##VIDEO ID:EUxZDUaVnHo## e e e e e good afternoon everyone welcome to the August 27 meeting of the chadam finance committee pursuant to Governor hey's March 29 signing of the a of 23 extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law until March 31 2025 this meeting of the chadam finance committee is being conducted in person and via remote participation every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the order reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do Save By calling phone number 508 945 4410 again 508 945 4410 and enter conference ID 367 73933 pound sign 367 73933 pound sign or one may join the meeting online via Microsoft teams through the link in the posted agenda well this is a live broadcast and samal cast on Channel TV despite our best efforts we may not be able to provide real-time access we will post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible uh let's start if we could please with a roll call Tomy down here Bar Madison here John papalo I know could not make it today Joan sprag here Andy young here Christen Andres here try Shields here Eric Whitley here and Che is present I would like to start please uh if we could with a moment of silence for Edward footer who tragically passed away yesterday thank you uh welcome everyone uh we have a one agenda well two agenda item agenda two item agenda excuse me today most importantly being article one of the special town meeting uh proposed spend of $4 million to complete the upweller and Pier facility over at 90 Bridge Street um given the number of folks on board uh in the room and the number of corresponden is received electronically all of which were circulated to the members of the finance committee by either myself or by Carrie uh I'm going to propose that I'm not going to propose I'm going to limit public comments to four minutes per speaker uh with extra credit for finishing early uh if you can if not that's fine uh I'm also going to declare um a conflict of interest kind of test that that um I've been going through I uh control a company which owns a modest percentage of I think it's about 7% of aquacultural research corporation which is the entity where the town of chadam working through typically the county gets its shelfish seed uh I've spoken with my appointing authority who does not see a conflict in my engagement on the matter I put a call into the state ethics board inter not heard back uh but I have spoken with the state ethics board on this matter previously when it's been before the committee they have uh previously declared there was no conflict so I'm going to move forward on that basis I will however file the requisite form with the town manager's office once I figure out exactly which of those forms is relevant um so with that as background I'm going to turn it over to Carrie masol for the introduction of Nicholas cantella CH Adam's new assistant Finance director Carrie please hi good afternoon Carrie masro Finance director um I'd like to introduce my new assistant Town accountant assistant Finance director Nick Cella he has been with us since July and he previously worked in the town of Brewster as the assist Town accountant there um we are very happy to have him join our team so please welcome thanks terrific well is it Nick or Nicholas uh Nick please all right well welcome we look forward to working with you Carrie's spoken highly of you today and so uh we again we look we look forward to working with going forward thank you thank you I'm happy to be here terrific thanks okay um so we're here today to discuss the article Waterfront infrastructure project at 90 Bridge Street on the special town meeting warrant that will be Monday September 16th 2024 um this article is a borrowing request for $4 million for the purpose of paying costs for the continued improvements for 90 Bridge Street um I did hand you some packet stuff um you also received that in an email that I sent to you but um so there's the staff report the draft of the special town meeting warrant the questions that everybody had asked and answers um and um I will turn this over to Greg Burman the Natural Resources Director to start the presentation terrific thank you Gary welcome Greg thank you all Greg Burman your director of Natural Resources excuse me so here we are again we have had requests from the public specifically committees in town uh the shellfish advisory committee requested that we put a special town meeting forward for uh the sole project of 90 Bridge uh the South Coastal Harbor plan committee also uh put forth the opinion that it should be a separate article for 90 Bridge Street not included with the other projects from the original Waterfront Bond and in fact the finance committee during some of our discussions uh some of the concerns raised were the overall U quantity of funds request Ed in that initial Bond and also the many projects the the more not as many chances to get a bite of the apple as went for project to project so uh before you now a lot of those concerns have been addressed if they had been addressed we might not be here now but we shall see Town Council has weighed in that the existing Town ballot would apply for this special town meeting uh that was one of the questions raised and has been then provided as the uh link for the full opinion um so this is just a quick refresher and update on 90 bridge and then excuse me uh Renee would then have the opportunity to come up and address the uh uh questions in that uh Q&A format that we provided to you so as you all probably recall the previous Bond was for $1.4 million five separate projects two of those phases of 90 Bridge were lumped into that one project uh for a total of 4.5 million uh requested at the time that passed the ballot but failed at town meeting of the five projects within that original Bond really 90 bridge is the one that's ready to go right now the others um still need design and permitting Riders Cove a small portion of that has been begun just for the uh boat trailer parking lot expans Manion but they all still do need more time versus 90 Bridge which is the next one uh ready to go the permitting status um this is just 490 bridge and we don't need to get into all the permits unless you would like to uh very basically the the most important one is the uh variance that we have for the building code we do need to start work on January 1st or we would fall under the new building code the VAR es we have would still stay in effect most likely but the building code has not been finalized despite it coming into effect at the end of the calendar year so there might be new variances that we need to apply for under that um starting a project with those kinds of question marks the question marks Al often become uh dollar signs so this could potentially raise the cost of the project this is just two looks at the the same you know coming up with $4 million for this special town meeting request originally we had asked for the 4.5 just for 90 bridge but the bulkhead contractor AGM came in below estimates and additionally the dredge work came in below estimates so now the amount necessary for completion is 4 million for is that four and a half million in that upper right hand corner I mean I I've showed similar left to go spent so far uh right now we would still need about 6.4 million of town funds to completely finish the project 2.4 of which could be covered by the existing bond and a fiscal year 25 wolf withdrawal leaving that $4 million needed uh to proceed basically um the rationale for the project that are cons have brought forward to us one there's a lot of Moorings in stage Harbor this would lessen some of the uh crowding on existing infrastructure we do have our Harbor Master here if you'd like to ask questions about that specifically the historic Coast Guard Boat House coming back to the property is something that's been you know stressed of value to the town um I'm not sure if the historic commission is here but teon is available to answer questions regarding that and then the upweller is not supposed to be in that corner but the upweller is obviously a major portion of this project it's not just an upweller project there's also uh recreational commercial fishing but we do have Renee who a lot of the questions posed by the finance committee were related to the upweller project and we do have a separate PowerPoint to kind of go through all those questions so I'm happy to take questions with the chair's Indulgence regarding any updates versus the plan or we could move on to Q&A uh Eric please so on the left to go the $4 million number and all of the math associated with that so is that left to go so that can mean a couple different things are there followon projects at 90 Bridge Street that are not being considered in that number to complete the complete the property fit out so that that includes everything that is part of the 2019 consensus plan there are no additional projects in mind after this Barb please thank you Mr chairman um I'm just a little confused to me the reason we were having this special town meeting is so we could get started before the 1 of next year when there were going to be different rules that we might have to comply with and I think you just said something that said there may be some additional rules even before that that we have to comply with that could cost more what what did you mean by that and Greg as part of that could you please just go back to the permanent slide we kind of Bree through thank you yeah so the the new building code going to effect at the end of the calendar year with special town meeting we could proceed before the January first deadline for that if we did delay until the next annual town meeting that would obviously be well into the calendar year right but didn't you say that even even if we get started right away there could be some additional factors that have to be considered that could cost more some some new Hoops that we had to jump through or are we we're all set to start right now correct yeah all all our permits are in place our variances you know aren't going away it's the question marks will come after January 1st unless we get started before that okay I I misunderstood thanks Greg apologies sure Greg just for for clarity the sake of clarity are these local variances these State variances these Federal where the source of these and potential implications sure so these are our uh local building code variances um the state has weighed in with whether they would continue even with this new building code uh and they would so this is um yeah that they are our local building code okay but we do or don't know of the potential implications of them you mean as of the January 1 or yeah yeah I mean I think the argument we're hearing is we need to get this thing going which is why in part why we're having the special meeting in partly because of these changes in the variance I'm just kind of curious what these things are that we may need to address yep that's very understandable I am curious myself I'll our building inspector in town is also curious the state has not finalized what these code changes are going to be yet they've only said that they're going into effect January 1 so that that's why there's question marks in our mind okay okay that's that's sort of helpful but helpful thank you um other Joan please thank you Mr chair um it goes quickly but we're talking about an awful lot of money at town meeting and also here today and for the benefit of the taxpayers who are listening uh who don't spend all day all day figuring this out uh when you say we actually need 6.4 million and we have 2.4 million in the existing bond uh can you explain uh make that clear to the people who are viewing please certainly so we the existing bond comes from where how does it exist y so the the existing bond is an authorization to borrow so the capacity within that bond has not been borrowed yet and I did just want to clarify that there's not 2.4 within that Bond there's less than that amount I can get you that amount in just a second uh but it's a combination of the existing bond and a proposed 2025 withdrawal from the Waterfront user fund that would make up the difference in addition to that form million to make it 6.4 so that's a proposed withdrawal from the based on on what conditions how how do we we already know that that's going to be there the um I just wanted to step in for one second um so the original article was from um 2017 and that amount was 113 million roughly um we still have um 2 387 available to use from that original bond for this project that he's talking about does that help a little bit that helps and then uh keep going and the the rest of the funds are where right now and how do we access them the wolf yeah the excuse me y um the waterways user fee right y okay MH and and that's we have there uh we have approval to use those funds not yet they would come in under a fiscal year 25 request the request would come from myself to each of the Waterfront committees the Waterfront committees would then you know vote to recommend to the town manager and it's ultimately the town manager's decision whether to make that withdrawal from the Waterfront user fund so we're evidently pretty sure we can count on that yeah thank you you're welcome okay so car before you head out I was thinking through the capital stack yesterday and last last evening um I think we've done a pretty good job of reducing the implicit cost of this project through state grants through the wolf uh do you happen to recall or know the bonding well the we back up have we bonded that 2385 that you're referencing no not yet okay do we have any sense from our capital from Capital markets advisers as to what the perspective cost on that might be I don't know I know that the last time we bonded for the end of FY 24 I believe it was uh almost around 4% was our true cost interest it's roughly around there it was like three point something okay and from a timing perspective would you anticipate bonding that in the four the proposed 4 million if it gets approved at the STM at the same time it depends on how much is it expended in the current fiscal year will be determined how much we borrow yeah and and actually this construction would occur in the two phases the peers and floats would be built first and then to be hopefully quickly followed by the construction or replacement of the up Willer construction of the out buildings um thank you I appreciate that that was actually one of my other questions could you elaborate a little bit on the timing of the phasing between Pearson floats and upweller as you currently anticipated right so I mean we currently hope it's our plan if if this were to pass at special town meeting um to begin construction before the end of the calendar year for the various reasons we talked about at which point our engineer gave us a ballpark of about 6 months for the peers and floats and another ballpark of about that same time for the replacement and fit out of the upweller and out buildings okay thank you Shan please just another followup question please uh since we're talking money um I know I've already asked Carrie about the uh tax impact of this I know it's hard to to project but uh can you give us a rundown of what the so Joan actually want to hold on that we the we've got that sort of slated for the the next phase after we finish the operational conversation and what not sure thank you I wanted to get a no problem what's G to cost won't foret it all right okay um okay back to you guys right yeah I mean it's still it's just follow-up questions about the update um once uh the committee is uh happy at this stage although I'm happy to come back up I asked Renee to come up to answer some of the questions raised by the fin finance committee through email uh Andy please Greg um ideally the folks who are now working on it are they also you has have they been or are they proposed to be contractors for the installation of the rest of the peers or is that still to have have to go out to bed yeah it would still have to go out to bed okay so that the for the the you know cost of that the estimated cost it would still need to get fully uh rfpd okay all right so AGM who's currently on site right yes they're gonna have to demobilize all their gear correct yeah okay that was one of the you know back about when I first got here even before I first got here you know this was one large project and it got split into three phases right uh the first phase here was the bulkhead phase to construct um and if there's a silver lining one of the rationals was we did expend our uh seport Economic Council Grant within that bulkhead um so we are uh planning to apply for another seport Economic Council Grant and that was one of the things that they're not going to award us another one until we spent the last one so you know there is going to be some M demob overlap but that was the only way to do it at this time okay but I just my My Hope was that maybe we could avoid an additional Mo demo cost for all that but it sounds like we can't yeah I mean we are hoping that well AGM has scheduled to finish September um so this next phase wouldn't start until you know a month or two after that right okay thank you thanks Andy just just so we're clear we it's the town Town's opinion that we can finish the current work by the end of the quarter shortly thereafter bid this next phase and mobilize a crew before the end of the year yes that's the plan okay all right thank you okay other questions Barbara please thanks Mr chair is there any I I confess that I don't really understand how all of this works very well but is there any flexibility and if if it looks like it's going to cost more than pricing that we've been given do we have any flexibility in being able to alter the plan at that AE at that stage and say okay well this is all we have left what can you do for that and will it work in what has already been done I I'm concerned about us continually going outside of what has been approved by the voters right so with this with the previous bond that was for five different projects and it did not have a set uh value for each project on it with this specific ask at special town meeting that would just be 490 Bridge it would be a maximum of up to $4 million so that that's all that money would be spent on it wouldn't be spent on you know any of the other Waterfront projects um if it did cost more we would have to find funds from some other area or try to Value engineer the cost down that said this is you know this is not a cheap project and we haven't tried to skimp on it but you know there's not too much else to cut unless we start removing you know commercial recreational peers and things like that but for the mob demob cost it's just so much more economical to make you know this a multi-use facility while the contractors are on site okay thanks great Tracy Tracy please thank you Mr chair it does seem encouraging to a lay person like myself that the bulk head work came under 400,000 right that so when does that ever happen so that's a good sign and I mean not too uh another potential benefit is you know there's no guarantee what these quotes will actually come in as but if they do come in below value and we don't spend the 4 million you know that's just money that doesn't get borrowed it's not going to be used for a different project this is all for 90 Bridge all right Edy had your hand up a second ago oh okay all right uh thank you Greg uh if there no further questions from the committee perhaps we could hear a little bit from Renee about kind of the operational nature of this thing and what it's going to do for us and sort of the the size and shape of the current shell fishing industry in in town please thank you Mr chair and the rest of the committee and thank you for setting this up welcome it's not my forte um yes so thank you um I just wanted to uh review again that our propagation program supports our our commercial industry our commercial industry are folks that are domiciled residents here in the town and it also serves um our recreational Harvesters um and the primary the the the most abundant of those permit holders are um resident per uh uh family permit holders and of course it also helps our natural environment but back to our questions um the or first question that um that I received was to um to quantify uh what was uh quoted in the in the Cape Cod uh Chronicle and this was based on a um um some PowerPoints that I gave to the select board um and then at that meeting um um we put in the value of the coh Hogs total value of the shellfish landed per the per years and also using a multiplier effect that I had actually pulled uh from the uh Cape Cod commercial um Fisherman's Association and they used a 3.1 multiplier effect and the multiplier effect just says you know the this industry supports you know buyers dealers boat Builders machine and it it includes all of those and those e economic benefits manifest through all um those other kind of uh Industries now multiplier effects are dime of dozen a lot of people use multiplier effects this one was the one that I that I I I took from the um um commercial Fisherman's Association um the county uses a um a 1.79% multiplier and Noah uses a 4% multiplier so um in the article you'll notice that there is whoops I I should go back to say that and quantify that the question was um assert that uh up to 1.5 million pounds of cooh landed annually is valued at 11 million with that multiplier it wasn't that's the total so was the total amount of shellfish landed and the multiplier effect was on that total not just on the coh Hawks so I hope that answers that question but for the article itself it is based on the cogs landed so Greg put together a between 3 and7 million overall economic benefit that is based on that 1 79% used by the county and at the top level the Noah 4% and so the the one that I had presented at the select board was kind of in the middle at the 3.1% but again it's based on the total landed and not just on the value of the cogs landed um so the next question um like to understand the underlying economics of the Town operation um this is primarily what is based in my annual reports um it's the um um permits that are sold our propagation shellfish revolving fund is based on the amount of permits sold we get 75% of the um revenues from commercial permits sold and 25% of the revenues of family permits sold and so breaking that down um4 uh just under $105,000 went into the general fund and $664,000 into our shellfish revolving fund and that was for last year in 2023 and this year we actually raised just the family permit fees and so using the numbers of of of sales from last year it's just about um it would add another about $10,000 back into um the revolving fund and even more into the general fund um and Renee just quickly what what are the levels of the fees for family and uh and Commercial please 25% no but but what's the dollar figure oh for residents it's uh $45 for seniors it's $20 and for non-residents it's $130 and um those were just increased last year the last time they were increased was uh 2016 and as far as how we are with other towns we're still the best deal around so we have uh shell fishing seven days a week and we have product so thank you um the you also asked me to break down what our expenses are so again it's just under $65,000 that goes into uh the revolving fund and I did this on a three-year average because of course every year is different as far as our expenditures and also sometimes our bills come in after the fiscal year so I wanted to make sure it was well rounded um and and included the the the seed costs because that is our greatest um expenditure is our seed and our seed actually went up 15% uh this year which is why we ask for that increase in the family permit fees this year um our second is labor between 10 uh and 13,000 we use seasonal labor we just have our one dedicated propagation staff and um and then we actually have um our our our two parts of our department is our enforcement and our propagation and so what we do is we use our seasonal Heth on both sides so folks that want to help out in propagation um we just move them right over from the enforcement side and they help us with uh with propagation when needed because mostly we need them for big projects we don't need them every single day we need them when we do the big digs and and and when we put out um you know our our shellfish um so it makes it much more responsive and and we don't have to have somebody on at all times and then our third is of course our pump repair and Main M and that again that changes annually um question number 10 how many animals do we uh uh currently have um we currently I I broke it down and and also where the expenditures come from because we do actually get support from the county and sometimes we actually get money from the state for propagation efforts um um and that goes to any town that um has propagation and the state uh supports um Municipal propagation programs and especially the county so we do get funding from them to um to help our Municipal propagation programs um and so that's uh our total for our seed in 2024 and that includes the the 15% increase in our in our seed was uh just about just under 45,000 so the new proposed facility is slated to um uh be able to grow a third more seed and that equals to approximately a million additional cogs um we suspect that that probably would be higher but we want to give realistic um expectations primarily because we want to be able to keep this a costeffective program and be able to support it within the uh shellfish revolving fund so um those numbers may be able to increase um and and it's but but for certain the the footage is going to be bigger and we would uh be able to uh grow at at least a third more which would be a million more cogs um as far as our our um oysters are concerned uh we've actually been upping that ante almost every year it's a very very popular program for us but that is more space limited on the other side because we need to put them in floating cages and we have them over in stetson's Cove but uh this year I think we have about 35 uh 350,000 and we're having a really great growing season this year so and I think the last question came at the end um oh it was that question it was it was what the um expectation was for the new upweller and if you if we expected to need more additional help and um currently our system works great so we would not need again it we need that labor on those big projects it's not an everyday thing so uh we use our seasonal help um as I said coordinated between our enforcement um um folks and um some propag propagation folks okay that's very helpful any questions for Renee Andy please par me part of your figuring included you know a certain amount of money on cohs but it was almost double the amount for other things I assume all of those other things were oysters can you repeat that Andy sure and talking about 2023 estimated wholesale values by year in dollars cogs a million 7 total 3.4 million or roughly twice as much right so our oysters are recreational only so this is only commercial Landings um that this is based on so most of that is muscles and we had a couple of good muscle years okay and then I think this year we're going to be very surprised at how good our our soft shell clam year is right but but that that's why I asked I mean y there are a lot of folks who are not familiar with what kind of Landings we have in Cham we still have um and I'll I'll the the number one most uh valued Wild Harvest of of cogs in the state of Massachusetts and that we've been ongoing that for that for years so thank you okay further question to in please thank you Mr chair um $1 million is the economic value of this project can anyone here tell me what the overall uh fishing industry in chadam is valued at economically the finfish included everything yes that I don't um I think that um there are some numbers I think the uh hook Fisherman's assoc I can still call it the hook fisherman I'm so sorry Cape Cod commercial shelf I mean Fisherman's Association they have really good qualifying numbers on the value of um landed finfish and I believe chadam is still the number third number third port in Massachusetts yeah know that I think it would be interesting for the town's people to know what economic value the whole thing is now that we know exactly where the uh the shellfish stand thank you you're welcome okay other questions financially or operationally for Renee otherwise we'll take take it back to Carrie for the last couple of questions around tax rates and impact price project impacts although Greg is warily approaching the podium I just can't remember if I told Carrie that her questions are built into the slides oh thank you I did not know that um so this was one of the questions that was asked was um update on the tax rate that will be used on the fy2 uh property tax bills um we don't have that information as of yet we have a tax classification hearing on September 10th uh with the select board Mr chair Jo please so what were what were we left with a town meeting what what do we think it is right now before you have the classification meeting I can't remember I think it was around $3.75 or 377 somewhere around there at town meeting we'll never quote you on that I can't exactly remember the exact amount but it was somewhere around there and it's would be expected to change somehow probably on FY 26 if this bond issue is approved by the town yes that's correct it would have an effect well it would have an effect on FY 26 yes and we don't know how much of an effect yet it would be helpful to know even so if we were to borrow the full $4 million in F say we expended all of it in fy2 right right all of the $4 million it would have about a three to 4 Cent tax impact on $1,000 which would be roughly around $34 67 on a million and so what is the average home evaluation at this point the average home value I believe is 1.2 okay thank you you're welcome Carri just tangential to that are we still roughly running at $100,000 per Penny on the tax rate yes 110 100 yeah okay thank you all right further questions for Carrie on tax R implications Etc Barbara please thanks um Carrie that assumes an interest rate of 4.5% though right yes so it could be a little bit lower it could be a little bit lower yep yep I just kind of went a little higher I wasn't sure it's unpredictable we don't know so if this goes through with the special town meeting do we when do we go out to bid you for the money oh to bid bond for the project you mean like an RFP right I would no no no no I mean when do we for the borrowing for the bond oh um around April May okay for the end of the fiscal year to cover the costs that were incurred for the during the fiscal year of fy2 thanks you're welcome okay any further questions on tax implications financial implications there being none um I'm going to open this up to public comment oh oh oh wait did you want the other question there was an a question asked by Joan um about the towns I thought we hit them all I'm sorry okay please um this one was um a total amount of the town's authorized but in unissued debt so the total amount is uh 37 million roughly $37 million is that we have that's unissued debt that was approved at town meeting but we haven't borrowed for excuse me for for uh keeping keeping on asking this that's okay what what can that be used for the unissued authorized but uniss it's authorized for a certain project am I right yes so there's multiple projects that this 37 million includes um one of them is for a water treatment facility Wells 5 and8 for around $19 million um so we have an actual we're building that right now right correct yep we actually recently after so this was before we do have a $15 million uh clean water trust that's going to be coming through for that um the transfer station redesign for the 4.8 million um that hasn't gone through yet uh transfer station belt filter press for 4.5 um the remaining of this one which is 1.6 um there's a storm water project for 1 Point one um a Wastewater project ex expansion pump station for 2.1 um a Wastewater expansion for 2.6 and there's um water means for 478,000 and then there's a couple older ones on here that um I'm probably going to end up resending at town meeting that was m to be my next question yeah there's a $560,000 one on here from 06 uh for well and pump station so either we'll repurpose it or resend it um and then there's a $99,000 one for a wastewater treatment facility that has not been used and that's from 09 so and those are so old that um either resending or repurposing them at town meeting is appropriate because Bond Council doesn't let us they don't like it when we have something sitting for so long on the books like that so well thank you I appreciate that and what what would you say the town's bonding capacity is at this point before we issue new bonds oh that's a good question it is a good question I'd have to get back to you on that just to I think it's an important question that's okay I can get back to you on that the do you know when we're talking uh it's over a 100 million yeah it's I thought it was approaching 200 I thought it was around 200 million I think I would like to know yep I'll get you the exact figure okay thank you you're welcome um oh and there's this question right here how did the town um Finance the bulkhead for um the 90 Bridge Street for the summer um it won't impact the tax rate because they um used um The seport Economic Council grant that uh Greg was talking to you about earlier and they also used um Waterway user fees from revolving fund um and they also used some d in account um for The Drudge work that was done prior to okay thank you you're welcome okay I think we're going to shift gear slightly Eric has a question regarding the opinion from Town Council I don't know if Jill you might be able to field this ball or at least take under under advisement excuse me Eric thank you Mr chair um so I have a couple of process questions or or comments and and we'll end with a probably with a question so I think it's it's good that we've um kind of pulled this out and focused on the project I think the downfall of the of the bond was it was a little too broad and people probably didn't fully understand it so I think it's a I personally think it's a this is a great project and I think that there's some value to the town I think from a process standpoint I'm very concerned about the um what we're going going through as far as using the previous vote that followed the the the annual town meeting that was for the that bond issue the Town Council has um has an opinion that that vote um would stand for this article at this town meeting so I'm certainly not a lawyer and I can't argue any of the merits of what's in here and I wouldn't I wouldn't try but I can say from my personal opinion and and I think the opinion of of many people in town is that that it's inappropriate and that this article should stand on its own and should be voted on again um by the taxpayers the the what was voted on before was not even this this was embedded in it but it wasn't it wasn't what what they vote what we voted on um I think that the part of the I know that some of the turnout for the Council on Aging town meeting was process-based for the same exact reason and people felt incl and I feel that that was inappropriate to to bring that to to say that if that passed that that vote would stand it didn't and I think that should have been a message that we shouldn't try to do that again um so that's my those are my comments and I guess my question is are we locked into the process that we've been told is going to happen where we have this where we have the the special town meeting and no follow on vote for the article J M J there something you can address so it's legal to have a ballot question before a town meeting vote that's uh what Town Council had ained on some towns do that other towns as chadam does has had the annual town meeting first 2third majority vote to approve and then a ballot question and as you know our ballot our annual election is just four days after our annual town meeting so with a a ballot question in any election um the town has the opportunity the town's people and voters can absentee vote so that's so what we've had success is at the ballot for people approving the projects but certainly at town meeting um if failing to get the two3 majority I can't speak to what we would do in the future because it's only been in recent history that we've done a town meeting after uh the ballot question passed in the and the warrant articles did not get the two-thirds majority this is a decision by the select board in this particular instance the shellfish advisory committee had specifically made the request to the select board and the select board voted um 3 to two to actually call the special town meeting so that's been called what you're reviewing is the warrant article and the request is for fincom to make a recommendation on that so that we can get that printed in the warrant that will be posted and that the public will know both the select board recommendation as well as the finance committee's recommendation again this is not our standard practice I can understand two years in a row um some may think that that's the casee but in essence the select board was responding to a request to call a special town meeting after the vote uh thank you and I and I understand the response I and I and I again I'm not arguing that it's legal or not legal or I I think that it's I think there is a perception in town that it's not right and I think that that's going to potentially cause some problems for getting this this article passed thank you Joel thank you thank j i I would Echo uh I'm fully supportive of the opinion we received from Town Council I'm not an attorney um I appreciate what it says and the conclusion it reaches but I I have heard and continue to hear um to reflect Eric's observations concerns about kind of the the the game and it's kind of getting rigged and um people generally have what I've been hearing is people aren't happy about it uh I don't need to repeat everything Eric just said but but I heard that repeatedly from towns folk so for whatever that's worth um Tracy please for whatever it's worth I've heard sort of the opposite and I I interact with a fair crosssection of of the community um and my over I mean anecdotal evidence is is just that but um I've heard overwhelming support for it that partially because it passed as a ballot question like that that that that does substantiate you know why why it's being addressed again um and I think that because it is broken out as the B Bridge Street project I think that the response will be quite different um from the electorate in terms of you know reaching the two-thirds majority or not um but I have not heard from people that what you guys have in terms of A disruption of or a feeling that um the order of operations is what the problem is not in my experience that's helpful thank you I'm not surprised to learn a difference of opinion in the town of cedo shocking uh okay unless there's anything else from the committee and or town staff I would like to turn it over to public comment Mr Taylor has his hand up Stephen uh Dean I'm sorry yes Dan thank you may I just offer a comment um I'm sorry I did not see a little hand up there in the corner that's all right I just wanted to offer a comment on the issue that you and Eric have talked about because I share the same concern and I think uh one of my colleagues Mr Met shared the same concern we vote the two of us voted not to call the special town meeting let me say up front I support the article I voted to recommend the article I've been supportive of this project from the beginning I think I was on the finance committee with Joanne when we first voted to acquire the property um I just wanted to provide some reassurance I don't think it's a very good practice to be calling special Town meetings um based on um um votes that occur on a ballot question that follows the failure of a motion to borrow um at the at a preceding town meeting and I have um requested um at the select board an agenda item which I think is going to be heard on the 10th of sep member at our meeting um to consider changes to the um an amendment to the town's Financial policies uh which would discourage um the use of this mechanism except in cases of um emergency or excy or housekeeping purposes um this is the second or third time when this has been invoked um and um in this case as Eric pointed out the ballot question was actually um the article I'm sorry in May was actually much broader than than than the particular article that's being proposed so I my my intent is if um is is to have um I've drafted some language to amend the financial policies um that's going to be presented to the select board on the 10th my recommendation to my colleagues on the select board is to refer that that Amendment proposed amendment to the finance committee and the town's financial advisers um for comment and recommendation back to the select board so it's an issue I guess I just really wanted to say it's an issue that I take very seriously and I as seriously as as U you and and and Eric and I suspect maybe others and it's a different issue from from the merits of this particular article the meeting was called so I you know had to take a vote on whether I would support the article and I voted yes so Mr matters so I can't speak for Corey I'm just trying to tell you what happened and what's hopefully going to happen going forward so I just really wanted to get that that point across good thank you for that Dean appreciate that sorry not to recognize your hand being up and uh we look forward to seeing where the select board lands on that topic thank you so Mr Taylor back uh please Mr chairman of committee thank you very much my name is Peter Taylor I'm a retired commercial fisherman and shell fisherman um my wife and I are going to vote against this just because of the process question but I have serious concerns about the upweller in general um and it starts with the handout that's going to be going to the um town meeting um about the economic value of this especially it's kind of Muddy in the wat sh when we talk about the $1 million the the value of that because we're throwing in Steamers and muscles and things like that that have nothing to do with this upweller all this is about cogs the value the economic value from this is cogs and that's it okay so we're muddying the waters with this and then when you look at the underneath the the picture um it'll it shows down there the translates and um to 3.7 million economic benefit this is this is for the cogs but but the um multiplier they're using and it says right underneath it is a no Mass economic multiplier for the shellfish aquaculture industry so that multiplier is based on the fact that if all of this shellfish um for those years um was multi was assumed to be be the results of the aquaculture which is not true I have gone up I spent the last two weeks talking to people in Maine Massachusetts and Rhode Island there is not one person that will tell me that there is a study that proves this is cost effective this aquaculture I guess broke my glasses um it is is not coste effective um the best I can get out of anybody and I just got off the phone with a guy from the state from the agriculture one of the leading guys from the state um and he said we're not even doing it correctly he said if you what you should be doing when you scatter seed is close the whole area down and and let it actually grow we're throwing seed out into actively um shell fished areas so it doesn't get a good chance to grow so what he said to me best case he said this is extremely risky Endeavor that what what we're doing and he said basically it's a Feelgood you know attempt nobody can quantify this there isn't a soul that can quantify there's no study out there um and and I guess if you want to spend all these millions of dollars on Feelgood I I I don't know you know everybody knows me I like to spend money Town money on the fisherman and shell fisherman I love it but it's got to make sense and to me you know there's nobody out there that tells me this makes economic sense there's not one person and I've talked to dozens of people in States I I've talked to people on the um um Rhode Island Commission down there they don't do this Rhode Island has one of the biggest Landings of cogs probably the biggest in the United States they don't do that they haven't done this for decades and I ask why and they tell me flat out because it's not costeffective to do this so thank you for your time I kept it on the four you did well I think you did I I started you late but to your benefit maybe uh thank you Peter good afternoon members of the finance committee my name is Tom King I am the chairman of the South Coastal Harbor management plan committee I'm here today to speak in favor of proceeding with the completion of 90 Bridge Street project for those of you who may not be familiar with the South Coastal committee it is an advisory committee to the town and the select board the South Coastal Harbor plan committee is tasked with the implementation of the state approved South Coastal Harbor management plan which includes waterways and embayments of the stage Harbor complex Southway near shore Waters of Nantucket Sound basically Lydia's Cove uh to cockle Cove the committee is also specifically charged by state regulation findings of consistency to ensure that all projects requiring the license of the chapter 91 are consistent with the local Harbor plan the South Coastal committee worked for several years to develop this project and has voted unanimously in support of completing this project project our reasoning for the support of this is we believe it is solid as it is a multi-use facility to be used by the shell fishing commercial fishing recreational boating and educational communities our committee is committed to a healthy and vibrant working Waterfront and ensuring Waterfront access to the general public we also believe in preserving the history and charm of chadam is equally important completing the 90 Bridge Street project and bringing the Coast Guard Station back to life in chadam as part of this project is the right thing to do on all fronts I would like to cut to the Chase and rebut some of the negative comments reing regarding this project some critics say the cost is too high and will most likely cost more in the long run yes we agree it is a lot of money to invest in our working Waterfront however this project is well underway the necessary permits are already in place and the new bulkhead is nearly complete the property is ready for construction the project is well designed the cost estimates are feasible and realistic provided we move quickly and avoid further escalation of con of construction cost time is of the essence critics also say the Coast Guard Station roof will be too high Engineers have calculated the structure to be approximately 2 ft 2.5 ft higher than the telephone poles across the street other critics say the view from the bridge will will be blocked both East and West views from the bridge are also are currently considerably blocked by tall trees and vegetation yes views looking directly out to the Inner Harbor will be impacted looking towards the ve the many very large houses on stage Island critics also say why can't the current up weather facility continue to be used the current location and equipment is next next to the busiest facility in stage Harbor where conflicts of use of commercial and recreational boats fueling and cleaning are basically happening almost on a daily basis uh one bad we are one bad environmental event uh to wipe out the growing shellfish seed and we've had some close calls in the past in addition the current equipment is in need of work and constant repairs and in doing so will only Band-Aid what is really needed to keep our shell fishing robust and one of the best in the state finally the committee believes the town needs to work harder to protect the impressive Maritime and nautical charm as you may recall chattam many years ago lost the life Saving Station to Provincetown 30 seconds Tom huh 30 seconds okay thank um almost almost over um imagine if the town did not buy the oatmeal Boatyard and now we have a chance to retain the iconic Coast Guard Station and working know to protect our working Waterfront just like our sister Town Nantucket never let theirs go we already have a Cape Cod with no codfish declining fish Lobster eelgrass populations do you really want to weaken the bright spots in our working chatam Waterfront by not supporting the shellfish industry which is one of the town's best assets please support the vibrant working Waterfront to help preserve our Town's history and vote Yes to complete 90 Bridge streak as soon as possible thank you thank you Tom Mr Bergstrom afternoon um I'm Ron Bergstrom um I should mention I'm currently chair of the barnville County Commissioners I mentioned that because as Renee pointed out uh the county is involved in providing seed uh and and financing part of that seed to uh chadam as well other towns I also serve on the state shellfish advisory panel um I was appointed to represent the the wild Harvester so I don't know if that's because I'm wild or because I'm a harvester but I qualify in both regards so there I am um you know I came to speak to you about the supporting this uh project because I think it's a benefit to the Shell fishery but some of the discussions that you've had opened up some questions you know the the charter leaves it up to the board of Selectmen to determine the time and place of town meeting and they did that okay that's over you know and I don't think you should Prejudice your opinion on this project because you disagree with an opinion that was in there bwick and I respect the opinions of Mr decastro and Mr metos but you know I've been on the losing end of votes myself and at the end of the day you respect the outcome so we're going to have a special town meeting as far as bringing up a project which was included in the OM om nibus warrant article you could say well it was included in there and the entire article was voted down so we can't bring it up again but the effect the Practical effect of that would be that in future Town meetings we're going to separate every single article into little pieces to make sure that one piece doesn't Prejudice the acceptance of another so there may have been people who came into that meeting and said I like this project but I don't like something else that's in the article something to vote against it to me my personal opinion to separate this article out to present it to the town meeting uh is a more honest way of of of giving the voters a chance now getting back to Shell fishing um you know I haven't done the comprehensive studies on the economic value of this that one of the previous speaker did but in 40 or 50 years of shell fishing I can tell you you can identify the individual coh Hogs that are product of the hatcheries for various reasons ones they tend to be all uniform in size when you get them they also have distinctive markings on them and I don't think that and chadam is not the only town that does this it does this throughout Massachusetts and barnville County supplies seed for other towns you wouldn't think that they did this if it didn't work and it wasn't valuable as far as the landings go even if you go with the $1.7 million in Landings that was uh mentioned by the U by Renee the total project cost of this would be six 68 $6.8 million if you take a $ 1.7 m million in economic value and that's simply the shellfish alone not just the overall economic value of having people come to town so they can bring their grandchildren out on the flats and dig some cogs and so on even if you take that that's short money I mean if I was an investor and I said I can invest $6.8 million and I'm going to get2 or three million back every year right I have a flood of investors to do that e makes tremendous economic sense to invest on somebody that's going to high return and the other thing I have to say is that first of all it's a low tide okay right now which is why you don't see a lot of shell fishermen here they're trying to make up their trying to make their August money that's going to carry them to February 30 30 seconds please okay so anyway I I I wholeheartedly support this project I think it has value to a segment of our population a segment of our economy that's often overlooked and I think I certainly support it I intend to show up the town meting to support it and I hope that you will support it on its face for its value and not bring in other discussions that really have nothing to do with the value of this project so thank you very much thank you Shireen please thank you Mr chair before I get started I and start my four minutes I do want to answer Miss Craig um um Joanne's question about the value of the Fisheries in chadam uh the Cape Cod Commission did an economic impact of Cape Cod Harbors back in 2017 and the X vessel uh value of chadam was $20 million that doesn't include the um economic multiplier at all nor does it include the recreational value of of the Fisheries in chadam which is very vast if you think about it you can think of the million dooll boats that are traveling throughout the town and catching strip ERS and all kinds of and and Tunas okay um I think what I'm trying to say and what I'm going to say to you is the tax Impact versus the investment I got the opportunity um this past month to work with love live local on a white paper that's called that will be called Seafood matters it's a report on the status of it's kind of like local matters um the status of the Fisheries on Cape Cod so um some of the some of what I'm going to tell you can inform you it's not specific to chadam but it is specific to Cape Cod and it deals with some of the more significant things that we're we're not think may not be thinking about and that's um the economic environmental impact the cultural and uh and Heritage and tourism impact um I can site I have citings here from several different um uh different case studies that were done from UMass from the Cape Cod Fisherman's Alliance and from um the cap C commission as well as uh URI and so um I just uh will be as quickly as I can because I know it's only four minutes and I'll happy to share after the fact um so you know our our our connection to the sea is deeply rooted and um you know we we've had a like a a vast uh our we have turned into a supplier of seafood since the 19th century and in the 20th we transformed ourselves into more of a tourism industry that embraced fishing and shell fishing um and shell fishing is um not just more just not an economic activity it's a vital part of our cultural identity and by supporting local shell fishing fishing consumers particularly recreational Harvesters are feeding themselves helping to preserve the tradition and practices and stories that Define the Region's unique Maritime Heritage and the and the up welder supports that um in one of the sightings it said said small-scale Fisheries contribute to preserving cultural heritage valued at approximately $10 million annually in terms of community identity and tourism revenue for Cape Cod the economic value of Cape cod's recreational fish shell Fisheries is significant but not completely documented a study conducted in 2002 by UMass estimated the total value of Cape cod's recreational shell fishing on Cape Cod to be approximately $7.4 million this figure included both the permit fees and estimation of the consumer um uh Surplus uh but it doesn't reflect today's numbers at all because that was a 20-year-old study and was based off a small number of permits a new stud is being done by Woods Hole hoie and uh UMass on on recreational but it's an important component to all of this it's just not the commercial activity that we need to Value here and that can't be reflected in our Landings um so the way we can rationale it is through what those cultural um um uh impacts are um wild CAU shell fishing and chadam propagation program Pro uh support sustainable practices that maintain our marine ecosystem and contribute to healthier shellfish populations and resilience habitats and in another in another study that I read it said that local fishermen on Cape Cod have invested $1.5 million in community-driven conservation projects over the past decade contributing to improved biodiversity and oceans Health this project is that kind of program and um so choosing local seafood does reduce carbon footprint um and helps us to have uh food here that doesn't have to travel Long Way um the direct the economic impact of Cape Cod Seafood industry and the direct spending by local seafood bussinesses support a broad range of all ancillary um businesses and in town from the restaurant to the gear supply store to the um Auto the um a boat mechanic and boat builder um and so all this is all supportive even on a small scale like shell fishing and we have a unique Fisheries here it's a wild fisheries and um it supports Public Access which is really important today I I don't know if you all been hearing about what's going on in chadam but there's a lot of private property owners that are trying to keep it you know reduce our access to the waterways but the more important thing about this it it it contributes to food security we have a unique opportunity in chadam because we have a permit a recreational permit um process that allows for reduced rate permits for people and it supports the elder population in getting both Recreation and Commercial permits and it can um this kind of activity augments fixed incomes and helps people to feed themselves 30 seconds okay I'm just going to finish up then local Fisheries provide 15% of the seafood consumed here annually but there's one really interesting factor that I think you should knowe the resiliency and sustainability of Cape cod's Fisheries as it relates to this project is smallscale fisheries on Cape Cod demonstrate an economic resilience with an annual income stability rate of 85% the corporate more Fisheries world is like 60% so this is a stable economic Venture and we are entwined with our local Fisheries here and I hope that you will support I hope you'll vote tonight in support of this I don't think that was on your agenda but I'd like to see you guys vote on this and and bring it is our agenda and hopefully be this afternoon and not tonight I mean afternoon thank you for your time up to everybody in the room I suppose so um you sir please I'm afraid I don't know you are but come on up good afternoon uh my name is Bob Davis I'm chair of the shelfish advisory committee welcome uh thank you uh I think our position on this issue is self-evident uh we're the folks that brought it Forward uh we did so because we thought we were being responsible after the failure to pass in May at the town meeting we listened carefully to the feedback we got from people they told us that they liked 90 Bridge Street they liked the upweller but there are lots of things they didn't like they thought the project was too big they couldn't understand uh or they thought the cost was too big they couldn't understand many of the projects uh in order to rectify those issues we felt we were doing the responsible Thing by going forward recommending to the select board that they changed those things by isolating 90 Bridge Street as a standalone project and funding into quarterly it's as simple as that likewise we uh also requested a special town meeting because we saw no logic in letting this project sit idle for 8 to 12 months simply waiting for the next annual town meeting so those are the reasons we brought the project forward it's as simple as that I'd like to comment on a couple additional things um I think it's clear to every one that Chell fishing is part of the culture of chatam all you have to do is look at the number of permit holders we have 3,000 people roughly last year that voted in favor of chadam shell fishing by virtue of the fact that they spent their money to buy a permit we we we appreciate that support and it reflects favorably on the shellfish Division I don't I'm not a commercial shell Fisher person so I may not have the expertise on these things but when I look at something and I can tell whether it's working or not and I tell you this division is working very well in addition to the cultural aspects I think it's been demonstrated that shell fishing is a economic engine in chadam it may not be the biggest engine but it is certainly contributes its share given all the numbers you've heard the final comment I would like to make is that relative to the upweller and particularly the replacement of our existing upw through the 90 Bridge Street project there is no plan B we have no alternative it's evident that this building is on its last legs anyone who's been there can testify to that any semblance of a s Plan B would mean are going to uh and uh an organization like Arc and buying large larger more expensive animals to put out into the wild that's been proven that just does not work and it is prohibitively expensive so if we have no upweller we lose our propagation program and many of the cultural and economic benefits would eventually go away so I urge your support on this very important issue thank you thank you sir Mr Shell thank you um I step up here somewhat reluctantly um but uh I I really feel that I should speak up on on on on two simple issues uh and maybe I should open by saying I look forward to um what will be a I'm sure a good discussion at the select board with my friend uh my friends on nicastro and Mets excuse me on on the subject that um that that Eric raised as as being of concern to him um I'm not a fisherman for me this project was a good one when it was considered as part of the larger Bond um off uh proposal in May um I I I think that um Ron burkstrom expressed the the investment proposition very well um whatever we invest whatever the number is call it $6 million call it eight whatever it is um the return uh to the town is um a a good return um and it's also supportive of a a very important constituency of this town which which carries a lot of weight for me um but the issue I want to address is is the one that Eric brought up um when when this came up when the shell fishery uh shell fishing advisory committee came before us first question was is that legal can we do that not as a trick not as a some sort of a rigged thing but rather it's a tool in the uh legislative toolbox between the select board and town meeting which is the legislative body uh that if the circumstances weren't that you can come back to the to to town meeting with a special town meeting call and raise an issue um that did not receive receive a vote um at the and by the way we're talking about a two-thirds vote I I would have a very different attitude if we were talking about a lost majority vote the thing I want to emphasize is there are there we we were advised and you have been advised that there are risks to waiting there are there are all kinds of of difficulties that potentially can arise and that was the question that was presented to us question was can we avoid some of those by asking town meeting to reconsider that's what's happening here I would hope and I have tremendous respect for the concern that uh that you expressed uh and that Dean expresses but I would hope that we could take these on a caseby Case basis and if the circumstances weren't as I believe they very emphatically do in this case say we need to we need to take this back and ask town meeting to consider it again at a special town meeting that's that's all this is about and it's it's not a trick it's not a uh it's legal and as uh Jill said you could do it the other way around and and you would have the the vote in hand from the from the uh from the town election before town meeting it's just that we've always done it that way I I guess I'd close by saying this is not about going back and saying gee we lost can we go double or nothing I mean this is about and an important issue for the town that really does deserve reconsideration by Town special town meeting and that was the basis on which certainly that I voted for um calling the special town meeting so I thank you for your attention TR thank you Mike others who may wish to speak to the committee okay any further questions for anybody in the committee for anything we've heard from the staff Tracy please com comments sure comment thank you Mr chair um I just wanted to um underline some of what Shireen had brought up in terms of the cultural importance um as a child who came here in the Summers to the grandparents on the great grandparents house on the cape and learning how to shellfish with them um to now being the parent of a guy that works in our commercial fishing fleet for the third year and loves it um it would seem to me very sad to take away that lineage from generations of the importance of shellfish in the community or fishing in general I also come to this from a restaurant and Hospitality perspective and being able to offer people food that is from where they're where they're visiting is huge you know to be able to say these are local cogs when you're offering them to your guest makes a very big difference thank you TR Barbara please thank you Mr chair I'm going to vote for this article um but I can't without saying that even though it's legal uh the way that it's being done and with respect to the people who have who have explained why um and for all the good reasons that have been brought up here as to why this article should pass and I believe those for regular people like me this looks like a legal loophole and um I think a lot of people are as Eric said not going to be happy about seeing it done this way isn't there I mean couldn't there be another vote after the special town meeting I said that this doesn't look so underhanded I will defer to the experts in the town of which on that matter I am not one is that a rhetorical question or do probably okay we'll treat it as a rhetorical question um thank you Barbara Andy please thank you um there a couple of things first off barara you know the great thing about democracy is you can ask those questions endlessly and you can get endless answers and you then then you get to answer ask the same question again depends on how many people want to talk about it and in the case of prop two and a half as I recall quite a few years years ago the town was in a position of having to have a ballot question before town meeting could consider an appropriation so it's it's not a complete completely new thing at least as I recall the other is that in the 2024 election you know better than 600 people voted in favor of this art the article that was for significantly more money to exclude it from a bond so I yeah there's a political risk no question but I I think you know there's also a heck of a lot of people who want to see this go forward and that we should be able to rely pardon me should be able to rely on that election result um I'm very much in favor of n bridge I I think we need to get it completed we need to move on um we can debate things like economic benefits but the fact is there many of the benefits are not economic they can't be accounted for that way um you know and and as I said move on thank you thank you Edie Eric please I'll be very quick so I I am going to vote against this article um and I want to make it clear that I I I actually support 90 Bridge Street and and most of the things that were were said and positive about it um it's all about about the process and I think some of the things that are being kind of maybe mashed together here the vote that was taken after the annual town meeting included this project in the bond but it really wasn't even a vote for what we're vote what we're voting on at the special town meeting it's it's a different thing so that's where I see that it's that it's not the same and and I don't think that's the int again the the the the Town Council says you can do that and that it is and that it's embedded in there but I think um as a taxpayer and and I I just don't see it that way and that's why I'm going to vote against it not because of the project or the benefits to the town very good thank you other comments observations questions Joan please yes uh Mr chair I'd like to give my observation um I believe that uh the one of the major reasons that the town meeting did not vote for this project in at uh town meeting was that it was not as descriptive as it is now they didn't understand they were talking about a lot of money millions and millions of dollars and they wanted to be sure that each project was worth their vote and I think they didn't feel as if the whole basket was so this this uh project went down in defeat with the rest of them I believe that we have uh uh a ruling by the town lawyer the best we can get is that this is a project that can be looked at again and can be and a town meeting can be held and I believe that the people who go to town meeting will go and have the chance to vote for against that's democracy that's what we're here for and that's what town meeting is for so I would like to EXP expressed my approval of this project from the beginning I thought it was a really wonderful one but I didn't want to vote for it in the midst of 11 other million dollars or so and uh I just want to uh say that I'm going to vote for it and I think that uh the pathway to get there uh satisfies me as best it can and uh I hope the town's people who are in favor of this will in spite of the the pit Falls around it come to town meeting and vote for something I think is important to the town economically and culturally as been mentioned thank you Joan Kristen please we're all we're all declaring we all give our comments um just briefly I agree with uh those uh of my colleagues here who are in favor of this article um and I would also add that our propagation program that enters that uh contributes to so many more animals into our waterways really improves our water quality and contributes to the ecosystem so yes it's cultural yes it's economic but there's also the the holistic um view of our our waterways um so I am fully in favor of this project um and I think that the whole process thing is a is a separate discussion and I don't like to see that we get things confused um between the two because what's going to be before us at town meeting is article one thank you thank you Kristen okay the Casual Observer might think there's a trend here so let's see if that's the case any further comments or questions if not I'll take a motion to support the proposed article one Capital Bond project $4 million for the water for infrastructure project at 90 Bridge still moved second thank you Andy in favor Tommy yes Barbara yes Joanne yes Andy yes Kristen yes Tracy yes Eric no and the chair it's interesting I've traveled quite a road on this thing I have found um initially not being terribly supportive of it of it price tag um not necessarily the goals but it just seemed like a considerable sum of money um I think the last several years of this whatever it's been four or five years has given me an opportunity to reframe how I think about this project um that it's not you know an 11.4 million project supported by state and local funding but it is to to the various comments that people have made it's an economic project it's a social project it's a historical project a cultural project and it's really changed my thinking around the support of this project so I'm in favor of it um and I think that makes it 7 to1 in favor so thank you guys and thank you all for taking the time to come and join us today and express your opinions thank you okay now election of officers you guys might want to stick around this is the good part all right election of officers next on the agenda all right so we'll start out by I'd like to propose for the vice chair position Mr Andy young of North chattam Joanne has fastidiously supported me over these last few years and my absences and period incoherences for which I'm eternally grateful thank you Joanne you're very welcome Mr chairman and I would like to move that we uh uh vote Andy as the the vice chairman okay are there any other prospective nominations for for the role of Vice chair my sincere hope is that our chairperson will show up for all these yeah doctors had me just skating by but fingers crossed so um all right a motion in a second um Tommy in favor yes favor thank you Barbara yes Joanne yes Andy yes Kristen yes Tracy yes Eric yes chairs in favor thank you Andy um now we need a nomination for the role of chair there any nominations Barbara I would like to nominate our current chair Steven Daniel second any other creative ideas there being they being none well suddenly a very creative Bunch goes dark all right in favor Tommy yes Barbara yes Joanne yes Andy yes Kristen yes Tracy yes Eric yes cheer I guess I need to abstain so I'll abstain can't vote for yourself uh all right anything further within and from the committee Carrie or Handler anything uh from you or the town manager that you wish to draw attention to uh no there's nothing more on the agenda tax class can you just give us 30 seconds in the tax classification hearing you're having with the select board just for the Public's benefit of what that is and what the implications are and Etc it's um the tax classification hearing is is in regards to the tax rate for fy2 and it's on September 10th um and it will be presented by the um assessor to the select board um we are currently working on going through um valuation well the assessors are working through their valuations because uh this year is a revalu year so it's a little later than usual so that's why we have't and so the intent or the goal of this hearing is to set the tax rate the goal of the hearing is to set the tax rate that is correct yeah will be interesting to see where the valuation comes in after all the continued frothiness in our real estate market so once we get the approval we'll send it off to the Department of Revenue and they'll look through everything yeah traff thank you Joanne Mr chair thank you is this reval the one that's done by the state or is this the town uh using a program system based on what the state does every what five years yeah I do you know the answer to that question I don't know if there what the difference is the usual one okay so what is it it's the one that um we do here right the vendor yeah it's like a computerized version yes um okay and then we get every five years we get the state actual reevaluation yes reassessing reassessing yes okay thank you you're welcome okay further comments Barbara please can we just talk about the process a little bit which process the the one that the one where it we voted down at town meeting and then it um we vote for it at the polls and then it comes back again like this yeah so hold hold hold on so the shorter answer is maybe uh and I think I'd like to get a sense from the town manager we don't specifically have an agenda item to talk about the process around this I don't want to violate open meeting law as a result thereof whether it falls under our consideration of the special town meeting article Capital Bond project I would argue it would seem to be ho but Jill do you have a perspective I don't want to I don't want to go to jail maybe we could call maybe we could call Town Council a call from Ron Ron what's his name Bey over what Ron Bey call me up and accuse me of an open meeting VI thank you Mr chair as U Vice chair Nick Castro select board member Nick Castro had mentioned that he is putting forward a policy discussion at the next select board meeting which is September 10th so I would suggest that you wait um until that and he had said that he's going to make a ask for a referral to the finance committee as well as our financial advisors so that that would be my recommendation to hold until you have it on your agenda yeah that's helpful Barbara let's just plan I think to be safe let's just plan to take that route if that's okay okay and I see um Selman necastro got no longer it's the disappearing hand I was just going to Echo what Jill said I I was simply responding earlier to to Eric's uh question uh to Jill about what the future might be on this issue and I thought it was important to inform the finance committee that there is some discussion that it's going to take place at the select board that may uh Ripple over to you and um I think it would be better uh cons under considerations of the open meeting law not to take it up today okay no I appreciate that advice thank you uh so that being the case anything further from the committee isn't there going to be a debate that night there going to be a debate that night SE probably be a debate there well imagine there'll be a debate that night and probably one thereafter depending on which way they go right Tommy please I don't think we voted for a clerk we didn't vote for the clerk we used to have a clerk do we still have a who's I I vote to n Tommy Don as clerk second I second there right let's do this quickly Tommy are you my mistake uh Barbara yes Joanne definitely Andy yes Kristen yes Tracy yeah Eric yes and he needs new crayons I'm all in all right you abstaining or are you voting for yourself I'll vote for myself okay eight 8 to nil all right we have a we have a we have a clerk we have a slate I like round numbers yeah perfect Mr chair uh just I want to test your memory for a moment this pulling out a project 1936 sorry pulling out M goes all way way back pulling out a project out of a group of project is something I believe that this committee talked about about three years ago and I have a copy of your you're wording the letter you sent to the selectman recommending that that not be the case in the future that it the projects uh are taken one by one by themselves and make it easier for the the town to see and easier for us to plan you may have forgotten that but I just reread it just the other other day and uh it is it is proven true that it's almost uh not fair for us to present to a town meeting that don't have the hours to spend on this as we do to lump things like that together and ask them to vote for 11 million bucks well it's I think it's it's it's it's no secret that this committee is supportive of encouraging the select board to prioritize the projects prior to break them out and really make the case for them serly uh I'm not sure I mean there there I think can come a point where that can be an excessive exercise um you know we don't need to be approving how many pencils the school district buys but right the things of this magnitude in this impact I think we've made it clear to this support that we think there's a better approach than what historically they've done well I know they are the policy makers and I know we can't interfere with that but we can keep recommending yep and I and I think this is a is an example of what can happen or maybe what can go wrong some sometimes it's nice to have a rock in your shoe well if you look at that 2000 aboute it's the one thing you can't get rid of so Barbara if you look at that 2017 vote for 11.3 million um at least several of those projects were under that same umbrella and they haven't been started right haven't been done so you know of course people are confused I am confused too all right I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved second thank you Tommy in favor yes Barbara no Joanne yes Andy yes Kristen yes Tracy yep Eric yes sharers in favor 7even to one let the record show Guess Bar wanted to stay here tonight all right Carrie thank you Jill thank you