[0:00] Please rise for the pledge.
[0:04] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:10] republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:16] justice for all.
[0:29] General information and recommendations.
We are going to
[0:34] honor two young adults from the county
worker who was named Eagle Scout. It's
[0:42] um an amazing accomplishment. They had a
celebration for them on Saturday which I
[0:46] was supposed to attend and had something
come up at the last minute and
[0:49] unfortunately could not. So, I wanted to
make sure we celebrated them once again
[0:53] here tonight. Um,
>> everybody here is Boy Scouts, Girl
[0:57] Scouts,
>> Scouts of America, and it's been going
[1:00] on for so long.
I think you might not understand that
[1:04] there's been 130 million scouts.
Less than 2% of them earned the rank of
[1:10] Eagle Scout. So, that's an incredible
accomplishment. And we're here tonight
[1:15] to talk a little bit about Stella,
Stella Pellete, and Scott Buoie. So
[1:21] everybody get them around 10.
[1:25] [applause]
[1:34] [applause]
[1:40] [applause]
[1:46] Stellar is the first
evil scout in the town of Wam. So
[1:50] congratulations on St. [applause]
[1:59] Also just found out Selfish Sweet Stella
is a hockey player for the winter
[2:02] Vikings and I'm very passionate about
that. Go Vikings. Um but I'll read a few
[2:10] things that Denise has prepared and then
I'll say a few other things. But um over
[2:15] the years they've been involved in
several service projects around Winthre.
[2:19] They helped move bricks from French
Square so they could be repurposed for
[2:22] the Dean Winthrop House. They relocated
some trees and plants from French Square
[2:27] um over to the grounds at the Winter
House. They've done cleanouts, plantings
[2:31] at police and fire memorials and
cemeteries as well as police station. Um
[2:36] they've served at Veterans and Memorial
Day services, place flags on veterans
[2:40] gravestones. Stella's Eagle project uh
conceived, designed, planned, and
[2:45] executed by her was to work with the DCR
to build and install Sha uh Swallow and
[2:52] Kestrel houses uh in the Bell Ale Marsh.
And Scott's Eagle project include
[2:58] cleaning, scraping, and painting the
cafeteria at St. Michael's Parish. Do I
[3:02] have a job for you?
[3:06] [applause]
[3:11] look forward to graduation this spring.
They're already looking to see how they
[3:16] can help the next generation of scouts.
>> Uh and again, over 130 million scouts.
[3:22] Um they have to earn, I believe, 21
merit badges and 13 specific badges that
[3:27] they obviously have done. Um and just to
think of of a couple of famous Eagle
[3:32] Scouts that you might not have heard
that you might have heard of. Neil
[3:35] Armstrong, Eagle Scout. on the moon. Um
Sam Walton, founder
[3:41] of Walmart Eagle Scout, President Gerald
Ford, Eagle Scout, and Steven Spielberg,
[3:48] director Eagle Scout. So, you're in a
pretty amazing company, but we do have
[3:53] citations here for you and I will read
them both. And I will read Stella's
[3:59] first. Stella Pelletier, first women
female Eagle Scout Troop 79. The town of
[4:05] Winth and the citizens of Winth are
honored to congratulate you on achieving
[4:09] the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest
rank in scout. Since 2018, this
[4:14] distinguished achievement has been open
to young women and you have made history
[4:18] as a member of Winter's first female
Eagle Scout troop. Your dedication,
[4:23] leadership, and service to the scouting
community are commendable, and we wish
[4:27] you continued success in your future
endeavors and look forward to the
[4:31] positive impact that you will have as a
role model, inspiring and guiding future
[4:36] scouts as they advance through the
ranks. giving this sixth day of January
[4:40] 2026 at Winter, Massachusetts, Jim
Military, town council president and
[4:44] council members Pat Costigan, Kim Dimes,
Joseph Romano, Suzanne Swope, Paul Ren,
[4:50] Max Tinari, and Curt Molas.
Congratulations.
[4:53] [applause]
[4:59] And also be it known that the town
council here by office is
[5:03] congratulations to Scott Buoie, Eagle
Scout Troop 75. The town of Win and the
[5:08] citizens of Winter are honored to
congratulate you in achieving the rank
[5:12] of Eagle Scout, the highest ranking in
scouting. an accomplishment that brings
[5:16] great pride not only to our community
but also to the Boy Scouts of America.
[5:21] Your dedication, leadership, and service
to both the scouting community and your
[5:25] hometown are truly commendable. We wish
you continued success in all your future
[5:30] endeavors and look forward to the
positive impact that you will have as a
[5:33] role model, inspiring and guiding future
scouts as they advance through the ranks
[5:38] given the sixth day of January 2026 with
the Massachusetts military council
[5:42] president and council members Pat and
Kim Dimes, Joseph Romano, Suzanne Swope,
[5:47] Paul Ren, Max Tassinary and Kurt Mala.
Congratulations to both of you.
[5:54] [applause] CONGRATULATIONS.
[6:03] [applause]
[6:09] [applause]
[6:14] » Try to squeeze
[6:23] sometimes.
[6:31] » [laughter]
[6:34] » Don't move.
>> Don't move.
[6:38] » Don't move.
[6:43] » Suzanne, a little bit to your left.
There you go. [laughter]
[6:49] » Okay, cool. Thank you. Thank you,
[applause] guys.
[6:52] Awesome.
[6:58] All good stuff. All good stuff.
[7:11] » Okay. If we have none in public comment,
we'll open it up.
[7:16] » John, please be first.
Hi, John Morgan, precinct 4. And I'd
[7:21] like to welcome the new counselors and
like my name is John Morgan, but I
[7:27] prefer John. I look forward in the
future to talk to each and one of you.
[7:32] Uh, but I'd like to invite you to a
commission on disabilities meeting. Our
[7:37] next meeting is on the 14th at 6 p.m. at
the heart hearing. Uh just so you know
[7:43] that that our commission
uh since since 2023 has done more
[7:50] uh for disability community than it's
done in years before and I want to
[7:56] continue this but uh but we need
everyone's help. Thank you.
[8:01] » Thank you.
[applause]
[8:07] Welcome. Um you've been council for
about a half an hour now. We've solved
[8:11] the flood problem. [laughter]
[8:15] » That's all I have to say. [applause]
>> Celeste, [snorts]
[8:19] » Celeste Huitt, precinct one.
Congratulations to everyone. Happy New
[8:23] Year. And my first official request. Um,
back on December 12th, the climate
[8:28] commission did submit a formal request
to town council. Um, imagine people have
[8:34] been a little bit busy since then and
most likely have been waiting to
[8:37] assemble this crew. So, I'm just going
to take the opportunity to read out the
[8:40] request. I can uh forward it to the
updated town council um tomorrow at some
[8:46] point. Uh dear Win Town Council, Council
President Lati, Town Manager Marino, and
[8:51] Town Clerk Twist, the Citizens Advisory
Commission on Climate, CACC,
[8:55] respectfully urges that you put forth
the attached recommendation for
[8:59] consideration during the January town
council meeting. for your backgrounds.
[9:03] The ACC was appointed by the town of
Winthor 16 months ago and has held
[9:07] public hearings monthly. During that
time and within those meetings, we have
[9:10] developed a climate action plan in which
we identified and prioritized the top
[9:15] eight hotspots within Winthre that are
most presently and imminently impacted
[9:19] by flooding and climate concerns. We've
invited peers and colleagues from the
[9:22] climate, energy, and environmental
sectors to dig into issues and
[9:26] initiatives including uh Kristen Holmire
from resilience manager for the North
[9:31] Suffach office of resilience and
sustainability to discuss the Morton
[9:34] Street study. Uh Connor Option from
Woods Hole Group presentation topic was
[9:39] Winthre's vulnerability to climate
change and the feasibility report for
[9:43] the proposed Morton Street resilience
project. Mothers out front presentation
[9:47] on recent climate legislation in
Massachusetts. First public presentation
[9:51] of the Olympic climate tracker uh
climate action plan tracker and tool
[9:56] that the CACC developed led by former
town councelor John de Ross uh took
[10:00] place in uh November 2024.
Is that my timer already?
[10:04] » No. [laughter]
>> Um we had a presentation from wind
[10:09] working together highlighting Wind
residents climate and related health
[10:12] concerns and their desire to proactively
address them.
[10:15] um with focus on transit, changes in
environment, emergency evacuation,
[10:20] presentation of the updated climate
action plan by the CACC, town manager
[10:24] Marino and DW Director Kala who answered
commissioners questions and thoughtfully
[10:29] reviewed progress towards ongoing and
new work in each of the hotspots. uh
[10:33] Wendy Mar Page came in and did a solid
waste and recycling man um presentation
[10:39] um as along with uh Dylan Patel regional
coordinator for green communities
[10:44] program. Um we have proactive planning
collaboration equitable coastal
[10:48] relocation in Massachusetts by speaker
Elar Gilstein climate adaptation
[10:53] specialist from the NE conservancy. Um
there's a lot here that we're only
[10:57] halfway through folks. I'm going to send
this over but very pointedly um towards
[11:02] the end of this we did submit requests.
We have worked very hard and um enga
[11:07] engaged on all levels in town have
presented materials and invited
[11:11] different groups from town um and
presented materials to town council and
[11:15] we have not um reached a point where we
are willing to identify resources to
[11:21] commit to um some of our most pressing
issues. And at the top of the list, we
[11:26] started focusing on Morton Street and
we've circled back around and we're
[11:29] still on Morton Street. Um, we found
ourselves where we had saw resources
[11:34] earmarked for engineering of solutions.
Those are no longer on the table. So, we
[11:38] respectfully ask town council to review
this request and to commit to um a vote
[11:45] on a proposal to set aside resources for
Morton Street um and other flooding and
[11:50] infrastructure concerns. Um once again I
will forward this to all you folks for
[11:55] your consideration in your review and we
respectfully look forward to a response.
[12:00] Um within the body of this request we
have also stated that we are suspending
[12:05] our meetings and some of our activity
pending response and meaningful
[12:09] engagement from town council. Thank you
so much. Happy new year. Welcome.
[12:12] » Thank you [applause]
[12:20] Marcelos. 365.
Um,
[12:24] um, welcome all. Congrats. And I just
want to extend an invitation for all of
[12:31] the new counselors and any existing and
also members of the community to join us
[12:37] on the bridge um, on Saturdays from 10
to 12 um, to find out why we're there. I
[12:43] know a lot of people drive by or hear
something on Facebook and they don't
[12:46] really understand what it's about. The
best way to find out is come come and
[12:50] join us. Um you everyone is welcome
there. Um you don't have to bring
[12:55] anything. We usually have drinks. We
have warm jackets. We have like blankets
[13:00] now. Um it's very cold. Um and we have
signs. But come and join us. Find out
[13:06] what we're actually doing and why.
That's all. Thank you.
[13:10] » Thank you.
[applause]
[13:17] » [clears throat]
>> correspondence Denise
[13:21] » I did get a letter from Karen Chavez
that she requested me to read council
[13:26] president Lati councilors Costigan dimes
Romano rar nimlar I'm unable to be at
[13:31] tonight's council meeting but want to
wish you all the best for successful and
[13:34] meaningful term of office I know you can
all help to make one of a place that
[13:39] people want to live in and do business
in council tassinary and swope I am sure
[13:44] we'll help you adjust to your new role
in This council will be one of the best
[13:48] in the last 20 years. Council president,
I know you will lead and direct this
[13:52] council. I have complete faith and trust
in you. Please feel free to call me if I
[13:56] can be assistance to any of you. Good
luck and God bless the town of Winter.
[13:59] Karen Chavez. And that was it.
[14:05] » Courts are non school department.
School committee just met about 15
[14:11] minutes ago. Uh it was a very brief
meeting. The only purpose of the meeting
[14:15] was to like the chair which they did.
The chair of the winter school committee
[14:20] is Petri and the vice chair of the
winter school committee is Gus Vuchi. So
[14:25] congratulations and congratulations to
everyone newly elected on the school
[14:29] committee. Um and school committee is
still in the middle of negotiations with
[14:34] the window teachers association. So
those meetings are open. We can check
[14:38] the calendar I believe to see when the
next meeting is. Um so stay tuned for
[14:44] more details on that.
update on policy committee. We have not
[14:48] over the holiday town manager report was
um
[14:54] sent out by the T Tony if you could just
give a brief overview. And first of all,
[14:59] we want to wish Tony the best on a
speedy recovery after a bad fall in his
[15:05] driveway and some black ice.
>> Black ice and poor judgment. Don't go
[15:08] and walk the dogs at 5:30 in the
morning.
[15:11] » We wish you the best. And if you want to
just update us on them also if you'd
[15:15] like to because there's definitely been
um a lot of discussion out there. Real
[15:21] estate tax bills just recently went out
>> and um you know there was some
[15:26] misunderstanding with the bills and the
way they came storm but
[15:30] » you want to explain that or I'll be
happy to but you can
[15:32] » I guess it was one of the items in my
town manager report. Um yeah, what
[15:36] happened was is the not happened but um
the way this happened is the we couldn't
[15:41] bill for the uh school override until we
set the tax rate. Um which obviously is
[15:45] the first bill in January. So people got
their standard you know last year's uh
[15:49] first two quarter bills based on what it
was last year. Maybe your property value
[15:53] went up slightly um or not. Like so we
took um and Sarah Johnson run some
[15:57] numbers today. We took our average home
value in Winthre right now was $738,500.
[16:02] [snorts]
So, we picked a random property out in
[16:05] the Shirley Street area. Um, their FY25
assessed value was 705,000. So, their
[16:11] total tax bill for last year was
$7,275.60.
[16:16] That same home, uh, this is an offer tax
bill, an actual tax bill, went their
[16:21] assessed value went up to $738,000
5 738,500, which was pretty close to
[16:26] the, um, assessed value for this year.
Um, we're actually right on the money.
[16:31] And so for the first two quarters
though, that house got built uh
[16:34] $1,818.90
for the first two quarters. We set the
[16:38] tax rate. So basically the full increase
of the school override for your average
[16:43] home was around $950, you know, $1,000.
That's what this happened to be, $951.
[16:48] Now that $951 is going to get added to
the last two quarters. So everyone
[16:52] thinks that their tax bill is going up
25 30%, but in reality, it's just the
[16:56] whole increase of the annual bill is
being built in two quarters. That will
[17:00] level out. So that same home got build
for the third quarter $2,294
[17:05] for the bill same bill for the fourth
quarter. Now next year when FY27 bill
[17:10] comes out uh their total taxes was
$8,226.
[17:14] You divide that increase by four. Their
new bill for the quarter will be
[17:18] $2,56.72
rather than the 2200 they got for the
[17:21] last two quarters. So it'll even out,
but for these last two quarters it's
[17:25] going to be a little bit higher than it
normally is. Um, in hindsight, we
[17:28] probably should have sent a letter
saying that and with the tax bills,
[17:30] we'll do better job next time. But, you
know, I didn't want anybody to think
[17:33] that there's any sort of shenanigans
going on, but we did just that's the way
[17:36] it goes with these overrides. And keep
in mind, like this doesn't include the
[17:40] fire station yet, which will come
online, you know, in a few years, but
[17:43] there will be a little bit of interest
that'll be built out like next year
[17:46] there'll be $147,000 in interest that
will have to be built out. That'll add
[17:50] two or three cents to the tax rate, but,
you know, that'll be minimal. But um you
[17:53] know this will happen in stages you know
as we get further along probably fully
[17:57] vetted in FY28 but FY27 will have some
of it FY28 and 29 will finish off the
[18:02] fire station. So everything's in line
with what we said you know if you go on
[18:06] the DLS calculators and you put in the
1.45 million and the 3.5 million all
[18:12] these numbers are right in line with
what the increases were you know for the
[18:15] average value home. So apologize for the
confusion and certainly assessor's
[18:19] office has been fielding questions. My
office has been fielding questions and
[18:21] if anybody has any more come on by but
this is uh this will all you know come
[18:25] out in the wash once we hit to July's
bill and everything will level out. So
[18:29] » and and just to understand a lot of
people look at two and a half which has
[18:33] been around for almost 40 years now and
so two and a half% is what the total
[18:38] levy for the town can go up. So if the
town takes three bill three,
[18:44] » it's like3 billion dollars. Yeah. The
total valuation.
[18:46] » So the valuations it's based on that. So
a person's tax could potentially in a
[18:53] year where there's reevaluations, which
we did. The evaluations could go up. The
[18:57] tax rate again could only be fixed at 2
and a half% increased over the levy from
[19:02] last year. But some people might see a
1% increase. Some people might see a 4%
[19:07] increase depending on how their homes
got valued. But the homes are not
[19:10] reassessed every single year. So that's
just, you know, once every five or 10
[19:14] years.
>> Yeah, we did one in 2022. We'll do
[19:16] another one in 27. Um the one one thing
to keep in mind too is that this this
[19:21] year sort of a perfect storm, right? But
this year was based off of um fiscal
[19:25] year 24's real estate values where if
everybody remembers postco, you know,
[19:29] the real estate values were going crazy.
People were putting in offers on homes
[19:32] 50 60 $70,000 over asking, no home
inspections. So, you know, that was a
[19:36] really inflated real estate market,
which is, you know, driving up the home
[19:39] values a little bit as well. So,
>> and further on your report,
[19:43] » uh, just the fire station, uh, you gave
a little update before in your, uh,
[19:47] state of the town speech there and, uh,
we are going to start the demo. They
[19:50] took the last window out today and, uh,
the demo will start shortly for
[19:54] anybody's interested. They are, as we
talked about before, they're using a
[19:57] large, much larger machine than they
normally would. And it has for
[20:00] essentially just a big pair of scissors
on the end of it and they're going to be
[20:02] cutting the buildings up into sections
rather than jackhammering. So, it's how
[20:06] they take bridges down. It's a similar
machine that they used to take bridges
[20:09] down. So, it's going to be if you're
into that sort of thing, it'll be pretty
[20:11] neat to watch cuz it'll come out in
really, really large chunks rather than
[20:15] And the reason they did that was so we
didn't have a lot of it's in a really
[20:18] residential area, so they wanted to make
sure that they uh minimize the impact of
[20:22] the neighbors and try to keep the noise
down. So, um, but that'll kick off soon.
[20:25] And, um, we also finally, as we got the
permit, the, um, the dredging over at
[20:30] Fisherman's Bend is going to kick off.
Uh, they started out there this week.
[20:32] They start pulling the material out and,
um, our DPW crews will be hauling it
[20:37] away, but um, Northeast Mosquito Control
is doing the dredging there as well. So,
[20:40] we got a lot of good stuff going on.
I'm certainly open to answering your
[20:44] questions.
>> Matt, Council Test, thank you, Mr.
[20:48] President. Uh, thank you, Mr. Manager.
Sorry to hear about the ankle. That's
[20:52] not uh we we we get worried when we see
you laid out because
[20:57] » No, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.
>> Um there's a question on the demolition
[21:02] of [clears throat] the middle school.
Have we had a response to our request
[21:05] for the release of the $2 million
earmark from the acts of 2024? Do we
[21:10] make that request
being on an agenda?
[21:13] » We're working on the letter. I finally
got the actual numbers from um the
[21:16] request is going in. It hasn't
officially gone in yet, but it will go
[21:19] in. But I did talk to our finance chair
and the A&E secretary and um we're
[21:24] accounting and fin secretary rather and
it is going to be going in. Um you know,
[21:29] one of the concerns they have and I have
is that you know, one of the boxes that
[21:32] they have to check off is, you know, is
the town in compliance with our laws and
[21:35] that could be an issue with the 3A
issue, but we'll find out. But um we're
[21:38] definitely putting the requests in and
we're working the political back
[21:41] channels to try to get some support for
it.
[21:43] » Okay.
>> Thank you.
[21:45] » You're welcome.
[21:49] All right. Um, old business. We have
none. New business.
[21:54] There's a motion here. We'll explain in
a bit. A motion that the town council
[22:00] consider consider all interns of the
town of Winter be considered special
[22:05] municipal employees of the town or take
any other action relative there too. Um,
[22:10] we'll ask for a vote on that and just
explain it. Uh we have interns that work
[22:15] here that might work for the state,
might uh might be legislative aid,
[22:19] whatever. They do internships here.
They're not allowed to be an employee of
[22:23] the town. They'd have to be considered a
special employee. So this is an an
[22:28] exemption for some kids that are doing
internships that, you know, might work
[22:33] at the state house or whatever. So it's
uh not a big deal. It's just something
[22:37] that we want to make sure we're doing
properly. So, um, if we're willing to
[22:42] take a motion, if we're willing to get a
second for the motion and discuss it
[22:45] now, if not, we can put it off probably
next meeting.
[22:50] » I have a second.
>> Second.
[22:51] » Second by council tachary. Any
discussion? Denise, would you like to
[22:56] weigh in on this to just if I didn't
describe it exactly perfect?
[22:59] » No, that's exactly perfect how you
described it. And we also we've already
[23:03] done this for the committee members.
>> It's for the same reasoning for that. So
[23:07] this will cover mostly everyone that
knows the non memberships of the
[23:11] committees. So we're good. [cough]
>> Any other discussion? Seeing
[23:15] [clears throat] none, all those in favor
say I.
[23:17] » I
have.
[23:21] » Now the town council every year uh we
vote on a vice president and
[23:27] [clears throat]
this is per the charter. Nothing has
[23:30] changed. There's a question on the
ballot last year that didn't pass. So
[23:33] even if it did, nothing would change in
this runaround. This is a one-year
[23:37] position. Um, the role of the council
vice president is to take over in the
[23:42] event that the council president
[cough and snorts] is unable to perform
[23:45] his or her duties. Um, so I will open up
nominations.
[23:52] » Motion to nominate Suzanne Swope for
vice president of council.
[23:56] » There's a motion from council dimes to
nominate council swoop. Is there a
[24:01] second?
>> Second by council man. Any other
[24:05] nominations?
Seeing none, I will close nominations
[24:11] and I will ask if anyone has anything
they'd like to say about Council Swope
[24:16] before we vote.
All right, I'll ask for a roll call
[24:22] vote, please. [snorts]
>> Council Tineri,
[24:26] » yes.
>> Council Costigan,
[24:28] » yes.
>> Council Dimes,
[24:30] » yes.
>> Councilor Romano,
[24:32] » yes. Council Swope.
>> Yes.
[24:36] » Council Rearen.
>> Yes.
[24:37] » Council Malar.
>> Yes.
[24:39] » President Lati.
>> Yes. Congratulations.
[24:42] » Congratulations. [applause]
[24:53] » Public is back.
[24:57] » Yes. Wendy.
>> Hi. I'm Wendy Malar. Precinct
[25:00] [clears throat] 2. Just want people to
know that we have a couple of things um
[25:04] happening this week and next. Please put
your bare, very naked Christmas trees
[25:10] out on your trash day. And this is the
first year we're doing it. But we are
[25:14] collecting your string lights that no
longer work right at the DW in a bin and
[25:20] they're being recycled. So you don't
have to put them in the trash. Please
[25:23] don't put them in the recycling bin. And
we're getting more things out of our
[25:27] waist stream.
>> Nice job. Thank you.
[25:34] [applause]
[25:38] » Same
public relations. We have um a handful
[25:42] of committee openings now with uh
different councils getting elected that
[25:46] were on different boards and such. Um we
have openings on the board of license,
[25:52] board of appeals, conservation
committee, board of registars.
[25:57] So, if um anybody out there is
interested, please feel free to drop me
[26:01] an email at the council clerk. Um
council discussion
[26:07] um which I'll probably put on the next
agenda, but
[26:12] I'd like to appoint some liaison to
committee to keep the town council up to
[26:16] date, especially maybe uh policym
committee. So basically to have a
[26:21] representative from the council at a
board of appeals hearing or at a we we
[26:26] try to do committee report updates.
We're just getting updates as we see
[26:30] them through the minutes. Sometimes it's
better. It might be um better
[26:34] information for the public. So we're
looking potentially I'll probably be
[26:38] putting it on the agenda of the next
meeting to have liaison from the council
[26:41] to be on for example uh conservation or
planning board or board of appeals or
[26:47] such policy making committees like board
license. Uh so gets us a little bit more
[26:52] detailed information in more timely
manner and get us the ability to
[26:56] translate that to you guys. So that will
be on the next agenda. Uh we are right
[27:02] on schedule. Young scouts are still
here. I can't believe they stayed. Thank
[27:07] you very much.
>> Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion by
[27:11] councilmano. Second by vice president
swoke. Any discussion? Seeing none, all
[27:15] those in favor say I. No.