##VIDEO ID:Nh5hs1Ba1Dk## ask them where things are where is the peanut butter yeah and they'll tell you butter I all s like and um if there's like a problem or a the area is blocked because somebody spilled something it's supposed to detect that as well they're more out in Boston and then I went to the sushi um conveyor Bel sushi have you ever been I've been not around here so dreaming has a good one and they have a little guy that does that and he will bring you your drinks so you order from the screen and then he comes around and stands sits right behind you with your drinks it's cool but I always feel like you're taking away from Human people being able to work accid oh for sure 100% I went to visit a friend in the hospital and they had like a that wasn't an album thing on a tripod yeah watching it because the they of nurses I guess I [Music] don't there was no signs or anything that says you're being no there was an emergency situation there was no doctor on duty long story having that very didn't it right right right but still it's still um we have an we have alexas at home you know and sometimes they light up like they're listening and I did not see the name for them to be listening or anything similar I'll go over and unplug it from the wall I'm no no no we're not doing that today there's some joke about that where some guy walks in the room he says I don't like all these things like Alexa and Google Ness and all that they're always listening and Alexa goes I wasn't listening yeah Google go I wasn't listening either back so when I used to e e e okay so I ammed no they can't hear okay D can you just wave at us if you can hear [Music] us Diane oh thank you Cath thank you very much okay just wanted to make sure you can hear us okay so let's start the uh select board meeting for August 22nd 2022 and we will review the agenda uh the agenda items are public comment first review select board minutes from July 9th 16th and 30th um appointment of a new conservation commissioner um review to meeting held on August 15th review applications for appointment to the new boarding Safety Committee police chief presents a sponsorship for the police academy candidate and then Town Administrator updates and one of our members has to leave at 10: and 7 so we're going to try to get through this so she can um to go to her next meeting some of us have double headers this week okay does anyone have public comments in the room please raise your hand if you're on Zoom please use the raised hand feature I see one okay Amanda Amanda go ahead Amanda can [Music] you Amanda can you hear us [Music] oh that's in TV no we just I can hear you okay thank you hang on one second now I have to change who was that I was friend friend thank you Amanda go [Music] ahead be [Music] her can you hear us he was just on [Music] scam thank you [Music] Bob all right hang I know okay Amanda just went off you okay go ahead speak Amanda we can't see you but we can hear [Music] you Amanda did you have public [Music] comment Conn there we go give it one second Amanda you can go ahead you turn on your you uh turn on my speaker I think she's having some technical difficulties okay other people can hear us though right yeah okay get Amanda we are unable to hear you unfortunately um is there anyone else as public comment while we figure out the check for her okay we could take her up later okay we'll take your comment later Amanda if you're able to figure out the speakers um so moving on to the review of Select board minutes for July 9th 16th and 30th I make a motion that we approve the minutes of July 9th 2024 second [Music] second okay um any adjustments or um edits that we need to make on those no they look good J is doing a good job that yes um okay so all in favor of the July 9th minutes Carell I stalker I may I okay um and do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of July 16th I move we approve the minutes of July 16th 2024 second um any edits or adjustments that we need to make there no okay all favell barell I st make L do I hear a motion to approve July July 30th I move that we approve the minutes of July 30th 2024 okay all those in any additions or um second okay let's start okay all right um all those in favor farl I stalker I make PE okay and moving on to the appointment of the new commissioner and I don't have than you um do I hear a motion to approve through Todd Todd sorry yeah there it is Todd we he is here introduce oh there you are um hello would you like to introduce yourself and um yeah I live on um great Pines Drive I've lived in shutesbury for seven years at this point um I'm a professor at UMass LEL actually um I'm a literature Professor but I have a background in Environmental Studies and environmental Humanities and so I'm really interested in Wetlands issues and looking to do some service for the town and um looking to do something in terms of the environment that's a little less abstract and so yeah all right does anyone have any other questions ER or no um T you met with the Conservation Commission I I have I've gone to a few meetings okay they did make a full recommendation for I think that's emailed and Tom graciously stepped aside because of all right well it's nice to have somebody from um the lake commission so that's thanks all right I make a um motion that we approve Todd is it tachin is that right that's right yes T um as uh the newest commissioner for the conservation committee second okay um all those in favor Carell I stalk O'Neal I and next is the review of town meeting held uh last week on August 15th do we want to what how what would we like to discuss for that it was here in the town hall it was one of the first ones in a very long time here in the town hall um so I thought that went well yeah yeah anybody have any questions about the town meeting it was a revote of an article from annual town meeting that had been passed at annual town meeting but um we needed a 23s vote because it's for borrowing and um therefore we it was only recorded as a majority um vote and therefore we needed to revote and I believe uh was not unanimous there was one no vote but otherwise everybody who came to the special town meeting how many people were there4 34 yeah and we're anticipating having another special town meeting ahead of Thanksgiving in November in November okay after the election Ty window okay um and next is to review the applications for appointments for the new voting and Safety Committee now um you want to explain you want I can start well maybe Becky could talk about the process you want to just talk about the process okay um you're free to jump in so the SL for had an astounding number of applicants for this committee uh I think there were probably 30 I yeah I think there were 30 um so it was kind of um necessitated having some sorting of so they established the set of criteria and then um work through each each select board member individually went through and looked at the criteria and checked out who had what and then got their list and and then gave me at the end part of the process each of them gave me 10 names so I took those 10 names and just sorted out who were the same in at least two groups I think there were one or two there were only one or two that were the same in all three but we had so I took this the months that were all the same in at least two times and match those up between their 10 and then by by order because they prioritized them one through 10 and then came out with the final originally seven but then there was conversation from the well we should talk about that yeah so that right now I have used the same process and selected nine the concern is whether the committee uh should stay at 7 or go to nine so that's what the select board is going to discuss Rita just wanted the ability to do that so ask me to prepare the nine names through the yeah just you know I think I I don't know how other people feel about having nine versus seven um if that makes sense I think it gives us a really good cross-section of people that we had you know we had brave people who um volunteer so it was kind of hard to do the to do the screening but um but I think we we came up I don't you know what do you guys I mean the only question to me would be whether nine is too cumbersome a group of people but it well may not be so I mean I'm not opposed tonight if that's what people want to do I'm not I'm not certainly not opposed tonight I guess the concern would be uh if they the Quorum for nine will be five five the Quorum for seven is four so the concern is whether they can get a you know well you want them to get at least five so right I don't think that's a negative it's just whether they will be able to schedule meetings um without too much headache with everybody different schedule I don't I think nine makes sense I don't think that having a COR of one more would be two comers there yeah you know I think that would be okay um so nine yeah okay so should we vote on that because in the um a s do do I hear a motion because of the the um outpouring of volunteerism the increase of the boat Safety Committee to be increased to n so moved second um all those in favor barell I st okay and um shall we reveal the these are in no particular order um Mark Rivers Jr David Green Alexandria wicer Matt bwick Barwick Kathy Salvador Amy L Judy remel Tom SE and Christin yes I Mark Rivers Jr David Green Alexandria Winder m bck Kathy Salvador Amy L Judy remel Tom Seer and Christine grassel and apologize if I didn't [Music] pronounce can I make a motion rather than to indiv ual do I need to do individualy um okay so I make a motion that um that that list do you want me to repeat it do you want it one more time okay I make a motion that Mark Rivers David Green Alexandria Windcaller Matt barowitz Kathy Salvador Amy Lan Judy remel Tom seford and Christine Brazil how last name it's b r a SS i l be appointed to the um Lola Safety Committee second okay any further discussion or questions okay all those in favor barl I st um Becky can you just talk about the process for people getting all the materials that they need sure so the next uh for all those uh new appointees um you will be getting um potentially getting a letter of appointment that is typically done by the Admin secretary and since that position is vacant I'm not sure if you'll get one or not we hope you do um secondly after you get that letter will'll have instructions to go to the town clerk office and the town clerk will swear you in to make your appointment official you cannot Vote or take any official acts prior to being sworn in so um I and I think I guess the setting of the first meeting um we'll have to figure that out think I can work with some members of the committee or maybe we'll you uh Google something so you can all tell me if you're available on a certain dat and then we'll I'll just sit you know I'll help find a date for your first meeting and at the first meeting typically what you would do is select a secretary and a chair for the committee that would be a choice made by the committee so number one go see the town cler she will give you a packet of information with all the open meeting laog uh you will have to um take an ethics test online with the state and you will have to go through her packet of materials and sign off that you have read it within 30 days and I'll bring back a sheet and you have read it in 30 days so that's the major your piece to get you established as um a Committee Member and then I'll help set up the first meeting and then then you guys will be on your own to set up the rest okay any other questions or questions from anyone um online I have a question go ahead Mike Mike Connor um I was on vacation when you decided on adding additional things I sent an email to your office yesterday um it's the first time I saw it and I was just curious to know why there was like a 38 hour window for a dead deadline for this whole thing for to add additional comments or whatever you wanted to your uh initial letter for consideration we discussed our last meeting that we let anyone know who had um sent letter of interest that they could add to it we had established a criteria at that [Music] point right and your your cut off was a day and a half essentially I was on vacation from the 13th to the 20th I didn't even get this till yesterday so that we could prepare because we need to prepare for our meeting a couple of 48 hours and we have to have that everything put together on our agenda okay so we have we had a good turn around normally we meet on Tuesdays we don't meet on Thursdays so it would have been next week but um schedules didn't align for us to meet next Tuesday so we brought our meeting up to Thursday okay thank you Amanda [Music] seems like she's trying yeah she's not on mute Amanda onute try on muting again Amanda she's G oh she's gone completely [Music] yeah May that was from earlier [Music] could you ask um John who what his last name is hi John could you give us your last name online you let us know your last name is please didn't work can you hear me okay am's down here at my computer so she's going to talk to you from here is that okay yeah what is your last name we just need them for a minute oh sorry well I'm I'm available you know whenever you want to do it okay okay you also need to know John's last name for a minute um oh Lawless thank [Music] you he's gonna he's gonna fill it in it thank you with the SLI board in mind if you take's question private no not at all that's fine go ahead you can ask your question [Music] oh oh no Amanda you can ask your question from earlier if you'd like okay I'm trying I'm trying to he just filled in his thingy so okay you can hear me right okay um Let me let me start um basically I want to thank the select board for their work on the town administrator's contract I know that since last November you've participated in nine negotiating sessions and have presented a contract for the TA to sign um this demonstrates good faas bargaining and I really appreciate your hard work um the Personnel Board and finance committee members are pressuring you because the TA has not accepted the offered contract their concern is money the TA wants a raise as well as a cola from what I understand from the July 30th select board meeting the two most outspoken individuals George Arvin Andis and April Stein excuse me want to see a merit raise in the contract's first year so the ta's colid will be more substantial over the contract's final two years you held firm until the end of the meeting Defending Your Undisputed position as sole negotiators now that you have agreed to reopen talks I encourage you to remain steadfast you've considered your own experiences with the TA and the concerns and complaints from others including the public you've noted po problems with job performance I commend you for taking steps to protect shury taxpayers I take issue with some of the statements Mr Arvin Andis and Miss Stein made at the July 30th meeting excuse the former is no longer a Personnel Board member as of June 30th I believe so this raises the issue of whether the Personnel board's vote to recommend their participation was valid since Mr Arvin seconded that motion at the select board meeting Mr Arvin said that job performance is not tied to raises and pay an admission that performance issues exist as a taxpayer I do not want to pay people who do not perform their job duties I appreciate that the select board seems cognizant of that and has negotiated accordingly I disagree that the town is in Jeopardy without a TA contract public sector employment contracts protect the employee rather than the town if an employee wants to leave the town can't stop them on the other hand if the town signs a three-year contract with an employee whom they dismiss early they may be compelled to pay the entire contractual salary for all three years the TA is pursuing employment elsewhere and was interviewed last month for a position with the town of Deerfield she did not Prevail but this shows disloyalty to shutesbury in a desire to move on I encourag the select board to not sign a contract with employee who has one foot out the door I believe it's in the town's best interest to begin a search for a replacement as soon as possible thank you and I'll send these along probably tomorrow thank you very much for seeing this through with me I appreciate it sorry for the tech issues okay um going back to our agenda um the police chief is going to present a person for sponsorship to the police dep okay all right um hi everyone thank you for allowing me to present this to you so um with the as as we have been going over the past few years the um the new statutes for policing and that they have taken away the part-time Police Academy um where that someone could go part-time and hold another uh full-time job uh to work part time in a community is no longer um we're finding uh across the state actually that it's very difficult to find anyone that wants to come work part-time that that is already trained so the the people that were already trained the majority of say uh people that were had the ability to go through the Bridge Academy that we've discussed numerous times um have retired um or no longer working part-time um so I did put out an inquiry to indeed uh Facebook many places looking to fill some part-time positions that we do have and I've received um actually no one that is trained already um and that's just something that's really happening throughout Franklin County but also the Commonwealth itself as luck would have it um I have two amazing full-time officers currently officer Maguire who's sitting right here to my left and offic officer Devon P or Sergeant Sergeant Devon peler um both of which came to me from AIC um so officer Maguire had suggested a uh young um gentleman that he trained at AIC who's doing security for them currently um and his name is Gabe Sako um Gabe Sako became immediately interesting to me because he is um a resident of New Salem so right next door and he has multiple ties to our community currently his wife Mari is our preschool teacher over at chb elementary school as well as his mother-in-law and as well as his brother-in-law they're all teachers over there so he does have firm roots in the community um he is a military trained uh personnel with an Army National Guard as a mortman um he will be transferring um from the current place that he's doing the Army National Guard to m Massachusetts um he is recently married to his wife and he is just an allaround solid solid character so um you know I started he very much wants to get into policing for all of the right reasons he's Community oriented he is somebody who is steadfast in helping people and again he comes highly recommended from not only officer McGuire who trained him over at AIC but officer Peltier who knows him as well um so I started thinking of ways that I could I could potentially um get somebody through an Academy with um little damage to our uh budget and I spoke with um Gabe Sako and um we discussed an option of perhaps uh uh sponsoring him as a non full-time Department sponsored applicant meaning he will not work for the town while he's in the academy therefore he will not be receiving payment or compensation of that however um I do have the ability through my budget to pay for his tuition tuition currently has not gone up it's $3,200 uh plus some equipment currently there are 60 open seats in the Holy o Academy and uh which is where we would prefer him to go and um I think that he is very excited and if we put him through this Academy he's very happy to then come back and work in our community um he is of the understanding that we are not holding um him in payroll he will not be receiving benefits um thereof and he uh is very still excited to be able to do this he's discussed this with his wife and they' figure it out how he's going to be able to go full-time to an academy and and still be able to you know uh support with family so um he is an outstanding character right now he is at work um and he's on a call is he here yeah oh Mari is here his wife Mari is here hi Mari oh oh there I can see him hi right on the top hi gab go ahead and unmute yourself how you guys doing good how are you doing all [Music] right okay do we do have any questions but um so I don't know why you would ever turn us down Gabe but if Gabe were to if we were to pay for him to go to the academy and then we found a different job um to we get does get repay Gabe and I discussed this in in um in in a meeting together very thoroughly he's shaking his head so um I told Gabe if I do not have a position here for him that's one thing but if I have a position here for him um and he decides to leave us although I'm of a firm belief he is not um and he will pay back the tuition and the cost of uh equipment and he is prepared to sign a contract for that of that understanding right yes Chief yeah that's okay with me I mean that that was question to another okay um so my other question is where where is the money in your budget yes so luckily when we had the yes so luckily when we had The Bridge Academy um and we were putting people through the Bridge Academy I applied for um grants through the state to be reimbursed for the training that I provided them essentially you know the evok and the online trainings the 40 hours that they had to do all of that I would received reimbursement for that so in that reimbursement that I spent on the other officers now I have the ability to flip it and pour into another officer by the way I still have um more money coming from another grant for one last officer that we put through uh and a c The Bridge Academy so there's still more coming in uh but right now I have 6,000 I think $6,000 in that return money that we spent on training for the bridge and is it kept in a in a separate kind of training account it is kept in the grant account as I understand okay separate yes okay good all right that's yeah those were my two um questions and I have one um related to after your Academy gab what what interest you in working in a small town spr working in a small town I think would be best for me just to get my wits about me you know like bur said officer McGuire trained me at my current job now and he was great training officer here uh and I believe that having him as my training officer there will help me understand the job more you know just you know get used to doing the actual job as Chief reg said I'm only security here I work for campus police but just being more aware of how to do certain things when it comes to certain calls you know making the Judgment calls and stuff like that I just feel like it'd be better for me to start in a smaller Department and then maybe years down the road probably not because Chief purges and officer McGuire and uh Sergeant peler are both all three of them are amazing I love you know just having that conversation with Chief Bridges um but working in a small town would be beneficial for me and my wife as Chief B just said uh she's been working at that elementary school for a few years as well as my mother-in-law so it it would be super beneficial to be able to uh you know learn more about the job in a way that I can't learn in the academy from someone who has already trained me before I'll also add for G that uh because I know when you're working and you're on the spot sometimes it's hard but he did send us a bio I did provide to all of you and in his bio he does talk about the sense of community and connecting with the community uh that was something that Drew me in to to G because as you know that's one of my most important things that we do here is community policing so he's very interested in community okay all right do we have any other questions for chrisen or so there's no downside to this basically that's what you're telling us you know uh there's always the potential right we have seen that we put people through acmy and they up and leave us and the Heartbreak that that brings and the break in the budget that that brings uh but I think that with the budget the prepared way that I have that to utilize I think it's U Less of a dent and um also the connection that Gab not only has in community but has with the other officers I really believe that he's going to be a longterm and I am preparing the Next Generation Um so uh I I don't see a downside I'm glad that you can't [Music] either so um I'm I'm hoping hoping for your support incidentally this Academy would start in December I forgot to mention that yep okay all right do do we are we ready to vote do I hear a motion um I'll make a motion that and Kristen make sure I'm saying this correctly um that the town of shsb sponsors um Gabe Sako for uh the police Academy so for the non fulltime Department sponsored applicant in the academy oh my God for the non time department for the non fulltime Department sponsored in the academy in the academy there you go okay should have thank you all right do I hear a second second okay um all those in favor frell I ster I thank you very much thank you all right now we can hit the ground running thank you get back to work you're welcome okay all righty thank you Chief I appreciate it on to Town Administrator updates I do see Mar CL and um do you Mary what's your question in is it in a agenda topic hi my name is Mary luu conka I'm not sure if I came in late so Miss Amanda Alex was speaking was that the end of public comment um yes that was the the public comment okay so my hand went up and I would like to add to the public comment if I may um it's quick let me ask this let me ask the other Members First you're okay it's okay all right go ahead Mary okay so I am a 20e resident and taxpayer of shutesbury Massachusetts and I just wanted to say that I agree totally word for word with um everything that Miss Amanda Alex spoke to you all and yeah thank thank you for taking my comment Town Administrator upat I'm sorry to administrator please I thought that what you might sorry um I was getting more packet [Music] information okay so um the big excitement for today um is that the dville dam is quars of the way gone um it has been um under deconstruction uh since Tuesday and environmental um controls were all set up around the dam on Monday um today they were down to this using um this monstrous Jackhammer to split apart the concrete and the boulders um that will proceed uh most of today and eventually if you drive through there you will see a stream B um flowing from the notable structure that used to be there it will still flow into the shoes very CT and as I uh said before we de will be supporting us in trying to move ahead with the engineering for the culbert um I've they've spoken repeatedly that they are um very much interested in assisting the town of shutesbury to help make um you know redo the cul in in an appropriate fashion to fit the new stream bed but right now there's no concern about the safety of the roadway or the Culvert it is holding strong um the Water Dynamics have already changed dramatically I think it was on um Tuesday in the afternoon when they dismantled the Beaver Dam that that's when a lot of water really there was a beaver dam um near the mouth of the other Dam and that Beaver Dam had the highway department had assisted them in getting figuring out what they needed to do they had to put in a beaver deceiver in that area and um now the lodge has is also been dismantled the Beaver Lodge so the whole area is dramatically changed I'm not sure where the Beavers are at this point they might have gone Upstream there's already a beaver dam in the next cold up um so that'll be there's and the main topic of discussion was that one of the biggest benefits will be that the trout will be able to start to move um Upstream into that area that they have not been able to go to um as long as the dam has been there the original dam was built in the 1850s so it's been um changed dramatically and U Greenfield reporter had a wonderful very accurate article on on the dam today um the other project that we are closing out again is the painting and trim work at school um that is just about complete and today um I think the select board will be interested in a visit I had from Thomas irin Thomas is um working with a group of four individuals to help put together a paint stewardship legislation this legislation would enable people when they finish when they are done with a u can of paint to just return the empties to the paint store and they have support from retailers and government officials and um and the public the detailers are the hardest ones to get on board and we have quite a number of those so I will be presenting a packet of information you can stop by being after call before but I think if the select board is interested in learning more and putting this on um an upcoming town waren or annual Town waren many other towns have already done this and it might be of interest to the people of shes and that's all I have for tonight do you have any questions um uh the only question I have so the Town received a um Municipal vulner vulnerability program Grant I don't know if we ever formally announced that I know it was in the paper but I thought it did last time was that in my updates at the last okay um so what's what's the process now for the MVP okay so the the process is the document you signed on the the contract at our last meeting that contract was sent in to the MVP um department and they are processing the contract with the $222,000 and once they have that finalized that will come back to the town I think that it might be also be need another signature but they will send out in early um maybe this coming week that paperwork it might not be till the first week of September and once the the final contract has been signed there will be a meeting um a kickoff meeting with the representative from MBP and um all the potential I have to pull the you know get the vendors that will also be involved and there'll be a project meeing to start the work and the work has to be completed by June 30th so since the work involves buying a truck and getting solar on the library there really isn't any other other than we're just going to procure the truck right we're going to procure the truck I have to also it's not just the truck all the the mechanisms that um create the battery storage with the truck and that has to be all um we're going to have to do a change order with the library because we were uncertain if we would get the Grant and so they'll be I'll have to work with the library Engineers I'll be sharing all the grand information with Maryanne and then working with um Dominic um to get whatever vendors I'm bringing to the table I see okay in line with their electrical cont contractors so they can share information okay my recollection is that the uh to get the $222,000 the town had put $21,000 right correct what's the process for that so typically we have um most MVP granes um have to come up with a 25% match um I the match is split between the 2 $1,000 in cash and $4,300 in um in kind services that I am providing throughout this project and so the $21,000 um in conversation with Maryanne about the library she um they are thinking that the 21,000 can come from the friends portion of their save funds because it will free up more than that for them in the overall project um and if that Source were problematic which I don't believe it will be um then we would turn to asking the town and town meeting but we're pretty um pretty sure that the funding will come from money that's already in the project through the friends because the friends money is the Least Complicated okay great anything else that's it okay in that case do I a motion tojn so moved second all in favor Carol I st and our next meeting is it's September 10th okay [Music] [Music] great of Nam curious I have you can eight of them here but I can't one oh that's okay to have or yeah I just want to see who I'm forgetting David Green okay thank you I was trying to remember no matter what it is and thank you for nominating whatever you call all right youer have fun your next meeting good night everybody SE well okay now we hit the ground run let's go ER come on no I'm not doing any running you're not doing any running I can't do any running I can't run and save my life you I I bet you could though I bet if if now listen if there's a lion chasing you maybe not but if somebody said I need you to run out that door or you're going to die I think you could run out that door I really do well everybody can do that because I'd be kicking your butt the whole way yeah but see yeah I mean my right leg doesn't doesn't really work right so yeah it's like well run is sort of objective in my words oh yeah right it's not like sprinting if a sa do tiger it's coming after you you right I would probably stand and fight because I know I would I would if I was in the woods i' turn to Shooter I would literally be like let's go because you're you're I'm not going to turn my back and be surprise no that's so you know what's funny I said I'm going to set this all up and three people will come in person and I think we had five but it was a good experiment I only have oneing so rather than having this lebard straight and then and that straight have that one at an angle have an L shap okay looks good yeah much better setup by the way we had set up in like four and a half years I B told my officer to come help me yes thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e