##VIDEO ID:ob5pQ-fC5s4## yep all set okay good evening Hatfield welcome to the September 7 17th 2024 meeting of the Hatfield select board um as usual I'm going to call the meeting to order and start by reading our public participation policy the Hatfield select board welcomes everyone to its meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield all regular and special meetings of the boards and Committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall conform to the open meeting law executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate during meetings of the select board an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the Hatfield select board um I have just a few announcements tonight um I just want to remind everyone that the last um concert in the park of the summer is happening this Friday night I think they'll start at six o'clock right is that right six yeah there's signs around town um in any case um and those are always great um so I just wanted to remind people about that um a couple of the Council on Aging has a couple of events coming up next week I believe on Wednesday night is their black Birch Vineyard um event and then on September 27th they're having a POA event at the Pavilion tickets are required for both so if you're interested you should check out their website um and we are now in the process of finalizing the plans for an October 11th ribbon cutting event on the route 5 and 10 project which will include um our local um Senator and representative as well as um some state officials secretary how is potentially coming out which is really terrific um under secretary stba so it it should be a really nice event um especially for the residents who've you know been patient and um have had a lot of disruption out there and I I think we're all going to be happy to see um that come to a close so um we'll have there'll be information on social media and on the website about that it will be open to the public um so know we'd like to have you come to that Ed oh I just want to thank everyone that attended the COA picnic uh we had representatives there from the state to uh award us our dementia friendly uh community and the town did have training on a few people that got the the training I think Marlene was one of them and Johan Robinson uh sort of was the host and Jerry from the the COA did an outstanding job so I just want to thank everyone that attended thank you Ed anything no that's all I had um for announcement so is anyone here tonight for public forum no okay so we're going to go ahead and jump right into posted business on the posted agenda tonight there's quite a few items on the consent agenda um which are typically items that can be um just voted on Qui without a lot of discussion and while I don't necessarily think any of these are um at all controversial I still think we should talk about them mainly because it might be good to let Town's people know about some of the events coming up so the first item under the consent agenda um that I think we can just um go ahead and do is the approval of the August 27th and September 11th um I'll make a motion that we approve the August 27th meeting minutes second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor hi hi I make a motion that we accept the September 11th meeting minutes as well motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I so we have a number of um requests for um liquor licenses and then also Marlene the request for ceremonial bonfire is sort of lumped in with the minutes but we need to do that right yeah okay oh I it's not separated out you're right you're right that yeah so um that is separate we have a a request here um to ask for a permit for a ceremonial bonfire for the Hatfield fire Association that's for the annual bonfire on October 12th um as we know this event is fantastic every year um and it's certainly planned and um executed by the very capable hands of our fire department so I have no um I have no questions and certainly no problems with it I'll make a motion that we um approve a um ceremonial bonfire permit for the Hatfield firefighters Association for October 12th 2024 second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I thanks um oh I see it's in two places here so we also have a um request for a one-day wine and malt liquor license to Beauty Bar for a fall Fair on September 29th at the Pavilion from 11: to 3 and then there's a second request for the same day and time right you want to come up and maybe explain how that's there's are there two separate events they're happening no you want can you guys come up to the mic just yeah how are you Kate Selena I I think it might be good to just sort of let Town's people know what the event is about and then we can can get to the liquor license part yes so I would like um my salon the beauty bar to host um almost like a business networking event with a bunch of local crafters and vendors um at the Pavilion um I think it's a great way for other people in town to come and see these crafters and what they have to offer and sell and um it would be at the Pavilion on the 29th from 11:00 to 3 I'm putting it on my calendar right now I'm not being rude um no it'll be a good time yeah that sounds great and then and so you're doing it too so you're pulling separate so I'm one of the local vendors that are joining the craft event excellent um so Kate had asked because a lot of them are selling crafts some are selling food to take home but um she had asked the M River Tavern to come down and maybe have some food and beverages so we asked for the one- day permitting during that time time I just I just have a question I'm just curious now you're going to have two separate licenses for the same event are you going to have two separate locations for serving whatever your license is indicating or is that going to be all combined somehow yeah the permit I'm pulling is for the beer guy who's coming and selling beer um and then I'm not sure if Selena needs a separate for what her what she would be selling and so that's like a m River thing thing correct I see so there'll be two different places you can buy okay correct that makes sense both of them are selling wine and wine and beer that's my understanding and that will have to be a designated area yes yes I think that sounds fantastic and um I'm sure all the paperwork is in order Karen um I think it sounds great I put it on my calendar great so I would just entertain a motion I make motion that we can we approve them both at the same time I would do them separately okay I'll make a motion that we approve the one day wine and malt liquor license to Beauty Bar for fall craft fa on the 29th lions fion from noon until 3 second a motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I make a motion that we approve the one day wine and malt liquor license to garage to Tavern doing business as MO River Tavern the fall TR event on sep nober 29th from noon until 3 o' also I I'll second that the only question I had I mean the police Chiefs all set with this right I understand that the police department was contacted at the time but that was only based on Kate's request and it wasn't necessary okay however I did have a conversation earlier today with the lieutenant and he was going to the chief was the away today he was going to ask the chief if he had an opportunity to either contact me or you um but I have not heard anything okay that's all I just had a question I did second it oh I'm sorry motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I thank you thank you there is an alcohol one day license for the bonfire for the we I think that's coming up next or did I I guess oh I you know what I skipped over yeah okay sorry skipped over we we're getting there we're getting there just want to get this stuff okay okay one day liquor license for the Hatfield firefighters Association for the annual bonfire again on October 12th 2024 this would be from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. you bring in outside um vendors for the alcohol y so uh the fire Association purchas the purchases the alcohol fish tails Bar and Grill is going to be our bartenders for the whole evening so it's all um Bartender Bartender certified people serving the alcohol that with the tip certification and all that kind of stuff and they're going to run two separate bars um Carrie from the manager from Fish Tales is going to is arranging all of that stuff for her she's working hand inand with myself and some of the other committee members make sure it's all in order and line I reached out to amers Insurance we're just waiting for our policy it's the same one every year um Karen and I have spoken about it so the application is there and the insurance policy is coming it just takes a couple weeks and uh so we just don't have it in hand but we will by the week of the event which is usually what happens um so you know Carrie the alcohol cannot come from fish tails though no it's not it we order it through a company and she and her people are serving it so it we do that part of it yeah um and it gets delivered to the location and then it gets picked up and taken away I'm sorry afterwards um none of it's through like with her specifically um she's just assisting and then um she's just serving right like serving correct and we have um I've already talked to the police chief we're all set there we have three detail officers hired for the evening that night along with a separate security company so we have more than enough security okay I saw that USA Securities I was wondering what that was so we always per the we can only have 3,000 people so we hire one detail officer for every thousand and then so we always have more detail officers than we need because we've never hit 3,000 people um and then we hire Security on top of that that monitor the grounds and then on top of that we hire four extra people that are just specific to Backstage security that are hired for the evening so we've got more than enough qualified people that are there for security purposes for the night I've been many times in it like a well oiled machine and I have to be honest I think we've only ever had like maybe in the 10 or 12 years we've been doing this maybe like two incidences that the police really have had to do anything so knock on wood or whatever anybody wants to knock on WE we've done really well with the amount of people that we have down there that the night turns out okay and we have the trash pickup set up and all of that stuff so the town doesn't look like a mess afterwards by the time 2 am comes around the town's picked up and nobody wakes up to any messes on the streets so well you guys have always done a fantastic job and it's a good fundraiser for you and it's good for the town so yes please order your tickets they I already have my tickets I have my tickets but I was how are tickets selling pretty good tickets are not where they normally are this time of year but the radio ads started yesterday and that's usually when it starts to pick up and I mean we'll be fine people usually wait because they wait for the weather yeah so y um not on wood with that too we never all the time and people it's always last minute that's that's yeah believe me lose a lot of night sleep about that um okay any more questions or anything I mean this is we do this every year you do this every year we I have complete confidence in what you guys know knowing what you're doing me okay so I I'll make a motion to Grant a one day liquor license to the Hatfield firefighters Association for the bonfire October 12th second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I Carrie you want to say who's playing uh this year's headliner is gonna be Frankie Ballard he's a country singer and then um we had Aiden Brown here last year he's coming back and playing um a little bit more than he did last year we have a new gentle uh gentleman Charlie Collins and then uh local is going to be Cottonwood so um Charlie will open up our night Aiden Brown will play Cottonwood will then play and then Frankie valad or finish out the night so some great music all around for the evening excellent it's always great I ended up having to miss it last year yeah it was way but I try never appreciates you guys supporting this each year so uh we have our ducks in a rows well we appreciate it because it ultimately supports a lot of other things in town yeah yeah great thanks if you want to hang around Bob did you you wanted us to take something a little out of order tonight we can do that but let me get through let me get through this first um little batch of stuff um okay so we have the approval of the all alcoholic beverages licensed to KF Fishtales Inc doing business as Fishtales Bar and Grill so this is the um official license transfer correct it is um to make a motion to approve it there's a motion to approve no second motion made in second any further discussion no because we already yeah we already we already approved this this is just at the license came improve the application yes but um yeah so again really happy about this and congratulations to Carrie on that yeah this this took quite some time the process did longer than it typically does okay doing a lot of signing over here tonight bear with us for a second okay and then um we have um the first Congregational Church the real folks Society is asking for permission to hold the bake sale that they always have on Election Day which is November 5th that would be at the Town Hall from 8:30 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon it's the best part of election day it is been absent the last few years and so they're coming back nice to have them coming back um do we actually have to have a formal vote on that um I mean it doesn't hurt right I'll make them yes it does motion to Grant permission to the First Congregational Church um to hold a bake sale here in the town hall on November 5th from 8:30 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I I everybody okay um so we our next topic is some appointments but Bob is here with a very quick item that's ahead on the agenda that we we don't need to make you stay all night I'm if you I I will let you Hopscotch forward here appreciate it so this is a request for an additional 3,000 of arpa funds uh to fund the software upgrade for fire and EMS the quote that went in in the capital project that uh was submitted last December the quote was actually last October and like everybody knows things have increased in price uh they have their annual increase I did also find that there was one module because everything is broken down that was not originally incl included on the original quote from last October which is the reason for the increase and the point of this project is to move everything into one program we currently pay for three different systems and this will put everything into one and we actually found out that we could tie in with Northampton Hadley South Hadley and grany for this program as well so we would be able to have access to their pre-plans and we can send our pre-plans and have they could have access to ours if we're doing mutually with each other so there's an added benefit that I found out after the fact so luckily I actually have one of my Capital planning members here so when we um you know we had a meeting after town meeting to um start thinking about spending the last of our arpa funds which has to be done by the 31st we um designated most of the money but did do a hold back for the very reason that we expected that there may be some changes so I have no problem with this I mean we know how this works that things change um some of these prices um for things were you know did you already approve a change for the schools the funds that we an adjustment we did the monies around yeah but I think there's still may not be more money but yeah right it's not more oh right theirs was more of a moving from one project to another but we we I forget what the cushion was off the top of my head that we left um we left a little bit of a cushion so that if there were any overruns on any anything we had the money for it yes um so it was more than $3,000 I think it was like 19 well whatever it was more than three so I'm I'm fine with this um I mean you fine with it it's not a full committee or anything but I like the idea that you can be able to combine three into one and I think it's a good use of the AER funds for this this software program so I'm happy with it too and and the decision had sort of been tentatively that any extra funds would be used for turnout gear for the fire department so ultimately would have gone to the the fire department probably anyway that's true just because we can buy that quickly but um and it's always necessary so uh do we need we need to vote that yes so I will make a motion that we approve an additional it's 3,000 even yes an additional $3,000 and arpa funds um to go to the um computer software um that Bob just mentioned for the fire department second a motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor go have yourself a good night Bob thank you all right um so we're going to move right along here to topic two which is the series of um appointments and one resignation so um we are being asked to appoint Holland hogland to the local cultural Council make a motion to appoint holl and Hulan to the local cultural Council second a motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor um the next is to appoint Betty snow to the Hatfield Housing Authority board Housing Authority will need to step forward and vote with the select board okay oh they don't have a quum you don't have a [Applause] quorum does it have to happen simultaneously or could they they can't take it up at their next meeting my standing has to be simultaneous well do you want to hang around and see if they show up and we can backtrack so yeah but this is why we need more members yeah no I know yeah yeah uh I thought Judy was said she'd be here and Alex I didn't hear from at all but Judy sh okay she was a recent appointment right isn't she the for the C she's the tenant representative on but and and Betty is is at Kon as well right I don't oh no Betty lives on Elm Street I think oh okay okay I've seen her at COA yeah that's that's where I saw her was at COA okay well if you don't mind we'll give it a yeah I'll give it another half hour okay but yeah it's a long walk from all right sorry Chris yeah and then it um we have a resignation from Ross Beck um from the finance committee that we need to accept yeah I'll make a motion that we accept the resignation of rossc from the recreation committee second a motion made in second any further discussion we should send him a letter of thank you for his service I don't we don't have to sign anything right there's nothing in here we don't we just accept that right correct there's no okay okay we are just moving right along here um could I ask one question since you are taking up appointments um we amended the agenda it was added to town administrative report but not hold up Tammy she's here for the requests yeah to adjust um an employee in that office as you know Patty is no long Patty Cott is no longer the treasure collector um so Tammy is requesting to reclassify her okay so she stayed on as an employee because she's still been working and you became the so what has her title been are we just formalizing something that probably should have been done a while ago yeah okay sounds like it that's fine so um actually it's it's really nice to see her back in the building and and I'm sure it's nice for you to have her back so um I just wanted to clar clarify that so okay I'll take a motion on this I'll make a motion sorry to um change the position of Patricia cotton to assistant Treasurer collector for the town of Hatfield second second motion made in second all those in favor I I great thank you Tammy there's a signature Ed okay thanks okay so now we're going back to the discussion with the water superintendent regarding establishing a Timber sales revolving fund hello Tony hello how you doing good so I prepared a little speak be just because I don't want to leave anything out okay so bear with me just reading this through to you a couple years ago Selman jorski asked us to about doing a Timber Harvest on our Watershed property and we looked into that and N town meeting for 55,000 and that was approved out of water sewer reserves I contacted and met with Lincoln fish our original Forester that had done work up there before prior to me starting here thanks to Ed roleski keeping records we knew this at this meeting he brought his Protege Ry Patton from Bay State forestry um at this meeting we discussed goals to protect the watershed area and sustain a healthy Forest as one of our abuts Dennis Moren on Lind Seed Road as a Forester himself pointed out there was much work needed the pointed out they pointed out a new forestry plan with visual assessment was needed with that they were charging the DPW director me Brandon said let's do it and was well below um bid requirements as it turns out we have about 900 Acres of watershed protection area to survey and they did that grants were applied for and some we did did not expect like this for paying back to survey and Forestry management cutting or plan were actually approved as ours were so old they considered it a brand new plan so we're we've got money coming back to us from the state for money that we've paid out for doing this stuff currently we're working on a 26 acre plot um right just in between the Christmas tree farm and basically the top of the reservoir where they're um working on in invasive plants um they're actually um a landscaper out there pulling invasive plants they're out there um cutting Vines the grape Vines and stuff that are going up the trees that are choking them off they're doing that stuff and they're actually out marking the timber for uh what can be harvested um the goal is is somewhere around October mid October that would be putting it out the bid for having this uh actual cutting done um we're looking for a revolving account because this you can't do 900 Acres all at once it's just going to be a lifelong project so with the sale of the Timber Harvest would be able to pay for the cutting of the vines and the invasive plant removal and also replanting brand new trees to promote the forest growth so going forward that's why we want the revolving account so we don't have to actually come back to the town and ask for money we just we have it there where we can pay for it may I ask a couple questions Tony so this is grant money that's coming to the town going into that resolving fund no no that that cannot happen right I didn't think that has to go into our that has to go into our sewer Enterprise fund according to our okay accountant or whatever okay so out of the 55,000 we originally had we've spent probably somewhere around 20,000 so far that was from the sales of cutting no no no that was not from we haven't sold anything yet what was the 55 Town Meeting article okay that was to get this project rolling okay but we've also retain some money back already but that just goes into water sewer reserves because we have nowhere to put it so that's then warrant article money right that would go into the revolving fund that's not really no it's the only thing that's going to go into revolving account is the timber sale okay so the timber sale and then that would just create okay okay I just 55,000 paid for what for the plan it it paid for the cutting plan okay it paid for the surveying to create the cutting plan okay and it's paying for the invasive plant removal currently okay and so you'll be paying somebody to remove the it's already ongoing okay and so that's the $55,000 warrant article and you expect to spend the full 55 yeah pretty close Okay and then but then because of all that work you'll be able to do a Timber Harvest and you want that money to go in to then fund future correct all the first harvest will be the 26 Acres that he spoke about so whatever the sale from that is is going to go account because there could need to be future plans as well exactly it's that that money from the timber sales will just be ongoing okay is is there any Wetlands up there oh yeah there's you have to go before Conservation Commission probably no we do not it's okay you sure well Bas State forestry is handling in that and we don't get anywhere near to Wetlands okay so they would know they would know and notify the town if to yeah that's that's not an issue and Bas forestry is Lincoln Lincoln knows what he knows what he's doing yeah he's on the low and slow right now he's been around for a very long time but he knows what he's doing so okay um just want to make sure we don't run into any problems with conservation I mean this is this would operate similar to other such funds in other departments where you know these are sort of outside the scope of like normal customary um expenses and and it allows us to really stay on a forestry plan correct um which which is really important in terms of protecting that Forest land and our revolving funds the select board what they would need to do tonight is they support this and approve creating a revolving fund the town accountant needs a record of that and then the article the annual article on the town meeting warrant with the list of all those revolving funds would be would appear there so you have to vote it annually for the fiscal year how much money are we talking about getting the wood no idea I mean right now Timber Harvest is paying real good money yeah so on 26 Acres I'd be a I couldn't even fathom to guess is there a way to to pull it out out of revolving once it goes like in other words if you had an extremely high amount of it started building up a lot of money is there a way to pull it out to use it for other you know yeah I mean it could be used toward I mean because it's Watershed protection that's why it's not just forestry but Watershed protection is what the way I wanted to label it that way you know somebody comes up with hey we've got six acres over here that you know we'll sell to you for 10,000 we've got the money just take it out of this account and pay for it under that statute though there is a spending limit right that has to be that would appear in the article explain the spending limit the spending what they can spend up to in a year a fiscal year oh so you can't deplete the account right yeah well that's we need to know that's not purpose no no I understand I my my concern actually was more the opposite that it would build up to be too large that and then if it gets too big what is there a mechanism to well if at some point you realize that you know you have really you know completed what I mean it would be a great problem to have and I'm not suggesting we ever will but what is the mechanism for removing money so then you would just close it you would just close it out and it could go to buy a piece of equipment for the water department or something if it if town meeting did that yeah okay I just don't I just want to make sure there's a mechanism yeah that's access that I mean obviously we we would want it to be focused on what you're outlining but with Timber Harvest being so lucrative well right right now we're starting with 26 Acres but it's a test phase just to see how everything works make sure we have no problems with a buding neighbors and everything else and the next phase is probably going to be about 150 acres which was on a much larger scale so you know it's that's what I'm saying it could be quite you know that's also a lot more money you're dishing out to do the invasive removal and marking and bids because base State forestry is doing the bids everything we're yeah pretty much hands off of it so okay I mean we're basically found a way to get additional money to protect their Forestry up there and and harvest it correctly and keep it healthy so there there are a lot of advantages of having a revolving fund I think there's more advantages than disadvantages I mean I know the concern is if it gets too big that's the only really concern how do you but then you have that money there for uh invasive plants and other stuff that may be needed whether a CT needs to be repaired in that property or or whatever we we've done this all along these forestry management plans it's just always gone through the general fund and then the the expenses for like the removal of the invasive species or plans has also come out of yeah so but now we have a mechanism to get money through the wood that's up there so it's it saves on the taxpayers yeah I like it you good yeah okay first of all Tony thanks for you know doing the background work and bringing this to us and coming so prepared with so much information it's been a couple years in the making but I mean it's so like I said we're hopeful to have this out to bid beginning October mid October somewhere around there and then they would Harvest through the winter yeah well possibly just okay now does there have to be more rules about this other than just making a motion to establish a revolving fund like how they can spend it or anything well the for the we're when that's set up we're going to need to know well you have to explain in the article what the purpose of yeah spending that money is for and again you have to have a spending cap right it'll so there'll be an article at town meeting yeah otherwise that'd be have to be like a separate set up as a separate budget item I mean well it wouldn't be a budget item no but I mean I don't see any other way to do it besides the revolving fund that's what I'm trying to say I don't think there's any other option several evolving funds that are voted annually yeah I mean to to well we've done this before where we've harvested and and then it goes into the general f fund yeah okay I I don't have any more questions you no no do we make a motion tonight yes please I'm just happy it's finally happening it takes time A lot of this stuff takes time I do want to thank you Tony for all your efforts on this yeah thanks great idea work I'd like to make a motion that we establish a Timber sales revolving account I would say pursuant to mass I would reference the general laws right3 second a motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I Marlene um I just went ahead and signed these um pay things for the new firefighters we don't vote those right you don't I I didn't realize they had been submitted yeah there's two new um perdm firefighter EMTs okay Jeremy Beach of Springfield and an Angelia Rodriguez of jolio sign those okay okay so next um Marlene we have the executive session is there any way we could just maybe move through the agenda and keep that for the end are you okay with that whatever the board is comfortable with I mean I I I'd hate to go into executive session and make people wait yeah I don't know how long it'll take all right so we're going to skip ahead you might as well stay right there um Phil to the DPW report so we're joined tonight by Betsy speeder um to dis to discuss agricultural water rate um and a discussion with the water superintendent about um water rate water service for agricultural use um so Betsy did you want to come up to microphone sure the record sure what do we have that letter you have that letter be your packet Karen Ki topic five maybe I may have flipped right by it because I did read it go ahead Betsy I writing to you regarding a dispute I'm having with the town of Hatfield water department director Anthony lowski he is denying my right to use an outdoor faucet using the agriculture exemption rate for horses this faucet is used exclusively for filling the H's water tub across the street and sometimes hosing horses down first some history Alo I'm a member of the agriculture committee here in Hatfield I was not aware until 2022 when Bob Wagner told me that horses now come under the agricultural exemption when still in my old house at 52 King Street in late 2022 Having learned of this exemption I hired a local plumber Chris Weatherby as recommended by Mr lowski Chris Chris redid the plumbing in the basement and added a meter for the horse's use this alteration cost approximately $800 as you may know my house burned to the ground on December 18th 2022 as my new house was being built I instructed the plumber again Chris Weatherby to attach my outdoor faucet to the agriculture meter this was based on its intended use solely for the horses I do not have a garden to water and I have never washed my car nor do I have a pool I'm not requesting that another outside faucet be attached to the AGR meter only the one used exclusively for horses we've been using the Outdoor Faucet attached to the garage for the horses is the closest distance to the tub across the street and only requires one hose rather than the two that would be required if we ran it from the frost re hydrant in the padic when the aforementioned Frost re hydrant recently malfunction and is still not working I turned off the water in the basement that was labeled agriculture when the outside faucet did not turn off I became suspicious and soon confirmed that the water department had not allowed any outside faucet to be termed agriculture I spoke to Mr lowski and he was adant that he would not allow any of my outside faucets to be connected to the agriculture meter and be build at the agricultural rate he stated that he had made an exception with my former house but that he had no intention of continuing that designation to my new house he explained that he could not monit monitor my water usage 247 how could he know if I watered a garden washed my car filled a pool in addition he said that if he allowed me to use an outside faucet for agricult purposes and every person with a horse and a garden hose would want to do the same also he was concerned that the next occupant of my house would continue this privilege although I am elderly and have a progressive lung disease I'm still alive and still have horses and I feel I should be able to have the water the horses used build under agriculture whoever may live in my house in the future could provide whatever justification or examination is necessary Mr lowski stated that I had two choices firstly I could dig under the road and across the street and put in another Frost re hydrant or I could turn my water off off in both the house and the barn he repeated this threat three times I believe he was alluding to the possibility that I would simply without his authorization have the water in the basement attached to the agricultural meter I did not give him any cause for him to think this even reporting that I Plummer Chris Weatherby would certainly not make any changes without his approval Al Lough it is of course possible to dig a trench on the road and into the pure across the street in order to install another Frost fre hydrant I do not have the funds for such a project it's all also quite unnecessary as I stated we are currently using the a non-agricultural build water for the horses as the frost re hydrant Alo new it's not working and I can't dig it up till November my excavator David Len has sent two men twice out to a temporary pair this has not been successful and appears that this Frost fre hydrant will have to be replaced I have had many frost fre hydrants over the years and mostly they have worked quite well I've also had difficulty with different times including one freezing and not thawing out until May when that occurred a number of years ago I indeed had to use our outside water faucet at that time we had a septic system and water costs were not that extravagant now that I am attached to the Sewer the thought of having any horse water build at the higher rate does not seem fair I'm requesting that all HSE waterer sources be attached to my agricultural meter and I be buil at the agricultural rate for such use thank you for my VI such a request and we did bring this up I didn't bring it up um our chair John brought that up at the last a meeting and I did not ask for their support but they wanted to give it and they have written a letter which you have a copy in your report because it goes beyond my use it's really the principle of agricultural use which as you know we're very much in favor we're the ad committee and and why should it matter whether it's an outside faucet or a frost free hydrant I mean in the old house I used the outside faucet that was approved appr D and now he doesn't want to approve that for this new house I really don't know why okay so Tony did you want to speak to the matter sure in her original house she originally had the plumber come in and she said it was $1,800 well that there was a lot of work being done there um because just the water meter's $150 the radio is another $125 so there's an expense plus the plumber putting it in we allowed for the outside Barn to be metered off an agricultural use when we looked in the basement and went oh my God looking at the plumbing because it was steel lines and everything else just it was the way it was plumbed in this is in the old house y this is in the old house the way it was plumbed in we allowed for that one water faucet going across the street to be on the agricultural meter so the barn and that outside faucet were there because it would have been a phenomenal expense to replace all this other plumbing just to hook it on with the regular house okay the way it should be so we allowed it and we had no problems going forward unfortunately her house did burn under ground and everything got replaced new and and there was never any discussion with the water department or plumbing inspector about hooking up this outside faucet the second time on the new house going across the street I suggested because you already have the line coming out that's metered it's going out to the barn to dig across the street and put another yard hi and in there and be done with it and everybody's happy but at this point we're here because she's insistent about a garden hose and using the outside faucet I mean what's the saying five years down the road 10 years down the road we're not going to know what that water is being used for is it build under agricultural rate is it build water and sewer we're not going to know so I don't see it as Fair because no other house in town has that ability they're either complete agricultural like I'm suggesting or they're residential and they're paying water and sewer I don't I don't see it as being unfair okay so I do pay residential rates for the rest of my house this this outdoor faet is used only for the horses it's all it's for right I I I I definitely understand what you're saying but I understand what Tony's saying too because you do have the ability to use it for other things well I I get where Tony's coming from so but we also I just want to make sure everybody who has something to say about this has a minute to do so so John you are here um on behalf of the Agricultural commission um and it does get a little dicey because you are on the ad commission but you're also here so that's a little uh bit of a conflict it's quite a bit of a conflict to speak on behalf of the Agricultural commission and yourself as a resident with an agricultural issue from my perspective I did not ask them to write a letter of support I understand but just know that that is you know so John did you want to speak will he will we pick him up okay I'm just uh concerned about the animal safety and we're in a climate change and we're you know us using more water for a lot of different things and to maintain the quality of life for the animals this is that's these uh horses and just to maintain you know proper water supply for for the animals I I we we've talked this amongst ourselves that we see the town's position see bets's position and it's uh how can you say it's Unique yeah and and I I can see Tony's project you know because he's the he's a l of I think another Factor has to I mean I understand where you're coming from John I understand the issue we've had many discussions here prior about an outside faucet being off of a special rate because we've had people come in front of this board requesting an outside faucet on their house to be off of uh special rate so they could do their lawns and stuff and we've denied that a few times because of the fact that if if certain people get special faucets off their houses then it causes a problem on the water sewer bills it causes some other issues and it's not fair for everybody I mean decision we make up here we have to think of how it affects the whole town and how it affects down the road so I I do entertain the fact of having a discussion on the AGR and I do entertain this having a discussion how to ensure that Betsy's horses are taken care of but right now the issue like Tony has actually he's gotten a lot of letters of support over the years since I've been on the board of his work doing going out of his way trying to help people and I respect his opinion since I've known him over the years but we have to consider is a outside faucet off of the agrate uh how does that does affect the whole town and everybody I mean the there was a water across the road which went off the AG rate for for the horses right I mean that's it used to be until the house burnt down and now there's there's issues with that pipeline going across was only a garden hose so garden hose running across cowbridge road yeah swaz Potato Truck comes through guess what that Garden hes junk it's and it wouldn't be any different now so the so the the outside faucet can't have a separate meter no okay the out the outside faucet would simply go on the same meter that I already have for agriculture for the water that goes directly to the barn yes it's an outside faucet it's a hose you have to use to get water across the street how else would you get it there it could be done and it's a simple Plumbing change in the basement to do such option but once again what is that water going to be used for besides horses nothing you know it because there's no one there to police it there's what if the house sells in a few years and the new homeowners go wow look at that we've right I think we so I would I would agree with what you're saying like we we certainly want to help you Betsy how however we can and um make sure that obviously the horses are taking care of we do everything we can to support agriculture that's why we're sort of protective of these agricultural um rate um proper interrupt one well no um so we but we have to be careful about setting precedent um you know the decision we may make about this could then mean that we could have people coming in saying well I have goats I have chickens I have that I'm trying to water off of my my hose from my house so we do this is this is not a small decision and we have to be careful about it um because we are setting precedent we could be setting precedent well I did bring Donna morray here today my friend just so she could attest to the fact that that faucet is used only for the horses I mean it doesn't need somebody monitor ing me 24/7 I there is no other purpose for it I mean he said you could fill a pool I don't have a pool I so I Betsy I completely agree or I I completely um believe you is is that that's what you'll use it for but the issue is precedent so if I decide to have some animals in my backyard and I say well I'm only going to use this for that that we we don't we don't have the ability to monitor that um everywhere there's a lot of people with animals um that that that's my concern with it I mean we we as a board always have to be careful with um setting precedent actually I think this board Maybe not today but I think we need to also review our policies that were in place on the a rate and stuff and so we all understand the purpose of it too that's just another kind conversation and so can I ask what we're do you have a rough estimate of what the difference would be for her bill between regular rate and AG rate because now she's actually paying water and sewer on anything that's used in the house or that outside faucet I mean basically it comes down to roughly 0.009 cents per gallon of water um as for with sewer you're up to almost 2 cents alog together per gallon average horse per day uses about seven gallons per day at least from when I was running race horses so you know you know you're talking 14 15 20 cents a day but I mean that she's previously had an egg meter right right so there any records any records on what was used on that egg meter previously we it wasn't in there for very long before the house burned down okay so we we really don't have a a running history I I can tell you that there's a resident on King Street also that has a secondary meter just for his horses out back and he decided he's like I spent too much money on this for what would have ever saved um I have another Resident on Elm Street by the village and he's got a second meter just for the hores Outback and he goes it's not really saving me anything from what I really did he goes after spending the expense buying a meter and having it plumbed in so it's kind of a catch22 but I've spent that now I mean I've already spent that so I should have an opportunity to do saving over time so there is an agricultural meter yes there is an agricultural meter and a household meter the household meter does water and sewer the agricultural meter is just water going directly out to the barn which she's stating that she can't use because it's broken right now well that and so then so you're wanting to use the house meter no no no no she wants to you got two meters in the basement one side by side one goes to the barn one goes to the house well she wants to go off of this one on on the agricultural meter put a tea in it go up and over the ceiling and hook up just that one outside faucet so that it's not on the house meter not the other outside buet but just that one that goes exclusively for horses which I had before so how do we decide who gets these meters to begin with who who's allowed to have them in in our regulations it just says we allow for a secondary meter so you're not paying sewer and possibly the egg rate for livestock purposes only because you can't say I've got a 20 by 20 plot out my yard and I want to water my garden I'm an agricultural or I have two chickens right so livestock would be larger animal yeah is that even defined what is it defined yeah like goats I didn't know horses were included for a long time and then Bob Wagner said oh yeah we changed that years ago so I mean even back when I worked for the town there was a flat fee for house for horses and cows yeah it was $7 per horse way back when I first started started working here 17 years ago there was a form that Louis slish would have the local farmers that wanted to qualify for agrate had to show their income their expenses there there was a a long process in order to qualify for AG right and that's what I was inquiring about who who who files that now well when we baited the um regulations back when Mr Bo was on the board we had included for livestock purposes only we added that in to make it easy instead of all the paperwork that yeah you got horses in your backyard okay we'll allow that or cows where where is that regulation because I haven't been able to find it online yeah I mean I've only found I found the old regulation I was just curious where the new regulation is and does does it delineate specific animals no it just says livestock purposes only and for years I print out our whole DPW direct but is I don't know if it's online or not but this was adopted and amended in 2010 okay and that's the highlighted section so that's what they you you have a copy of the 2010 RS there now I do on both sides to include horses I don't think I have it 2000 that was kind of left here I think for us right but amended amended 2010 yes 2010 and what page what section is that under what page is it Pages aren't it's a chapter they're chapter numbers yeah 8.6 8.6 and I just found this amended version I happened to come AC cross it8 me that's why some of the policies online have to be updated because they're what is the definition of livestock um anal I just any animal I provided that so rabbits yeah chickens I mean 8.2 8.2 this is so this says all new water services shall be metered own is responsible for only one meter will be allowed unless for agricultural Liv livestock purposes to avoid sewer costs and that's what you're asking for I only yeah I have one for residential one for and so how does that not fit into this policy if that's a she already currently has it right the problem is that she wants to use water from her house instead of the one that goes out to the barn well it's all from the house and one goes out to the barn but one goes to the outside faucet which is used only for horses so the connection comes in from the street to her house and you want to tee off inside the house to each individual meter yeah I I could draw you a picture easier right the water comes into the house it comes in and it splits off goes to two different meters y this one's the house this one goes out to the barn for the horses okay well what she wants to do is the one that splits off and goes to the house she wants to replum it to go from the one going out to the barn up and over the house just to her outside faucet on the side of the house as being part of the Agricultural currently the way it's plumbed in it's part of the house because that's what everybody's house is you you turn on the water at Diana's house outside it's on the house meter and it used to be piped over to the barn off of that meter no no no no no it it's I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this but so you would be okay if this was piped from the house but but the SP it wasn't until the barn here you want to use yeah you got a pen here all right so we've got a house here we got a barn here we got water line coming in and we got x and x those are meters okay this one's for the house this one is for the farm and that Wine's got a problem why can't it just stay that way okay so this is what's going on water comes into the house and there's meter for the house and the meter for the barn well right now she can't use this one out here at the barn because it's broken and needs to get it fixed our suggestion was was to run off of that same line go across and put a frost-free hydrant in the field across the street she wants to fix the plumbing so it comes off of this in the house from the farm meter just to this outside faucet right here so she can drag the garden hose over here instead that's what's trying to you can use that outside faucet for other things too what you're saying so yeah I mean we've dragged a hose across the street for 50 years I mean that's how but even with your plan you could use the hose for anything no no no well technically yes you could but you know to drive down King Street and look over here and see this is cowbridge this is cowbridge right here okay and this is King Street right here okay okay so yeah I mean to drive by and see that would be nothing but to see the garden hose out here going somewhere else and doing something we we don't know I just okay I think I I think I get it we only allowed it originally just because it would have been a phenomenal expense for her to change it originally prior to the house burning but this was never disgust her in house building and it's a brand new beautiful house yeah so so I think I think I get what you're saying but I want to make sure that everybody is doing the same thing not we we have no other circumstance like how do other people do it if somebody else were do it you wouldn't allow them to have a meter off of their house or you would not have the I decided to keep a horse in my backyard and we have plenty of neighbors who do that yep around us you'd be calling Monahan up a plumber first of all put second meter in you'd be calling up a local contractor Richie there or somebody you'd be putting a hole through your foundation and running the line all the way out back to wherever you want it and all said and done it wouldn't be coming off your outside faucet so I guess what we're lacking from these policies is saying where that meter has to be discharged say that again where the water has to be discharged from we don't have that written down anywhere no we do not we just we have it and this is so this is the one that's the meter that's in the house the meter works but what's broken out in the barn the water line the frost we um trust me I've had such a problem with this frost free Hy I mean and David loin says you can't dig it up till November I mean it just doesn't I've had three plumbers come there charge me $120 for the first one supposedly fixed it he didn't I mean but I mean it sounds like re-plumbing it over the top of the house is expensive too right so when the no it really wouldn't be very expensive for her to do what she really wants to do but once again we're setting precedence um digging up what she's got to replace out at the barn which is first priority or a problem that's not cheap I mean that well it will happen the unit costs a couple hundred dollar but at the same time just tap into that one line that goes out to the barn and everybody's happy well I'm not happy because the the most direct route to get water across the street where I have pasture and which we've done for the last 50 years is with a garden hose from the house now in the past that's what we used I didn't have the separate meter um but we were on the septic system so water wasn't particularly anything I worried about but now with the sewer it's quite expensive and it it this outside faucet is used exclusively for the horses and so I don't get why I'm being denied the ability to put that faucet attached to my agricultural meter which is already in there and in fact when the house was built I asked the plumber excuse me Betsy will'll reschedule okay okay sorry all right Sor um I asked the plumber to make sure that the outside faucet was attached to the agricultural meter he didn't do that because obviously Tony told him couldn't I did not even know it wasn't attached until I was having a problem with the frost re hydrant and we started using it and I noticed when we turned it off in the basement it didn't turn off so that made me suspicious as I said and that's when I discovered that it wasn't attached so of course I spoke to Tony but he said well I made an exception in the past I'm not going to do it again because I can't monitor your use okay so just I'm just wondering if another option might be some type of a batement until the proper repair is able to be done I don't know if that's even worth entertaining or not I don't even think you're talking very much money to begin with I'm so I just and I can I ask one more question John did you did your committee discuss this as precedent setting or was this discussed just as this one specific issue because just one specific issue and and I mean I guess I would like to send it back to the a committee to discuss this as precedent setting but I think you have to be very careful Betsy about being part of that discussion because of conflict of interest but I I felt that that the letter wasn't just for me it was for all of Agriculture that any device or whatever is used specifically for animals and not for anything else would come under the agricultural great that was the precedent setting thing as I would see it and why wouldn't I just I I just I don't understand it I do not understand why that I have this faucet it's used only for the horses and it's a very simple matter to correct it in the basement because it should have been done that way in the beginning why it couldn't be attached to the agricultural meter rather than the residential meter I I understand what you're saying but that's for your house we we've had a lot of people come in requesting a second meter and they want to water water their wwns or stuff I mean I don't know how if if people decide to start coming in here because they have you know like Diana said they have a horse or this or that we still have to look at that's different how to make the changes and make adjustments and but it's not different you have a horse we're I mean we're talking about people who could be coming in asking about other if livestock could be rabbits or chickens like we do have to you know we no I know what I'm saying saying is I mean I would I would certainly hear the argument that if you're Watering your lawn it's not going into the sewers so why should they pay for that but that's a decision a financial decision that you as a select board made which is separate from a decision about agriculture we're a right to F community and all we can the more we can do to support agriculture in all its varied forms the better as far as I believe I don't think our our we're conflicting either I think we do provide for agricultural metering we just have been against putting an outside faucet off of an agricultural meter because the precedent it could set could be detrimental to the town it could cause a whole can of worms a lot of people could qualify for an outside faucet going on an agricultural meter because they have animals but I don't use this for anything else but but they could argue the same thing right and then it becomes it does become impossible to to police because so it's this so this isn't Betsy as much as I think we all want to help you and and we I I would like to find a solution that can really work for Betsy we do have to be careful about setting precedent and and I would I mean I guess I would like the agricultural commission to have a discussion about that because we know a lot of people in town if livestock is any kind of animals I mean I know have neighbors with chickens we you know there're there's animals everywhere um and so but you're you're not going to spend $1,200 to have a plumber come in and up a separate line just to water your chickens yeah I understand that but but but aren't you saying that exactly it could happen I mean yeah or they could have animals and then get rid of animals now they have an agricultural great for well I think Tony was making that point about my being in my house and I do have a progressive lung disease so how long I'm going to be there and who's going to next be in the house but I think the new person would have to qualify they have to you know examine his purposes of using that and if it was used to Mo to water the lawn no then you you can't uh you can't use that but but I think we want to have regulations or something so that we don't have to every person doesn't come in here and ask us to do which well it's happening right now by by you asking for a certain thing that other people aren't asking for and if we give it to you then somebody else can ask remember right I mean can it be um grandfathered in from before I mean it's the same fall I mean it's located the same spot goes across the street I mean and that's actually how how many horses do you have Betsy there's only three now scale down you know bit Yeah understood I mean are you I I think I'd like some answers from legal too I mean we maybe we should ask and commissioner get back to us have discussion with them uh make sure before we change any precedent and we actually know what we're actually going to do what is the mechanism now to apply for an AG rate and and receive approval there is none well that's another thing we that's something we should that's that's something that was handled before I started working here L she was the treasur and she handled all that I mean it just went away just nobody ever forwarded it I mean we've gone through how many treasure collectors that gone on for so long right yeah we haven't we haven't had any new applications except for when she wanted a second meter and we had allowed for no other you have to apply to get an AG rate yeah no it was just it was just so all right so when she applied she applied too well I can I can tell you what I did when Bob Wagner told me about this um that's when I called Tony and he's did all the arrangements he recommended Chris weatherbe Chris Weatherby came into my former house did it and I thought he would do the same for my new house and I was surprised when he didn't yeah I I yeah I don't I definitely don't feel ready to make a decision tonight um since I've been here there's only been three brand new egg rate uh meters put in this town she's one of them um one on King Street and one on Elm Street yeah and those were all for livestock purposes other than that we haven't had any anything where what qualifies you as a farm or produce well in all fairness so that everybody's treated fairly there should be a a process and it should be in writing right I don't have the staff to do that a lot of people won't do it because it is rather expensive to put the other meter in and then you're charged for a second meter too so when it was approved by I'm assuming the treasurer previously Louise was town clerk Treasurer and she would notify the water department and then you would update the billing to reflect that AG rate I didn't even do that back then that was all handled in that office because they were doing the billing yeah they were doing all the billing and back then is this there was meters back then there was Metter I remember back when it was flat rate yeah they were different there was little notebooks they were older they were the old meters back then yeah and you you reported how many cows horses you had and you got build flat fees for those so it's back in the dinosaur dinosaur ages um so so maybe this is already in place somewhere that's been skipped over the last few years we just got to find out where that is so we we really do I do feel like we need to do a little bit more homework Betsy understand that we I'm I'm very sympathetic to your situation and we we want to see if we can help you but we we do have to be careful you know about setting precedent and making sure that we're W with with any use of water I mean you know there are farmers with keys that can go around and get the water and do we monitor whether they're using it for their gals or are they feeling I mean there has to be a certain level of trust I believe and Tony told me he trusted me before I think we all trust you it's only for the horses we all trust you trust you we here just to verify that with me because we would have believed you even if Donna wasn't here but we do we do believe Donna too um yeah I mean I just hope you can appreciate the from our perspective I don't really understand it because to me it is just so straight forward if if the source of water is for the horses then why couldn't it go under the agricultural rate so what does it matter whether it's a frost reod going this direction or under my road or a hose I mean I don't know if there's an indication that that's somewhat dangerous to run a Hol across the road I mean it's cowbridge Road it has some traffic but we only leave it running I mean we don't leave the hose in the road because it would destroy the road as you the the hose as you said so we fill the tub um and we haul it back and if we ran two hoses from the barn which is what Tony said orig just get a longer hose well they're very heavy and I'm not taking care of my own horses right now I have friends that are doing that and when you're hauling two heavy hoses 200 foot hoses as opposed to one it makes a huge difference particularly when as the water get as the winter comes on you have to drain it I mean it's a lot easier using one hose and then of course as as it starts to freeze um the horses come to the barn side during the winter and then that froster hydron better be fixed by then because otherwise it's going to be really upsetting it's just a problem I mean it's a new house believe me I've got lots of problems that are in all those categories and it's hard getting people to finish your house it's hard getting a Workman to come and dig it up and do it I don't know it's just it's one of many problems but to me it is just so straightforward that that the purpose for this froster hydrant not Frosty for the the outside faucet it's just for the horses so why shouldn't it be built and I thought it was going to be built at the agriculture rate that was my thought yes John a question asked um not that this matter is much in Betsy's case but uh there's a sweeper truck filling up water across from Myers's produce this afternoon a sweeper truck is that something that you've been monitoring Meers produce right there Industrial Park CMS hi in across the street yeah so you were notified absolutely that's part of Warner Brothers okay they wanted to fill up out on route five and because of the age of the water man I'm like oh no no no just want to make sure because no every once in a while we have another several other contractors that do come in and fill up uh we got Hena um Farms that uh fills up with um actual drinking water for other facilities and they give us a stip in here in there if we decide to build them but just want to make sure oh yeah any more questions no just I have more I I have more questions but not tonight tonight's not the I don't I don't think I have enough to make a decision on any of this yeah I want to get this right Betsy okay we'll go back have a meeting and we'll discuss with Tony and if you have a chance would legal to go back and find out exactly because I did really research our minutes and there's a there's a gap and it's like um I don't know where where a certain amount of years went and we discussed this well we'll look into that okay okay thanks for coming down Betsy thanks thank you Tony and thank you John thanks thanks sorry thanks oh no no no we're listen we're trying to understand this and we will figure it out we'll figure something out are you also here Tony for this Tony are you escaping what about this potential increase in water sewer rates agricultural rates including a future public hearing he will be probably for the next meeting though um yeah we just want to put out there um obviously you know we've been raising Water and Sewer rates um over the years in the past two years we have not touched agricultural rate um which that doesn't quite make sense to me because everything goes up right um so why we never adjusted that one I don't understand um so this says water and sewer rates and agricultural water rates so you're just you're you're going to suggest a increase in regular water and sewer rates across the board yeah so so let me just we're working with a consultant an analysis is currently being done we'll be presented so Dave prickets group is doing again we did it two and a half years ago because we missed a half a year billing this cycle but we did it two and a half years ago and that ran out and he's doing another two-year program to see where our rat should be because remember when our rates were too low we didn't qualify to for USDA we had to raise the rates oh that's what I was going to say yeah for you know we we went a lot of years without raising rates which sort of put us behind right and to get us to where we need to be to qualify for these FDA loans and other programs we have to have um your your rates have to meet a certain parameter within that Loan program and it didn't and then we raised them and it did so that's how we managed to get that loan for the wastewater treatment plan up upgrade uh so we are looking at him again of course and he's doing the analysis and he said that analysis will be presented at a future meeting okay so that's just in October there's nothing we need to do tonight you just wanted to let us and Town's people know that because we we did discuss over the years of tweaking a little bit each year instead of hitting the town with a big big fat bill down the road you know and that's exactly what happened that time exactly that time it went up 30% was because they never did anything for five years they didn't increase they trying to catch up for five years and not raising anything and you played catchup so right you know I mean operations within both plants is skyrocketing and you have to you know maintain a level of income coming in Revenue coming in to support that right I mean at one point we did have a minimum of 2 and a half% increase on both Water and Sewer every year that just it was automatic voted on by the board and it was there and that ended up going by the wayside and I think something like that should actually be reinstituted but even a two and a half perc nowadays that really doesn't equate to much I mean with inflation and everything that's going up you know so you guys want to come back with some suggestions and we have a hearing on it right I mean yeah that' be the process yeah so I think he's pretty he has I think most of the data now so he'll be presenting it okay well good to know thank you thanks Tony yep um we also have on here Phil don't go anywhere the Main Street Culvert restoration project the recommendation to award the bid did you want to stay for that for for the EJ Prescott bid yeah so you know I'm recommending them they were the sole bidder of course and uh I mean he gave a good price he's he's in the business to do that type of work to slip line out line and put put the liner in it um we did go back to conservation and we did F have to file a notice of intent to do that project and I looked today and it seems like it went through D with a couple of restrictions but I think we've we're on a the path to having this at least through conservation's eyes a liable project so and the bid came in at $242,000 that's the bid um which meeting I just want to make that clear that the 375 is because the DPW is going to do do inhouse work so we have to you know we have to provide some material we have to provide the excavator right to keep the cost down because without that you would have been pring prevailing wage on that that end which you won't be doing okay so is this bid uh like a slip and insert that they what this does is they put a it's like a metal sleeve inside that pipe with a six Gap all the way around then it it's almost like sprayed foam but it's not it's grout that's what they call it's a grout system a poly poly tech product that then that pull the slip line out after so it'll be all new inside because of the size do they have to weld the sections together as they push it in or no I don't think so I think it bolts together actually I think it bolts together and then they blow the stuff on the top and the gaps then they come back and they grout the outside of where the space is between the oh so what they slide in is impermanent it's pulled back out no they pull it out yeah okay is that part of the bit actually clean it out before they slide it in yeah there's not much stuff in there in the bottom and so this can happen this construction season yes as long as we get the approval through D conservation and they're supposed to meet October in in that middle of October which I think they should meet before that now that it went to DP and he issued an number I think that they should have a meeting Conservation Commission yes oh yeah let's see if we can urge them to meet I don't think it should wait to their regular meeting in October have you contacted them I saw the correspondents today that said that they would wait until their October meeting well can we contact them and say because of the urgency of this we want them to meet on the C could we urge them to meet I will ask them if they could have a meeting I mean to bring up that one subject yeah because that that puts you three weeks because you have to you still have to you know after they and we don't know what the fall weather is going to be like and so why would and there's more to it because you have to it has to be done within a 21 day period once the EP gives you that notice of intent number so to do that you still have to post something in the paper that you're working so they need to allow because there's a period of time for that and you still have to notify a butter so I mean it's a process and if they don't meet to hold their requirements until October you might not be doing that project this year well that may be why considering today's the 17th and they're talking about October 10th that's probably the time period they need to to advertise and post that probably meets I'm guessing that that probably is the period that they're working with maybe okay so to do it soon soon ER could be very very tight for them well let's just double check that yeah let's see the first possible data could be and and urge them to try to do that thank you Tony yeah we got try to find a high way to expedite this so I mean in what people know the urgency of this on that committee um okay so we have quite a bit of other so we should award this bid vote please to award that you have this paperwork I don't have that paper now sorry just read it okay make a motion to award the bid to EJ Prescott for the cowbridge Culvert restoration project in the amount of $242,000 a second that's what it says right a motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I thank you for the work on this Marlene and Phil to get this bid and everything else thank you very much this only needs my signature so okay um marleene do you prefer we do the executive session and then do your stuff or can we rapid fire through your stuff uh actually the oh oh I see what you're saying um is this an amended I have two different agendas one was in the packet just a second page just a second page and there's topic six Town Administrator report and it's like more flushed out with Mar items I know David's been waiting patiently oh that's my report item that's yeah just some of the items there yes that's just what things thatting on okay yeah I know David we do want to get you but I think we could just can we run through this quickly Marlene yes okay then we'll get to then we then we don't have to return to open okay that works for me okay um FY 24 and 25 Financial update report um if the board does not know um Markham has merged with cbiz and geez it I know that was just a little less than a year that it was marked there been more changes with them um so you know my my inquiry is soon as possible was to um find out if there was going to be any impacts to the town and I'm told there will be no changes okay um status of fy4 um both Financial teams uh the accounting and treasur collector's office are closing out FY 24 um initially we're looking at a very small deficiency and on the school side uh we met this morning and actually they have uh reduced that deficiency they're just looking at two grants but the dollar amount is small and they're still still working on that um cash book variance only $245 um revenues actually are at 15.2 for the year and expenditures at 13.6 balance sheet is expected to be submitted um to the divisional local Services the end of September I've been in contact with the auditor Tony roselli so he will be lining up the audit for early October it seems like it just finishes and it starts again yeah um for fy2 July half of it's reconciled but I you probably have since I prepared this three quar of it is okay all right um oh and then also we're working on Town officials you know Finance offices are working on the recap which has to be submitted to divisional local Services as well so we've all been looking at local receipts and uh State receipts okay um alcoholic bever Control Commission had a hearing on September 10th for Hatfield variety at 60 Main Street um this is regarding a compliance check violation uh the attorney representing his client the client was not um available to attend or he was experiencing some difficulties connecting to the hearing um testified that his client admitted that the ID um was requested um but he did not read the birth date and the investigation reported that the clerk did not ask for ID um but since then um there have been uh requirements scanner has been put in place and yeah he's and about this already across the street yeah didn't he come in and talk that was up here that that in that pack for up Street on School Street uh abcc has said they're going to take it under uh advisement okay and will issue a decision um and then also with tree works I I do expect to have um additional information I had expected to have more information to report out tonight um but as I had mentioned before both the both host Community agreements the one that was approved in 2018 and then there was a settlement reached back in February right and the current host Community agreement that was renewed are in non-compliance that has been issued by the Cannabis control entire Control Commission is In N non-compliance but that's another discussion um yeah so I will report out at a future meeting and um and one thing you should proceed with we'll have to update those those host Community agreements one thing you just um skipped over was that October 15th we have a tenative tax classification hearing yes we are planning that is the the target date the assessors have set and feeling pretty comfortable about it that is probably the earliest pfield has ever had it is it's usually November yeah so that's pretty good that's very good okay treasur office and assessor's office are moving along quite well thank you I just have one item under your old business when you move to that yep okay I just cuz Phil's here on the upstairs the heat pumps are in so what's the status on sort of getting that stuff out of there so that room technically could be used with the heat pumps in place right because the tables up there there's chairs up there if need be I just wonder where we're at I know JDR is going to be coming in and put the wall up right so right that's on the other end of the meeting room yes so we could use that meeting space we would just access the meeting room through that second floor if need be that's all I'm saying but I mean who's responsible for taking care the stuff that's up there to get it out of there or moved into the balcony the historical commission is still I I have I've reached out to the historical commission a few times and I have not received a response I understand they're still trying to work out details and I had been told that they were looking for more space but um that did not come from the historical commission okay that came from the historical but I mean for now I mean if it's a rainy day I don't know if we could could could the town actually just move some of that stuff on the balcony for now and move it into the storage room yeah could do that that's what it was built for yeah I mean exactly the items up there they would like to keep we know that we have confirmed that everything else that was being disposed of is gone I just like to see this project as you know I'm always let's keep moving on these projects keeping us on task with this we appreciate that Ed yeah who moved the stuff into that room into the meeting room the historical commission did so they wanted to go through everything which they did they separated out what they would like to keep and what was going to be disposed I just don't like to send any DPW employees there by themselves to move something and then something oh oh it's damn yeah I would agree with that Phil and I mean this has been such a priority for them so here we are at the finish line and then now it's they're not responding so I mean if they need help moving something heavy or whatever surely but I don't think that the DPW employee should no I don't I I agree I don't think it is I I don't think so I I would agree with you Phils but but I would certainly hope that after all of the work and effort that's been put into getting the space ready that they be ready to use it yeah and it's really holding you up from meeting up there because the stuff's in that room right that's all this stuff just needs to get out of there that's all okay well maybe we could urge them to and you have instructions or something for somebody on the operation of the heat pumps if need be or whatever yeah pretty simple yes press the button David has been very patient are we done with the you got to know where the quicker is are we done with the agenda item so that we can um take up um unless you want to take up any more if you want to have any additional discussion regarding the use of varpa funds not at again we're just okay that that's fine I I I don't think there's anything to discuss right now okay we just have to see how the other project I just ask when one of those funds have to be spent by December 3 or 30th I think it's the 30th 30th the 29th Phil Christmas yeah and anything that requires a contract has to be in place as of that date money does not have to be expended but all obligations contracts need to be the sooner the better yeah that's why it's it continues to be on the agenda so I would entertain a motion to go into executive session make a motion to go to an executive session by roll call vote pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21A number eight to consider interview applicants for employment or appointment by preliminary screening Committee in the chair if the chair declares that open meeting will have detrimental effects qualified applicants I'll second thator ski and we will not be returning correct and we will not be returning I believe zal I I thank you thanks for being patient