e e e it being 6 o'clock want to call this meeting of the uh April 22nd uh 2024 meeting of the select board to order and I want to let everybody know that this uh meeting is being uh broadcast live by CHC T media and um recorded for later rebroadcast and if you would please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America the stand indivisible liy and justice for all thank you and before we get to um public service announcements this evening um I want to um announce that the reason I made the the prior announcement about the uh live broadcast and the recording is because at our last meeting on April 8th um I was uh uh issued a complaint an open meeting law complaint that I did not do that and I did not realize at the time that that I knew a long time ago that was a requirement I thought thought it was no longer a requirement but in fact it is a a a requirement of the open meeting law to make that announcement um so that's why going forward we will be making that announcement and I want to thank uh Patrick Higgins who pointed that out to us um and filed the open meeting law complaint uh he will receive a letter explaining um that we that we in fact did violate the open meeting law and are taking actions to correct it including sending um an email to all other chairs of boards and committees in town reminding them to also make that announcement at the beginning of their meetings so with that we will ask anybody else has anything to say about that complaint I I just want to make a suggestion that um we went through a onboarding policy last year which includes the clerk's list of things they go through and one of those things that she goes through is the open meeting law guidelines and so I thought maybe Paul the clerk's office should just add that in there since we have rotating chairs that way everybody will get the information as they come on board sure okay okay anybody else good with that we can start with public service announcements um so first we have a proclamation um get the microphone closer they can't hear um in honor of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day which is April 24th 2023 whereas Armenians fled increasing oppression from the ottoman government during the 20th century Coming to America in search of Freedom where they could live in dignity without fear and oppression and whereas like many ethnic groups Armenians settled in Chelmsford seeking a safe place to live raise their families practice their religion and educate their children they became an asset to the growth and vitality of our town of Chelmsford through their strong work ethic family values and civic pride and whereas The Armenian community of chelsford is comprised of the children grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and whereas one .5 million Armenian men women and children victims of genocide perished in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 now therefore the chumford select board does hereby issue this proclamation in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and urge all residents to take part in this observance presented this 22nd day of April 2024 and and I think we we do have somebody here to uh receive that uh Proclamation after sure so good evening um uh my name is arj narian for Peron Road in shord Massachusetts uh and I represent the Armenia National Committee and I'm here tonight with a a large number of my fellow uh uh residents of chamford of Arman Heritage um many of which are the survivors uh their children and grandchildren of the survivors of the armian genocide uh we are anchored by a most senior representative George simonan as you well know former principal of chensford high school for many years and it was George's mother and my father escaped The Armenian Genocide on a boat as teenagers and we're here today because we able to escape the Armenian Genocide so on behalf of the Armenian community of chsv we extend our appreciation to the town for letting us remind the citizens uh of the Armenian Genocide which at the hands of the Turkish ottoman government claimed over the claimed the lives of a million half Armenian men men women and children from 195 to 1923 considering that the Arman genocide is often regarded as a forgotten genocide most tragically other genocides followed and and you may know or may not know uh when Hitler was about to uh to wipe out all the Jews in uh Germany his advisers said Adolf you can't go in there and just kill 6 million Jews and what did Adolf say just 20 years after the Armenian Genocide who remembers the Armenians and because the Armenian Genocide is a forgotten genocide we Unfortunately today suffer the same fate um another genocide that befell the Armenian people last year was the 100,000 Armenians who were living in the Republic of gabak they were forcibly removed from their historic homelands by the Azan government you can imagine 35,000 residents of chelsford now have to move someplace else over within a couple of days so chamford has always been a welcoming Community to the Armenians fleeing oppression in many parts of the world we are blessed to have St V Armenian Church on 180 oord road with father kaban who's here yeah who with open arms has welcomed all these refugees who have come here are escaping oppression in their respective homelands so with today's Proclamation chemsford honors the hall memory of the men women and children who perished during the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Turkish Empire we the children grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the survivors are proud to stand here in shsf and we vow never to forget their sacrifice and then we thank you for not doing so as well thank you a quick picture if that's take too too much time to take a quick picture with the representatives be great sure we can do that where do you want like in front of the the we can go right over we in front over here just about that l [Music] they room over here come come right over one more excuse me ready one two thank you much thank you for your patience to sorry thank you okay and to continue on with public service announcements uh we have another proclamation in celebration of Arbor Day which is April 26th 2024 uh whereas in 1872 J Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water cut Heating and Cooling cost moderate the temperature clean the air produce lifegiving oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper wood for our homes fuel for our fires and beautifying our community and whereas trees in our town increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of business areas and beautify our community and whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal now therefore we the Chelmsford select board do hereby Proclaim April 26th 202 24 is Arbor Day in the town of chelsford and urge all its citizens to protect our trees and woodlands and to plant trees to Gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations and to take part in programs to celebrate Arbor Day presented this 22nd day of April 2024 and did we have somebody did you want to take this hope yes thank you I would like to thank you for helping us draw awareness to a to arbaj J we would like to extend an invitation to all of you and all of you and the uh chumford public to join us um THS I'm sorry Friday April 26th 10 a.m. at Roberts field for the planting of a tree the Garden Club chumford Garden Club will be planting an Elm and the town of Chums will be planting an oak uh I would like to also um put in a Shameless Shameless plug for a fundraiser the Garden Club is having to pay for this tree we're going to be hosting uh on Thursday 20 April 25th from 6:00 to 9: at the Elks so uh a fundraiser called divas and dogs on the runway you're all invited you can buy your tickets online uh at chumford Garden club.org the proceed proceeds will be used to buy trees flowers here in front of town hall and to maintain the public garden on North Road you're all invited to uh the fundraiser and to the ARB day planting on THS I'm sorry Friday April 26 8 8 I'm sorry 10:00 a.m. Roberts field thank you thank you thank you and next we have a proclamation um for parents of kids with cancer whereas the town of chelsford has been blessed with dedicated individuals whose unwavering commitment to caring for a child going through cancer treatment has made an impact on the care of their child and the community that surrounds them and whereas on this momentous day we will gather to honor and recognize the exceptional strength and fortitude it takes for these parents of kids with cancer to continue and move through life and treatment while being a caregiver and whereas we hold these parents especially close as a community to show these parents as a community our commitment to their children family and friends that surround them and whereas we pay special recognition to the parents of kids with cancer who are currently in treatment at this moment in their life being surrounded by a supportive Community is of the utmost importance and whereas the town of chelsford uplifts those parents who have survived the heart-wrenching loss of a child due to cancer now therefore the chord select Bo does hereby proclaim a April 22nd is parents of kids with cancer day in our town we urge all residents to join us in expressing our heartfelt appreciation support and empowerment to parents of kids with cancer to feel seen heard and supported by the community of Chelmsford presented this 20th day of April 2024 and next we have an announcement of about um the 2024 Earth week townwide cleanup Earth Day is Monday April 22nd this year but why not celebrate all week join the annual townwide cleanup by helping to pick up litter along chelmsford's roads neighborhoods Parks and Recreation areas um you can pick up yellow bags last week April 8th to the 19th during hours cleanup is this week and if you leave them curbside they'll be picked up with the regular trash until Friday the 29th next we have an announcement from the chumford health department um they are hosting a depression and anxiety support group it is facilitated by Shantel Castle um and Marissa Cameron for more information you can email M Cameron chelsford ma.gov or call 97 8250 5241 and it's going to be the every fourth Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 8 at the chumford Center for the Arts next announcement we have is for spring annual town meeting spring annual town meeting will be Monday April 29th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. at the senior center at 75 Gren Road and a copy of the spring annual town meeting warrant is available now on the town website any Resident of the Town who is not an elected town meeting member May attend sessions of the meeting and participate in question and answer and discussion portions of the meeting and um links to the presentation and finance committee warrant book can be found on the town meeting web page at least one week prior to town meeting another announcement from the chelsford health department uh Save a Life free Naran training is presented by the chumford Health Department it is April 30th from 6:00 to 6:30 at the chumford Town Hall fire training room to register you can call the health department at 978 25052 41 or email tangel chelsford ma.gov also from the chumford health department we have a free 4-we meditation series um it is at the North chumford Community Center at 31 Princeton Street on the second floor from 11: to 12 every Wednesday starting May 1st through May 22nd and if you have questions you can call the health department at 978 25052 41 one more the chelsford police department blue envelope project the Chels chelsford Police Department is proud to announce their participation in the blue envelope project which is a collaborative effort aimed at creating a safer and more supportive environment for drivers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder during traffic stops um this initiative is a result of a partnership with the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association the Massachusetts State Police advocates for autism of Massachusetts and the Ark of Massachusetts um looks like key objective of the blue envelope program are empathy and patience visual cue effective communication and preparedness it says to obtain a blue envelope visit the main desk at the chumford police department drop by a state police barracks and complete the online form or complete the online form together let's create a safer and more understanding environment for everyone on the road that's it thank you okay next up is uh public input is there anyone here who would like to address the board about any topic and just uh if anybody's here about the 255 Princeton Street uh development agreement modifications you will have an opportunity at that time to speak so if anyone has anything any uh comments about anything else you can come up to the microphone at this point okay is there anybody on no one on okay thank you very much okay committee vacancies so committee vacancies as of are you for the 255 prin and stre okay you you you you can come later oh all right but I thought you just said to come now no sorry if I misspoke committee vacancies as of today April 22nd 2024 the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee has one three-year term available the board of appeals has an associate member position available um the Conservation Commission has won an expired three-year term the commission on disabilities has two unexpired three-year terms the Community Action Program committee has one unexpired term the cultural Council has one three-year term available uh the diversity equity and inclusion committee has one three-year term the historic district commission has an opening for an associate member that's a three-year term also the holiday decorating committee has three unexpired one-year terms available the parade committee all applicants are welcome for one-year terms the public records advisory committee has one unexpired one-year term open the Roberts field advisory committee has two unexpired terms open and the recycling committee has one unexpired three-year term open um the town moderator is also seeking a candidate to fill an unexpired term on the finance committee expiring June 30th 2026 if you're interested in serving on a Town board committee please complete an online applic available on the town website okay thank you okay next up we have a a couple public hearings first up is an all alcohol beverage Package Store license for for in andout variety doing business as liquor Mark Market of chumford at 11 vinyl square okay good evening members of of the board for the record my name is Angelique eliopoulos I'm an attorney with the law offices of eliopoulos and eliopoulos at 9 North Road here in chumford and I'm here tonight to present you the application for a new all alcoholic beverages Package Store license uh with a premises at 11 vinyl square in chumford I'm joined tonight by the applicant over here uh In-N-Out variety Inc doing business as liquor Market of chumford as well as the proposed manager Amy um who uh would be again the proposed manager under the new license in not variety Inc is a Massachusetts Corporation Dev kadi is the president and kupal Sony is the treasurer and secretary um and again Ami Sony would be the proposed manager it's a family-owned business Dev and kupal are co-owners and cousins and kupal and Amy are married so before I get into the application itself just a brief uh background on the applicants that are before you today uh Dev is the owner of a successful liquor business in Burlington Mass and groupal is the owner of a successful liquor uh package store in Andover Ami who will be the manager again under the license is a fellow Chumps resident while not a paid employee she spent uh several hours and years working at the family businesses as the baby of a family with several family businesses I know how that goes working without any intention of getting paid while gaining the same uh if not more valuable experience and so having already been in the liquor business everyone involved in this application today are very experienced and familiar uh with the laws relative to the sale of alcohol all three have been tip certified Amy will be the one who ensures that all employees of the business uphold the statutory laws as well as all the rules and regulations that are governed by the town of chumford iy would be at the new store full-time and either Dev or kupal will be there daily also in the beginning to ensure that the business gets up and running successfully they'd be utilizing the same point of s system that they've successfully utilized in the other businesses that can accurately scan and process different types of identification cards and ensure that the chance of sales to minors is completely eliminated neither of the owners nor the manager has ever sold to a minor never violated any law rule or regulation regarding the sale of alcohol and have had no complaints issued by the towns that they serve or by the abcc so you have the complete application in front of you today one thing I just did want to clarify I saw a note in the uh Department sign off from the building Department there was a question as to whether there's going to be any construction at the at the at the location so I wanted to confirm for the board that there is not there's no construction that they needs to happen they already have access to an 18- door walk-in cooler um refrigerator shelving glass cases um Refrigeration cases they have everything they need so there will be no construction being done so I wanted to confirm that for you so I'll just take a brief minute to explain the nature of the business that they're intending to operate at that location and go through some of the criteria that you as a board typically examine with regard to need this will be a boutique liquor store that will seek out Quality Craft Beer Wine and Spirits as well as some various uh bar accessories there's no store of its kind currently serving um the vinyl square area or North Chumps area of town with regards to traffic in size there should be really no issue here there was a prior successful business at the same location um that never had any issues with the town noise is often considered but that won't be a Factor here as it's a um for off-site not on-site consumption obviously the board also considers reputation of the applicant and as I've already mentioned the reputation of the owners and the managers are spotless running their uh successful businesses with no violations or complaints so that brings us to existing stores I have a map that if it's helpful to the board I could pass out if you would like a visual frame of reference of what you already know which is that the town uh stores that are in town already are well spread out and again there's no store currently in the North chumford or vinyl square area and so this store would be a great addition to the town's goals of revitalizing vinyl square I know there's a pocket license being held at the moment though at this time to my knowledge there's no clear um update or indication as to when and if that would be financed built or opened um if it was built or opened in the future however I think that um it's clear that the applicant in front of you today would it would be a different store with a different shopping experience so this store has about 1300 Square ft of Sal Space versus the other location would be more of a warehous siiz liquor store both are great business models um but but and also create you know different shopping experiences and serve and address different needs so if you think about sort of a bigger Target Walmart type of chain store cater to the general public attracting a much larger um maybe customer base on the other hand boutiques are often smaller carry specific Niche items and again cater to sort of a more particular smaller clientele and I think both could certainly exist uh together so in closing I think you have all the information you need in front of you um I had sent the TIPS certification of the manager to James maybe early this week but I'm happy to provide that again if you need it I have the map if you'd like me to provide that happy of course to answer any questions that the board might have otherwise I respectfully request this board approve the application for a new all alcoholic beverages package store at licens at 11 viny square look mark would like to request to be able to sell alcoholic beverages Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. Friday through Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 11: p.m. Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. these hours of operation might um eventually be governed or limited depending on the public need but that's what they would be requesting at this time and lastly I don't know that it's the board's policy any longer to hold the meeting over for the two weeks I don't think it is but just in case that's still in effect I'll make my official request to wave that as well okay this um being a public hearing is there anybody here that would like to address the board about this application okay do we have anybody on okay uh anybody on the board have any questions um attorney eliopoulos you you said that you weren't doing construction the building commissioner's comment said change of layout is that what he meant or changing the interior layout from what it used to be even though there's no construction I don't believe there's any I can the app no there's there's no change in the layout at all they're ready to go and then um on page Paul can you scroll to page 18 section c it says employment um for two of the three Employments listed on the employment information it's page 18 call all way down to far I need better glasses oh 18 eight okay is it is this part of the application you're looking at yeah okay well let me just get there myself would you mind saying what number of oh c 10 c section c employment information so the first um the first employer has the supervisor first and last name but the second two employers only have the first name and I think that there's a reason why they ask for the full name so I would ask that you provide the full names I can absolutely do that I don't know if it's possible to um if if the board were to take a vote and approve it to make a contingent on getting that information absolutely and you're okay with the fire department comments the three items there so I would I I I I'll be honest I just saw those today so I don't want to speak on behalf of the of the the applicant without review viewing with them but again you could certainly just make the approval contingent on those three items coming into play you won't get the license unless you meet it exactly I don't anticipate any issues but again I I'll just confirm that for you okay anyone else have questions George um I I have a couple of questions uh Angelie first of all um on the on the application under Manager application it it lists am me with her um resume I guess you could say her employment information but it doesn't anything there about having worked with alcohol on any of those jobs I understand what you said but I just wanted to confirm okay but she does have experience uh working with family and the other both of the other businesses that's correct okay and my other question has to do with um it's it seems a funny name in andout variety for a liquor s can you explain that that's the name of the corporation so it's not I I guess I can't explain it but that's just how it's registered with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will have nothing to do with the doing business as okay so you know that it's it can't be a conveni market of chel is the name correct that's correct okay yes so the sign on the on the building is going to say liquor Market of chum and not in and outre that's just the name that the corporation's registered in with the Commonwealth and and and you and the and the the owners expect that the primary purpose to be the sale of beer wine and alcohol absolutely again so they have some bar accessories maybe some gift baskets or things like that but absolutely not a convenience store okay thank you okay do we want to have a motion then does anybody have a desire to I think you have to close the hearing first you're right I'll take a motion to close the hearing then I'll motion to close the hearing public hearing second give a motion and a second to close the public hearing all in favor does anyone have concerns about the proximity to the pocket license that's being held down the street well you should have raised that before the we close the public hearing if you did well I mean I'm the public might have consern nobody nobody came yeah so well what I'm wondering is if if this is one that we should leave for next week that we should leave open so because that is the normal process right unless wave it we we don't have that policy anymore so we can but we can we can yeah we can we can um that's the only kind of pause that I have okay does anybody else have a desire to carry it open carry it over for our next meeting no I guess I would just renew my request to wave it based on the fact that it was published and people would have had the opportunity to come forward today if they wanted to present or say something or speak speak a concern I mean I I I I would agree um with the applicant that yeah I mean it seems like we have um people here who are comfortable with what they're what they're doing so I'm okay with not not holding it over so okay so do you want to make a motion or do you want to let vgina make a motion I'll make a motion okay I will make a motion to the amendment I'm sorry with the amendment with what amendment to include the supervisor first and last names in section 10 C employment information okay I will make a motion to approve the all alcohol beverages Package Store license for In-N-Out variety Inc DBA Liquor Mart of chumford at 11 vinyl square uh with an amendment to include the supervisor's name is that what it was yes the supervisor first and last name in section 10c employment information the supervisor's first and last name in section 10 C employment information second okay we have a motion and a second all in favor okay wonderful thank you so much have a great night thank you okay our next uh public hearing is for an an all alcohol beverage license for uh 168 Korean barbecue um at 83 Park HST Road um we have somebody here for for that license good evening my name is weian pan I'm actually the owner for D Korean Barbecue located at um 83 Parkers Road in chamford so I'm here to seek for approval for um the alcohol license for the for the restaurants okay do you want to tell us a little bit about what you'll be serving and yes correct so um this license going to be PE on the serving alcohol um beverages for the restaurants um so this restaurant going to be um we going us almost starting construction now for build up the restaurants so we just serving just um alcohol beverage and stuff like that okay and again this is a a public hearing is there anybody here that has any comments about this application at this time okay anybody on the nobody on the Zone okay anyone on the board have any questions comments about this application I go ahead where we at with the um Department of Public Works um as far as the um sewer yes so um the landlord actually um uh work with Tony already um with the DPW on the sewage situation I think they got figured out yesterday but I didn't hear anything back from uh Tony yet okay and is there some confusion on the number of seats um because the DPW is saying that plan shows 45 seats I count it and I'm not sure which is what but it looks like it's 40 to me I don't see it's hard to tell with the bench how many are on we supposed to be at a 40 seat maximum so okay so you're okay with that we maximum 40 seat seats [Applause] okay that's it okay anybody else have any questions so I I just want to follow up on so that that was my question about 40 versus so we're saying this plan does have 40 or does the plan have because I counted more than 40 I and I I can't read whether if it's if all those pieces by bench say four up over 40 yes so the left and right side is 40 seat but the original drawing the first drawing we have five more seat on the bar so we just remove the seat on the ball out um to get it to 40 seat maximum so I'm not sure you might have a older plant drawing but um so you're not going to have any seating at the bar we don't have any seating at the bo at the moment yes is that on this plan or is that is the bar seating removed on these plans yeah so it used to be five seat here on the can you come up to this one where the microphone is so the five seat originally on this here yeah we just remove that so then we contain 40 seat left and right okay yes cuz originally we have that seat here but um we miscounted so it's 45 so now we we remove it so what we're approving reflects the 40 correct okay did you initially want the 45 yes but then we come down with the 40 SE yeah it was an issue they're only permitted for 40 by the planning board planning board hearing process and parking correct that would also impact the sewer yeah yep significantly any other questions make motion I will make a motion close the public hearing sorry the public heor close the public hearing you want me to close the public hearing oh yeah okay sorry I make a motion to close the public hearing sorry second all right we have a motion to close public hearing all in favor I I okay and I will make a motion to approve the all alcoholic beverages restaurant license for 4 168 Korean BBQ LLC DBA day G Korean barbecue at 83 parkst Road units two and three as presented 4S well it's it's presented with 40 sorry okay second okay we have a motion and a second all in favor okay thank you good luck thank you good luck all right um next up we have um a discussion about the pocket license that was mentioned earlier today Paul if you want to talk about uh what we received and this yeah thank you madam chair um as the board recalls uh when you were doing the annual license renewal back uh in November December time frame the issue came about the um license um status at um the property that people in the room would most recognize next to Princeton station at 133 Princeton Street um and at that time the board requested quarterly updates well uh the first quarter of the year has passed we received the attached update from from the council for the the uh kalhan which is the LLC that holds the license uh and what they're saying is that as of this date um they've uh have submitted an application for a foundation permit which has been approved by the Building Commissioner and they are final finalizing their commercial financing with an anticipated start date in 60 days I was able to confirm that with the Building Commissioner he has received the foundation permit and has approved it um so that's where things stand so um we hope to see workout there within the next uh two months uh if not we'll be back in July um with another status report and if there is no further retion then I think we'd ask the applicant to appear and explain what's going on sure no okay thank you all right anybody have any further questions on that no okay thank you okay um I want to take one thing out of order right now that being uh reports and presentations um I see that Christine Clancy is here if she wants to come up and make those presentations and maybe she'll have an early evening for a change the thank you good evening first I have want to see so I have the arpa update first tonight um I'll wait I think almost a couple more there it is perfect thank you so I provide this uh update monthly and to go over this month's update so to date we have 57 projects that we have allocated funds $99.75 million allocated funds so which leaves and this is similar to the pre recent months um we have about $827,000 left in unallocated funds what we do is we track monthly how much of that has been procured and how much of those procured amounts have been uh invoiced or spent so we're at 90% proc so a little uh increase from last month and of that we have um spent and completed 65% of those projects uh I can go over without going over every single item in the spreadsheet the spreadsheet does include and I do have some requests tonight that I want to present as well but this is the summary this spreadsheet uh so before you anything highlighted and in blue is complete uh completely procured and spent anything that is green is complete but still in Project implementation anything that is yellow is partially procured uh so still working on some aspects of procurement and then what is shown in red is projects to be procured as a reminder the we have really we have a couple deadlines approaching so the end of this calendar year is when we have to allocate all funds and then all funds have to be spent by December 26 we have a little bit of time for spending but we are trying to move forward on the procurement I just want to go over a couple highlights items number three that's that modular RTO unit uh there was a change that we had uh brought to your attention a couple months ago where there was Electrical uh change order work that so that that work has been designed now we're just getting it priced so for for the May update we should have that price uh we have we have we're carrying a price in here but we'll verify that in the next month update so that's that should uh hopefully bring that project to a at least completion in terms of what we understand for procurement uh and then item number 12 is the HVAC ventilators the high school artwing with April April vacation last week we were able to uh complete that work so we'll have an update for that project hopefully that show is shown as blue for next month and complete couple other items on this list that I want to bring to yourent so the items that we still have and they have been read for some time the air uh balancing projects 14 17 18 19 and 20 uh we're still trying to bring on someone in the facilities department but these projects will I would say we have anticipated spring procurement it's just a matter of getting those out the door um and a couple other updates if you go towards the bottom starting at number 50 uh this is where we had probably going back I think it was over the winter we had added some projects that we saw as critical projects related to drainage and also we had the ca the Staffing in house house to be able to move forward on those projects so those that would be 50 51 52 uh 55 these are all bid B actually we're opening the bid this week so we'll be able to uh procure those before but the end of the next month as well so that's good news uh number 54 was the Mont View Road drainage improvements that was completed as part of the reclaim contract we put that work into that Paving reclaim project uh and then also I'll talk I think the next item I'll be talking tonight is and we uh one of those arer projects was the flow metering improvements so that's just nearing completion as well um so we're moving Pro we're making good progress on all these drainage projects which is which is good news and especially this given the time of year this is a time of year where we want to put things out to bid have construction begin spring and hopefully wrap up by the end of the summer I don't know if there's any questions on these existing projects and then I I do have a couple requests that we identified as potential critical opportunities okay any questions on the the araa update okay want to tell us about those so a few projects I know that we had talked about probably sometime this spring and summer we want to come back with a more complete list of projects for on how we would recommend spending that remaining $827,000 um but in the meantime we've identified some critical projects that we see as funding this is a great opportunity to fund and we also have either quote obtained uh or the ability to uh to um procure these quickly whether it be inhouse resources so the first item on the list is sorry is the install oil water separator at the fire mechanics garage at 54 Richardson Road this was presented on that overall list going back I think last fall we have moved forward with design of that that is something that is ready to be procured so it's I would say it's 75 80% complete um this is something that has been identified uh that that right now that fire mechanics garage that is really their garage that they operate out of it does have a non-compliant hold tank um so it does have to be upgraded to a have a oil water separator the design has been completed by in-house by our engineering staff and so it's really just at a point where it's waiting for funds uh so we estimate that total at $75,000 is thinking the timing of we still have unoc unallocated funds the ability to get that out to bid we could have that work complete this this summer so that's the first request uh the next request is perform a gap analysis for the protection of the town's groundwater and drinking water so here uh this uh as far as a lot of the development projects have come before various boards um especially right now where we are at sewer capacity a lot of projects are looking at potentially going on septic of the residential and also there's this with with posos in the environment there's an increased uh desire to to protect our drinking water and so when we look at some of the existing bylaws that exist in in the protection that we have sometimes there's some gaps between the bylaws that we have there's and I have a list of a couple of this bylaws this is an example that we would be looking at um we have the Board of Health the chapter 2011 groundwater protection Zone we also have the title five requirements the our storm water byaw chapter 141 Mass storm water standards that has requirements planning board has chapter 195 zoning as it relates to protection of drinking water conservation by law as well and then recently also so the water department has their OA protection regulations as well so when you look at all those bylaws and trying to uh for a developer to come in and try to kind of go through those sometimes we're seeing potentially gaps and so what we've identified uh through in talking with Evan balansky and other um town uh staff is is in the health department in Su R Roa is this would be a really great opportunity to see look at all these and see if what what is missing or what could potentially be made to revise some of these bylaws make recommendations um and and also outline a process that is there a process that would help some of these projects that come forward sometimes they go before the planning board before they go to the Conservation Commission um we did reach out and receive a quote for at least a quote for some of this work so we're estimating between 30 to $35,000 uh and so we right now just have we're at a point where we just haven't identified a source for those funds so that's the the second request that could be procured uh really more immediately I would say the next couple weeks yep so we if we bring in some outside help to do the Gap and analysis and so then depending what those gaps are you would get the relevant boards or Commissions in place to work together on bylaw changes to bring to town meeting so I think first what we would do is we've already coordinated with some of these boards get some input I guess of what I guess yeah looking at this is whatever our questions and I think in terms of protection of drinking water what would we have everyone understand what the scope is really to reviewing these bylaws um have that feedback and they would also take upon I mean this is a environmental firm that is experienced their um Hydro Geographic U experience environmental experience so take that experience and provide a recommendation those recommendations would be put forth in a report that would re be reviewed by the boards so it will take maybe it might take time to make some of those changes some changes might be uh very straightforward Bo and might be more direct some might take longer thank you and and then who would who would kind of um organize the collaboration between the boards would the consultant do that as part of the bid or the the DPW I yeah so we because that's kind of a lot yeah so really it's actually uh the I would say a lot of this kind of had started with the Board of Health uh or the health department and then with Evan balansky myself um conservation so that's things we were kind of called into different meetings and different questions would come up and we realize that this is really a great opportunity to look at um maybe if there's a way to streamline this because every time too we go about a different review sometimes there's a new Nuance or a new question that pops up and this is particularly I think becoming evident because of the you know really the the the increased need to protect our drinking water and also the increase need to have septic too so we have a lot of the town is in um Aqua protected area and and so if there are developments have to come forward protecting their ground to protection Zone and they have to install a septic there there is those by there's certain bylaws and then there's other ones that maybe contradict um but it could be used for Beyond just residential it could also be used for really any development or any project coming before the boards I'm just wondering who's going to specifically kind of lead the collaboration so the collaboration would be the consultant would definitely would have a meeting with representatives from those boards the I would say the lead would be probably between planning and Health Department with um input from conservation and DPW okay it's like a little task force it's it's yes uh so that it I guess in it is we see as being help it would be helpful to I think like for DPW can speak it would be helpful to us because the way projects come through we making comments as it relates to storm water and then someone else is making comments as it relates to zoning so I think under and then we're reading those bylaws and trying to interpret them so I think having an outside someone from the outside looking in maybe and especially with their experience in other communities um there might be a good opportunity to make improvements any other questions on that one that I mean that one is um it's I think probably one the more difficult tasks so maybe doing a gap analysis but I do think it is needed uh the next one's I guess not much easier um and I'll talk about the the sewer capacity everyone's aware of the sewer capacity constraints we have uh we you know we've talked a lot about short-term and and Midterm goal opportunities and so that's why we're looking at the II removal opportunities the long-term goal that we have is how do we get how do we achieve addition how do we bring on additional capacity uh we have you know we have reports that look can we add us some type of um uh system in town and we're really we're restricted where we can't have that capacity is there a potential to buy capacity from low right now the answer is you that's not an opportunity at the moment so really the only other opportunity potentially out there is could we connect to the mwa uh there's a location in in Burlington and in Bedford and the I mean there is it's only it's not too far a couple Towns over but that it potentially is feasible and so I think it's worth going through the effort to see what that what what hurdles would it take or what the cost would be so doing a whole feasibility study to see um how realistic that is because that really is one of the at least the last options I can think of at the moment so that would be a proposal to look at this uh opport look at this and we could potentially have that obtained within two months we would reach out to some consultants and and receive uh proposals and that's estimated at $40,000 so those three projects we put together based on critical needs that we're seeing currently and also the ability to quickly procure them uh and so that amounts to $150,000 right now we have $827,000 so we would be taking 150,000 from that $820,000 $827,000 so that would be the request uh tonight if possible okay I'm sorry go ahead on the M MW the study is to just address the first order question of if we were to connect how much would that cost well I think it's well because there's a secondary question like how much capacity are we looking for depending on what the town really wants so I I think that the connection is going to be if you put a 2-in pipe if you put a 4in pipe I or whatever that size I think it's the connection I don't think the capacity is really the question that's that is a secondary question if we can find a corridor between those two locations uh whether it be a 2in or a 10in pipe I don't think that's going to really change and I think that's where you'll find a lot of capacity and and if you're going to install a 2-in pipe I mean probably at least a 4 in you'll we there'll be I think a I don't think capacity is that yeah that first question I think the capacity would be the second question um by putting a pipeline I guess I agree I'm just making Point like we could connect for unlimited sewer capacity or we could say hey we want to we want to have more Reserve over what we have today and you know it kind of goes in the whole strategic view of how much development does a town want but right now the answer is everybody's putting in their own plants or putting in sewer or septic and the septic I think is something that that's why we put the sewer in the first place was to not have septic near the right and now the that's why the Gap analysis is is really needed because because of the um the septic I guess question coming up as far as how to protect the drink the only other question I had Christina Christine was um after you take the 150 off with what you have the 670 or whatever it is that's left are you comfortable I know we have another list of proposed projects but for the ones that are um funded but less mature or unprocurable that that's still a comfortable Reserve until we get some more clarity around those yes okay y thank you I guess just to elaborate a little more the mwa because I it's it's the what's permitting so the questions we would ask is have them put outline what permitting would be required what are the requirements because also um there currently are some requirements to be an M de sewer Community you have to be a water Community or not sorry be a water Community but there's certain restrictions on water so there's we have to look at that requirement uh and and also like what typee of corridor is available what type of easement so it it's really going through that whole analysis to see what it would entail with an with with an estimated cost as well so sorry um so we would have through this feasibility study we would have the answers as to whether we are truly an MW District meaning if we could I guess you know questions you know like is is all of our who are now part of the MW ra District you know do because we take on sewer do we now become an MW water district some of what you just mentioned but through this feasibility study we'll have the answers to those kinds of questions we'll have yes so I I think what we're targeting is to add capacity not necessarily to become an entirely mwa town like townwide because you would have to internally repipe a lot of our infrastructure so looking at is some of the commercial areas in 129 that's the closest to Bedford and Burlington so if you take some of that capacity and you expand that capacity I think that's that's what we were looking at if you look at the whole if you take the whole town and put that to M that's I guess another question we were thinking that the focus would be to add capacity and just looking at a portion of the town and that would be the areas closest to Burlington okay that that would be what I would be interested in um because I would not want to see chelon become an m total District but if there's you know if we can section off a part of the town to um fulfill requirements for sewer I'd be all in favor but M MW brings a lot of different things that I don't think this town's ready for so anyway well this is this is really considered a long-term solution is it not I mean it's not yes this is long-term uh and and I guess also we have to see if it is it feasible that's the thing is we don't know if it's not so we might go through this process and say this is isn't an option uh 2012 or about we did the report could we have a you know an in in town treatment plant to be able to do our own and that report has three locations potentially proposed but really when you look at those locations it's not really viable so that kind of you know that put that idea behind us so this is this is what I see as the next opportunity but if someone said is this feasible I I hope it is but I don't know I don't know we have to go through that process to understand it so this would be the next steps to see if it's feasible okay long term too yes true okay any other has there been any um conversation with some of our neighbors our neighboring towns about whether they're interested I mean I know there's other towns around us in the region that are having similar capacity issues and so I think we're unique in that so there's other towns that have similar capacity but they're able to find that Capac capacity elsewhere or connect to the m we're unique in that we have had the ability to add capacity just going to a neighbor I I think some of them might also be kind of thinking about maybe going this way they'd probably be interested to see what our feasibility study comes up with yeah I know like tingor I think was actually looking to add capacity by going up to NASA um I know we reach out to b r they weren't interested in giving us some selling us some capacity in LEL um we said we're very interested but they right now don't have that ability to give us that capacity so that would be really the local op options um and so beyond that we have to look at M yeah it just occurs to me as far as you know running a pipeline from from Bedford or wherever it's um there might be other communities in this area that would be interested in oh en join in a project like that also because it would benefit them also right potentially yeah I guess that's something that we we haven't explored that yet but that's something to think about okay okay does anybody have any other questions and anybody have any thoughts about these three uh items to add them to the opo project list Paul is it possible that low could be cut back a little bit because of the problems they're having that you know in other words if they have a you know capacity now no they they they the whole situation is is that they their facility can operate above their permited capacity so so we not seeing any changes coming out of L and they're in the midst of a consent order with the EPA to basically remove the infiltration from their combined uh storm water sewer system uh which we're going to be assess some of those costs because that's pipeline work so no we're not see seeing anything the problem with the L facilities is there's no room for expansion at the island where the treatment plant is so that's why we're looking at other ones long-term Solutions and as as um Christine noted Ting are looking towards NASA Drake is looking towards methan when we've reached out to our neighboring community these Buras said they're not interested in uh and because they own their own system um and so this is really what is sort of our only option to find a long term is is there the ability to connect down the roof three Corridor to Bedford and Burlington and that's what we need to find out is Is it feasible what's the downstream capacity of the piping there and their ability because they only recently took on Burlington has an mwa community and we we just need to find out what the what the logistics are there if it's feasible and if it is feasible what kind of Permitting is involved as she said what kind of time is involved and what kind of cost is involved so at least give us a scope of a long-term option because as was noted the Intown ones aren't feasible the EPA will not allow a community to to site a wastewater treatment plant on the river uh and discharge into the river so what you see happening in L and what you see happening Upstream in the marac is no longer allowed so we could not build like at southw and then discharge the other problem with southwell practically is is right across from southwell is the low water intake um so there's another reason why that could not happen in today's world so because of those constraints we know we've identified with DPW that the only potential one that we don't have enough information on right now is is there an ability to connect down to the MW sewer capacity at the same time that the Speaker of the House Representatives is talking about expanding the mwa water districts uh including chelwood and that's been we we we've been the town of chelon water districts were approached over a year ago about their interest in in joining mwa as a water supply for the quab and Reservoir and the reason for that is the quaven reservoir today is has no posos at at environmental concern levels and so they're looking and and they and they have capacity so the question is is will the MDR expand its water system to the adjacent mwa communities which is an equity issue out in the central part of the state but also to the South of Boston towards Brockton and then also up along the Route three Corridor so that's going on for the water side and the house side and what we're looking to do is is get an answer on the sewer uh determination for chelster because that's not going on at a macro level and that's what we want to see is is it is it technically possible and if so what are we talking in terms of permiting cost and time to at least give Chelson the ability to to plan long term if that's something we want to do thank you okay so any thoughts about um adding these three um topics to our Opa list at this point um the as Christine has said the you know we could get these done fairly quickly before the cost would go up I'm sure um and we do have it looks like we do have the flexibility to apply those funds to it so I guess I would favor it I don't know how everybody else feels I would fa I think it's a sound recommendation thank thank you and the the uh studies can be all completed we we usually on time in a timely manner yeah I would think that these studies would take place over the next few months I know that there are there's uh in terms of some of the Consultants we're working with they're at they have a back you know back order but that's something that we're looking to get done I would say the next few months hopefully worst case I would say by the end of the end of the summer potentially so we could have a motion for that I'll make a motion to oh goodness I may help with this one I'll make a motion to um approve the arpa funding for the three projects presented by our DPW director Christine Clancy this evening first being to install an oil water separator at the fire mechanics garage at 54 Richardson Road for7 $5,000 uh second being $35,000 to perform a gap analysis for protection of the town's ground water and drinking water and third $40,000 towards a feasibility assessment of providing additional sewer capacity through the MW second okay we have a motion in a second all in favor okay thanks Christina you have another report I do have an update tonight A Brief update uh we have provided arpa or sewer sorry sewer updates uh and I'd like to provide an update we do monitor our flows excuse daily but really looking at the monthly the flow and so before you is a graph that we do update monthly U it shows the flow monthly flow from chelsford and then the red is the monthly or the maroon monthly flow from chelsford and Tings Boro combined the green line that is shown is the monthly sewer capacity that we are allocated uh and it works out to be it is the it is a rolling average but it's 87 million gallons uh um a month so when you look at the where we've exceeded 11 of the 13 past months past months have ex exceeded Su capacity there uh if you look if we go back a year over a year ago where we had a drought our flows were down what we're seeing in and then here in blue as you can see that we Al so we monitor the monthly amounts of rainfall um and if you go back to like December 23 where we had I think it was 8 in of rain that impacts groundwater the snow melt uh and our flows the month after really skyrocketed and then even in March so this past March our flows were 97.37% there's a clear indication um of that II is in the system this is what we've been tracking in the past couple months so that is our shortterm and Midterm opportunities is how do we remove that from the system and I have I presented I believe it was last month where we have some initiatives right now we have a sump pump removal program or identification program so trying that's one part of it we also identified 200 manholes around town that we're lining to remove some infiltration from the system we're using that capacity to be able to sell as part part of a sewer capacity uh policy that's where commercial businesses can buy into that policy um a couple so I just want to give you that update but also some other updates with the sewer division so we are tracking you know whenever we find a manhole we we also periodically go around town and just look at you know and do sewer or manhole inspections and sometimes we do find infiltration outside of any of the previous inspections we did uh so just in the actually just in the past month we found four manholes but those manholes the infiltration was 3 to 8 gallons a minute and if you do the math uh that's actually 27,000 gallons a day of inflow that is just going you know going to be treated that we could remove remove from the system we can only really take credit for 50% that's part of dp's requirement but basically by so just this P last Monday we uh we used injection grouting with Inland Waters to repair those manholes and we put 14,000 gallons back into our basically our bank which is great so this is just I mean it's a small amount but that that small amount allows the business to you know proceed with being able to purchase capacity so we're continuing those efforts um we know that with groundwater high that we we have you know this there's a clear correlation so we'll continue to look for uh areas where we can reduce infiltration inflow from the system and we have the um smoke testing pilot that will be coming out this this summer and then lastly so I did mention the arpa up one of the Opera projects was to install upgrading the flow meters at the um at five of our stations eventually we want to do it to all 41 stations and two of our uh metering stations but we are just finishing that project right now everything's been installed right now is the training to to Really um on board to B basically be able to monitor right now um you know we have an alarm system where we're notified but this is something so remotely I I can go into my phone and monitor the flows uh really real time and it's great to be able to correlate that during rain events too so this should hopefully provide some additional monitoring so we can monitor and see when we um understand the system a bit more so those are Drum Hill technology Katrina southwell and Edgewood so that's just wrapping up and I just wanted to provide that update okay any other questions for Christine before we let her go may ask a question uh no you can't not as part of the meeting anyway thank you so much thank you thank you okay next on our agenda uh we're going to go back to the um the 255 Princeton Street development agreement modifications um we talked started talking about this at our last meeting I know there has been some activity on it um chrisy you going to present that okay sure I can give you a quick just recap of where we were uh Paul if you could go to slide 20 of the presentation so essentially the uh the three significant concerns uh that the state has identified um with this development agreement is related to the capacity affordability and the age restrictions um the development agreement um capacity uh puts us 77 units below compliance the affordability um is uh exceeding the the current level of 10% at 15 and then the age restriction um is in direct conflict with the uh the uh regulations so the we are recommending uh based on our analysis of all of the options that the developer agreement is amended uh to remove those restrictions um from the uh developer agreement or development agreement and the um based on what we went over last meeting um and the timeline of when we're recommending doing this uh we feel that it is um extremely low risk for the town um I know that there were some concerns about the commitment from the developers uh that were raised at the last meeting so I know Evan and Paul Hy met with the developers and uh Paul you can probably give an update as to to that meeting as well certainly so we did in fact have a meeting um both with representatives from traml Crow and from the chum Housing Authority's Choice um and we were able to get them to agree to a letter agreement that essentially states that they are willing to make whatever changes are ultimately deemed necessary by eohc in order for the the town's um NBTA Community zoning to be compliant with the statute um the choice had one Proviso which is that they acknowledged that whatever changes that are made must be Revenue neutral as it relates to Choice um which I think is relating to the 3 $60,000 payment in lie for the affordable housing um that would then be going to the choice development um a as um Chris had noted there there are three main components to the concerns raised by eohc but they also did raise um concerns regarding the mitigation payments um so those include $250,000 for the the tip plans $100 per parking space $30,000 for historical display the $360,000 payment in lie and then $180,000 for school impacts they didn't expressly state that these wouldn't be allowed what they said is that they needed to review them in a little greater detail so that they can determine whether or not these are the kinds of um impact mitigation measures that can be imposed during an as of right permitting process um for the most part I I think they absolutely can um and in particular the $360,000 payment in L is actually um an alternative to paying um I'm sorry to creating the affordable housing units that are required under our local bylaw so I I don't see that as being a problem the $180,000 for school impacts maybe um the state will say you can't impose that as part of this type type of uh process but we don't really have that feedback yet did we get any sense for how long it would take hlc to get back to us on I asked them to get back to us prior to tonight's meeting and they said that it was very unlikely they would okay how about before the problem is that it's not just chumford that they're dealing with when it comes to these types of development agreements these are development Agreements are very popular um throughout the state when you're talking about a development that's being done pursuant to a zoning change so there are a number of different municipalities and they want to make sure that they've got a handle on all of the potential outcomes before they make any you know binding determinations so it may be several months still before we get anything definitive um so what we did is we got the letter agreement from the parties to the development agreements that indicate that they will work with us to make whatever changes are deemed necessary okay so chrisy do you have anything else that you wanted to add at this point no that's it okay so may I ask a question sure so so Paul it may be several months I get that if town meeting passes this warrant article can can we force the issue with the state by modifying the development agreement only with respect to these three parameters and getting it submitted to get to get them to approve it the the the financial ones really concern me and I I don't know like I get it I I just don't like sitting around waiting like is there a way is there a way to if town meeting passes this and we've said we would so you know in principle I think last meeting the board members said we support those three big ones and the financial was up in question at that time too and it's still up in question so if we were to I know it would be it might we might run the risk of exercising the development agreement more than once but if we were to do it with eyes wide open with the partners in that agreement it's just to it's absolutely an option um as part of this process we are going to have to submit the approved zoning change you know that comes out of town meeting we're going to have to submit whatever revisions to the development agreement that we at least think are going to be necessary we can submit that to eohc and say here you go we have a completed package can you let us know if this is sufficient and if they come back and say no you know we need these other Provisions from the development agreement removed then we go back to the parties and and make those changes we just have to make sure that we leave a sufficient amount of time for that to to happen before the deadline well and I guess we need to understand where we stand if they come back so you said the 360k in Li of is this is a standard permit we could probably rationalize that it's it's already in our by but what about what about the other items like too huh they've all been paid to the town oh they've already paid yes okay so so even if we take them out it's not the money is not going away well we don't give it back no no okay as long as we don't have to give it back we're not aware of the state going going into projects that are already under construction and then basically un un unraveling them and so yeah the money's already been paid they paid all those in order they get their building permits yes okay and again these are pretty standard mitigation fees for these types of projects so I I I don't think that ultimately eoh hlc is going to have a problem with them but I just wanted to make sure I point to them out thank you okay all right since um the topic of this the that that we're talking about is that development agreement and potential modifications to it the abutters were notified that we were going to be having this meeting today and we offered the opportunity to um to speak to us so if there's anybody that would would like to at this point um I'd ask you to uh not be repetitive um you know there's a few issues that this is going to impact and so uh uh we'll take his we'll take your comments um as you can see it's it's still not finalized at this point there still may be additional things that we need to consider but uh we'll take you your input at this time anybody want to speak oh um Miss Spence beat you to it good evening Chan Spence four door knock Circle North chord sorry my voice is a little horse today I have a couple of questions just for clarification Chris can you tell me exactly what the parent zoning is for windir we've had a number of different I just have to look at the uh sh I believe the current zoning Chris I think it allows the 15 years sing Single family I believe it already does was what the last thing we would told the the existing zoning allows the 15 units per acre that would would have been required under the NBTA Zoning for windir oh for windir she's asking about windamir W windamir yeah I believe that Evan you can probably clarify this but I think that is single family I know was here good evening windir is Zone single family RB the project that's actually there windir was approved as a 40b it's single family it's Zone single family but with the windir project is approved as a 40b development and what's the density of that 40b that was approved um I think it's 8 units an acre how many units a total in windir oh 56 56 and it's on 10 acres right is it on 10 acres I'm not sure y thank you um my question is is there a change in our zoning in this new proposal from single family so no there is no change in the underlying zoning it's an overlay proposal the overlay proposal is what I'm talking about does that change us from single to it it allows whatever is there to stay as is and then allows in the future if a developer wants to come in on the overlay they're allowed to do that as well they have an option okay option are we getting from the development agreement to the Warren article are you cover them both at the same time I mean I think related I'm okay with okay all right um the other issue that I have with this is you want to reopen the development agreement and I understand the ins and outs and all of that and what the agreement is currently you need 77 more units if the state has said that to you and the state has also got the age restriction issues that they're dealing with and you don't have a current um okay from the state for all of this why would you bring it to town meeting now it just seems precipitous why wouldn't you wait to get the okay you're saying all right let's put it before town meeting if you get approval then you can turn all this back into the state again and the state can turn around and say no you know we told you what we need well you're assuming that they're going to accept not you know not having the 77 additional units and it's very hard for us to accept it's a leap of faith right I understand it is for the entire town um and and we do understand that there are some contingencies and it's almost like the chicken and egg thing you know do we do do this for us or do we wait till we get more guidance from the state or when are we going to get guidance and and I think it is in some ways it is a leap of faith um P sure I think also um I don't know if everybody who's here from the public like heard the whole briefing last time so I don't know would it be appropriate to have someone from the planning board clarify the risk assessment that they made that there is no room to even build 77 or Chris if if you'd like to review that um so so Chris will kind of touch a little bit on that on on what we know and what we what we know we know I mean there's a lot we don't know right that that's the issue and I think that's where our prepation comes in is you got you're really not certain of what the outcome of this whole thing is supposed to be and yet you're asking us to put our trust in that we might feel a little better if we had something in writing that said you know all right this is what uh we is going to happen but no one can say that and I understand that because you don't have final judgment from the state but I think it this is very anticipatory to put it before town meeting at this point in time and it's uh it just it doesn't seem necessary I know that the planning boards worked hard on this I understand that and I know they don't want to go back to square one not you however this is kind of setting forth something that isn't a finished product let's say okay I mean okay so so let's let's hear Chris give his presentation that he he gave a couple of weeks ago about the likelihood of of these things happening of what's going to happen and um you know for for the for the benefit of anybody here who who hasn't heard that and yes we understand what it is you're saying we really do we understand that that we're we're taking a leap of faith too and we have to work with the state and we have and but we have other things other obligations that quite frankly um could hurt us more than help us in the long run so it it just feels like we're being used as not as a scapegoat per se but all right that's Expendable that that part of town you know we'll we'll put that forth as our proposal well I I I I don't think we ever I know you you you wouldn't agree with that however I'm just telling you okay okay I'm the person who lives in the house okay I understand yeah okay and uh it no it is it it's very concerning okay I know I know it is concerning to a lot of people I agree sure okay and that would be you know our issue okay thank you so much thank you thank you Paul if you could go to the planning board strategy slide we can start there um number six so essentially our strategy um was to minimize any impacts to town uh to any neighborhood to any Town any part of town um we wanted to minimize the likelihood of short-term development so we wanted to select an area that is not open for development uh that is not um underutilized and is actually um currently built up we wanted to also um select areas that are currently developed and have extremely low probability of being redeveloped and this is why we selected the uh condo associations as a as one of the areas um we did look at other areas but in most cases the areas that we did look at had a high probability of being developed areas that um for example River Neck Road we knew that as soon as we uh pass this in town meeting the developer is likely to uh develop it almost immediately and we know that that is going to be um problematic and and have a lot of negative consequences for town um if you scroll to the districts reviewed these shows some of the other areas um and while there are some areas that might benefit from this type of of zoning um because it is controlled by the state we wanted to have a little bit more control for the areas that might take advantage of this uh so vinyl square is one example um the one Route 110 retail area on the other slide these are areas that if we did um put this overlay in place they might be developed fairly uh soon or in the medium term but we wanted a little bit more control over these areas uh from a local perspective so that's why we did not select these um if you go to the Chris Chris I was I was mainly um wanting you to go through why you think the amending of the development agreement is a low risk May if you could kind of focus on that that's what we're mainly here to talk about so this is the first um this is the first indication that it's extremely low risk uh because as the site is laid out right now and as the condo units are also uh in place there is absolutely no space for a developer to put the 77 units and parking uh they would have to completely relayout the uh the property which is unrealistic at this point in development it's fully financed fully permitted under active construction uh so they're not likely to change course in this in this case uh if you scroll to the next Slide the additional change es um would also require them to if we do this development agreement change after July 1st which is what the planning board is recommending uh the energy stretch code would apply to any new permits pulled so if they did change the design it would require new permits to be pulled for new development and that would require them to comply with the new stretch code which would be extremely expensive and cost prohibitive they would also have to refile under the the meepa um laws so they would have to uh go through that whole process they would have to refile with the planning board and Conservation Commission and go through those site reviews they would have to add capacity to their um water uh wastewater treatment system uh and get additional reviews and approvals from D which is highly unlikely they would also have to add capacity to their uh North chumford Water District um capacity and so given all of these uh that's why we're proposing the timeline that we proposed to you last meeting where we go to town meeting with this proposal as early as possible and part of the reason for that is because the longer we wait to pass something at town meeting the more chance the T the state can come back to us and say we've reviewed all these other plans this is the trend we're seeing we need you to follow this guideline this new guideline they can keep adding new requirements for us at this stage and we have to comply with those before the deadline if we pass zoning at town meeting and it's approved by the um the this the state uh district attorney then we're able to buy us some time and if the the state requires changes we can go through the full process again of changing the zoning it gives us a little bit of extra time so we don't have to comply by that deadline if we submit the full proposal to the state and they see changes that might need to be made we have a chance to to speak with the state again to negotiate the deadline uh talk to them about what changes we might need what what additional time we may need to bring it to town meeting again the other reason why we're recommending to go to town meeting sooner rather than later is because if we do get um voted down at town meeting that gives us an additional time to go back to the drawing board and redo uh whatever aspect of the proposal we need to in order to get it past the town meeting and if we wait till the the fall town meeting we have only a few weeks to actually make that happen and it's completely unrealistic that we would be able to do that in that short of time frame uh so that's why we're proposing to do that town meeting step now with the caveats that yes we have these other uh development agreement uh concerns that we're working through uh but in concept this is what this is really the best option for the town at this point okay thank you and Madam chair can I just point out something about the uncertainty of going back to eohc sure I I think that there would be uncertainty if the plan was to go back and try to have a denser District on the 110 portion and keep the the unit limitation on the west campus portion but if you're just eliminating the total unit restriction from the development agreement on the west campus that solves all of the issue with regards to the concerns raised by eohc that still leaves the other issues with regards to the mitigation payments unresolved but there wouldn't be any potential that eohc is going to come back and say you've modified your development agreement it's eliminated this cap but we still don't like it that's that's not really at all realistic okay thank you so you would you would advise us to move as quickly as we could on this quite frankly it sounds like yes okay all right so is there anybody else that would like to address the board about this now keep in mind we we are mainly focusing on a development agreement although we know it does as is it is impacting everything else we talk about having to do with article 26 on the town meeting Ed Duffin 270 Princeton Street unfortunately I'm right across the street from the 300 trees unfortunately OB day coming up that we lost we don't have anymore so if we get this turned down at T meeting what happens to everything that's happened West Campus is still going to survive they're still going to build correct why are we even involved with the MBTA the towns we don't we don't have a choice oh we do we do have a choice you know we have a choice because other towns are doing it and all the towns should get together and fight the state because first of all I don't trust TR mcro at all and second of all I don't trust a bunch of politicians on Beacon Hill with the bunch of crons making the zoning lines that should be up to the town of chensford as to where the zoning is not the people down in Beacon Hill so why if it that it's going to be built I think the town is making a stupid decision by not joining with other towns what are we going to lose we're going to lose money is that is that the penalty we lose we lose money correct um I I don't know what else we're going to lose I mean you know you can make whatever statement you want I go to but what other towns are doing the same thing and they say well you're not going to get $110,000 in in federal a or in Aid state aid exactly you know what that is it's we don't know how much it is and and quite frankly I you can you can make your rhetorical points but please make your rhetorical points they are forcing you to do something and if you don't they're going to take your tax money away that is wrong no I don't care how much you look if if you're paying taxes and you say I don't want to comply I don't want to be a member of this because we're not even an NBTA Town we're a nearby town we don't we don't have NBTA even in this town but somehow we have to comply I don't get it why do we have to comply okay we don't I know you want you want me to leave because this is what happened last time you told me to get out I did not just saying I'm at the planning board they shut me down at the planning board and I'm just saying this whole thing is with the MBTA is ridiculous zoning should be left up to the towns and the people in the towns and that should be it thank you okay thank you is there anyone else to speak no no good evening Rick Mahoney 8 door AR Circle um just a couple of questions I'm concerned sitting here listening to this that we know the state is probably going to change things as it goes along so I'm not sure the state knows what they're doing overall on this thing just as a matter of course you know 15 units per acre if you're looking at West Campus alone that's 34 Acres that's 510 units they want us to increase it to another 77 make it 471 this still short about 40 units so I'm not sure the state has their proverbial together at this point in time and it feels like this is being kind of ram roded down the uh towns people it's more like you know not enough time to do it right there's not enough there's not enough there's not time to do it right there's enough time to do it over and there's no I don't see what the harm is waiting to find out what eoh hlc comes back to us and says on the um proposal I'm also not sure what's waren waiting to see what's going to happen with the town of Milton that's right that could blow the whole thing up in ways we have no idea what's going on I mean whether we join wind Milton or not that's a that's a different question you guys are way way better uh to decide that kind of situation but it's going to change and it's going to change again and we're going to have to go back to town meeting one more time minimum at this rate with this proposal I'm not sure why it needs to be passed this quickly okay thank you anyone [Applause] else evening uh I'm Fred Santino I live at uh 27 windir I've been a project engineer my whole life I also teach at Boston University so I know what I'm talking about I've seen Losa projects and I I'm not going to give you the horror stories but I've seen them right away when I I read the the letter I received oh we had we had plan for so many units we don't have enough parking the spec is wrong get rid of it it's it's a l a project right away I've seen projects totally continue oh we got to keep going we got to keep going no that's the time to terminate it when when you haven't spent a dime yet right and and change it or whatever the other thing is I don't hear anybody talking about what uh wet lands or the effect on flooded basements and things I've seen that happen in Arlington there was a lot of construction on Route two all of a sudden all the Arlington basement were flooded when they built the the MBTA never never came up at all in the discussions of it so I I I think this could be a loser of a project if they don't change it right away and I don't see why you need windamir and and austo way to do it I mean just just put some housing at that site and that's fine and they shouldn't take down all those trees I I agree with him here we are talking about arid day they knock down all those damn trees all the animals that live there all the deer the deer running around and everything you know what are we doing to the environment that's what's that's what's climate change knocking down the forest and everything so anyway thank you for let me speak and um I'm sorry to get a little bit hot into the call I I think it's a loser of a project I really do and um you know I hope to stay in my my condo okay thank you is there anyone else that would like to speak do we have anybody on Zoom Paul no there's nobody on Zoom okay so our next step is to vote on for this board to take a recommendation on article 26 of the um Tom me about whether to go forward with these with the proposed districts that the planning board has put forward for the NBTA zoning um articles and Chris uh I'm assuming is still going to act as the planning board representative does anybody have any questions for for Chris specific going to hear like they're going to do it to our meeting yeah we we can do that because we do have the proponent for 27 as soon as we finish the any presentations or questions on this one we can go to 2 and then do them at the same time sure thank you so in addition to um the article I think what the planning board is looking for at this point from the select board is also a vote on whether to amend the um the developer agreement as well one of the things that we are looking for is the um is the the support from the select board to amend that developer agreement and a future date at a future date yes so that's what we'd be looking for as well and that's also what the finance committee has been waiting for from their vote what you going to say Virginia I just going to say we don't know what we're voting on I think I think we we said last time and we can PLL it again that we were supportive if town meeting decides to pass this that we were supportive of the three changes that were proposed to go forward with that um I think if we're not we'd vote no on the article I I would agree with that um so yeah I guess I I I question chis need I also I'm sorry Pat I just I really appreciate um the formal letter that attorney Hy was able to get today and I think that should go in the town meeting packet because it it carries a lot more weight than just verbal conversations that have gone on before I think I would appreciate another uh poll again just after the the public concerns have been heard it would be reassuring to also have a second poll from the select board um because there are also other reasons why someone may vote no on the article not just the development agreement so it would help I would suggest that in we should hear both articles before we even take that vote Just In fairness to have the whole picture and perspective okay so is there anything else you'd like to tell us about article 26 before we nothing that I haven't uh discussed at the at the last meeting as well okay all right then at this point I'll ask um uh Doren dasler to come up and talk about article 27 and we have the new um presentation that she provided this afternoon have time to read this but this is for you for your future a letter from the MMA that was sent to Governor Baker asking him to voo this bill when he first put it thank you thank you okay you got the wrong slide you get the old one you have the new one let me see if I can find it might be on the amended agenda po I can go with it James we this was a you sent that this afternoon I know I read is an amended agenda put it in there no I didn't I'm going to vote for this there it is that's the planning board that's the planning board well dor if you want to begin um speaking uh all we all have your your most recent um presentation and Paul can I'm sure he'll come up with it in a minute or two y okay um so my presentation is going to be to ask the um Town commit uh town meeting reps to vote no on this mandate or this statue I call it um the reason why I'm asking him to vote no is one there two lawsuits currently in the courts and I don't think that we should be voting on something that is in the courts right now um it's uh we usually don't change zoning bylaws in the middle of a Zone in the middle of a lawsuit for one uh we never have been allowed to do a warrant article to be discussed during an active lawsuit which is there is an active lawsuit going on right now there are two active lawsuits and they should be there that's the old one I can go with it I don't think it's there he didn't put it on the EV well I I had sent it to you all right I guess you can start it from the beginning there I'll just have to use that one I can't guess you can't find the amended one unless you have any um yeah so anyways the reason why I'm saying no to this as also is because it's an unconstitutional act the massachus Constitution gives us the right of self-government through the home rule article 89 Article 2 Section 1 of the home rule is the right of local self-government okay it is the intention of this article to reaffirm that the customary and traditional Liberties of the people with respect to the conduct of local government and to Grant and confirm to the people of every city and town the right of self-government in local matters subject to provisions of this article and to such standards of and requirements as the general court court not attorney general not Governor not mandate not guidelines but court May establish so only a court can take these away from us except we can vote them away like if we go to to town meeting and town meeting reps say okay yes on this article 27 we're going to give the MBTA mandate we're going to say yes to it we have just given away our constitutional right of self-government when we vote away our constitutional right it would be much harder to get those rights back it's hard to get a constitutional right it's easy to give them away okay so when we say yes we are giving that constitutional right of self-government away um like I said we shouldn't even be talking about it because it's in the court system right now it's still being it right now there are two lawsuits currently in the court deciding on the constitutionality of this mandate this statute um the original bill yeah there is two the original bill I don't know if it's up there uh yeah there the two lawsuits um okay the challenging the constitutionality of the bill uh CMHA versus Holden filed in the wores Supreme Court is now under appeal in the the Mass Appeal at court on December the Court's decision ruled against the CM and stated that Holden agreeably correct that the subsection B requires forfeiture of State funding for State housing projects if they do not comply with subsection a an opt out clause that's an opt out clause so in other words if you say we're not going to comply you have an opt out you don't get the state um grants those grants are those three different I don't know if they're up there there's three different Grant uh yeah I don't know if they're up there oh back go back back one more one more back okay here it is the bill cont no that's not it either dang oh there it is communities in this group that fail to create a zoning district with as of right multif family development will be ineligible for funds from the mass Works program the housing Choice initiative or the state local capital projects fund that is what's written in the bill that is the bill that was um voted on by the legislator that is the bill the legislator passed that is the only Bill that the legislator passed that's what that's the only thing that the state can do to us if we do not comply is they can take away those grants that we're not guaranteed that we're going to get those grants in the first place we may or we may not get the grant um but either way that's the only thing they can do to us by law it by law because that's the only thing that's written in the law that they can do there's nothing written about the state get taking extra extra things away which is why Milton is in a lawsuit right now why they have countered suit against the state because there's nothing in there that bill that says that they can do what they're trying to do um that's why Holden BAS basically won their lawsuit and why the um the state's not going after Holden or any other Town they're just going after Milton because Milton is you know an NBA Community basically because they have that little T turnaround thing or whatever they have there and uh they're trying to make an example out of Holden but I mean Milton um so anyways not having the right thing there I'm getting confused um anyways the reason why it's a unconstitutional is because of the home rule Amendment Amendment 89 in the Massachusetts Constitution states that [Music] um I don't know if it's in there there it is it is the intention of this article to reaffirm that the customary and traditional Liberties of the people with respect to the conduct of their local government and to Grant and confirm to the people of every city and town the right of self-government in local matters subject to the provision that gives the local towns and cities and also it's if you had the other one it has our town uh Constitution as well in in the other slides that I sent you uh and in our town Constitution it also states that we have the right to um Zone our our own towns that the the state doesn't have the right to Zone it we do but like I said if we send this to the town committee and they vote Yes on it we lose our constitutional right of self-government we've we've just signed it away we've just given it away to the state and we we don't have it anymore and if we go and do this before these Court proceedings are done before we know what's going to happen in the Supreme Judicial Court which uh like I said there's two lawsuits in the Supreme Judicial Court right now and they are challenging the constitutionality of these mandates these are mandates these are guidelines these are not laws mandates are not laws statutes are not laws guidelines are not laws these are not laws these are statutes mandates and guidelines not laws only the court only a court can um justify what a law is or say what a law is and the court has not told us yet what the law is so we need need to wait to find out what the court has to say find out what the court says is Law and isn't law before we decide to sign on to anything because we we if we go sign on right now it doesn't matter what the court says if the court comes back and says this is unconstitutional we just signed on to something that's unconstitutional we just lost our rights and there's nothing we're going to be able to do about it we should wait that's does anybody have any questions for Dorene dorine in the in the handout that D dorine y in the paper that you provided you you make a statement about the hearing being scheduled in October could you expand on your knowledge of that um well it's written right in the in the uh was it in this one too it was in this too s miss that y thank you uh I think it's in there no well it it's that is when the hearing is going to be the hearing is coming up in October for the Milton uh case there'll be a period of deliberation and delay before there's a decision Paul Hy is that typically the process yes yeah thank you I mean this being a matter of significant uh concern for Public Policy I'm sure that they will put it on a fast track um but I've never heard of the SJC ruling From the Bench thank you welcome okay all right thank you thank you okay so at this point at this time we will um make our recommendations or discuss whether to make any recommendations on articles 26 and 27 um does anybody want to begin that discussion um okay then I will um you know I've listened to the arguments for and against this um I I think our Best Way Forward is to approve article 26 and then see where things go from there as far as the Attorney General as far as hlc um if if you don't mind I'm speaking [Music] um so I would I would um vote in favor of article 26 at this time I think uh the planning board has made tremendous efforts on this uh they've they've as has been mentioned they uh looked at many different um neighborhoods and other areas to lay out these potential zoning areas MBTA zoning areas I think what they've come up is with is uh is you know very good suggestions and um I think we need to move forward with it at this time time and so I would vote Yes on article 26 and no on article 27 anybody else have any [Music] comments I think I think fundamentally when you look at any other alternatives to what's currently proposed in article 26 the two areas of Littleton Road and the UMass West Campus provide um extremely low risk that somebody's going to come in and demolish what's there or start all over again and my concern about the other areas in town are if you look at the Rison or UPS or riverneck Road those are areas that are right for total Redevelopment where there aren't there's like there's if if UPS were to leave and sell someone could come in right away and put up thousands of units um and similarly with the Rison and the River Neck Road and some of the other areas they are much more ripe for complete Redevelopment than the two areas the planning board has chosen which I I mean I I can't see in the next three decades that somebody's going to come in and tear it down and start all over again but I don't I I think as a town if we decide to be compliant with the statute um it's a question of what's the lowest risk to the town for massive development quickly and that's kind of where my head is at right now okay George yes well I'm I'm in favor of this for these reasons right now because of some of the things that um George can you get to the microphone mentioned but um I think can you help them I have a lot of confidence I'm sorry thank you I have confidence in traml Crow I have TR I have conference in the planning board I believe if we approve it town meeting we can amend it after July 1st July 1st on July 1st the building codes are going to change which is going to probably increase the building cost up to as much as maybe 20% %c which I which again is going to be have to be passed on to the uh the end user which would be the the renters or people Leasing and uh so the cost would be much higher and uh so I I I'm in favor of it for that reason I I think they they got a head start on it they got 10 15 million they promised to use their own money I don't think they're going to be for and they promised to be here for a minimum of five years but I think they're they've changed that to staying here um which most of these developments are usually the developer comes in and then they flip them through a Reit I think the Trel Crow has pro has promised the town that they were going to stay here and manage the property and uh and they were very successful company and I I just think it's I'm boring yes okay Aon um you know I'm struggling a little bit with this because I I don't I feel like the the 40b part of it is not being addressed and you know I remember when this project was approved um a big part of the conversation at town meeting was the fact that it would bring our 40b numbers up to where we needed to be to that 10% threshold and it still does that right which is part of the reason why I think it was approved at town meeting in the first place um you know again that's another state program but um you know that was why it was approved in the first place I think it's still going to do that for us for that reason I think it's the right project um and you know I know as far as MBTA the planning board did their homework and I do think this was the best option out of all of them so for a lot of reasons I think it should should move forward um you know article 27 I understand the sen me behind it I I am kind of in agreement um so but I don't understand I I don't feel like these two articles actually should be one and the same I think that this project has become a conversation that everybody is linking with MBTA where in fact I kind of think it's maybe two separate conversations about whether we want this project and whether we want MBTA uh zoning so but I don't think that the two are exclusive actually I mean so I'm I'm still in favor of of the article um but I might also be in favor of a bigger conversation about whether we want to comply with some of this going forward okay that's it um I will be uh voting for article 26 and against 27 um for a lot of the reasons stated here but also um you know when I look at things like this um I come I come at it from various approaches and one of the approaches um is our exposure um the town has a lot of exposure when we consider something like this in as much as um as Virginia stated we have exposure to um immediate development um that we may not expect or may not realize that this could come out of this um we have exposure if we don't go for the MBTA zoning that um you know we're going to we're going to lose some funding um and who knows what other kinds of legal issues and challenges could come out of that so we've got exposure from a monetary point of view we've got exposure from a development point of view we have a lot of different areas of exposure here I think um I agree that the planning board has done um some great work and has been very diligent to figure a path forward for us and um you know right here right now being that it's low risk I would say that um you know we could potentially by making this move now come out of this unscathed whereas in the future if we see some kind of Damages you know we can change our mind and maybe get more aggressive but I think right here right now I think this is a safe bet I do agree that it's low risk and I um I think um uh as a protection mechanism M for the town I would uh vote in favor of this okay so can we have a motion for a recommendation I will make a motion to to recommend one at a time to recommend approval of article 27 we can we can well we can do them one at a time if you wanted oh sorry article 26 yeah yeah one at a time okay so 26 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 26 okay second yeah that's enough all right we have a a motion to recommend approve of article 26 all in favor anything else I think that's it I'll make a motion to recommend article 27 how recommend approval recomend recommend approval of article 27 I'm just in the affirmative I'm doing everything in the affirmative fine I'll second it I'm still that's okay I mean this is only us okay I'm still going to town meeting yes all all right so we have a motion to recommend approval of article 27 yes second okay all in favor you're in favor of 27 no 26 okay all right I was opposed I really hate doing this but you know that deep breath P sorry that's my fault I Old Die Hard okay so now we're going to go back to article two so um if if you folks are leaving please leave quietly so Paul I'll turn it back turn it over to you now to take us through these articles okay article what St why don't we give it a minute Paul what's that depends George um you know on different meetings but um folks please we have a meeting going on could you please take your conversation out into the hallway C breakfast or lunch or something okay article two is is um adjustments to the current fiscal Year's operating budget um they're listed on in in the you on the slides um again what happens is a budget is approved uh in April we start the fiscal year three months later on July 1st and then obviously things that happen that are unforeseen uh during the course of the year uh as you can see they cover with the Gambit from Municipal Personnel Services to basically you know retirements and departure of acrw time for employees again that's not budget in our operating budget uh we also have issues that arise during the course of the year that that involve um expenditure of monies um such as you know work that we've done with the fire station study committee for Consulting Services Appraisal Services um website Support Services uh and Public Safety um you know we've we've been hit with inflation in terms of additional costs to equip and purchase three new Cruisers um running at an assessment center uh we've had additional recruitment beyond what was foreseen by the um significant amount of Departures and retirements um and uh in fire department we had unforeseen repairs to uh the microwave system and fire apparatus and vehicle repairs um and so again that just sort of sums up the total of of what happens in the course of the year the source of funding is from the finance committee's Reserve fund and some of our snow and ice balance any questions on article two okay make a motion I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article two at town meeting second okay a motion and the second all in favor thank you okay article three is in the show where uh Tech uh fiscal year 25 assessment the amount of $4 4,377 um you we you've seen the presentation materials like um basically they're they're running the same type of cost constraints that that we are in terms of you know their labor contracts they you know operating costs of of operations in terms of their insurance costs because again they run an entire self-contained entity like the town or the water districts uh you know Insurance maintenance cost of the buildings and so forth and so so um at this point you know the the assessment is also driven by the respective enrollment in the communities and so again the request um is for $4 m3777 any questions on article three a motion I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article three second a motion and a second all in favor thank you then article four is the chancel schools operating budget and the request here is to raise an appropriate 73,8 180,000 for the public schools operation for the upcoming fiscal year um again school committee had its public hearing they presented to the finance committee their materials I provided to you um basically what's what's happening in the school district is is very similar I mean you see the tail not only in chsa and theob Tech but across the region they've got their labor cost to provide they they're still dealing with the influx of of additional um operational costs to deal with the health and operations of students I.E special education services special education tuitions Transportation costs uh as well as you know the synchronization of their operations in terms of you know putting in a math curriculum and so forth and so um the the school committee is uh has conformed to the the amount that I proposed back in January uh and it gets us through this upcoming year okay any questions on article four take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article four second okay have a motion in a second all in favor I thank you article six is the town's operating budget five I'm sorry Article Five Article Five is the town's operating budget for fiscal year 25 it's broken down by the traditional line items for the year um um it's $162 million operating budget um of which 125 million comes from the tax levy 21 a. half from state aid 12 A5 million from local receipts and and almost 4 million available funds and again the big component of this is the schools are 74 million as we just noted other departmental budgets of the Town aside from the school department are roughly half that at 38 million our benefits and insurance of $32 million uh which is up over almost over over 6.66 % uh and our debt service budget actually decreases down to 10.5 million or declines by 45% um again our big drivers as we've talked about going back to our budget hearings back in December health insurance retirement assessment employee compensation solid waste recycling uh we're now funding aort they support the cost for the Center for the Arts uh our non-excluded debt service Medicare tax and our property casual and workers comp insurance but again this is a level service Budget on the general government side and where we provide all the benefits for the town and the school side um you can see our our main costs are really driven by our labor agreements our non-union pay plan health insurance retirement um you know it's it's the cost of operations uh for the upcoming year at level Staffing essentially in level service any questions on Article Five okay a motion I'll make a motion to recommend approval of Article 5 Second have a motion and a second all in favor article six is the finance committee Reserve fund for the upcoming fiscal year we've left that level funded at $400,000 uh again is to provide emergency funding through the finance committee during an extraordinary unforeseen time and we've also as you can see we use it as a funding source at at Springtown meeting as we near the end of the fiscal year to to um allow town meeting to have the vote on those funds any questions on article six I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article six second there a motion in a second all in favor I thank you article seven is the up fiscal 25 Capital plan John Souza who's our audience at this point uh is chairs the capital plan committee he successfully led the committee through its review of the articles in November and December they were presented again at January uh when I released the budget and we gone through the finance committee hearing process it's $5.88 million of projects uh and you know again this is core infrastructure um we we we started out with almost double this amount of requests these with the core ones it's an increase of about a third of where we were for the prior fiscal year but you can see what's going on here these are you know core switch upgrades for it it's flooring at the senior center it's you know it's Air Handlers uh at the firearm range for for you know health concerns elevator Replacements at the senior center a new engine five replacement for the fire department at over a million dollars ongoing sidewalk and roadway improvements um and you know and then in the schools again we're dealing with roofs um a secure entryway at the McCarthy Middle School U so we again we funded the uh rank priorities of the school department uh elevator at McCarthy School school and then funding the uh future design and any immediate repairs that necessary at the McCarthy School roof okay any questions on article seven Paul when we um when we borrow for Capital like this what kind of what term are we going for when we borrow for this I know the answer but I want to since John's waiting here I'll give him yeah want to give because he's working on it and he's been hearing he's been heading up our efforts with our financial lenders yes so um good evening Madam chair members of the board Town manager toany uh to select board member baloney's question um typically we we usually Bond Five Years on your smaller equipment like your your smaller trucks uh fire larger like fire apparatus where that's a million dollars we would typically go we bond for 10 years on that some of the school projects depending on the how permanent they are we would be if they're building repairs typically 10 possibly as much as 15 years but more towards the 10 so we have a mixture um of borrowing lengths of time based on what's most prudent for the town yes exactly that's that's a good way to just it is a mixture and um okay so it's also defined by State Statute The Limited The Limited borrowing times in other words you couldn't borrow a pickup truck and pay for it over 20 years under state law they prescribe by Statute the the maximum borrow period we and as John noted we stay within those um the you know so for example the one extreme the maximum is 30 years if currently if we were to build a school for example there's a currently it's a 30-year maximum borrowing period they'll come in and say you know departmental equipment and so forth uh which are basically durable equipment that could be five years and then there are others that are 10 years and so forth so we stay within those parameters and as John saided we tend to be a little more conservative uh so you know so for example if we're looking at the South Row School ceiling tile replacement you know is that going to last US 20 years yes but we really won't borrow it for 20 years um but that's how we do it good thank you okay any other questions on article 7 okay I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 7 second a motion and a second all in favor I thank you article 8 is is the Parker School uh Middle School feasibility study um this is a request for $1.8 million uh to pay the cost of the feasibility study which will be conducted through the support and guidance and oversight of the mes the school building authority um they do specify our motion and our warrant article and that's all been reviewed by msba as well as Bond Council and Town Council um right now we're in the eligibility period one of the requirements is that we need to while we're in this El include funding for the feasibility study uh we will be reimbursed at a rate of 52.2 6% for this feasibility study and um that's regardless of whether or not the project ever gets constructed um we once that's approved by the msba which we believe will be next February the town will then would then have 913 days to complete the feasibility study um but they've also told us that vote because of how they space their projects they've told us under no circumstances will they allow the town to have voter approval before July of 2026 so realistically we're not going to do a vote in July of 20 26 probably going to do a vote in Fall of 26 or spring of 27 um and then Dr Lang and the school committee did a presentation so how this will go at town meeting is I'll do the introductory much like we've done on Capital and in the capital John will go through all the projects I'll go the introductory of this and then Dr Lang will go through about some of the key slides at the we given at the recent School uh process that talks about why the need for the project in terms of the enrollment study that they have uh the the the the fact that you the state is going to require the town to look at all feasible options including you know not only a grade you know 5 six school but a grade 5 through eight school but also a grade four through six school um and and there strict parameters and so forth um and so you know we'll also we'll be moving this forward but this is is a a uh critical component and again one of the reasons you know the school committee held the meeting last uh month uh uh on this and we're bringing this a town meeting is April is we really want to heighten the awareness of this effort uh this is a major effort that's going to next go on to the formation of a building committee after town meeting to as I said hopefully approval to proceed with feasibility study next February in the meantime there will be other steps that have to be performed such as we have to provide them with our maintenance inform we going to provide them with our enrollment projections and so forth so this this is sort of the departure uh and that's why we're bringing it now as opposed in the fall is we want to increase the awareness and have time for ample input you know through the remainder of this calendar year okay any questions on article 8 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 8 second have a motion in second all in favor thank you okay article 9 is the uh sewer Enterprise fund operating budget this is a self-contained Enterprise fund so it stands alone separate um you know the funding amount is $5.34 four million um and that's an increase of about 9% for the upcoming fiscal year and a lot of that is really driven by the increase assessment that we have up to the city of L uh which which was a double digit increase um for the operations and related cost of the wastewater treatment plant any questions on article 9 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 9 second a motion in second all in favor thank you article 10 is the Kensington Road sewer pump station uh this is a request for $655,000 to upgrade the Kensington Road uh Pump Station um this is Again part of the 10year sewer Capital Improvement plan the existing Pump Station was constructed 35 years ago um so basically it's time to you know to replace also this is going to upgrade it to today's current standards So you you're going to uh house them in a structure uh with improv access to the pipes and valves um and that's what you'll see afterwards as opposed to what you see now um so it's it's basically it's it's just basically again time to do the upgrade to the station um for and um the this is this is what's going to get us there so again we're we're we're not only doing Capital but but the sewer and storm water have their own Capital cost any questions for article on article 10 make a motion to recommend approval of article 10 second I have a motion in a second all in favor okay thank you article 11 is for the again the sewer Enterprise operations is it's the purchase of a flush truck for the sewer division at $350,000 um the existing flush truck is almost 20 years old um and we're going to actually not trade it in we're going to repurpose it over to the storm Water Division and the reason for that is you can't mix storm water and sewer and Equipment uh they don't s water doesn't have a flush truck um so this this will uh the flush truck when the sewer division you know maintains over 190 miles of sewer M as as Christine noted they're out there looking and responding uh and dealing with any kind of buildup or blockages that occur um and again the the equipment has all the apperances that you'd have with a truck um in terms of the remote manhole uh rotating uh hose reels uh and remote functions uh as well as a water tank um so that you can deal with this not only in the summer weather but also in climate control conditions storm water has one no sewer has one now we're going to repurpose the sewer one to stor water oh and buy a new sewer right I think that's what this is a new sewer one does the existing sewer one need to be decontaminated to use for the yeah no they do clean it up they sanitize it yeah do they that's what they do yeah interesting all right any other questions about this flush truck that's obviously generating a lot of interest lot of questions um I'll make a motion to recommend commend approval of Article 13 11 11 you're trying to jump ahead oh oh I'm sorry I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 11 yes second okay all in favor thank you article 12 is the stormw water Enterprise uh trust uh Enterprise fund this budget is $1.6 million it's it's an increase of less than 2% from the current year to maintain the 95 miles of drains uh in 4,500 catch Basin and culverts and so forth um you know during the course of the year so again it's just it's level service for storm water management any questions on article 12 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 12 second fa a motion in a second all in favor okay thank you Article 13 is a storm storm waterer camera truck for sounds a lot like article 11 not a FL truck this camera truck $340,000 well you know this is to go in and and into the storm water to um inspect the cits and the piping infrastructure um there are over 325 Cals and 100 miles of drainage pipe in the town and you know the the it's just essential for the operations that are out there um you know if we're trying to go contract this thing out would you're spending like $2,300 a day for this type of equipment any questions on Article 13 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of Article 13 second a motion to Second all in favor article 14 is the form ice rink Enterprise fund it's level funded at 65,000 in expenses we have a management company that's under a multi-year agreement and so the Enterprise fund level Remains the Same at 65,000 any questions on article 14 make a motion to recommend approval of article 14 second motion a second all in favor Article 15 is a CA cable access uh Enterprise fund it's $584,000 um and again this is not funded from our tax levy it it comes from funding from the uh search charge on the cable bills again level service budget for uh CHC T media operations any questions on Article 15 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of Article 15 second a motion in a second all in favor article 16 is a cable access uh expenditure article that comes again from their retained earnings because they're an Enterprise fund and you can see it's roughly $558,000 uh spread over two fiscal years for computer servers cam quarters telecommunications equipment um so again in that Pete basically again people don't realize tele media has been around for a while as well and periodically they do need to update their equipment any questions on article 16 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 16 second I have a motion in second all in favor article 17 is the golf course Enterprise fund again this is remains level funded at $30,000 uh for the operation of the year which again is managed by a third um third party operation um so basically what this does is this provides the town the ability to spend $330,000 that obviously comes from the rental income to do any maintenance of either the golf course building or the golf course itself terms of you know pumps irrigation pumps and other aspects out there any questions on article 17 I will make a motion to recommend approval of article 17 second have a motion in a second all in favor okay article 18 is the annual appropriation of departmental revolving funds under current provision of state law and may be change if this legislature of it does adopt a uh Municipal reform law which is languishing at the state house that would actually eliminate the need to just continue to vote the same amounts every year and you you would only have to go if you change them so as segue to this this is the same amount of those funds for the for the current year uh unless tweaked by the department department head and again there's no cost of the taxpayer of the town so when the when the senior citizen is running the The restant CARE program the money that is expended by that comes from the people who utilize the program uh and same thing for sealers and weights and measures when they go out and check the the scales and the scanners and the gas pumps the people who have those pay the fees that we pay Nim Cog actually on a contract to do that covers the full cost so again this is just the annual reauthorization requirement um for for these accounts any questions on article 18 make a motion to recommend approval of article 18 second a motion in the second all in favor now you can see why there's such a long consent agenda a lot of these are just you know procedural that we required to do every year Article 19 is Cemetary development Improvement Development Fund this is $60,000 the Cemetary commission is seeking from which money comes from the sale of Graves and lots to fund the improvements at the cemetery and again there there's three areas this year it's the Pine Ridge Cemetery expansion they're going to pave and hydro seed the expansion area um the at the West chood Cemetery they're going to do repairs of the drainage structures in repave roads in the new section and then they also have preventative tree work that arises during the course of the Year okay any questions on Article 19 make a motion to recommend approval of Article 19 second Motion in the second all in favor thank article 20 again another annual spring article once again for the 18th year is to fund $10,000 for the community action program to provide matching funds for Community Improvement projects um and again since that time there's been over 100 projects done basically totaling almost $150,000 so again what happens is is we appropriate it would if it doesn't get fully expended it goes back and then we put in 10 for the next year so we don't have a rolling balance um because we've seen the projects es and flows and there sometimes during Co it it it ebbed and then depending upon activity so so the 10,000 is still sufficient okay any questions on article 20 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 20 second Motion in the second all in favor article 21 is property valuation Services um we're seeking to transfer $80,000 from our overlay Surplus to fund property revaluation services for the town's fiscal year 26 5-year property valuation certification by this mess's Department of Revenue as the language indicates every five years we're required to be our total property has to be recertified by the Department of Revenue what that means is we have to go out and basically visit properties and basically over a 10-year period we have to hit all property so you do the math over over a fiveyear certification you basically have done half of those or roughly 10% per year we have to go out um this funding would allow us to go out in almost about 2,000 Parcels the cost is roughly $32 per parcel um to go out there and do this work um to basically be certified and why we're funding it now even though it's the 26th valuation is you have to have the time to do that work so what what that means is we do it this season we finish it off next spring which is the end of fiscal year 25 we have to submit this work to the state by next summer so that way when we in fiscal 26 when we go to set the tax rate in November we have to have everything approved and certified you know basically by Labor Day um so that's why it's even though it's says a 26 re reval we have to do the work in 25 so that's what we're seeking to do here okay any questions on article 21 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 21 second have a motion in a second all in favor thank you all article 22 is the community preservation fund this is the annual article where we fund The Debt Service um for the previously approved Community preservation projects set aside $50,000 uh for uh the administrative expenses of the community preservation committee for issues that arise during the course of the fiscal year and set aside the required reserves per state law the 10% for each area um we we anticipate for the upcoming fiscal year that the town will raise 1.5 million in community Pres conservation fund uh revenue from the 1 and a half% SE charge as as you may have read or if you're aware the state SE charge has falling and the reason for that is twofold one is as more communities join Community preservation then they spread out the base but the other thing is the state revenue comes from the Deeds excise tax and when you're in a period of low home sales and low financing there isn't as much activity going through the registry of deeds that collect the search charge on so our best estimate at this point in time is roughly quar of a million dollars would be the state search charge um which is rather low um compared to historically um so we should have roughly 1.75 million uh for the upcoming year where we have to set aside again 10% for each of the the uh s charges and then we have this is our existing debt out there um as you can see this will be the last year for the payoff the vany playground uh Community preservation project um and you can see we're nearing the end for the Roberts field and the turf field project Within pre fiscal years uh champon Woods was the one David Hedison built up on Littleton Road that's four years from final completion Warren pole is obviously new but that's that's got you know at this point um seven years left and then coolest we're projected because we're not going to do that borrowing till this spring um that's obviously a longer term one that's a 15-year Bond U so again the estimated de debt amount is $822,000 and again is what what happens over time is these amounts go down because I'll just reiterate for those watching REM the board the town pays level principle so it's not like if you borrow for Warren pole that you pay the same Debt Service every year you pay the same principle of a year which means your interest cost declines over time um so that's why you see something like well how could you've done $124,000 project at at Varney only $113,000 for Debt Service it's because that's the last year of of payment on that project which we think we funded for 10 years so that's what that's what's happening here again this is funding a an obligation of the town which quite frankly if the town didn't do it you'd have to fund anyway because it's a legal obligation of the town but that's what the vote is here okay any questions on article 22 make a motion to recommend approval of article 22 second have a motion in a second all in favor thank you and then we have two minor Community preservation committee projects again in order for project to be funded by Community preservation fund it needs the support of the community preservation committee this year they have two minor projects one is $88,000 from the uh the general reserve for preservation of headstones at for5 the cemetery this would be the second year they've done this the first year went quite successful um so that's what's requested under this article is is the continued restoration of the headstones and from in speaking to David Bole it's worked out really well any questions on article 23 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 23 second Motion in second all in favor I and then the final Community preservation article is again contains to cemeteries it's $440,000 to install a post and rail fence at the West chood Cemetery any questions on article 24 I'll make a motion to approve article or to recommend approval of article 24 a second a motion in a second all in favor okay and then this will be the last article since you already did 26 and 27 uh 25 is an article to accept the provision of state law regarding military service on salary seniority and leave allowances for Town employees the board may recall about six months or so ago we had two police officers who went out to military leave and what we did at that time is we we basically amended the agreement to provide them that they would not lose any net salary the seniority standard you know standing or or leave while on Military this now extends it to the remainder of the Town operations so really where would Pro we already have this in our fire contract we have in our Police contract where this might realistically happen would be something like in public works if there was a you know somebody on reserves called up there or perhaps even within the town General operations um and so again the whole purpose of this is you they just don't lose they don't take a hit um because obviously they're compensated by the military but we would pay the Gap so that they're not suffering any adverse impact from the leave of service okay any questions for article on article 25 I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 25 second Motion in second all in favor very good thank you all right next on our agenda is a proclamation request for a National Public Works week um anybody have any comments edits concerns about this uh proposed procl I have said Board of Selectmen instead of Select board that needs to be fixed y anything else one thing kind of a a peeve of mine is using the word citizens instead of residents yeah um you know I didn't think we granted citizenship to people but we have a lot of residents and if you count just people who vote then there we serve a lot more people than just people who vote mhm so I would recommend changing citizens to Residents I don't know how anybody else feels about that isue here that's fine yeah other than that looks good all right we'll bring it back uh amend it and bring it back to your next meeting okay all right next up is the election of um the select board representative to the northern middle sex Council of governments um as you know I've been serving in that capacity for many years now um and I would like to remain um I think I represent the town well especially in the metropolitan planning organization that that um um programs all the transportation funds for the area um in fact U tomorrow we're going to have an Mo meeting and and part of the discussion is going to be about the the about the latest tip and I just want to I I have some some numbers here to to kind of feed my case since we have a few minutes um from the from the fiscal years 20 2015 to 2029 because we we um programmed the tip 5 years out so it's programmed all the way to 2029 um ncog is composed of the city of Lowel and and eight towns Bara chelsford Drake dunable peal took things and Westford and during that time frame um L as you would expect received the most of those funds that were that were programmed at 55% the town of chancel received the second highest at 20% the next highest town was B rer at 9% um so I feel like I advocate for the town at on this at this agency and so far I feel like I've been successful in bringing Transportation funds to the town of chamford and I would like to continue to do so any questions just a suggestion I'd like to hear more in leaone reports about what's going on at ncog okay we don't get any feedback here I get it from the planning board okay I will do that so do we have a motion I will make a motion to um elect uh chair Wes as our select board representative to the northern middle sex County Council of governments second okay a motion in a second all in favor thank you okay and kind of on that topic is um are liaison assignments which I with a draft list here which we can discuss um I don't know if anybody's not happy or happy or how you feel about them um I'm fine with it but mentioned to Pat these occurrences and really I mean I was going to suggest that we even take that off because I think it's there because it helps also adjudicate not putting somebody on right commes that all meet on the same night yeah but but sometimes people move like you know the the especially the more recent ones there's some that need to be updated give you a list okay I mean if you if you feel it's useful we can leave it it's useful okay all right anybody else have any complaints George okay next on our agenda is oh our meeting schedule so I mean Paul and I went over this last week and and I know there still are some conflicts here and there but uh it's going to be hard to do a a meeting schedule with zero conflicts um and there was there was one you I know Virginia you had mentioned that August 19th you would not be available and I know on that one we note the goals work session I think the goals work session should maybe have be the first meeting in August so that well I was going to just comment on all of the text marks in the first few months they're they're all off from what we said we were going to do when we reviewed the performance appraisal format right and so you know like the I think putting the town manager final goals report on July 15th is too late because we said said we wanted to get the approve the reviews done in July and we wanted to start the goals process earlier because if when we start in a this happened like one year because somebody had a twoe June vacation and then we just keep repeating it but every time we start the goals process in August we don't have our goals set till September and the first quarter is already gone so do you think we should move it to July July 15th go yeah so so Paul uh if if I just back up sure Paul has on May 20th his his quarterly goals report I don't know how much that's going to change in a month when the fiscal year ends so it seems to me that where we have a performance appraisals on August 5th that's way too late what we said in our policy was we were going to try to have that done by the end of June well I think we said no later than July so yeah okay okay I'm sorry you're right no later than July so like when we get the dates lying flat that needs to move up accordingly and then I would move the goals work session like right after that one whenever we do the when we we do the performance appraisals in the next meeting I would start goals yeah um or start them earlier if we need to I don't know that I don't know that those two things have to be sequential right if the fiscal year starts in July we could start thinking about goals before July we could yeah although if yeah so you want to have a goals meeting in June I I don't know Pat I'm just yeah the way it is right now it's still everything's happening way too late um so my thought I I guess can we get the dates can we just talk about the dates for a minute sure so for example we go from June 3rd and then we don't have a meeting till June 24th which is 3 weeks if we went June 3rd to June 17th that would be a two-e Cadence what is the municipal open I have so and I'll also just say and I know you have the bond sale that has to be approved but I have a I have a I am likely going to be um away on business travel on the 20 4th I think I could probably zoom in I'm confirming that but I am still concerned about 3 weeks be in between meetings in June there's a lot happening usually well there is a reason that we have it on the 24th and not the 17th and Paul if you want to explain we had to do the bond sale did we that that happens on that dat it can't happen before then um so again unless you want to do a special meeting where we can just do an no I'm saying we can do an afternoon meeting or morning meeting whatever but the as you know what happens is they they come in they issue the bond sale and we have to close within within a 7-Day window um that's why it's targeted scheduled out for the 24th um because we we can't start till we leave town meeting and then you can't submit it to the financing until the till the appeal period of town meeting lapses so now you're at miday and then you've got to go to the Bonding Agency and then the perspectives and so that's why it can't we it has to occur in the last week of June now does has to be before the end of the fiscal year yes okay yes because the money has to be received before the end of the F year going to say J you know June I mean July 1 but that's too late okay I mean we one of the big things on that is is is the borrowing we did for um kolis is that's in this fiscal year okay who didn't so that I mean that's fine if if if if things are piling up in those three weeks we can always play it by year whether we call another meeting on a Monday yeah but then there's another big gap then we go June 24th to July 15th right because July 4th because yeah there's not much happens during the July 4th holiday one in July and one in August before well that's we only have one schedule in July I know that that's that's for you I know yeah thank you appreciate that so no July um and then um yeah the reason for that Erin is J July 8th is a Monday July 4th is a Thursday we'd be getting you the packets on the 3D but what's going to happen and what's going to happen between June 24th and got July 3rd right so July 15th you guys know I have to nail this down because I'm the one who always gets the whenever whenever you mess with the every other week thing I get a little I'm the one who gets it messed up the other question I guess Pat is do we have a does the board want to have the goals discussion in the midst of a regular agenda or just schedule a goals working session we have that before right which we could do I don't know what people's vacation schedules are but we could do that in July potentially and just get it going any thoughts on that have a speci rather than wait till August because again the whole first quarter is going to go by I agree that yeah August 19th is too late to have the goals work session um that's fine with me do you how how does everybody feel about having it I mean I think it it sometimes depends on what what else we have there what else we're working on on like I wouldn't want to do goals on a night like tonight no and and that's what I'm looking at like July you have July 15th where we're maybe doing the performance reviews and stuff and then you're we're not meeting again until 3 weeks later on the fifth so even the fifth might be too much to put goals on that agenda so do you like do you want to pick July 22nd or 29th to just dedicate to a goals discussion a shorter meeting we could do that if everybody else is okay with that Aaron how do you feel about that I'm receptive to whatever anybody wants to do I'm just kind of Lessons Learned which day July what either July 22nd or 29 just just for goals which means might be a short meeting maybe yeah that's fine an hour and a half or that's fine how about you guys George I'm going to have to have you two meetings in July oh my god um how about the 22nd then the sooner one for goals yeah does that work for you Paul yep that's fine and the performance appraisals on July 15th everybody okay with that move that up to no later than you know we can get them by the end of June but that would be no later than okay how about the rest of the dates so I'm on vacation August 19th so I can't commit to that one and I'm on vacation the week before which is fine because we don't have anything I'm on vacation the week after so August 20 August 26 and then the problem after a bunch of vacations calling into a few meetings so the problem is labor days Monday afterwards yeah yeah September 2nd for six months be in Dubai for six months can we skip that one yeah well I mean I wouldn't skip it I I just might not join because we need because that's the draft of the first draft right is that right Paul the first draft the only draft Yeah that's what I mean cuz the next one we sign it so I think we need to get a draft so I would suggest we'd stay with the 19th and yeah I mean not everybody's going to make it to every meeting [Music] so yeah okay and then the the other question I had is between October 28th and November 4th that's like one week was that intentional yeah because you because Veterans Day is on a Monday this year okay and so the so we try you're you're pivoting around Veterans Day and Thanksgiving in a tight month yeah have remember and then December 9th Paul you have the tri board meeting and I just want to make sure that's a mostly dedicated meeting just to that because we we said sometimes that it's part of our meeting and then that's one the school that's one at the school the school admin building yeah I don't know that it's ever been not recently any anyway this ever been part of our meeting and then my other question was in January we have January 6th I think I thought what we did before was we would have one on January 20th as a regular meeting and then the 27th was just the budget because that was so long the problem is January 20th is the Martin Luther King holiday oh it's not the 13th no the it's the 20th it's the third third Monday so we're going another three weeks unless you want to meet back to back the birds before but you know yeah I know it's those holidays kill you sometimes yeah and and and also the MMA is the 23rd and 24th yeah so that's why I I pushed my budget thing out till February okay all right so everybody all set with that those changes we made you get all those right Paul all can can we can you send this I'll send that all Revis yeah I will okay let's see what's next to manage a bid Awards yeah just one item a bid Awards it's for uh Highway sidewalk and curving there were three bids received the low bid was from Mac Iver Brothers in the amount of 69455 um the other two bids uh came in at 800 82,000 and the and the middle bid was 791 th000 um the only concern here and we've checked with Town Council is the low bid didn't acknowledge the addendum one which was to furnish and install drop Inlet covers from a quantity of one to a quantity of three which was a total difference of $3,000 um and so it's it's basically di Minimus and so council's feeling and upon review of case law is that we can award the bid um despite that irregularity um we anticipate there'll be a bid protest but we'll deal with the Attorney General's office if that does occur so I just want to give the board the sense is that um you know of of what's taking place here but at this point we're seeking the board's a award um for um Highway sidewalk and curbing to MacGyver Brothers of to 3,000 no no it doesn't should we increase that by no no because they they miss they missed the thing I okay they'll have to eat it yeah yeah I wasn't aware of the addendum I would have told them not to issue the addend I mean this is where we are okay all right we have a motion I will make a motion to approve um am I improving the town manager bid award yep for sidewalk construction to MacGyver Brothers in the amount oh in the amount sorry of $694,000 $55 $50 $50 $550 I'm looking at the letter oh yeah the letter says something different to the MacGyver Brothers in the amount of 600 $9 [Music] 4,50 second give a motion and a second all in favor thank you all right uh com man your reports just briefly uh as we approach our third hour um first thing is significant the again as part of the msba Parker School eligibility period they require communities to sign this initial compliance certification which lists through 38 items basically it sort of just lays out the current parameters of the program um through through through state regulations and so it basically for example it confirms that all the meetings of the school building committee will be publicly posted meetings in compliance with the open meeting law it makes clear to the community this is a discretionary program that there's no entitlement so therefore you know if the bottom falls out of the economy and the state decides to delay or whatever you can't go and Sue the state for not funding the project um it also clearly spells that the in this case the district or the town will work in collaboration with the school building authority um that they won't reimburse the communities for any land acquisition costs which Again part of the state's regulations um you know that you the town has to conform the minimum maintenance requirements for any facility um you have to consider all options for a school building project which again I mentioned ear earlier the different grade configurations and so forth um you know you have to vote the full and amount of funding for the project in order to meet in order to be approved by the authority um you have to conform with all the Authority's standard forms formats um you have to obviously agree to their audit requirements again most these these were done historically but they've obviously tightened this stuff up um you can't for example you can't have closed a school and out be eligible for a new school within a 10-year period so you can't create a space issue by closing a school you also um you know you also for example have to agree that you're going to maintain the school for for it's for a 50-year period as a public school um and uh you're not aware of any lawsuits of litigation for the project um and so forth I mean so it it goes on into you know the parameters um the um you have to have have a certified public purchasing official on your committee uh you have to provide uh free access to the authority uh you know and and obviously deal with them in terms of you have to provide open communication to the project manager uh that um other trying to what other things are in here all you you um you you authorize the authority to execute and so forth so basically these are standard parameters that any community that goes into the project have to approve um this is been reviewed by the chair of the school committee it's been reviewed by the superintendent of schools it's it's standard Council and I've signed on behalf of the Town um so just wanted the board and the community to be aware of that that again this this this is Again part of the paperwork and process that's you know on strict guidelines with the state and the other part of my report report uh is the monthly double pole report from from National Grid um they did I did request them as we reest at the last meeting that they provide the summary of the changes since the last month of March there were um they closed 11 tickets meaning 11 double polls in in March and three thus far mid April when this was uh produced um the added five new ones um in April um the balls in the court for the town in terms of 20 of them basically on North Road and uh Bill rer Bill rer Road and so now that the weather is we're out of the in Clement weather period we'll be working with DPW and our in our uh consultant um meaning the service company to you know get our fiber moved to to move these products along so again news is progression National Grid claims in this report that there's only three tickets that they have to complete they there are four disputed tickets and five requiring more work so they basically list of the of the of the 60 um double poles uh that are open they only have 12 of them um so they you know so again work is progressing um once you sort of get yeah once you sort of get past Verizon and National Grid Comcast is moving usually moves pretty quickly um and then we can work with National Grid if there are any third parties um out there to get done so again um we're we're basically staying on top of this and uh my goal on the town side is to make sure that we're not the ones holding up with our fiber or or our fire department which is basically our old fire line so we can't tell in in this report who's next yes it's called it's called the next to go it's it's the um ntg next to go that's that's where they are that's next to go yep where does it say ntg it's about the fifth column 1 two 3 four five six seventh column oh oh oh as you can see the you oh that's the next to go that's go next and they go from the top so basically National Grid is always first um and then you know you you go to Verizon Comcast town and third parties so again we'll we last you know I basically told National Grid to their choice they can either send me a updated report on the 1 of every month or the 15th rather than chasing them every month it's easy for them they can put in their annotation in their calendars um so what we'll be able to do is just compare month to month as we go forward yeah we did say at some point we might want them back but I mean as long as they keep giving us something like this and we see progress being made I mean 60 is a lot better than one page yeah exactly there's a yeah achievement right there thank you all right thank you all right we have one set of meeting minutes from April first anybody have any comments Corrections on that on those not we can have a motion I will make a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of April 1st 2024 as presented I'll second it okay have a motion in second all in favor Iain all right we're finally to Liaison reports and referrals J anything that no Virginia uh the vinyl square committee is uh having a hybrid meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 in Room 205 and Via zoom and they are welcoming and encouraging anyone from the public to join they have a lot of updates for North Village and there's other opportunities to um participate and from the North chelsford Water District they are going to be hydrant flushing between midc Street and Princeton Street next Tuesday and Wednesday night they will have information on the website and uh they're going to be continuing hydrant flushing in different parts of town and that'll all be laid out on the website that it okay I have a few things um first of all uh couple of weeks ago the chanc police foundation had um an an award ceremony and the officers from the uh fire department who were given meritorious service awards for life saving included Lieutenant William Carlos Sergeant Robert Brown Sergeant Matthew fernard patrol officer Matthew kill Martin patrol officer Kaye Marshall patrol officer Craig me patrol officer Kevin Quinn patrol officer Christopher Robinson retired patrol officer Anthony spinazola patrol officer Nicholas ther patrol officer Derek tyros and cl clinician Rachel beers um also receiving a meritorious service award of outstanding performance of Duty was detective je Jeffrey blet um also uh um last week we had two new officers sworn in two new Patrol officers they are Haley Lucas and Michael buckton so watch out for them um patrolling around town uh the chood fire department recently had two promotions um Ryan hul became the new Deputy Chief and Josh Abbott became a captain uh a couple of things from the library the chanc friends of the library book sale is this Friday and Saturday April 26th and 27th um there's going to be plenty of books available so stop by the town office's gym Friday or Saturday to stock up on your books the author of Town's one book which was um um I forget the name of it now anyway Peter Swanson is the author and he will be at the library next Sunday on April 28th at 2 pm to give a talk about his uh his book and the library will be hosting an environmental Fair on Saturday May 4th from 1: to 4:00 p.m. on on the front L um and lastly condolences to the family of George ripson um he was a longtime member of the finance committee longtime town meeting representative and he was instrumental in the preservation of the mstream over on mil road so that is all I have for dney Freeman Daphney Freeman oh right and condolences to the family of Daphne Freeman the wife of longtime representative um Bruce Freeman um so that's all I have for this evening so a motion I'll make a motion to aurn Second there a motion in a second all in favor I e e e e e e e e