people. Uh and then they
[7:54] talked about shared dispatching dispatch
[7:56] services. They talked about um
[8:00] uh regionalizing fire and ambulance, but
[8:02] after what we went through with just
[8:03] trying to regionalize one and a half dog
[8:05] wardens with three towns, um I can't
[8:07] imagine I don't know how they could ever
[8:09] anyone could ever regionalize. Um it's
[8:11] going to be quite a process. I
[8:13] completely embrace it. I wish we had a
[8:15] regional fire and ambulance um and would
[8:18] look for some um different things moving
[8:19] forward. But uh that's it for CCM and
[8:22] Croc. Any questions?
[8:26] >> U just one thing um because we were we
[8:28] talked about this in the executive
[8:30] session a little bit. Um in terms of
[8:33] town employee salaries and how they
[8:35] compare to CC and they put out the
[8:38] average list where what do our employees
[8:40] on average?
[8:41] >> We are we are consistently in darn near
[8:43] every position um near the bottom end uh
[8:46] at best
[8:48] average in one or two but everything in
[8:50] the bottom end.
[8:51] >> Okay. And then one thing that the the
[8:53] vice chair brought I thought was a good
[8:54] point that I want to make sure we
[8:56] emphasize now and again in the budget.
[8:58] So town halls closed on Fridays. Um but
[9:02] do our employees in the four days that
[9:04] they work do they still work a full like
[9:05] 40hour work week? It is a 40hour work
[9:07] week. Um, and the the town hall opens up
[9:11] um at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 4:30 on uh
[9:16] Monday through Wednesday and then 8:00
[9:19] a.m. till 7:30 uh Monday through um I'm
[9:23] sorry on Thursdays
[9:24] >> Tuesday.
[9:26] >> Yes. Jesus. That's okay. The point the
[9:29] point is and and Randy made this earlier
[9:32] and I thought it was a good one that
[9:34] well one you know our employees are
[9:36] certainly um paid on like the lower end
[9:39] of of what what towns are doing but
[9:41] they're also still working 40 hours so
[9:42] it's not as though you know they're
[9:43] getting it's a reduced work schedule. So
[9:46] um I just want to make that make sure
[9:47] that point's clear because I think
[9:48] that's important to know
[9:49] >> if you go downstairs all the offices are
[9:51] full right now. People are still here.
[9:53] >> Yeah. I do think it's great for people
[9:55] being able to access the town, you know,
[9:57] when they're not working, that kind of
[9:58] thing. So, I think that's good.
[10:00] >> Thank you, Brian. Um, reports and
[10:04] reports of boards and committees
[10:05] responsible to the council. Um,
[10:07] councelor Dar.
[10:09] >> So, board of ed.
[10:11] >> Sure.
[10:11] >> Certainly. Um, the last meeting was on,
[10:14] uh, August 26th. It was kind of neat.
[10:16] They had their student rep was there
[10:18] even though classes hadn't started yet.
[10:21] um but she reported out on link and if
[10:23] anyone knows what doesn't know what that
[10:24] is it's really cool program where
[10:26] students um sign up to be link crew
[10:29] members and they're there to welcome the
[10:32] freshmen and help the freshman um get
[10:34] through uh and and know where they are.
[10:37] Um so she attended her first board of ed
[10:40] meeting without you know school being in
[10:42] session.
[10:43] >> Um the teacher negotiations are are
[10:46] still ongoing. Um, from my viewpoint,
[10:50] um, the BOE is doing a good job as
[10:53] stewards of town to work, um, with the
[10:57] to work together to to figure out the
[10:59] best possible negotiation for our
[11:01] teachers. Um, and um, with the town in
[11:08] mind, obviously. Um, and then there was
[11:10] a very long discussion on the
[11:13] superintendent goals for the year. Um
[11:16] there were about 13 different goals. Uh
[11:19] they settled on four that were primary
[11:22] goals. However, there's not one of the
[11:25] 13 goals that the superintendent can't
[11:27] work on during the year because of it's
[11:29] part of his job. But the bas the four
[11:31] goals were a return on investment to
[11:33] evaluate uh school programs. Uh a
[11:36] grading assessment and review. uh they
[11:39] were discussing how um that there might
[11:42] be disparity on on ways teachers grade.
[11:46] So they wanted to make sure that's
[11:47] consistent. Um uh safety and security is
[11:50] always a priority. Um and then another
[11:53] big one was exploring uh uh and
[11:56] expanding tuition opportunities and
[11:58] trying to get others to come to our
[12:00] schools to help um pay tuition. So that
[12:04] was the the gist of it.
[12:05] >> Great. Thank you.
[12:07] >> You're welcome. Councelor Beast saw
[12:08] anything on your end?
[12:10] >> Uh, no. I do not have anything um at my
[12:13] committee's meeting on this Thursday.
[12:14] >> Got it. Councelor B.
[12:16] >> Uh, we are out of sync right now with
[12:18] planning and zoning because yesterday
[12:20] was holiday. So, their meeting will be
[12:22] next week. Um, and then uh uh committee
[12:27] on um commission on persons with
[12:28] disabilities is busy planning their uh
[12:32] because we have the harvest fest coming
[12:33] up their stair. So, they've got some
[12:35] cool things and have a list that they're
[12:36] looking forward to. Um,
[12:39] that's what I have for you right now.
[12:43] >> Thank you. As a marshall,
[12:45] >> just wait for the next meeting and
[12:46] hopefully it won't be cancelled.
[12:48] >> Sounds good. Thank you. Um, and next
[12:51] Wednesday I have the historic district
[12:53] commission meeting. So, I have nothing
[12:54] to update on either. Um Brian, I know uh
[12:59] since uh Council Jackson's not here
[13:00] tonight, um PCC in terms of the harvest
[13:03] fest, are they do you know in terms of
[13:04] like how they're doing planning and
[13:06] getting geared up for that? They're
[13:07] doing great. Um I met I I put set aside
[13:10] some set aside some time last week to
[13:13] sit down with Eric and Dr. Jackson and
[13:16] go over uh so many things PCC especially
[13:19] the harvest fest. So they're they're in good shape. Trish lock in
[13:22] good shape.
[13:22] >> Great. Thank you.
[13:25] So that brings us to item eight, which
[13:28] is our new business. Uh 8.1 is a
[13:30] consideration of resolution to declare
[13:32] the attached list of equipment as
[13:33] surplus property within the town. Brian,
[13:37] >> thank you.
[13:43] So, um you know, when I got here,
[13:47] search search previous career um looking
[13:50] at um different facilities in town uh
[13:53] and equipment. Uh there seem to be a lot
[13:55] of stagnant pieces of equipment, older
[13:57] pieces of equipment in storage areas, uh
[13:59] that needed to be cleaned out uh with
[14:02] new management um in DPW where we are
[14:05] taking again an aggressive effort. You
[14:06] saw one of these surplus sales a year or
[14:08] two ago. Uh and now you're seeing
[14:10] another one. Uh this is smaller
[14:12] equipment here um as opposed to the last
[14:15] one. Uh all uh not super expensive uh
[14:20] items. We have a surplus policy. Uh Dave
[14:24] Dro uh our assistant director in DBW is
[14:27] here if you have any questions in
[14:28] regards to the um surplus policy. We
[14:31] have any funding that we get and you can
[14:34] look at the totals. uh I asked them at
[14:37] the very last column on the right um in
[14:39] your package uh the total estimated
[14:42] value of of the items and they go from
[14:44] zero to you know low numbers here so
[14:47] it's not a big chunk of money that's
[14:48] going to end up in CNRE uh but that's
[14:50] where the the money ends up uh Dave's
[14:53] here if you have any questions uh on any
[14:55] of this stuff we've also included
[14:57] pictures of most of the items as well as
[14:59] you can so you can get a feel for them
[15:01] um these were in like container
[15:04] buildings and such around on different
[15:06] properties as we're trying to uh really
[15:08] professionalize our uh equipment and um
[15:12] management of it.
[15:15] >> Any questions?
[15:19] » What is the process andor deadline for,
[15:23] you know, putting these out for bid or
[15:26] how does that work?
[15:27] >> Go ahead, Dave. Uh so what we end up
[15:30] doing is uh we let it uh known to the
[15:33] public and we have a viewing location
[15:36] that we can have uh people come and look
[15:38] at everything in one centralized
[15:39] location. Um at that point people will
[15:42] submit sealed bids to the town manager's
[15:44] office. Um
[15:48] it's just a it's a pretty lengthy
[15:50] process and that's part of why
[15:51] everything's been tucked away. So,
[15:56] >> so what is the is is there a start and
[15:58] end date yet or not?
[16:00] >> Not currently. This is this is the
[16:02] resolution.
[16:03] >> You need to Yes, we we have to once you
[16:04] give us the green light, then I'll start
[16:06] hustling out.
[16:07] >> Yep. Gotcha.
[16:08] >> Thanks.
[16:08] >> So, we don't use something like public
[16:09] surplus because that that's kind of
[16:12] expedited the getting rid of this stuff.
[16:15] >> I thought we did use a surplus company.
[16:17] Do we?
[16:18] >> No.
[16:19] >> I know John does for his um his stuff,
[16:22] but they take a cut. the state does and
[16:24] a lot of other towns do and it just
[16:26] eliminates the middleman. Just somebody
[16:28] bids on it and then they come and pick
[16:29] it up. They got a certain amount of time
[16:30] to come get it
[16:31] >> and they take a cut.
[16:33] >> We don't like I asked Dave today, does
[16:35] anyone take a cut of this and we get we
[16:37] keep it all for ourselves if we can.
[16:38] >> Any of this stuff operational?
[16:41] >> It's border borderline. Some things will
[16:43] start and run, other things won't. But
[16:44] it's a basically as you know sight on
[16:47] scene kind of
[16:48] >> we don't let everybody go through
[16:50] everything if it runs. It's kind of just
[16:51] a a bid bid process and the highest bid
[16:54] we'll get it quicker keep it as fair as
[16:57] possible.
[16:59] >> Dave, how how successful are we at
[17:01] selling the surplus?
[17:02] >> Um, the last surplus we did, everything
[17:04] went
[17:07] » I don't remember what the exact figure
[17:09] was, but I know it was a decent amount
[17:10] and everything went
[17:12] >> That's my question. So, we're not stuck
[17:13] with it trying to dispose of it.
[17:15] >> You leave it on the side of the road.
[17:16] Yeah, that was the end of my driveway
[17:19] that was gone the next day.
[17:21] >> Um,
[17:22] >> I don't if you mentioned this already,
[17:24] Brian, I apologize. I can't remember.
[17:25] Um, what's the process for determining
[17:28] that, you know, that they should be
[17:30] declared surplus in terms of like I know
[17:32] you said some things operate, some
[17:33] things are not these things are just
[17:35] well past their useful life. Does that
[17:36] sort of
[17:38] >> Yeah.
[17:39] if they're not running anymore and it's
[17:40] going to cost more money to keep it
[17:43] running or repair it um than we we get
[17:46] rid of it like with anything. And these
[17:47] things kind of just sat for years long
[17:50] before this administration, that's for
[17:52] sure. Um and so then they bring a list
[17:55] to me and we'll go over the list. I
[17:57] would much prefer the list as many items
[18:00] as I can going to in front of you and
[18:03] going out to the public as opposed to
[18:04] saying it's not worth anything and just
[18:06] throw it out. There are things that were so rusted um that it
[18:09] wasn't even we just got rid of them. It
[18:12] was garbage. But which we are entitled
[18:15] to do, but I try to get as much as I can
[18:17] out there in the public. Some like you
[18:18] said, like he said, someone will come
[18:20] take it and give it a pull if it if it
[18:23] has compression or whatever, they'll
[18:24] take it and get it running.
[18:25] >> Yeah. Thank you.
[18:26] >> Yeah.
[18:27] >> So, so basically then if if we needed
[18:30] one of these things, we already have a
[18:32] replacement. it it's already been
[18:34] replaced at this point because most of
[18:36] what is on here has already been
[18:37] replaced and this was stuff that was
[18:39] just left and used to the end of its
[18:41] life basically.
[18:42] >> And then there probably other things are
[18:43] just obsolete and you probably don't
[18:46] need them or need replace them.
[18:49] >> Okay.
[18:51] >> So you're not looking just to follow not
[18:53] looking for any like major purchases as
[18:55] a result of
[18:56] >> none of this? No. Again, this is the all
[18:58] of this was previous to to to any of us.
[19:03] >> Thank you. Any other questions?
[19:09] I will I will entertain a motion to
[19:12] adopt the resolution as outlined in
[19:13] agenda item 8.1 uh to declare surplus um
[19:17] the items that are uh listed in the in
[19:21] our packet.
[19:23] >> So moved by councelor Duber. Is there a
[19:26] second?
[19:26] >> Second. Seconded by councelor Visaw. Is
[19:28] there any discussion?
[19:31] Uh
[19:32] nobody's hovering tonight. Uh all in
[19:34] favor say I.
[19:36] >> I. And that passes unanimously. Thank
[19:38] you.
[19:40] >> So that brings us to item 8.2
[19:41] consideration of a resolution to adopt
[19:43] uh proposed section A1 176-27 of the Tom
[19:47] Code regarding naming of town properties
[19:49] and setting of a public hearing in
[19:50] Maryland for September 22nd, 2026. Um
[19:53] I'll just provide a quick uh intro. Um
[19:58] the time manager can mention that. So we
[20:02] this came up uh in the context of naming
[20:05] the public marsh property. Um and the
[20:09] sort of decision we had discussions as a
[20:11] council previously about wanting to it
[20:14] being a good idea to create a policy to
[20:15] make sure that the way we're naming town
[20:17] properties going forward is um you know
[20:20] solicit of public input. Um and uh so we
[20:24] wanted to address that first. Um and so
[20:27] that's what's on the agenda tonight. Uh
[20:30] we have the uh a proposal. Um town
[20:35] property naming policy. Um Ryan, do you
[20:38] have anything you want to say before I
[20:39] open?
[20:40] >> Sure. Council chair, you as you know,
[20:42] you asked me to have staff put something
[20:44] together. Uh Dave had researched other
[20:47] towns. Uh was able to uh put this draft
[20:50] together. Again, just a draft as as
[20:53] clean as we could get it uh to council.
[20:55] Uh it was reviewed by our town attorney
[20:58] uh and approved to move forward. Uh if
[21:00] changes were to be made, we would again
[21:02] bring it to the the the town attorney.
[21:04] Uh that this is just to move it forward
[21:06] to uh a public hearing um in a couple
[21:10] weeks.
[21:10] >> Thank you. Um so I'll just say that I'll
[21:13] open up for discussion. Uh obviously
[21:15] there's a few different things we can
[21:17] do, right? If people are comfortable
[21:18] with as how it is, we can we can move
[21:21] forward with setting a public hearing.
[21:22] If folks have some specific changes they
[21:25] would like to see, we can always
[21:26] implement those um run it by Rick um and
[21:30] then you know decide whether we want to
[21:32] set a public hearing date now or whether
[21:34] we need to see how that's implemented.
[21:35] So uh I guess with that in mind um I'll
[21:38] open it up to any discussion or any
[21:41] anything wants to raise in terms of u
[21:44] the policy. I guess I'll say in terms of
[21:46] a brief summary, um uh as drafted uh in
[21:51] the in the packet, um the council may
[21:54] initiate a naming request or may receive
[21:57] a request to name or change the name of
[21:58] the property uh from a petition of at
[22:00] least 25 residents. Um there's some
[22:03] information about what needs to be
[22:04] included with the request. Um the
[22:06] approval process would uh include a
[22:09] setting of a public hearing within 30
[22:11] days. Um and then we the council would
[22:14] consider public input uh from the
[22:16] hearing. Um however the town council is
[22:19] not obligated to adopt a proposed name
[22:21] change. Uh four votes from the council
[22:24] is required to adopt the change. Um
[22:26] that's sort of a high level what we're
[22:27] looking at. So I'll open it up.
[22:31] >> Okay. So we we did receive a few a few
[22:34] emails on the subject and we've had
[22:36] obviously some public participation. So, looking at the policy as is to me
[22:43] it's a good framework. It's a start, but
[22:45] I don't think it necessarily answers
[22:48] some of the questions or may leave it
[22:49] too vague that we're probably in a
[22:52] similar we may be in a similar place
[22:54] moving forward if we don't come up with
[22:57] maybe more information. Um, I think what
[23:02] we want to make sure is that and I've
[23:04] got some notes here so bear with me. Um
[23:07] I think one of the things you know with
[23:08] a petition
[23:10] you know there's a 25 I don't know 26 or
[23:13] 100 or 200 or 500 matter. I'm not sure.
[23:16] Um but I think what we need to make sure
[23:19] is that whatever we do with the a
[23:21] petition that we're very clear that we
[23:23] don't that we prevent any unnecessary
[23:26] excitement over the petition being you
[23:29] know sent forward um or conflict if it's
[23:32] sent forward and it's not approved. So I
[23:34] think we need a very clear process. Um
[23:39] it talks about uh land uh property
[23:41] administered by the town council. Um
[23:45] does that include um all departments or commissions? That was just vague to
[23:51] me. Um
[23:53] we it talked about um
[23:57] the town council may initiate a naming
[24:00] or or the petition. Um but could we re
[24:04] um receive a request from a donor, for
[24:06] example, could they name it? So that
[24:08] that's not addressed. Um
[24:12] you know, we don't talk about businesses
[24:14] or political uh situations where could a
[24:18] business um name a property or not. So
[24:20] we would want to make sure that is in
[24:22] our policy. Um
[24:26] we would obviously need to understand
[24:29] how a petition would be filed and
[24:31] reviewed. Um, and then obviously do we
[24:34] consult folks that might be stewards of
[24:37] this property? For example, the
[24:39] conservation
[24:40] commission. That would make perfect
[24:43] sense. Um, you know, we asked about or one of
[24:48] the items is is reasons for proposed
[24:51] name or renaming. Um, and I think we
[24:54] need to probably establish some
[24:56] acceptable reasons. There may be reasons
[24:59] outside of that that we may need to
[25:00] consider, but I think we need to have a
[25:02] bare minimum of what we would accept.
[25:06] And then how do we evaluate that? That's
[25:09] not in this policy either.
[25:11] Um, one of the things, uh, you know, I
[25:16] it talks about a majority of four. Um,
[25:20] and I think that's fine because if we're
[25:22] going to have the same argument if it's
[25:24] five or four or whatever, I think at
[25:27] some point we the community has to
[25:29] entrust us to vote um appropriately and
[25:34] not because of our political party. Um,
[25:37] so if we're going to argue a four or a
[25:40] five, that's just basically telling
[25:42] people that we're not mature enough to
[25:44] vote appropriately, that we're more
[25:47] concerned about a number.
[25:51] Um, and that means a lot to me, by the
[25:53] way. Um,
[25:57] the other there there's people that have
[25:59] voiced uh concerns about renaming. Um,
[26:02] so we would have to establish a policy
[26:04] when something might or might not be
[26:06] appropriate to rename. And there might
[26:08] be reasons to rename a property, but it
[26:11] should be very clear what those are. Um,
[26:14] and um,
[26:18] what about competing proposals? I
[26:20] thought that was one thing, right? So
[26:22] now we have two petitions. How do we
[26:24] handle that? And then I think my last
[26:27] note here
[26:28] um is there oh I put is there a
[26:30] protection clause for example or of
[26:33] existing places you mentioned the
[26:35] different conservation areas do we
[26:37] protect places that have already been
[26:39] named so um I don't think that's exactly
[26:43] what we can just say here we need all
[26:45] those changes but I'd be more than happy
[26:47] to probably put that in writing um to
[26:50] share but those were my initial thoughts
[26:52] because um you know I took into
[26:55] consideration some some emails we've
[26:57] received today suggesting looking at
[26:59] some of the other communities and
[27:01] honestly there is no perfect policy out
[27:04] there. I looked at four different
[27:06] policies and and I would bet there's all
[27:09] conflicting information in each of them.
[27:11] Um, but I do think that we're a pretty
[27:15] smart group and I think we work pretty
[27:17] well together that we can come up with a
[27:19] policy that meets the the concerns of
[27:21] our folks. Um, because that's what we're
[27:24] doing it for.
[27:25] >> Thank you.
[27:27] >> I want to continue the dialogue, but one
[27:29] thing just um I will ask that if if
[27:31] folks have like specific ideas and
[27:33] things like that that we email it to the
[27:35] vice chair and I, you know, we can, you
[27:37] know, to get that added into, you know,
[27:39] a future proposal. But thank you. Those
[27:41] are good points. One thing I'll just
[27:42] note, um, uh, you mentioned the 25
[27:46] resident threshold. We also received an
[27:48] email today, someone suggesting like
[27:50] maybe we should select like a percentage
[27:51] of residents or something like that,
[27:53] right? Whatever that percentage is, that
[27:55] might be another way to go if we're
[27:56] concerned about, you know, what that
[27:58] what the threshold is, however we look
[28:00] at it. But that's another option.
[28:01] >> Oh, how did we get to 25?
[28:05] >> Looking at other towns.
[28:07] >> So, it's just a number that seemed
[28:09] reasonable. Yep. It was, you know, it
[28:11] started to get hairy as she said. Um
[28:14] there was it bounced the different towns
[28:16] bounced around on different topics.
[28:18] >> Yep.
[28:18] >> Um and it started to be don't let
[28:22] um great or perfect be the enemy of uh
[28:24] good,
[28:25] >> right?
[28:25] >> And and so um
[28:27] >> Yeah. Which is always
[28:28] >> And so we we scaled it down, sent it
[28:30] over to Rick, um and bounced it back. It
[28:32] just it was it was all over the place.
[28:34] >> Yeah. I'm sure. I I I I think I I saw I
[28:39] know the email you were talking about. I
[28:41] would like to think on that I think for
[28:43] a little bit. I have I share some of the
[28:45] concerns that Mary Rose identified. Um
[28:47] yeah, what do we do with competing 25
[28:49] that many? What do we do with competing
[28:51] petitions? Um and what do we do? So, and
[28:55] I I've emailed this to you guys, right?
[28:57] So in England they got bit and they
[29:00] ended up with their naval decel as
[29:02] vessel as Bodie McBoat face because
[29:04] that's what was in the public interest
[29:07] at that moment. Um and we hopefully
[29:10] would avoid that scenario here.
[29:12] >> So
[29:14] um so yeah I think it requires a little
[29:17] bit of thought.
[29:18] >> Thank you.
[29:20] >> Which I think sorry to go on that. I
[29:23] think that was why there's a clause that
[29:25] the town council does not have to accept
[29:28] it. And although that sounds crass,
[29:30] right, when the community is saying
[29:32] that,
[29:32] >> you know, we're providing our input and
[29:35] you don't you're not accepting it, it's
[29:37] not because they don't want we don't
[29:38] want to accept community input. It's to
[29:41] avoid them.
[29:46] » Yeah.
[29:47] >> Um, thank you, Mary Rose. I think a lot
[29:49] of what you said I completely agree with
[29:51] and I appreciate your you know diligence
[29:54] on putting that out. Um I personally
[29:57] when I read 25 I thought that's really
[29:59] small given that's a really small
[30:02] percentage of people especially if it's
[30:04] households and there's a couple people.
[30:06] Now you're talking about like 12
[30:07] households in the entire town. That
[30:09] seems to me not maybe to meet a
[30:12] threshold where it would be compelling.
[30:16] Um,
[30:18] I I'm not 100% sure on the four votes
[30:23] because there's a part of me that's
[30:24] like, well, why shouldn't the town the
[30:27] town council is, you know, made up of,
[30:31] you know, it could be five to two, as it
[30:33] is now, it could be four to three, what,
[30:35] but shouldn't we all agree on it? Like,
[30:37] if it's going to be truly bipartisan,
[30:40] then maybe it should be a unanimous vote
[30:42] for the entire town council. Again, this
[30:45] could be 10 years from now. We don't
[30:46] really know. But there's a part of me
[30:48] that's like I would like it to be,
[30:51] you know, unanimous in terms of
[30:55] acceptance.
[30:57] Um, I am concerned about the renaming
[31:00] and I think there should definitely be
[31:02] some parameters around that when things
[31:05] are named because, you know, someone
[31:07] donated the land or some now 25 people
[31:09] come forward and say, "Well, I want it
[31:10] named after me." Well, okay. We're not
[31:13] doing
[31:14] But, you know, and the town council can
[31:16] vote that down, but there's always that
[31:19] perception that well, you know, people
[31:22] put something forward and now it just
[31:24] gets voted down.
[31:25] >> Now you're ignoring us.
[31:26] >> You're ignoring us.
[31:26] >> You wanted you wanted an opinion, but
[31:28] now you're not.
[31:28] >> Now, you're going to ignore us. So,
[31:30] agreed. So, I think that that is um that
[31:34] definitely needs to be codified a little
[31:36] bit more, especially on the renaming
[31:39] thing. We've already had this name. like
[31:41] why are we redoing it? Um there are um
[31:47] you know some I think I mentioned before
[31:51] some you know best practices things
[31:54] about naming things after politicians,
[31:56] living people things like that that I
[31:58] think we want to
[32:01] you know be careful about and and maybe
[32:04] that is like in part of the policy. So I
[32:08] think while this is good it doesn't
[32:10] really give any guidelines like we have
[32:13] gotten a lot of uh feedback around and I
[32:17] have provided it as well like a a
[32:21] connection to the place or the you know
[32:25] land or whatever and I I feel strongly
[32:28] that that is very important. Um,
[32:31] so I would like to see maybe something
[32:34] in here that gives a little bit more
[32:36] structure to the actual process or the
[32:40] names um that that might come up. Um, so
[32:45] anyway, so those are some of my thoughts
[32:47] around it, but you know, appreciate
[32:49] everyone's and I don't I don't want to
[32:51] rush into it like I I I feel like we
[32:54] maybe rushed into the last thing and I'd
[32:57] rather not do that again.
[32:59] like take a little bit more time. Let's
[33:02] rework it. Let's put some more and then,
[33:04] you know, then put it forward. But
[33:07] again, happy to have people in town also
[33:11] have an opportunity to give us a little
[33:13] more feedback
[33:14] >> and we will Yeah. Yeah. Agree. We'll
[33:17] have the public hearing as well on it.
[33:18] So even whatever we whatever version we
[33:22] if at some point we put something to
[33:23] public hearing, we can still we could
[33:25] still, you know, make tweaks there.
[33:26] agree. Um, anything that
[33:30] >> I agree that we that it's not an
[33:32] emergency, that we should be we should
[33:34] be deliberative about this.
[33:37] >> Yeah. Yeah. All I'll say is that um
[33:39] yeah, I think it's a we have to balance
[33:42] um providing
[33:44] some actual concrete guidance to council
[33:48] to ourselves and future council right
[33:49] about what to consider while also you
[33:51] know not being so prescriptive that you
[33:54] know it's ground get done. Um so uh I
[33:58] agree with Mary Rose in terms of I think
[34:00] this is a really solid foundation to
[34:03] build on. Um, I do think that we could
[34:04] add a little bit of meat to the bones in
[34:06] terms of like a little bit more
[34:08] criteria, just some some information
[34:09] that could go on there. Um, so I guess
[34:12] what I would ask um I guess my
[34:15] recommendation would be that we um table
[34:18] this to a future meeting where if
[34:21] anybody whoever has any suggestions that
[34:23] they would like to to submit, I would
[34:25] ask that you email them to um councelor
[34:27] Baw and I um and then we can um work
[34:30] with town staff to sort of update this
[34:32] version. Um, and then once council and I
[34:36] are, you know, in a good place in terms
[34:38] of we've implemented some of these
[34:40] changes, we'll we can run it by the town
[34:42] attorney and then it'll come back again
[34:43] for discussion um, you know, further
[34:45] discussion and perhaps at that point
[34:47] setting up a public hearing. But I think
[34:48] at this point it's probably premature to
[34:50] set up a hearing on it,
[34:51] >> right?
[34:52] >> Any
[34:54] Chris, can you give me a deadline
[34:55] because I work much better that way.
[34:58] >> Uh,
[35:00] what for midnight tonight? Yeah.
[35:03] walk in the door.
[35:05] >> Um it's like by the end of this month or
[35:08] something. I don't know what what that's
[35:10] like
[35:12] three weeks.
[35:13] >> Yeah,
[35:14] >> that's just kind of arbitrary. So if
[35:16] anyone has a different idea, that's
[35:17] >> works. Yeah, I think that's fine. Two
[35:19] weeks, three weeks. Yeah.
[35:20] >> Okay. So I would say if any of the
[35:23] counselors have any changes that they
[35:25] would like to see made, email those to
[35:27] councelor Baw and I by September 29th,
[35:29] three weeks from today. Um so that way
[35:31] we can then work on getting that um you
[35:34] know potential changes incorporated and
[35:36] then we'll have another discussion here
[35:38] at a future council meeting or we'll
[35:40] have a further discussion and um you
[35:42] know consider setting a public hearing
[35:44] at that point
[35:46] >> and then maybe
[35:48] the community knows that if they want to
[35:50] give us some other feedback you know
[35:52] that that would be
[35:54] >> yeah time
[35:55] >> as all yeah as always um um welcome the
[35:58] community to either messages is or to
[36:01] come yeah to come in person the
[36:02] commission. Thank you again to the chair
[36:04] of the conservation commission for being
[36:05] here tonight. Appreciate that. Um so
[36:07] yeah, please feel free to send in any of
[36:09] those suggestions or come to a meeting
[36:10] and and provide any suggestions of
[36:12] public comment and we'll certainly take
[36:13] all of that into consideration. So uh
[36:16] obviously as as uh we've mentioned
[36:18] tonight, there's always a lot of
[36:20] different considerations to take into
[36:21] account and all that. And so the first
[36:24] step would be to have a good sound
[36:25] policy. So appreciate all the work
[36:27] that's going into that and thank you to
[36:28] town staff for putting this together. So
[36:31] we will table this to a future meeting.
[36:35] That brings us to 8.3 consideration of a
[36:37] resolution to approve the revised
[36:39] personnel policies and procedures.
[36:42] >> Thank you chair. This is just a
[36:44] housekeeping thing as a as a part of us
[36:46] switching over from an HSA uh to the
[36:48] state insurance uh as a municipality. We
[36:52] maintain personnel policies. part of our
[36:54] personnel policies had language specific
[36:56] uh to high deductible HSA. In order to
[37:00] change our personnel policies, we need a
[37:02] resolution approved by council. Uh and
[37:04] so we're changing our resolution to
[37:06] eliminate all the language um in uh in
[37:09] relation to a high deductible um health
[37:11] plan uh HSA. And so this is just you to
[37:14] approve. You see in your package there
[37:16] is a redlinined version of what language
[37:19] we are removing. Obviously, uh staff was
[37:22] made well aware of this as we went
[37:23] through the process. Uh this again is
[37:25] just a housekeeping uh step for our
[37:28] personnel policies as we like to stay on
[37:30] top of them uh as things move along. And
[37:33] uh and attached is a resolution at the
[37:35] end.
[37:37] >> Thank you. And I'll just uh mention
[37:39] again for anyone who may not pay
[37:40] attention in prior meetings. Uh Echip
[37:43] was our previous sort of um health insurer for the sort of the way
[37:49] we insured our town employees and our
[37:50] board of education employees. Um we
[37:52] worked with other towns um to to sort of
[37:55] pull together to do that. That um
[37:58] unfortunately was disbanded just because
[38:00] some other towns wanted to pursue
[38:02] different options and so the town uh was
[38:04] forced to sort of take a different
[38:05] approach in terms of health insurance.
[38:07] So that's why these changes are being
[38:09] sought. Um Brian, I I know that there's
[38:11] it's removing a lot of any reference to
[38:14] the high deductible or high high
[38:16] deductible plan. Is there anything that
[38:18] we need to add?
[38:21] >> Okay.
[38:23] >> I just have the state does not have a
[38:25] high deductible plan.
[38:27] >> I don't know if they do. We don't have
[38:28] it, but I've never heard of them having
[38:30] one.
[38:30] >> Okay. So that was what was removing the
[38:32] healthcare savings accounts and things
[38:34] like that because you don't have that as
[38:36] an option.
[38:36] >> Our personnel policies are specific to
[38:38] our um healthcare plan that we have.
[38:41] >> Thank you.
[38:43] >> Other questions?
[38:46] » I guess I should ask to get this isn't
[38:49] really specific to these changes but and
[38:50] I know we talked about this before. We
[38:52] worked with our we have a consultant or
[38:54] something like that for our health to
[38:55] determine what was the most financially
[38:58] feasible health plan moving forward. We
[39:00] worked with a consultant um Seth from I
[39:04] believe is it locked in um and uh
[39:07] through the process of of discontinuing
[39:10] EIP which again I was the only board
[39:11] member to vote against and discontinuing
[39:13] EIP. It was a great plan for Taland. Um
[39:17] but now we are have the you know we
[39:19] decided to move to the POSOS
[39:22] point of service plan. Um and uh
[39:27] we did that looking at so many different
[39:29] options uh with Seth. Uh Mike did a lot
[39:32] of Mike Wilkinson was on here too did a
[39:34] lot of research. Um we did keep Sigma uh
[39:37] in relation to dental and vision. Uh but
[39:41] we have the state for everything else.
[39:42] >> Okay. Thank you. Again, just a
[39:45] housekeeping.
[39:46] >> Thank you.
[39:47] >> Anything else?
[39:49] Any nothing else? I would entertain a
[39:53] motion to adopt the resolution agenda.3
[39:59] revisions to the town person and
[40:02] procedures.
[40:04] Moved by council. Is there a second?
[40:06] Good. Second by councelor Marshall. Is
[40:08] there any discussion?
[40:11] Seeing none, all in favor of the
[40:12] resolution say I. I. That passes
[40:15] unanimously.
[40:18] Please have no appointments to vacancies
[40:21] of the boards and commissions tonight.
[40:23] Um I'll just say as we usually do, you
[40:26] know, the town certainly relies on
[40:27] volunteers. Uh the conservation
[40:30] commission and all the other conser all
[40:31] the other commissions that we have in
[40:33] town. Uh we couldn't the town couldn't
[40:35] do a lot of what it does without the
[40:36] great volunteers. So always looking for
[40:38] uh uh volunteers for that. Sarah Beth,
[40:41] can you remind me are there any like
[40:43] particularly we really need people
[40:46] right now?
[40:46] >> Um I would say the EDC is probably a
[40:50] priority at the moment. Okay.
[40:51] >> If anybody's
[40:52] >> I have something on a couple in my town
[40:54] managers.
[40:54] >> Okay. So economic development if anybody
[40:58] would like if anyone's interested in
[40:59] that or knows somebody work for us and
[41:02] I'll talk to his town manager report
[41:04] which is next. So go ahead.
[41:06] >> All right. Thanks. All right. Well,
[41:07] while we're there, uh I had a meeting
[41:08] with the uh EDC uh last week that that I
[41:11] attended uh with our town planner. Uh I
[41:14] thank them for their work. It's
[41:16] thankless. We all at tax time are always
[41:18] talking about getting more uh business
[41:20] here, more economic development here. Um
[41:23] chair, at your uh direction, we've been
[41:25] pushing as hard as we can uh to get more
[41:28] business here in town. Uh you know, we
[41:30] hope that it's coming uh at some point.
[41:33] uh there is a vacancy that we would love
[41:34] to have uh filled on the EDC as they're
[41:36] doing uh everything they can. There are
[41:38] there is some positive uh movement and
[41:40] positive signs uh that lie ahead that
[41:42] I'm not able to uh discuss, but uh
[41:45] things do look good on the HDC, the
[41:47] historic district commission. The chair
[41:49] notified me today that she is going to
[41:51] be stepping down. Um she agreed to one
[41:53] year to do it um after, you know, there
[41:55] had been some movement. She stayed for
[41:58] two. I am so very very thankful for her
[42:01] stabilizing uh that um commission uh and
[42:04] the work that that uh they do. And so
[42:07] now we're going to have an opening
[42:08] there. She's going to work with some uh
[42:10] the rest of the the commission to come
[42:12] up with some ideas on how to move
[42:13] forward to include identifying likely
[42:16] bump up an alternate identify a new
[42:18] alternate and then uh nominate a chair
[42:21] uh her expire on the 12th of November
[42:24] and we'll try to have it done obviously
[42:26] before that like maybe even not you have
[42:28] a meeting I think this week for HDC
[42:30] coming up or next week and then it's the
[42:32] third Wednesday you said it was right
[42:34] and then so then the end of October
[42:35] hopefully they'll have that all ironed
[42:37] out. I'll work with her um through that.
[42:41] Um the SRO contract is uh moving along
[42:46] um
[42:48] should be pretty much finalized as you
[42:50] know. Uh the den has recently had an
[42:52] application come in uh for someone else
[42:55] looking to rent the place and open uh an
[42:57] adult oriented business. Um obviously
[43:00] we'll be paying attention to that. Uh
[43:02] town planner has it. We'll be looking at
[43:04] our options and working with our town
[43:05] attorney and uh zoning and looking at
[43:08] some of the things we can do. Dave, you
[43:10] had mentioned a catch basin at Mountain
[43:12] Spring and Old Post. I know it was on
[43:14] the list to get done.
[43:16] >> It did. They did they get to that one
[43:17] yet?
[43:18] >> We have not got to
[43:18] >> Okay. But it is on the list. So if
[43:21] anybody drives over the tires or
[43:25] >> bulky waste 105 on October 5th, the week
[43:29] of October 5th is the bulky waist
[43:31] pickup. Uh remember you got to make
[43:33] reservations. They're required at least
[43:35] four business days in advance for the
[43:36] free bulky waste here in town. I say
[43:38] free, we pay for it here, but free to
[43:40] our residents. There is a uh electronic
[43:43] recycling event free uh on uh the 17th
[43:46] of October from 8 to 12 uh at Talon High
[43:49] School. Uh thank you to everyone that's
[43:51] involved with that and our volunteers.
[43:52] You know, our 13 usually does a great
[43:54] job getting out and helping. Uh today is
[43:56] 98. Uh and so we our town youth services
[43:59] joins the nationwide 988 day to raise
[44:01] awareness for suicide and crisis. Uh
[44:04] anyone can call, text or chat 988
[44:06] anytime, 247 uh to get help that you
[44:09] need. It's very important.
[44:12] Our senior center uh won. They're
[44:14] joining the scarecrow contest uh this
[44:16] year. So I can't I can't wait to see
[44:18] what that is. The notables have a course
[44:20] uh September Sunday, September 13th at 2
[44:23] p.m. at our senior center. I go to that
[44:25] every year. It's fantastic. Uh but most
[44:27] importantly, I believe on September
[44:30] 22nd, uh Justin Hickeyi, the the deputy
[44:32] chief uh information officer uh for the
[44:35] state of Connecticut, security
[44:37] information officer, is going to come to
[44:38] the senior center and anyone that knows
[44:41] any seniors in town knows how
[44:42] susceptible they can be to um scams. Uh
[44:45] so he's going to work with uh them on
[44:48] identifying and how to avoid them uh and
[44:50] some help. Uh so I'm really happy that
[44:52] the senior center put that together.
[44:54] they literally cannot get enough of that
[44:56] training to our our senior population.
[44:59] Again, the uh the Economic Development
[45:01] Commission has one full-time vacancy and
[45:03] two alternate vacancies. So, they can
[45:05] reach out directly to my office for um
[45:08] information on that.
[45:11] » Can I ask a question?
[45:12] >> Yes.
[45:13] >> Alternates. What What is expected of an
[45:16] alternate on a commission?
[45:18] >> Well, if someone doesn't show up, they
[45:20] would get seated at the beginning of the
[45:21] meeting that this is not here. And
[45:23] usually they they make a motion to seat
[45:24] the alternate and the alternate seated
[45:25] and they act as just as a a regular
[45:27] member. The commitment is not great for
[45:30] uh HDC. Um there's not a lot of work to
[45:32] be done. You know, sometimes it's uh
[45:35] reviewing a lot of things like I would
[45:36] ask the economic development commission
[45:38] to say like when the state was going to
[45:40] put the facility here, what are your
[45:42] thoughts on that? Or we're going to sell
[45:44] some land to somebody in town. What are
[45:46] your thoughts on you know multiple
[45:48] people want it? who do we sell it to uh
[45:50] based on what's best for economic
[45:52] development. Rather than one of us
[45:53] making that decision, we can actually do
[45:54] it with input from the uh economic
[45:56] development commission and they're very
[45:57] good at uh doing that.
[45:59] >> So an but an alternate goes to to the
[46:02] meetings just as the same as everyone
[46:04] else. Okay.
[46:04] >> Sure. I mean you could even find out if
[46:06] they're going to be needed or not if
[46:07] they don't they don't want to attend you
[46:08] know that we're going to have full
[46:09] representation there. We don't need the
[46:11] alternates to to come if you don't if
[46:12] you have other business.
[46:14] >> But it would be nice if they were to
[46:16] fully invested. Of course. Thank you.
[46:22] » Keep going. Yes.
[46:23] >> Uh on August 31st, uh the the Hindu uh
[46:27] our Talm fire department was recognized
[46:29] by our Hindu community as a part of
[46:30] their Hindu festival called Raksha
[46:33] Bontan. I hope I got that right. Uh
[46:34] which means the protective talisman. Uh
[46:37] it's a culture culturally this festival
[46:39] originated when sisters would tie a band
[46:41] around their brother's wrist as a token
[46:43] of appreciation and love for protection.
[46:45] Uh, so I thank this this came out of one
[46:48] of our Yukon EMTs. Uh, it was her idea
[46:51] to have it and so that we they they all
[46:53] got uh got together for that ceremony. I
[46:55] can tell you as a first responder, you
[46:56] take any blessing that you can get and
[46:58] that's all I have.
[47:00] >> That's awesome.
[47:02] >> It is awesome.
[47:08] » I actually had a question. I'm sorry. Uh
[47:10] there was a at the end of the town
[47:12] manager report there was a section on
[47:15] the Connecticut State Police
[47:17] and I was looking at the chart at the
[47:20] last page when it talks about um the
[47:24] traffic stops and it talked about
[47:27] um dedicated personnel versus
[47:29] non-dedicated personnel and I just
[47:31] wanted clarification on what that meant.
[47:33] >> Sure. Uh so she what what um she's
[47:36] referring to is the the plan I'm sorry
[47:38] the uh statistical data from the
[47:40] Connecticut State Police that we get on
[47:41] a monthly basis and the form um that we created here in town that compiles
[47:48] all that data uh into some easy
[47:50] statistics when when it says on that report dedicated troopers versus
[47:54] non-dedicated troopers or dedicated CSP
[47:58] personnel versus non-dedicated CSP
[47:59] personnel dedicated means resident
[48:02] troopers
[48:03] Uh and non-dedicated means troopers just
[48:06] from the troop. Uh there was there was a
[48:08] significant increase in traffic stops
[48:10] this past month. Um one traffic stop
[48:13] last month, 22 this month by our u
[48:16] resident troopers. So uh I do thank them
[48:18] for those efforts.
[48:29] Seeing none, we will go to uh adopt your
[48:32] minutes. And we have one set of uh
[48:34] minutes to adopt which is your August
[48:36] 25th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Um
[48:40] notwithstanding the fact that I wasn't
[48:41] here, which is currently noted in the
[48:43] minutes, one minor change I'm
[48:46] requesting. Uh I'm assuming that the
[48:48] vice chair called the meeting to order
[48:50] at 7 p.m. Not me. So uh if we could just
[48:54] insert the vice chair called that's it.
[48:59] >> Okay.
[49:02] » Uh unless
[49:05] uh any if there any other
[49:08] post changes or Okay. Uh, seeing none,
[49:13] uh, I would entertain a motion to adopt
[49:17] the August 25th, 2026 regular meeting
[49:19] minutes with the small amendment to
[49:22] Adam's vice in the first item. So moved
[49:27] by councelor Marshall. Is there a
[49:28] second?
[49:29] >> Second.
[49:30] >> Seconded by councelor Duber. Any
[49:32] discussion?
[49:34] >> I'll do a roll of call because I'm here.
[49:37] So councelor Marshall.
[49:38] >> Hi.
[49:38] >> Councelor B.
[49:39] >> Hi.
[49:40] >> Councelor Visa. I
[49:41] >> councelor Barrett
[49:42] >> I
[49:43] >> and I abstain because I wasn't here at
[49:44] the meeting. Um so that passes and those
[49:46] minutes are adopted.
[49:49] >> Um correspondence to council.
[49:52] >> Sure.
[49:53] >> Um it was a busy month or busy two weeks
[49:55] I guess more appropriate. Um we received
[49:59] two two emails just earlier today on the
[50:03] property naming policy. Um and then we
[50:07] received 15 emails in the last two weeks
[50:11] on our um soliciting of our budget
[50:16] feedback from the community. Um and then
[50:20] we received two emails um regarding the
[50:23] class size of second grade. Um but I did
[50:27] want to note like we're reading the
[50:28] emails and I think it's important people
[50:30] to understand that we do read them. if
[50:33] we're not good at getting back to
[50:34] everybody, I apologize for that. But,
[50:36] um, we do read them and, um, I think we
[50:40] take it very seriously and I do know
[50:42] that there's a lot of information in the
[50:44] budget feedback that we will hopefully
[50:47] be going through and and and being able
[50:49] to to utilize some of that information.
[50:53] >> Thank you.
[50:54] >> Um, so this is the chairperson's report
[50:56] and I'll sort of start where left off.
[50:59] Um, thank you Sarah and town staff. Um,
[51:04] I asked how staff to print out sort of
[51:05] all of the emails we've received uh in
[51:07] response to our solicitation for input
[51:09] on the budget process. Um, and so
[51:12] everyone should have a copy of that. Um,
[51:15] I'll work with uh, you know, Reie and
[51:18] the town will I think we'll probably put
[51:20] an agenda item coming up just to sort of
[51:21] discuss anything that that's come out of
[51:23] that or any changes we want to make sort
[51:24] of in the process. Um, because we do
[51:27] appreciate um, the community reaching
[51:29] out. it's always um sometimes it can be
[51:31] hard to get community input and so when
[51:33] we get it I definitely think it's
[51:34] important that we we listen and we do
[51:36] what we can to to improve the process.
[51:38] Um so appreciate all the residents who
[51:42] reached out on that and uh that will be
[51:44] on our upcoming agenda item. Uh I also
[51:47] just want to mention two other things.
[51:48] Uh this hope the school year is off to a
[51:50] good start for all the students and the
[51:51] teachers in town. Um, and the last thing
[51:54] I want to mention, uh, because I wasn't
[51:55] at the last council meeting, um, I just
[51:57] want to mention, uh, Lieutenant Governor
[52:00] Wyman, who passed away last month, uh,
[52:03] tragically. Um, she is, uh, she was a
[52:06] great, um, treasure for the state. Uh,
[52:09] really brought a lot of, um, uh, honor
[52:13] to the town given her service from the
[52:14] board of ed, to the state rep, to the
[52:16] first female controller, and as
[52:18] lieutenant governor. And so, uh,
[52:20] definitely just want to send my
[52:22] condolences to Mike, uh, and their
[52:24] family as well. Um, there the Wyman
[52:27] family as a column treasure and, uh,
[52:30] Nancy will definitely be missed. So,
[52:32] thank you. Um, with that, we'll move on
[52:36] to item 14, communications and petitions
[52:38] from council persons. Anyone has
[52:45] I want to second you. Um, thank you very
[52:47] much for putting this booklet together.
[52:49] Um, this is awesome. Um, with the
[52:51] correspondence and and I we got a lot of
[52:54] thoughtful um very thoughtful and very
[52:58] extensive communication. So, people
[52:59] really took the time to they really
[53:02] spent some time putting some
[53:04] communication together. So, I think that
[53:06] would be great if we could do an agenda
[53:08] item and have a discussion about it, get
[53:10] into the meeting, the meat of it, um, so
[53:13] that people could hear their ideas
[53:15] discussed and we could, and some things
[53:16] may need clarification, but
[53:20] that I was very heartened by the number
[53:23] of responses we got. Um, so that's
[53:27] awesome. Um
[53:30] the and and I apologize if I didn't hear
[53:33] this in your report, Brian, but I know
[53:35] we had talked about status of IT
[53:36] services given that we're not engaged
[53:39] with uh the town of South Windsor
[53:41] anymore. Are we still looking at what
[53:43] we're doing there?
[53:44] >> Yes. Uh it's still a work in progress.
[53:47] Um we have Quincy Quincy coming in SP.
[53:51] Um the contract with South Windsor is
[53:52] good through the end of October, but you
[53:54] got the meeting on Monday with Coventry.
[53:57] >> Coventry was in was also left out in the
[53:59] cold here. Um their town manager was
[54:04] more descriptive in its um discontent
[54:06] with South Windsor's communication
[54:08] through all of it um than I was. But we
[54:11] are meeting to discuss one immediate plans. Uh we met um we did
[54:17] meet with the consultant from South
[54:19] Windsor uh with our um technology
[54:24] advisory board
[54:26] >> um last week as well or it might have
[54:28] been just just before that uh moving
[54:30] forward they will be with the the uh
[54:33] Coventry at the town the Coventry town
[54:35] manager uh meeting as well moving
[54:37] forward I don't have a big appetite to
[54:40] have the shared services moving forward
[54:43] but we are likely going to share an
[54:45] employee. Um the current employee that
[54:48] we already have here in town, we would
[54:50] assume the same pay as we're already
[54:52] paying for him. Um but Coventry and us
[54:55] will now uh pay him independently here
[54:57] in town as opposed to South Windsor
[54:59] paying him uh to at least keep us
[55:01] moving. Like he's the person when your
[55:03] computer dies, he comes and fixes it,
[55:05] puts a new one up and does all that kind
[55:06] of stuff like the health desk to
[55:09] Coventry. Part of it is a portion to us.
[55:11] >> Correct. We'll work that out. how many
[55:12] hours a week and you know whatever we're
[55:14] paying now that's we have to spend uh
[55:16] you know moving forward um and then
[55:18] we'll look more holistically with the
[55:20] help of the technology advisory board
[55:21] how how far do we want to go uh in
[55:25] regards to um managing our own IT or
[55:29] working with a company like a novice or
[55:31] something along those lines. By the way,
[55:32] Novas is offering that um
[55:35] that AI training that I had mentioned
[55:37] earlier um through um CCM and I believe
[55:41] Yolita and Megan Moss are both going to
[55:43] it. But um Megan could teach the class
[55:46] on it, but she's she's going to go to
[55:48] it. But yeah, so that that is I would
[55:51] have to say our highest priority right
[55:52] now.
[55:53] >> Okay. Thank you.
[55:54] >> You know, we're in good shape. It's not
[55:55] like we're falling apart. Right.
[55:58] >> Super glad the technology our our
[56:00] advisory board is still with us and
[56:02] engaged. So that let that be a lesson to
[56:05] us.
[56:08] » Something that sit dormant for a long
[56:09] time and then all of a sudden you need
[56:11] >> we jinxed it.
[56:11] >> We tried to get rid of them.
[56:12] >> Yeah. We jinxed them.
[56:15] Uh so uh just to follow up on that, you
[56:18] um I know there'll be ongoing
[56:20] conversations about sort of like
[56:21] long-term what we want to do, but do you
[56:23] anticipate there would be like any major
[56:25] disruption in terms of like even in the
[56:26] short term we'd be able to hopefully
[56:28] contract with the same individual and
[56:30] >> yes, we're in good shape. Okay,
[56:32] >> we're not in great shape. Um but you
[56:34] know, we got capital. We're starting our
[56:36] capital budget. Sure, everyone's happy
[56:38] to jump into another budget cycle, but
[56:40] we're starting that. Um, and as you
[56:42] remember from last year, it is always a
[56:44] big chunk of that with the switches and
[56:46] such. As it turns out, we hadn't been
[56:48] getting the greatest advice um, from our
[56:51] friends in another municipal
[56:53] municipality. Um, so um, it's all things
[56:56] that we got to kind of jump on right
[56:57] away. Again, likely my greatest concern.
[56:59] >> Okay. Thank you. any other
[57:04] >> um so I would like to just second your
[57:08] condolences to the Wyman family and just
[57:11] that's you know obviously Nancy did a
[57:14] lot for the town. So just wanted to
[57:17] reiterate that. Um also want to thank
[57:21] everyone who wrote in around the budget
[57:24] process. This is this is amazing really
[57:26] honestly. I do wonder though if there's
[57:30] maybe some way we can kind of summarize
[57:33] it a little bit like because it's kind
[57:35] of a lot. We can't maybe go through each
[57:37] one of these. A lot of these
[57:40] a number of the ideas I would say
[57:42] pertain to the board of ed and really
[57:43] what is our you know oversight or what
[57:47] is our input really there? Can we just
[57:49] give them here's what we heard? Um, but
[57:53] I don't know if there's maybe I'm more
[57:56] of a numbers person or something, but
[57:57] like here's the ideas and there's five
[58:00] of these and six of those or it's just
[58:02] something to kind of narrow it down a
[58:04] little bit because I feel like it could
[58:05] get very long. Um, and I don't know who
[58:09] >> leads that charge. Um, but that was just
[58:12] one of my thoughts even before we got
[58:14] the booklet, which thank you very much
[58:15] for putting that together. Um so those
[58:18] were um a couple of the things I just
[58:21] wanted to
[58:22] >> yeah know and I'll just say I was
[58:23] speaking the same in terms of even just
[58:24] sort of like bucketing sort of like
[58:27] topics you know areas of concern that we
[58:29] could sort of talk about so it's not so
[58:30] much individual email by email but right
[58:32] here's a consistent theme that we're
[58:34] hearing right trying to get information
[58:35] out in a more easily digestible way
[58:37] right so that you know so yeah we can
[58:39] work to try to do something like that so
[58:40] that we can kind of guide the
[58:42] conversation so it's not just you know
[58:46] Any other um communications?
[58:51] Seeing none, we'll move on to our second
[58:53] public participation of the evening.
[58:55] This has a two-minute time limit. And
[58:58] so, as a reminder, just state your name
[59:00] and address for the record. And uh I'll
[59:02] start in the room. If you'd like to
[59:04] speak, please come up to the table.
[59:10] Seeing none, I will go online. If you'd
[59:12] like to speak for public participation,
[59:15] please raise your Zoom hand.
[59:22] I'll go back to the room.
[59:28] Back online.
[59:32] Last call for public participation in
[59:34] the room.
[59:37] Last call online.
[59:40] Seeing none, you will close out public
[59:42] participation. Um, is there any
[59:45] objection to adjournment?
[59:47] Seeing none, these will be adjourned at
[59:49] base here.