this government meeting is brought to you by East works and our local cable subscribers time is 6 o' I call the meeting to order this is special meeting of the Southampton select board Tuesday June 11th 2024 we'll start with Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all first item on the agenda is uh any member of the public that wishes to speak on an item either listed or not listed on the agenda may do so now seeing none first item a new business is kestral purchase sale agreement property deed approval and signing everyone this is just a follow up um we know we approved the conservation restriction this is regarding the actual purchase of the land itself and so we're asking tonight to sign the purchase and sale agreement for the purchase and acquisition and then U the need accepts as well and so we have this closing scheduled for June 25th um we just got clear title back everything is in place um but happy to answer any questions I also sent along a copy of the Baseline documentation report um as a followup I know that wasy last time go ahead and sign it questions comments discussion yeah brid this is fantastic this is really the first one second one through the gates on the mountain Waters project in eastampton you didn't identify the seller we're talking about the Garing call Fulmer Road 200 Acres ballpark so in Westampton is 151 acres and then the Westampton will be 122 East Hampton is 150 plus 122 and West or did 150 and uh weston2 okay good so now we know what we're talking about I was a little concerned the Conservation Commission may have approved the CR twice but this one we got our fingers in both pieces of the pie the town will acquire the fee interest outright ownership from garfinkle and convey a conservation restriction already negotiated to kro yes so the town and Cal are Partners Forever More on this property great does it have an address is it like 280 fer yes yeah it does have a formal address but I'd have to get back to you oh it will we'll take care of that thank you I fully support this I've looked through the conservation restriction based on detail and I did glance at the deed actually yes so do I take that as a motion to approve and authorize approve and authorize the select board to sign the deed accepting title or acquiring title in the garfen C property I do I think the meeting was listed at 6:15 um oh not sure if you have to wait to vote on till that time to take a actual vote rounding dly noted may we proceed yeah cycle back and confirm it we'll ratify the vote at 6:15 since we started okay there's a motion made and seconded second yes all those in favor I I opposed none motion passes um thank you is that's your only item right yes and I'll just give an update that we're moving forward with fy2 phas of this grant um and so I did get the grant contract with FY 25 days and um I'll follow up with you after it I here that I can hand off talk about it cool um informal access is okay that is a knowledgeable person who stays on the correct property can walk it or not until after closing no your WR one to to go and yeah thank you thank you yes thank you so not use to 6115 start time we can do everything I know but I can hear Chris when she comes in somebody is speak to you so perhaps we can take up trans transfer station fees and have 11 minute conversation before there's a vote that one can be a regular signature but then state your name and position for the record oh you can yeah South even even me Chief cook and ble waser don't we have this so the topic before us is uh we're going to talk about um transfer station schedule station fees and and um I will say that during a recent meeting of the um cost efficiency uh meeting I noted that I don't think we ever took a formal vote on this um I believe after that meeting based on historical information that there was an implied consent that if you pass the budget the select board automatically accepted these fees so the suggestion was in in the um Spirit of transparency that we hold a standalone session on this and however we address it going forward we do so but our Highway superintendent's here tonight to talk about how we came to these fees and and why and then we'll formalize it sure so as I've spoke about it uh previous meetings um but maybe nobody watched those um we have the trends of the transfer station are thus we are losing um usership if that's a word we're losing users uh permit fee payers um to private uh trash companies it seems that people are willing to pay a premium for convenience um at the same time we've seen disposal costs go up sharply um particularly in the recycling commodity Market um in previous contracts with our receiving facility uh we have not had to pay any fee to process our um recyclable um and even in some cases we reive divid um when the commodity price was high enough uh currently the commodity Market is um not good and we have to pay a processing fee um per ton for recyclables um add those two things together and we what it has caused us to do is run a deficit in the so to roughly how much um this year I projected 20 Kish um what I'm not clear on if that's cumulative from year to year okay can't really 20 over 120 what what's your total operating budget annually operating budget for this year for the transfer 23283 it's about 10% give or take 10% shortfall row numbers that's an off lot of permits to sell yeah as a consequence I have raise fees um there's always a balance you're try trying to raise fees but not so much that you exacerbate your user uh deficit probably so um and it's a moving Target a lot of times because you don't know what people are going to throw away and the transfer station budget some things subsidize other things like for example we accept oil um we did I'm proposing a doll per G now but in the past we have accepted it for free because we don't want people dumping in in the woods down catch Bas it's pretty bad environmental um environmental cost if you will one intended uh we also do the same thing with Mercury containing devices like thermometers we don't want that getting out into the environment it's highly toxic um heavy metals uh we collect light batteries for free um there's a whole list UV tubes are one florescent to yes because they have a very small amount of mercury in them um and so we subsidize those other things so I uh I did a rate study um with Valley Recycling in Northampton who everybody States is cheaper than Southampton um I didn't find that to be the case and in fact I raised some of the rates um to start to be competitive you know with that mhm um recognizing that they do not have a permanent fee but they have significantly High higher bag fees we use the pay you throw um method to try and get people to uh separate out their recyclables so you pay for what you dispose and Valley Green their hours of operation are greater than yours or equal do you know don't have that information but I think they are open a lot a lot longer than we are high volume is how they probably um which makes it more convenient right but in order for us to extend ours we'd have to spend more money sign then you got to cover additional days of wages yeah how many oh yeah how many how many licenses did you sell last year permits whatever the word is give you uh strong numbers but around 900 round not here to Tak I think one of the things we also noce was a trend over at least the last three years is the number of permits have stayed relatively consistent however the regular permits are decreasing and the senior discount permits are increasing so it's the same number of parties coming in but um they're they're they're aging out of the system and thereby getting a discount that makes sense based on just the demographics of America these days yeah we we saw 6:00 and we're we're rolling along so we're on the transfer station right now welcome Cindy the vice chair convened the meeting because we had a quorum oh I missed that little point and we're on the transfer station fee schedule right now hi Randall so this this fee schedule that is proposed before us uh supports the recommended budget that ultimately was passed by the voters that had this in consideration when you made that change whether it's sufficient or not is a different story but yes you set the budget anticipating that this fee schedule will be placed and today is June 11th and if we pass this tonight we'll be able to give 21-day notice I'm assuming the fee schedule would take take effect July 1st or would you kick it in sooner the fees except for perp so a lot of our residents want to buy their permits early Y what that does it also gives us uh uh an influx of cash at the end of the fisal um so we start selling them uh like two weeks early it also helps my transfer station attendant not get inundated with everybody trying to buy them the first so somebody bought their permit the week before last week of June would they pay the existing fee or would they pay the proposed new fee well if you ratify that fee schedule I'm selling them for the next fiscal year so it would Fe at that rate but the rest of them won't go into effect until after July 1st gotcha does that seem logical to everyone it does we just need to word the motion the right way and if anybody I mean if if people want to argue they can just wait till July 1 The Bu right okay it's a convenience that works for for the attend I had it so strong in my head that I knew what answer I was looking for if they buy it on June 25th I just got here for the 25 year yes sorry guys they'll pay the new fee was the meeting that 65 okay assuming you yeah yeah yeah my time is at 6:00 that is what I thought um I moved that we ratify these fees which were used in uh developing the budget project ction for the transfer station um Enterprise fund and the select board has previously reviewed them and found a little issue uh we understand that this must be predicated on your existing levels of participation and you've raised the concern that by raising fees there may be a downward effect on number of permits or activity generally um but I sure we would hate to see white goods showing up on our conservation lands um I move that we ratify the feed structure so the mo the motion if I understand is to ratify the fee fee structure to take effect July 1st with the exception of the stickers the permits to take effect within 48 Hours trans could we do it for tomorrow transfer station opens tomorrow I'm ready to go if you ra wait so ratify the fees with the exception the permits for next year that you sell in advance should should um reflect this fee schedule the rest of the Tipping fees and all that will take effect on July 1st after notice that's the motion is there a second you want to discuss we only if there gets a second disc and then a discussion under discussion and I yield the ruling back to the chair sry guys I I had the time as 6:15 per the request of one of our select board members it it was at 6:00 we started and we were 4 minutes in before that was pointed out to us okay well anyway my apologies for being late so uh we have a motion in second do we have a discussion please so the discussion I would like to have is we're obviously running a deficit in our transfer fees um what how much how much do we lose by offering a discount for seniors what's that work out to um well so we've upped at $20 now from what it was right 25 was uh was $50 um it was a $25 discount yeah 25 yeah now $20 discount yeah so it's increased a little bit so the discount amount is less than it was um yeah wait a minute yeah unless I'm have the wrong schedule here yeah so it was 50 now it's going to 60 I sent out I sent you out two schedules one for the one for the proposed right so the fee schedule for 24 was 75 for basic transfer station sticker non-commercial yep that's now changing to 80 yep and it was 50 for senior's age 65 and that's going to that was 50 going to 60 so how many how many discounted permits are there cuz it's that number multiplied by 20 how many discounts we sell how many senior permits did you issue this year to answer Dan's question MH uhx just over 500 okay so about half half of your I think at one point you told us there were a thousand fromit roughly cler to 900 yeah something like that so about half of $10,000 about seniors just that's 10,000 with the permits and then hopefully would be the fees on the Tipping fees uh for bulky materials um and we've also gone up a dollar on and I I will add Dan that at the cost cost efficiency committee meeting that I referenced earlier the um this is an area that the committee want the group wants to explore but they didn't want to um to stop anything for this year it it would be the 2025 projects and report back it's going it's going to take a little bit longer than it would be to to get these fees in place for this year so that's great I'd rather have people think it through with with with detail and I'm trying to to take some swings at ways we can save some money here tonight so makes a lot of sense okay good any other discussion if not could I have a a vote please all those in favor I all right hearing no opposition that passes so the transfer fees will be in effect some tomorrow and some on July 1st as stated the motion thank you very good thanks Scott um the S board did put off the vote for the um first agenda item till after 6:15 so you still need to vote on that okay so I'll make a motion to U Stephen you want to restate your motion for the purchase of the garal property on Fulmer Road um motion is to approve um the acquisition of that property signing of the deed Etc and the deed as well sorry what yeah and the deed that goes with yes okay yes y signing the deed I don't know how that Authority is delegated or whether it's the entire body I believe uh the purchase and sale is all of us if I'm not mistaken so that's the motion and okay Motion in the second and I'm sorry you missed the conversation uh Bridget was here and we dismissed her afterwards but with great congratulation that we've now um got to the second uh transaction second land owner um and on this property properly identified uh we remembered that we'd already seen and improved the conservation restriction which will bind the town going forward kro will hold and enforce the conservation restriction right it gets really confusing because the town takes different roles in different proper so it looks like we we all need to sign the deed and and I believe we all need to sign purchase and S purchas and sale and the purchase and sale as well I just so the motion includes both do both okay yeah if uh just one person could sign it in front of our notary okay um why don't I do that tomorrow then I'll do that so you guys can sign the rest can sign tonight the rest will be fine okay so we have a motion and a second any further discussion if not all those in favor all right so approved good um thank you um you obviously got through business very quickly here I I had no notice we will always have meetings at 6:00 I'm not adhering to anybody else I was taking the chance to be here on time and not get here 20 minutes early I was shocked when you weren't here at 6' I I got tired of getting here early so I decided I'd come on time for a change but anyway um so special Town vote the next thing land acquisition Scott you want to say anything there want to pass it um special election is June 25th not July 25th what do you want the car I'm going polls are open noon to 8 or noon to 7 uh noon to 8 yep and the ballot should be in hitting mailboxes for those that requested them um either today or tomorrow yeah yeah I think they were being mailed out maybe last night even so yeah and we did have uh and thanks Dan I think for pointing this out WWLP uh had a had an incorrect date for us on the uh Town elections so that hopefully has been corrected but June 25th is the date uh and for folks that have not yet seen it it's definitely out on our town website uh you can look at the town's Facebook page if you have Facebook or various other community Pages uh that have got it there and then there will be some hard copies in the senior center of the FAQ uh and then uh we're looking at probably having a few hard copies printed up and put around to certain businesses around town and um we'll see how that goes okay if anybody has questions though uh do send a note in to Scott at his Town Administrator address and uh we'll be looking at other ways to engage the community with some other questions and answers between now and June 25th okay any other comments and questions about that who is we Madam who is we yeah um mostly Scott who's got the ideas of of although he wants to have maybe a mini mini group we we have to decide this so uh there may be folks from other committees that would join out and just answer answer questions and things like that so we'll we'll see we're talking about a Facebook live if we can put that together um but um we'll let Scott manage that since he's more the expert in that than I am okay anything else on that issue any other questions about that um purchase and sale is it signed yet or is the seller still procastinating um still waiting for a few things between disagreement on terms between the two lawyers they're just talking things through I think I don't know that we've got any disagreement do we at this point not that I know of I think it's just a matter of just finishing it up yeah yeah continue to be concerned that we didn't have a signed purchase and Sal at special in their interest as well and I can't imagine that they won't get it done before before we need it heard upof before and well if it is then that will be our mistake I hope not I hope not Pian I think the folks know that U you know they want this as much as we do so it's their in their interest to get it done thank you uh next I just wanted to go through uh a regular select board meeting schedule just we're going to be a little bit off schedule if um if I can propose something here because our next meeting would be on the hang on will be the would normally be uh the 18th which we are meeting on the 18th so we are meeting the 17th with the finance committee for a joint presentation by our auditor for the fy22 audit findings and that time is that will be 6:30 on the 17th to accommodate uh Financial uh committee and the auditor to come in on just that topic on the 17th and then on the 18th we have our regular select board meeting the 25th is the at 6:15 I'm sorry I didn't no at 6:00 6:30 on 17th 6:30 on the 17th on the 17th 6:00 on the 18th thank you uh the 25th is the election and then that following week is going to be uh Fourth of July week so normally from the 18th to then we would have our meeting on the 2nd I'd like to propose that we skip that week and give ourselves Fourth of July week off and have our meetings on the 9th and the 23rd and then set that calendar from that going forward I think that helps us avoid both Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks as well great so trying to look ahead over the next 6 months and just trying to we'll have Scott if you wouldn't mind pulling out the entire schedule over the next 6 months and making sure that that's true but my my mini uh look at my calendar told me that um because that we don't have to decide every every other meeting what our next meeting dates are it's always a Tuesday it's always at 6:00 always a second two meetings I'm sorry two weeks between a meeting and then we have special meetings obviously as we need them but so I'm going to propose if that's okay with everybody that our July meetings are July 9th and 23rd rather than the 2nd 16th and 30th I mean I don't have a problem with that but doing that princess we're meeting Thanksgiving week and we're meeting on Christmas Eve so I mean at some point between then and November we should adjust backwards we may have to we we'll take a look if if Scott will just sort of run out I'm also I'm also Happy to Skip meetings skip a skip a week here after after we get through this and meet again on the nth if that's okay with everybody proxy my vote to stepen yeah okay all right so with that uh I'll uh not hearing any opposition to that idea off hand I'll just ask Scott to pull a calendar together for us for our next meeting just already posted for the 9th and the 23rd anyway on my tongue okay well Judy's probably ahead of me sometimes it's just as a reminder it may be a reminder on there yeah it it there's some things that do it automatically as well is there any other business that cannot wait until our July 18th regular meeting um offand is there anything um just just one little announcement I guess um we've had a a couple of a particular um um request to have people that might be walking on the greenway on the rail part of the rail trail which is not yet a rail trail but on the railroad part in Southampton just walking and exploring uh Please be aware that this is a non-maintained trail you're doing so at your own risk and please be um courteous aware of um trespassing on anybody else's property namely Thea Butters just be respectful of your neighbors and a Butters if you want to go explore but that is having work done on it with with Ty and on being out there doing their work but it's not yet an open Trail I know there's a lot of adventurous people and we don't want to quash that but just be careful that you're not also going off the trail into other people's property okay so respectful means no TR pass yes well I would I would say that clearly well yeah and I think I think that's basically it I'm assuming many people that are I mean I don't know I would assume some people have their their property posted and and if if they don't nevertheless um you should still be respectful of that John yeah just um over the past few years this by now we would have set the meetings for the other departments and committees to come before us can I safely and pleasantly assume we're doing away with that practice and they can send in written reports that they want us to consider no I wasn't could I suggest that we do that that we do that in the in the uh expens of time that um I'd rather I'd rather receive written Communications that can be made part of a packet that can be posted online now that we have the new website and disseminate out and then um we can pose our questions rather than tie up 90 to 120 Minutes of Select board meetings in a means to stay to two Tuesday nights a week at our very high compensation rate of being here but we narrowed it down to just one one of the two meetings a month not but not both meetings last time yeah I I would still suggest we do away with it and and get written Communications in advance other than having a public outs speak time can I comment on that if I may so I was one of the people that stood over there and talked and actually uh I felt like there was some excellent good give and take um maybe we could advise people to submit their reports in advance allow us to review them and then limit but don't do away with the interactive aspect of it I I think that's one of issues in our town that we don't always draw together parties even if there appears that they're not speaking of like topics but yet there's overlap a lot that's so my response to that would be it's a give or take it's a y or Yang either we have this and we do away with Liaisons but for example the Board of Health the finance commit I mean they come in and talk to us but we have liaison too that there's a duplication and repetitiveness and often times just sit here this is my fourth year it's like deja vu it's Groundhogs Day on a lot of these topics now if we could narrow it for example parts and wreck we don't have lay on have them come in our tree Warden we don't have them but do we really need to duplicate everything and and and and to have things where people just pontificate to pontificate I'll stop pontificating but I don't think we need to pontificate okay I I personally I don't take it as unless you're describing yourself I don't take these meetings when they come in as pontificating I think it it helps us to understand in more detail what's going on in those committees or if they've got a particular issue they want to bring forward to us we have not usually gotten written reports ahead of time which is true which could help us a lot and then that just simply be a question and answer period which could be a shorter amount um I was actually starting to work on the calendar for our 18th meeting um but some of the things that are on there I guess would be a question we usually have our rep and our Senator come in we've had well I would say those are different but where we have the duplicates and then where there are the duplicates or where we have the Committees that have Liaisons if there's a certain I mean cuz I would I would charge each one of us it's our responsibility to be reading these minutes that are out there and if we have questions we need to go to not rely on a liaison to come through um I just I I I think there there's there's better use of our time if we're going to stick with the and as the member that has six liais on spots um if we're going to stick with all this stuff I I it becomes very difficult on somebody that that that also needs to is not at the stage of their life where I don't have to deal with my daytime job yeah okay that's all understood so let me let me uh do this let me for the meeting on the 18th let me take a look at our current calendar what it was and then see how I can trim that to make it a little bit more um um realistic shall we say and Maybe not maybe it's not every month maybe it's every other month whatever Andor I mean because you've been doing a really great job um over the past 18 to 24 months and getting us out of here by 10:30 11:00 at night you you've been doing much better well tonight is this is a special meeting I think we' been closer to 8:30 lately the first couple years it was hard I know I know and we're trying so I mean my other suggestion is if we want to keep this okay but you know not to have another meeting but could we have a standalone meeting where that's all that we talk about is it's just the reports and the free-for-all so cuz a lot of times folks come in to Cindy's point and it's the back and forth depending on how big that agenda is behind it in my mind I'm like I'm not asking any questions because I I see three hours of work ahead of us here too long yeah got it okay no I think it's a matter of time management control on my part as well but yeah it might be worthwhile to maybe consider wrapping that into the budget process as well because we're going to have people coming in to present their budget and maybe just extend that a little bit longer while they're here and have them give the update yeah okay yeah yeah we had four or five questions that we wanted them to sort of expound upon when they came to us and so maybe we can take a look at that again too and just see what what's the most relevant stuff that we wouldn't pick up out of a set of minute minutes from the meeting that like just fine tune I just suggesting we fine tune the process I think I think fine tuning is is a good what cost efficiencies that you identify what technology are you lacking yeah we can we can those those crosswalks the Committees could be made more explicit that's I was going to mention Finance sure thinking about next year's budget what what are not getting to this year because we don't have the right funds well and I think I know Scott's got some ideas for a new process in general or a better updated earlier process to start the whole budget cons John suggestion we might get more impact if we thoughtfully you know frame the agenda and rely mostly on written reports mhm y okay all right right so with that um nothing else for tonight that I'm aware of uh we had a a request um for sub carry over leave for Randall I'd rather put that on the actual agenda and do that on Tuesday I think in my just for everybody's sake I we're trying to avoid any last minute additions believe me I am I know I know to to the agenda uh we ask for information to be into Scott by Wednesday um Wednesday noon Thursday hopefully packages can get out to us and that's been the the plan and especially when it's a decision item I really don't want to put it on last minute uh if it's a discussion item that's one thing I might not be so steadfast in that but if it's a decision item I'd really rather have it as a specific agenda item okay so with that I think I will take a motion to adjourn so moved second all right all those in favor I all right we are adjourned now thank you this is for e