good morning everyone it is May 14th at 8:00 am and now call to order the free Town border select meeting um this meeting um is being recorded and available on our Town's YouTube page um because we're doing this meeting virtually we're going to read um the notice now good morning so this meeting will be available for in person attendance and on zoom on March 29th 2023 Governor haly signed into law chapter two of the acts of 2023 which among other things extends the expiration of the provisions pertaining to open meeting law to March 31st 2025 specifically this extension allows public bodies to continue holding meetings remotely without a quum of the public body physically present at a meeting location and to provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings this meeting of the Freetown Board of Selectmen will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible specific information and general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public can be found in the town of Freetown website Freetown ma.gov for this meeting members of the public who wish to listen to the meeting May do so in the following manner downloading zoom and entering the meeting ID below calling the number listed below and entering the meeting ID listed below or by going to the zoom website and hit join and entering the meeting ID listed below although inperson attendance is not available for this meeting every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technology means in that event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts we will post the town's website and YouTube channel an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting well I think that's it thank you debie all right so me meeting agenda uh item number one discussion and vote to open add remove articles to the annual town meeting and special town meeting warns for 63 2024 so do we want to go through each one or just list the ones that are um being so you just so you need to make a motion to open it and then I'm going to and um I'm going to tell you which ones have been added which ones have I I don't remember I think I removed one and then so you guys can discuss them but just open you have to open the um town meeting warrant so we can discuss them all right so um with that I will entertain a motion to open the town meeting warrant for 63 2024 motion me I will second all those in favor I I Selman Lopes yes selectman Ma I'm sorry selectman Zager yes all right so we'll let debb go yeah so you know we have been working diligently on trying to get the warrant out the door one of the things that um I know last time we had add some more In Articles one that I forgot I'm going to go to the special town meeting first one that I forgot to um have you look you know specifically approved was one for the and this one I need you to um give me a specific vote Paul S with the water Commissioners had requested a capital budget item of $75,000 for fire hydrants um repairs I did not put it in the capital budget of the Omnibus because it is they do have an Enterprise fund right they're independent sort of in their own little budget I rather uh drafted a warrant article which they have seen and they're going to approve the warrant article the the the question here is where do we pay the $75,000 out of they want it out of the you know the the free cash the tax levy um because they said that war the hydrant service the fire department which Services the entire town well there's been some other discussion with accounting and they think it should come out of the water Enterprise fund I don't have um I can see both sides of that right um MH uh there isn't a ton of reserves funds in in the water Enterprise fund and we're working on that Grant which is the other article where we're allocating money from them for the grant I spoke with Town Council they said it's a policy decision in other words it's a selectman's decision do you want it to come out of General funds do you want it to come out of water Enterprise uh the Water Commissioners feel strongly that this is a townwide you know use because the firemen fill up their fire trucks with the with the hydrants and it's it's to repair hydrants Unfortunately they get run over and hit by cars and if if we don't have an if someone doesn't stop make a report we don't get the insurance money and these things cost 7 8,000 to repair and I guess there's quite a few of them that need to be repaired so I guess on this this warrant article first I need you to say um I I guess the way it's written it's coming out of the general fund so I guess the first decision will be are you okay with that or would you back and say you want it to come out of the water Enterprise fund so what one thing is obviously do they have enough money in there to even take for both because I know that the um grants that we're going to get are going to be repaid but to your point we have to pull it from there first right that was the discussion had the last meeting was is we need to take the money from there and then we would put it back at a later date um I actually agree with the water commissioners on this that it's hydrants aren't all over town but the fire department is pulling from for them from all over town so I think it's more of a town issue than a a water department issue um I Carlos I mean you you can chime in on this and no I agree um you know I I know like we've done in the past we pull from our general funds and then we get grants to kind of get the money back sounds like that's what's GNA might happen here but I agree with you Jared um man with the Water Commission and everybody it is a townwide issue and we need to fund this the correct way um my Cur I am curious as well what is in the Enterprise fund what's the remaining funds and what other projects are they going to be using it for right um it seems cleaner to me to do it out of General funds which I hate doing but it is a required need for the town right yeah so the the uh mapping was what the the first part we were talking about and that was what we had talked about at the last meeting was we have to pull and I forget the dollar amount so I don't want to hack it but there was a dollar amount that needed to be pulled from there yeah that's and then we were G to get repaid yeah that one is the 25,400 which I do believe you've seen that article just it's just allocating that and that's from the water sewer Enterprise fund itself and they they are amenable to that and again if you look at the article um they wrote an IND for that second article they wrote a detailed description basically saying um 123,000 is going to be reimbursed the rest will be offset with in kind services and there is a cash piece it's a $46,000 cash piece um and we may I I've discussed possibly pulling Opa funds for that I just want were you know I'm in the process of compiling everybody's requests for oper and I'll be presenting a spreadsheet to the board at a later date and you can all decide how you want to spend the remaining oper money between the varying projects from all departments and as well as if there's any that you the selectman would like so if you're if if the the decision is you it'll come out of the general fund the article as written is fine so you will just have to vote to add that article and recommend it if that's what you're inclined to do where are we at on that one because I'm trying to find it in the article three this is special town meeting y article three okay so Carlos any any other feelings or anything on that I can read it to you if you can't find it no I have it here I can read it to see if the town will appropriate and transfer from available funds the sum of $75,000 for the maintenance of the water and sewer infrastructure hydrants Valves and piping to serve the community including any incidental and related cost and or take action relative to their to um it's it's one of those things it's um it we we can't fight fire without water so it it's uh I think the cleanest way to do it is to approve this article moving forward and then hopefully arpa funds can then I don't know move money around down the road H yeah yeah know I don't think it's that big of a deal I just think that that to your point is the cleanest way so I mean and people can I mean the sound meeting can vote no I just I don't foresee that you know what I mean right yeah um and this is from the special town meeting I'm proposing we take it out of free cash so it'll be available to them as soon as it gets voted at town meeting if it's approved so that's part of your that's why it's part of your special as well as the mapping and Sewer article because I need that letter allocating those funds before June 30th for that Grant applic you know not for the application for the grant itself to to to get the monies so I don't believe I propose anything else to the special Town meaning there's only four articles um it's the element you know the repairs of the elementary school and the the fire station so those if you want to make a motion that um you're all set with them that whole town meeting warrant should be ready to go so with that I will entertain a motion that we uh approve special town meeting warrant a motion made I will second it all those in favor I I selectman Lopes yes selectman Sager yes having trouble with that this morning sorry early it's okay all right so annual town meeting yeah so I added this article from the last time you've seen it this is the reason for this meeting today article three on the annual town meeting is funding for the union contracts for the freet toown firefighters Union we were able to reach uh uh an agreement with the Union last week or what whatever and I just actually as we working um the union has approved the the proposed um contract changes so now the Selectmen need to approve which I don't I think that might be on this agenda you're going to need to approve the union MOA as well and when we have the first year of the Union contract we put the article on town meeting warrant saying how much it's going to cost for the first year which is 97,1 so this article funding that first year Union uh you know the increase is on the article three of the annual town meeting do you want me to read it jarn I can read it now I I got it thank you okay all right so it's article three funding for Union contracts with free toown firefighters Union to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds the sum of 97,1 uh to fund and implement the first cost items contained in the collective bargain and agreement between the town of Freetown and Freetown fire fighters Union local 3213 covering the period from July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2027 and as on file with the town clerk end or take any actions relative there to um submitted by the board of selectman yeah I don't need to read all that but so yeah so I don't know if we want to um approve this conion upon you approving the mo MOA while we you know I know that's on the agenda we would just be taking it sort of I don't know where it is so um it's the next one on the agenda I don't know if you want to approve that first and then come back to this because yeah yeah I think that sounds cleaner because then we need that approve before we would want to add it yeah um so I don't know if you looked at that M MOA yeah yeah no and you know hats off to to you guys in in the fire department for for uh you know getting that done in a timely manner and I don't know how timely it was but everybody everybody put in put in a lot of effort to get it here because otherwise we're doing retroactive pays and to try to do the firefighters retroactively with all of their you know the little nuances is a lot of work so this is um it was a great effort by everybody because it it would have it's a little bit of work to do it the other way not not impossible we do it all the time but it's just a little bit of extra work so I'm I'm happy this has moved forward um so as of July one they they seamlessly get their increases and everybody can keep working and fighting fires I agree taking care of our residents with the ambulance service so yeah if you want to just vote on that MOA sure um so with that I will entertain a motion to approve the mo MOA between full-time firefighters Association um in the town of Freetown for 71 2024 through 630 2027 motion M and I will second it all those in favor I I selectman Lopes yes select V Zer yes and then I will go back and um I will entertain a motion um oh should I read the article again no I think you're good okay so um with that I will entertain a motion to approve um article three funding for the union contracts for the Freetown firefighters Union or 97,1 motion me I will second it all those in favor I by selan Lopes yes Selman zeger yes all right so then um we've got some I just I and and forgive me because we you know the warrant evolves and it's a process so I want to make sure that all of the Articles I'm not sure you saw article8 which is the fund the purchase of the ambulance um I was waiting for the Omnibus budget to sort of be finalized to see if this is something that we could do with this town meeting or not at the end um we are able to fund the purchase of a new ambulance so I I believe I'm not sure this was on the last warrant that you reviewed so that's article 8 from the purchase of an ambulance it just says to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate Andor transfer from available funds the sum of $550,000 to purchase and equip a new ambulance including any related or incidental costs and expenses and or take any other action relative there to this was a request by the fire chief um as a capital request I pulled it out because I wasn't sure we could have fund it and I think it's probably more appropriate to be on the town meeting for because it's a large a large number we've talked about this right the last ambulance that we just got was 384,000 and now this is with inflation and it will take us probably three four months to get the ambulance so um I just want to make sure that that's approved and you know that the board has approved that yeah um you know to your point I think you nailed it all W right it's not going to get any cheaper it's stuff that we've talked about we have the money so let's you know let's do it we're going to need it so and they're doing more runs than ever so they're putting more mileage on and stuff so yeah um all right anything from tells any no we talked about this in depth um you're right it's just getting more expensive and it's going to take a while to get the ambulance and if we can get it locked in at this price now we'll save money down the road uh purchasing that ambulance let's say a year or two from now so uh if we have the and it's and it's it's not going to hurt us down the road um well it won't it will be less painful now than later so let's let's put it that way um now is the time to do it okay so um with that I will entertain a motion to approve article uh fund the purchase of an ambulance for [Music] $550,000 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I Lan Lopes yes selectman Zager yes so the other article I added was Article 13 it's um a standard article um it's to fund the Actuarial report we have to do to do the OPB study we have to do it every other year as as uh required by accounting principles so I don't know I somehow I I missed it on the first go around so this is Article 13 of the post-employment benefits study it's for $7,200 I'll read it to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate and or transfer from available funds the sum of $7,200 for the purpose of updating a 2-year Actuarial other post employment benefit study and or take any other action relative there to so yeah to your point it's straightforward it needs to be done it's not a lot of money so I yeah a question going forward I'm probably going to put this in the treasurer's budget I just didn't and um so here it is because it has to be done it's not a not an option you're good Callos yes this is we got to meet compliance and this is the way to do it so it is what it is this is an easy one right so with that I entertained a motion to approve Article 13 other post employment benefits oped oped study for $7,200 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I Selman Lopes yes selectman zagger yes and the last change to the articles is article 22 which is establish and fund Freetown Elementary School maintenance stabilization fund we have talked about this because we get the rental income from the elementary school and it's going to automatically go on the stabilization fund to be used for uh maintenance on the elementary school which is the town's responsibility but this now adds element of funding it the fincom voted to fund it with $60,000 which is the amount of our annual rent by the way um so I talked to Matt we have the money in the budget so this this piece of it adding the $60,000 funding piece is new so just I'll read it to you you've seen the article but now it adds a funding piece to it to see if the town will vote to establish a Freetown Elementary School maintenance stabilization fund pursuant to the provisions of General law section 40 section 5B and further to adopt the last paragraph of said section 5B and dedicate to such fund without further appropriation 100% of the rental fees received from use of school property and further to raise an appropriate in or transfer from available funds the sum of $60,000 into said Freetown Elementary School maintenance stabilization fund and or take any action relative theret so that's the change in this one so I just need an approval on that and and the rental receipts have been $6,000 a year I know that contract was up for negotiation I've spoken to um superintendent Strauss and he seemed to think that that would stay the same every year at this I don't know if it's been finalized at this point I I think this is a extremely good thing to do I mean that that building's not getting any younger and you know we know what already about how the you know the condition of the roof and um you know there's other things that they're going to need in you know few years time so this will be the cleanest way to to pull the money yeah I mean I think our goals will be maybe if we have free cash in the fall then that's something that we would look at saying hey do we want to put some free cash into the stabilization fund to be used at a later dat because we do know that roof is coming um so uh I I yeah I think it's good happy about this yeah no I I agree and it's the money the money is being made by the school right so it's it's just a good way to do it rather than just to let it go into General funds seems kind of wonky so right we and you never know when it's going to stop so I always worry about taking non- tax levy income and spending it on tax levy sort of expenses if you will operational expenses because what if it stops and we've now we've spent that $60,000 on our oper opting budget we have to find a way to replace that if you know so this this is um a more responsible way I think to invest the money back into the school which you know is going to need need stuff so hey Carlos any comments concerns no this is a phenomenal idea you know kudos to and a special thank you to both Greg Goodwin and Carl Bazar our Building Commissioner um and of course Greg is the custodial manager for the entire School District getting these projects uh on on a list so that we are aware of them to make sure that these are getting done in a timely manner because you're right Jared the school is not getting any younger and we know the condition of the roof the roof goes we know how that goes right everything rolls downhill in a sense so give back putting it back to the school makes the complete complete most sense so great article yeah I agree so um with that I will entertain a motion to approve article 22 to establish and fund Freetown Elementary School maintenance stabilization fund motion made I will second it all those in favor I I lman Lopes yes slman zegger yes so those are the articles that have been changed I do I do want some clarification um Article 15 uh transferring funds to con cons vation land I know we had discussed this the $30,000 um I think at that meeting the board of Selectmen voted to take no position but at at the last meeting they voted to recommend all the Articles so I need a clarification if we recommending this or you're taking no position if you if you can recall this this is to see if the town will vote to transfer from available funds the sum of $30,000 to be added to the conservation land fund established under Mass General Law chapter 40 section 8C and not take any action relative there too they're just looking for some money to put in their coffers in case a piece of land comes up that they want to buy um I mean it's a small amount of money but I I guess so here's the thing it's we're just saying okay we want to we want to beef up an account just in case but does it really make sense do we need to put that money into that account if we don't know if we had something and said hey this piece of land's going to be available or is available we want to buy it right I think what would be the what would be the the benefit of them having the money in their account versus having to come to us for it would it change any kind of voting I don't believe conservation I should I don't believe they have to go to town meeting like we do in other words I think they can buy a piece of land without getting town meeting approval so if they have the money in their and I I just I don't I need to vet this information because I'm not 100% sure but and maybe I'm wrong on that but the money would be I guess the thing would be that they could they would have the money available to them and they know what they could do I don't know what the benefit is I think that um Trevor's comment was to let the you know let the town's people vote and I'm okay with that but I just do are you going to recommend it or just take no position which is what we we believe the vote was originally I just want to be clear yeah so it in the explanation of the article one of the things it says These funds represent the average amount collected from roll back taxes from fy19 through FY 23 so I'm assuming that's all the the TX roll backs that they have to pay back for pulling stuff out of 61a right and all that stuff yeah so that's what we've been doing and when we have a roll back we've they've been coming to town meeting asking for the roll back to be given to be put in their coffers and that's been approved this year there weren't any roll backs and so I guess they're feeling a little like well we don't get we're not getting any money this year because there aren't any roll backs but next year there could be a half a million dollars in roll backs you don't know right I I I don't no none of us know um as land come you know we don't know when it comes out of chapter land so uh yeah that's this one so I guess the the other a Avenue of looking at this is then it gives them a clean idea of to your point this year there's nothing next year there's a half a million per se you know whatever but they don't know what they're going to get sometimes till you know I guess this will give them an idea to know that they have $30,000 each year to spend and it kind of looks clean um but if five years in a row they don't get anything back and that's probably being a little too much but if they had nothing then I would mean theoretically we're not getting paid back and we've just spent $150,000 so yeah calls how do you feel about this I I'm right there with you Jared it's um playing the what if card is is is tough right uh we don't know what they're going to get here from year after year and in my opinion I think we take no position on this let the town like Trevor's point at the last meeting one of the last meetings let the town vote on it but for for us to kind of weigh in on it you're right right Deb's right we we don't know and you're right we don't know what's coming in next year it could be half million or more it could be triple that who knows um now we've allocated funds can we take it out if we do allocate them can we ask for a back I don't believe so yeah so I mean I think you could take no I mean you could take you could say you don't recommend it I don't know that I I see I see both sides of the coin so I don't want to say me personally I don't want to say I don't recommend it I I I stand with Trevor and let the towns people decide because I see both sides of the coin so I I really don't take a position I guess right same here like I to me conservation means we're saving land we're saving you know nothing's getting developed on it we're we're keeping it green keeping the trees alive it's a great it's a great great program right great committee Pro whatever it is right but I don't think I take a position on that like you I I could see both sides of it right I can see the financial side I can see the environmental side but the same time I I look at the money and I rather hold on to it and let it Ure interest versus and put into the hyper Bowl saying hey this we might need it then we might get more money next year so I I yeah the tough I take no position on it so I guess to your point is I don't want to drag this on all day on you but um you know if that money's coming in it's because someone's buying a piece of land and theoretically is going to develop it right so we're taking away land wooded land so we want to do what we can to preserve some land in this town and keep it you know feeling the way it is so um yeah I but all right so uh I think we're both on the same page so I'm just going to say I entertain a motion um to take no position on Article 15 transferring funds into conservation fund motion made I will second it all those in favor I I select mopes yes select M Zer yes so the the other clarification obviously we got that petition article article 21 um again I just want to clarify that that's not being recommended by the board of Selectmen uh because of I just want to we voted to recommend all the articles I think we voted to kind of recommend to put all the articles on the warrant because we have to with the petition but this one has not recommended by the board of Selectmen I just want to solidify that that is what you want yeah I I mean you know because of the way it came in by petition we have to put it on their word for word right but we don't really know what this means so I I have a hard time taking a position on something that I can't get behind so um I think we were all very clear about that so corre I concur with that so you just want to ratify that the board takes uh not is not recommending the petition article yes so uh would that I entertain a motion that that um article we do we take wow we do not recommend our article 21 petition uh map 210 lot 78 relinquish claim request motion made I will second it all those in favor I I San Lopes yes Selman zagger yes and the last thing that I need clarification on is article two the highway sever salary as you know there's a little bit of um discrepancy there um I don't know that we vote voted particular salaries um Highway faers asked for a 5% raise as you you heard at the budget meetings the fincom is recommending a 2 and a half% raise um this this article states that you recommend what he asked for which is a 5% raise I just want to make sure that's how you want this warant to be published yeah um I'm okay with it I I think uh we have someone that's really good and I know what what the finance committee I know their angle and I I um I don't disagree with them but I I want to do what I can to keep a very valued employee in town so I'm actually okay with giving him the 5% when you think of the cost of living and I know this can the problem is is we give for one and not the other then it's you know but has for it and I don't think he's gonna have a hard time getting it either so right at the end of the day he's elected official so he's people going to vote on it um but at the same time you know following the fincom looking at the all different negotiations we've done for unions and everything else everyone's getting a little bit less um 5% do that said a precedent that's my concern is right is everyone going to come back Say Hey I want 5% too and I know that's a little bit different because he's elected versus others that are either on a contract or Union employees trying to keep a faar for everybody do I think he's a valued employee absolutely he he always answers all the town's people's calls whether it's a phone call Facebook page or or some call in the office but it is 5% versus when everyone else is getting in in general two to 3% right so I kind of agree with the finance committee it's a tough one at the end of the day the town people got to vote the way they GNA want to vote um so I guess the question is do we a vote as is is that the way we're asking Deb or do we and ask I just it's yeah I mean you know he he's going to go in front of the towns people and I do believe when he tells you he's going to get what he asked for I believe that to be true Chuck does a great job and yeah people people uh respect that um I just need to know what the board is recommending to the town's people and I just don't know if this was clear in Prior and maybe we can jump in in Prior um meetings um that you were recommending everything as requested and maybe that was the prior vote I don't know um yeah yeah I can't remember uh but you know looking at it's a little bit of a jump right from looking at previous voted on 2024 then was going up quite a bit I don't know it's I like to be fair across the board it's a tough one but I agree he does a do good job I think the town's people uh will voice their opinion if they want it they'll say yes if they don't want it they'll say no yeah at the end of the day I don't I don't know whether your recommendation is going to weigh the one way or another but I just need to do my job yeah no you're abolutely correct Debbie it's it's I don't think our vote yay or nay is gonna impact really what the vote's going to be on that one so I think it was in there originally so it's written as recommended by the board if if you okay with that then that's all I have on the Articles we can just move those vote to move the annual town meeting warrant forward as written and get that done all right so um you want me to to do it as written and then we're going to have to vote to close it after that right yeah we're going to yeah you can vote to approve the annual town meeting as written um and and you can vote and close it at the same time doesn't matter okay all right so with that I will entertain a motion to um approve the annual town meeting as Town annual I'm sorry I got someone with a barking dog outside here it's driving me insane um so I I will entertain a motion uh to approve the annual town meeting warrant as written for uh June 3rd 2024 and then close actually I should leave that over I'm sorry I'm hacking this now I I entertain a motion to approve the warrant for the annual town meeting as written motion made I will second all those in favor I I SEL Lopes yes selectman zegger yes ta Patty I have a quick question though yeah um I think we had some um zoning or something that came off yesterday do we have to do anything with that oh oh yes um I don't know that we have to do anything but I want to tell them yes I think that there was a zoning articles relating to the accessory apartment the bylaw for the accessory apartment the um mockups that came back from Town Council were just too extensive for me to C you know work on and the planning department because they weren't having a timely meeting couldn't really make the changes so I requested them to remove them from the town meeting and they they were okay with that and those will come back on in the fall town meeting um so yes I'm sorry thanks the way I forg I forgot to tell you that we removed that and then the other one I'm not sure there was a bylaw uh an article requesting $330,000 for online permit for planning board that has been moved into the Omnibus budget so it's not gone away it's just got moved into the budget um line and that's gone to um everybody and the fincom so yes I did remove those articles any issues with that removal of those articles no no and we did approve it as written right so we should be good yeah you should be good I just L just want to make sure you we're all on the same page and I didn't I appreciate that we've been yes thank you sort of tweaking this get it to out to the people yeah and it kind of cleans it up as well for the town meeting because people are going to be concerned about the 3A stuff I think so too I think it's too much almost at one meeting I think we're going to have a a lot of conversation surrounding the MBTA zoning and so I think it I think it it's a good decision unfortunately you know they do a lot of work to get them to this point because they have to have public hearings and what not so we always want to keep them on if possible but there was just a lot of there was a lot of stuff and um yeah I I think this will be best too and I'm thankful that uh Victoria agreed and talked to her uh chairman of her board and they were okay with removing it um from this from the annual town meeting and the W's already put it on the fall special town meeting so we'll make sure we go back with them and get that ready to go for the next town meeting so so you want to just vote to close that one and be done with it and get it out so so I entertain a motion to finalize and close the annual town meeting uh in special town meeting warrants for 63 2024 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I Lan Lopes yes selan zeger yes all right so um with that we're going to go on to uh item number four discussion and vote on whether to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown and straight line fencing for replacement of fence at halfway Park so seems like it's there I'm just trying to open it up so I can see the amount 11,000 yeah was little yeah yeah it wasn't much money you approved the to award the contract to them at the last meeting yeah so this is just approval for the the contract I got you so so yeah know it obviously needs to be done we don't need to talk about this too much I don't think so you have anything else no uh this is an easy one this is just a fencing along the water and everything else so people are aware of what we're talking about um need to be replaced it's updated it's fallen down it's rusted time to move on yeah yep all right so oh was thatb I'm sorry I say Chuck Chuck's actually going to remove the existing fence so he made this a little bit more affordable for the town I do half the work yeah well thank you Chuck so um with that I entertain a motion to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown and straight line fencing for replacement of fence at hathway Park motion made I will second it all those in favor I I slman Lopes yes slman Zager yes all right agenda item number five discussion and vote on whether to authorize the Town Administrator to sign the agreement between the town of free town and straight line fencing for the replacement of the fence at hathway Park it doesn't get any more straightforward than this obviously is our Feist leader and one capable of signing it so right congrats Deb thanks all right so um with that I entertain a motion to approve um well I just lost it uh the Town Administrator to sign the agreement between the town of free toown and straight line fencing for the replacement of the fence at Hathaway Park motion made I will second it all those in favor I I lops yes slman Zer yes agenda item number six discussion vote on whether to approve the contract amendment number one with the environmental partners for a Sonet sewer extension design and permitting to pay with available aror funds so this is the SE line engineering contract that we currently have um of course we ran into the trouble with the the uh South Main Street into North Main Street where we don't know where the road is we don't have any um old property lines so we have to kind of recreate that and that'll be coming forth so that cost extra money and we also needed to do some surveying on one of the Lots were taken for tax title up on Alexandra to put the pump station there that wasn't included in the original contract so these are two add-ons that we need to finish that engineering um so this is sort of a twofold right first it's to approve the contract Amendment but it's also then to allow me to apply to Opa funds to get it paid for so that's two pieces of it I just kind of wrapped it all into one because I need an approval from the select board to go forward to apply for APPA funds but as you know Bristol County APPA can be only majority used for water sewer Broadband things like that so I'll apply for the additional funding through through that all right um is now is that the only Pump Station that we need or are we still going to need one closer to the town hall as well so there is one uh being proposed for the where the red building is to knock the red building down and put the pump station there um we're in the process of that right now with the sewer marata commissioner and the uh sewer committee because that is in the flood plane so the pump station now they're talking needs to be built into like a concrete building that's like waterproof watertight or up on a platform right which will be horrendously unsightly um so at the last meeting we discussed we better talk to Mary Brown and the historical commission before uh doing too much so environmental Partners sent an email to Mary Brown saying they wanted to discuss it so she's already talked to me we we need to really spend some time on that because it's it's it's the historic Center of uh this District here so I think we're going to end up having to do almost a replica building and put the pump station in that building but we're just talking I don't even know if that's a possibility but that's something we have to we have to discuss because we can't put this eyesight this this terrible thing right in the center of a Sonet historic district yeah I agree when we're taking down one of you know the building is is in definite ill repair it has to come down it's it's getting to that point where it needs to come down soon but we don't want to replace it with an i War so that is in the middle of conversations um just beginning so again we'll be circling back with Mary and the historical commission to whatever goes there should be approved by them on some level so yeah all right so I'll take the first part call unless you I'm sorry don't me cut you off if you have anything no no I'm on the sewer I was at the meeting sewer line commission meeting so uh well aware of the pros and cons of each uh decision especially when it comes to the historic uh area we don't want to replace one isur with the isur so it's a it's a balancing act right now so I'm glad the Historic Society has uh joined the conversation for their input and then U helping us moving forward with that that project all right so I will with that being said I will entertain a motion to approve the contract Amendment amount um between town of Freetown and environmental partners for uh $5,600 motion made I will second all those in favor I I yes SEL Zer yes so Debbie what was the the second part of that vote I apologize to to use um Opera available Opera funds which I just don't want to be tied to Bristol County I just I either you know whichever op yeah I can get it out of makes sense and we get it you know get it while we can right we know that we have to allocate the funding by certain times and do this one a point where Crystal County they want it allocated by June uh Federal is by December of this year yeah so let's let's not let that money go back into something else where you know we have a use for it so um with that I will entertain a motion um to fund this through ARA funds motion made yeah I will second it all those in favor I I SEL Lopes yes Selman zeger yes all right um agenda item number seven discussion and vote on whether to authorize the Town Administrator to sign the contract amendment number one with environmental partners for the asonet sewer extension design and permitting so same thing as couple of things before obviously she she's in the no she knows what she's doing so there's obviously no issue with Debbie signing on this that's right congrats again Deb so um with that I entertained a motion um to authorize the Town Administrator to sign the contract amendment number one with environmental Partners per sewer Assonet sewer extension design and permitting motion m i will second it all those in favor I I dman LS yes Suman zeger yes so that's all we have for today because obviously we're remote so we can't sign anything so anyone have anything else before I'm good no you'll stop in tomorrow to sign the warrant yes yep so all right would that Iain a motion to adjourn motion made I will second all those in favor I I selan Lopes yes selan zegger yes I hope everyone has a great day you as well Jared you too D I'll see you guys in a little bit all right bye bye