##VIDEO ID:8oEXofLC6kg## [Music] good evening everybody it is Monday August 19th 2024 6 p.m. and I'll call to order The Bard free time Bard select meeting uh this meeting will be recorded and will be available on the town's YouTube page um first is actually I'm going to kick it over to board of parks all right so uh agenda item number one presentation from open space and recreational advisory committee so welcome going to kick it over to you if you have something that you wanted to present to us or sure so um our committee has been working for the last what four years on getting the town to um do an open space plan we got that done but now we're at the agenda items of the open space plan and in order to get those items done uh the way that we as an advisory committee are set up and the way that the town is set up to maintain their parks and push through Parks just isn't really kind of um functional and so we thought long and hard like how could this um become functional how could we get the items done and the best way to do it when we looked at all the towns around is to have a larger Board of Park commission so um a lot of towns in our area have either a three or five member board and it's just like we did with our Board of Health uh if you go to the next slide right we have done this in the past Freetown recently right we elected a Board of Health so that they could focus on board of health issues so that they we have you know an actual dedicated source for board of health related issues I think if we have a board of Park commissions a group of people that are able to spend time solely on Park commissions will'll have more access for the community to come to a board to actually ask for things we'll have more opport Unity to do do Outreach to do the events to do all the things that are on our open space plan and that the town's people have been asking for but this seems like the easiest and only solution that we came up with um yeah no you know I I obviously have my questions and I'm not sure if anyone else does but um what other towns in the area have recently done this so uh let's see what did we go through it was like Lakeville Maran um maybe I can't remember there's quite a few that have a board of Park commissions uh and they're responsible for uh you know anything that's Parks related so if you go to our next slide not that one next one sorry uh next one it would basically look something like this right and that's sort of what we have at the moment but um you know even like tonight you guys are going to be talking about the port of pastures right and the control of Port of pastures you're giving to the conservation commit committee which seems kind of interesting cuz they're more of an inspection Authority right like they're supposed to be maintaining and making sure of our no they're they're in charge of they're in charge of the land and and keeping the land to its right Integrity making sure that people do follow rules and regulations but it is much more than just that it's not just you so yeah I don't mean to cut you off but I just no no that's what I'm saying it seems like it seems like you know like we have like who's cutting the grass of all the parks um the highway department right okay and then who's maintaining all so that's what I'm saying like a lot of our functionality in our our town is being split amongst multiple places right where it seems like well maintenance of parks should be under the Parks Commission right but like you're not directly responsible for making sure all that happens MH you have a lot of other stuff going on like you guys have been talking about all sorts of issues that you need to and I imagine that's exactly why you split the Board of Health away so that the Board of Health could be specialized as well right it's not saying that you can't be on the Parks Commission or you know all three of you couldn't be on I'm not saying that at all I'm saying that it's for what we have been tasked with doing the best solution is to actually make a board that meets regularly that hears from the town regularly that is able to get these things done MH you know and I I'm not you know I think you guys are doing a great job and commend you um but we do meet roughly every two weeks and we're here so we are here to hear from the town you know for what if if someone from I'll I'll give you an example a resident can I finish please go I'm sorry if a resident has a concern they can come into us so you know they can they can come in and ask so it's are you aware of how long it took us to get in front of you for this well because it wasn't timely right you also had a resident that wanted to do a dog park right and you sent them to us and and then they didn't get to you right so what we have now you I know you I get what you're saying you're saying hey b s is here put in a petition come talk to us but this was months for us to get over here like we did all this work months ago and we finally got on your your registry right now right like the agenda today that's months already that shouldn't be happening like if somebody wants to have an event or somebody wants to inform us about something or or whoever and I'm not saying us like me right I'm saying the town they should be able to get on in a timely manner discuss it in a timely manner and then make changes in a timely manner yeah right I can't speak to what um you know what the the agendas look like and sometimes unfortunately and I apologize that it did take that long um you know sometimes our agendas are really full so you know a presentation is a little bit different than asking about one thing so so I do apologize listen I'm I'm not looking for apologies I'm not looking no I know for anything I'm just just saying like that's this is this you know we were tasked with a a job we did that job we were tasked to figure out how to get it done right and we've been with our board we've gotten so much done right like there's been more events this year there's been more communication this year we've gotten um the kayak stand like we've done all these things that or been pushing for all these things for a long long time right but the next step is is this m and and I I will also credit Kylie with that right like she's done a lot of the stuff and help me move it forward and listen I am all about doing this stuff because that's you know there's something it it shows like all right so recently with everything that with the concert series and everything and how many people have showed up it shows the willingness for people in this town to get out and participate in things so I you know I just want to make sure that we're crediting people we do just like I'm saying we credit you guys for things that you've done done so right I exactly so so I mean we do have her now too that's so that's a little bit different than it was a few years ago so we have we spent three years pushing for her to get a position like that came directly from our okay and I understand that it's also a funding issue right so we have understand that so that and that's part of the the disconnect right is we we only have a limited amount of funding to use and um so yeah so I mean I don't want to make this just about me you know if you guys have questions too no like heck I was I was on your your your committee from day one right so see where it's where it was to where it's grown I'm extremely proud of you guys you guys have done enough uh an admirable job moving this thing along and I agree with you what's the next step for you guys right like What's um what what else can you guys do on this committee right so essentially what you're looking for right is what's the next step you you guys have accomplished a lot you have the the letter by the state is a massive one they taking right so that's I was at the beginning of that and I know you guys pushed and pushing you guys work through you got new members in um yeah no I what is the next step is agreed is like I think that's the it's a fair conversation to have my question to you is you mentioned a couple of other towns that have these uh Board of Parks Commission do they have CPA I would have to look into I would imagine like yeah so they have funding separate right CPA is where they tax you additionally and a percentage of your taxes goes into an account and a portion of that is used for pox and Rex we don't have that it's been voted down twice I believe I may be wrong on that but I know we've tried to bring it to this town and has been voted down so we don't have the same funding resources that Lakeville might have or that am Maran might have to do this we do and we did have a community program director that I believe was responsible for pretty much all of the activities that have happened at the Park um both parks at this point so now I'm and and you're saying you'd be responsible for mowing the grass that's so I think we're getting confused here I'm not asking for funding I'm not asking for any of those things I'm asking for the board of Park commission which we already have somebody who is a board of Park commission to be expanded to be a board right and to restructure the town and to do those other things maybe that's part of it but that's not what I'm asking for I'm asking for us to be put on the warrant what we showed you to expand the board of Parks Commission right and whether you want to go further I'm not saying that my board should be this board either I'm not saying that at all I'm saying that we should have more people representing the parks that are focused on the parks that are focused on making our town more Community Driven that's what I'm asking for the rest of that you guys can handle at some other point but we're asking just for the board can you remind me when we did the of Health was that by petition that that gotten the warrant or was that trying to remember how that happened no it it was not a petition it wasn't a petition no it was an article that was just put forward and then um get got voted on town meeting and then the 90-day approval from the AG's office so if that was just it was a desire to go for October um special town meeting in October October 21st 90 days out it be the earliest the AG would approve or or accept or deny um you're looking already at January and the nomination papers are already available the beginning of January so it exceeds that window want to put that out there if anyone was thinking that it could get on to April's election ballot we may not have the time that's this would potentially be a if if it goes forward a 20206 correct uh ballot Initiative for in the okay then we'd have to move those two not ballot initiative it would it wouldn't be available till 2026 to vote on right so would we have to change also the you mentioned de mentioned that it was voted down twice we we have to change that first no so that's the CPA that's the community preservation act and I think the last time it went before the town was um in 2012 I believe 2012 yes so then the really the issue would be then if we don't have that then they we would have to give them funding right and then they would have to work off a budget for that but I think everything would have to go through the board St anyways right because would they have the authority to sign contracts and we have funding from the nobody has the authority to sign contracts except for the select that's what I'm saying yeah um and I want that's that's should be clear right we should all understand that like but they would then control depending on what the charge would be right that would be drafted but if they control on all the parks and the wrecks now we have then they will work and tell Kylie what she can and cannot do um cuz then do we get into like the all the baseball fields and who does all that negotiations for leases and then yeah because then then it gets messy too like I know you I know you're not specifically concerned about this but like we think about maintenance of different areas right like that's through the highway department which rolls up to the boort selectman then if there's two different F you know groups of people that have the ability to tell them what to do right yeah no I I totally understand that aspect of it and I definitely think you have to think through I'm just that's what I'm doing I'm doing that a lot right now I'm just trying to think through me I understand where you're coming from and I understand what you're thinking and yeah potentially that that is that that would I would think actually that would be something that you'd have to think about for us that's not something that we know or could know right like that's something that we'd have to like you mentioned has to go to the AG you have to do that research has to be done definitely I I think Lakefield to in Parks they don't lease their fields they control their fields they charge for the use of their fields so $4 ahead per child yeah so they have a different Revenue Source they have they have funding to do some of these things because of the way they have structured their fields and their parks and plus they have CPA I I believe I'm pretty sure they do have CPA which gives them a lot of funding so yeah and that's why we have a laundry list of teams that are trying to play in in town here versus you know get additional space here versus Lakeville because they're being charged per person per you know per individual so I think yeah this is a larger undertaking than I just the board yeah I guess I ask these questions and I don't try and sound negative when I say it I just want to make sure that if we do something we do it right uh Board of Health is a little bit different it's a little bit more technical don't take that offensively but you know what I mean they they're dealing with a lot of things we would get a septic plan in front of us and have to approve it it's like it's like I anything chines I I get but this is what I'm saying it's the exact same thing though you you've gotten questions and you've pushed them to us and then they're questions to us and we go well we have no authority to do any of these things and we can push it off but then it gets lost right so it it's the exact same issue that you guys are talking about you have other things that you have to learn about and think about and do there needs there should be five individuals that are very well versed in parks and if that happens to be controlling who cuts the grass and do then we should do that I don't see just because it's hard I don't think we shouldn't do it I think the towns people pay enough taxes they deserve to have events and things happening and they deserve to have somebody advocating for those those community building things I mean every survey that we've sent out every single survey there's been a huge portion of the populace saying we want these things like we see other towns having we see Somerset having a field day every two weeks why can't we have those things right and we've been pushing for them and pushing for them and we finally got a summer concert series and we finally got these other things and people are flocking to them so why shouldn't we have five people that are very concerned and focused on just these issues and you can be on that board too Carlos is on the board of health right like I'm not saying nobody and I'm not saying me I'm saying five people who want to spend the time and want to do this job well should do it mhm and we should let the town vote on it put it on the warrant let us vote on it y so but I think we have we probably have some time here to think this kind of game this through I I don't want to make any r i see what you're saying and I think it makes sense and following the same logic that we did for the Board of Health like we think that there's other people more qualified for it so I think we definitely can go down this road and start kind of thinking this through and see what it really means right make sure we're not like we actually ran into an issue with the Board of Health recently where we didn't think all the way through what the where the transfer station and who would be in charge of that and now we're like like it's a kind of a confusing little situation so I want to try to avoid those type of you know not make any rash decisions right but I I totally see what you're saying and I think you're right like it's it is amazing just I've seen since you know this commit has been around the amount of change I've seen in activities it's huge and it's awesome and that's what our Town's been missing I think you know that sense of community is kind of really coming back together which I think is great so yeah I mean I think it's definitely something we should we should investigate now how do we do that what are actual steps we can take to you know at least continue this conversation so that's something we got to figure out like logically I think the next step sounds like we have to look into the CPA and see what it takes to join the pros and cons of that and take it from there it sounds like that's where the funding mechanism is for the other towns right so yeah I'd like to get some like maybe even we talk to somebody from one of our surrounding towns that does have this and just kind of get feedback and see what they say right yeah I mean that's a you have I'm sure we have some connections over there we can talk to yeah I I'm sure you know like I said I know the CPA is a is in the prior town that I worked in the head CPA it's it's wonderful it does a lot of things for the town because it's a percentage of your tax bill that goes into a fund that can be used there's four categories that it can be used for but one of them is pox and Rex um so all of the ball fields there would they would apply to the the um overseer and get the money to do you know do the ball field work and whatnot but I know that it right you know it's not going to be easy to pass in the town of Freetown because it is a percentage that just gets added onto your real estate tax I guess I'm getting confused why we're tying the CPA with the board of parks because or with the maintenance that we're already doing going to have you know that's but that's what I'm saying we're we're already funding the maintenance right we're already spending the money to do these things and we're not asking for new money we're not asking for more money we're not asking for any of that right so you guys keep tying it to the CPA I see it as you want to take the control away from the community program director and then take it to because I see these people as volunteers whoever is going to be doing this are volunteers right and they're not going to have the time to go and run events like the community program director is important they need to be there right but I think that there should be a group of people that are have a big picture view and push for these better programs and these better things this is not like a power grab this isn't uh let's take this job I I have my own job I don't need this job right like I want the community to get better I want Community involvement I want community building and I want five people that are focused on just that right right now we have one person who's focused on a lot of other stuff right hope so but there should be more so why are we tying it to funding when it's already funded because all of these things cost money there is no more funding we've spent all of the funding that was appropriated on concert somebody wants to throw some party at hathway Park right right now it has to come before you guys you have to give them a permit you have to do all the other stuff it takes time to do that why can't we have a board that's able to Grant those approvals that's more accessible right that doesn't require any more funding we already have somebody mowing the Lawns right that money is taxpayer money it's still going to pay somebody's salary to mow the Lawns I'm not asking for a new person to mow the Lawns like that's why I'm getting confused that you guys keep talking about funding we're not talking about we're not talking about funding we're talking about a board that is five volunteers there's no funding involved any of I think the note there too is is elected right so I think right now like we have a community program director who does a great job but what if that Community program director had different interests than the town right now the town doesn't vote on a community program director we vote on the position but then it's ultimately a hired position which can be great but the needs of the Town Town change the people have a voice in our town that's the way our town is run we have a town meeting we have to raise our tickets right in front of everyone about all kinds of issues if we had an elected board essentially there would be someone to partner with the community program director who is a paid person but then there would be these decisions would be made in a group way so that Town's people could come and say well my voice is there and then if you're not happy with how parks are being run or anything to the nature of open space in Parks when it comes up for election you vote for other people because the towns change the town's people change the demographics change families change whether it's families get bigger and people move in or people move out so that's not necessarily going to follow the same job description but the elected people should be a reflection of the people that live in the town that are elected them M so I think to Brian's point about just basically taking what you're doing anyway and expanding it it takes pressure off of just one person who's the board of Select me and have you guys have plenty of other like a lot of other roles even if the three of you were on the board of parks there would at least be two other people that could support this and then just operate in tandem with a community program director or if there's another position that's coming right we're funding that position but you still wouldn't have to fund a volunteer group as a board and like Brian like it's not a power power grab it's more of let the voice of the people now that there's an open space plan put that open space plan into action because it is a lot of work and it's not just something as simple as a committee or for you guys to sit here and be like let's look at the open space plan tonight and what are the items right how often have you seen the like have you looked at the open space plan have you looked at the agenda items and said we're getting these agenda items done like how Rec but I do look at I mean but that's what I'm talking about like if you have five people that that is their their primary focus there's going to be more focused on it mhm we're not asking for money we're not asking for any of those other things we're we're simply saying let's expand the board and not even let's do it right now we're saying put it on the warrant let the people decide and do all that research and do all the if you want to make it so that different positions report to different people and and the internal structure you got plenty of time to decide that right if especially if elected positions where it's not going to happen until 2026 it's two years to figure out the flow of everything right yeah that would have to be written out in the in the article what was that Sor that would have to be written out in the article the warant article and what what the task is going to be and what falls under their jurisdiction so it's well like the board of for October Health has a health agent right but that's not written in that wasn't written in the the warrant right so I'm I'm naive to it was pre-existing so wouldn't that be similar to El is pre being pre-existing as a board of parks person no I think you're talking about the community program she's she's pre-existing and then now you're saying change who she reports to I don't think that's even fair you know what I mean is it a change you get a new boss those are the things like that's what I'm asking like is it a change like Board of Health firstus the transfer station talking there are things that when the decision was made all right when it was elected on there was things that was over was an overthought right we didn't think of until it just recently popped its head so the question there is since we do have a community program director that was based largely on the conversation we had back in 2019 2020 right like in those time those times so so yes to that but her reporting structures to the board of selectman that's largely based off what your open space plan is is saying right A lot of the stuff that's come out is really rooted in based on that right and plus whatever surveys that were put out there so now moving forward how's that change right then we talk keep talking about grass to put that to bed let me just say that the grass is cut only certain parts not all the parks right because because of the way it's set up now without CPA lot of the lot of the the organizations in town raise their own money bought their own equipment and cut their own grass because it's consistent versus having the town do it maybe they leave the clippings behind it just makes it cleaner so that's the grass conversation but I understand what you're saying right but no I mean it comes back to the grass conversations like shouldn't you have a group five people that are able to make sure that it's consistent like have people that are able to like you know think about these things cuz like honestly like if I was you guys and and I have somebody yelling at me about Excel and some the pipes and all this other stuff you're not thinking about grass clippings right but if that's my only responsibility is to think about grass clippings then I'm going to think about grass clippings right like I mean that's that's literally what we're trying to get to like if you have more manpower I'm just saying let's have more manpower and it sounds like you guys are like I don't want more manpower which just doesn't make sense no I I I don't I don't I just want to make sure I'm clear yeah I'm not for or against this I'm just this is my first time you know digesting this I'm just trying to think it through just to see you know what my recommendation would be at the end of the day right like even to say if we didn't put a warrant up you guys can go get a petition on the warrant and and and move that forward right hypothetically so it's like we don't have that much control over any of this anyways right um I just want to I just don't want to be I just want to make sure I make the right decision what in the best interest of the town right so um sorry and can't work messages and I guess that's what I'm trying to say too was is like I don't want to sound negative but I don't like doing things halfhazard right um so you know we're talking about different things up here and then you know different concerns that have popped into my head initially um and as well as someone actually reaching out to me today asking about it so so people do notice things and ask questions and you know whatever so um I would just want to give more people an outlet more Outlets to ask these things I mean I know when I run into people people at like hathway and they ask about what events are happening what things are going on can we have more of these things like I I get those questions right I have my my daughter with me and we go down the slide a bunch of times and they ask me about like oh were you guys going to partner with a family day and you like these things they want right so why not give them a place a sounding board to go and ask for these things I think you've asked me on some of these things in the past and I think I directed you to the community program director to speak with her and try to come up with field days or have whatever days you wanted to do right definitely did you work on that I mean did you yeah we've we've contacted her and we've talked to her and we've invited to our meetings and we've had conversations with her in and the PTO I'm not just saying like like this is just for events that's not what I want this is like we're trying to expand the board so that we can do all the things that we have like on our it's not just events in our open space plan right it's also the maintenance of parks opening like portter pastures making it use ible having more um kayak stands having more Trails having a map of the trails available to people communicating these things out and yes we've had these conversations and that's largely why we put that out there right as an open space committee you can work on those things you're going to have to get funding for them but you can work on them there's grants for Trails this grants for things so there are certainly things you can work on as an advisory committee that you don't need to be a commissioned to do so we're not it's more so being able to put our foot forward for those things having that expanded and and I'm not saying me right I I really want to make sure that you're not looking at this like this committee we want to become that committee I don't think we do right I think that there should be people that are available to push forward these things long after I'm gone right because at the way that it is now the push for it is being blocked a lot of times so even if we push for it and push for it and push for it look how long it's taken us to get what we've gotten right this is just the next logical step and it's not for me it's for the town it's for the town to have people to go to the resources to actually expand and to continue to push for these betterments if I may the um this is this goes back to the open space plan this was the first item on that on that plan to set up a was to become a commission yeah day one Mr chairman if I may yeah absolutely as a citizen um I've been listening to the two groups here and there seems to be that you you you're wondering about the commission my suggestion would be that we have an appointed uh pox commission that way the board of Selectmen have the appointment power but they give the authority to someone other them other than them to make decisions on pox and Recreation uh there's different uh chapters and sections of the law that's set up such committees and I think be good to uh have someone investigate how either either or and maybe then the the uh voters could decide what they want to do but it seems to me that the way to expedite this matter and not wait for maybe two years is to uh think of that you know um then if there something goes wrong in the uh Town Administration the board of Selectmen uh decide they want to do some uh they can't work with their commission they they go out and get other Commissioners then the other thing is that I think a lot of people who may be interested in pox of recreation might not want to go around uh you know knocking on doors campaign Finance laws uh campaign Finance laws well just knocking on the doors to get people to sign there we're not going to do all day Charlie I know I'm sure you'll find something that's I that's a good ide so is that something as a as an actionable item can we have Council look and see like can we what I guess what de task can we delegate to a commission to an appointed commission just to give them you know some more Authority I guess to we have to really articulate what that is though I I I I would I would say if if they're interested in putting an article on the warrant that they submit it yeah you could do that too how many how many um signatures for this would be 100 100 is that what it always is I don't know 100 for the special town meeting but I mean they could why would they need to submit it why would they need to go out yeah why would they I don't mean a special I said just submit it like we have other department okay yeah yeah yeah yeah submit it yeah there is an article for the warrant here but I don't in this you know and then we would then we would send it to Town Council mark it up change it pro present it to the select board the select board get approved to push it through or not okay that that seems like a actual Next Step but I do like the idea like like we should investigate Charlie's idea there of yeah I mean we put elected just because that's what we saw and then we also looked at the chapter 45 law which is the law that is all about Parks commissions and we just basically mimicked exactly what we saw from mimic that to bylaw yeah so this is actually what we did for the board of um the Board of Health that's the actual language that we used for the warrant for the Board of Health and we just substituted uh you know the mgl law for Board of Health with the actual mgl law for Parks Commission and then we just moved the Parks Commission so this is exactly what we would submit to you to with the edit of 2026 yeah change it to 2026 if that's the only time available but I mean that's exactly what we would submit to you and that was the whole reason why we put this in but we did this again months ago so we could change it and make it appointed if that's what the selectman would wish so we could bring this in front of the selectman in a different meeting and then you can vote on it it's not on the agenda to be voted on yeah that's true okay all right well this was good and we'll uh so we can submit this to council for review and then it will get have to get re put back on our agenda to get approved uh or you know voted on so that's actual next steps what do you think the time frame would be like that question I'm just wondering if we're trying to get this on for 2026 which means it has to be in the October thing and it took us two what was it three months to get out here like yeah I shouldn't we shouldn't well I and I think it depends on this the select minute I agree I hey I understand like like this would be low totem Poll for me but again that's just well keep in mind it's 2026 so it could be in October of this year or the June of next year it'll still be voted on in of June of March or April 2026 ready for this October you could still go through the um open submission process for the June town meeting and it would still allow you ample enough time to go to the AG's office possibly get approved to be on that April 2026 so it does you don't have to cut yourself short and and rush to get it on October because whether you have it on October or June it would be next the same in the same time frame so it might behoove you to put a little bit more thought to really fine tune everything that you want to do that's if the um they go an elected board they go an appointed board does not correct that's yeah that was my we can kind of go appointed first and we change the language and we put it and we make it appointed well I mean I guess so for us this is the next step is for you guys to look at it and go through Council and figure out what is allowed and not allowed right right well I think it's fair to say an appointed board if that's what works out I mean so an appointed board still a board that is going to have the ability to and that's the authority to do again doesn't mean it's us as the board we're not asking to be appointed no I I get that so if we went appointed then we we we could take take a draft of of this do we have it in word I can type it up this we can change it to being appointed we can send it to Town Council I mean and it will come back on the warrant for the October meeting and the selectman vote on whether they're going to put it through or not yeah yeah and then like and I the way I would see that work out in Practical terms is that you know like if this was the case right now then you would be on that board as well right like I think you'd want a board selectman on that board M and that so what you how many members you have now is that you full full I know you guys have to get uh what no touch the town clerk some some of your members as far as yeah yeah we do getting appointed and everything else so we make that a priority step one right uh step two yeah how many people do you have currently is are you again this is separate like we're we're not right right yeah I'm just kind of just talking to you guys right yeah how many people you have at this point as far as members you need x amount yeah we have six six so having a seventh person would make sense because you want to keep it odd right odd number I'm the appointed could be I'm just I'm different and that would allow open space to be in open space as opposed to open space and everything right like all right what we have spent 40 minutes on that I think we got to move on we have a packed agenda so I appreciate the presentation I think we have acable steps so thank you guys thank you very much I just want to make a correction for the minutes it's nine member board currently oh it is nine and there's six you have two vacancies on that board thank you thank you thank you guys have a good night all right thank you s Zer J 2 we have a presentation information from town clerk regarding September 3rd 2024 primary and upcoming elections Cheryl please evening thank you so much uh for the viewers at home my name is Cheryl Estella I'm the free toown town clerk I want to first start off by thanking the board for allowing me this time um more of a public service announcement for our uh residents and our voters here in um to bring some clarity to the election specifically the primary that's going to be taking place on September 3rd um I've been before this board quite a few times regarding the changes with the votes act so I just want to again clarify that for the town people so the next slide um 2024 State primary important dates and deadlines we are starting um in person early voting this Saturday August 24th which also happens to be the last day for folks who are not registered in free toown as voters to register to vote so the board of regist office located within the town clerk's office will be open this Saturday from 9:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m. um and they can also register to vote online at VOE in.com um again that's for new folks who haven't registered to vote in free toown and those folks who want to change their party the party decision deadline will be this Saturday so again first day of early voting begins this Saturday August 24th and then continues all of next week through Friday August 30th inperson early voting happens here at the Freetown Police Station um Saturday from 8: to 2: Sunday it's not going to be available and then it follows the regular Town Hall business hours Monday through Thursday 8 to 4: and Fridays from 8 to 12 um Monday August 26th um which is the first Monday during uh in person early voting there is a 5:00 p.m deadline so that deadline is for folks to request their vote by mail in ballot via the postcards that they were mailed by the Secretary of State's office or via paper application from the town clerk so no one can receive a vote by mail ballot without first applying for that vote by mail ballot um I just wanted to point out that those postcards that everyone received came from the Secretary of State's office from um uh secretary galvin's office not from the town clerk's office or the elections office and folks who have not or decided not to participate in vote by mail they will continue to receive a postcard for each and every election if they ignore it or don't choose to have it that was written to the votes Act of 2022 so again folks who um choose not to opt in to vote by mail for this primary come September 21st on our round they will be receiving an additional postcard for the November election so we get nice little love back in the office letting us know their opinions on on vote by mail um but just please know if you have an issue with those postcards we unfortunately we can be a sounding board for you but we unfortunately can't stop it so um the next slide of deadlines Friday August 30th even though the inperson early voting that's taking place here at the police station ends at 12:00 p.m. noon absentee voting would still continue at the Town Hall until 5:00 P p.m. it's a 5:00 P p.m deadline Friday before the election so absentee voting it's written to the um Constitution absentee voting is for Just Cause only so there are three specific causes that will make you applicable to receive an absentee ballot or mark an absentee ballot an application is still necessary those are filled out at my office but you would have to be away from the town on primary or election day so whether you're working or you're on vacation or taking a trip you're not available not in town on that would be a cause if you have a a religious belief preventing you from going to the polls on that day or if you have a disability that's preventing you from going to the polls um and then that's the Friday before Labor Day and then uh the Tuesday following the Monday holiday is primary day so the polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. all precincts vote at the Freetown Elementary School and we ask that you use the Memorial Drive Entrance which is across the street from the baseball park um school is not in session that day so that's a plus so we won't have added congestion there um and then also for those folks who did apply for a vote by mail ballot and received a vote by mail ballot they have up until 8:00 pm. to return that ballot that vote by mail ballot the one stipulation is it cannot be returned to the polls so if you got a ballot you want to return it it's not 8:00 yet on primary or election day you have to bring that specifically to the office of the Town Clerk or drop it in the white mailbox the box located out front of town hall that box does get checked periodically through the day and on Election Day it's every hour on the hour and at 8 p.m that box is sealed and a note is placed there so that folks know that they've missed the deadline there okay um moving on uh we have some helpful tidbits for voters so I'd have done a couple of Facebook posts just to try to bring clarity as to um who can vote in a primary any registered voter can vote in a primary the only difference is you must take the ballot that is associated with the party that you are registered in now we have um several different um parties we have the Democrat libertarian and Republican parties those are the three uh major parties here in Massachusetts each with their own ballot now we have two sets of ballots due to the different representative districts so Precinct one has a Democrat libertarian and Republican ballot um because they're the sixth Bristal district and then precincts two and three share the same representative um in the eth Bristol District they'll have their three ballots Democratic libertarian and Republican um unenrolled voters there seems to be a lot of confusion with unenrolled I unfortunately um don't care for that word I like to explain it and say it's not that you're unenrolled because that makes it seem like you're not enrolled as a voter it's more meant to be Undeclared so it's also known as the old independent um party so at when you're an unenrolled voter and you're choosing to vote whether it be in person early voting vote by mail or at the polls you have your choice of party ballot um back in the day it used to impact you when you chose your ballot it would change you and Mark you in that specific party it no longer does that hasn't done that for quite some time but we have some voters who still believe that it makes them if they vote in a primary and they choose a ballot that they're going to be locked into that party it doesn't so you're not declared it doesn't impact your voter enrollment status you stay as un unenrolled or the old independent or Undeclared um when we're at the polls um per the Mass General law voters have to announce the party ballot that they want Democrat libertarian or republican now um the ballot color headers the tops of the ballots you would normally think that red would be associated with Republican and blue with Democrat that's what um they're typically associated with in the media however that's not the case so the pinkish header or the reddish header that is the Democratic ballot the blue one is the Republican and purple will be for libertarian it's also in state law so that observers can hear which parties and party ballots are being chosen um and then if folks are not sure who's on the ballot which ballot they'd like sample ballots are on the website Mario web page is all updated it's got all the information a plethora of information it's all on the one page and you just click on The Links at the bottom of the page to inform yourself a little bit better um for quite some time now since fall of 2021 we use the electronic check-in via the pole pads we still have a a paper backup in case anything happens um but just to put everyone's mind at ease that is not connected to the internet at all we get that question a lot that is only uh Bluetooth connectivity so that when you get checked in your slip or your label prints out and that is our paper checkin so but that is um not connected to the internet at all um they also have the option to scan the license Massachusetts is a non-id state which means we cannot ask you for your ID but certainly you can present your ID and it just makes it for a quicker look up at the poll so you'll see that the lines of of Voters have diminished um a due to the different ways that you can vote but also those electronic um check-ins it makes the process go by within 7 seconds from start to finish um or they can still State the name and the address either way whether you present a license or you state your name and address um and then which party ballot you want the El the election worker will have to repeat it back to that's in the Mass general laws um and then just some websites here for folks who want to get some more information um if they want to find out which Precinct they're in they're we've got maps and signage and we have greeters um but if you're not sure uh what Precinct you're in this is a couple of things of know before you go you can check your Precinct um at that website free time.gov voting precincts you can check your voter status or party affiliation at v.com um sometimes folks are not sure if they registered in free Town they're still they're in between or just moved from maybe another Community within Massachusetts it's always good to check there again we have the deadline of um August 24th to get your s registered here in Freetown refer to the sample ballots there and again polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. all three precincts precincts 1 2 and three vote at Freetown Elementary School and again to use the uh Memorial Drive Entrance I do have some stats for you if you're interested um I can tell you currently we have 7,24 voters out of those voters uh 1,272 have requested mailin ballots so that's about 177% of the total voters have requested mail and ballots of that 1272 518 have already been returned and processed so um you'll see the Secretary of State actually do a lot of infomercials where track my ballot where it has your Town Clerk or your elections commission receiv receiv your ballot that all comes through our office so that gets updated where we've been in election mode we'll continue to be in election mode up through 7even days after the election um so that's that and then uh already ready for the state election come November we've already exceeded that application amount we're already over, 1300 so 1,369 as of this afternoon W that's more than I expected yeah so people I think it's just going to take a matter of time for people um to get accl with it um but it's nice to give options but again the traditional vote on Election Day is still available to everyone in I when you encourage you just to folks to just come on down and exercise your right to vote so great job and I don't know how you keep track of all those dates My head goes my head goes spinning yeah I may look at you funny and have to process it in my brain to give you the correct answer but yes so my one question for you cuz you already answered one thank you is um you you said you get a lot of hate mail back with the postcards yes how do people unenroll from that so unfortunately there is no way to unenroll our opt out you would say of getting those vote by mail postcards so with the votes act that was written into law um they have the Secretary of State's office has to send it to every single uh registered voter within the Commonwealth in all 351 communities um if people want to affect change and not have those I would say contact your state legislators but as of this time there's no way to opt out so um folks again who maybe discarded or were not interested for the September or even through January earlier this year you'll and you ignored it or you threw it out or just didn't answer you will get another one for the November they want to give everyone um opportunity to apply if that is their wish fair enough sounds good now Cheryl November is a long time away right the first one coming up is September I know probably fast so I'm sure it goes fast I was doing annual stuff today but the residents listening to this here today and at home days days from now we to tell them anything it's one thing right like you're going to continue getting these postcards from the state until either you ignore them until election day right or until you respond back to them right a clear respond in the affirmative right in the affirmative correct and to make a clear distinction is these are just registration for voting not ballots correct so I've been getting a lot of concerns like I keep getting ballots in the mail there's no ballots in the mail this is just to register yourself to become a legal registered voter yep for whatever party you choose to be um so the vote by mail applications or postcards that everyone has been receiving so that is the application in order for a ballot to be mailed out the door it needs to have a paper application so and those paper applications come in Via um online portal comes via um uh Federal postcards which are for the UAV voters citizens and uh uh uniformed armed services that come overseas are stationed overseas and also um the actual postcards that people receive so those are the applications okay perfect all right than you well thank you very much Char it's very informative for appreciate it all right so uh moving on agenda item agenda item three um this is just open session minutes from 88 2024 so I'll entertain a motion to approve the Open Session minutes meeting minutes from 88 2024 motion made a second all in favor I I agenda item four discussion and vote whether to approve the policy for purchase orders um lu through that policy everyone have a chance to check that out it's uh $5,000 seemed like a pretty straightforward policy to me um and that's the change it's 3,000 currently it's going to 5,000 sorry yeah 5,000 because now things are so expensive that they hit the 3,000 pretty quickly yeah so what it means is when it hits 5,000 it has to come on a purchase order and I have to sign it under that the department heads just process the paperwork with their you know through their own budget that makes sense the only thing I didn't see on this maybe I didn't read it is is that for materials and labor or just materials was that total it would be for like a total bill it wouldn't be it' be whatever they're doing if they're hiring a carpenter to do something and the bill is greater than $5,000 that they have to create a purchase order which I have to sign and Matt has to sign it saying that they have the funds to pay the bill yeah that's how it gets in the accounting system and everything else makes sense right all right we good on this yeah without all a motion to approve the policy for purchase orders motion made second all in favor i i i j item five discussion and vote whether to have Naran kits in the town hall I have I have talked to um Board of Health about this as well and so they were on board with this too so but we're the Selectmen really the keepers of the Town buildings I figured I'd bring it before before this board but um ultimately the Board of Health will really decide the details of how this how this occurs decide where it's going to go all that because there's training that's going to have to be done and I've already talked to uh Kevin desmaris the health agent about it so he he once you vote if you vote in the affirmative they'll take over and and make it happen yep and I do think I mean unfortunately this is something we probably do need which um think we've all seen the impact so all right any other questions or concerns I'm assuming it's going to be the same kit sitting outside our fire same kit and they already have them and like I said I think they have funding through the coalition to get training I know that Kevin is working on this like I said sort of a Board of Health um really taking the lead on this but just bringing it to the Border selectman just to get the approval to put it in the the town hall you know you never know there's always the threat of the fentanyls being in the mail or being somewhere and this way if anything should happen we have we have access to to the Naran kit I couldn't agree more yep okay so with that I'll a motion to um approve having dark hand kit in the town hall motion made second all in favor I I agenda item six discussion of vote whether to approve the tuition reimbursement requests from the former plan uh planning land use admin so the total tuition here is 3 ,000 in change right 268 yeah and so the actual tuition like the course that was taken is is definitely uh you know job related there's no question there it's for tuition for disaster Emergency Management course M I think the only kind of thing in question is that per the CBA approval needs to be given prior you know before the course is taken looks like approval was in this case was given retrospect um I think the plan you know unfortunately she's not with us anymore but she did a great job for this town um personally I have no issue approving this so it's around $1500 um but I think we have to be clear going forward and make sure we communicate to to everyone else that we need to have prior approval uh before you know like this one we would obviously approved this it makes a lot of sense but just to keep ourselves out any sticky situations down down the road that's the issue I have with it right I agree with you she's done a great job for the town but the CBA language is there it's it says you shall do this before you get that it's like someone taking leave and not telling us about it after they come back yeah right it's it's what I don't want is we have five unions in town now we have we just permit in a sense five unions to say hey I can not not say they're going to do this but essentially say hey I didn't I didn't know this part but here's my here's my tuition payment for basket weaving whatever it is there's a really there's a reason why it's written the CBA language has to cover the town right so I know it's only 50% of the the reimbursement benefit but Town council's kind of sticky with it as well as far as what's the right thing to do and I don't want to get us into a situation that this this is a norm because it's not I hear you it's tough I think one of the issues with pre-approval is funding source right yeah because you sure the money well I I I agree that she took the course it approved course it's just that now I I have to find the funding for this that I don't have that's not in the budget so it may be that I have to go to town meeting and ask for this additional funding but that being said I I don't um I don't I don't think you should not give it to her I'm just saying like that's the reason for the pre-approval is so that we can make sure we can fund it accordingly one of my other things too is is I 100% agree with both sides of this is she's no longer here so I think I don't know how the CBA is written and I apologize for not knowing this off the top of my head but part of it is employment at the time of reimbursement right so I don't go and apply for something and then leave and I this isn't you know a direct thing at her or attack at her but I think you know the town is having to to spend money on people's education it's tough that we're going to spend it and then they're walking out the door ing the benefits of it and it sounds awful to say it that way but there's truth to it in the fact that we're paying for education for someone and now they're using it to their betterment somewhere else so that's that's the part I think that bothers me with it but I also think that it's tough to you know if she did it with the right intention when she started taking the course and there was a simple mistake made then or like there could have been verbal kind of approval and was there any conversation in the office that this was going to transpire as far as she didn't talk to me about tuition reimbursement she did tell me she was going for her master's degree I was aware of that yeah I don't know tough on you think it would be kind of easy but it's kind of tough on me because it weighs on both excuse me someone cell phones going off it'll go out yeah and I do believe she submitted the paperwork for this reimbursement while she was still employed right yeah she was still employed just so you know yeah it's it's tough because president CBA language is if you don't submit a prior approval you're not entitled to this to this a reimbursement yeah and that's where the where the we speak on behalf of the town and per the town agreements this isn't permissible and then if we do open this up to one person now we're opening up to everybody else and as cruel as that sounds and I'm not and I again I I this is a valued employee it's just you you're going to create that sit that situation you just spoke of of potentially this coming back in front of us on another issue whether leave or policy or something else that's in the C zba sorry CBA yeah so um all right I'll put up her vote you know I think that guys so I'm a motion that we approve the tuition reimbursement request uh for former planning land use admin I just can't do it it kills me but I can't do it because I just I'm too scared of what can come I feel for her yeah similar reason I'm a no on this as well um because it's we open it up we open it up for everything and we have those CBA agreements that we all just agreed to this this past year all of us were in the same on agreements for a reason and as I I know it's a little money but it still has to do it the right way it's a little money to the town it's a lot to the individual so that's what's killing me with this it's likewise okay so I couldn't get the motion made so pass on it it was trying was denied so it was a no two Nos and a yes right all right moving on um so actually I'm going to we're actually a little over time so the public hearing that's was going to take place tonight it's been rescheduled and pushed down to 9 uh September 9th I had I do have to open the public hearing and then I have to uh continue it so I'm going to do that right now so the town of Freetown public notice uh 98224 notice is hereby given that a hearing will be held in August 19th 2024 the police station community room 15 Memorial Drive East Freetown Massachusetts at 7:00 p.m. to review the the class 2 motor license held by Coop ahead Industries Inc DBA uh chopp ahead Custom Cycles um 13 County Road East Freetown Massachusetts 02717 so in so the hearing is now open um the reason why the they requested that we extend this because they have an attorney that they want to be present the attorney couldn't be here today so we've granted them the ability to push this so that they can have their attorney present during the next hearing so you need to make a motion to so yeah so I'll entertain a motion that we um continue this hearing until 99 2024 7 p.m. motion made um just quick question when did the mo the was it within 48 Hours of of posting this meeting so everything's in the clear everything else yeah and it's and and the abutters have been uh notified notified okay all right I second that okay all in favor I I I right okay I think were you here for that hearing is anyone here for that hearing did you understand what just happened how come uh I didn't get a notice that it changed is it is it Aug I'm right next door I'm right next door I'm I'm not sure the that's kind of there were like 30 notices that went out there was I mean if the abutters were notified I'm not sure twice because once it a letter went out I got two letters stating that it was today two of them the second letter said on it that it was continued I have a copy of it at the top of it no I got no continuous today was supposed to be the day August 19th that's kind of lousy something's wrong anyhow thank you yep is it for August 29th no so sorry for for uh September 9th September 9th all right thank you yep okay agenda item seven this is uh discussion of vote whether to approve St Vincent's Services motorcycle run utilizing town roads on September 15th 2024 so it looks like this starts you know it just goes through free town I don't think it starts in free Town yeah I don't think it ends in free town begins and ends in Fall River yeah so they're's driving through town but uh is there any rows you be shut down or anything of that nature NOP okay so like chief police okay with this I mean I don't really know much what we could Chief Highway surveyor Board of Health agent they all signed off okay great so what that any questions or concerns no okay so with that I'll a motion to approve St Vincent Service uh St Vincent Services motorcycle run utilizing town roads at 9:15 2024 motion me second all in favor I I great agenda item eight this is discussion of vote whether to approve the spending plan for the uh from the Council on Aging director for fiscal year 2023 formula grant in the sum of $950 yeah so and the money will be allocated toward um chair yoga and Matt yoga two times Perth uh sorry chair yoga is two times per week Matt yoga is two times per month and then drums alive that sounds cool four times per a month um any questions or concerns I don't know those drum drum stuff that's that's a lot of work so it's not yoga oh imagine yeah I need to do some yoga I think we all do yeah we get yoga at the park the park got did it get postponed last week though rain yeah rain and this is the 23 Grant so this is just carryover money so more money yeah this is more money from the formula grant it's already money that we have um it's the the prior year we haven't even gone into this previous year that's good awesome have you looked into goat yoga yeah that's a real thing if we can bring goats to the COA that's a real thing all right I did see the sign down next to profile rock that someone had goat yoga the people over there they had it see so it's a thing so that's where I thought maybe that's where it was sparing from for you they right off maybe subconsciously subconsciously haven't seen that sign I don't know that was non-permitted I didn't say that you have a legal goat you heard but no I mean I know you you had um spoke a lot about different uh activities and how well they're being taken on by the citizens um the seniors rather and so uh I love this I love seeing more and more you know spending the money where we should and and it's quote unquote free it is yeah it's especially the yoga programs they're very utilized so um Cher yoga is about 17 to 20 every Tuesday and Thursday and Matt yoga we can only fit up to 17 and we we do sometime we can only fit that many mats in the in the building wow that's great yes yeah yoga's not cheap if you have to go no so it's free right now we'll see more programs for for our senior population the better so if we need goats we'll find the goats they're going to hold you to that but and it cuts the grass at the same time it solves two birds once sorry too soon all right so we good there yeah all right so that all intended motion to approve the spending plan for the Council on Aging director sorry from the council aging director for fiscal year 2023 formula grant the sum of $950 motion made second all in favor I I all right agenda item 9 discussion of vote whether to establish a donation account uh to receive revenue from the community programs so pretty much here the revolving fund can't receive donations that's correct if I'm understanding this correctly therefore we need to create a donation fund to receive donations yeah yeah I I you know yeah I think I think it's a great idea yeah we're not charging for events so people are donating money we need to do something of that money yeah and there's no way for us to get that money into anything so donation account will be uh there set up for the community program director to use at her discretion right so so because that's I mean I don't want I think it's kind of ridiculous for you know if you have $400 in donation sitting there for have to come from the board wait two weeks to get it you know so I think yeah and I think she she works hand in hand with Debbie already so it's not you know yeah but it's a good point you don't want them waiting either so yeah I mean as long it'll have to be accounted for obviously right like donations I'm sure there's receipts of donations and then there's you know so similar to the with the fireworks and PR fireworks and pre have an account gu they receive donations so but but as I started reading this I I started thinking I've Al I've always been asked about different ways to donate to the town right there's different mechanisms so if we do set up a donation account do we set one up that has multiple categories instead of just Community programs do we do one for hey I want to donate towards the school for a new playground type of thing is there different categories we can add to a donation account or do we just create our own donation account well each donation account has to have sort of it own right because intended use right yeah intended use right if donating for fireworks they don't want that going to the community program director they want that to be used for the fireworks and for that whole um Fourth of July stuff so so this would be strictly for donations not for if we're selling merchandise or anything if we're charging that's the revolving F yeah right and then just a silly question but say that yoga someone you know everyone gives $10 into the like we don't have to accept that donation though right not if it's $10 no okay is there like there's a reasonableness like is it $50 I think I do that okay anything over $50 on ethical I knew that some there's a training in there you took did that's 4 below is okay what it yeah no I think it's a great idea I really do that way these programs continue to grow right and we get more of them and more of them um I'm looking forward to movie night coming up right so to see what the the volume is for that location and everything else that's going to be a great day September 6th and and more of those right so yeah you guys are speaking to my heart so let's do it all right great so with that so I'll a motion to establish a donation account to receive Revenue um from Community programs I'm motion made second all in favor I I all right J item 10 uh discussion of vote whether to host a blood drive in partnership with cross on November 14th 2024 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Council on Aging I'm gonna let Kylie speak because she's set this up yeah and since Rebecca is here as well just I know you've working with the Board of Health on this so um I already got Kevin's approval of the location and I've been working with the American Red Cross um they're totally fine with that location as well and they kind of handle everything um they even have their own volunteers stay set and break um everything up and down um they've been pretty wonderful so far so I was hoping to be able to use uh the COA for something like this that makes sense and then yeah we just have to make sure we communicate that out you know we could use our different Avenues Facebook and everything else right to try to get some what day of the week is it on I think that's Thursday I just worried about the Tuesday traffic jam so probably um the is it uh in its own truck or is it going to be done inside the building inside the building okay good yeah no I think that's good just obviously for accessibility for people so I'm just going to run this through my board to next week we don't meet until next week so it's G to be on my agenda as well for the co board awesome yeah just everyone's on the same page perfect smart just so that they're aware of it yep another positive thing yeah awesome so with that AR intend a motion um to approve the hosting blood drive in partnership with the Red Cross on November 14th 2024 2:30 7:30 p.m. at the Council on Aging a motion made second all in favor I I is that open for Town employees too everybody right right yeah oh yeah yeah it's out C aging but anybody anyone can go right yeah so okay perfect so okay agenda item 11 discussion of vote whether accept a donation in kind from Robert Dean to be used for Consultants Andor engineers to design and permit refurbishing uh Porter pasture to its prior condition under the control of the Conservation Commission and I think so on the agenda here just to be clear it says uh donation in kind but it could potentially be legal tender to like cash right so just want to make sure yeah we check so we're going to I'm going to make that a little more broad uh when we go to vote on this so um anything else to add to that no I know Mr Sullivan chair of give the skinny yeah um Robert Dean with actually his name is d e a n m uh was uh born and raised in Freetown um he went to California the San Diego uh area of California and he made out well in life he's 96 years old he wishes to donate uh a sum of money to the town of Freetown to maintain and develop and redevelop uh Port of pasture which his family donated uh well provided the town Back in 1970 Susan Sergeant here from North Main Street Dean [Music] Sergeant spelled the same way uh from North Main Street will fill in anything that I might miss uh but Mr Dean got in uh touch with us in June we met with him uh Victoria and I met with him and his family uh he wished wishes to uh start the fund with seed money MH uh which uh would be pay to pay for a uh plan an engineering plan on redoing the beach area and also he spoke of a forestry plan but since that time when we met him we realized that we have a forestry plan that's about four years old uh that would work uh there so it would be uh a sum of money to start with it may uh turn into a trust fund um so that you have anything else Susan right so Charlie is the amount $100,000 uh well that's what he spoke this piece is what that's what he spoke just so they can add it into the thing that they're going to be approving the uh donation of whether it be in kind or in in C you know cash of $100,000 to effectuate the um consultants and Engineers to design and permit the refurbishing of Porter pasture to its prior condition of when he grew up to the best that we can permit it under the control of the Conservation Commission and I put that in there because they they do have control of that land it's not something that we have control over that's amazing anything else now after doing this work right the longt girl I'm often there with family and children and everything else it's a beautiful location uh what's the will it have it will it be easy more accessible after it's all designed redone or what's the ultimate goal for it I guess well I I I I think the ultimate goal on the on a p of the commission is to develop the property to be more uh user uh friendly uh for um passive Recreation um like we said it would be to redu uh replace the beach um I have a photograph the town had aial um or photos from the 1950s uh I have a copy of that you can kind of see where the beach was you can see now in Google Earth U there a couple of pictures from the historical society that uh relates back to it uh Susan also has a couple other pictures um we'll work on that and that would be so the first step would be to have a feasibility study M if it's feasible and we then we'll go on with a plan to develop and permit uh the beach area first that would be you know let's stop back from the water and work our way out um also in in the forestry plant there's a lot of I there's a lot of uh Pine that really could be harvested not that I'm out to make money out of it but but the fact that they the pine trees have reached uh close to their maturity mhm and they end up becoming more likely a hazard um and so it might be better to thin out it it's very thick in there it reminds me of a harbit forest if you ask me a lot of it is if you know what if you could go back there there's a lot of there's a lot of ferns and so forth uh on the uh floor and you know we could develop that develop some walking paths and so forth yeah what so I grew up on Jeffrey Lane so my backyard was the P Pastor so what about there's uh that graveyard back there uh yes the uh Cemetery committee um commission uh re they redid the lane way and so forth they they cleared out I think two years ago now if I um one of the things that I see there is as we let access or is we want to kind of make a barrier that there's a laneway but the laneway actually goes right up to the cemetery and you could actually if you went up there in the night and you didn't know what you were doing you could actually drive into the cemetery so we want to do something there that yeah but other than that it's uh basically open Forest yeah and that I mean I was so happy to grow up on that it was an awesome place to grow up having like untouched Woods like you know but I think it's a great initiative and I'm totally support this yeah no I agree with you on the forest as you as you go drive through that narrow road it's uh the light disappears and it pops back up at the beach area so and I think that creates also an additional area people to go at night when it's closed to you know have their own fun but then not clean up so that'll help out in the long term I I looked uh two weeks ago uh I I spoke to the police department they ran a um basically a search of the logs for the last five and a half years and there's may be uh well there's many many entries for people for the police checking the property uh but as to having problems there there's not much activity there at all um there's a little it's it's a very popular place for crabbing um I did go down um last Monday uh to in the middle of the day I ran into the uh environmental police officer whose area this uh town is and she says she doesn't have there that there's no illegal crabbing um to to speak of you know some people get short crabs or something like that but that there's no license needed and there's no uh no uh difference between a female crab and a male crab being harvested m mhm so that's it one of the things I think uh might be good is to try to encourage there's a parking lot there that nobody ever uses right the lane way they always go down and it might be better to uh kind of restrict it especially if we uh re renew the beach uh so that people don't drive on the beach but that's to be that's all in theory yeah right that's a great idea but the the good news is we will have the means at which to complete these things right so it's positive so 96 years old God bless them yeah I mean that's amazing that stuff makes your heart happy I like doing stuff like this I think one of the gravestones there ended up in like California and he sent it back did he yeah I remember that I did a I did a school report on that that small town stuff long that's great not that long ago yeah Only Yesterday yeah 20 something years ago all right so thank you very much I appreciate the background there any other questions no this is great information great thank you so much the family and Mr Dean and everything else okay I'm now working me while I do this motion here so I'll entertain a motion to vote uh to accept a donation in kind or in legal tender from Robert Dean with an a to be used for consultants and or Engineers to design uh and permit refer fishing Porter pastur to its prior condition under the control of the Conservation Commission motion made second all in favor I I this is a side not I I spoke when I spoke to him last uh week he was going to get a legal document setting down parameters perfect for for his the spending of his money I said we be more than happy to sign whatever it is we be good y I will probably on the next agenda set up the actual fund vote to have the fund set up okay like gramp Dean like obviously that's a road right I never thought about where that name came from and now I know oh that is funny I I didn't even connect it to you just said it Dean family with the people who built the John John M John M John M okay oh interesting met of Honor winner in the Civil War wow that's really interesting wow something new every day all right thank you thank you much appreciate your time okay now item 12 discussion of vote whether approve ambulance abatements and writeoffs for July 2024 the amount of 164,165 the total amount of Revenue collected I think was 80 where are you what page are you on yeah here it is so it's 13,990 was the write offs and other mandatory adjustments relative to insurance for the month of July 2024 is 150,000 that's the abatements right yeah that those two numbers make it up but the 150 is sort of mandatory right because the insurance they're only going to pay what they're going to pay yeah always breaks my brain we do it every month I've didn't do it like a 100 times but still but anyway so the total amount Revenue collected was 88,000 yeah here it is any questions or concerns on that no it is what it is crazy it is crazy when you look at the numbers and you see the numbers it's surreal the size of the numbers but you know they we we talked about this recently right where we changed how they go back and try and collect money but the the old analogy you can't get blood from a stone so if there's people who you know they go after try and get the money the insurance companies are the stone well yeah absolutely but then they go to and that true but I'm saying like the individuals they go to the individuals and try and collect money but broken system y I agree okay but nothing we can do about it today so with that I'll a motion to uh approve the ambulance abatements and write offs for July 2024 in the amount of $164,600 you take 15 because I'm on the agenda that way you can knock that out of the way I'll do that want we do it right now yeah okay so um gen5 discussion and vote whether to approve the appointments of the following individuals uh to the bylaw Review Committee effective 820 2024 through 630 2026 25 it'll be 25 25 you're right uh so it's Emily doors Cheryl C Estrella Carlos a Lopes Deborah Petty Paul sadic Steven trip and uh is that Jose yes uh Ventura Ventura okay so with that I'll entertain a motion to uh approve the appointments for the individuals just listed to the bylaw Review Committee effective 620 2024 through 6:30 2025 motion made 82024 what did I say 620 8 I got so so 8:20 2024 through 6:30 2025 motion made second all in favor i i j 15 is done thank you for that yep all right I J 13 acknowledge the resonation of Mark Joe's as hubber Master effective 814 2024 um thank you Mark for 44 years of giving to this town we wish you the best in your future endeavors so good call actually I actually recently asked how long that was cuz I knew it was forever 44 years that's I think it was 35 yeah 35 in this position and then other positions throughout the years as well so 44 years given back to town Freetown so and his family and his family correct correct so so thank you for that and we wish you the best all right so 14 item agenda 14 and Personal Agenda is discussion and vote where to increase the amount of vacation time in the Personnel bylaw so right now we're capped at what two weeks five up two years five years I should say I think it's one week for first year second year it's two it's 10 days on five years it's 15 days 10 years it's 20 days and then um 15 years it's one day one day for each additional year so it's like 16 year you know goes up by one day until you hit 25 days the issue is a lot of towns now when they hire the professional the department heads under the bylaw they they give them three weeks right out of the gate um we have just a week and then two weeks um I thought maybe on the third year we could go to the three weeks as opposed to the fiveyear um you know the trend is more vacation time everybody wants more vacation time so um I've brought this before the board in the past um because it would require a change in the bylaw or go to town meeting um so here we are at town meeting so I thought I would um bring it again just because uh you know eventually we might not get [Music] Personnel if if they're comparing Apples to Apples in other towns um but you know we do have that piece that it you know it's this is what the union gets pretty much so right right you're right on that it's hiring has been interesting if not tough at times right for different positions around town one of the things we can continue to do is we always do apples to apples comparisons with other towns similar in size right and one of the things do we lack on or or less thereof is vacation time we we haven't really kept up with what other towns are doing and even our own cbas as Deb just mentioned so this brings neck to neck so everyone's equal whether you're covered by a union or not so so that's fair right yeah that's the simplest way to put it yeah that's pretty straightforward and I think that you know it's it's not a big change dollar-wise to the town but it's a big change to the individual who's coming to try and work for us and look at their time right because abut Bas we all want time with our families and stuff so I'm I'm all for it I don't think especially as like you transition from like a part-time job to a full-time job and then yeah you get the home discom of having local residents working in town right but then you're like oh I'm missing this piece or that piece so that may be hesitant for them to you know vacation times that are preset with kids and everything else this really does open us up to a more broad community and and allow more people to come in and stay here and want to continue working here because now they're competitive with other towns right if I had a choice be go between Freetown and Lakeville it leville gave you the same pay same hour same everything but extra week of vacation love you free town but I have kids I might go to Lakeville instead then we might lose that person or or that specific role that that person was holding so just didn't make sense not kind of and bringing this up and let's call it what it is the private sector tends to pay more than the side right so you look at it benefits have to be that much better right like okay we do good with our health insurance and there's a lot of things that we do and I'm not saying we don't pay well I'm just saying that there is opportunity away from here that so people aren't just coming looking to say I just want to work for municipality they might be looking at a job with us but then looking at another local business and so I and and don't keep in mind this still has to go to town meeting for for the vote so um this just gets us to The Next Step yeah I guess I'm just talking it out right like just what the the upsides are of it all and why it's almost the standard now that you get the three weeks I don't know yeah and as we talked out too like you know CBA we all just finished a bunch of cbas this year but there are some coming up in a few years right that that might change a couple things here as well as far as what they get um but again it'll be competitive and'll be in line with everybody so it's it still makes sense so that said I entertain the motion to vote on the increase to the amount of vacation time the person bylaw to be voted on at a future to meeting make that motion I will second it all in favor I I I that is something that I will bring to the bylaw committee as well because that was one of the that is one of the bylaws we're trying to work on makes sense Personnel bylaw so we have a meeting that we were going to set the agenda for the 27th I'm not going to be at that meeting but because I'm on vacation okay look at that to ironic [Laughter] yeah I think it should be you know because you're here tonight you know the recording click to make sure that that's word correctly get on that7 perfect thank you Cheryl all right so timely manner huh look at that you have to have the right players in theic codifications that's a that's that's a huge one love it love it things are getting done free Town we're getting things done it agena 16 discussion and vote on adding an Outreach worker position to the COA funded by a grant that was awarded to the COA which of course is our Council of Aging you have a few words would you like to say about the grant while you're here so um similar to last time we talked about the van that we received the 25,000 for um this was part of the same cycle through mcoa and where I wrote the grant for the van Kylie wrote this Outreach worker uh it was another part of the um there were um categories that you could go out for and this was another category um and I thought it would be cool um that if she wrote it then maybe it would kind of come to fruition and I asked if it could cover a salary and um it could so that's how this just to give some history Rebecca and I have been talking about whether we need an Outreach worker um we've just we had we hadn't defined the lines of or what that would quite look like like we because she's you know was new now probably we started talking about it and waiting to see she wanted to spend some time with the COA before we made the definitive decisions and what would work best for the town so this is like a great opportunity that this grant came and we can sort of try it out on somebody else's dime MH yeah um and it's a it's a $10,000 Grant so perfect it makes it all that much better when we don't have to pay for it directly you can see how it works out am and you can tweak it and fine-tune it and and come up you know um as it works and I think the understanding is if it works out we would then try to fund it at town meeting next year but it doesn't have to be just depends on how things progress feasibility is there another Grant is this a grant you can apply for every year or is this something that's a one and done so every year it's it can be something different they they don't really want you to apply for the same thing year after year so the first year I applied was the nutrition Grant so it funded our Tuesday lunch program um this year we went out for the Outreach and and the van money for the van next year I don't know next year I think we might do something with our site work over there in a park that we want to do in front of the Seaway we want to do a patio and a sort of a courtyard for the seniors to be able to sit in the Sun during the day in between the Pod and the existing building so we've talked about that just we weren't ready yet because the Pod isn't here yet so but that next year I definitely will work on getting working with you to get at least maybe piece of that funded perfect yeah and just to skip ahead it some people may be thinking what is an Outreach director Outreach worker right essentially the person uh for this position is going to be a caregiver or for families and and offer services such as like helping with forums and with like Snap or fuel assistance um things that our elder population need more assistance with because now it's just paperwork paperwork paperwork so this person is there to assist our families in that area right and is of course there a whole job description and everything else that we will talk about next but essentially that's what we're voting on is that grant for that person to help our residents get better be better with their their finances and their care and everything else because it's so much paperwork when you have to deal with so many different things at the same time so this person essentially is the bridge and gap for those individuals in their families good description good way to summarize it yeah so so this is for $10,000 that's that's a good information to get for a year absolutely soel like just so you know this should be Outreach worker I made a mistake when I put Outreach director positions so just so to clarify there's a couple it says Outreach worker and then it says Outreach director out on on J 19 it should be worker so so you have that clarification I apologize thank you I would have I would have read it as as said all right any additional comments conversations or concerns great all right let's vote on this uh I motion to add an outre worker position at to the Council of Aging COA funded by a grant that was awarded to the Council of Aging I'll make that motion I will second it all in favor I I all right item 17 discussion of vote whether to approve the outre worker job description so I summarize job description but the position purpose is as read the Outreach worker will educate residents and their families and or caregivers about the programs and services of the Freetown Council of Aging to enhance the lives of the community's older adult population position performs responsible administrative Technical and professional work in managing the coordination of Social and Home Services to the town's older adults as said they're the bridge in gap between our elder care and things that they need as far as assistance for with forms or technical terms or research right I I do see this position working closely with myself as well as the Board of Health specifically just to identify people in the community that maybe we're not serving yet or that we need to do a better job of reaching um yeah CU it's if you can't rely on I mean unfortunately sure situations where they're not going to come and ask for help you you know maybe it just gives an opportunity to go like if we hear about somebody we can go and out you know literally Outreach it happens often I've probably I've I think I've had to file at least six or seven times abuse since I got here oh wow and so some and that's a long report so some of that you know and I was teaching U Kylie was kind of over my shoulder we were reporting on somebody last week um significant financial abuse um so just starting not wow yeah it's it's sad but car out there oh yeah and our population is growing right we a third of our population is elderly and as you get older you get more prideful right especially that generation it's like we we're dealing with is were prideful generation right um they're not going to come to us for help right they just they think they can take it all themselves but so having someone there that kind of helps open that door it makes me makes me more comfortable at night knowing that our six is way too many one's too many and you've already had six and not in the year you've been there so that's scary that's tough that's not a stat you want to hear to your point that's but it's it's being taken care of so yeah absolutely yeah yeah let's glass half full we're going to turn it and say great job you guys are identifying it and you're dealing with it it's just yeah so um no further discussion I will entertain the motion to approve the Outreach worker job description as written I'll make that motion I will second it all in favor I I all right item agenda 18 discussion inv vot whether making the Outreach worker on a special Municipal Employee ah how to wear this so right now right we would be putting this on as a a grand fund position so there not a would they be considered a bylaw employee I don't they wouldn't be right so that's how how do how do I phrase it in the correct way so that I could complete on camera uh you know what I think this is just like kind of an administrative just like to yeah properly articulate the type of position it is right yeah well most employe clarifi yeah because if I'm reading off of the agenda you don't you you don't vote on making it's kind of funny the way it's word Outreach worker it should really say the position of because if you decide to add to that position you have to you have to vote to make the position itself whether it's one or more people Everyone becomes a special municial employee within that title yeah it's the position not a person position want you just might want to clarify that in your motion and that's and that's what I was was trying to I was trying to help you out put it in word it out so that right there's so many complexities to that special Municipal Employee title I guess you would say right U I want to make sure we we capture that correctly Deb can you waigh on that number um 18 what makes them a special Municipal Employee to clarify well it's it's just it's so that they can work uh two jobs in other words it's a conflict of interest if you can't hold two positions within the town so now her her current position as Community program director is only 19 hours a week so she can physically work two jobs but she cannot through the conflict of interest laws work to two positions it's a conflict of interest so in order to circumvent that or I don't want to say that I don't want to say circumvent but in order to make sure that everybody's aware of what's going on um the Outreach workers would be um a special Municipal Employee and then um we would have an exemption fil by Kylie to um to exempt her from the conflict of interest law so that it's not a conflict of interest for to do both positions yes but I wouldn't assign it to a person just yet as as the position would no well no it's it's the position that you apply for for the municipal um employee it's the Outreach worker so it it could be anybody in that position just like we did the dispatch workers uh a couple of months ago I think we did work it was the police so the dispatch workers have been on there for a long time and then the ACO is also a special there for a long time yeah so this would be just adding the position to that and I would also encourage whatever employee does get hired for the position to also file a disclosure yeah right because that's two separate things and then um if you file a disclosure it doesn't necessarily mean you're covered it's just putting everyone on notice MH that you filed that disclosure yeah all right yes so I think the only only thing you'd have to do for 18 is just insert the word position position after worker right yeah yep all right item agenda 18 discussion and vote so we did that so we vote on it now I take the motion on making the Outreach worker position a special Municipal Employee I make that motion I will second it all in favor I I all right for the purpose of this compensation of Outreach worker item agenda 19 is about pay so the proposed pay rate from the Grant and hours to be worked um to make sure that all the funds are use in the prop amount of time is at was rated at $28 per hour for the for the year sounds good to me and we looked at the average that's sort of the low end of what the average is being paid for an Outreach worker and and it works and you I'm working at like eight hours a week at $28 an hour there's enough money in the grant to cover it through June 30th perfect yeah no out Outreach workers caregivers they do a lot of pap work so it's they should be paid accordingly because it's a lot of back and forth a lot of head scratching eye gouging back and forth so so yes um $28 seems fair um so that said Iain the motion um paying the Outreach worker $28 per hour for that position $28 an hour yeah $28 an hour I'll make that motion I will second it all in favor all right all all right it J 20 discussion of vote want to exempt the Outreach worker position under section 20b of the conflict of interest law so we just discussed that person his position should file a a disclosure and uh to cover them um won't cover them fully but it will just create the the paperwork needed to know that you we've done the right thing you've done the right thing and um exempting you from different things so does that cover everything no they never do but that's why that's why you can file more right Cheryl as many as you want I encourage people to do so correct there are a multitude of of disclosure forms it depends on the unique situation so it's not a one fits all it have to F the specific situation yeah and they're great up at that State they'll tell you which one to fill out and which one to print out and state ethics commission the attorney of the day I have those on my little leaflets that I handed I just handed out to today so the the attorney of the day I remember having to call him a couple of times right at the beginning so we've had many discussions over the years so that said um in no further discussion I entertain the motion to exempt the Outreach worker position under section 20b of the conflict of interest law make that motion I will second it all in favor all right all right moving along Agenda 21 discussion and vote on appointing Kylie pello as the Outreach worker effective September 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 for up to 16 hours per pay cycle so for those was watching at home our pay suckles every two weeks so everyone knows um but yeah Kylie's been doing uh she's Kylie as you know is our community program director she has put on some some pretty good events some good reviews some good food and ice cream and all that good stuff and uh this is one of those things that when interviewing Kylie it was you know it was known that um she was there for the elder population to help out and everything else so this is a right uper rally um so very happy to see that your name is on this on this list or on this um agenda item and that's her background her education is in public health and her background is in this so that is one of the reasons why she is a good fit for this position and she's been working with Rebecca already hand in hand right as we just we you just alluded to before right that she was over your shoulder her office is a butt she also has a very strong um healthare background so she's been working in an assisted living for the past six years um working with the memory care population and she she carries a a very strong skill set when it comes to the population so I think she's an excellent candidate that's great and her grant writing is one for one at least I know about right right perfect so um in this obviously that's this is completely separate but down the road will we have to create a job description because after after we run out of the grant funding will we have to re so I you create you you approve the job description it will go on the um oh wait I'm sorry that stupid me it'll go on the bylaw as uh it'll go on the town meeting floor as a bylaw to approve uh adding the position to our bylaw employees I did speak to Town Council who said it's fine if you do that after the fact it doesn't you know it doesn't have to be created because it's just something you've felt like you needed you have the right to do that we'll just add it to the bylaw so I've already kind of threw it on my not to forget to put it on the October um town meeting which might go hand inand with the vacation time sort of I think that whole bylaw needs to be R ramped I don't know if we'll get it done before uh October town meeting but there's a lot of things in the personnel byar as it sits that need to be um corrected good thing is it does not to go to the AG's office for that so that'll be a quick turn around if it does that right but you know there's things that it talks about a chart there's no longer a chart that got voted out but the the language alluding to the Chart didn't get changed so there's a lot of nuances about that bylaw that really need to be fixed in addition to every year we've updated it and changed it and added positions so we need to really revamp that so hopefully we can get that done but I don't know we'll try we just got to pointed today so reappointed the bylaw committee so get started on it all right so any other further discussions or concerns all right that said andain the motion appointing Kylie Balo as the Outreach worker effective September 1st 20124 to June 30th 2025 for up to 16 hours per pay cycle I'll make that motion I will second it all in favor all right I thank you congratulations thank you congrats keep doing what you're doing everybody yeah both of you thank you all right agenda 22 discussion and vote went to hire a town planner or land use administrator so for those that are keep track of town hall web page we currently have a we have a position out right now right we've we have in fact I have a stack of names of people that have applied already so the question is do we continue with the land use administrator or a town planner due to the fact we have essentially millions of dollars in Grants that need to be not taken careed of but in a sense tracked and monitored and make sure that they're we're meeting every milestone in Wicket to make sure we don't fall out of compliance and then owe the full Grant back because of paperwork we don't need so the question is do we that was essentially uh our use administrator um and now we have the opportunity of continue the way we're doing it or creating the town planner I guess I long with a land use administrator in a sense right we wouldn't need both um I just think a a town planner would come more seasoned than a land use administrator um we've already advertising the land use administrator position I'd like to be able to advertise the town planner position because it's very competitive field it's difficult to get help in that field um but you never know that maybe that person that's traveling and then they don't free Town's closer to home and this would be a good opportunity for them so um I'd almost like to advertise them simultaneously and see what I get for talent you know and we hire the best for the job because we we do over the last two years we have got a lot of projects moving we have a lot of stuff going on having done all of the planning that we need to do with the Ada self- evaluation transition plan and the open space plan that was done as uh the open space committee uh had completed the master plan that's in process that will be done probably you know in the next 6 to 9 months um the has a mitigation plan all of these things set us up to get these Grant funds right and we've gotten grants we got the ada8 grant to redo the bathrooms at the Town Hall it's now we're ready to roll now that these these things are in place and I need somebody season that can probably pick that ball up and run with it I worked closely with um Victoria uh in um the planning department because my background is planning I just think I I have my own grants that I'm working on through the border of selectman's office and I I just am concerned that I'm not going to be able to carry both departments in terms of the grant piece of it but I definitely can't do any of the planning piece and the conservation piece that's that not that I can't do it I just don't have time to do it um so I'm I'm looking for somebody if there's somebody that we can get that has the talent to hit the ground running um and keep all of these projects we've been working on the Four Corners right um we working on the South Main Street Bridge which is is my grant but I need a planner to to coordinate with we've got the sewer line extension that we're working on um that also should be uh planner involved there's just so many projects that the town uh has moving that uh we I think we need somebody that has the experience to keep these projects moving yeah um I agree it's there's a lot of moving Parts there there's a lot of balls in the air right now and very easy to drop those balls right because of this of the moving parts and if that happens where we could be on the hook for large sums of money right at different levels and we don't want that so having someone making sure they're tracking it other than Deb because she's busy with her own million things in the year right because helping run help run the town here um putting out for both see the kind of talent I think you're right I think to see it's like essentially what we're doing for we're doing the finance director we looking for one those what's out there what what can we get and who's available and it was a tough tough Market we may find the same thing here but we won't know until we try I think I mean I think we're getting some good applications but I'd like to see you know and I also think that what town planner to your point will come in and should be you know kind of TurnKey ready to go we had a land use administrator that was doing a lot of this stuff but you were the one who helped guide her right and I think that down the road you don't have time and youd rather focus and you know we we as a board in a town would rather have you focus on other things away from this and then a town planner could also know of stuff that's coming up so you're not having to say hey what about this or what about that you know they're just you know we're just talking about you got this Grant and you you know that Grant and you're going to run after it every year and you know your angle and so I mean I to me it's I understand exactly why we're doing what we're doing and I couldn't agree with more and if we get you know what if we get a town planner that's good great if we get a land use administrator then and I think I've said this before I mean Kevin desm says the chair of the board for many years really um kept the planning board and that department running but he left the board I don't know if a year or two years ago right so um which it worked because he was in the town hall he was there every day it's not the same now we don't have the same over and he was super knowledgeable right kept the board going so um I and we we've created a land use Department that I don't think was there two or three years ago we had like a clerk that just did their meetings and their agendas now we have a full-blown Department with a clerk they're managing many projects all on their own they they're they're handling three departments as don't forget which is a lot planning conservation and Zoning that's a lot um so we need somebody who can can keep them all going in the right direction y sounds good as far as cost I know for the Hawks the budget Hawks at home um the pays you know like anything else it's within the amount of money that we pay people at Town Hall it's not like they're getting $50 an hour you know it's we don't know yet where that's we know what the land use administrator makes right that was just negotiated through the CBA um however yeah you don't know who out there you know based on experience and other things you know so it's just that's tough you don't want to you yeah a lot of people want hear what want to pay right away but we don't know what's there we we don't know we know what other towns pay be similar to other depart it's got to be similar I would say into our department head range you know right it has to be if you're right no I think we we pursue we go forward my my opinion I think we go forward and see what's out there and then uh like any hiring decision because before this board again all right for the appointment sounds good any concerns discussions all right that said I entertain the motion to hire a town planner or land us administrator as required yeah so this a motion there is to post both of them yeah post both of them discussions yeah entain the motion to post a town planner and land use administrator position position all right I'll make that motion I will second it all in favor I I I think it's back to me I think we're just signing and then closing right it's gold in here H I think it's good I'm exhausted I think I think the cold air kept me up baby's great not quite walking but he's cruising he's getting close I feel like I've heard the boys or you know I don't know I'm not sure if they walk they walk later just boys are slower everything they all go they they all get there where they need to go trust yeah um I think they're digging up they're Milling some Bayshore roads tomorrow just so you know oh they it all work don't worry I know how likes it so she doesn't H me may we got one approved we only have like 27 more to go we to put like spending every meeting just put like two on we might get them done by June of 25 just you and I I was like am I sign this like no this is just from the agenda my signat all signed All right so with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion made second all in favor I I