good evening everybody it's Monday uh July 29th 2024 at 6 pm. um and I'll call to order the free Town board select meeting this meeting will be recorded and will be on the YouTube page uh this evening we have a combined meeting with the Board of Health so I'll kick it over to Margaret to open up the Board of Health meeting it being six o'clock and having a quorum present I will call the combined Board of Health and board of Select me meeting to order all right so um I guess we just startend item one this is discussion and vote on the oversight of the transfer station um so we've had some discussions about this I think in the past some some of us individually but um the the uh right now obviously P the transfer station comes under the board of selectman still even though the Board of Health and board of selectman have now been bifurcated into two different boards and I think the discussion is kind of where I see it is should the transfer station be a part of Board of Health or should be under Board of selectman and I you know I think you guys have you guys discussed this at at your meeting kind of want to understand where we all stand on this and and what we think makes sense so I don't know I guess what was the outcome of your of when you guys discuss this we didn't really discuss it no you didn't really discuss it I asked one question and was told that that would come up at this meeting so no then that makes sense we weren't really sure what exactly was in over sight what exactly does that entail here yeah so we kind of treated our meeting as a let's find a day and time that that we could meet that makes sense get more information yeah I mean we should articulate like what does oversight really mean right I mean what what do you think so my thought process is with the transportation Vicki runs the dat today operations down there the the the concerns I have are the bigger items such as uh ms4 storm water runoff which is you know um an issue that we you know we permit every year I think the the report comes back with things that should be done down there um I need someone to sort of dig their teeth into that and help direct those those things that need to be done and also OSHA that requirement that we're uh the town is required to comply with OSHA someone to just make sure that it's being complied with that there's a lot of pieces to it like is the training done do we have what we need in place down at the transfer station so I think those are the things that I'm looking for for oversight to go in there once a week just make sure everything's in good shape everything is fine and to the the bigger picture more maybe of s the site like is the site good Ms like said storm water management I know Vicky and I have talked about different things but I don't think I have the bandwidth or Vicki has the bandwidth and I don't mean that um that you know you can't do it but it's TimeWise to figure out okay they want I have the manpow it's just me and Tom I me I I mean a lot of the things on that plan for the storm water thing where a drainage cleaning it taking down trees and stuff and yeah so it's a matter of taking that information and coming back to Chuck y uh planning board what how do we get this done funding how we going to fund it bringing it to me saying okay Deb I need to do X Y and Z how are we going to fund it it's it's it's a lot like that ms4 stuff is a lot I can't quite get my head into it I know you and I have had multiple conversations about it y so that's one piece and then again the OSHA which is sort of new right we weren't the town was exempt from OSHA we have now now uh we have to comply with OSHA there's a lot of requirements with OSHA just making sure that we are and I think the transfer station is a big there's a lot of OSHA requirements for the transer station given what it does so um that's a big one just a general oversight of Osha where's the checklist what what trainings what do we need it can't be done overnight either it's it's a lot of there's a lot of things that haven't been done because we were exempt from oosha uh those are two of my main sort of oversight things that that I think are lacking and I know like I said I've met with Vicki we've we've discussed these things it's just a lot to do um with everything else going on down there so those are kind of the main things and I think just a once over once a week you know hey where are we at what's going on um what about like things like you know obviously you know Town votes on the budget but during the budget process right you know we had the joint meeting with the board of Select in the finance committee and you know everyone comes and fights their case for their budget like would that be now go to the board of health or would that still be I think it would have some oversight you know we work in tandem right the the Town Administrator works with the department heads I'm sure the department head would work you know like right now I work with Vicki I'm sure she would be it would be a group effort in other words yeah the Board of Health would probably write the budget with Vicki's input yeah and then meet with me and go over it the budget and the other thing too is Grants right live that up the the grants I think you know um I I try to get as many grants as we possibly can I do believe there's grants to do some of like the storm water runoff there's grants for some of this stuff but again I haven't had time to pursue the grants for the storm water to run off I know Vicki hasn't had time so also I think that's a piece of it right can you look at Grants can you find some grants I will help write them if you say okay this is what I need a grant for um here's a grant I need some help writing it I certainly would help write it and facilitate it but then you've got to get the grant spend the grant report on the grant which is another whole another piece of Grants so I think there's some pretty big things that I'm looking for some assistance with um in conjunction to the day-to-day operations excuse me this will also require some certifications for certain people to be able to do some of this like you're going to have to be certified for certain things under OSHA not that I'm aware of nope it's just like compliance right with OSHA right only real requirement is a health card like they when they you to drive the equipment and they want an updated license and when they come like if they theot showed up for inspection first thing they ask for is your your driver's license your hoisting license and your health card okay we have those on file in the office and readily available if they did show up for you running the day-to-day operations but for someone to just check to see if we're in compliance it's more of a a lengthy checklist and say okay yeah they check them if we have a mercury spill kit eyewash station wound kit hot hat safety ppes things like that um I used to be CPR but we haven't gotten CPR training and since Kevin bernado left and that was 16 so things of that nature like there's a fire then how you would handle it who would you know what would be the protocol first I'd have to get the people out of the swap shed now just to like kind of flush this right so if there say there's like an HR type issue right not not that I'm anticipating that but like would that go to the Board of Health now or that go through most HR issues currently come to me right um and then I usually do Loop in whatever board it is involved because they're their direct supervisor it just depends on what the issue is MH and then just out of like I should know this because the majority of my time as a selectman we were also the Board of Health but like when we when we were discuss the transfer station was that as a board of health I I can't recall yes yep as the like when I you're not the Board of Health anymore I know when we saying historically when we were like would would like just if I even think about like the agenda like was any transfer station stuff generally under the Board of Health part of the agenda yeah that's where it almost always was uh at least for the year I had it and uh it would really you know say something that came up like we were doing a permit for or an order of a bid for um testing you know that stuff it would all come under that so it would it would show up under Board of Health so that makes sense so was obviously part of the agenda but separated kind of like you know the other stuff that we deal with day to day I do either of you guys have an opinion I mean now you're in a Sit situation both to me it's it doesn't really impact me too much because I'm on both Board of Health and the board of selectman however when you look back at the meetings Board of Health was under no sorry the transfers station was under the Board of Health so as we separated the two functions of Board of Health in Board of selectman it stated with the board of selectman versus going with the Board of Health so in my opinion it it kind of seemes like a smoother transition to just keep it with the Board of Health seeing that that's how it's been done for gosh for yearsi prior to me so yeah I did my own like little research and I kind of looked at other towns and like it's kind of a mixed masch right it's like and couldn't find any kind of like clear sometimes it seems to be under you know Port pel sometimes it's one board whatever it's it all kind of seems to be mixed from what I saw Sometimes they come under the DPW yeah that's true y I saw um which I think at some point that we we may want to head that way but not for some time okay so I guess thoughts from I guess I feel like a child nobody wants no no um we're fighting over you we're trying to figure out who makes more sense I know I right that's what like y said we're trying making sure that the Isis going forward is the best interest not just the transfer station but the residents and the boards that are involved in it so if you look at it we talked a lot about compliance compliance compliance at the state level right from OSHA to ms4 and I don't not not to say we're not set up for it but it Board of Health is typically in the compliance business right whether it's a septic or something else they're already in that field right in compliance doesn't mean that the Board of Health agen is be in charge of the of the transfer station that's not what this discuss is but the oversight of the Board of Health is inherently compliance compliance compliance make sure it's environmentally safe protected and everything else so that we not dumping as Festus in the back right you got it you know so it makes it it makes sense keeping it with the Board of Health and just and it should have just transferred over seamlessly but in transition um I I think it was just an oversight that didn't didn't get moved over at that time versus now we're talking about it so yes we're not talking about the day-to-day running no we just like you said a checklist M I think so that's that's how I look at it I mean you know each department sort of runs their own department and Vicki's the supervisor down there running day-to-day operations um and for me this is just more of a it was a clarification exercise like it always was the Board of Health the Board of Health was a selectman so it was one and the same on some level well now we're separated so where where are we going all right I don't know that the Board of Health has the has the ability to do those things that I'm talking about either in terms of oversight in terms of do do you have I mean you know Kevin here the health agent do you have the you know time to do oosha checks and ms4 uh stuff I I know that you're extremely well versed in storm water management and things like that but I think that's important to to to look at too we're not talking the health agent going and doing this we're talking about the the board the board whether it's a board member or them sending a representative we're not talking about the health agent is now in charge of all of this okay I guess who would do it right now like before this it who would we sent down it's not being done okay other than what biggy does do that she can do yeah meaning like the time the time like I said we've had numerous conversations about ms4 and it's like we need to do x y and z um and it's it's bigger than the day-to-day operations it's not Vicki saying okay let's just up but in previous years when Paul bis my first department head he handled all that with the storm water all that stuff we never handled it at the transfer station I was ATT an attendant then and I had someone above me we never did any of that stuff we we when I when she mentioned it to me I was like this is new to me but I took the packet and read it and I was like where is this storm drain cuz some of them you you don't even if you don't know where they are you wouldn't think that they would be there and they're there MH and they're covered and they need to be uncovered and cleaned and she wants them the water to go certain part she wants a retention thing done and hey that's what we got to do we got to do it but when there's only two of us and well excuse me two and a half of us but and when she says she she means the engineer yeah not me no that's than you yeah Annie Tucker who who was in Colorado and I got some other woman now Karen but she's very nice too but so that's where we're at with that so and I went to a seminar in bour and that's where we got all of the all it was a whole bunch of DPW I was like I think the only real transfer station that was separate from the DPW at the time and I was like but that's weird I'm the and I was was myself and Dennis I think and we had some fun laughing at each other's work skills but the bottom line was we were we were missing out on a lot of PPE stuff and fire stuff and you know what are you doing the eyewash station we've had one old we reordered a new one we have a new Mercury spilled thing ppes we have face cut um ear stuff but there are other things you need because you have to stay current and stay well ver and if there is an issue what something happens yeah and I think that's one of the major concern as well as the state current part right there's so many new things coming up that you know that this Transportation we'll need to start doing in the near future right State can come down tomorrow and say this you shall do this and then we'll have to scramble and and kind of do ABC what that is and what it looks like it's to be determined but we know it's coming it's at some point so at this point I think the idea is to get started on some of these measures that other other transer station already doing get our legs up on it right let make sure that we're ahead of the curve and going through a checklist is as painful as it is it does provide you a set of yeah steps to the next step forward so yeah all right so sounds like do we have consensus of this I mean that will transfer oversight to the board of health or and they'll be you'll give us all the information we need because we're starting from scratch from scratch we we don't know anything we don't have access to anything we're looking for some help on Sunday so and getting rid of the two no don't have any issues and kind of obviously I give you what I have which I think is I have an oosha checklist and I have the ms4 report um I know Vicky's talked to them but again it's trying to find the Manpower too to get some of this stuff done yeah yeah maybe you can't May you're tied up with something else inome something else you know what I mean I just think that needs a little bit of clarification so I okay between us yeah all right so I think I think it's doable we just need to really see what exactly is involved how much can we do without that knowledge of the storm water management and and oosha and and all of you know if if we can get all that information and we can look at it and and develop a plan whether we write our checklist so that any one of us could go down with the checklist and say all right these are the things and know what we're doing it's a little rough right now to say okay yeah we'll jump in and do it and then find out down the road that that we're not qualified yeah we're not qualified it's much more complex than we thought um okay so what do you so should we vote on this now or should we not should we hold off and you want to maybe do some more research with Deb or how do you think we should proceed look for that yeah what if what if we vote just so to to make this uh more efficient what if B selectman vote now and then you know pending the Board of Health vote and then you guys can do your research if you want to have your own meeting and vote on it accept it or deny it and if you deny it it comes back to us otherwise uh you know you can accept it does that make sense that sounds reasonable okay all right so with without our int a motion that the transfer station um will be transferred no pun intended uh to the Board of Health um pending their vote to accept the transfer station under their perview motion me want me I'll obain because all in favor I I all right and then now agenda item two this is discussion of vote moving um from imprinted Town bags trash bags to a sticker program and so that's of Health yeah this is definitely more Board of Health but I'm done right I I think so yeah well actually there is a transfer station part of this right okay because what from the what I read a lot some other towns that we compare to I know what you're going to say they instead of cash they use they use stickers I think that would be complicated for us just because I know of I used to work for someone and I would go to their transfer station and you'd like if you had a couch it was so many stickers so many stickers for the bags yeah and stuff I mean I don't even have a credit card machine that works yet and you want me to take stickers yeah you know get me the credit card machine for us and maybe we'll uh I just think that would be I don't know okay I don't care about it's not the cash thing too because how do you know you're getting a sticker that's a valid sticker too yeah that's one thing I thought about too but yeah because everything you have a Cricket you can make anything yeah have you have you asked Patty to help you with the credit card machine it's the wifi the it's always it's like it because of being down in a hole that was the problem I I believe if we had something that was hardwired in like the ones that are at Circle K and stuff we'd have better connection talk to Patty and the treasurer all right yeah I know where the goal is to get more Wi-Fi down there more electrical and things like that so that that should as soon as you get P like when you go down the Safety Lane to the kennel you get a quarter of the way there and it's lost you go towards where the swap shed is it's lost so it's just like hovers and even you can ask Lisa we when she comes into the office and puts on her devices she's got her cell phone her work cell phone her laptop her iPad we have our laptops we have our cell phones and the guy said oh you could have 200 things on there I said I don't think so cuz somebody always gets B bounced off she's off the printer she's printing something it's printing on my printer right no we should fix that I mean we could probably get like a wi Wi-Fi like exender upgraded their Wi-Fi I just upgraded it yeah and it's still kicking us off I'm wondering why you're all on wireless devices though why I was going to say do we hardwire in the credit card machine because it probably should be anyways yeah that's what because that's what they started with was something that was Wireless so all right well yeah we should definitely figure that out yeah yeah I agree but okay in regardless to the transportation part of this I think just in general right discussion here is for the trash bags to rather than you know or try to switch to using the stickers which I think is an interesting idea just cuz we obviously got a ton of complaints about the quality of the trash bags um and the quantity too other surrounded towns they give 10 bags per sleeve for the same prices that we're charging and the quality is better MH sorry ours are kind of yeah I get plenty of complaints people trying to get other ones from me and I'm say I don't do refunds yeah you know but I mean in the strength you could go to the wave at the top maybe try first better getting a better product to put out before switching to stickers you got to think of the drivers too on the trash truck if they're going to be picking up bags and looking for stickers and stickers don't stay on it's cold they fall off are you going to leave that resident's trash there I was thinking about this is already I I mean I I called and spoke with someone from bores because I wanted you know there we can all sit here and make a decision on this right but they're the ones who are can be dealing with it and you know everyone puts a trash bag out it's standing up it falls over it's now face down those guys their job is to get it away from your door doorstep all of it and they want to do it as fast as possible that's how they make their money right and then the other part I worry about is Kevin gets a contractor bag that's 90 gallons and slaps one sticker on it for a little bag now they're trying to play compliance as to what that's obviously an extreme but that's that's a good point you get 30 gallon bag you know there's so many different variations of bags we're going to confuse the homeowners what I did ask them was you know we've had some problems where we've put this out to bid for the bags and we've got one company to send back yeah so we've had an issue right where there's a monopoly on it um Dion uses a clear bag that's imprinted with their logo and it doesn't have the drawring it just to your point it has the waves on the top right that ties the plastic together and he said that they've had less than a handful of issues with them for as long as they can remember so I almost wondered do we go to that model first and try that right and see if that worked because then then I know that at least those guys are getting the right size you're getting the right size bag yep you know fill it with your trash and then we're not worried about it because it's not fair to do to those guys and then you know he was even saying that some of the places they pull up they have the bar on the side of the road and they're using the truck to dump it now they have to dump it into the truck and try and shuffle through to find the sticker on the bag yeah I just don't see it working yeah that wouldn't work for the yeah I know you're saying in that type of system in rum the trash goes to their transfer station and the guy that's at the gate will say how many bags you have if you have three you give them two stickers and if you have whatever you have it that's how it's done and it's dropped off there it's not even a curb side oh they don't do curb pick that's a that's a yeah and we distinction right I already have enough animals at the dump thank you I don't not into rats I'm sorry any thoughts on this you guys I know that um Lan worked on an RFP for the bags that we are getting a quote on the wave toop so we'll have that information okay good cuz I did ask them we have wave top twist tie and the drawring so all three small and large you can still get the stress Flex kind of thing on it cu the resident seems are like that yeah and when stretch ones were the we those that's where all these issues started coming up is when we got away from those type of bags yeah so we will have more information on I did ask them to send over if they could get a contact from dyon I'm assuming that it's still the same company they're probably buying them from if they're the only company around that seems to be doing it but he did say it's a clear bag that you know so and that would be good too cuz if you had a Mac come around from D that wanted to do a reconnaissance of your how well we're recycling how well we're doing with trash and like quantities going out into the landfills they would be able to see if there's any recycling material in it because that's what they do they and they give you a sticker If you have like more than I forget how many items per bag and uh this way it gets them to correct how they're recycling yeah and I think recycling is more expensive to get rid of than trash right am I am I correct in that I believe you are yeah like substantially more right and it's only going to get worse so both are only going to get worse I mean there's there's only so many places left are Stu in trash so it's not going to get any better my phone has been ringing like crazy all summer and the first question I say are you a resident no well sorry can't dump here can't bring yourself you yeah currently you know as we all know most of us not not everybody are putting a bag from like a hefty bag not to throw out any name brands but let's say Hefty it's commonly known and then adding those bags to current Town trash bags yeah so we're adding more waste to the landfill that there isn't much room um so we need to buy we're buy we're trying to buy time ultimately right 3 to 5 years is where we're looking at projecting right as far as start thinking about other options as far as where we put our trash that's going to get that's going to be expensive right so by removing let's say we we had 10,000 residents on there I know it's around 9,000 but say 10,000 bags a week removed from the the dump does that help out does that buy us more time so that's where the sticker idea kind of came in now do we think of the trash person picking up the yes of course we also think about the businesses that are holding the bags right all the Shelf space that they have to have not to mention the residents looking for these bags whatever system we do move forward with we I think we need to have them more readily available whether it's an Amazon option A Walmart option something you could get online versus running to a store every week right stickers are a little easier in that regard right you could buy a handful and kind of just you know stuck them in the drawer versus a bag so those are things that I'm thinking about as we move forward with trash how do we make it more efficient and more reliable always trying to make it more environmentally friendly but remove the frustration of having bags rip on you in your driveway and then having to double stuff them that's what we're trying to solve here and I think a solution is needed whether it's stickers or the clear bags I'd love to see them you know maybe get a couple samples and try them out cuz not everybody uses three bags I know our seniors probably use one bag a week or one one bag every couple of weeks to a month right so they might not have those same issues as versus like a family of my like myself family of six that's going through two three four bags a week right um but there are many like me out there as well um as far as family size and everything else so things to think about as we move forward with the discussion all right yeah so should we wait and get when we for that so you put the RFP for the different bag types right we haven't got that back yet I'm assuming I think it's August 5th that it's do okay so maybe we'll you know I guess more that's probably more of a Board of Health thing is that we think to to make that decision or is that on us here's that same thing right it was the Board of Health but now it's the selectman we're doing the the Board of Health cannot enter into a contract the selectman always have to enter into the contract y so it was always the selectman that voted on and enter into that contract for the and they were acting as as one whether they were given advice to themselves but be to be clear y the Selectmen are the ones who enter into that contract that makes sense well I think that my point was that was the Board of Health that was like ordering trash bags in charge of trash bags uh dealing with the trash bag yes the Selectmen are the only ones that can enter into a contract so but I think that I would also argue that I would like their input to come to us before we decide on which direction to go to right so we can enter into the contract by voting into and you know agreeing and signing on the contract but I think that it should be at least in combination with the Board of Health if this stuff's falling underneath the Board of Health and it would be naive of us as a board to make decisions on your behalf so I think it's something that kind of has to be in combination with each other right you give us your input then we use your input to make our decisions right I mean I'm just thinking of how do we include everyone that should be included uh you're going to look at things completely when everyone gets mad who who who you point finger at it's usually yes which is fine all right well we have a meeting on August 7th will you have the responses back by then Len you said the due the 5th right I think it's the 5th we'll have them and they're sending sample bags of each size as well with it perfect okay so we can put that on the agenda all right all right well that's our only two agenda items so I guess you want to close your meeting and we'll just continue on with ours and I will entertain a motion to adjourn I make a motion to adjourn I will second all in favor I I and meeting is adjourned at 6:32 6:32 all right thank you very much I appreciate it thank you guys okay so now we'll move forward with the board of Select meeting agenda item three this is discussion of vote whether to approve the Open Session minutes from 71 2024 and 715 2024 I'll in a motion to approve those Open Session minutes motion made second all in favor I I I all right here J item four discussion to vote whether uh accepting and awarding the donation of tree services from Beaver tree Works um do we want to wait for Rebecca on these she com yeah we were going to skip hers so I think you want to skip um oh just put you take out of order four five and six yep we will skip four five and six come back to it I have to make a motion to do that by the way I don't think we do right I don't think you need to I mean some towns do though make a motion to take the agenda out of order I mean we're in order we're just kind of going bypassing those three fine so uh agenda item seven discussion of vote whether uh to move the movie night to Central Park and approve and sign the agreement with Plymouth Flex um this makes sense I mean was there a particular reason so Kylie is here oh hello helloy so I think it makes sense to have it at Central Park it's a more centrally located place right um because wasn't it originally at um halfway but we didn't know that this was an option because it's really under F FIA right so there um it was never I never thought it was I mean we we never talked about it because because you know I mean I'm all about having stuff centrally located I guess my issue is is do we have something from them that says that it's okay yes the the f f Freetown Lille Athletic Association voted at their last meeting to approve the movie night for the 8th the 20th and the 18th August September and October 9th uh respectively the days that uh Kylie put together so and they wrote an email to the town letting them know that it was voted on and unanimously approved by them so so I guess my concern I know in the past right they wouldn't let when they the Easter egg hunt they wouldn't let him go on the field so is there going to be a restriction that they can use it but the kids can't go on the fields no uh the Easter egg hunt when I looked into it it was the beginning of the season was was starting the following week and they had just seated or had done something to the fields and it was a last second change to give the field time to kind of recover from that that seating and whatnot could have been handled a little bit better I yes that's that's something that was all agreed upon uh for this they can be on the field with their chairs blankets Snuggies whatever they need as well as putting the screen up speakers the screen get staked in the ground and now the concession stand because that's one of the issues right is that that the concession stand in the bathrooms will be available which makes it a nice um convenience but the concession stand is going to be run by the fla and they're going to benefit from that so FAA did state that they will they would open up the access stand right or allow use of EX stand to the town for used for popcorn things like that so could be a combination of of both or or just one that's that's to be determined that either way they were fine with it I don't think we have the Manpower right Kylie like we don't really have Manpower she has she doesn't have an apartment like it's her right so short of getting volunteers which she needs volunteers just to help her and and I mean you you know if I'm overstepping just speak up but I just want to make sure that we're all clear that this is sort of going to be a joint if the concession stand is open that it will be maned by fla and they will be taken the proceeds from that which is fine right we I well I just think it's I mean I think it's good for the people right absolutely that they can um it good for the people it gives an incentive for them to let us use the field for that right I just want make oh it is because at the end of the season which ends today is a last tournament they'll have food left over that either they either donate cook and and they throw barbecue for like all the volunteers when we clean up the the area or some of that food can now be used during these events and then helps both the town and them to kind of reduce stock reduce what's there and not not let anything go to spoil so it does benefit everybody in and it will reduce the cost cuz we won't have to bring in Porta drones yeah correct which we have to bring in a halfway and there's plenty of parking as well Ada accessibility and everything else which is a concern in HealthWay great location but everybody be parked on the street police presence wouldn't you know it's there right here it's only about 100 yards away so it makes things a little bit easier and it benefits everyone it benefits everybody right in the middle and everything's not just always in a son it a son it a son it it's it's moving as long as we have like we need have obviously to make sure someone's opening up standing also if there's like I obviously we don't want lights on we got to make sure we coordinate that part right because like some lights should be on but then where the movie theater like is we don't want B yeah no the lights are all controlled by switches so they could turn that on and off in in FLA and I volunteered my time to help with the concession stand as needed to be in there as a mediat between both board and uh Kylie's event or the town's event uh under Kylie's tutelage of course um to make sure that it's being run as as smoothly as possible perfect so I'm excited that something's getting done in the center of town yeah great quick comment yeah when you're setting it up with them make sure that they don't have their sprinklers I've been burned by that my own tournament so yes that was definitely a discussion that we've already had it's funny like like I don't know if you in the agenda that's like literally one of the line items that they put on their sheet is like make sure the sprinkler systems off I was like that's definitely there for a reason someone made that mistake I I have been there during the game while they've come on it's like give me a minute run to the basement and shut them off so yes that's been discussed it's a good bid point though absolutely that's great yeah nothing a little shower while watching I think the first movie is what um the migration yeah migration is that Penguins or is that um just like bir birds birds yeah trying to figure that out ear second one's Garfield and of course Hocus Pocus yeah I do have a c name Binks so I am partial of that movie as well all right great all right so ready to vote on this yeah all right so with that I will entertain a motion um to move the movie night to Central Park and um approve and sign the agreement with pouth fle a motion made second all in favor I I it's not promoting question though um for Swank with the like the movie licensing is it possible to use the town credit card just to speed up the process because it's like two weeks away and I want to make sure we have the licensing so that we're I didn't even think of that yeah that makes sense just connect with me and we'll make it happen all right thank you we don't have a problem with that yeah whatever it does to make it as fast and as easy as possible for you to move move it along it's fine absolutely thank you app all right great so speaking of that so uh G item 8 is um to approve and sign the agreement between the town of Freetown and Swank for um movie license I a motion to sign that agreement motion M second all in favor I I all right J item nine so this is discussion about uh whether to approve the use of hathway park for yoga classes on Thursdays instead of Fridays yeah I had um an instructor she had some conflict with some of the Fridays and she's like can we just move it to Thursdays instead yeah um and I we don't need exclusive use of the park just a little yeah and I don't think there's anything is there anything else going on there on that be pickle ball action I mean when we get the pickle ball court and you know we're putting the new basketball all caught up so it's not exclusive use so if you're just going down there you want to shoot some hoops you can still go down and shoot some hoops but there'll be people laying all over the grass I guess doing you yeah I I'll be stuck there but we'll be all there any comments or questions okay great so that I'll entertain a motion to approve the use of pathway park for yoga classes on Thursdays instead of Fridays a motion made I second all in favor I all right agenda 10 this is discussion of vote whether uh to allow exclusive access to the Bandstand and Cultural Center on weekends uh the weekends from 11 so November 3rd 2024 through 121 2024 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. for Holiday decorating yeah this is for the cultural Council I have no issues with that no I look forward to seeing The Decorator get an early start thinking about this in uh July so that's a way to do it all right so without a motion to allow ex exclusive access to the band standing cultural cult uh to the cultural Council on the weekends 113 2024 3121 2024 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. a motion made second all in favor all all right all right item 11 this discussion of vote to approve Town Administrator to award approve and sign documents related to free time Elementary four a entry pad B Repair refinish um uh refinish and P paint the gym floor C preparing opening for the new gym door d alarm system replac placement e supply and install new gym door and F ramp and Railing at the uh new gym door fantastic this is what we voted on that town meeting correct well yeah so what what um what's going on is we're trying to get these some of this done during the summer so they all had to go out for procurement which I told you Lan had done but they're they're coming in and you're not meeting until the 19th I want to be able to facilitate them and keep them moving um and so that's that's the intent of this just because I don't know that we're going to be able to get them done during the summer but at least cut two weeks worth of the work I'll keep moving them along um so that's really what the goal is to get some of at least some of these things done before uh the school year starts all right sounds good to me so with that um I will vote to approve the Town Administrator to award approve and sign documents to the fre Town Elementary School for a through F listed before motion made second all in favor I I agenda item 12 uh discussion vote whether to approve the fiscal year 2025 Paving contract number three between the town of Freetown and griman P Pon Inc any pay contract this isn't me I think this is probably a project that Chuck is working on yeah it's just like High Street I think think I'm trying to find it in the Gen pack and uh thank you yeah I mean I think this is actually just for them to do the bidding process to do the bid yeah this is the same thing that's happen it's it's not for particular it's not for the actual thing it's like $ 5,340 legal posting it and then the bid document procurement yeah so before we even do the job do the job this is please okay all right any questions or concerns no this is the same company if I remember correctly that this just did the ones that like for Chip Away Road and so they've done a buch looks great all right those so uh with that I'll in a motion to approve the the fiscal year 2025 Paving contract between Town Freetown and GPI uh motion made second all in favor i i j item 13 discussion of vote whether to approve the transfer request from ACO assist assistant um salary wages um PPT to what is that dog Tech professional in dog Tech boarding yeah in the sum of $300 so just there a budget overun for $300 need to move some money around yeah Lakeville boarding yeah finance committee is already approved yeah they they they increased the prices didn't they leville recently too which would make sense yeah I think this honestly had to do with you know one of the some of the I don't what I mean the crime that we had and then those dogs and those animals had to be boarded um and how you can't like it's really hard to project out it's like it's like trying to predict us you know plowing mhm yeah right 300 bucks I don't think it's okay so that a motion to approve the transfer request um for on agenda item 133 a motion made second all in favor I I there too many uh like abbreviations for me to say there all right J item 14 discussion of vote whether to approve ambulance abatements and write offs for June 2024 on the sum of $3,152 57 I didn't there's a note on the said May 2024 had no mandatory adjustments yeah they carry them all to this so this really includes May and June gotcha that's why it's a bit the chief is on vacation I am going to talk to him because it does seem like it's getting high so I'm going to find out what's what why but um part of it is because it's multiple months okay and we had voted at one point to allow them to go back right to to chase the money a little bit longer for four months yeah so you would think that the number would be shrinking technically which is and you see the writeoffs of three 00,000 The Collection the the amount we collected was 50,000 it doesn't quite add up with what we normally what we've typically been getting for receipts so but like I said I haven't had a conversation with the chief I will okay and see what um what why is it changing because I feel like it is changing whether it's the billing company whether it's clientele whether it's I don't know we'll find out more details insurance companies just know that get know yeah they're just paying less maybe you never know right because they you know they vote and that's all they're paying yeah and so you get that those patients or you get the ones with no insurance and that's what you're seeing there but insurance it may be a $2,500 ambulance bill and we only get $500 from the insurance company and they're all different and it's contractual so they don't have any say in it so we did have in here that in may we collected about 54,000 in June just shy of 4 ,000 yeah so it it is substantially less than right what we're writing off so it'll be interesting to find out and I want to say our ambulance collections average about 800,000 a year so said like I have to talk to the chief I'll get more information thank you all right with that I a motion to approve the emance abatements and write offs for June 2024 on the sum of $3,150 57 motion made second all in favor I I this next one got me so aga5 this is um discussion of vote whether to approve the request for a one-day wine and malt um malt license by the Boys and Girls Club Inc at Camp Welch on August 8th 2024 from 6:00 to 900 p.m. I think you're here from boys girls club all right any questions no I think we've done this before forour this is a I believe an I'm going to say yearly year um it's soon to be yearly it's newer um friend raiser um we have LEF France hospitality is going to do the is running the bar um it's going to have food trucks and just beer and um wine it's more of a fundraiser with all the work that we put into Camp to let everybody come see it that's awesome sounds sounds like a good time I'm not going to be the one to vote down of uh giving a one day alcohol license no in L France is a a pretty big company right so they you know they know what they're doing they'll have all you know all the insurance will be in place obviously and so yeah all right we good oh absolutely all right so with that our intend a motion to approve the request for a one day wine and malt licens by the Boys and Girls Club Inc at Camp Welch for August 8th 2024 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. motion made second all in favor I I thank you very much yep all right be held off on agenda items four through six thank you okay so agenda item four uh discussion and vote on accepting and awarding the donation of tree services from Beaver tree Works um and this seems like a very great offer from this want to speak to us a little bit yeah um the owner of beaver tree works kind of dropped in one day and explained that he had been offering this to Lakeville I guess for quite some time and wanted to Branch out and offer it to Freetown and wanted to know if we were amenable to accepting it um so I brought it to my board a couple of weeks ago we discussed it and they of course were yes and um then I I you know wanted to see if we needed further permission kind of how to handle it I've never I didn't know how to handle the donation piece yeah no it's it can get tricky so so how are you going to decide because what is it 25 up to $2,500 a year no well it could be up could be a year he just mentioned 2500 this this year he didn't mention it as an annual thing so how are you going to decide like that's my concern right because I bet a lot of seniors are need this help so his hope Gary's hope is that he could spread it out so that it would be it would be small amounts it wouldn't be cutting an entire tree down for 2500 for one person he wanted to spread it out over maybe four or five people do small trees and branches and cut a you know he said trim branches small trees tree safety that type of thing he wanted to kind of spread it out as he could um but I do not know I that's why I brought it to my board because I figured they were the people in town Who would know maybe who was in need and that that was true there were a few people that they already knew of but I nobody's calling the COA saying hey can you cut some trees down for me I mean not that it wouldn't happen sure they could and they call the town hall too probably ask for that but um maybe you need to set some guidelines like it can be like maybe you do you know up to $500 per person which is at the discretion of really the gentleman you know and for safety needs I would say for safety needs first like yeah you can't walk down your walkway cu you you it's all been overgrown or something or the you know safety if you had a needed to get an ambulance or something in and now there there's no um I think that safety concerns would be priority and then I think then the rest would be put your name in a hat and pick because I don't I think if you just if the board picks or you go first come first serve you're going to have some concerns from the seniors we are always trying to make sure that we're keeping things fair with what we do so so I think that's very important um the other thing I was thinking about is maybe calling Lori in Lakeville and seeing if how she handled it because if they've been doing this for a couple of years maybe just learning off of what how she's done it maybe would be the best way of of safety number one that makes sense to me what a great I mean he's a you know local guy and nice guy um this is a great thing you know absolutely uh I I had the pleasure of meeting Gary I I had a a recent tree issue with myself lightning strike and um I I put it out there hey who's the local tree person to come out and uh Beaver tree was one of the people and I called Gary and he was like sounds the same thing he was out there he gave me advice and he told me hey ABC and because of that conversation with him was like this is a great company so when I saw this on the agenda I thought I thought of that right away and I was like what a great gesture for a company to come out and provide this to our seniors there's a lot of them right now we've been humbled lately so good for him good for the company and great for our seniors absolutely so I think I mean I have no problem voting this now and I I trust you'll figure out the details and right all right so that motion to accept an awarding the donation of tree services from Beaver tree Works motion made second all in favor I I all right and gen item five this is vote on approving the donation of a pool table to the counil on aging and what to do with the existing pool table and this is a tricky one the pool table a lot of action gets done there the things that we get stuck on on a weekly basis it's really there's a lot of meetings that have happened over that pool oh absolutely it was a stove for a while we've moved on from that but now it's the PO table so I don't know how many sen have went talking to me about the the space needs of how they had to have meetings at the pool table because there's no other space which is the sad truth but the truth nonetheless so so and we're not going to solve this political problem right now no no no God no I'm I'm bring up I'm just laughing about it because we're talking about getting rid of that pool table in particular so at first they wanted two pool tables and then I had to explain to them and show them by we actually had to show them by tape on the ground why two pool tables was not safe there was a fire risk why if the elevator came in the the wheelchairs couldn't get through we actually had to show the diagram on the floor of why two pool T um so once we got through that now this is a bigger pool table um that's being offered and they want that one instead of the one they have mhm has anyone gone checked out this this other pool table inspected it reportedly yes have they played it on already make sure it's acceptable I have not I've seen pictures I've seen pictures it's an eight eight eight and a half foot pool table and we have a seven foot right now and I was told that one foot means a big difference it is regulation I love pool don't get me wrong but a lot of discussion over one foot difference I sorry please I was just say like my opinion I don't think I I I personally don't have an issue with uh taking this and I'm going to leave it a discretion of your board to figure out how to you know how to deal with it but I don't know what do you guys think I think as long as it's what the seniors want it's an easy acceptance right um and you're saying hey it'll fit it's bigger it'll still fit we be fine safety concerns right um I know that there's quite a few people who do go there and play pool right so if that's what they want then this isn't this is an easy thing I don't think and and as far as getting rid of it that's not an issue we'll get Chuck to get truck's going to hate me for volunteering them but we can have if there's no use if there's no value to it we'll be able to just have to break it down and get it to the transfer station or whatever I think they'd like to donate it but where it goes after this I I don't I don't know list if someone wants it is it is it so valuable oh yeah all right take it we we we re um right before I came they it refelted it we're in municipality so we can't just donate things cried sorry um because yeah but we could probably sell it on sell it exactly or I thought why don't you put it out in the Pavilion there you go I really like my space up it's a big space though they could play pool outside I just don't know how it hold up moldy pool table moldy pool table watch a movie out back you know sky's the limit well when when the new table's in give us a call I'm sure we'll go play a game of pool with them make sure it works properly love that but I mean that's something we can let the W decide as to what to do with the old right I mean but it I don't believe it can be donated yeah okay so but if they don't want it yeah we can work on getting it on mun bid or I don't I mean I don't know somebody other department can use a pool table I mean I don't foresee that but I I I don't know what the process is for donating can you play pool at high school middle school I mean can like like is there any issues with doing it to the school it is a sport yeah we start a pool a Billiards Club at at a plan but is like our district so that's we could do that yeah yeah I don't think it would work at elementary school we'll figure that out that's the easy part getting rid of the the equipment and make sure it's done correctly so but getting a a newer table is amazing for our seniors um I know it like like we've said I know you see it every day it gets used it does right it's a uh it's like the it's the water fountain very Ry right it's uh it's where where discussions are had so and I was and I was there once and doing interviews with Rebecca and there was some pretty uh pretty interesting debates going around that was getting hot and heavy and especially with people's skills out there it was it was I'm bring my own stick when I go all right so I'm not going to get in the way of this so I don't know motion so uh without entertain a motion to approve the donation of a pool of accepting the donation of a pool table to the Council on Aging um so I guess that's the first motion motion made second all in favor all all right and then what to do with the table I guess I'm going to split that into two different I think you know I don't I think we leave that to the I don't know what do you think de clear it as excess and um Surplus I would say declare it as Surplus and dispose of it via um munib bid or some other man manner all right so I'll a motion that we declare the existing pool table as Surplus and attempt to sell it on mun bid motion me second all in favor all right all right and if we can't do that if it doesn't sell move then we'll then we'll do something else if yeah if I can find a way to donate it I'll let you know okay great legally okay thank you all right and then agenda item six this discussion of vote whether to accept the donation from Precision windows and Kitchen in the sum of $3,295 for work done at the Council on Aging it's a great month I don't this was I think this was before me right so this this is Carl yeah so this is uh uh someone who did work at the uh uh the Council on agent building I think they installed the new door yes in the new door the and um doesn't want to get paid um and has already done the work so we said well we'll declare it as a donation so at least you can get tax right off yeah whatever he can do with it U but we have sort of this linging thing so we so they they want to donate the work that they've done and the door which is already done the work has been done so otherwise we have to try to collect M we have to try to um pay him and it was done in Prior year so that makes things complicated for us all right makes sense for me another great gesture any questions or concerns yeah this is great all right so that all intend a motion to accept donation from Precision windows and kitchen Inc in the sum of $3,295 so the worked on the Council on Aging motion made second all in favor I okay thank you again some great people out there yeah it's amazing it's overwhelming all right and then I think we're done are we done Rebecca with Rebecca yeah I think so she's more than welcome to stay but I don't blame if she takes I think about the town planner position and that might pick up thank you very much thank you guys very much okay jend item 16 discussion of vote on whether to um do the South Main Street sidewalk Phase 2 project between inham and high streets this this yeah go ahead car yeah uh so I think this is a great great use of some Opera funds that we have currently we have the majority of the sidewalk on that side of the street where ning him and High Street is going all the way to Fall River past the uh the bridge you get to about High Street and now the sidewalk Begins the new sidewalks that we built about I know two three maybe four years ago are on the right side where St Bernard's side of the street is and it's tight because of the telephone poles the mailboxes uh any every other existing structure that was there so recently watching a a new mother with her with her with her child in in a carriage trying to push herself off the grass from Simpson to High Street was heartbreaking to say the least and then to try to fight traffic back and forth playing Frogger for those of us that have played that before bouncing back and forth on the street they trying to find a place then I watched her go across the street and then she couldn't get her double wide Carriage around all the poles had to go into the street back onto the sidewalk 10 different times that is a safety issue a not ADA Compliant I don't think that was it was meant to be that way but the fact of the matter is it is that way and we we should fix it yeah um everything's on that side of the street and it just makes sense to do it correctly it it and so what you're looking for is $5,000 for the engineer to just look into this MH um and I I could I could um if you approve Opera money we could use Opa money actually doing the sidewalk is probably going to be quite expensive maybe three or $400,000 it's going to require land takings it's going to require a lot more than just fixing the sidewalk and the sidewalk didn't get constructed three or four years ago it just got it just got reass yeah repaved sorry so I just I just you know I hear what you're saying and that is where we should have sidewalks cuz it get people do use them on there but I think maybe we have GPI look at repairing the one that's there versus adding another one on the other side I just like what what is the road layout going to afford that we don't have to do land takings you know what I mean like how to make it work with well there's already sidewalks there from Nottingham to I want to say 50 ft going up the hill but it's just overgrown you can't see it and then there's some some grass there but looks like a sidewalk it's just grass so not sure that's anybody's land but the towns right the town owns x amount of property from the road in right the only concern always right we we can't even find where the town where the road layout is in the four corners right like one of the things we're spending money on so not always right right not always but this one seems pretty straight shot it's I think we have GPI so I think cuz here's one of the other things I thought of was sorry Trevor I don't mean to cut you off but there's also the cemetery at the corner of high Y right and then it kind of goes up pretty rapidly there so then there's going to be more than just a sidewalk if you put a sidewalk that goes in say off the road and it's 4 feet in to make it 88 compliant what's that going to do for accessibility into the cemetery going to build the retaining wall there so you're going to have to build a retaining wall and then as far as people climbing into it right so it' be more than just a retaining wall CU now you're going to figure out how they either get around it creating steps up into cuz we're still going to have to create accessibility into that Cemetery right but that's not where they entered through the cemetery in that Hill they they go on High Street and they take that when you go around the corner there like a little cable box and right behind the cable box is usually where you enter through the cemetery so by fixing the sidewalks you're actually fixing that as well one for safety and aesthetically pleasing as well so it'll actually benefit the town long term and the cemetery creating that cuz if people are going up that hill I don't I think there two metal bars right from the old cemeteries um people going up so I wouldn't recommend people going up there CU it's just loose dirt so that'd be a something we should fix anyways so there pros and cons yeah yeah I wouldn't mind CU I it is a heavily like I know exactly what you're talking about too like I've seen people struggle and trying to get on the road and off the road it is a little in well the sidewalk that's there because the telephone poles are in the middle of it make it difficult if you have a carriage if have a wheel you have anything like that I'm just saying that this is bigger than what you think when you get into it yeah but I think so this be potential something that we could if we get this study done or get some kind of design work done like I this feels like something that we could probably get state or federal money for so I could probably get complete streets grant for it um which we haven't applied for because we're waiting to do the full corners but I don't know when that will be ready to go because of all the issues we've had there so we could probably try to get fun that way and it's a it's a clear complete streets um project yeah and I believe it was it was on her Victoria's when we if you remember many meetings ago we had the the clean streets and it was like the 18 projects that was decided on I believe I believe that one that was one of them that was on yeah that sounds familiar actually mention that and I mean I I couldn't agree more it's probably it's our it has to be our heavy heavy heaviest traveled Road in a Sona right so or all town for that matter so um if we can have sidewalks that we don't put people out onto the road I'm all for it and you know you do get people who Park on Simpson and walk over to the church right so um you yeah in the way it is now it kind of just there's a place for Ada to for wheelchair to get so you leave Simpson to go towards the church and on both sides they they have the Ada ramps right then just goes to nowhere it's like it was a great thought great that it's there but the project feels incomplete at this point so not complete streets incomplete streets okay all right so I I I'm cool at this um so I guess I'll ENT emotion to um to do the South Main Street sidewalk 2 project between Nottingham and High Street well do we want to vote on actually doing it or just doing the study of doing it because are we putting ourselves up to same we have to get this done what if comes back sorry sorry I'll that so I motion to do a study on the uh on on a sidewalk adding a sidewalk adding a sidewalk sorry can't think right now between naham and High Street make that motion second all in favor all right right and then so agend item 17 discussion and vote whether to use fedal arpa funds for the design fee for South Main Streets sidewalk Phase 2 in the amount of $5,000 and we think $5,000 will cover that we already got a quote okay all right so at now intend a motion to use FAL oper funds for the design fee for the South U Main Street sidewalk phase two motion made second all in favor I and then we have an agreement so with that entertain a motion to approve the agreement between GPI for the addition of the sidewalk on South ban Street motion M second all in favor I I all right uh agenda 19 this is vote whether approv and sign the final proposal for online permitting for the planning module I thought we did this like but just this is the final final I think it's just signing the uh I I think you probably approved it I don't know it's just signing the ACT contct an addendum but was there addendum addendum final proposal like I looked at the numbers it does look like anything changed I think they added a few things they added public view Maybe um but they're funded they have the money the board voted that's what they wanted for there's like different modules and different pieces saw the public view yeah there's a few other little do whistles yeah all right any questions or concerns no I'm excited for this to take place so all right so that all intend a motion to um approve and sign the final proposal for online permitting for planning module a motion made second all in favor I I uh AG M20 discussion and vote whether approve the special town meeting to be held on October 21st 2024 the pon Regional High School auditorium beginning at 7.m anyone have any issues with that date no no already marked it in the calendar yeah checked with Cheryl and Mike just going to say that yeah all all key folks are where the schools available is nothing we're waiting on a response from the school and I saw we have a backup being all right that works for me got the ball rolling on this so without I a motion to approve the special meeting to be held on 10:21 2024 at P Regional High School auditorium beginning at 7 p.m motion made a second all in favor I all right agenda M21 so this is the timeline the proposed timeline for the special town meeting let's just read it out loud what page am I going okay so here's the timeline so 7:29 today we um approv the timeline the timeline is on 85 physical posting at Town Hall police fire Junior's convenience store and libraries on 85 as well Facebook and website posting just a note here the postings uh will start State articles submitted by citizens require 100 signatures for special town meeting from the free Town voters um to be added to the warrant on 88 B uh on the B agenda uh to open for submissions of the warrant for 820 820 so yeah submission so we'll wait hold on yeah5 open it up 820 yeah okay I got you right yep and then on yeah 88 and then on 99 warrants to the B agenda to approve and close warrants for submission and approval to be sent to the Town Council and finance committee on 923 warrants in the voter select agenda for discussion and vote to open approve finalize and close warrant 25 send the final version of Warrant to finance committee um the only thing yeah so 88 is going to have to I'm not going to be here in 88 888's what the meeting where you would vote to open it but it would be opening on 8:20 as long as we have do it on 819 or you can do on 8 as long as you have a quorum I just got to make sure everyone's there like I don't that's just kind of procedural right if they vote the timeline tonight I think it should be all set okay I just follow what we did in the past so all right you're going to open it on 820 that works yeah I think it works I just I think it's no this works fine right because we can we can there's still still going to be a meeting on 88 right I'm just not going to be here yeah we'll have the quum and Carries On I don't think they'd appreciate if I took a Bor meeting well in a plane all right um okay just going to read the last two TR oh sorry I I got sidetracked so the warrant given to town Constable for posing oh sorry I think I I missed this one 925 oh that sorry send final version the warrant to the finance committee and then warrants given to town constable uh for posting on 101 and warrants getting posted publicly no later than 10:4 and then once again the date being of the actual meeting is 10:21 any questions or concerns business all right so that all intend a motion to approve the proposed timeline for the special town meeting on 10:21 2024 motion made I second all in favor I I um okay J item 22 this is discussion of vote whether approve the addendum number three to the agreement for OPM services for the fire station number three addition renovation this is just changing the agreement from being a flat monthly fee to an as earned fee okay no extra money just just just the way it's paid out paid out all right and then it looks like to is it also extended to Extended the time because of course you know when we started this things take longer than you expect okay so it goes from was originally going to be October 15 2024 now it's going to going through June 30th 2025 right although I expect the fision to be done before then yeah but that gives us that gives usle room yeah for extensions any questions or concerns no okay with that iend a motion to um approve the agendum number three to the agreement for the OPM services for the fire station number three addition renovation motion made I second all in favor I I all right and then agenda item 23 three discussion of votee whether to move the senior clerk for conservation planning CBA to the map room so you know that um Victoria uh resigned y from from the planning conservation departments so again we have the attic being used as an office and um Nicole will be up there by herself so where it's one person and um we got the map we're going to clean it all out and make it an office so that she can come down to the first floor and get it set up so that she's not up in the attic by herself so um K and I have been working on this for some time trying to get that room cleaned out now that the bathrooms are just about done and the town hall the the interior Town Hall has been repainted a new flooring um the the plan is to put storage some storage is not much there about three fing cabinets that need to be moved up into that attic space and bring um Nicole down with her files and whatnot while we while we work on getting space you know the additional space that we've been talking about at length of how we're going to get additional space for the town hall so I think that this does the the temporary fix of not having to put anyone at the fire station right right now yeah because then but and then it'll give some space upstairs to be able to move some things up hopefully out of Cheryl's office give them some space because that's the office that I would say is the most critical as far as the amount of space that they don't have um it's just it's another Band-Aid but at least it's to your point is it gets it takes away that safety concern that we've had and it doesn't leave Nicole up there by herself because that's just not fair right so I think it's a no-brainer kind of way from everybody what happens if you uh hire somebody to replace Victoria next week where does that person go well we'll continue to work on it I mean we're going to clean that we are discussing um adding bumping the wall out you know when you go in the town hall and the wall I don't know where the map room is so I I know where this general area you know where Mike's office is yeah I know I know the general area but I don't know where window in it and stuff yes okay it's pretty good space what's this all CLE it has an exterior window in it um the the wall jets in about three and a half fet right now so we've been talking I've been talking with Kyle we're getting a price on bringing the wall out and so that we'll add space to that office and we hope to get two people in there I don't know until it's very difficult to look because it's been the catch all for so long so we're trying to clean it out we're going to work on getting a phone installed and whatnot so that it can be used as an office um I have no doubt in my mind that it will be suitable for one person I don't know about for two but I can tell you we're all doing a lot there with a little bit of space you know that I got four people in an office that's 12 by 14 so um to say I can't get two people I probably can get two people will all of the files from planning and conservation come down I'm thinking not I'm thinking just bring down the files you are working on your day-to-day operations and leave the majority of your files upstairs for now while we continue to work on this uh space issue one of the things that we are actually looking at right now is is um an office trailer so we're still trying to find a suitable um a suitable office space for everybody that might work um and and K and I work on this daily so I think when the the map room will be fine shortterm long term you know we're still up in the air in terms of what's going on but I'm I'm happy to get somebody out of the attic I don't it's not safe so um for different reasons it's not safe I I worry about fire excessively up there there mhm um so I'm happy to have her come down to the map room I think it's safer and you know she's visible and not out of the secluded yeah that's that's where my biggest thing is it's a really secluded area and you're not really interacting with any other employees and you're not really public facing which is which is fine in itself but you kind of just left there right and no one sees or knows what's happening and to me it's it's not good teamwork it's I rather have everybody together that way you guys can see everybody and protect each other as needed talk to each other as needed and not to mention it's it's more of a closet than it is an office at this point yeah so opens enough space for customers to come in and open up plans and do all that sort of thing you know it's not one person at a time that has to go in yeah yeah I mean I I would argue that there's not much space upstairs either right it's pretty narrow space up top and but I it to me it's been this one thing it's safety safety safety that's been my issue with it since day one I don't think there's safety there's you know so I want to do what we can to get people out of there and that's why I was like okay great let's get everyone over to the fire station let's do what we need to do and if this is a temporary fix to keep her in the building and get her out of upstairs then I'm all for it but it's for two it's going to be for two you are going to hire a replacement for Victoria right yeah but well I don't want to say yes that's the plan right you I don't want to uh lie and say that I definitely have something we we never know but yes I mean we would like know how many square feet in the room now I think it's 150ish square feet we're probably going to add something like 40 square feet to it so it'll be like 200 square feet but what we can do is as we're getting closer we need to clean it out first like I said we've got to get some electrical stuff in there um you guys can come down and we can go over it talk to Carl Carl's on top of this like crazy so if there's something you need to change or do or look at I mean we're just trying to make it work for everybody do do you I mean I have talked to Nicki and explain to her that this was my plan to try to get her downstairs it's any constellation it was at one time the police station what was that the map room really I think the photo started in 1978 that was the police station I believe you that in the water department room was Communications and the tax collector was between them so you had to get out if if you go into water department I believe there's a photo that's still up of that depicting that room from when it was being used as a police station with the old uh um those connections of the olda the how telephones used to work you to plug it in to make an switchboards yeah so there's a photo in that office that depicts that which is great charie you're showing your age you should know I know it still he smiling that's it right y all right so are we good to vote on this y yeah all right so iend a motion to move the senior clerk for conservation planning zva to the map room a motion made second all in favor all right all right right now kick it over to S Personnel all right I'm going to do one I'm going to kick it back to you for number 25 so I can't vote for myself so uh number 24 as it was alluded earlier uh we're here to acknowledge the resignation of Victoria Alfaro Duran as planning and land use admin effective 82 2024 Victoria thank you for everything you've done in that those departments uh you'll be missed and um good luck in your future endeavors Mr chairman 25 back to you all right so that so this is uh appointment of uh Su Lopes to the sewer line extent committee effective 516 2024 through 630 2025 so I'll entertain a motion to approve that appointment a motion made I'll second it all in favor I I thank you gentlemen all right item 26 discussion in vote on which selectman to appoint to the South East Regional Transportation authorities south southeastern regional transit authority representative and designated for the town of Freetown effective 71 2024 through 6:30 2025 is representative then do need two separate things two separate people yeah that seems obvious just want to make sure anyone want this one you know I'm on the disabil the Council of disability I'm wondering if those two bleed in together as far as I know we had a conversation on the Cil of dis Commission of disability regarding Serta making sure they were able to pick up FKS with uh Wheelchairs and things like that so how much if that does bleed over that way I think I guess I would nominate myself say hey I think I'd be a good represent I'm already doing it for the Council of disability or the commission of disability so this this is an extension of that I'm already having that conversation with the head of Serta for that so that that makes sense to you to you to continue that relationship and be building off of that yeah it's fine with me I'll take the the design yeah okay easy so I'll do this vote then perfect so I a motion uh to appoint uh selin Lopes as the representative for the SRT or SRT Southeastern Regional Transit Authority representative and um slman zeger as the design for the for the sou Southeastern Regional Transit Authority effective 7122 24 through 6:30 2025 should we break that into two votes yeah  you're right sorry excuse my friend Nei one of them can vote we'll edit that out no no we won't all right so I'll I'll do that so I a motion to appoint San Lopes to the south southeastern regional transit authority representative a motion made second all favor I I uh now a motion to uh to appoint San Zager as a design for the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority represent uh yet Des I guess motion made I'll second all in favor hi hi okay that was tricky sorry no we got it threw you off on that one yes that the te that gets you at the end all right um that is number 26 we're on 27 discussion appoint discussion vote to appoint select when chosen agenda item number 25 to Sera southeas we did that we did it yep that's all done thank you number 28 discussion of vote whether to roll over up to 36 vacation hours for dead Petty from fiscal year 24 to fiscal year 25 Deb it sounds like you have not enough time off I tried she has enough time off she she not enough time to take off I tried I have 36 hours left and I was going to just let it go but um no you should never do that I I just was like I really need to take it off if I can yeahh it's like my wife's company she has unlimited vacation which is just nice but you know you never get to use it so it doesn't matter and then they then they don't have to pay you out when you leave that's the we had unlimited sick time in Hansen and you never took it because you felt guilty like if you have five days you take five days but if you don't have unlimit it's weird it's a psychological thing it is a psychological thing all I have no isses this yeah no absolutely and I hope that means this year you get to use everything that you earn plus 36 hours because you deserve it going to try absolutely all right um I will entertain the motion to roll over up to 36 vacation hours for Deb Petty for fiscal year 24 to fiscal year 25 I'll make that motion I will second it all in favor I I all right item agenda 29 discussion and vote on whether to hire a town planner or a planning and land use admin So currently we have a a planning L use admin so the discussion is do we expand that role for an official Town plan so I'm I'm sure uh you may have some input D I'm sure you have as well um not to hear it all by way we make it an informed decision I'm looking at it budget wise obviously if it's a town planner it's the budget's going to go up right as far as what that person makes um so something to think about right um and that's what um I think 15 20,000 something like that increased or I would say so I think you're going to have to pay a planner $75 to $100,000 probably and so my reason for this is obviously Victoria came in as a clerk she moved up um you know me being a planner from another town came with a lot of experience and we've worked together over the last two years um and we have all of these grants and projects going on master plan sewer line um has a mitigation plan uh we have we we have she just got another Grant um I have have the bridge Grant she get a grant to work on the new community building they require a lot of time in management um to bring in a a a clerk in the union a land use administrator which is is a good job I don't think it's going to have the the experience that I need for them to hit the ground running um and I'm concerned about that because you cannot drop the ball on these things so until we replace somebody that can do that caliber of work I will be doing that caliber of work I will be picking up her her job and doing her job and my job and I don't know how long that's sustainable so um that's that was that was what my concern is I want somebody that's got some real experience because there's even there's a lot more we can be doing as well um all you know a planner they have a role in the town to look at things especially with the the master plan coming to fruition and the MBTA station there's going to be a lot of things that need to be addressed in this town the sidewalk for instance right they they would know okay this needs to be done we can get this grant I need someone who can carry the ball on those things as well as myself because I have a lot of other responsibilities that I need to take care of so that was my concern yes is it going to cost us yes it will but you get what you pay for and I don't know I I will say this thank you to Kevin desmaris because I think he carried the planning and the conservation departments for a very long time and so that we got by without having a town planner and that truly is because of him on some level um I think that you know he stepped down from both both of those boards and um because he was on those boards but also a fullt employee he he had some hand in saying hey get this done today get that done and now that oversight isn't there from him so I think that um it's just a big it's a big lift we're in the middle of a lot of projects that I need someone to come and hit the ground running not that I I have to train and teach how to do all of this stuff I think I can get I don't think it's going to happen my concern I find it ironic that if you go back one agenda item we're talking about having to roll over hours because you don't have enough time to take it off right you're so busy right now that you feel guilty taking time off and then we're talking about adding more workload to you that's completely unfair to you and it's nothing I want to do we a couple of years ago were able to get um you know the the job of town planner put into the town we didn't budget it this year did we did we budget a line on because I I think last year we had budgeted for it and then we didn't this year if I remember correctly I mean I think it's something we go to the um October town meeting and grab some funding right yeah absolutely so I guess that's why and I think we need someone to your point that can hit the ground running that you don't because okay that's great we can get someone in if we have if you have to train them up we're still talking about you having to take time away from other things that you really should be focused in on not that this shouldn't be an aspect of your job to oversee but it's not it's not a good use of your time overall so well my question next question is get on we get on the October meeting right I think that's for the town planner are we going to come back at some point or the boards they got to come back to some point and ask us to see if we can also hire an a planner a plan an admin a planning and land use admin as well is that going to come up is that something that's also needed well I don't think a planner would would work with the Conservation Commission at all so I I don't want to speak uh selfishly but and that's what I'm getting to is like is is this going to is it a one siiz fitall or yeah it was with Victoria she she covered a lot of bases right I mean there are Town plan I mean the the job description will would Encompass uh conservation and in like in this town planner conservation agent like they do both I was going to say I would think that that would be something that we' put into the job so I'm looking at a very similar job description just a little bit different um experience level and a pay scale difference right that's the difference I'll address the conservation uh side of it a little bit and as was said when Kevin was chairman you know he was in the building all the time and he and his personality uh would look at it I'm not gonna I'm not going to be uh as chairman in a in a voluntary position uh uh I don't want to say willing but I'm I'm not going to be there to be yeah every day that's all but but the Conservation Commission would need all they would need is someone to uh basically be the uh supervis the the overseer of the office in that you know make sure that people come to work uh that that the actually the work gets done uh We've s we've hired a conservation agent perum uh she uh has just started the 1 of uh July um she would be able to do a lot of the administrative work within the office but the position there's going to have to be a position to uh be the basically the top dog of like of land use mhm M uh you know that's that's it if the planner is given that then all right and they they do that job that's fine so from the Conservation Commission uh end of it it's it's got to be somebody there the conservation commission's got to do most of the work and you know uh Nicole will do the secretarial work but it still needs to be that little ele to supervise my other question is like how do you think it's going to be difficult to fill this role as a town like to find a town planner it's difficult it's not easy to find anybody with that's decent you know what I mean so yeah I difficult I don't know I think all depends on money right I think that's that'll be the the the sticking point that's why I say 75 to 100 I mean planners can make up to$ 110 $120,000 right now um um I'm on a website Mass planners and there's always uh job offers going up for the planner we're looking for planner admin all the time all you know all over the state um I think it's you know planners move for me I was in Hansen I'll would never go up that way ever again I I'm not traveling so I think it what might be you might get somebody that's working in hangam or Hansen or somewhere that doesn't want to go to that location anymore they might live in Fort River and they don't want to drive like that's how you're going to get Talent at this point just that it's a better fit for their lifestyle um other than that it's I don't know we're going to we did post the job internally to get the clock tick in the union position and putting it um so that that's already rolling forward we can put that out in once we've done the internal seven days but I just wanted I mean we can post for both and see what we get for talent yeah my my suggestion is to post for both that way exactly cuz gosh we've been we can find a good person maybe we think that we can be coached up like like like vioral was right and then I think that makes sense too and that's great except for the in and I agree but then we we go back to the fact of who's coaching them up and talking about Debbie you're right but something someone's better than that's some level no matter who that's why I'm saying I do agree I you know it's just some level whoever put in there that there's going to be a a catchup period right as like hey what's going on what's projects are in play what's what's needs to be done first it's going to be a triage of events that are going to happen so putting both out there will give us a good sense of you know who's applying and who wants to come work in Freetown so yeah I'll just put um I'll just you know we won't put the salary range right the union we will because we know what it is but the other one we'll leave it negotiable and then we'll see what who applies yeah I guess that's my one of my concerns is like we're adding another salary to it and you know tax season's always around the corner I'm always cognizant of making sure that this isn't going to break the bank or anything but you know people still looking at all the the crunching the numbers making sure it's there I mean a planner is not an essential role but you I think that over the last two years Victoria along with myself we've shown you what you can do if you have somebody who is good the ROI like the amount of money that has come into the town 100% than p for for and the projects that we've been able to put forth um and and Victoria extremely instrumental in all of that um you wouldn't have that without a planner right and I don't think you can expect the TA to run in this size of a town to do all of that no especially a town that's evolving the way it is and you know we we always talk about the fact of oh you know um you know these grants are going to slow down they got to slow down and they don't they hav't we're still waiting do I guess that's you know the other upside to having someone that we hire in and kind of have these caveats of what the job description is so they can kind of morph into doing other things so we're keeping them busy as well don't forget most planners too do handle I was a planner I did the planning board this job is planning board conservation and zba so it's not going to slow down to the point where it's not useful because there's three boards and even if it's not that busy for conservation and I think it e and fls right right it's I think Victoria has told me like conservation was real busy and now conservation has slowed down but planning got busy so I think it's that EB and flow and so with the three departments there's always something to do exactly and then there's rules of RS that need to be reviewed always there's uh zba rules and rs that need to be reviewed so when you have downtime those are the things that you pick up and start doing yeah is the planning position would it be a a managerial position for other staff like iek or Andor Nicole or it would be a byw employee a department head so not a union employee so it would be uh oversight of the clerk which is Nicole at the moment have you thought about doing part not a full-time but a 30 hours something if could for a planner and then what have another staff because I don't think 30 hours is enough I I'm not going to I'm just asking if you thought about that I didn't because I I know how many hours Victoria was putting in so I I don't how I could do less unless we had two staff now and I don't know that we want to get that our overhead that high because of the potential the MBTA didn't pass are grants going to slow down is some of the work going to slow down I feel comfortable in having a full-time employee because it is three departments but to have one and a half I don't I don't see that okay and then you also would reduce the amount of money right so the salary would look you know a little uh little less entic placing if we reduce the amount of hours so well you never know right because sometimes you people want a part-time position so you never know the who's out there for talent and what they're looking for MH I think we're flexible yeah now before Victoria leaves and I'm sure the board will weigh in as well I know that she would go to she'd be working her regular hours during the week and then it seems like every night she had a town meeting for planning CP we need to break that down so we can give a when we speak to candidates they have clear understanding of what exactly they they could be asked to do and maybe even break some of those roles apart or change the hours of those after hour meetings during the day so that's incorporated into her day so that she she doesn't run into your issue which you don't have time to take your vacation time I don't want that to happen to any other employee as well so something to think about as we move forward with the position um if we can tweak it to the to the point that it's palpable for the employee and to the boards of course yeah I mean we mean twice a month U or 10 months out of the year and uh maybe we have to go to once a month or something if that is a bargaining ship or something yeah you know that's I'm not saying that's why she left right but it it could have contributed to people yeah she was do a lot of other meetings too right it wasn't just yeah yeah so make sure that yeah exactly that's something we're going to we're going to solve tonight but it is something to start getting the wheels turning and thinking about and you know and to the point that keeps getting brought up while we put the stuff out there and see who applies and you know take it from there because it could be someone that doesn't have a problem with going to any night meetings and then you can continue on and provide the service of having it twice a month so people aren't waiting or whatever so yeah I I drafted a job description I'll tweak it get it to you department heads and um we can look at that and you can see what I'm looking at very good thank you so do we need a vote on this now I mean like we already have a position you already have we're going to post both both job descriptions right yeah let's not crutch ourselves against having one or another and and then we'll put it on the October meeting and if we find somebody who's a clerk now who's talented and we could see that could could fill the shoes I mean yeah you just don't know like bachelor's level or Associates or well a town planner would be a bachelor's and and a master's preferred generally so this town of West Newberry just posted one for Town planner part-time 20 hour 28 hours per week benefits eligible position with some evening meetings required hourly rate 32 to 46 doq I don't know what that means so doq they're looking for something on qualifications yeah depending on depending on qualifications there we go I was like what so $40 now you're looking at 85,000 a year 86 a Year 3,000 yeah right nice little town that's why they can do 28 hours a week yeah anyway that's that's that these things pop up like weekly on that yeah we see them their and the thing is we do see those and we're all when we put announcements out we're all getting the same people interviewing for those same jobs so we're literally fighting other towns for the same pool of people and having an having something to kind of keep them here is getting harder and harder it really is but to Deb's point it it could be it could also be somebody who's in the city and wants to move to absolutely smaller town they get sick of the bureaucracy there traffic could be a million yeah or they're assistant they want to become the yeah so there's a lot of you got to put it out there to find out has done good job once we found out we start the internal ball rolling so that way once we that goes through this its process we we can then put it out to the world and uh see who's out there well sounds good so I think we're done with that um Speaking of meetings going late I realized it's almost 8:00 and I need to get home my babysit needs to leave so understand so we're just going to do signatures yeah public input I think yeah any public input yeah I'm Dean pedy I own Brian Hill Farms y I took on a project that ended up coming on quick at 182 brilley Road yep uh the septic system requires a water line um I need excuse me I did not have time to get on the agenda to get a Road opening permit the water line is on the side of the house I'm thinking that I'm going to have to cut 4 feet in 6 feet wide uh to access the water line um to tap it to put a um they're they're making these people put in tie into the water this is an existing well but it's too close to the septic mhm so we're tying in there's water it's on Bailey Road so um what I was asking for is just because I don't know when you meet the next meeting is not for a little while is for a road open and perit on 182 barely Road in Freetown yeah we have no issues doing that right no I mean so you sou pry straight forward yeah yeah it's on the same side of the the road so there's not going to be much of a thing and have you ever spoken to Board of Health Board of board of uh have you has have you spoke to any other board prior to this one permits pulled or anything I called Dave today like I said this kind of just came in real quick uh PLS change from you know construction is one of those things has had to you think you're going there next but it ended up got to go here and so the septic uh you know the septic is uh started I pulled a perit on that and I'm doing the septic now the septic will be done probably tomorrow and uh you know I I'm actually probably be four or five days before I get into it and uh line everything up for the waterline but I don't know you guys don't meet for a couple weeks right just trying to so it's one of those things you know they got a buyer and it's uh pressure to get it done to so these people don't have have to go to a hotel room they got no place to go when they sell their house and yeah all right so yeah that makes I think what we'll do is I can have a motion here we we can improve it from our perspective we just got to sign off from the um from the highway department and sign off from from the chief of police yeah and just because because it's the road and and fire right get those three signatures we are we okay with this yeah absolutely yeah because the the Board of Health has already approved plans to yes to do the sep right so I don't see an issue in the water yeah water line so it's just a matter of timing yeah yeah all right yeah it's I I didn't get on the agenda no I know and it's tough because we only meet yeah things happen fast and we don't I don't want to have to wait two weeks or whatever it is to understood yeah I I got it all right so that I'll entertain a motion um to issue a Road opening permit uh for one 182 Bry Road conditional on sign offs from fire U Highway and police motion me second all in favor all right all right just before you leave we can get your contact information just to make sure we we have a clear line of communication y you need my contact yeah if you want you can come on down you can write it on my paper and we'll make sure we while we sign we're going to be signing away just name and number that way we can contact you if you want to add your email in case if the Board of Health already has it we might as well just continue on with that R sure by the way yeah we sign um stuff so I'm just G to give you guys a little bit of an update while you're while you're signing oh great the bathrooms are 80% done at the Town Hall they're functioning that's exciting support are gone I'm sorry to say miss the Porta that was just me there's no more Porta John this is you thank you sir you're welcome sure all right and then so the um Port of John are gone that's and the town hall um because we had that temporary wall that came down we ended up repainting the whole interior of the town hall and redoing all of the flooring so when you come in there's a facelift and it looks amazing really and we were able to take the veterans chair that was on that big base and um Kyle and Tim took it off the base and it fits beautifully in there it looks amazing I'm so excited because we get to keep the chair and like you're going to be able to see the chair so I think that was such a win right because we've been struggling trying to find the space for This and That Base wasn't a part of the original no anyway um it's still roped off so you're not going to sit on it or anything but it you walk in and it's the first UC and we were able to hang the veterans Board of information above the chair now um so I think that's probably the best news I can tell you about is that that there's room for the chair it looks great um it's going to get the respect it deserves which is important yeah um so uh but come by and look at the town thank you sir thank you come by and take a look at the Town Hall when you get a chance so I was able to go by on Friday and and one of the funny things didn't see it painted though no so it was got painted over the weekend Oh from Friday yeah that's interesting because and one of the things I said I'm like it seems brighter in here and Mike commented to me that the floor's actually darker than it was Y and I'm like but it seems brighter you see it now with all the the Way's coating is white and all the trim for what it was that tannish gray right it just me um so super excited about that uh we put the RFP out for the windows Town Hall windows so you'll be you guys will get those options cuz I put a lot of different options in play that sounds expensive I'm just it is very expensive but we'll see I'm happy for the windows I am we are funded I mean we do have the funds beyond happy that those windows like I going to get put in yeah it's huge we did um we were declined to get brist County Opera funds to demolish the red building I just got that today so we have 142 ,000 of Opera funds that now I need to reallocate to something else so I'm working on that diligently because those have to be done soon soon the federal Opera money there's about $300,000 left and I'm looking to come in with a list of projects for you guys to decide on how you want to spend that I'm waiting for the office trailer because that's how we probably would fund that yeah um I think that's where we're at we've got all the school projects coming in this week yep uh I'm writing the RFP for the municipal fiber uh which is a little complicated I'm hoping to have that go out this week so that's where we're at so we're still doing projects oh and I did mention that Victoria got the grant a and gloss is coming down on September no August 9th he wants to see the library and the COA um and you know have like he came last year when the bridge walk around so if are there any of you are available on August 9th at 11 30 to Friday he is coming um to look at that but that is exciting U those grants usually don't they don't fund buildings so um super job Victoria did with that Grant and um we'll see how that goes and it's Federal toal fedal zoning doesn't affect the federal grants although the federal grants are a lot more difficult to administer but nonetheless it's it's $850,000 it's a lot of money you know what I mean um so so good stuff still moving forward in the town we still got a lot of stuff moving and I I think we're starting to see the fruits of all of our labor so I think it helps a little bit when like the town hall employees I think like a little refresh yeah and just being it's amazing what that can do just for the vibe right it's morale boost like being able to stay inside the building to go to the bathroom that's going to a huge morale boost and have then actually go to the bathroom and there's more room now to use the bathroom and wash your hands and still we we still haven't fixed the uh that's way you clean your pots and pans yeah but no and we really liked that outdoor sink that was really awesome that's the next step you got to go yeah I got to go all right well that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion made second all in favor all