um good evening welcome to the May 1st 2024 5:45 pm uh select board meeting this meeting will be held in a hybrid fashion with the opportunity for both in-person attendance and remote participation please note that while an option for remote attendance Andor participation is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of the public with particular interest in a specific item on the agenda should make plans for inperson versus virtual attendants accordingly this meeting will be held in person in the main meeting room of the Deerfield municipal office offices in accordance with Mass General Law chapter 30A anyone intending to record this meeting must identify themselves to our clerk Trevor McDaniel and provide their name and address for the record so I'm opening the meeting at um 5:48 thank you um so we've called it to order first item on the agenda is uh L lot update we have a memo from Chris and uh uh Chris Nan our assistant and we have a contract from River more Consulting uh an addendum item and Chris is recommending that we sign it I don't know if uh have you both um had a chance to read it no I'm I'm going to read yeah just two seconds but if you want to talk about it in the metime CH Chris would you like to just go over do a general summary happily so thank you for having me tonight and for agreeing to push the start time of the meeting up so I have time to explain the addendum and answer any questions you might have um I've received the addendum attached uh from John torlot the F uh co-founder owner of rivermore energy who have been working with through the Lil lot project um we brought rivermore on around November of 2022 uh when it became clear that there was a need for EV charging to be a part of this project um and I think we have done an outstanding job working with them um and we could not have gotten nearly as far as we have without their assistance um it was with River Moore's help that we were able to secure the CFI grant for about $ 2.46 million successfully from the federal government um I have almost daily check-ins with John torlot and David pomerance who are both being employed by rivermore energy for the purposes of this project um we have a very good rapport working relationship with each other and with our architect Jeff Squire of Berkshire Design Group um and you can see in the attached documentation there is the addendum um I know there might be a bit of a sticker shock factor with the addendum uh coming with an added cost of $400,000 but I can also add that that is entirely paid for by the CFI Grant um the short version and you can see more specific details in the budget forms attached um but the grant itself is for about $ 2.46 million um the construction costs are not going to be above 2 million there that even 2 million is a bit of a high estimate so we have leftover money in the grant fund to pay for things like Consulting Services um administrative costs um and and you can see all of that broken down in the budget attachment but I think I want to make the recommendation that we continue our working relationship with rivermore energy um that we we've had great results from them so far and I have faith that we can keep moving forward in a positive direction if we move forward with this addendum so we have uh Chris we have just to summarize we have construction costs of about two million right or less or less we have this contract of 400,000 so it leaves us maybe 60-ish th000 uh com not I mean extra or leftover from this grant right um I don't feel comfortable committing to any specific numbers of what's going to be left over now um however we do have a very generous amount in grant funding compared to the construction that we have proposed so so like a contingency fee we have we we expect to have leftover money from the 2.46 million CFI Grant uh after paying for cons construction and U rivermore I mean uh tolet and Company's Services I would say there is a good chance of that yes okay and and we have and are you uh incorporating the MVP grant money as well um I'm incorporating that into the match component so um the the match is going to be made up of a couple of different parts um there is going to be at minimum the state evip grant that we successfully received all the way back in 2022 at this point and because of the the fluid nature of this project we've been able to successfully see it extended a couple of times now um there's the evip grant which is about $199,000 there is uh the MVP funding can also serve as part of that match um and we are currently waiting on guidance regarding whether we can use ever sources uh Make Ready funding that it's being used to fund the ongoing work that you'll see happening at the L lot right now um we're being funded by eversource for some of that work and there's a chance that some of that can be part of our match but I I'm I'm waiting exact guidance on that right now and that is something I'll keep you all updated on um and then the remaining portion of the match um is likely going to come at least somewhat from arpa whether it's the full 495,000 that was originally allocated by the board or whether we're able to bring that down in response to ever Source Make Ready funding being available as part of the match um that's something I obviously want an answer to and I'll I'll keep you all in the loop on whatever answer I'm able to find for that but that's that's a little bit of an uncertainty right now okay uh Chris you had a question Chris Harris yeah so I just have a comment because if you think about 400,000 in extra Consulting and Engineering fees versus the 2 million in construction that's 20 % that's a pretty healthy um estimate that's good I think it's appropriate 20% it just seems high to me I don't I I mean I could be way wrong on that but for any project I've ever done Capital if you're doing it right you always have at least 15% in for extra engineering Consulting seems really high to be well there's two factors that I I just mentioned one is that they've been working for us for almost when did they start Chris 2022 November of 2022 is when we brought them on board and they've they buil this I I don't even know if they've built it but it's $28,000 for for securing writing and securing a 2.46 million Grant um having the knowledge that's required to work with the level two and level three installations like this understanding all of the engineering and um interaction with you know an electricity provider like ever source so we're playing paying for expertise and and yeah I I I agree with Chris that well the total project is 3,7 78,2 65 so that makes it less than 20% so here's the here's the toal it's 30% if you take $3 million and divide it by 400,000 it's a 30% charge you 30% right that's a 13% you're doing it backwards you're going back so you divide four 400,000 by 3 million no 13 yeah 133% 13% 13% so 133% for engineering on a $3 million project feel better about that that was yeah and and it's these are Grant funds and I just rounded it off to the lowest three million but yeah well so Chris what do we need to do tonight to move this forward do we we just vote vote to sign it so if the board it feels comfortable um I would really appreciate if you're willing to approve this sendum to rivermore as contract um we can continue our working relationship with them um if you do have any outstanding questions I'm happy to bring them to John directly and I'm sure he can provide any information that you're looking for um but I I think overall um we're very happy with the results that we've gotten so far from them yes and yeah if you're if you're willing to approve this addendum I think that would go a long way what does that mean what does that mean when the when can we start the L lot do we have we signed the contract for the federal contract yet um we have submitted it we have submitted our share of the federal contract uh we're waiting on Final execution from them um and we expect that there will be some comments particularly in regard to one section that it sounds like every single one of the 47 entities that are awarded have not been clear on how we're supposed to complete it um so that's that's a developing situation um but we are ahead of the curve in terms of getting this executed um and we have received the go-ahead to start acquiring um more fees essentially we are eligible to use uh we're eligible for reimbursement of the funds that we've acquired even though ordinarily um you need to have a fully executed Grant agreement first I will say Federal Highway Administration has been very agreable and um amable to the fact that we have such a shovel ready project already from the get-go and that means that they're they're willing to grant us some flexibility in what they ordinarily wouldn't be reimbursing um so that being said um today I was working with rivermore on putting together an exact schedule for what we're looking for um and it looks like we are going to be releasing an ifb within the next I would say week optimistically um getting this ready to go out to bid uh with the bid deadline of late May um contract execution with a sight and civil contractor in early June for work to begin in the month of June um and then be completed ideally by September so that's not a that that's not a timeline I'm comfortable being held to but that is ideally um how things will be looking at the moment oh no that's wonderful I just want to make sure we got started okay great so um are you prepared to entertain a motion at this point yes okay can we just and we will we we can make a motion and second and then we can have discussion great thank you so I make a motion to approve the addendum uh as presented by the assistant Town Administrator I'll second for discussion so discussion okay just I just need a couple minutes here something that uh I I did want to to express because I was jotting down ideas about budgeting today and exploring some of the different Alternatives that are possible um and on a very positive note regardless of the different kinds of funding that we're considering for meeting the match requirement um I can confidently say that not a scent of this project is being funded by local tax dollars so um regardless of if we meet our match through arpa whether we meet it through MVP uh Make Ready funding evip regardless of what uh combination of things are used um I can I can say it's it's entirely external funding which is is great news when do the MVP funds uh grant money end is are we if if we get this project done in September will we have met the deadline for the MVP grant money possess uh so I've actually I've been in touch with Andrew Smith um who's our regional MVP coordinator about that question um because I explained to him our situation where we had expected to be further along in this project but then we have the the good problem of getting a massive Federal grant that we needed to do some additional planning and execution for um and he said that's that's definitely a worthwhile reason to be granted an extension and he doesn't think we would have any issue with receiving because I thought pretty sure that we were the MVP money was going to end I mean because we hadn't used it uh ordinarily the MVP grant funding would be pulled back in June um because that's the end of the fiscal year and this was intended to be a fiscal 2024 project um however being given an extension would allow us to spend the money on that in the in the months after the after the new if we as long as it goes out to bid I'm sure we'll get a gr extension that yeah it should it it should be well underway at that point all right I just wanted to go through this just a couple more pages if I could yeah no this is sure yeah y I saw that I was just going to go through responsibilities okay with with a Federal grant there's a lot more Hoops you got no I yeah absolutely and and if and if I don't I don't want to say our staff can't do it but I just they're Taps yeah this is wicked a lot so to have someone else do it and be responsible for it is really important and if they're getting paid by the grand right this is going to be such a fancy parking lot we got so much money for it should be a draw for Ev people yeah it will be beautiful there will be it's it's not even that it looks good I mean if there's a high-speed EV charger and you want to come into town charge your card full and get out of town it's a huge draw for our businesses yeah I mean it's going to really make a lot of difference forur economic game changer for Berkshire bu in our restaurant in our restaurants yeah definitely and I I don't see any reason why it can't be a model project for what rural EV public charging projects should look like um right we were the smallest Municipal entity in the country to receive this grant which I think is is definitely noteworthy um there are there is definitely a big push for adoption of EV technology here in the community which is is fantastic because that's not found in rural communities in a lot of cases so um I I think we really have potential to be something groundbreaking here okay I'm good you're good yep okay I just wanted I needed to read through that all right sure sure no that's all right it it we it didn't come until just a little while ago um I had the advantage of having talking with Chris you know periodically yeah to get an update every three days I know I just I read it I just I read it before um you know today this afternoon local funds is like 450 which is our arpa no no is that different than this well yeah we have state funds local funds the grant 2.4 the local funds might still be arpa just to be clear um it it it might be arpa but we also might be able to satisfy that with a combination of uh the Make Ready funds from eversource and the MVP Grant and the EV Grant so if the make the Make Ready is the is the changing Factor there um that's the one that we need reassurance on um so okay um if if Make Ready does not work we will have to use some arpa funding to meet the match um okay right I want to make sure the board understands that but by hiring them the chances of eversource reimbursing us covering that is a lot a lot more they were the ones that actually identified and eversource agreed to give us this money and then they're trying to take it back so the federal law is pretty clear that they they're not allowed to do that and I I don't know if it was toet or the other gentleman who really keyed us up to that and and and it no it was David pomerans and David yeah and David is going to chase it down sure and so that takes time too okay right all right so um so motion is to authorize signing this having the chair sign this no it's it's to have um I don't know if it's a chair I I don't think there's a specific name on the signature line um but because of the the high price of this contract I think it would be helpful for at least one member of the board to sign do I need to just make right so I'm GNA withdraw my original motion and um I will make a new motion which is to authorize the chair of the select board to sign the uh addendum agreement with um rivermore I'll second that motion all those in favor Tim Hy I Trevor McDaniel I Caroline N I thank you thank you Chris for doing so much leg work on that and thanks for the explanation it made me feel a lot better absolutely and if you think of any other questions I'm happy to talk for the rest of the week and after if if there's any outstanding things or things that you think of that are bothering you about any of the lery lot um please feel free to be in touch I have been working on this every day so it's it's sometimes when you think of something um it might not necessarily be something I've thought of before and we can help solve a problem before it arrives so one one question I had was the um the application numbers are different than Schedule D Schedule D is what we're doing correct correct so the application numbers um we had requested a very large sum compared to what we knew we needed um and and no doubt we could have found use if we had received A4 million Grant um but the amount that we did receive was 2.46 Million so that's what we've been working with great okay sounds good thank you Chris are you off to class I am heading out to class I got class at 6:30 um but I think I I I think I gave um a few more details regarding L lot updates in my in Town Administrator report which is in your packet um but again if anybody has any further questions feel please feel free to get in touch with me we do thank you thank you Chris thank you all very much have a great night too um since we're running a little behind um we're gonna delay public comment for just a few minutes and have John breaks from the Pioneer Valley mosquito District um it be introduced and help us on the treatment plan that we he's talking about yes John can you're on hey John hi everyone thanks for having me uh do you have the handouts by any chance yes all right awesome that's great um I can share my screen to put it up on the monitor if you'd like or I can just go through each page of the handout we actually I think we have people that would be interested in hearing about it John okay let me see oh okay I can't share all right so I'll just go by the handout all right so just a quick background for the last few weeks I've spent a consider considerable amount of time survey potential Vector species habitat specifically habitat that's conducive to do you think you could get a little bit closer to the mic so that we can hear you a little bit more okay let me can you hear me now is this good that's much better it's it's my headphones sorry networks so um just a quick background for the last few weeks I've spent in considerable amount of time surveying potential Vector species habitat specifically habitat that's conducive to supporting mosquito species cap capable of transmitting Triple E and westnile virus uh based on what I'm seeing it looks like this year will likely yield a healthy number of mosquitoes you know we had a considerable amount of rain um in the winter and that definitely affects how mosquitoes are going to you know the populations of mosquitoes that we're going to see in the spring and also going into the summer um so with with how Triple E ended last year in hamen County I'm a bit concerned uh to say the least about uh the coming season so really the objective of the proposed larel mitigation plan is to reduce the risk of arbovirus transmission to humans and animals by targeting Vector species habitat so in South Deerfield I surveyed uh roughly 10 areas uh where there was potential for mosquito breeding uh and where how I discover these areas by using mass DP Wetlands layer uh through GIS software so they'll label all these different uh uh categories of wetlands which is very important when you're looking at specific mosquito species such as Vector species uh for instance culac melan or it's a primary Vector for Triple E you're looking for deciduous swamps in in um in that respect so for the first site um that's located on North Main Street and that's a deciduous swamp it's uh the vector species that I'm looking to Target with treatment would be otus canadensis it's a bridge Vector for tripol and West Nile Virus um and a bridge Vector is a mosquito that will feed on both Aven species in mammals they'll have a mixed blood mail so they'll feed on they'll get a partial blood mail on a bird that's po potentially infected and then get the rest of that blood mail on humans or a mammal and that's pretty much how they they Bridge the vector over to humans um so so AAR alarus censis is you know plays a primary role in the transmission of arbovirus arbo viruses and Mass chusetts the other species I'm looking for in that type of habitat is culc salinarius um they're also a potential Bridge Vector for tripol and West salars so we have unfortunately we have a lot of bridge vectors and a lot of potential bridge bridge vectors and really it's just a matter of those primary vectors such as caceta melanur and in KX pipiens amplifying the virus among the wild bird population once it's Amplified to a certain ENT now you're going to see spill over into Bridge vectors that's where they come into uh play so that that site is I believe it's around 1 n anres total can you can you put it up on the um can you share your screen so people can see audience yeah it it Caroline it won't let me share my screen it says oh okay now it's allowing me okay let me see it's up by the north the the Dry Bridge the swamp up on North North Main yes five and 10 let me get it up okay you guys can see that yeah oh John that's good there it is see that okay okay that's great awesome thank you thank you very much for your help with that all right so the total area is 1.9 Acres it's kind of mixed there are spots throughout so I surveyed this area and many others and so I sampled it to see if it's actually mosquito habitat um and so out of that whole area there's roughly one acre of mosquito habitat okay so moving on to site two it's located between Eastern ab and crest drive it's approximately 1.2 Acres it's a meadow located behind the church which is also the senior center um that is considered a high-risk population the vector species found in this type of habitat include 80s vexans they're uh Bridge Vector for tripol in OC claritus canadensis again uh Bridge Vector for Tripoli in westn virus so the third site is located at the end of kellerer Drive uh it is also a deciduous swamp many of them are the targeted Vector species is the same as the first site of claritus candid danis and cix Salon Aras and that is uh total area is 1.9 Acres treatment area what I found to actually be breeding is about 75 Acres so the fourth site is um it's a stagnant ditch it's it actually doesn't show up on uh the wetlands DP layer uh I discovered it by just kind of following the water in that area the hydrology in that area and uh it is a backed up ditch it's pretty stagnant so that's conducive to breeding it does have mosquito larv in it and it's conducive to breeding CX pipiens which is the primary Vector for West nirus and um aniles punct toennis which is a potential Bridge Vector for West Nile Virus um John I know um some of the people that are here especially interested like in the cross street area you went and you did sample that water is that correct and it you didn't see anything breeding in there yet no I did I did sample a lot of areas I'll have to look back at my notes and see if I actually got to cross street but most of the areas some of them were um flowing so if you have some flow in the area mosquitoes are not going to breed there because they're not strong swimmers so even if it's just a little bit of flow that that's going to draw out the the mosquito lar so they've evolved you know throughout the the you know eons to to adapt to uh areas that are just you know stagnant and conducive to their Survivor okay and um so then can you just go over the BT that you'll be using so the the the product overview the the product I would be using is very safe it's fourstar btg it's a controlled release granular which means that it will last up to 40 days it will be effective up to 40 days um probably a little more than that uh so what it is is a naturally occurring soil bacteria that is pretty much harmless to humans and animals uh in bti is basil during genus Subs species is ranis um again it's a pretty it's pretty low toxicity to uh mammals and other animals um so we're not very concerned about bti there are some non-target organisms that literature has suggested that it may affect and it makes sense you know you're looking at how it affects mosquito larv is that they ingest it it's it's a Spore and eventually it it turns into a crystallized prot protein in the gut and the only way it does that is if the the alkalinity is high enough the pH level is high enough and so that's why it doesn't really Target too many other non-target organisms or or other aquatic organisms um the other ones the what it's confirmed to be toxic to are buffalo Nets and uh which is also known as black flies and non-biting midges uh the other issue with it that you know we have found is that it does have indirect trophic effects where in an area that is you know you have you have biodiversity that's at a high level and you take away those mosquitoes from there now you're taking away a food source so you know I really look at these sites from a holistic point of view is it an area that is high in biodiversity if it is then then it's not a site that is is um you know site that I would want to treat with bti great okay um so um John you said um it's going to be $2,800 18 for the first treatment and three other and and you have another treatment for total of um $5 5,612 79 right that's that's correct and so the first treatment I really have that down that's that's a pretty exact estimate I would say or accurate estimate because I've already done the surveying I I know which areas are reading the the second one it's a little harder to determine that's kind of that's a two be determined so that's something I don't know if you guys would want to if you want to move forward if you would like to wait and see if that's something you'd like to do for like fy2 and we'll see we can base it on on you know arbovirus surveillance data and confirmed breeding areas in close proximity to high risk populations and we can look at that data and information you know to make decisions as far as treating I can't guarantee that it's G to be two acres or it's going to be five sites it's a little tough to tell like to do do the first pH yeah let's let's vote let's I want you to do this treatment as soon as you can right know you're going to get busy with trapping and um testing so I want I want to make sure that you do this immediately um as soon as you can and then what we'll do um is have you resurvey areas if we have a wet summer we want you to to to go around and look where the breeding uh LA right is and then then come back with the estimate okay to so I mean we we definitely are committing to the second treatment but but we want you to tell we want an accurate yes that's understandable yeah um so I guess I would make a motion that we pay for the 2818 cents um immediately and then commit to a second treatment but just come back with tell us what it is yeah area that to be Tre yeah Bas and so this will be paid out of Casey fund 441 it's that mosquito money left over from the CDC Grant um so uh is there any more discussion I'll second the motion all right is there any more discussion no oh does anyone have any questions of John yeah Fred I John yes absolutely but I can tell you right now that it's not going to happen immediately so I want this treatment happening immediately so we can yeah yeah well yes and we're gonna talk about it don't worry we're working on it okay some of these areas you can't empty of water but uh but certain areas you can so definitely we want to treat everywhere and then yes address where we can lower that water get rid of it I just want this to happen and also um all those in favor first Danel yeah oh sorry hi Trevor McDaniel hi Tim hch okay there's just one more item on this um Casey Kevin is almost out of mosquito drunk dunks to to treat the catch basins so um and I have no Board of Health money left over this year so we're g to have to use um his he's going to get more mosquito dunks so he can keep treating the catch basins out of this money too okay um I told them to do that and as long as you guys you have no problems with that mosquitoes please yeah okay gonna be a rough well the the we have West Nile we had West Nile taanda last year and that's with Kevin even treating catch was winter so John you can stop sharing I think yeah John is there anything else you want to add before um and I really appreciate you coming on I I just want you to know this is John is our full-time superintendent now he uh we're so excited we have a real person that is full-time oh the mosquito District the pineer valley mosquito District thank you and he is living over at the 1888 building um we didn't have a place not overnight but you know he's covering he's making sure our insurance costs are lower for not an abandoned building and covering our costs to um maintain the building and um so he went this winter he was lovely he went out and was looking for CPS of these bad mosquitoes and he's been doing a little extra for us and I so I just want to say he's been really fabulous and so thank you John so much that's my pleasure thanks all right so uh please get started started oh we'll do I'll get started right away all right thanks John thank you okay um next item on the agenda is Eastern a regarding ditch maintenance so the easiest thing to do would be to come up and talk you you have to introduce yourselves into these speakers they have to you have to practically eat them they're they're not that that great but anyway so that people can hear so Fred come on up my name is Fred Becka from Eastern Avenue and I have a number of my neighbors here too welcome thank you so I know that in the past way back uh my mother came with a group of people to talk about the ditch on Eastern Avenue uh actually both sides which you know we're all on the North side but these ditches from my understanding were built in the 1930s when the sewer plant or the sewer system was put in and it's to protect the sewer system from overflows of water going into the storm drains and down this is what I was told by one of our Elder Statesmen in town um so this has been an ongoing issue what it's causing is everyone on Eastern Avenue has water in their seller it's been getting worse and worse over the years as the level of the ditch is getting higher and higher there's a culvert under cross street that's 24 in in diameter it's got about 6 in of it clear so this has filled up 18 in it's raised the water table in the area for everyone on Eastern Avenue Pro possibly Grave Street too this year being a lot of rain and and you know no place for it to go people are running their some pumps constantly uh Linda row next door she has two pumps in there that are running about every seven minutes M people have their possessions on pallets in their sellers they're running dehumidifiers mostly senior citizens and they're now paying twice as much per kilowatt hour as we had been paying for a few years it it had been very nice so this is a big impact on a lot of seniors on that street uh to to have to pay this extra money it's awesome um back in the 70s when I was still in high school the level of that ditch was brought back to its original level guy got in there one of kot's employees with a back ho and he went the entire length of that ditch and he dug it and he smoothed out the dirt and the water table was lowered my parents didn't have water after that they had always had water in the cellar so obviously this is what we need to do to get the water out of people's sellers now over the years the ditch has grown a lot of people have let trees grow in it um right now when you had John up here that water is still flowing that's not stagnant that generally will dry up but until it does everybody has water in their Cellar it's my understanding from our DPW boss that when the sewer work gets done on cross street that culbert's going to get changed while they have everything dug up so if you take that Culvert which is now filled 18 Ines full of soil and you put a new one in the first big rain we get it's going to fill that culbert up and you're going to have 18 in Deep by the width of cross street full of water which is our breed ground yes is there um I'm just looking at the aerial view of it is there a ditch that is on the east side of cross it there looks like there's a property it almost looks like the ditch kind of goes up the hill a little bit is that it it go it goes yes on the east side of cross so it goes all the way up Eastern Avenue till it hits the mountain but right in back of the Cross Street homes it it also uh runs there yeah over to cross street and then out in the fields uh in back of well the street there there's a lot of ditches out there in those fields that are still being used for farming yeah um I don't think there's one that's any closer to grav Street than being way out in the field but we've got we actually had another one on the south side of Eastern Avenue which is kind of filled in over here that was a narrow one and that ran again from the mountain all the way down and it took a right in between what is now 20 and 22 Eastern Avenue okay and it went under the road in a culvert and the Culvert goes all the way across the vacant lot uh into this ditch that's on the North side yeah so that's all filled in so now we have a large lake and Carol MC Bernie over at number 20 she had nice lakefront property for a while right but that's not draining so that's another problem these things have not been maintained for a long time and they're full the you know hundred-year flood Pond that um pressview had to build 25 I believe well well regardless we always heard 100 years and of course look at the the floods that we had but regardless of what it is you know I've been over helping at the senior center and that huge Lake back there is just growing mosquitoes oh it is that's why John's going to treat them right but let's you know let's do the smart thing and let's we want to get rid of this water uh the the house at number 22 the group home there is pumping water into that about every again five to seven minutes you know we can't pump the water into we have a moratorium that we can't put the water into the your your right so if we can uh bring these ditches back to the original level which we need to do it's going to solve a ton of problems of everybody on Eastern Avenue possibly Grave Street and I know that even Crest View has a lot of problems and I can't see it being a huge expense I don't know what our guys have well let me let me tell you the situation where we are and then what we are doing okay so it is a town de to ditch but and it is not and you are absolutely correct it has not been maintained since 1985 when they uh federal government passed the food Security Act um that allow didn't did not allow us to do any more to maintenance on our ditches since 1985 okay so it's and then the other thing is it's extremely extremely challenging to do anything on private property related to getting to the ditch so roads you know any roads that get covered by silt and water under emergency we can try to get in there okay but as at to date our roads have not been affected yet you know when we did it when we did digging on private property up in Old Deerfield you know across from Richardson's Candy Kitchen to connect with Village you know the road was completely covered a multiple times um same thing with whopping road we were allowed to do that um because of the emergency so what what happened is um we received almost $800,000 in July of 21 from the uh July 21 storms and we didn't you Joe and Natalie again did a fantastic job um and we had 26 3,000 left over and we are using 200 of it towards the road damage of 23 but we had we are setting aside 63,000 for some engineering it's complicated here because um the engineers that we've had look at this already um the groundwater level as everybody knows has gone up from the '90s it's gone up 22 in okay the water's just not moving out of the area um accessibility um if we're going to do any work there we have to um have everyone sign a release we went through this with bloody Brook trying to do work in there and you know we had a couple people object so we have to have a sign release of anyone that is W you know near that ditch back property backing up to the ditch and then it's a release there's two different kind of releases that we are going to ask people to sign either release where we leave the material there in their yards you know we'll try to have the contractor like Smooth it out a little and that you put conf um conservation mix on it yourself or we're going to have to have carted out it's not eligible I mean I've looked everywhere it's not eligible for any state removal of the material so it will be a very expensive project to remove um all that material out of the ditches um and off site uh so basically we need to have more data I know everybody's screaming about and I and I'm so sympathetic I have so many pictures on my phone of your neighborhoods and but we need know more data as to where what we are actually going to do um there's you have you need to put in the projected rainfall for from 2025 to 2050 you need to take in all the water that's coming off from the mountain and you need to calculate how do you move it out of the area before we decide what we're going to do what we've done so far is we've had this General overview I've had a quote from the engineers it it will be close to $2 million to address the entire area um we've worked with um I've worked with the highway rep that was on homeland security and the mass Association of conservation uh commission's executive director who sits with me on the state commission and our Conservation Commission and we are only the third community in the state that has put together a bundled noi so in other words we have in place that was it done for September of 22 it's it's places in town we're going to do regular maintenance so we have already set up a bundle noi but we have to figure out how we going to do this maintenance um so we're ready to add that in the mosquito District under John has G uh we have uh asked to put together this program and John can explain it a little bit more where he can hand dig and go around and hand dig these St stagnant areas we got signed off from the state Reclamation board because we're quasi State you got to get all these people's permission and we're waiting on the department of a so then John can work with the Conservation Commission Kevin and the highway department and and we can do a little hand digging um we've restarted Deerfield 2030 and the yard by yard program and have healthy soils plan and the idea is to do all your native plants suck up water one of the other aspects that we're looking at is using trying to get well points in certain areas so that instead of irrigating when we have droughts like in 22 when people were um watering their lawns all that water comes down from the reservoir and and attributes to potentially attributes to the extra high water table so the idea is to have recycle water that's already here and use that for irrigation and a certain amount of it of course evaporates and is lost so hopefully that would lower the water table I mean one of the examples is right here at our own baseball field if we didn't use the water from the coming down in the reservoir and we use water from the water table eventually you're lowering the water table so it's all these accumulative things in that program we toured on April 28th um I got a small Grant from the Conservation District um and toured with Nick Miller from field geology he's a fluvio geomorphologist and I was he was here for five hours and he couldn't believe how bad it was and the idea was to get him to help us figure out how to move water but it's so complicated and so severe that we are now having to do a hydraulic modeling that will predict where the water goes and how it moves and an assessment a High um a water assessment of the area as to where the water is going and you can do it at the same time um so we asked uh we just applied for the state for we had $10,750 left over from that Grant so we um asking to amend that to do this modeling and Christopher Dunn as a result of that visit just put in uh MVP Grant last Friday with there's no match because because we had suffered such Inland bad Inland flooding so hopefully we'll get that money to do this modeling hydraulic modeling as well as the water assessment so that we'll have this information and then we can get grants to do this project completely in the whole area so Fred um I just want to say that I was out exactly where you're talking about the pond that comes from Crest viw the detention pond with John poror when we were touring road damage and Road repairs maybe seven days ago and it looks I'm not an engineer but it looks like the culbert there it's probably too small the water doesn't flow through fast enough and then it flows into some of the ditches they talking about and the ditches are silted up and so uh we definitely need to be able to get in there so do you have a do you have a sense that the neighbors in the area would be amable to signing waivers to allow us to you know because all the heads are not with a lot of these situations where hey we get a heavy storm maybe we can get a de Declaration of emergency and the conservation I always I always do a declaration believe me right and then we get a situation where okay for 30 days we can do some things that we're not normally allowed to do so I was it was really an education uh to go in and see that and so I'm glad you guys are here you know kick us I see what TR to say so just um I'm always like work backwards where where so it goes under Fishers right somewhere near there well here's the funny thing with that whole back with that whole Brook cever is from the mountain down to the old fire station yep it's a seasonal Brook okay from somewhere around fers all the way to the Connecticut River it's a full time Brook it just appears out of nowhere I you know never poked around behind Fishers right but yes it comes and you know out of the ground they they call it the blacksmith Brook they also call it Sugar Brook that's right I see it on the map here yep and it goes follows South Main Street goes over by BB goes to 116 takes the left and runs parallel and just before uh the state highway bar and it goes underneath and it meanders down cross the River Road at the beginning of weight Le the riv kind of like from Fisher towards your way that it's backing up I mean the rest of it seems to have capacity right it could run again I mean any of these things we we've gotten so much silk down from the mountain over some of these bigger storms but again since the 70s when I was a teenager that's the last time that yeah a back ho is in there bringing this thing back down to its level and the man just took up a couple of Scoops he put it on the North side he smoothed it out and he went from the mountain all the way down to the fire station they were supposed to do this a number of years ago but there was one resident close to the fire station who says you're not coming through here oh uh because he had bees well he's no longer there so he's not an issue now yeah the other thing is as I recall in our property deed it says that the town has a legal right of away down through there which is why I'm here so if the town has the right away it's because I feel that they need to maintain needed it yeah so again this 18 in of of you know raising this water table 18 in is just killing all of us right and it's and D is saying no we can't go in there right well the federal government said you can't do this since 1985 like you said it was deeded from the 30s and the and and you know for the sewer but that's but this is why you do all this pre-planning so when you have the opportunity and it comes you can jump on it and and we know what we're g to do so all this work that's happening doesn't mean that we don't get it done and I will just let you go ahead okay I'm Vic warus I live on Eastern AV corner of Eastern a I've been here before and mentioned that that cover the thing is uh if you do it and if you I I know myself we have always maintained that area but it's getting I remember when that was done I wasn't living here at the time but I was mowing in the lawn for my father or the ditch because it was a pain okay because the guy and if you if you do a good job and and and do the ditch and then uh I know myself I maintain it there but down below it has the trees have grown and so forth the other thing is the sediment the sediment is is backing up right now it's holding water back and there'll be what when the the ditch is dried there still will be water in back of that in the cul and out in front of it the patch basins from the upper from above cross stre above Eastern Avenue they go into a a culvert I think it's an 18inch Culvert I'm not positive yeah but it's very right now it is totally under the silt it does there is some flowing but it all the sediment is is really it's it doesn't flow enough to move the sediment so consequently anything like when the trees and when uh different things back it up I mean I can remember as a kid building dams in the ditch when it would flow you know we were bad but the point is and I was I was 20 when he was a teenager but that the other thing is too anything you do do it soon because I'm gonna I I'm not gonna hire people to go and move the sediment and I can do it now but I you know what I I didn't um I don't mean to interrupt but Kevin is on and I didn't see his hand up so Kevin would you like to address a little bit of this sure certainly um I mean everything they're saying so far is 100% correct um you know the town does it the town does have a deed way through there for that um it is the town's responsibility um we are in the process of trying to get that as part of our bundled nii so that way we don't have to wait for an event and or other Hoops that you would have to jump through to make it happen at that point in time um um when it comes down to and and I'm just going to kind of jump down Fred was right there was one person that was making it extremely difficult because they tried to do some clean out at one point in time and and the guy said there's no way you're G to get in there um they are no longer there so I don't think that's going to be part of an issue um just real quick when it does jump over and You See It Go comes underneath uh uh Fishers that is all of the uh Road drainage or the catch Basin right there right around the comet that's where all that goes and dumps into that now when you everybody always knows that the the the fountain always runs all the time you know it's not recirculating that actually goes into that catch Basin right there where we usually PL out uh P snow and that in turn goes into uh the black stone or the yeah blacksmith um I would this would be my recommendation is is if we can get this part of the bundle then oh I um which I don't think would be too much of an issue it may take a little bit of time to get it but I think it would be a lot shorter time than trying to be able to wait for another way of getting it done um but like Carolyn says the big thing is is if we can go in there and just cut the ditch back down take the 20 inches out 22 Ines whatever the original elevations were bring it down to that but we can't all the material out it has to go on the sides and whoever is doing the work you know we tell them do a really good job make it 5050 all the way across that way nobody's getting more than somebody else um on their property that won't take that long to do but like carlyn said if we have to go ahead and try and haul it back and forth because I'll be honest with you you know as soon as you go ahead and you drive across somebody's lawn the light bulb and the refrigerator doesn't work anymore so uh I'm trying to avoid that for the liabilities of the town I mean granted we do have mats we can put down and drive across as long as we've got a uh a decent right of Entry because Crossing in from the street to the stream we that is not our entry our entry is is feasibly right down the middle of Brook so we can that's that is where our legality is we can drive right down the middle of the brook and we don't have to ask for permission for anybody but but we have to ask permission to be able to make sure the people are okay with putting the material on both sides they're okay with that we get everybody signed off on I don't see where it it it Red's right it's GNA help you know there's just no doubt about it how many trees are are growing in the ditch like I mean I know there's quite a few I was just looking at that an on an overview would that be okay people well well again I mean the the the town's got the right way through there and it's it's to maintain the depth of that dick so and again everybody on that street TR has water so I don't think anybody's going to complain about a a tree I realize that's going to take a little bit more work when they did it in the 70s there were no Tre we used to ride our snowmobiles all the way down there because it was it was clear wide open right and over the years people out up just remember that where there's trees there's Roots yeah and that becomes the problem when you try to to do the uh the ditch and ditch right right now and you have to get rid of those roots Vick's property is right at the cross street U Culver okay if you've got a smaller machine I I don't know what you know Kevin would want to try to use for that if it would be a mini excavator full mini but also we tried to go um of of the ditch there are two lots there one has been sold for a building lot it's not going to have grass on it I would quite imagine that that the the person who bought the lot would have no problem with them driving an excavator or something over that I mean construction hasn't even started so it's still basically it was you know it was it was a pumpkin field last year so yeah so I can see I'm sure that with you know just say hey can we do this it's going to take care of some of your water problem they're going to say of course yeah right and that'll also help out that one on on 22 Eastern a where where you've got the the detention area from Crestview which was required to be put in for that for them that have the condominium whatever you want to call it the all the buildings that between Eastern ab and going through yeah it is De D I'm GNA I'm sorry I'm killing their name um anyway that goes right through their property there is presently a pipe that goes across I was talking with Ralph Healey about it and allegedly the the stories that he was told by Upton was was the people that originally own that area right there didn't want a very big Pike put in their lawn so they only required they only allowed a small pipe um I'll be honest with you I do not know what the size of the pipe is but regardless of whatever the size it is it's backing up because it's got nowhere to go and once again we're going to go back to if you clean that whole ditch line out all the way down to the fire department I do believe you're GNA alleviate a lot of your problems there on 22 uh Eastern Al also with that big area that right now is behind the senior center which is obviously giving you the the mosquito issues Kevin I talked to that building owner two days ago yeah and he's for whatever needs to be done he's got a you know six months old that he wants to be able to play out in the yard without her getting chewed on by mosquito okay so that's the one that's right across from number 22 because I haven't approached anybody to be hon yep it's it's the yellow house on the left across from Carol MC so it's actually across from number 20 uh where Carol MC Bernie lives it's it's the yellow house yeah well yeah it's number 19 because I'm looking that I I just happen to be looking at GIS right now so yeah it's house number 19 Chris Harris has his hand up oh yeah Chris yeah so you you know I have a long history with Eastern Avenue and um I bought the property at 13 Eastern Avenue in uh in late um 2018 the first thing I did was go out take down the hedges near the near the near the ditch because they were worthless and um at the same time we did that we cleared manually at that point the ditch and we took any trees out of that ditch because I knew as a kid that's the way it was that's the way we maintained it I mean we used to have ice hockey ranks out there there used to be flows of water that were natural there with fish in them and um all that went away because everything got um uh ignored and and it was never maintained again so everything that this discussion has had is totally true and um I think the possible solutions that Kevin is presenting are totally on but I did buy right away that was the first thing I did so maybe it would be you know with the um fny Chris you look on the overview I was just looking at it and you're right your area is one of the clearest areas besides behind like with the neighborhood Outreach that you have maybe you could you know if you get together and we could work on a release thing just so we could start getting we know that everybody's property is here and everybody said yep go ahead and smooth out what you have and then we could work on costs and just try to get an idea of what this would be for long term and see if the town will fund it to get it done and it's certainly um as as Evans mentioned a bundled notice of intent which is this conservation you know law so that every you know we we can do something have it last for three years renew it every three years and regular maintenance is a lot cheaper than doing trying to do 40 years at one time so um I think Kevin is to be applauded for coming up with that idea and the conservation commission's been very receptive the Conservation Commission has been really nice they were a little leery because we're only the third community in the state that's doing this but yeah it's got to happen everywhere if if there's any way anytime soon that something can be done to try to get that pipe at 22 somehow cleaned out a little bit get the guy with his 22 is the one closest to sugala street is that the idea or no okay yeah yeah I I understand what you're saying Fred yeah I'll see if we can get the Jetter down there yeah and see if we can jet it out because it'll be on the north side of Eastern AB there's that catch Basin right now it's it's completely fill with water yeah on so end up probably flooding that area out when we do when we do do it because obviously we're we're introducing more water to try and flush the pipe um we'll see what happens not only that but it'll give us a real good idea of exactly where it's coming out too that's on the cross end or the other no the the one that what he's talking about is from that retention fond AC that's small I think Chris can tell you too that when we were kids and we tried to crawl through there that one is is pretty tiny yeah pretty small right well we're committed I I had a conservation board meeting yesterday and we sent that Amendment request in and I and I hope it gets approved in the next day or two and that and Nick Miller was at the meeting and he um said that he was working with um GZA because they're working engineering firm yes they they have all kinds of um other commitments in the area in Conway and different areas so they're going to get it done for us Nick promised that he was going to work with us so um I mean he just was appalled uh when I took him around and I did talk to Neighbors in the area and so um these large you know it's the you're trying to you have to figure out how the flow is because Crest View changed that was a receiving area from the mountain and when it got developed it pushed all the water into other areas and so you have to have a whole uh you know yes you can clean out the ditch but is it really going to carry the water away and that what you need to do is do all these things together at one time so we'll start the Conservation Commission has been lovely we've worked through all the damages of 23 21 and now 23 and so you know they're they're used to working with us in the sense that you know we have Desperate situ it's all the unintended consequences of large government passing a food Security Act that will cause 20 years of 30 years 40 years issues but you know we have we have Riverfront area we have bordering or isolated um you know buffer zones we have you know there's so many regulations that we have to worry about and comply and if you know we have an event where there's emergency you can work with the commission and do a little a little bit more so the the the idea is to be poised to do something but also to have a complete plan so if we don't have an event that doesn't mean we can't try to take care of it because it's terrible and I certainly have like I said so many pictures and I know how awful it is so I feel really bad I guess one good thing about this particular ditch is because it's more or less a seasonal ditch we you know we're not going to have to worry about upsetting any of the Sal Anders because we don't have them there you know this thing you know for for weeks and weeks and weeks now everybody's been having so much water and you know I just feel badly for everybody running those Su pumps and paying the nose well you know mine runs every 10 minutes dumping out on the deck every minutes dumping into my air right no so so Kevin I just had a question I had a question for you Kevin so obviously we can't make put in a bigger C without the other work being done so we would need to work backwards from the direction of flow to open up the channel till we got to the culbert and then who knows if we'd be able to replace it immediately but at least you have a channel where the water can go and one on cross street there were there seemed to be ditches all over the place to me but uh you know I didn't so live in that area so so there so there's a cobt or a pipe that goes underneath cross street which which is basically closer to the the beginning of the water heading MH Downstream um obviously the best thing to do would be to start at the fire station work your way back exactly but the sewer project when when they when they open up the road instead of Us opening up the road twice right when they start that um that's actually while we just I just finished my last thing with concom to allow us to go ahead and and replace that pipe and the walls on both sides we were going to see if we can try and increase the size of it you know but like like Fred says part of the problem is we can go ahead and we can put a bigger pipe in there I mean you know we clean out the north end of it so that way or excuse me the Upstream side so it won't the pipe itself won't fill up but it's going to back up because it's got 18 inches of debris that it's going to still have in front of it you know that's it's going to be trying to push against so unfortunately I I I can almost guarantee you we're not going to be able to get that that thing cleared or cleaned before um we get that pipe replaced but uh I don't think really think we want to go ahead and be ripping up the road twice at the same time because once once once we the contract is is like that close to being a or excuse me the bid packet is very close to being put out with the sewer once that's done um it's not going to take him very long you got 300 feet one way 600 feet another way if it takes them that long to do six you know 900 feet um and then after that then we're Milling down two inches replacing an inch and a half of baskball on Eastern Graz and cross with a new crosswalk on graves right that'll be the money the monies are already set off to a side through chapter 90 for the milling and and the pavement so I don't have to worry about not having money for that that's already been approved um the money has already been ated or is is going to be allocated for uh the project so it's it's not going to be a deal of well we can't do it because we don't have the money those two things we have the money or I have the money in place um I've already bought the pipe the pipe is basically sitting on our backyard just waiting for the opportunity to go ahead and throw on the ground um any questions on the swer or roadway Kevin you know what be really helpful if if you could just think of the Culver Replacements as a priority which culverts you we'll get the information from Nick but what I would like because of you know if we're going to do this in a non-emergency so you know you have the wetlands protection act you got to file all these permits for so which we're already done all all of that should DPC should have taken care of all that for Ross perfect perfect that is that is done which is what we're that we okay so then would you just prioritize the C so that we could make sure that we get them done depending on the money sure yep okay and we'll find the money somewhere I mean we really are searching for money and and like I said the um Christopher just filed a MVP Grant request where there's no match on Friday uh there was a deadline because uh he needed a letter of support from a Conservation District so I got that in with so I know he filed that and then if we have a little SE pot of money from you know um we get approval from the state to change that money around a little that will help and because what you're doing is all these permitting costs and all these different things you have to do is is is what costs money um if we have an event in the meantime we're we'll be ready to go um and the idea is always to have a plan so that you can act when we have the opportunity letters from people be awesome yeah hey I live at this you want me to draft a letter and get everybody to sign it and if you want yeah that would be helpful we love residents participation you know what it helps probably be easier than putting the cake together so yeah but not as anywhere much fun so all right I will work on that and at least you know if you talk with the neighbors or whatever just if we had a map and said all these people there's a star on this one they're good with it here's their signature because you know I've talked to a few people on the street and especially around I I really appreciate you all coming in I know it's so awful I've I've really been trying to figure out what to do and how we're going to pay for it and thank you so thank you coming in thank you all in touch appreciate it thank you all right public um oh got relate the you know what I can't I that angle I can't really just a little bit just in case someone raised their hand you know so many people were oh I know I know I know um I'm sorry we're a little late um so why don't you call come on up um we're talking about uh land conservation restrictions at this moment I'm I'm so excited about this I was you know was in in the first part of this so I was really very happy so hi hi you got to introduce yourself I am uh Lane Petro conservation director at the Franklin land trust Mike anelis anelis fire John Davis Historic Deerfield thank you so much okay so thank you all um so my new fact of the day is mosquitoes are not good swimmers I appr that know um so we are here because um the Frank L just has been working with Mike and Historic Deerfield to conserve um their properties in the North Meadow and Mike has um 23 Parcels 165 Acres just surveyed and um Historic Deerfield will have about 48 Acres um six Parcels mostly five but there's a little smidge that counts as a six six um so we've been working with them to draft um conservation restrictions to conserve the lands for agricultural use good night Watershed um protection wildlife habitat Scenic and historic um and we did a whole lot of fundraising in between so we've been in this process for for three years the conservation restriction that I have shared with all of you um for each project outlines what they can and cannot do on the property so they can't build more more unless they've asked for it um they can't put houses on it um what they can do is agriculture forestry um wildlife habitat Trails if they wanted but it is going to protect these lands for the uses that are currently in place um with everybody's signatur so the CR is back it has been final approval with the Department of Conservation Services which was no small feat um they're very very very very backed up um so it's been uh little bit tight in terms of getting this done um our executive director has now signed the Restriction all the attorneys everyone has Historic Deerfield Franklin land trust and all the state attorneys part of the process is that um we ask the town to vote to support these two conservation restrictions and then sign it as their approval that makes it statutory so these documents will last forever and not expire and they will travel with the properties so that's kind of the gist um Mike's land is is 100% Prime Farmland um the historic deer field except for the small my Moon shaped piece at the bottom of mil Village is also Prime Farmland the one in yellow yes the one in yellow yeah yeah um so I don't know if either of you have would like to say anything and then we can have questions or whatever you would like well I I just had a quick question um are we going to be I think in the past on some of the restrictions that have been put in place APS Is this different this is different so um this is a conservation restriction but it has very strong agricultural language in it excellent yes and so that was just the process that that both of the land owners wish to go through what happened is is unfortunately the APR system doesn't uh appreciate the prime soils that are flood related so um Franklin Land Trust has gone out and raised enough money that um it was worth putting under restriction basically yeah otherwise well Mike would have gotten hardly any money for Prime farming that's why we're not using the APR system it is 100% flood plane so so yes I know and that's why they can't the is restricted they can't do do it so yeah having you raise the um money so that we can put this lovely land that has been farmed for right Generations under protection is fabulous and Historic Deerfield they're donating the Restriction we raised money for all the due diligence all the all the process so that's wonderful yeah and all the particles were surveyed the ones you know so all the mics were surveyed the title yeah everything is cleared up and so the pins are already gone um for the most of them um but yeah so we're looking actually to close these before the end of the month because some grant funding that we've got has been um they've actually given us two extensions because we haven't been able to get this done well I will make the motion that we support this project two two projects and restrictions I'll second the motion just to say that um the these properties absolutely belong in conservation right it's farming and it's such a beautiful spot um and it needs to stay that way it's the best soil probably in the world top 5% and um you know but all just on my little soap box here we're also putting so much land in conservation and restriction that we have nowhere to build really and just had a weekend you know Summit uh talking about affordable housing and know where to build and housing is so expensive and we have no place no land because everything's trapped up so um not this land this land is for farming This Land Is Beautiful can't be built on it's not designed there but I always just like to take take a second to stand say we need housing we do understand that we're struggling with that and we you know I'm gonna stand in my soap box and say our zoning doesn't allow for dents bingo so we've got an opportunity with a property that was uh um leased by Yankee Candle where there's already Corporate Offices yeah there's already infrastructure there yeah if we could go do some like a 40R project there that's very dense perfect you know yeah mixed use stuff there that's lots of housing yeah because the state everywhere in the country it's the same problem it is and there are corporations that are buying up hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of houses yes to rent to people at twice what they should be renting them at yes so these problems are not unique to Deerfield they are not unique and and I would say you know many of the lands and you know so Mike is under chapter 61 a so his tax base won't change that's a flood plane so there it's true it's building but we totally we work all the time and and many times with land owners well I would say always I always try to balance um do you want to keep a few house Lots out and protect this do you want to you know and a lot of folks do because maybe their kids might or maybe they just need that you know income that you know and so we we do try to balance that thank youate that but we are trying to really work on for this this is just Prime Property it's it is fabulous and I I can't thank you enough really for the effort because what this does is allow Mike to stay in business yeah really it's awesome so we're we're really supportive of this I think I think I think it might be really good I know I'm interrupting your motion but to hear from Mike and to from John also I was point out that John's been very patient going to the and stopping so John please no I just wanted to say how grateful we are that you can support this it's very much a part of what our mission is to talk about agricultural history and the really unique layout of the North and South Meadows and the street in Old Deerfield and um and I should say that um we pay taxes on this achorage that we lease to Farmers and we will continue to pay taxes even after this restriction so there'll be no change in that thank you thank you John very grateful uh yeah we also appre appreciate the support from everybody and everything that the land trust has done to make all this possible as well yeah I mean it's been a long three long three years everything going on pretty stressful yeah so we're happy to finally see the end here and appreciate your the support on all will you be able Michael to like build a like replace a barn or of thing yeah we have certain Clauses in there that still allows us um to repair Barns and stuff like that we have a envelope and some higher elevation stuff if we ever wanted to put new barns okay good there's a lot of different stuff that we uh went back and forth on with green houses and what we can do and stuff like that out there right so it's pretty open it's it's flexible for agriculture and they're a more the conservation restrictions are a little more user friendly than aprs in general because there's not federal and state monies that is you know so this is kind of a a little bit of a a movement by you know to be using these restrictions for Farmland as opposed to just for Forest right right yeah it's great it's great so we've second it right yes yes all those in favor Tim I Trevor McDaniel I Caroline that's I thank you so much I I really appreciate everything and everyone's efforts thank you John so did you draft us a letter conservation restrictions I am a notary or Casey are you a notary I Amo so I can I have the pages and okay for each one and that would be lovely if we can do it yeah let's do it yes let's just get it steal your your submiss as well I don't I have your P assigning ceremony yes but let me give you I have thank okay okay so that saying I'm I'm I'm really thankful for all your efforts and I'm sorry it seemed like we were doing phone t for while literally so you will oh this is great and we'll get this done right away perfect you want a folder to hold how's this for efficiency signing notarizing all in one and then um so I will come and pick those up here I can well you can do mic toour I can do you mic whichever works here carollyn Casey you want to do these thank you thank you John thank you so much again of the opening Mike thanks okay next item on the agenda is hydrology model update um like I said um I we're hoping to get permission from the state to redirect some of that grant money um and Nick Miller had was supposed to get me a quote for the meeting tonight but I don't have a quote but it will generally be in the $40,000 range so that was why Chris um done had put in the MVP application okay and again there's no match but if there was we could use um Conservation District match money the board was fine with supporting that um and we are and the board is also was the fine supporting the change of use for the FY 24 um you know we're doing more follow up on Bloody Brook so because because it's a gorol um assessment that you want to do at the same time that you're doing the hydraulic assessment and so hopefully we can get that done at a cheaper rate because we're doing it together but I don't have a price so it will just have to go on to the next meeting agenda if that's okay yeah all right um next item on the agenda well I have an update to just waiting for Tim to sit and then we'll I just want to give an update on the sewer oh okay um so we're gonna skip we're gonna skip uh to unanticipated you know what we could do can we do the Time Capsule first can I just quick select board update y oh all right if you want to do that on yeah okay so I just want to give everyone an update that this we had our last uh sewer construction meeting at the plant today because the uh substantial completion is next week and the uh full completion of the job is the end of the end of May so uh there's uh punchless stuff to do but I think pretty much everything is set at the plant they have um couple more things to finish out this month and they're really cleaning out everything so they're they're pretty much done um Bob Walden gave the uh walkthrough inspection of the property he's just waiting on the financial uh final architectural drawings and uh completed work U then he'll he'll sign off on that so um our sewer project is very close to finished um and it is done on budget so and on time the um the other thing that I want to mention which is kind of distressing is the effluent pump leading out of the plant showed Tim today um it is uh it is Fallen apart so completely broken in half and I think with the flooding in our March storms and the river was so High um the whole embankment is starting to go so uh I talked with DPC about getting a camera through there to see how what the condition of the pipe is and then also we need to kind of lean on your expertise on Sliding Away uh and try to figure out where we go from here and um did you get um were they able to get any camera up there I got a camera on at all I S I have no no you sent me the thing but I they're not going to run a camera until they can uh stop the flow because you got to stop the flow to the river so we have to put that in the into the uh irration tanks and fill those up for about an hour while we run cameras through but DPC is wants a request from us to do that so he said he would run the cameras through pipe that's there but the whole rest of the pipe half of it's gone and the it's just eroding the I know but okay so uh I I'll make a motion that we authorize the camera look because we gotta we never get what's going on I was just gonna say we can't we can't do anything until we know how much is how far back we have to go okay so is there a second for that second all those in favor I T McDaniel i carollyn n i him know to get started what I um there's two things that we can do immediately I I um Darren never called me back before um the meeting started but I left a message for Darren Davis um the state engineer at nrcs and he um hopefully can come out and look at it tomorrow that' be great I told him it um uh what I did is go back you know all our um R gaug range gauge right okay so this just to make sure we agree um the we're going to pick the event as April 12th when you on your rain gauge was four and three4 um Tim had a had like 4.6 and mine was like 4.4 inches yeah um but you're the closest one to the Sewer Point yeah the river's just been so high yeah and it's so we're goingon to use that as the date and then we're going to use use the March 23rd storm and the March 10th storm um where we were all over four inches again yeah um as as creating the damages so from December 18th right but the reason why it's very important and you guys agree is that we're going to use the April 12th storm because you have 60 days from April 12th to get the application in yeah so ifon comes out and looks at the bank I I don't know offand how much uh how how much footage we're talking about but it looked from your pictures well I would say I mean from where the waterfall is now to the river is probably 50 feet and then we'll probably have to go back into the bank probably 100 feet back the other way okay how long on the bank of the river I would say it's probably it's not it's probably half the width of this room de say maybe yeah I mean if are do you think like I mean if you had to yeah from that wall the steps to probably you Tim is about where the um if you casy secur the embankment on both sides and then went back towards the sewer plant that whole area needs to get done it's not 100 feet but it's um width are you talking you talking Bank width are you talking trying to say underneath 100 feet have you seen it yet Kevin yeah I I Eric called me this afternoon and and I soon as he did I went right down and I took a peek at it yeah yeah you're right the embankment is is pretty much shot on um again like you it was it was the river came up that high and it took it out yeah um so you've got that one drain that goes over there uh that that's just regular yard drain and that's right that that head wall has collapsed now you've got your if fluid uh pipe coming out um the head wall is failed um it drops down into a hole yeah somehow or other the water's going backwards no no actually it's going it's going into something there because if you actually look in the water about 10 feet out yeah you can see the water coming up you can see it bubbling oh okay well yeah must be going somewhere some sort of void the water swirls around and and goes down and then it works its way back so optimistically we're not getting away with less than a half a million oh I have no idea what number we're talking half a mill was a thought that just came into my head when I was thinking earlier but it's it's all GNA depend on what what you gonna get stuck with for for okay but this is the reason why I'm there's a lot of background with Joe and Natalie okay and say it potentially could be more when we get more information all right um because this is we're going to attribute this to you know our storm damage yeah yeah because this has been happening over time because this is one of the things that we took off the sewer right plans because we couldn't afford it yeah so we're g you know this I'm and it and it fell apart I know and it fell apart it didn't look like it was going to fall apart while but we've had it's gone right and it's all these storms so okay so I called Darren he's coming out to look at it from the ewp program yeah and that would be the if he can just make sure he gets in contact with Eric so a he knows he's on property and B he can actually get him through the gate easier absolutely come unless he could meet with you guys yeah right but I'm hoping he'll call me back pretty soon it was just at the end of the day um and then I'm gonna write an email to Joe and Natalie and tell them that you know not only are we short 600,000 MH from the road repairs just to stabilize right and we have a few more roads to fix plus now we got this damage I'm it so um you know we want that second payout if we can all right sure okay otherwise I'm not really sure you know what money I mean we could do this we're going have to just evaluate what's it going to cost to do I mean Christopher Christopher dun's on them but I'm I'm not sure this will not qualify for 3 319 I do not believe Christopher will will it and and also I don't see this as a MVP at this point although we could maybe squeeze it in under MVP if if we're upgrading some kind of climate resiliency I don't know we'd have to look at that see it um and that so we tell Dave we can do the camera work and work with Eric to stop the flow and then get the camera in see where we're at I don't know how you I mean you just got to write off the rest of the pipe all the way out it's just gone yeah correct not like you can run a camera through it there's nothing it's yeah because you because you see that second sinkhole that that huge sink hole that's right next to it exactly and that's all in line with the pipe so right it's it's broken in several places then yeah yeah okay all right I just want to bring you guys up the speed on what we found today day and always fun for I know it is really depressing of course I have to say I know it's bad but when I first heard you talk about it and then when I saw it I said well it's only a 12inch pipe I know you know it's not a 48 inch pipe is this a 48 no no so hopefully that's a good thing well I don't know oh doesn't matter it's all the permitting and all the it does need to be bigger anyways it does need to be bigger but oh all right anyway so next next item on the agenda is Time Capsule placement right so Chris uh change number one is June 8th now and not May 11th oh okay yeah so let let me just go step through really quickly so the latest concept is plan a was near bloody Brook monument in um conjunction with other enhancements bloody Brook Monument Park but that's Complicated by the possibility of artifacts um buried on site and lots of permits and time delays Etc so plan B is to put the time capsule in front of the 1821 Congregational Church at the Northwest juncture of the North Main Street sidewalk at the uh and at the uh cement sidewalk that leads back to the community Wing at the north side of the church um Plan B details is po concrete slab to support the 350th time capsule bench already produced the bench could be positioned diagonally a short distance from both sidewalks pointing directly at the Town comms the cap the capsule itself would be diagonally buried between the bench and the two sidewalks pavers would be placed over the Time Capsule over which folks might periodically Place containers of seasoned flower seasonal flowers or plants can IAL Shrubbery would be planted on either side of the bench itself allowing visitors to either look towards the commons or look back at towards the new library aners can can I interrupt we would need um yes yeah go ahead all right just wanted to ask you are we writing off the bloody Brook I thought that was such a great spot we're writing it off for bearing the Time Capsule but we're not writing it off for enhancements for what for enhancements improvements but and you're for sure you can't put the Time Capsule there it would take um a a mountain of work to make that happen basically there's all CS of historical umsu bullet you know musket balls and historical artifacts and yeah the permit the permitting process for that is is is quite lengthy to be able to go ahead and do because they would consider that a arch archaological excavation even though that's not the reason why you're digging the hole but that's is the end result as far as they're concerned and like I said the the permitting process is is quite lengthy um and that is the reason why um they were looking to move to another location and just a real quick one uh I did Dig Safe that out the other day um I'm just waiting on one more to come back and we should know where where every where all our utilities are so it's yeah bloody Brook wasn't perfect really but um there was it turned to be so complicated with the archaeological permitting it would have been a great place to put it but didn't happen but we think the next best place is what we're suggesting so pending the Dig Safe results because I'm we're concerned about sewer and water lines more than anything also a a we'll make it front of the Tilton no there isn't I'm sorry what is there a time capsule in front of the Tilton or is that just a plaque from the last time just a plaque just a plaque okay all right we we thought there one there but no one no one uh we couldn't find one do we have do we have one from the 300th no no okay all right and so um so so at the end of this little summary we need select board approval for this site in concept pending what the Dig Safe results of okay so but the bloody bur Monument Park enhancement still need to be done so the way we look at it um is four phases between 2024 and 2025 the first one is take down the large dead I think it's a maple tree um to eliminate the dangers to cars and pedestrians and also possible damage the monument itself in a windstorm because there's big chunks of of branches coming down now and it's it's really hazardous right now said that he was on top of that right tree tree is end of life and Jims is going to be on it within the next week and a half are we perfect another tree or not uh that's going to be part of the enhancement Trevor that um Chris was talking about for the whole area so when when that tree's Gone Chris do you w to can you just go over the timeline of what um it yeah exactly so um so the second phase which is kind of spans a bit of time between 24 and 25 is to assess and get quotations for repairs and cleaning of the monument itself and the repairs might include murdering joints and some foundational work and John noi is already in contact with the U professional that did the work up at the Civil Ro monument in front of dear Phil Academy because he's probably more um U experienced with dealing with bigger monuments and so that assessment will be happening soon when he's in the area and then the idea is that John will probably from the Deerfield historic commission standpoint put through a CPA request to do any repairs and cleaning and that would occur in the spring of 2025 um but meanwhile in 2024 you know the friends of Deerfield want a spearhead upgrading the planting in the circular Garden to the north of the monument it used to be a fountain in the 19 early 1900s Etc and then it was shut off and converted to a to a garden but um it could stand to have a a lot of different plants in it and perennials and things like that people have done a great job putting some things in annually but it's kind of sporadic so we're thinking we just clean that up and make that Park look more beautiful and uh and then part of that that enhancement of landscaping and look what happened after the monument was repaired and cleaned around the base of the monument we do more Landscaping there also that sounds so lovely thank you um do you have any does Tim or Trevor do you have any question um just wondering uh when we look at tree replacement do we think it's worth considering trees that don't that have a certain height limit that they don't get above or what do you thinking about Chris absolutely I mean these trees would probably max out at 15 feet 12 to 15 feet they'd probably be flowering excellent Ian we we're doing this we're we're doing the same thing in Laurel Hill we have a nightmare up in that Cemetery with these big trees coming down and um and uh so the replacement strategy is for more contained trees that also have a beauty element of flowering yep excellent thanks Kevin do you have any questions question of Chris no actually Chris and I we've been working together emailing back and forth phone calls uh multiple phone calls uh you know I long story short is is if you would all agree and vote to allow it to go there whatever it is we're gonna make it fit all right so that this is where it's going to go this is going to be the best place we will make it work so really all I need is is a vote to allow us to go ahead and put it there wonderful well and then and then I'll then I'll stake out exactly where it's going to go and then we can move forward from there and we also need a vote for these enhancements even in 2024 to the flower garden the north of the monument that you know you allow us to work with other towns people to get that done sure um so I will make a motion to support the new location of the Time Capsule uh near I I will just say near the Congregational Church the 1821 building um and I will also um uh be supportive of the any enhancements that you will be doing on the bloody Brook Monument subject to funding by CPA in future cycles and and prin of Deerfield and prin well y okay is there any further discussion hearing none all those in favor kill GI chor McDaniel I carollyn N I thank you very much Chris thank you so much Kevin I appreciate um you having patience with all the changing of the locations um but so so the final thing about that is it will be June 8th now thanks for the breathing room by the way um and yeah well I think everybody felt that at this point but um uh so we're thinking about um 11:30 A.M rain or shine Time Capsule you know ceremony and then and and then the other approval we need I guess is is to be able to use the town hall for a 1200 p.m start um lunch in reception and so so we need your approval on that and um and then we intend to send out invitations to many of the persons in the town that they were some from departments some just private individuals who contributed a lot during the 350th year and then it will also be open to the public and we'll we'll advertise it on social media oh perfect Saturday that wouldn't be a problem right Casey I don't think so as long as somebody's here to open the building I I will I'll be here to open the building yeah so be Saturday it would be Saturday the U 8th of June and the building would need to be open probably at 10: a for the K grp yeah it's June 8th um can you just make sure that that gets penell in Chris pencils then on our calendar and it's likely they would do setup on uh Friday June 8 June 7th if if that's possible yes it's no problem Chris okay thank you we'll make that happen um next item on the agenda is the 19 H 19 1888 designer senior oh wait yes I'm sorry we do not have an update for that oh senior senator okay hold on yes um then so yeah no you know what I had so many notes here that I took took over that agenda item um 1888 designer recommendation for review and approval so Tim so um we had a a team that really worked well together um Christopher dun was helping coordinate and uh and get everyone in the room at the right time uh Julie chalant from the finance committee and the town building advisory committee was another member and we had um Vern Harrington formerly of uh the street associate Builders uh as a construction expert and U we had Joseph mdty from shelburn Associates he's an architect of 45 years so they were invaluable in helping us to evaluate um seven proposals uh we narrowed in our first round we n this to Fork firms to talk with and um then after an interview process we narrowed it yet again to two PE two firms both of them were are within about 15 minutes of Deerfield uh one of the firms actually built the bank across the street um and um after some discussion post interviews we settled on the order of riddle Architects there in ammer and um secondarily um Jester Pope Fraser which is also um you know as I said 15 minutes away um so uh before we make any motions people want to have specific questions you want to ask so and this is uh just the idea of hiring these people um I guess just for the public we're looking to to hire an architectural firm to work with us to design um moving Town Hall into the 18 88 88 Building and along with an addition right yeah so I mean we we did this unfortunately um in 2022 and um we didn't have a full million Grant in hand and we were struggling to um we we plan to use mostly CPA money for the entire project right the firm that was hired was from Boston yeah um I had not uh I didn't agree with that decision but um I was one of six or seven people involved and uh we ended up hiring this Boston firm they came up with a plan that was unbuildable because it was too expensive um in this round we stress from the outset we have limited funds we're not going to use tax-based money we're going to use grants and CPA funds and you have to be able to work within this budget and I think we got a group either one of these Architects could do this job and deliver what we're looking for um some new space which is easier to build um and you know easier to make meet the current codes we also decided that in addition the the main part of the structure the existing structure that's historic uh in nature is the exterior of the brick work every firm that's looked at this building is go just goes wow I mean this is amazing brick work of course you know they're Architects they're looking for a fee so there there that element but I think both of these firms what separates them from the others is that they are specialists in historic Restoration in our area so so um in fact both of them use birkshire design as the the site plan consultant and Berkshire we're very familiar with their work they've helped us with the L lot for sure so um and they they both had some beautiful projects that they've done that sort of mirror what we're looking to do there fix the exterior the old building make the the first two floors usable um do some work to to um keep the basement area dry where they can put in you know mechanical units or like heat pumps or uh you know to make it more energy efficient and and then a new structure with an elevator so that you can access the old building and also the two floor structure uh building and elevator um building that's new um so do we um either of them come with a fee structure or how so this is the the Massachusetts and Municipal bidding rules are often contradictory right and you can't talk to people about money before you decide they're qualified right right um If This Were a private If This Were a private project you'd be having those discussions simultaneously right unfortunately that's not the law yeah um so I don't know if Christopher's actually and uh if he has anything he wants to chime in yes he was he was part of the process helping us lead this thing all right are you outside yeah I am I had to step outside because the uh the kids were getting ready for bed um yeah so uh as Tim was saying it's a qualifications based process so we really weren't aren't able to ask about fee until we've selected someone to enter into contract negotiations with um Joe Maddie the architect on the committee did kind of um you know just chat with them to to understand you know given the kind of unique circumstances um of kind of taking over project Midstream um you know how how they would deal with be in that kind of situation and so we did get a sense from each firm how they would handle that but again to Tim's point it's a qualifications based process right and then you talk money once you pick somebody right and right all of the firms that we talked to said what we need to do as as a town and as as a committee is to be very decisive about what we want and to explain to them what we need yes and um both of these firms said I don't have any ego I am perfectly happy to do modest architecture right so what that signals is they've gotten the message that we have a certain amount of money yeah we're not going to use real estate tax money and at the end of the day we're going to restore a historic building make it useful again and have new space and an elevator to make both spaces work together um and they will also be using air source heat pumps and everything to reduce to to meet the goals that the governor and the state have I mean Baker had the same goals as Neely does so it's not question of it's a it's a it's science-based program and um yeah so what I'm hoping to do is to get a motion to allow um our OPM which is P3 and me as a representative of the select board to begin negotiations with ridle um and if we can't reach an agreement then to begin negotiations with with our second choice very very I in the first round in the first round the second choice was the first choice and the second choice was our first choice now right so they sort of flipped positions fantastic companies I I know of them both and have worked with some right and they've both got long Repeat Performance for you know they've got one of Nichols College has been working for 17 years with Jer Pope right and uh and Co has similar they did some great work in amers on a very similar building h College yeah and uh yeah so 79 South Pleasant in ammer is a is an old clab structure and they built a new structure next to it linked it by little glass uh you know cross Crossway and uh so yeah I know it's a good choice I support it um I'm will to make that a motion no second the motion is there any more discussion all those in favor Tim LG CH M Daniel I carollyn that's I and I just wanted to one piece I forgot is that we have funds that were already approved for this purpose that we we just plan to continue we will use whatever we can from the previous study and I think most of that is not related to the interior design that they came up with but it's related to um the measurements of the building some of the uh destructive examination they did what the bricks look like um they're going to have to do some of that but um we've asked you know we asked The Architects to reach out to the previous firm and see what if anything they can get from them um so they can maybe um not have to do as an extensive a more of a verification but do you have a question on what fund you said I did I had a question about funds because at your request him I had Chris do some research on a vote for um use of ARA funds and we don't have a formal vote we see discussion but not a formal vote right right this is actually this is actually CPA money yeah it's CPA money it's for this part for this for this yeah so and the timeline is to try and be able to bring some um preliminary designs to the public have some public hearings in beginning of July refine things by the end of August we would have cost estimates and uh you know I guess they call it schematic design everybody slightly differently about what that state will be right and um there'll be more input from the public and um then we'll bring something to fall town meeting uh about um you know a a use of significant use of CPA funds to do the historic restoration portion and then to um use the $4 million grant that Senator Mary warrren and McGovern helped us out with um what what's the date do we have to expend that by what the grant money yeah there's this is something maybe Chris can speak to because we it's going to be a process I mean it's it's federal government grant so is there a date that we have to worry about Chris that we have to spend it by so they haven't uh released their guidelines just yet um so the the those are being refined I guess amongst Congressional staff um the way the process will work is basically um I think everyone's familiar with the USDA Community Development Fund uh Rural Development Fund from uh I Trevor correct me if I'm wrong but I think we use that for the wastewater treatment PL yes so so basically this earmark has created a a pool of money in that fund and we have to apply to that fund to access that money um so they've already sent us you know some initial steps we can take to kind of prepare for when we're able to enter into that process um but as in terms of you know when the money has to be spent by we don't have that info just yet oh yeah but if it's coming through rural USDA it's okay it's not the same as regular grant money where you have to expend it usually by a once it's committed we just have to fill out the paperwork once it's committed it's not doesn't have an end date like a lot of the other grants do so it's okay but obviously sooner you spend it the less expens no the less expensive the materials are so I'm not worried about that but I was worried about you know if we have you I mean usually a lot of the you don't want to you don't want to lose out because you weren't able to get the project on on course yet the good thing is that um Warren I spoke with Elizabeth Warren a couple of times about this by phone and um and also Jim McGovern was fabulous about supporting this they all really like the project um I I talked to McGovern's Aid and uh said gez if I known there was all the support I would have asked for six million he said well you know they might not have given it to you that's right so you asked for the right amount of money it worked it worked yep okay um next item on the agenda is um we're not ready to do the contract for the um tree filter up near the our sidewalk there in um Oldfield right Casey no okay um so the next item is then arpa we're not gonna do that or okay so I gave you a list of projects as they were reported to treasury on Monday for the arpa funds we have to do this report every year um but to the point of the discussion point a minute or so ago um in terms of the 1888 building it would be a good idea for the board to take a formally to allocate funds right but I do have a request and it's based on to do it tonight do we no just some right concern on my part um if so I know that there was an intent to utilize the remaining funds from the um the AR remaining arpa funds for the 1888 building right but since the 1821 building is an old structure and we could find surprises I've been thinking about this would the board consider allocating some funds in the case that we have unforeseen expenses that could come up well the town also have to figure out how to De able to short call or do that roundabout front of the high school so maybe in next week from now on top of it I'm on top of it having a conversation there's leftover MVP money right yes I'm having a conversation with Chris Nolan and with Brenda and I will get back to Darius next week okay I'm On Top we have two other left we have two pots of MVP money left we have two pots in special funds but we also have um another alloc another piece of left over all right yeah and I need I I actually would like to um just verify a few numbers in the update the case provided so okay um do it next week or yeah the I just wanted to bring it up so we can can keep talking about it because we do have to allocate those funds and have signed contracts before the end of the year okay we will um maybe so speaking of the 1821 building um you're moving forward on that contract I have I'm actually waiting to hear back from sxo um I had sent them a request they we had been talking about something I sent them a request I haven't heard back from my contact over there so I'll let you know as soon as I have more information okay I I just want to make sure we get those repairs going yeah no it's it's basically I think just giving them a little more breathing room to the correct me if I'm wrong the original contract was calling for a spe specified time of start and completion and saxo's concern was that we really need to open it up first see because although structures North is an excellent you know historic Church restoration engineer we we don't want to be surprised and then find out we need to bring in a different type of equipment right so that's fine I think that's what Casey's trying to iron out that's what I was trying thanks okay okay um so when you can are we did we authorize you going forward that if this is okay contract to sign the contract no but if you want to do that you would I would want you to take a vote yeah I would I will make that motion um that to um authorize Casey to sign the contract as soon as this um gets ironed out second is there any further discussion Noe hearing none all those in favor Tim Hill I faor McDaniel I Caroline N I please get going on that you know I I'm so worried about that okay um what do we have on here oh municipal hours of operation yes so I became aware of the requirement in the bylaw to open on Fridays I honestly I can't I literally can't remember every bylaw I apologize um so if the board I I think you took we took a formal vote to close so we should probably have you folks take a formal vote to open um on Fridays from now on I think we're back to I mean we did this when we didn't have any staff at all and it was Co so it was allowing us to really get our work done and now we have filled out the office positions quite a bit Yeah up to spe um oh for sure yeah we have new new staff starting and so I think also um I agreee with Trevor that but within each department there should be flexibility for um the managers to say this staff person is going to have three hours where they're not going to be disturbed right it's important get your job done yeah for sure yep and we're we've got some great leaders in each of these departments and so yes I trust their judgment I do too so this is for all departments so make a motion for the municipal offices yes for all departments and the municipal offices um open that you control yes um 8 to four right or nine to four no N9 to four nine to four nine to four Monday through Friday Monday Monday through Friday okay and you made the motion yep second all those in favor Tim h i Trevor McDaniel I carollyn Ness I um do we need Christopher dun for anything else no oh Christopher you don't have to yeah and also Kevin thank you Chris I um does anyone have any questions more for Kevin nope okay Kevin thank you for coming I appreciate that thanks Kevin very cool thank you everybody have a good night YouTube thanks all Christ night Chris upcoming sewer bills and Rel water readings yes so I was advised um end of last week so I put it on the agenda to discuss it with you that we need to get those bills out for Revenue purposes Brenda talked to you about Trevor yeah um I would like some manner of support from the board so that we can connect and get those things facilitated because otherwise we could face no we got to talk to Heather because I know that she's been you know she struggling to get the Precast certified for the water department and I think she's got there now but that there might be a timing thing but we need this like really stress either that or we need to come up with a different system for sewer bills so um that was actually part of a conversation I had about right I we could do the same thing we we could do the same thing we do with um you know we'll be doing with the first two two quarters of taxes where we can estimate based on last year and then the bill was more of a settled up and we would so that did pass a town meeting and that doesn't go into effect until FY 26 right exactly just the methodology I I mean we'll we we'll talk to her first and see if we can get some pry it's I have to tell you it's pretty hard to be free I know I know exactly that's what I mean water district gives us free they do give us free so we can't be too picky but we do also have to get it in time or else it's no good so well but the other thing is is I want to make sure that we um that there's somebody sort of shepherding this on in the administration position can alleviate some stress on other employees so that we can get this done without creating a huge level yeah last time it was really rough on estim let's yeah so that's why Brenda and I had started working on this and I wanted to yeah you're gonna have to check with do though you can do that I we'll have to talk but I think what what I'm more concerned about now is finding a way for maybe the two of us to work on this talk to Heather and and the and Stanley and all about it yeah okay okay okay um we have two permits up next Deerfield Academy alumni weekend one day yep um make a motion for June for the alumni reunions it's um is it several days or is it just well it's setup days you get setup day and yeah it's a three- day time period I believe three three- day time period with setup on either side yep um it's June 7th 8th and 9th you want motion yes yep I'll make a motion to approve the one-day liquor licenses for June 7th 8th and 9th uh for um trustees academ Trustees of dear field Academy okay all those in favor Tim Trevor McDaniel I Carolyn nessi and then we have one for um pvma Green River Festival exhibit opening at Memorial Hall Museum on May 11th from 12: to 2 and it will be BBC beer and so I'll entertain a motion for that a motion to I'll make a motion to approve the one day liquor license for May 11th for pumpic Valley Memorial Association second all those in favor Tim Hil I Carn nessi Trevor McDaniel I okay we don't have any letters of support this week although I was going to try to squeeze one in for the rural Aid no I know I know need to get done I ended up making phone calls it's okay um ly lot and other developments we covered yep I think most of that's covered in Chris's report yeah we can we can read his report um is there any appointments I don't see anything for election officers I think we put this on as a place yeah we did last last uh time but not anything right now okay um and were we going to do um Town account and job description so I had printed this out and given it to you guys a few weeks ago I have more copies um this is appr earlier this month um and it reflects there was one slight change they had been make on it but it what you see now is what they had approved so essentially this outlines um the essential functions with a few more details after I talked to uh Brenda Brenda and I worked on this pretty uh significantly to make sure we tried to capture as much as we could um but it does capture things like attending town meeting um for financial purposes you know providing uh guidance and the oversight of guidance for budgets oversight of budgets and pay and payments so it covers the gamut but it is a little more fleshed out than the old job description was it also follows the new format am I remembering maybe seeing a a version of this at some point or did I yes you I I had given you a version a few weeks ago um but it was right as we were getting into the crunch time of town meeting so I had just I had added it to this agenda hoping we could um have you guys review it but then I realized I had forgotten to put this into the meeting materials folder in the S drive so okay I have to tell you I'm really worried about placing Brenda well this is part of our planning process for succession planning because we need to get this addressed and and I are going to sit down go through some succession planning we'll probably want to speak to you all at one point at some point I know it's just because we need to come up with timelines and you know make sure that we're well the budget as well there's so few qualified I know and that's that's the reason we wanted to get started on this yeah um so speaking of a question speaking of um you know job descriptions we had um a originally set up meeting for May 8th at 6 o'clock to talk about start talking about the highway job description but um Chris Nolan had scheduled a MVP meeting at 6 so um I'm wondering we we had the eth and the 13th is there any possible way that we could um reschedule that meeting on the 8th maybe are you are you guys available um I mean we could do Tuesday night or Friday or I mean we don't or we could go into the next week I we have one on the 13th maybe we could do one on the 20th yeah although I was hoping to take a vacation I haven't had a vacation since 2019 so I was hoping my husband gets through graduation that's all three graduations I month to would be able to graduate and stuff what are you suggesting well we have we had the meeting set up for the 8th and 13th so the MVP meeting now is scheduled for 6 on the eth which was originally when you were going to talk about the job dire 13th and then just see where we right right I mean so it will give me some time to gather some job descriptions for you all to look at perect I also have a suggestion about that I think it might be useful if we maybe had somebody take a look at the entire operation and give us some insight into how things are running yes um and in fact this was a suggestion from um Brenda and I think it was it's useful to consider yeah Chris did you have a a comment I just had a quick question because I'm probably out of the loop here but is Brenda going to retire or move on very soon yeah he will be retiring at the end of the fy2 fiscal year so what we need to do is we need to create a succession plan so we can bring in a replacement that you know has the qualifications we need and has time to be trained okay fantastic yes and Kevin is Kevin Kevin is moving on he's moving on in July July 7th or something like that so yeah that's why I point I was just thinking about how we could you know after Brenda and I discussed it I thought it made sense if we could maybe engage somebody to yeah start an evaluation and maybe talk to you know we need some we need eyes on this that are familiar with that type of operation because I'll be honest with you I'm not an expert yeah no we I I have I have somebody in mind I'm love to chat with you all about it I would like to well I would like to too but I think we need to first I would like to have a conversation with the person there is somebody that yeah um Brenda had suggested we'd like to have that conversation right and report back to the board and report back from us on the 13th oh that's fine yeah and just so everyone's aware Trevor's been talking with some DPW experts um I've at the MMA conference this weekend we we discussed the possibility of um having conversations with our neighboring select board members about how their dpws operate possibly you know talking with their DPW Chiefs I think it's a good good idea that you brought up Casey that uh it's an opportunity is when transitions take place to find out whether the operation is is needs to be you know perhaps refocused yeah so um and also the the other person I have in mind Casey to talk to is Chris brushard he's the one that helped us do the uh bundled noi okay so you're gonna have to give me his contact information yeah he's um he now works for Mass do but he was the Becket Su superintendent and so are we still on the I just just to clarify where we right well it sort of was offline it's still the accountant right um are we looking to I mean I looked at an earlier version of this but I'm happy to you know I just want to take a take a little yeah I don't want I don't want to do it tonight I was trying to figure out whether we GNA is this us for us to review so we could yes because that's what has been approved by Personnel okay okay good excellent so we'll come back to you on that I yeah I want to be able to read it um no it was just that Brenda's bringing up Brenda triggered Kevin who is leaving in July so that's why I want to make sure we on top of this sure plus we had the conflict with the meeting that we already sent up so just make sure Chris knows it um not to worry about the select board meeting on 8 right he and I talked about it before he left all right um is there anything you want to add um Casey to your in terms of updates yeah I got a couple um so like I said earlier I'm follow following up on the relish contract um I've been following up on the landfill solar project the library Rena project sort of you know trying to make sure I'm in the loop on with what the OPM needs for assistance from us um I've been I've had a couple conversations with leely about the 83 to 85 North Main Street property and that is fully uh We've supplied all the information and all the payments that we need to for that um I'm just keeping track of pdh vac in case they need signatures or any kind of facilitation on my part um I've been attending the rural Affairs meetings I'm also we've had several records requests that I'm working on with other staff members um but right now now that town meeting's over um I've been working to make sure that we have all the information that Cassie needs so that she can finish putting together um any the submission to the AG's office and I did Kathy was looking through some materials and she um she found something that was really encouraging so as you know the personel bylaw amendment was approved at town meeting um it turns out that does not have to go to the AG's office for approval so it will go into effect July 1 um so I appreciate the fact that the board and Personnel Board have been really pushing me to make sure that we have some sort of um draft manual in place that includes our current benefits and policies um because as you all are aware um we needed something for that Gap so the board had approved that the draft manual that I had put together um in assuming that that you know or pending ratification by town meeting so that will be in place for us to start with but I will start collecting um policies for review because there are several policies we don't have in place that we'll need to some of them I've already got drafts of but we'll need to start addressing the policies we need to have so that we're legally compliant so I will be discussing this with Personnel Board it's on their agenda for the 23rd of May okay so those are some of the things that I've been following up on um hold on one second let make sure I C um there's several things I've been working with legal on but right now legal so as you know it's town meeting um so Council has been working with many of the communities that they uh serve to address their town meeting so I think if there's anything we need to deal with in terms of council it's probably going to need to wait for at least three or four weeks so that they can get out from under all of the other Town meetings they have to deal with um one thing that I think we can take up that I will be able to work on is now that the Personnel bylaw amendment was approved I think I can finalize the contract um Grant report for that particular item so we can expect I'll deal with the bill when when it gets here but that should be out of the way there's another grant that I still need some help with that I'm going to have to work on um but luckily you know we've got Christopher and Chris working on several different grants that make it easier for me to refocus on some of this other stuff so I appreciate that um and I think there's permit so there was another thing that had come up it came up a couple weeks ago Bob and I had talked about at The Building Commissioner um the board will probably see some suggested changes to permit fees um there are several types of fees that we haven't made changes to in over 10 years so I asked Bob to gather some information up and we'll give you some more information but you'll see it on an upcoming agenda um I also want to adjust a couple of the Board of Health fees some of the second and third inspections actually we want to decrease and there's one that we want to increase so yeah Dick had mentioned that to me um what we'll need is we'll need an outline of what that looks like yep um there oh this is what I wanted to mention so two things Stillwater Bridge just so you know I've been keeping up with that what we need to do and we scheduled a meeting with mass doot myself Council so we can go over the notification requirements in process and we specifically included Council in that because we know it's going to be a heavy lift um I've already reached out to an appraising company to get us in the loop for that um and we've we've uh I haven't reached out for surveying yet but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to talk to council about it so we meeting did you have any information on the timeline to get um approval from um DCR I think I'll know more once we meet on the time so I will report back to the board pleas please try to nail that down and make sure we're moving on that because we are but I want to make sure I know but now that we have approved PL so we do have approved PL the only way I am aware that you can lift uh conservation restriction is through legislative process right and and pred that with me yeah we need to get into the line on that the leg this leg legislative period ends I think July 31st okay so we need to get in line the first in line in you know I will do my best but I need to hear what do has to say before I can yeah no I know but but I'm just saying the timeline that I'm aware of the legislative timeline the new session is August 1 I believe so make sure we're like first and line everything do my best organized so we can get like right in there well that's the reason that we're meeting so that we can get organized instead nerv pursue these next things um there's also something that Trevor and I have been working on and that's sewer regulation so we need some assistance from De uh from DPC on this um and he and I will circle the wagons on that um the oh c supposed to be on the agenda today but it got sucked up with an eent pipe so yeah we were supposed to have that commentation yes um it's always something yeah it is always something so I think that's pretty much where I've been picking up pieces things that had fallen off my radar screen from town meeting so um I would just like to thank Wiman Hill for their um contribution in Lou taxes I saw that came in so that's very grateful for that thank you pman Hill for small everybody know generous that timeline for 12 month receipts is April 12th to April 12 and the reason it is is because we try to keep it Brenda tries to keep it close to when town meeting happens but she has to have a start and an end date yep no that was great very so anything that we received after April 12 will get reported next year okay I just I just want to make sure that they are aware is there any public comment any Chris do you have anything or Charlene do you want to you'll need to step up for the mic Char yeah welcome welcome I just wanted to um give you a timeline about uh the article that got defeated at the town meeting because I know at one of the last select board meetings I was here I did ask who presented it and um why and you know your answer was very clear it was a Citizens P petition and it was done by the book um but I wanted to hear I wanted to learn more so I did do some research over the last few days and I I just wanted to share it with you basically so um on April 9th 2024 there was a joint school committee meeting of all four elementary schools and the high school so that would be five five School committees at that meeting a Sunderland School Committee Member who had attended the Massachusetts Association of school committees I guess it's an annual meeting or something um came back with information about uh 17 uh resolutions that the the Massachusetts organization wants um made available to school committees to consider MH of those and they were all they all have a deadline of November 2024 so of those resolutions one was this voting age one so it basically came back by way of this one Sunderland School Committee Member and I'm I'm not sure if this person's the chair or not to be honest but I know it is some okay um and so this the all five School committees about the resolution um and they had disc I actually you know I listen to the whole thing it's I have to tell you listening to these tapes I know my hearing is not good but it's hard it's really hard it's much better I'm sure to be at the meeting but um so anyway at this meeting there was a discussion by and I don't know if everyone discuss because it's hard to see the whole group of people that were there but several people discussed some were not in favor of it some were in favor of it at the same time they distributed the citizens petition which was signed at that meeting apparently um so uh it gained support and it was decided that it would go forward on as a warrant item on each of the towns so that was on April 9th 2024 then I happened to listen to uh The Joint meeting of the finance Board of the Deerfield Finance board and the select Deerfield select board on April 16th um and uh one of the things that was mentioned in there by uh the board of Selectmen was that the government classes at Frontier were immersed in discussions of of this type and that that was part of uh the thought for having this resolution come forward I did contact the administration at Frontier and I did not get that same information um at all and I I Tred to be very specific and clear so I'm not sure where that came from it isn't my um concern to question it I just want you to know that was um and the these were from two administrators at the high school uh they they had no schoolwide incentive to do this and the government classes and the social studies classes um did not have movement toward this so I just wanted you to know that so that's coming from the school um yeah so I reviewed that meeting too because I wanted to make sure I said what I said and I think I spoke just to the process of getting it on the that's why I'm only looking for the process because I mean you know how I felt because I spoke at the town meeting but it's a serious article and anything to me that's serious and impacts um taxpayers is something I think should have a really extended discussion absolutely and as I said I've always been a proponent as a teacher as a human being that always see both sides of the uh sure problem and so when I spoke to process I spoke to the process of as as we were as we were instructed March 20th the the the uh the petition was done properly whether it was done through the schools that's stuff that I didn't get into but right the process was done and we were instructed by Council that this made that the citizens have done what they were supposed to do apparently some towns are going to pass it and some towns won't and then it will probably go to the state and maybe nothing will happen right well and I know and I also mentioned to you you said well everything passes and I said well I don't know about this this one I think had debate because it was the only article of the 21 that the finance board did not support so that sometimes puts a little change on how the article is looked at by the people sitting possible yeah and um and and there are we've seen it at many meetings where certain articles get controversial but um so I just wanted you to know that and um and I do know I I'm it's just um one of the school committee members um I think it was an elementary one I'm getting to know people's names now I really didn't know them before but glad um one of the things um she sent me what were the responsibilities and roles for the school committee and I was TR I looked at them and I thought where does this fa that the school committee would promote it to become an article well I mean we can stretch anything when it comes to legality right so I did find under advocacy it looks like it might have fallen into that because it deals with local concerns and issues um but my point is and I I'm just I'm probably thinking too much like a teacher but I feel when you have a really important article of any type whether it's on this issue or something not issue but this matter or something else that all the ducks have to be in a row um for instance if this was really something that you know obviously those three young girls who presented were part of some group um outside of the school to bring that part of the class well see I don't know Trevor I don't think yeah so you may not have the right information but yes they're part of the student body there and they were in advocating for this however was it a club could be a club I'm not sure so it wasn't done in the classes it's a um it's a Citizens petition so people bring citizens petition for all kinds of things to us and just if they meet 15 signatures it comes on it could be to stop the bombing in Gaza it could be yeah whatever so instead of so we take those articles and set them at the end of the meeting because they're not anything that we've had discussions about like any other article goes through finance committee Capital planning or any other the finance committee did because they they did they thought it had a financial compon correct was the cost of running a separate but it doesn't have the same ex same weight of a regular Town article that we typically would bring forward as a select board it's just one of those things if it meets the requirements it comes on there well I I would be interested to know what that group was because I did not get that information from the school at all and the school might not be aware of it I mean well it might that's what I'm saying outside the school obviously that's private and that's not not anything the school would be able to know but um it did come from the school committee so that's where it got a little tricky to me but again I I know things can be U changed in a heartbeat but my my point is that where this is something important and I I know they were asking how many what 16 and 17 year olds there were and it was a small number but to me that wasn't the point the point is is the bigger part of the conversation which is this is a long-term um law that would be in place at the local level so it doesn't matter if you have two one year or 20 another year or 100 another year it's it's going to always be there so you know I know um that seemed to be a a a point that some people were um thinking about but I'm just you know my point is again that this was something an article for the town I think it would have been great to have a survey of your 16 and 17 year olds because those young girls that presented weren't they must have been 12 or 13 they they were only in seventh or eighth grade they were not yeah I seventh graders yeah yeah they weren't the older older children so I just feel again if you do something that's really important and has some kind of effect on the T taxpayers it's it's more important to have when you say you what do you mean by you do you mean us or do you mean a town I am I wrong that all articles for town meeting are approved by the select board right we just told you that if if a if a citizen's petition follows the rules is a requirement are that's what we were told anyway our lawyer could have misinformed us but we were following legal advice legally we have to put it on so how how does that get you have 15 or 20 signatures and it has legally Mak sense language we are compelled by law to put it on because it doesn't I mean especially a citizen petition it's just instructing the select board to do something we don't have to do it it's just say it's like at the end of the year somebody would stand up and I want to make a c peti or you know that I'd like the select board to wear blue every every Friday in the afternoon it doesn't matter what they say I just want to check um with Casey um is a petition different than I think you're talking you're getting confused ERS they're not this one actually said I don't know the langu this was a Citizens petition that went through that entire process to talk to somebody else right well so because it got defeated but if it passed we would have to do we would have been bound to follow the reest approved it right we had nothing do Charlene well I all I'm saying is how then how would um or anybody else how you go about contesting it or something you you follow the Democratic process you go to town meeting and you vote it down that is the Democratic process um we also I will say um in general a Citizens petition we devote as administrative staff a lot of time and effort to that warrant so notification to the public goes out according to the requirements in our bylaws and statute so when that warrant gets posted that's your notification that this will be a discussion item so that that was my other question did well I think Trevor told me somebody came to a select board meeting to present an ad when I looked when I looked back because I watched the meeting uh Casey notified us that that uh at that meeting which is March 20th he notified us that the residents had entered into the clerk a citizen petition so she checked with councel and yeah it was March 20th meeting of March 20th she gave us notification Casey said that they got the and I don't maybe I think it was a meeting after that where somebody came and talked about it I can't remember Cassie certified it and comp put on to the before April 9th then something yeah because I mean we closed the warrant when the warrant had to be closed by the 28th we opened it and closed it on the on the 20th of March just specifically because they brought this in and said you have to put this on so we it went through this signature certification process this was forwarded to council because we wanted to be sure we were following the rules and her advice to us was it needs to go on the warrant period so we open and cl they satisfied the requirements so in turn we satisfied our requirements to put it on the warrant and notify the public according to the warrant requirements and then people did their I'm confused du to go to town meeting Charlene you can you can submit a citizen's petition and compel us to put it on the warrant because it meets the legal requirements right and the only way you can defeat it is through town meeting we have no power over it one way other I understand what you're saying theboard has to do it we're legally compelled well I think too what I've heard what I heard from I I think her name was Miss Missy Noak is she on the school committee she's on the frontier school committee from town she mentioned at that joint meeting that there's sort of an initiative by the state to get a lot of towns to pass this kind of thing via citizens petition or the only thing I could think of would be that that maybe from the from the mm so oh yeah that came massachusetts's school committee Association would would have had that it wouldn't be the state it would be the association they have a a thing every November at the cape and that's probably where that's came up and that's maybe where everybody found it brought it back and talked to the it's definitely I saw the list of the resolutions are all over as far as topics go but um the the thing that Missy mentioned at that meeting was that if there are enough of those towns that vote this in at their Town meetings or whatever their form of government is right then it might push it correct uh beyond the local that was the whole instruction of the resolution to ask us to do it sunone to do it wait me to do it and then that might give weight to Cambridge Northampton and other towns that have already done it then all the all the Senators and Reps would go well look at all the towns that are wanting to do this let's discuss it it looks better for them to have that that's how you build the support for something you want but again the the people who don't feel strongly that this should happen it's it's town meeting it's town meeting only one by three votes but I I just wonder if you had BR knew about it I don't think a lot of people knew about it at least people we talked to we just Tred to post it on on the newspaper on that Friday before the Monday meeting so that was the only you have a comment where yeah I just no I just have a quick factual check exactly how many um voters were at town meeting versus how many voters we have registered in dear we have 4,000 one registered voters we had we had 293 I believe 293 293 which is a pretty good turnout actually and some people left um after we did the article 20 once the once the five million borrowing Authority was rescinded I saw oh 15 or 20 people I think so so we had less than so we had less than 7.5% of the total voting yes that's unfortunately the case all the time right I had a pretty good job I'll tell you myself personally my husband and I have gone for 50 years to town meeting and everything gets voted in and you think to yourself why waste your evening if you know everything's going to get and then in the last few years which I think again is unfortunate because I look at things you know with both sides and if you have debate I can think of a few individuals who actually said something which was quite contrary to the the majority of people sitting in the audience and it was difficult for them and so it you know it's human nature do you want to stand up and possibly you know have a problem because you've stood up and said something and it it takes a lot more and I have to say that young boy that 14-year-old I don't know who he was um Mark Brennan III yep what a grave I mean Brave understand this when people say this they they seem to imply that there's one side that's empowered to speak and another side that's not and I just think that's not true I mean I don't think you're hearing Tim from people who have experienced it differently maybe that's my my feeling I I'm not afraid to talk but I have not gotten braver until now because I feel your voice has to be heard exactly this is what M for it's for friends and neighbors who might not agree on all issues to get together and talk to each other and make decisions and and I I do know that this is on one of the meeting tapes I you you mentioned all these things always get approved and I said well I'm not sure about this one and it proved that it wasn't because the will of the people who were in attended that meeting was that they didn't think it was a good idea well I do know some people were there just for that particular vote means they must have heard of that conc so that was good so so they voted but it would be good if we could get more people without a doubt we need larger space the only in the audience at the end of the meeting and I miss everybody I know we didn't realize that that this was why you were going to be here we I just I just you know the and and I'd love to uh so there was really no from what you said there's there was no select board meeting that I can find where this person came I looked back today and I I kep looking after I talk to you and I we were just directed by Council yeah the end of March 20th to put this on theend the warrant because it met all the legal qualifications and I had the similar issue that you did was um I had to ask Jonathan motion of FCAT to post like there were like he gave me the links for free meetings I thought there was something on the 17th but all the last one I got was the 16th of April and um so he's looking to see if there was a meeting that he didn't post on you know the YouTube channel that FCAT runs yeah they s the dates are it's hard hard to figure it out they don't go in order you'd think they go in order right in the minutes sometimes you can't I couldn't find I thought if I look at school committee I couldn't find a lot of things so apparently they're not posted right away yeah they don't they have to get they have to get that would make it easier to be honest and then the next month then they vote on those drafts and then they get post I know I'm a clerk on an association that I want to yeah can I make a motion to adjourn thank you Charlene yeah I'll second that thank you all those in favor Tim h i Trev mcel I carollyn thank you have a great night