##VIDEO ID:SLxm38QoYP4## uh good afternoon this is a meeting of the hamon board of Selectmen being held in the townhouse uh our offices in the townhouse on August 7th 2024 this meeting is being conducted in person and remotely using video conference and Technology please stand for the pledge of FL United States America to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and jce the main purpose of this thank you very much is anyone recording the meeting other than us see no the main purpose of this meeting is to decide on whether we'll appeal uh the decision by the land Court in the garby versus hamton self storage case the last time we had a number of questions I reached out to our attorney he responded to those questions one of the questions I had was about what would be the potential for the appeals court to award damages to the plaintive if we should lose the appeal and he said the standard for an award of double fees and cost is generally whether there was no reasonable basis for accepting a reversal under current well settled law it is high standard which courts are generally reluctant to apply ENT especially against the municipality that being said is a legitimate risk and there is a near guarantee that any appeal process will involve extra cost of fighting about that issue will to drive up legal cost of Ming even if we Prevail I think it's a 5050 question of whether an appeals court would Grant this relief here it's essentially left the appeals court with broad discretion to decide either way uh I asked a question of that said prior to the me I I asked if he could get any clarification prior to the meeting for appeals court he said no we have two choices at this point file an appeal of the Judgment or seek clarification from the court regarding how they want the planning board to proceed we cannot get the clarification before our decision must be made to appeal which by the way the deadline is tomorrow I asked does the court uh or does the Court's order remanding the case of the board for lawfully noticed public hearing BR me in a hearing with the published newspaper notice or just a public meeting notice on open meeting La he said attorney responded I would say that the court land Court left this phrasing vague intentionally that being said I would suggest in this case that a public hearing with full notice is safer just to avoid any possible basis for appeal of the procedural aspects of the unsatisfied party I asked us after considering what whether imposition of reasonable conditions is warranted including the 21 conditions in the decision mean that the board could possibly add additional conditions the attorney responded Yes provided they are reasonable and are not restrictive that they are essentially act as a denial of the special permit on that point I would comment just personally given the financial situation recently of of self- storage units Clos up and being abandoned I would think the planning board might want to entertain a bond for decommissioning but that's their decision I asked if the newly constituted board could add additional conditions and how could that be done when two of the members had not participated the original hearing attorney responded that requires clarification from the land Court state law requires that votes for special permit and conditions must have four affirmative votes by planning board members who attended all hearings other than one allowed absence I asked would the newly constituted board have a vote to on each condition and he said I'm a little confused by newly constituted but by that I mean we had a new person elected we had another another person appointed that so uh but he said the planning board and whatever form the land Court tells us to take would have to vote on every condition and receive four affirmative votes I asked if the board adds additional conditions and the plaintive objects to those additional conditions what is the Avenue after that he responded the applicant could appeal the special permit decision after the remman hearing the planning board must Grant the special permit but they could but there could be a fight over whether the conditions are reasonable abutters or other opponents could also try to appeal decision although it would be an uphill battle with a land court has already ordered that a special permit must be granted I would say in that particular situation it' be a very odd situation for us because if the abuts appealed the latest decision of the planning board then the town would be in the position of having to defend the board against the abutters so we'd be on the opposite side of what we were just on the opposite side of uh someone a question whether one of the newly elected members who was an active opponent of the special permit and testified against the private of the hearing uh must recuse himself and he responded whether a new member is even eligible to vote on any of this is unanswered question that we need clarification from the land Court to address if new members could vote then the issue of the possible conflict is for the member question to address personally which raised personally for myself the question of of whether uh the former chairperson who was recently reappointed uh could vote because of his expart Communications with the plant Plaines and his his attacks on the board and myself personally uh he said recusal questions are left to the individual board members so don could I make one clarification you you read the first thing about the 5050 question of whether appeals would Grand I think it was strictly in terms of the damages right damages right clear people didn't think 5050 no not 50 no he he he is pretty confident that we would not Prevail in the appeal because there's no defect process the 50/50 refers to the whether they reward damages or not he said they're usually reluctant to reward damages against the municipality however if they feel it's fous or unreasonable and you know you did you're doing this to delay that Court might find that's where we are we have to make a decision so we'll need a motion of some type further if we got some further discussion I think we pay pretty competent attorney uh for their opinion I think we've also gotten the opinion from our town administer who has a LW agree as well that he would be reluctant to file this appeal based on what we have in front of us again that there is no perceived defect in the process that was taken the appeal does not speak to the merits of the claim it just speaks to the process the judge took and I think it would be the potential that would be viewed as frivolous as you said might be a bit of a a danger to us as well opening the the door to potential damages I think we have the opportunity to use the planning board's process to impose reasonable additional conditions as well and put it in their hands to protect the town from that standpoint so I would be not in favor of proceeding with an appeal to this decision um have a motion so we can just deal with under a motion right unless that was kind of a statement but do you want to make a statement first and then we move which all right I'll make I'll make a motion that we do not exercise an appeal to this decision second for discussion okay we have a motion second made second okay um I'm just going to say based on um suggest or based on Town council's opinion don't feel comfortable with one miss last I don't feel comfortable with the appeal process okay this is one of those occasions rare rare equs where your personal feelings have to uh be subservient to your stewardship of the town's funds and the process you know I have some substantial issues with certain things however I think that uh as a steward for the town's funds and practical matter in additionally being concerned about the other applicant now filing to reconsider have the court reconsider their that decision um I would U reluctant uh vot not to appeal if I can make a comment Don I think that reflects both on what you've done in the past I go back to the school settlement and you looked at the bigger picture at that point there and said what's the right thing to do at that point I applaud you for that vote John Flynn I to the motion I three well not to appeal anything else to come before the board motion yeah just quickly so we are meeting next Monday Lauren Lauren you're out next week right do we want to I'm not sure what the agenda looks like at this point um ask J right now I think James already said she'd do it right she said she would I don't know if she has to but motion to motion to approve motion to adjourn one question who who guides the planning board on all these outstanding issues in that email say Jesse and Jessie I'm going to send I want to send as soon as I get out of here I'll send an email to Jesse saying we voted not to appeal to go forward with seeking the clarification what the planning board needs to do and what kind of like a timeline too you need timeline because if you're going to do a hearing you got to give 14 days twice I got to give yeah I got to post it with within 14 days and outside so should that communication basically be planning Brian and Jess no we'll be cced on what they do there going to be real prage their charge going forward right once we get instructions on how to proce and what board members proed proed motion to adjourn thank you all fav