good evening everybody and welcome to the select board meeting for Monday July 22nd this meeting is being held in hybrid fashion m j law and present this evening is myself chairman Jason prone Vice chairman Diane gaale clerk Doug moglin chief administrative officer Nicole Parker assistant CEO naen sigon and secretary Lisa Anderson is in the excuse me in the other room um G to do the Pledge of Allegiance retired Chief Bishop United States of America and the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible andice GNA take things a little bit out of the order today because we got I I know what it's like to be on a day off and have to be called into one of these things so um we're going to start tonight um with we'd like to give a commendation to each officer Miller and Sergeant Parker um after everything they went through as well as the other officers from the other towns that aren't here this evening um to show up there I know what that's like to show up with that type of situation going on and uh the amount of people that you were there and the chaos that ensued and was going on and what you guys did and you handled yourselves both very admirably from everything I heard I was not there but I have no doubt what I heard was the truth so well you could come on out with Proclamation is for officer Kelly Miller Kelly this acknowledges you Kelly M and recognize you as a committed public servant that ensur excuse the safety of our town residents your dedication make South a better place to live and the select board thanks you for your continuous and valued contributions to the town of south lake sign myself Miss Gil and Mr thank you so Sergeant Parker this Proclamation acknowledges you ER Parker and recognizes you as a committed public servant that ensures the safety of our town residents your dedication makes souck a better place to live the select board thanks you for your continuous and valid contributions to the town of souck on myself M scale Mr K and Garrett thank you very much all right so now we are going to pick up where we normally start off with public comments little get out here thank you so miss start with public comments first is there anyone in the audience that has any public comments they'd like to make Neil deeni 140 Summer Drive um I want to say thank you to the board as well as to the police department uh for acting and reacting so quickly uh I know it's a temporary solution to the issue that happened on South longyard Road um but I could see that all the efforts were in place the very next day and then this weekend um I actually observed a couple of the quads from town uh who were patrolling back there and making a presence known so I want to thank everybody for doing that uh on behalf of all the neighbors that live there um we've got a lot of work to do and we need a permanent solution this I've tried to tell people over there on Granado and Lori that it's not permanent yet the signs aren't pretty on your property okay and I think I noticed a few people had taken them off and I said you can't fix that and I won't complete that sentence okay but you all know what I want to say there um but it it definitely was a quieter time over there this past weekend um we had 70 boats compared to 90 the the weekend before um but that's another issue with Lake management that I need to address um but I did want to come and say thank you uh I would like to know are you in the process of putting together some of these other entities like conservation Lake management and yourselves to try to come up with a permanent solution there the answer to that is yes my uh Miss Parker has and um M Gil myself we've Al I believe even Mr mland we've talked to some of the other committees and commissions um I know tomorrow Conservation Commission and I know Miss Parker will be out there um they're going to be doing a site visit um with fish and wildlife and um they're going to be discussing because of as we know there's that unique situation where the state is involved uh with the the purchase of that we can't as you know we can't just shut it down we've talked about that last week um there's all sorts of ideas being floated out there um but we're going to try and come up with something I know as of right now I had reached out to Chief banish last week um and through Miss Parker and the spoke with the the board as a Miss Parker um the plan right now is to have the patrols out there the remainder of the summer as long as they can man them um Chief any updates um I mean you probably seen the paperwork I submitted this morning hopefully I haven't seen it yet but I believe you told me about it it came into I was that was a way part of the weekend too so that's why I didn't get back to it yesterday but um everything was successful as far as I'm I'm aware we didn't lose a sign um I think actually still have it but it got torn down um we did have uh one particular person who's going to be charged on sus we put out somewhere in the neighborhood how many Mike trespass notices uh eight total eight total trespass notices and you were probably talking we're probably talking that you know someone them was sending probably 50 people or so that the patrols did speak with and the trespass officers the ones who were a little more resist belligerent I guess we'll say persistent imp persistent there you go but yeah we've got uh Our intention is to put those patrols out over the next couple of weekends at the very least the sides are all up um they've actually been staying amazingly enough so I'm just looking for the word going forward as far as some game plan for us and we'll continue on down the trail so to speak it was a busy weekend the world will get out there you guys know I thought it was successful overall can yes I um noted that there's a similar issue in Glaston Berry in their cotton Hollow um preservation area and I'm actually going to attend their select board meeting tomorrow because they're going to be doing some brainstorming as well so I want to hear what others are coming up with and maybe we'll find some additional Solutions based on what they're going to do too so seeking some outside ideas as well yeah I was kind of surprised that this wasn't carried up on top of our agenda tonight I guess we'll come back to it on Old business I I have a ton of notes on that on for tonight yeah all right so we're gonna move on to um the public on oh sorry my bad that that was the first one anyone else anyone else 19 Nor Pond I don't want to take up too much of your time but I actually just want to reiterate what she said thank you very much it was a huge difference this weekend um the boats are chaotic they always Ruby and I know we'll be addressing that at some point by one of these committees the shoreline was clean it was quiet um in fact before I knew it was these guys in on the ATVs I almost called because there was quads in the wood I realized who it was um but yeah we even had one voter took his grill out tried to grill and these guys they were on top of it so it was much nicer I didn't have anybody cutting to my property I didn't have anybody swimming over to my property so it's a big difference thank you good I actually saw your videos for the first time the one with your actually in your yard and that's pretty Brazen I can't believe didn't they didn't budge no usually at least they at least they like Flinch they didn't even Flinch yeah very nice anyone else in the audience on Zoom Miss BL blank I don't have access to Joan Joan blank Miss lank this see the hand up they can hear us right yes ask her one more time 3 two one M blank if you can hear us uh you're on mute make sure last name is she says she cannot unmute can't unmute oh all right would you like to chat more than welcome to send us can wa I don't think we can do it you can ask her to unmute that's all we can do by fast anyone else on Zoom anyone else on Zoom before we move on all right no other takers we're going to move on to payables payroll and minutes we are going to acknowledge payroll warrant number 2502 excuse me Jason there we go who's that now I was finally able to unmute thanks Jo blank 38 Reservoir Road um I have first of all a question um if those temporary no parking signs would ever become permanent and I know it's not until October but the hunters that hunt on the Wildlife Management Area at least on opening day and then the following Saturdays there are so many cars there they park down South longard Road so that would be an issue um secondly is the Wildlife Management Area is only supposed to be used used by the wildlife management people going in there and there's only parking for about six cars um I have seen quite a few people asking on social media um if they can park there and people are saying yeah go ahead um and that's not what it's for we actually came across a white pickup truck that pulled in ahead of us last week uh with two kayaks in the back of the pickup truck park the truck get out of the truck took the kayaks out of the back and walked through the woods to North Pond um I did not have my cell phone so I couldn't call for police um but people on social media are telling people just park in the Wildlife Management Area and walk through the woods also we need some kind of an informational meeting because people still don't understand what that property is to be used for uh somebody asked the other day if they could still go swimming there somebody asked if they could still pull up pull up their boat to the to the beach um so and people don't understand that you know you can't shut out and only have residents there so forth and so on so we have to have some kind of an informational meeting like we had a couple of months ago when um uh it was about the uh public property issues with the hunters and stuff don't know if you remember that or not but people just don't understand um and I posted if in case anybody hasn't seen it I actually posted the YouTube video that you did Mr Mr mowan with the new CEO um a few days ago the last 40 minutes was the discussion about um the North Pond property um so I don't know if that had any impact or not but it was quite clear to me when I saw that that video you know what you can and can't do there um so people still think they can go swimming and boating there so it's an issue yes it is thank you Joan uh I I kind of keep an eye on the the the forums as well um I try not to get into back and forth with the focus on there because it just is counterproductive um but you're right people don't understand and your the plan right now would be to have you know I've already just thought about having an informational meeting but right now what I'd like to do is kind of start coming up with some sort of plan seeing what we can and can't do that's what's going to be good about tomorrow um with the fish and wildlife and CAO Parker and um ROM going out there I unfortunately cannot attend um but you know once we get more of an idea you know we'll keep posting I know you keep posting an awful lot of stuff and thank you as far as the the conservation restrictions um but that's the hardest part is just and then there's always the people that don't care well you know I was really thrilled last week that we had a really great turnout on both in zoom and in person and I have to say I'm very disappointed because we're back to square one again here where only a handful of people show up um and if we're going to work together as a town to get things resed Sol then you know we need to have more participation but I say that yes you do and I agree with you um but that's that's where the plan is for that I know we spoke about it at the last meeting um we have to do a a traffic study or a for the parking have to have a public hearing yeah um so we have to do that a public hearing for the no parking signs so there is I believe my opinion would be I'd like to see some of those turned permanent but that's not just my opinion or my decision to make and that's what the public hearing would also be for to help assess that um and then again the the the flying the ointment is we don't own that outright so you know it's got to be a work with the state to do this so um that's kind of where we're stuck at right now we're going to keep working on this this is not going by the wayside one more thing Jason and I and I did send you an email about it but um and I know we give our names addresses here at the meeting which is public knowledge anybody can go in and you know listen to the the meeting and get our names and addresses but um the newspaper article there was one newspaper article last week where it was talking about what was going on at Kar and and the residents that showed up and their names and addresses were there can it be can somebody talk to the the news reporter to just make it a generalization like res several residents from the the South longard area showed up to voice their opinions or complaints or whatever because it's a safe in my opinion it's a safety issue they can track I do agree with you we can ask doesn't mean he has to listen to us so okay that's all thank you you're welcome thank you sorry Lisa baile I I actually sent an email into WWLP they um had something in their article about being public beach access there I just sent them an email and we took it off immediately so she can always just you know she can send an email directly and they usually will retract some of that stuff too yeah it's like Joan said there's just so every time I go and read people again and then there's the people that well we paid for it we want to do what we want with it and you know everybody here who's been that here all along and even before I came on the board or moved back to town it's been an issue from the get-go and you know I speaking with CAO Parker today it's like I almost wonder you know is there a way we can buy the state out of their options so we can control it but but you know those are things those are questions I'm going to ask you know there's a way you know not necessarily want to spend another million dollars or or ask the residents to do that but you know who knows maybe there's some way to I know we can amend it Miss scale said that last week what we can amend I don't know that's something we got to talk with the stay about so but that's where we are on that and I want to say again thank everybody for their input last week and for their input this week and uh again it's not going to go by the wayside it's not going to be one of those things that's forgotten so or kind of out of sight out of mind type thing so if that is everybody I don't see anybody else on Zoom I don't see anybody else in the audience so we're going to move on to now payables payrolls and limits so we are going to acknowledge payroll warrant number 2502 dated 7624 in the amount of $366,000 386 $366 38620 cents we um are going to table the meeting minutes from the 1st and the 15th and we are going to I'm going to ask to approve the executive session minutes for 7:15 2024 thank I'll make a motion to accept those minutes I'll second him as amended okay roll call vote Jason Peron I I Doug I did I say I sorry all right so we are going to go into discussion items action items bill is maale correspondence vendor Ander personal contracts personal decisions policy adoptions and payroll start today 61a review and discussion for possible vote to adopt so I guess the first question is did we receive any kind of response on the questions no I'm waiting for a call back from MDA as well okay so um [Music] those are kind of key to the rest of the discussion so I think we need to put this on the next one get that answer put this on again for the next meeting sorry but that's all right it's been a while that's why it's here next scoring chart for the retail marijuana applications so uh just to bring everybody up to speed um for those who are not aware who didn't see it in the media Mr jiren did withdraw his application um and he wants to wish everybody else a very good luck on the the applications um so now it's time to have to sit down and finish all our scorings give them to CAO Parker and then get everybody in here based on the outcome um to do some interviews our last well probably not the last thing but we we kind of left open last time we met we're going to send our things to Nicole she's going to consolidate them being a master score of the top rank well of all the rankings of the applicants then did we decide last time or we were going to think about it do we want the top three in to interview I know you spoke Mr Mo you was just do all four was your you got four is my it's still my impression and after reading through all the applications again I I I would reiterate my point um I do have one clarification that I need um one of the applications is extremely heavily redacted are we able to get the redacted information without having to sit here and sit in town hall with it that period of time you can sign it out I assume okay and it's right behind the door I mean it made reading it a lot easier because 60% of the pages were blanked out yeah but um I I did sit here and do it okay but just gonna tell you I don't I W think I'm gonna have time you could take the the box with you thank you so my opinion on is is now um you know there there was a lot of discussion and you know again different opinions on it um at this point uh Mr Mogan made a very valid point um and it brought me back to some of the votes I've made since I've been on this this board where the interviews actually matter you know it's I've always come in here I've told everybody when I walk in here your interview is GNA hold weight with me I mean there was a one of my early on appointments was I walked in with somebody who on paper they 75% I was going that way but that interview sold me so um I want to have all four in front of here I want the interviews for all four at this Point um that's my opinion um it just they do matter you know they can help the interview was designed to expand on any incomplete information that you might not have understood or needed just a little bit more on what was submitted I I said last time I I don't know how we can have the fourth rank through an interview rise to the top when what is being submitted is their business plan is their financial plan it is the basis of their operation those points could be so close and then why again did we go through all this scoring what is the scoring supposed to do it's supposed to rank the strongest candidates I still think I want to hear all four at this point I I personally think I want hear all four so did you wait the did you wait the interview as part of this no numeric no it was another Meg the first one and two could be so strong there's no need for an interview and I haven't seen the scoring but theoretically the first two could be 5.0 5.0 and everybody could be 5.1 5.2 then we didn't right then we didn't we didn't score them honestly then I'm going to say again that is a working process in other municipalities the top contenders the top scored so out of are you taking a percentage of the number of applications we have or you're just saying as a blanket you bring in the top what we perceive is the top two or top three at least the top two huh at least the top two of course I I mean if you have further questions if you don't I don't at this time from what I've read so like that I so I I make my selection on what I know now I can be convinced I just think to the point I made and I think Jason made it uh again just now was that on paper there some of these applications are very very good some of them may look weaker but the person comes in and you know a passionate person comes and explains their business plan and what they're trying to do could be convincing I would almost want to wait you know maybe add a numeric ranking to that part of the process so that it factors into the final score it doesn't have to get scored until after you know we submitted all the other stuff I get it that's just my take on it this is changing the intent of the entire process again the first time was because we didn't like the outcome now this time it's because we're afraid of the outcome I wouldn't say we're afraid of the outcome why would be I'm not afraid of the outcome at all [Music] I just I that when I went home and thought about this after listening to Mr mowan that the processes I've just explained since I've been on this board Mr mowan said it best just because somebody on paper looks the best doesn't mean you know they're the best person well I can say what I said again You're not going to convince me otherwise that the lowest scoring was able to submit a qualified best produced set of documents and convince me that if they couldn't do that step on par with a five or close talking to me is not going to convince me that they're good business people I'm just going to go based on what I said the last couple times okay we we've my interpret and we've had this discussion and and and we you know what's the consensus opinion here then this is where we've been we we did a very good job of this when we had varied opinions on this board over the course of the last couple of years is we come to a consensus solution that frankly no one really loves but it's the one it's it's the it's the one that we can all live with then to me that consensus would be then you interview if you want to meet the people you interview the top three not all four you interview the top ranking I could your Strongest Ones I could probably I could live with that as could I I have a question well sorry this is the process well this is working it out well this is where we've been good at this for the last couple of years folks right when we don't all agree we come to a decision that that nobody's in love with but it's it's the right decision for the town um and the members up here as well so my question is is though this is going to based on how I've read what's in front of us there's going to be two categories of applicants and I'm looking at you only because you were you've been the the lead on this so am I correct in that yes so of of the um of the applicants how many are in one bucket and how many are in the other bucket two and two okay so then how do you pick the three that you're going you're going to end up with a an imbalance you're going to interview the two candidates for one bucket and one candidate get an automatic bump in their score as required by the CCC regulations but don't they both then they both do yes so they could both be social Equity applicant actually one is do a social Equity one is a minority owned they both get precedents from the CCC correct what is from speeding through correct but what is how does our bylaw read or how does how what's your interpretation of where we're going to if we have four applicant to are say them what are the cat social equity and a minority owned and they are not equal under the law they are not okay so which one gets there one there was a preference in our own local bylaw for that right 50% of ours need to go to that was our social Equity policy the select board social Equity policy correct is we would give priority consideration to an equity applicant okay which we have in the scoring so by definition then just talking out loud two two of the other applications that are not a social Equity applicant could score high enough to to to surpass the to a social Equity act they could could she said with conviction they depending on the strength of their application um or the weakness of fair enough the other yes they could okay so I'm okay with our consensus bought then one of the three is going to be one of those categories either of the social not necessarily and not necessarily right if if it if it happened to be that there we yes one of them would have one of them has to be yeah because you have four and yes I get that correct and the top three correct right so I guess to make this official I would be looking to once the scoring is done um I guess looking for a motion to that we would upon completion of all the the appical scoring and Nicole's um calculations the top three would go forward for interviews for a host Community host Community agreement yes um so I'd be looking that second yeah I was getting there I just the dramatic pause so um roll call vote Jason P I thank right that's easy consensus any do you want me to try to get them in there for the first meeting in August if you guys get your score sheets in and you can compile you get my score sheet score sheets in score sheet yeah just a I read everything I just got to sit down is it when are you not here next week next August 12th or August 26th it'd have to be August 12th then so we want these in by when and a week this week Friday we said last week yeah I think we said by today last week yeah I thought we were going to decide on that's that again cannabis and then the next day that was kind of the the was the because she's on vacation next week no worries I can do it when I'm away too um I'm gonna Mr do we right yeah all right I just wanted to know um maybe I confus you're going to have the interview on the 12th is that what you're saying or the well I'm call and reest just I just wanted if we could just get as much notice prior I don't want to rush you guys that's all travel plans or whatever we have to do exactly I'm you so the 12th we will the interviews for the hcas for the top three okay and when when will we know who those top three are that's all that's I guess that's what I was I guess next Monday okay that's all I just we have a couple people that are coming in if if we are chosen so so we just try and give them as much time as possible next Monday work absolutely okay thank you I will apologize I've been trying I have solal shoulder surgery next Tuesday so I've been like running six different directions I had every intention it's understandable this there's been a lot that's been going on I'm not excuse honly honestly I do I mean it's I appreciate it's hard coming with the process when there's not you guys are doing a pretty good job of what you got well thank you very much we appreciate that so that's where we're at so we will um myself Mr Mullan will get our charts in see Parker will score them and as soon as we have those three I mean if you get them in as soon as you have those three just reach out to those three yep that's so that's where we're at we will be moving on to the next thing all right um we need to accept the mass D drinking water program for cyber security improvements Grant in the amount of $ 27,7 and 10 cents Randy any you want to just I know we've already talked about this quite a bit yeah maybe a month ago we we applied we toally apply end of so we replace that this this is all so I would be looking for a motion to accept that Grant motion made to accept the grant for 27765 10 second roll call vote Jason Peron I I Doug Mogan I and and as Randy and I have talked about in the top five things that keep me awake at night that's one of them so glad to see that you guys are making those Investments and doing you're interested in cyber security yes with skada and our water system ABS freaking with everything that just happened was it last week was this week already how did across the the globe next will be the discussion on moving offices I did see I think Mr count they're at one point um Nicole any update on all that so as um you know the offices are moving and The Collector and the and the um treasur collector and clerk are splitting up and the offices are moving around um the assessors don't really have adequate room when they're going over into old DPW office so they um you know there was an idea floating around for the assessor to take nen's office have a door there and so at least one person and in their office equipment will be out of the main area um but then we have to relocate nen and this office here is the um you know makes the most sense we're all still together um you know I I I have her over here I have the um other staff in front office so uh you know and last week we were up in the land use office and um to me I I if I'm walking around this building I would feel like that would be the select Board office all day long um it accommodates the most people um it has the big screens uh and so we would propose that naen move into this office and that you permanently move up to land use Office become select select board off uh meeting room conference room um and then we could even move all of this equipment directly across and that could be a small conference room that that is sort of like conference room to so there would be an extra conference room in the event one of the other boards were meeting on Monday because I know some of them do and then they'd have an option to go into another room as well if it's a meeting night for all of us but this essentially is kicking you out out of this conference room so that's really why we wanted to talk to you about it and get your um approval or disapproval if you would prefer to stay here we will just leave it the way it is and the assessors will just have to deal with being all three being in that office well you've been here the longest was there any reason that was designated the land use well because the all the ancillary functions that support the land use activities is in the office adjacent so um you know my reservation is that there's there's other boards and commissions that you utilize that room on different nights and you know perhaps we need to Mondays especially perhaps we have to look at the night that the select board meets be honest with you I think it moved from Tuesday to Monday and to different days over the course of a few years now um so there's the select board's not necessarily married to Monday night but the planning board used to meet on Tuesday nights so um I'd have to give it some more thought one we conflict with is conservation usually right yeah and you know they have some pretty you know planning board can have some pretty well attended meetings conservation's been known to have some well attended meetings from time to time so I think we'd have to work on that to try to see how we could accommodate the scheduling now that's also putting in play too and um you know is looking at those other boards and commissions you know can conservation and planning meet on Alternate evenings because then they could use the room because they don't meet every week right and conservation does not meet every week um even through the winter or in the summer so that maybe they could change their schedule accordingly over time to to better use use that room I mean I it's not much of a challenge for us I think to to other than for the support staff that then has to go upstairs for that meeting but I think it's okay we did put um last year it was last year they put that audio system in place in the front of that conference room to really help the audio because the Acoustics in that room stunk too until we put that audio system in which really really helps the good thing about this room it is kind of close it does encourage um I think it encourages kind of good dialogue back and forth and I'd hate to lose that we can move the sheriff closer yeah and you know you know I know you mentioned it on one of your first meetings that this room was uh too small yeah I come with a lot of paper yeah I hate paper but I come with a lot of switch the just the computer folders is a lot better because now we're not mixing our papers yeah yeah but 601 I I just want to make sure that we you know we're not we're not being kind of a bully and kicking others out of what is you know omly been their room and um that's why you know that's I asked and you know the auditorium would be great too but we did that for a while and the Acoustics in there are lousy unless the select board was on the stage and I will I will not participate in a meeting where the select board sits on a stage and everyone else is down Bel lower I I will I would not partake in that meeting so unless we did something with the audio audio to make that room a little acoustically better for the folks in the room uh I don't think that's in play so um I guess you know the land use room would be you know a good alternative and it it's a good use of the space right because um I there already is a door in your office on the other side to make make that work for the assessors and we've already asked them to move as we grow the clerks so it's a kind of a natural progression I know when you brought it to my attention I'm I'm for it I've you know this is just too tight for me I've always felt that way um and I've kind of agreed I always found it kind of odd every every other place I've been like even like smaller towns I believe you said in Hardwick you know bino blanford they've got the main area um so I would be all for it as long as it works for everybody yeah there's no conflict and also um a resident asked us last week uh why aren't we televising these on channel 15 and the channel 15 room is right there in the hallway which was a good idea right and when we were at doing the radio show last week um the guys there are like yeah the room is right next door we can certainly you know be there televise it make it accommodating I heard Peter say that he's got plans for that yeah Peter said that yeah okay so as long as so as long as planning and conservation are okay you guys are okay with moving I don't think it would be I also asked because I've been asking for a long time so I'll take this opportunity when those televisions were installed up there they were installed incorrectly so with the number of people that do come to our meetings someone's going to lose an eye up there those TVs have to be moved to where they were supposed to originally be it is dangerous but um and then as far as the broadcasting I I talked to Ken about this a couple times there's a couple other ways to skin that cat rather than to because you if you're going to start broadcasting right to channel 15 you may need staff to actually operate that in different camera angles and all this other stuff and so before we start spending that kind of money I think we can also look into having besides just the zoom but it can go live to like YouTube or something like that and we do have that capability with the broadcaster we already have uh it needed to be set up I haven't talked to Ken about it in a while it was under the previous um previous administration that was handling that stuff that didn't want to take the the um the impetus to figure out how to make that work but it can be done so that folks can just don't have to log into a zoom they can just observe it right um and maybe perhaps it can go direct to channel 15 that way as well okay it wouldn't be as nice as having you know a couple of cameras and some operating cameras it would be you know the same output you'd see on Zoom um without the ability to participate it would just be on channel Qui thank you yep thank you Mr M discuss we're going to move on to discussing the job descriptions for the assistant Public Works director and director director facilities and the executive assistant to the select board so um since we're starting off with the assistant Public Works director Randy I know we've got the job description here yeah this is the position that dixel for the last 20 years he retired um I made some making some suggestions Min [Music] modifications so that basically um be your new second command correct and they be working with all the divisions Highway water SE engineering wased two of the added bullet points are performing inspections on storm water management and storm basins what's a BMP best management practice okay that um and aren't those the duties of the storm water manager the authy to kind merge these two positions into oh okay was Mr grell's title the assistant DPW director uh it was not it was um ass the well you worked on this right leing Le so what would be the purpose of merging the storm water into this and rather than leaving it with the storm water coordinator well my hope is that person takes us position you didn't see the train left the station on this so it's the same guy got it I just do got it it's Lieutenant taggard actually okay so so this so position was I think 30 hours a week Mr Gard is 16 hours a week going making one fulltime position 40 hours we have to play with that position next h no it creates a vacancy at in another department oh yeah right okay any um input well those were my questions no my question was answered thank you I went through know what he's going to be doing so um M Parker what do we need to do on this one um I I guess because the job essentially is changing and the title is changing maybe just make a motion to approve the the new job description and job title yes um labor Council review not yet okay well why don't we get that done we'll have Labor Council review thank you m and then we will um put this on for next meeting just if it's all set to get this in the works well I'm assuming that none of these Went Done to the attorney so maybe we'll just have to put these on the next meeting well we can if there was any substantive changes to them before they went to the attorney it's all good okay yeah it's usually we usually go through them and then have okay put it to form or whatever so where's my you can approve it with labor Council approval yeah okay do we we don't State how many hours this is go correct in here um no I don't think it's R you'd be looking for a full 40 hour and and Bas on the duties but it doesn't even say fulltime so I guess it should probably state that somewhere okay and regardless of our ban are back and forth here this job has to get posted right so yes yeah so I guess once we get the everything sorted out and the job description properly written up and approved we'll post it do we want to do we want to accept it tonight subject to labor Council that would be fine motion what no objection no objection that was a motion there we go Mr M okay roll call vote Jason perun I I yeah on the assistant Public Works director assistant Public Works direct yes now we will go to director facilities this is um basically for David Sutton's position but a director rather than the supervisor and why is that um that is what uh Russ Anderson recommended um because he's been doing the position and given the qualifications necessary for us believe that the director would be a better position and that would allow for a supervisor if one was necessary in the future I tend to feel that over titling is a bad practice and a director is a manager of managers and this is managing staff and functions and budgets not other managers so I would prefer be a manager of facilities okay and why was to change from buildings and grounds to facilities I and answer I think it's just modernized yeah I think it's is everything allass all of them fac facilities Town owned facilities it does speak to the grounds as well but facilities would include the land it's sitting on I suppose to what I wanted to make clear because I think that that that really is what transformed this position over the years is the addition of the linear Park the addition of Wally Park um and other facilities thank you I just used my own word and made your argument but you know and um you know it kind of transformed the position to to having a lot more responsibility for other things besides buildings and when you you think of the you know attenuate grounds around town hall great but when you start adding you know Wally Park and a you know the rail trail a linear Park and other other future things and you know even owning having to go around to other areas to to make sure those areas are neat and trashes picked up and stuff like that that starts to turn into thanks I I do agree with you Diane I think that this maybe should we should post it this way and see what happens post it the original way and see what happens um and you're write a director is usually a a manager of managers so you want to leave it building and grounds yeah supervisor of or manager and it usually reported to the CEO right as in that role because that's the manager as it does yeah okay which is fine because facilities had a typo in well you know it does look at that faculties and facilities had a a child there it's okay well um and you can give me all your ches there are questions there questions [Music] um one two three fourth bullet what exactly does that mean can you put that in layman's terms for me what would that mean to you to it under essential duties is that what you're asking yeah okay fourth bullet develops and recommends okay develops and recommends to the CAO and select board major departmental plans and policies affecting the community and the public what would that entail for instance so I wonder if Russ get that in there for maybe a project he's working on or something I don't NE know why you would put Community um you know being responsible for I mean all the buildings of course are for the public right um yeah the safety of the public and then all the contracts for any sort of Maintenance or upgrades um that which I which I read into the other things so that's I just guess I would like some clarification on what that objective is yeah I have it I I can because it's broken out elsewhere what what you just said are are separate bullets so I'm not clear what that development would be we can just remove it if everything else you know if it's covered elsewhere which one is that sorry the fourth bullet under essential dunies maybe he's thinking about a policy up at the park or something I'm thinking I was thinking when to rain out of ball game is where I was going I have to talk to more about that because that was a an issue so I don't know what you want to do with that one it's questionable I can see what you're saying after you read everything else yeah it's all in there I think it's laid Yeah what I guess the meeting is is laid out in the other duties and then for me as usual um in the special knowledge and abilities I would like to see demonstrated experience in providing guidance assistance demonstrated experience in communicating effectively not the ability to they're very different things tell me how you do it okay give me an example demonstrated experience with financial management skills blah blah blah okay that's all I got I think you could take out the be must be able to use a fax machine under the required well you know we still have one it was ringing and then is there a um I didn't I didn't go look at my license I'm is the the previous one said required to have a driver's license and I think our police application also says that too uh and this one says class D which I think is the same thing just that's your regular old driver is regular he is regular yeah I just think we should be consistent across all of our job descriptions some may require a different license correct and then they should all say at least a minimum class D which I think is the minimum driver's license anyway but you know like some of the heavy equipment guys may need a Class A or whatever the class is you need for that all you go one ton after you put a certain amount on it you're a Class A Class A right yeah but so all right so what do we want to do with this you got anything else well apparently the fact machine's got to stay I'll think about it um I would just we'll bring this one back have have new fixed I guess make those changes make Chang we'll bring that back and we preview and we just got h on that one the executive assistant to the select Bo because someone's leaving us that's right yeah you asked Lisa right to write a lot we were like okay you can stop now can tell us you can tell us what you do two pages so also needs a fact machine tun that's the one that keep earing driver's license no driver's license wait who's gonna go pick up food at big one Uber was it door Dash is that what they is I made it food supplies and sets up for holiday and retirement parties in t employes like essential Duty well she does a lot of that I know I you got you guys had time to look through this more carefully and L did you see anything missing you know her dayto day she she did give me a whole list and not everything on the list duties is assigned and the the critical ones you don't see any gaps in what's listed okay you know best on that I didn't see any that I knew of that was missing no looks good to me I would say that one looks good okay so to for motion to accept the job description for the executive assistant as I was saying motion made second roll call vote Jason per I you want me to run this one by Kim okay yes please thank you and then I guess once it's good to go we post it so um the only one coming back is okay all right this was the very first thing I ever dealt with in my first meeting three years ago discussing the sewer weights Randy come on up all right I'm going to apologize and Advance here I do not like writing five page letters I'm sure you don't want to read a five-page letter either but uh there's a lot of information I think all of it's perent to the discussion so I hope you had a chance to read and digest it I have written similar letters like this over the past few years we've had a rate uh discussion about a almost a year ago new rate increase went effect last October um so I that did note that in the letter um so Finance St continue to be a concern a very large concern though with u the public works department I would say this is probably the most pressing issue in public works right now fet about all poles everything all road conditions this this is something that needs to be addressed um we have a very large gap in in projected Revenue um over the next couple years and that's going to come to aead very soon in the past few years we've relied upon money from the town to kind of help balance the budget and unfortunately um well from the town and also from retain earnings accounts to help balancing budget and uh at the same time our expenses are going up other revenues that that come in through our betterment fees uh that's going down um so we have a very large gap that needs to be addressed our our retain earnings account can no longer be relied upon to to balance the that's just the bottom line the last couple years we've drawn over 200 last this this year this this current fiscal year we drew $211,000 from earnings a couple years ago that was uh $383,000 um the the balance in that in that account is is is about $300,000 and we need that account for capital projects that's what it's running t for you don't want to draw down any longer any lower than we need to uh but the same token that's a so leaves a big gap in how do we how do we how do where what do we where do we how do we get to where we need to be with with the finances and the Ri so I don't know where to begin how to begin I don't think this something that's going to get resolved tonight but I think it's important to have the discussion tonight I think it's F important probably talk to the finance committee and talk about what contribution the town can and will be providing in the future so that that committee is also on board I think that needs to happen soon I would like to see a rate increase in effect probably by October 1st I don't like to do a rate increase in the middle of a bill cycle so right now we're our bill cycle runs from April 1st to September 30th I like to have rates in effect you know when that bill cycle starts so I would ask we try to get the resv prior to October 1st so I asked for the debt information and what the rates were on the borrowing and you had something in here a 4 point something current rate where is that from I asked Jessica in own um the last borrowing she she has she went through it was a 4.6% that the best we can get right now it is and forgive my ignorance is that through Municipal loans and that I do not know can we go outside for better competitive rates well I was just doing this like two months ago and through USDA which usually has the best rates I was looking at like 4.25 so even through USDA the the rates weren't that much better Worth reinv or you know combining or doing anything else El nowhere nobody's at 275 anymore okay and then laugh if you want but do we have the option to renegotiate with Westfield you laughed the last time I said it I didn't laugh but I gave a a look probably so here's the thing West they're charging us their commercial rate that they charge their commercial users I don't see City counselors in Westfield charging South anything less than they're charging their own their own residents and business owners no not gonna happen not the city council and not the mayor but they have a residential rate versus a commercial rate they have they Bild residential separately and it's a different formula they it's basically a flat rate so whether you're you know single family or not sing SLE someone living in a home by yourself or you got a family of 10 next door each get the same bill for sewer I think it's around $500 a year I'm not don't call me so being that we are mostly residential on that system there's seems to me we could make an argument for reconsideration I uh laugh if you may I'm not laughing I had this conversation with mayor mccab uh at a breakfast some years ago and I rarely see mayor McCabe turn red and get angry and that was one of the times was that mstic huh was that domestic thing yeah it was before beforeand yeah you was still read then yeah and uh it didn't go over good but I mean it's it it is a conversation worth having again because it is pointless and then and then you know we do a lot of things together newcomer in well and we had special Merc donut first time we negotiated that contract the um you know the we do a lot of things with Westfield now more and more and I think this should should be a good discussion point and um you know maybe we need to have a further discussion as to you know certain certain accommodations that are made for Westfield in the town of Southwick that aren't being treated equitably the way our sewer rates aren't being treated equitably so that may you I don't know that it would mitigate much of it but there are some I will say that in this last round of negotiations if you call it um our rate used to be the commercial plus 10% Westfield did allow a reduction in that so it's now just the commercial rate so that that agreement we signed last year was somewhat lower than prior to which is still going to go up 8% every year for the next yeah three four years yep Y and then that's I believe that's commercial and residential and Westfield everyone's going up a% not just it's not just a south of great it's it's their call it the build use rate or build meter use rate so metered is commercial is metered and then residential is or edu it's yes yes so are metered too even though our residents our residents have meters a lot of towns don't have that and then they just do that single you know again the single either one person's living in there or a family of five and they get the same edu equivalent dwelling unit um but metered is the fairest way to go andine if we can just reduce the rate to a metered reduced rate not a metered commercial rate well and I was with Randy on Friday we had a conversation about this whole entire process and really the bottom line is that the rates need to go up and whether they need to go up significantly at once or if they need to go up gradually by year um you know so people can plan the rates need to go up the rates need to rise and and I I I just want to get out there that it's very important but we suffer from we suffer from a huge problem our huge problem is is that the residents of the town of Southwick will not further build out the sewers the sewers needed to be done to protect the lake so we did it we have a very small population Vis AES the whole town that's having to finance the Interceptor we bought the parallel Interceptor in the thoughts that we were going to have several large sewer projects um and I probably said it to most of this room already but for those that didn't hear it we spent $600,000 to the design the sewers that were going to go down Powder Mill Road and pick up Fernwood and Birchwood and everything else and then town meeting voted down the project that would have put hundreds of users on the sewer and would have mitigated some of this top uh you know some of the infrastructure cost that's advertised over very few users that being said the need for the sewers around the Lakes was was demonstrated it's done worlds of good for Kuman Lake which is huge driver of our economy and property values for homes and stuff across the lake therefore that's the reason why we still have a significant subsidy of the sewer rate on the tax rate I for one don't see that going away anytime soon so from at least from where I said I don't see how you could you couldn't possibly mathematically the sewer bills would be ridiculous right if we got rid of the entire right subsidy that we that that's on that's built into the budget every year well that is that number is in the in the last page there yeah I saw it it's ey watering right so we we we have to continue to do it um in that way and you know frankly we need to get more sewer projects on the books in order to to get the sewer rate to be advertized across more users and eventually you're going to reach some level of parody I understand that you know when you sign on for sewers you're going to get now you're going to get a bill for the rest of your life but the cost of installing septics continues to Rise um and you know in some of the smaller locks and I use the Fernwood you know Birchwood area as a prime example those lots are small unless you start Excavating out the old material and bringing in new material to put back a leech field you're going to start to run out of room to put those so and a project like that can be done um you know and put people on the sewer system you know we spent over $1 million just the schools because of a commitment made by a previous superintendent we had to do a force Interceptor then we spent a million dollars of taxpayer money to connect three buildings um which was a shame that should have been part and parcel of the overall sewer project same thing happened on conoman road when we were doing the conoman road project was that probably 10 years ago now eight years ago now you know we had that road opened up you know halfway to the Earth's core but the town voted down the design to put the sewers in that when we were doing it and that would have been a connector from the lake side and you know the Sheep pasture side to come all the way and pick up the businesses at uh College Highway and Vining Hill um it's a shame I I there is no easy answer here because the problem is everything's a a matter of magnitude when you you you can you know you in order to get the monies you need to maintain the system because the the fixed costs are so high and there's so few variable costs to it it's going to be it's going to be painful and so the the tax the the the amount you carry on the tax rates going to have to rise in order to keep up because you can't you can't tax people enough to make your the math work in my opinion on on the sewer users and the reason the edus are going down because or the um the betterments are going down is well no one signing up for sewers because there's no sewers to sign up for so that money is not there to help you offset the operational cost yeah tricky can you refresh me on the American in that was like 300 users they had a time period that they had to hook up where are we in that time period I want to say they have seven or eight years left oh that many oh they were given they were given I think a time frame and I think they asked an extension for another 10 years and I believe we're like two or three years into that so they have basically till 2030 give or take to would they have to go all the way back to the rail trail Randy or would they be able to hook in from the there's not no great option they could go north and tire right into Westfield directly they could come South Down College Highway and run across the uh um across from DPW property um those are two primary options they could have they would have aside from disposing building it own plan on site any way to incentivize them to do it sooner we can have the discussion would it pay off if we get 300 users [Music] on tough call I I spoke to the owner of the newer owner of that facility and they're uh they're barely making a go of it right now and they know they're staring down the barrel of this consent order and so you have to be uh mindful of this whole process because no matter where you go there it's going to be ordinally expensive if they go north on College Highway it's expensive to get to Westfield come South it's in you know right doing all your work right along College Highway they don't have a good route to the rail trail um Windfield spent north of a million bucks to make their own treatment plan not that long ago and they'll be back because any uh any of these communal uh septics never work for very long I don't know I don't know the exact reason why not my area of expertise but the um it seems to me that they don't ever settle settle out enough because they're not idle enough because of just the number of people and the amount of use they get and so therefore they it pushes to Breeze out to their leech fields and their their systems fail you know you know condo complexes apartment complexes and that's probably why in our our uh Town zoning book that there's no construction further of Apartments uh permitted unless they're connected to a sewer that's why because I think they just had enough history of it just failing and and then the developers walking away from it or somebody having a problem with it that you can't do that anymore so those 100 units condos those those would be on those are on there right and Depot would connect yes so that would help that's not accurate how many more I mean obviously we can't so how many more hookups do we need that would I mean obviously we're never going to probably get to the point or it's self sustaining but um where how many more would you need to make it a d I don't know that number I'll tell you that right now our Capa we have um our system was set up with the Westfield to flow 500,000 gallons per day and right now we flow about 150,000 so less than a third of that capacity we are at right now I suspect you probably need to be close that full capacity to kind of get to the point where you want to be a bre given point so we've got how many eight something we hooked up to 860 plus and your minus so you're looking at another I said another thousand because it's probably about right where you need to pay 800 yeah so you're looking 20 about two 2,000 maybe to get to that 150 well that' be most of the households in town then so here's the problem right that that's great but that's not coming the next year no so we got to focus on this today yep okay and you know it can't all be on the users we have to increase the user fee but the rest of the Town doesn't want the sewers but they still have to pay for the sewers it's going to have to stay in the subsidy oh it's it can't all go to the users no the solution is not with the existing 861 users so I think you know as you said I think finance committee might have to be consulted on this big number what in a in a perfect world if everybody was happy to pay it what would be the the rate you'd be looking at I'm just throwing it out there no one's happy at the current rate I was gonna say it's half your answer no for you what's what what are you looking yeah I mean ideally I would like to see sew self-sufficient that's the goal that's I think that's where we should be working towards maybe we're not going to get there in the next two years maybe it may take five 10 years but I think that should in my mind that's the goal I've got a good open line with Mr Maul I know we've been doing stuff with the lpp I know there was talk about suffia we've you and I talked about it when I first got on um I'll I'll poke around that side I mean that suggest doesn't hurt to ask you know I'll I'll I said I'd take the lead on this a long time ago so I'll tell you where I last I heard on that was maybe two years ago they had did on second sewer study identified the target area off the lakes and they came up with a Bas betterment cost basically per household than it was $50,000 number I heard too and they bed we're not doing that so that was a second iteration they went through the first time maybe five maybe eight 10 years ago well he's open to talking about anything so it doesn't hurt yeah can't hurt ask you know maybe I don't know I know you've got a lot of experience with the USD I mean the problem is we've got was it Connecticut deep or whatever you know they're we got that border straddle in the Border thing and everybody's different so I don't know if we could my experience is the same exact here it's a very small system most of the people aren't on it and it is an Enterprise fund unlike this this fund is not an Enterprise fund um so it has to stay self-sustaining so their sewer fees are about $1,200 a year and it doesn't matter if you have um 12 kids or one kid or no kids they're also the single rate so um it's by household and it's very unfortunate and somebody built this this system 50 years ago not thinking about the future but there's no nobody's coming to save them USDA isn't nobody's you know us USDA is doing the upgrades yes for a very cheap price but to to pay to help offset by paying sewer nobody's gonna save them yeah I just was curious like I said when I spoke to Randy about it several years ago I know one of the biggest first stumbling box is just getting people at the cost of the hookup and that then of course we have to get lines in you and I have talked about that already um so this is not going to happens today well we rejiggered the rates last year we went up 10% on the base and then added tiar that was after no increase or actually it was a 2022 to 2023 prior to that it was a three-year no increase so there was a little bit of respit there um but I mean I think at a minimum we're going to do you know pick a number we're going to do 10 or 15% on that base rate again and the rest of the town is going to cover the seems to me as the again as the short term but then we need a a plan I can help give you some idea what those numbers may be you know if you go up 10% here's what we expect expect the revenue what's the balance we need from the from the town 15 and 20 and see what they are right game got the spreadsheet we got the model now then you can ta it to us it's apparently a job required it is and again there's also you know just gradually bringing it up to a higher percentage over you know over the next few years so then sewer users are aware for the for the you know foreseeable future they already know what the rates will be that's a good point would there be a magic number that you'd look for every year to a certain point well we know the labor is going to go up 3% and we know the Westfield fees are going to go up eight so there you are it's 11 already there you go yeah that's what I said you know 10 probably is is the bare minimum we're going to do 15 to 20 in five years and it's compound interest so it'll be less than five years to double your rates well here the thing also our betterment revenue is going down too all all compound together but there's got to be a limit to what the users are going to pay it's got to balance what the other 32 how many households do we have whatever the other 3,200 households are paying we've got to find a way to enumerate that what's it what's that worth what is that debt worth on an average tax bill and what are the users paying on top of that and there's got to be a balancing point on that can you do that this calculus because there's a lot multivariable too CU you got you mean you got to take there's houses on you know there's houses on the lake that are sewers that are are they're not paying directly but their valuation of the property on the lake by the nature of the resale value is carrying a you know they're paying a higher amount than an identical house two two or five blocks away true yes so you're so they're indirectly paying that and those houses you perhaps some of those houses the lake would be a different place right now without those sewers right we wouldn't we probably wouldn't have been in a position to spend $800,000 for the treatment we probably wouldn't have wanted to because there' be nobody on it at this point right so you got to look at all of those things so that's why I mean it is kind of multivariable calculus and it's a lot of subtle yeah subtle math that goes into making that those numbers go around so yes the taxpayers overall taxpayers are carrying a good portion of the sewers on their tax rate but there's others that are on the sewers that are paying above above their weight that's not just in their tax rate so it all come you know it doesn't all come out believe me I know from my house or or you know really Chief Bish's house he's carrying a portion of the you're not on the sewers right a portion of the sewers on the you know as part of his deal to live here but that's I don't ever see it coming to your house or my house yeah and you know by doing the tiers we did last year we kind of made a commercial rate being the heaviest users have the highest rate so we've already kind of tackled that aspect yeah but and at the same you know there are some places that are on it but our Industrial Park isn't corre and you know there is a project again this is not you know this this is an October problem and we're this is a decade problem is you know there's a the talk of connecting you know Sam West to Hudson Drive um you know when they ever do that you put the sewers down there right and you come through there The Greens East go through to The Greens East well you're kind of really you know you're touching the rail trail when you get to Sam West and Hudson Drive so you're going to have that you know some kind of close proximity to that project and you got to start looking at projects like that and you know and you know get ready for the discussion of how do you how do you edu vacant land on Hudson Drive that's vacant now what's its use going to be how do you figure out what the edus are it's easy with a single family house on edu but when you pass 500 feet of vacant land with the sewer project you kind of got to assign it a value that's you know the sewer implementation guys and everybody's got to have to Hash that out a field of their discussion today but you know we're doing a disservice to you know from an economic development standpoint you know there are certain users actually most business users today would much prefer to have a sewer system that they're connected to even if their use is not a heavy sewer User it's just a a a you know a risk to the business that people don't want to be involved in I worked at McDonald's as a kid and that system's been failing for 30 years well then we've been talking about that you know that that's a whole different story whether it's the big wise or the McDonald's and that South crossings they replace that set system you know quite often because of the nature of its use and how it's being used and you know that kongan road project would have potentially come right to there but here or there anyway we belabored that enough guess we look like that all the numbers Randy you know yeah keep keep us in business yeah absolutely we please make sure that we carry this because I don't want to no this so what would you like me to anything you want me to do at this point with this do you want me to be available to meet with finance committee you want me to what you like me to do at this point that's what I was just writing so where do find where do fan come in do do we meet with them individually and go see the problem and then we come together how does that work I would say meet with them individually talk to them because you know this we to talk about the subsidy every year and then we can all come together at one point and with them yeah have that um projection and you'll do a couple of yes I'll submit something for for the next meeting okay that again next meeting so don't go too far anyy right fiscally year 25 road paving and infrastructure so we had our site visit uh at this point it's probably been three three four weeks ago maybe um so I did revise the letter I sent you initially uh Diana asked for links there a little different perspective on some things I did um tweak some of the numbers a little bit if you're doing a line by line comparison I think I also added a couple projects based on our discussion but I think what you have in front of you this July 18th letter is the latest and greatest went up a little too it did so yeah so prior year carry over had some more money in those accounts and that was one of the reasons why it took so long to get this to you was tring to verifying those that that that number so given that little Flex point in the prior year um you have 2,450 could we add 60,000 to that expecting something isn't going to come to that full dollar like the Depot Street sidewalk to actually finish one I just don't want to spend it all so I do want to keep some in reserve I don't like spending everything down to the penny I know uh so that would leave about about 30,000 40,000 something right yeah I mean so my recommendations aren't bold certainly you're I want to hear in as well but I would not be opposed to that D I mean it's just a good it's a small it's 2% of the two and a half million that's 60,000 to finish a walkway highly traveled highly bicycled walk walk ER Mr chair yes sir can I share my screen sure make me see find so I I saw ry's stuff I had had this my sheet done a couple of weeks ago I saw ry's updated stuff from this week so I [Music] um I added ry's nope I'm not that clever so but I did take ry's and overlaid where I was and then I he gave us more money so I spent the additional money he gave us too so um and so my numbers are on the left the total amount of the projects is on the left uh and then the commit dollars is how much I would commit this out of this 2.5 million um some of the projects I thought and and I and when seeing ry's numbers as well he committed um kind of make them a multi-year project so I committed different amounts of dollars by percentage where I thought we could do it over several years and so and then I took Randy Brown's numbers on the on the right from his list that he gave us um and there was a lot of similarities and a few differences so you know for example here on um you know Randy did um is proposing to do Hillside Road and I did not um and I proposed I think I just I took the impact of that we are going to have a larger discussion around a larger dollar amount so this year I was going to try to get as many projects done that we could get done and have a measurable impact in more areas so for example I took uh Meadow Lane pineywood um Rising Corner uh the Tannery and Vining Hill Road covert was in oldb brainer I also had the depot sidewalks um to get those done and the um and I left very I did not leave a big balance I left 1300 bucks out of $2.5 million but um so just to compare and contrast where where I was coming from on this to to take a look at it um but except for a Hillside Road which I think was the big big differentiator we we agreed on most every you know we on the big ones we agreed obviously The Feeding Hills Road that needs to get done um because that's that's just a mess up there um and then some of the newer project you know sidewalk projects I didn't see those coming gargon we kind of already committed to it we took up half the sidewalks and you know those need to get finished off um and you know that's kind of a multi-year project but like Ed hul needs to get done no doubt it but um you know take that over a four-year project I don't know if he even breaks up into four years exactly but you know this year come through and do the tree work or whatever needs to get done to open the canopy up and then you know next year come through with some of the drainage and then you know the third year maybe you know Mill and pave um but that's just my take on on how I would have how I allocated these do the biggest one was Hillside and you said that one was like Hillside blew up this year this year what happens if we don't do it so no speeding on Hillside Road this year gota what's the fix going to be you're going to be there all the time fixing potholes if you look at the row now one Lane's basically just all patch it's going to continue to blow up I I would push for Hillside I I would make a note Rising corner I there may be a need prod do some water made work on Rising cor the next year so I wouldn't mind doing that in conjunction with a road project in a year if you're okay with that plan this was for discussion so I I laid this out and and you know we always kind of come to this thing so um and and and not having visibility of what you know what could be a project where they're going to the last thing every needs is to you know for us to put down fresh pavement and then have the water guys dig it up we're not doing that right ever so 100% most of mine went with ry's um I'm you know in my professional capacity I drive a lot of roads and one thing that I always look at is the traffic volume on a road and how much it's used and you know Hillside is definitely something that gets used it's a it's a cut through for a lot of people um ping Hills Road obviously I the other two I hear all the time about from people is at hokom Feeding Hills I mean Feeding Hills we know that's you know we're just waiting for prew to finish up on that to get to that point where we can do something with it you know I think there's a resident of gargan terrorist on here who may want something done but that enough Daren did you have anything that I I didn't find any fault with ry's explanations where there was already drainage started or some part of it already in process it madees sense to do those but I don't know how you canot address um the big one the uh Hillside Road so I guess you know it asked Doug to reconsider where he thinks he can unallocate and let's review that reprioritize yours with that in there it's so it's real simple you just take down you take down Piney wood and I don't see how you can't do meadow at this point either but I guess you take Meadow off and you take pineywood off those are the big two big ones that give you the $700,000 to do to do that there's no other money in here beaing Hills roads a no-brainer yeah and you got to start at hul I you can't do it all in one year so right that's that's the real key difference between mine and Randy short here is is that you know there's $850,000 on Meadow and you know 420 on Meadow and 430 on pineywood yeah pinewood's never been touched Meadow obviously obviously wasn't done the best because it's not that old it's only 25 or 27 years old um but and God bless the guy who put in pineywood cuz that's probably from the 1950s or 60s it's all saying so everyone I talked to over there said look it's never been paved then I bought this house new so no I'm just giving kudos to whoever put in that road because they did it right um but you know that's the difference it needs to be done it's just a matter of you know when we're going to do it and if you're going to say okay if we're going to do a larger you know we're you know we're carrying that here we're going to have to do something because these roads need to get done they're not going to get any better um I could see us if we do move forward with that you know long-term plan you know doing say Pinewood f with that whole neighborhood all in one project yeah right I mean it makes sense everything's you're probably gonna sa save some because everything is right there saving on mobilizing cost everything is sure but so then you know if you take uh so if you take off Piney wood that frees up 430 and you need to get to 700 so then you know the other logical one is is Meadow cuz that's $400,000 there's nothing else on this chart that's that it's amazing how quickly you can spend $2 and a half million doll without even looking up this was just discussion for the board that's where I landed if you guys if we all agree to take the take that and you know these two numbers here and just move them to to Hillside and you're done can I ask for a little bit of buffer with that well it actually gives you that because I'm taking taking yeah and that leaves you $100,000 extra right so well what about Rising Corner yeah you could take that out if you want because you said you wanted to do it's okay that was what two I see two something right right 250 that's that leaves $400,000 left so you could still go back and un up I'm not a fan of Paving Matthews because I think that'll turn in that one will turn into an absolute racetrack I believe the condition of that road is a traffic calming measure you didn't put South L street because South L street we did drainage last year okay natural projection for going to get that road paved well there it is so now I'm under spent by $200,000 can you finish it in two years or you got to do it all in one swoop the 600 one project so then I over spend it so we'll have to reconcile it because that's at 240 negative so I got to take another project off which would probably be what is it going to be the gargon sidewalks that's what I one to do I think you have we committed to that I mean that's that's a disaster over there or or you can reduce oh you know what here here's food yeah I had Fernwood and Piney wood so that's gone so there's they're you know pretty much what I had dog the end I end up well they convinced me to bring Insight so yeah so Randy and you were good all right so we're gonna add so I guess I'll wait adding Depot Street right on top of on I had those too yeah I did have that one preferred yes yeah I think that was a so it's pretty much where are we different the depot sidewalks you don't have and that's really the difference so I did I did revise South Luma street so there's a couple of Paving options so I did reduce that to 500,000 in my new estimate well there you go 410 well matter how you he changed the number down I didn't change it from what he had it the first time so essentially it's ry's list plus Depot Depot Bes side you were asking for right yeah I'm fine with that yeah there is no wrong answer no really isn't there really isn't when can you pay feeding Hill Road so Crestview is going to finish this week with our drainage project get a B going together asap and that'll be its own Standalone Paving project so hopefully it's okay on let's discuss that is C thank you thank you Randy now we need to review and approve the agreement with town of Southwick and Lisa a Anderson for the Council on Aging director I had no issues with it mran I'm good I guess I would be looking for a motion to approve that motion to approve the agreement between the town of South and Kisa Anderson for Council on Aging direct second roll call vote Jason pone I I Doug M yes see new business so for new business we have um Nicole can you explain so more Nicole you want to explain ex going so through our partnership with lpvec Paul schroer goes out and gets um these rates for energy um right now we're at 9 cents this contract will be ending in November so this is really the best price that I've seen um in the last I mean 21 was really good to get to get the 9 cents but I haven't seen 9 cents anywhere since so 12 is a very good price I don't know if you want to lock in we can wait I don't know the volatility of the market if we'll see anything lower in the next few months before November um this this agreement is just a sample just to look at ours would look similar um but it is through different agency um it's you know you saw it's Gateway Regional School District but that's it would be very similar it's just it's just a sample um but as again even uh relying on Paul Paul schroer from lpbc um you know doesn't really believe that the the amounts are going to be going down at all in the in the near future before November we've got to do something before November this is basically similar to what the aggregation stuff looks like so and I've been when I've been researching that while we're where our public hearing is coming up on the August 5th um like you said the 12 cents is generally I've seen think the lowest I've seen on the residential site is 11 s so yeah even me I I went through a third party at home I I think it was clear view or something and my friend had locked in 11 by the time I got there it was 13 so uh it's you know it's just going up and how long are we in a contract with right now it's three years right now it's ending in started year yep in November well if these are what the rates are we're going to get that would be my suggestion and does it matter when does the Utility change their rates does it matter when they change theirs well we're on a contract now it be in this contract you would be paying 12 no matter what okay yeah they change from Summer to Winter y never they're never at 12 okay not even their summer rate okay I think they were 16 or 17 this year okay P practice is to give the CAO some latitude Within These rates to if the rates move up or down or on advice of the consultant to to go and lock so we don't have to just pick one of these now is that could be a vote of the select board to give the CEO discretion to lock those rates in time to have a contract in place for October well I would be looking for a motion make that motion douc oh that's usually the vice chair makes that motion and I'll second it but you can do it you had the you had the experience so I'll make that motion that Doug just said to give her latitude to lock in what I very good I will roll call vote Jason Peron I thank Al I I guess I gotta vote for that yes so let's see so for new business U that was it for Titan energy on the stuff that's on our schedule I have none off the top of my head for new business at the moment none stroller one item uh I was watching the agricultural commission meeting uh video and uh I read an article in the local newspaper and um frankly I was astounded to read that they've expanded our open Farm day to include a business outside of our town um especially when there's uh at least one similarly situated business and the whole purpose of our Adcom working with our Economic Development Mission would be to educate folks on the agricultural sites that exist in town and then while we're at it hopefully have people spend a couple of bucks at these businesses and the supporting businesses in town and to have um and last year it was a great event it was one of best events ever put on in in our town um by the group and I think to a person the number one comment was boy I didn't have enough time to get to them all so my plan for this year was to try to get to the ones I didn't get to last year because I only got to like half um now we're we're going to ask people to get in their car and drive 20 25 minutes to a business out of town and then go on their hay ride and tractor ride and whatever and spend a few bucks on an ice cream cone and then drive 20 25 minutes back into town takes all those people out of the open Farm day for just simple math well over an hour I I think it's Folly um and I also think that you know Town resources shouldn't be devoted to supporting businesses that when especially when we have such great agricultural businesses in town um we shouldn't be supporting businesses outside of town um on a day like this it's fine if they wanted to join you know the Southwick you know we used to have the Southwick Association of business or the Chamber of Commerce and you know nothing against that business that's located not in in Southwick um I wish them all the best but you know Southwick open Farm day should be about the farms in the town of Southwick I you know and just speaking for me personally I got to see some places you know having lived here for uh you know 20 plus years now I got to see a couple absolutely gorgeous Farms that I had never had the opportunity to see and view and I don't know that I would have but for open Farm day and I I think we should continue to give everybody those opportunities and we should be supporting the local businesses in the town of Southwick that's just my opinion I can add to that I had a very lengthy chat with the chair of the a commission and voiced pretty much what you just said Doug oh thank you it gave him a little an acid afterwards and I and I know I run up against it with them a few times as you know where we've been on different sides of issues I I just this one I was just incredulous to it just seems to me it would be like Ed you know our own EDC publishing a you know a bunch of restaurants in Westfield and saying hey go there when you have perfectly fine restaurants in our town nothing wrong with the restaurants in Westfield I go to them too but you know you know we we budget and we budget money in our you know we we've increased the budget or supported the budget for EDC and and I'm not throwing EDC under the bus here I don't know if they're complicit EDC and agom to support this Venture and it seems counterproductive to me yep their biggest um basis for improvement was finding more time for the events and and and then they're sending them out of 10 didn't make sense 100% but I back you on that right I will say I read it and scratch my head but really go into it anymore further than I had done other than scratch of my head on that one so um so Nicole any new business yeah naen um T Sullivan started today to backfill the circulation librarian position that will be vacant at the end of the month uh by Susan Wagner's retirement um I extended a verbal offer and it was accepted for the board of health and planning board floater position and I will be posting the DPW office manager position tomorrow externally we only had one applicant internally very good see that we are on to do Department reports we don't have any here old business and dates to remember chapter 90 Road decision check I just did that appointments process and Status okay so we got our employee list today we need to go through that because we've it needs to be double checked for accuracy we got some people that have left recently that were still on the list so we're going to do that it's going to be carried on to the next meeting and hopefully we will be doing the employee portion on the next meeting um going go from there well we need to schedule the again let the the people that have applied for new positions we probably need to let them know when we would expect them to come in will that be August 5th so we weren't meeting again until 12th I'm sorry 12th that would probably be the day I would Pi if we can get this the employee one straightened out for the next meeting yeah and then um I don't see any reason why we should stretch this out any further than we have so the employee would be the public safety Public Safety firefighter buildings we have a couple in the building departments it's every town employee we have to Mr why do we do this every year do what reappoint these you have to it's the law it's the law can we not do this and just put them in place this has been always been something that's on my mind I actually talked to Miss Parker about it is there is there a reason that we can't just appoint people especially like employees doesn't make sense that I'm I'm just going to say coming over there we don't get reappointed every year over there in my it's you're you're hired you're hired you're not reappointed I don't know the basis of it it's something and frankly that may be lost to history I don't know that's something that we've always done we always understand the list of folks that need to be appointed and it it does seem kind of funny that you know like we're going to reappoint the I don't know if the police Chiefs on there and the police Lieutenant they're standing there Menan have contract that are a term of three years but we seem to go through this year on this list right yeah we've got it's just to me all the officers and fire department we do it every year if we don't have to do it I don't see why we would have to do it we probably do have to as uh reappoint the call Department I don't know it seems that we do that because we make a motion this board either acting as fire Commissioners police Commissioners we hire as the Personnel Board hire all these folks and maybe that's why they have terms on their their sheet I don't know I just I was asking you for historical background I didn't know not that old well we're going to do it this year but yeah I and I if it doesn't need to be done I'm not one to just have a process for the take for hist buddy was here when the town was started buddy Mr how that started was if I remember correctly there was a court case where there was a fire chief and they asked him about if he got reappointed and he said no and that's where it all started from that's when we started to getting appointed every year here there was a fire chief is that no it was some so and I think if you looked in that's what that's where it all started from so I did like I said I did speak with Mrs Parker on that do you prefer miss or Miss I would I Nicole I did speak with Nicole on that and it's something we're going to look into and if we don't need to do it we don't need to do it for the employees the employees portion correct obviously the boards and commissions that's a different story y um I'll be honest I think the other thing about that is is the error of omission could be problematic right if you read someone's name who's on here that's no longer unemployed have you just rehired them I me that's why and the converse is also true so if we don't reappoint somebody did we just fire them what did we do right so better to not have the process if it's prone exactly that's Ian part of the reason we didn't do it tonight is we're like wait this person's not here anymore that person not here anymore so or maybe that would work she maybe she would come back if we just read her name here caller yeah we just reappointed you get the word so that's um HS iima for WG ISP b as well we met last week we started to we reviewed some Financial projections um we have some more work to do we're going to meet again in a week um to refine those projections basically it's we're just doing a gut check that based on the the buildout cost uh plus anticipated Revenue against the take rate that we would be able to retire the debt in the time period of the borrowing so you know if if we're going to do 10 or 12 year notes on this that by the time if if the projections work out uh that we would be at you know not owe anybody a thing at the end of the 12 years and if we decided it was a horrible experience that's great or retire the whole thing and leave the stuff on the polls great but um we the taxpayers of town of South wouldn't be on the hook for anyone very good it won't be like the sewers I didn't say it no but yes couldn't help it no it's true couldn't help it if well it that that's it's the difference between involved and committed once you you know we haven't really committed any big money to the highspeed internet project right now we still haven't touched the arpa money we did not borrow against the $3 million authorization and we know we'll have to come back in front of town meeting for at least two more rounds of $3 million in order to build that out uh I if you but if you stopped if you just said oh we're just what can we get for 900 Grand I guarantee it will'll lose the whole 900 because it's you won't get enough users on the system to pay for the cost of what you just put in it is kind of the sewer problem so once we start and once we start digging into that 900 Grand we're in for what is it1 million so we're at least that much we're in for that much so that's why we're being very very deliberate very good well marijuana dispensaries we talked about um what we doing the scoring and the interviews as we stated yep um the 61 61 a right of first refusal I we talked about that about that and we're waiting on Town Council input T-Mobile Hometown Grant I spoke with Cara cello today um I had spoke with Mr quo as I stated from I can't remember the name of the company my head but um he gave back with um the rough estimate it's about the the $50,000 to put the wi-fi with the the wireless mesh um technology do you know what that is yes IA what is it exactly you explained it but it would utilize a cell signal or something along that what happens is is that today if you have an uh like you have a router in your house and you put it in the best spot because every and then everything connects back to it they also have mesh ones where you have more than one and they can communicate to each other so this whichever gets a strongest signal can talk to the other points to propagate the signal and they actually it literally does look like a mesh if you were to draw it out on paper he explain that to me and I just you know I understood that the they could kind of talk to each other but I didn't really understand how exactly work because what's interesting is he said you can um like at the Pavilion that area with the bathrooms where we kind of want to have the if we can to lock those remotely and whatnot that could be hardwired and then he said that mesh system could basically be placed around with he said I think a 100 meter radius for each one which would basically depending on how many you put in would cover most of that Wally Park so um and then I spoke with like I said I spoke with Cara um GNA she's going to speak with some of the park and wreck folk we're going to try and set up a date he wants to come out and do a site visit um so as soon as I have a date on that I'll let everybody know um but waiting on that and then the select master plan implementation subcommittee and I know you're working on that Mr dhy no we're all set on that just handle it with our regular appointments so even if uh I did look today there was a couple three uh there's seven Miss scale posting on Facebook I just looked at it brief this afternoon and I actually downloaded the whole list seven for master plan so great yeah yeah um well we could do that as part of our appointment process starting the 12th of August we'll have we'd have to interview for that correct correct and there are people a number of them people we have not had on a board of commission before so just what we asked and um I just want to clarify on that so who's going to get in touch with those people who have applied and set them up for the 12th I think we can another meeting next week right yes so I think we should talk about that in process I want to um Mr chair with your Indulgence I want to have a brief uh I had it on my list for under old business but now it's probably the opportune time is I still think that we should have it it well it's up to you it's up to the board to decide but um I may I'm making a list of everyone who's every position that's up whether they're appointed uh appointed and asking for appointment and we have additional people asking to be on those boards or commissions I think that everybody should have the opportunity to come in front of the of the select board absolutely regardless abely we have a number of people who have applied for others that have never applied before like the number for conservation new people and and that's not a requirement like I just you know I made a big deal about the whole highspeed internet was all brand new folks and that was great I'd love to see additional participation but that's not a requirement but certainly if someone want want to be reappointed that's great but if someone you know someone else wants to be in that Comm on that commission that is our right as a as a the appointing authority to make those appointments y um so I wanted to just put that out to the board to see what because we can vote to say oh we'll just automatically reappoint anyone who wants to be on that's on now I don't I don't see that that's not my opinion um but I was going to compile that list from the on board thing I did it myself by hand last year because it was easier going through the on board to see which terms were expiring because the lists we get to me are slightly confusing and then take a look at the applications through the portal um and kind of cross those up and then we can start scheduling them for the week of April 12th and usually um last year well it was Lisa I'm assuming it'll still be Lisa around the 12th of August to just send emails to folks to say hey we're going to do these ones at 6 o'clock these ones at 7 o'cl or whatever we're going to have the marijuana interviews too probably and marijuana guys get up on conservation who knows right it's gonna be a night of interviews well we can always have and we did it a couple of years ago I think we actually just had an additional meeting night during the week where we did additional interviews just because it you know they don't tend to run long but it it can make for a long meeting very good all right so um let's see we little business that's pretty much everything that's on this list as far as me for old business um I have gone back and forth calling Maul as far as the lpp agreement um Nicole if you could they're they're hung up on the ex official I get and a lot of it has to do with having a voice that actually matters um what I do want to do is I want to see if that's something we can even do if not you know they're looking to have a liais on that's on archon com that's somebody that can hear be heard that's what they really want they're not so concerned about being voted as much as they are concerned about being taken not being taken for granted is the way they they kind of call they said it and I can I can understand wanting to have a voice that seems at least like it matters so I can understand that that's something I guess we need to look into even if we don't even know if we can because we right now we're still in the middle of we've got to figure out with that after a town meeting we voted to make conservation commission reelected for appointed and we're still somewhere in the middle of that I don't think we've ever had a uh consensus on that oh no it's the bill was engrossed I don't think it's ever made it in front of the and the Senate so we kind of Nicole if we could look into that to the Conservation Commission where that status is and then at the same time if it's even possible to have an outof Town outof state number on your Conservation Commission as anicio at least I looked into it and I can answer that for them um and then we can work on their other concerns elsewhere the one thing they added um that we talked about I don't know if I brought it up to this board yet or not was they are I I'm pretty sure I did was the third party audit um they've agreed to they would like an audit from outside we I asked Mr Maul if he exactly what he was looking for he's basically looking for an non-biased uninterested party to confirm the audit that comes from our Lake management or like are are they going to secure somebody to audit it um they I don't think we're paying for an satisfy them well there's um they want the third party pick somebody they like that's and um they would like us to split the cost so my concern is this um I've worked in municipal government for 27 years I can understand why they would want a third party audit I understand this board's position I personally there's three versus one I would have no problem splitting the cost to make this especially to get this lpp put in place but that's my opinion um do we know what it would cost no that's that's again it's but this is a work in progress that's what we're here to discuss this is I'm letting you guys know my opinion is that just that I mean if we're talking $10,000 and it's a $5,000 thing they can easily choose a resident of their choice or two or three or four to go around with our guys when they go do the audit this was brought forward to them by Mr chever that was one of the things that was offered um and their select board isn't comfortable with that they res their select board their own residence if they they don't want anybody from Lake management they don't want they they want an outside uninterested party not that's that's exactly what they said so that's that's what has come up that's the one thing they wanted it would be a year to come up with this they want us to spend more money to recoup some of the money over the next four or five years on an agreement but the other thing is is we tell them already spending the other thing is we tell them you know the board asked me to go talk about this and this is what they wanted to talk about this was the thing I think you're sensing my opinion on that oh I have no doubt about your opinion on that um I understand it but you know I to me it would depend on what we're talking about as far as that's my opinion if it was short money to get this agreement in place that worked for everybody otherwise minus I don't that works for our residents I can let them know that it's not up to me I don't think our residents would vote for that well this is what I you know what I brought back as far as what they wanted um like I said the other option is we don't have an lpp agreement and we tell them go get your chapter 91 LIC that's the other option and then I don't know how we Patrol and deal with that Chief banish I mean really the state deals with it and then we've had this discussion I I explained to them that if we do the chapter 91 the state can come along and take your deck your dock away and then the enforcement part is that's always been kind of the the rub and like I explained to Colin Maul that you know if there's a violation that doesn't get paid it turns into complaint goes there complaint doesn't happen then your your resident has a warrant so I um I wholeheartedly agree with Diane on this one I know you're the messenger here so my suggestion is to have them come up with what that number would be and I would also cordially invite the any of the South uh Southfield Board of Selectmen to come to a select board meeting or if they want to invite us we'll drive all the way to Southfield not buying ice cream though and um and we can have a conversation about it as a board to understand what it is that is the concern I'm not trying to undermine you this is what I got from Mr not be an imp this like I I joked about it last week like Norm went around on a boat and counted the docks so you could have another guy go out count the same Dock and if they're off by one we'll give up a we'll give up a dock because there's no ref get either I get it and so you know as an option they can adopt the agreement without an audit they can perform an audit if it's substantially different from the numbers we can give them a credit and I I get it you're the messenger here so I'm just saying that in the interest of getting this done because I think it is a good Cooperative cooperation between um Southwick and Southfield to to have this and it's good for the lake as a whole to have the lpp um if it can be done without a lot of administrative overhead and burden and you know by doing that you know because the easy answer is yeah you're right go get your chapter 91's allia good luck enforcing it right for everybody too um and but there are benefits to the lpp so it's worth the conversation and I don't I'd like to really understand from the subfield Board of Selectmen what is their major concern with the survey I I get I know you're not going to answer I'm saying that would be my concern to take back to them and say hey guys we're willing to work with you what is it that's your concern and how can we allay those concerns because no one's believe me we're not trying to pay off our sewer betterments with with the lpp money right we would have had a lot more docs right so that's where that is um and like you said it's not where I I told Mr M anything's worth talking about so I bring it back to you guys and I will bring it back to them and actually I will make that uh recommendation that maybe we go I we go there or they come here or we just have to post if we go there we have to post and um see what they want to do I guess I brought it up num they Norm brought it to my attention and said hey we're going around doing this and you have one of your own members on like I believe like management they have their own their own people on there and no no that doesn't work for my select board so I don't know well but like I said if I I wouldn't be opposed if it was short money down the road but you know that's that's my opinion to make this like you said to make the the thing work um in the spirit of cooperation as well but um so that's where that's at I just wanted to bring everybody up to speed on that and that is all I have for old business I got one quick one we had an outstanding uh query to legal council on one of us making comments that were um perceived to me from the board and I had asked for a review on that um I did get a response finally while it was not a clear and distinct ethics by violation as it pertains to free speech it was gray um he strongly advises against of course using our official email addresses they implied influence um and um but it is a violation of town social media and Telecommunications policy as well as the board commissions and um boards and commissions handbook in our select protocols utilizing that so um yes so um you know although not included in his written response he cautions that we all take Extra Care particularly in discussing information that we haven't discussed as a board yet either and that's where we sit on that okay so caution very good and as I said when that happened I didn't think when I use my email there's a copy for you that and that's all I had that was an oversite on my and I was scold it at home for it too so that's all I had very good Mr M uh couple treat things one is um appreciate the meeting that we had last week and the the format in which we approached the meeting Mr chairman I think it was very productive um to kind of have a little more open dialogue than we normally do in a select board meeting um and um I know I mentioned it during the the radio show thank you both for listening to that by the way um much appreciated but you know to call that out I think it it went a long way thanks for getting my joke um I think it went a long way to kind of taking the temperature down a little bit for what was you know a rapidly escalating situation to let people that were grieved and upset about what was going on over there to have their their say and then also have this board be able to kind of respond and and kind of um have a kind of an open dialogue and which is not the normal uh way that we run our meeting um I and so kudos to you that being said I do feel that the um the way that we're approaching this is a little bit um disjointed and it's a it's a function of the open meeting law so I would like to suggest um that we kind of put together I don't know what you want to call it a task force a committee a working group or something uh for North Pond um first is uh to me is how do we create rules that are enforcable you know for for and and this is nothing against us or the concom but if we say hey no barbecues at North Pond that who has the ability to tell somebody hey you can't have barbecues at North Pond and if someone says go pounce in or I think the word in that I read was SAS if someone treats you with SAS what do you do then just because the rules say that doesn't mean it has the a rule of law or any kind of way to a mechanism to ask people to comply um and maybe maybe I just don't quite get it maybe it is that then you trespass someone and say okay we don't want you here well who has the authority to make and enforce those rules do we need to go in front of town meeting if we're going to create a town bylaw for Town owned properties which we certainly have the right to do and then but it would have to go in front of town meeting to do that but those are the kinds of things I'd like to see discussed reconfigure the parking area with fewer spots to discourage large Gatherings either in the parking lot or along um that property and you know just as a suggestion is for task force members obviously there'd be a representative from the police Police Department fire department uh potentially a representative from concom even um Department of Public Works this board and perhaps even a resident or two or three um not too big that it becomes unwieldy and hard to have a meeting but at the same time that it has the stakeholders you know I you know we I stopped by a couple times this weekend and you know the Jersey barriers are great and everything else but someone mentioned hey if that ambulance needed to get in there they have no way to get in or nor out of that property so maybe there'd be a better way to have that such some you know a chain or something that could come down you could get the ambulance in and get the ambulance out um and you know Mrs I know Mrs lank is still on the phone because I'm agreeing with her two weeks in a row um but um you know she makes some good points you know we talked about last week what you can and can't do up there and there's you know a lot of I don't call it ignorance of the rules of what you can and can't do up there I went up there on Thursday or tues might even might even mid Monday I don't remember but I went up there and took pictures of the signage that's up there this ridiculous there was no signs on other than you know half of an 8 and a half by 11 sheet of paper that says what you can and can't do I know they're on our website but no one goes on our website right to read what oh I better look on the website to see what the rules are here that should have been on the kiosk in big print right I don't know how much effectual would have had but at least you had a leg to stand on when you tell people hey can't have a barbecue over there where does it say that okay um you know that should be part of the committee and and what they're doing you know and I uh again I want to thank everyone in town um and in town hall that was flee to foot in um you know whether it was making signs that got put out there to temporarily close the area to sending a letter to the director um to moving the barricades out there to organizing patrols um asking for patrols to be out there for this weekend um you know I I said during our meeting that the one thing that that you know government is not as Swift We were very very Swift this week um and you know but we still have a lot of process to go through and things that we need to do and I you know one of them was to uh go through the process of having South longard flag for no parking someone raised an excellent point I think it might have been Mrs LeBlanc that the Hunters Park along South longard one week a year okay perhaps we can do something about that in part of the parcel but the the bigger issue is we got to get there's a process that we have to follow to have that permanently flagged no parking um but those are the things and I just with the open meeting law you know I'm calling know Mrs Parker you're calling Mrs Parker you're calling Mrs Parker I talk to Rett I you know and we're all I don't want to have us and you know I don't want to have us directing people in three different directions that because it's disjointed the way work have us having them have to explain it three times to update true too right and so I you know that's just you know my take on it you know but you know much appre and we have to follow through because this will this and I saw on there was some posting on social media that there was you know areas nearby where they were using now to get at the lake I saw there was activity around parking around bab's Beach that suddenly became a Hot Topic I don't know if that's total coincidence I tend to think not but who knows so we if we have to remain Vigilant and get where we're going and I did send a letter to um a letter strongly worded email to Miss Parker you know I think that at this point you know we have to be it's it's incumbent on us as as this elected board to take the feedback that we got from our residents to act in the absence of action by others for the last four years to bring the situation to some sense of normal say you know as much as I I um appreciate and like to see our police officers receive a commendation if I never have to give one out again because a police officer was actually in danger responding to a call i' be I would willingly make that trade so it it's incumbent on us as a board um to see this through and see this property um this beautiful beautiful piece of property used in the way that it was intended when we secured that conservation restriction and took the state's million along with our $3 million uh to buy it and preserve it and I I don't want to see it continue to get just destroyed in the way it's been been handled so far and then you know all the rest that comes with it where we've had a problem up there maybody wants to come there and walk it and and use it in the way it's intended I encourage everyone to do it but we just have to set the place up well and we I want to get it back open as quickly as possible as soon as it's safe to do it right and so but we can if we meet every week and talk about it for 10 minutes we need to kind of have a group that's GNA lay out some things and and and and kind of move it forward and get it done so that's just um you know I was I would have liked to have seen this on the agenda this week because I think it's such a hot pressing topic we need to carry it and certainly carry it under old business until we get that point to a place that's open and I think some of the things that we need to do is just just like we do in a lot of other things is make is set it up for Success post the rules reduce that parking lot there's no need to have a parking lot that can hold 20 or 30 cars or more than four or five right how many people are going to be there that are going to go walk their dog or walk on the property or what have you um in the way that that property is intended to be used um so that should all be part and partial of this group to whatever you want to call it but I really think it should be and you know maybe it's a huge power grab and I'll I'll take the blame for that but um I think the time for for talk by others and and and you know they it has been done it needs to be done so let's you know move forward to get it done um we talked about the appointment process um I'll talk to the new Senior Center Director because I really want to make sure that we are noticed when there's large events at the senior center those are always a fun time to go to and check in and talk to folks um and I I think that kind of fell off process a little bit over the last uh several months um and uh this was more for Diane I know we had chatt about this as part of the uh mic but it seems we've lost control of Southwick 20 40.com someone didn't renew the domain okay so um I did not hear back from I did send an email to the person who made the website I believe they still have all the stuff but the website is no longer under our control okay so we'll have to try to figure that out how we're how we could either put it back someplace else and change the points from the town website to the new site or what have you but all the documents are on the planning board page any yeah but there was a lot of links on there to that website and so they obviously don't work now um yeah so we have to just kind of figure that out you know and as the as the I think the master plan implementation committee is going to want to have that type of that material and plus be able to use that website for outreach and and for other stuff as well so hopefully we'll be able to come up with some kind of solution for that so you're taking the lead on I am not I did send a a a note to um I think there something we as a town we have to kind of look at it was kind of a policy that we had for a while and we still we still have the policy that if a board or commissioner committee makes a website that they basically hand over a copy of the keys to a town employee um I don't know that 100% that happened in this particular instance um just because appointed coming you know appointed and elected come and go or you know something happens where something's compromised you need to have a steady hand in town hall that can you know move something erase something or revoke did we make that clarification when they started that website though yeah I was on the impact I did tell them that and and apparently they did and I I just think it got it it didn't go to the it didn't go to the employee who was supposed to have it but a town employee did have it and so it fell off their calendar and they didn't renew the domain short story yes so anyway that's something that's not overcomable but we we've got to figure that out uh that's it for me sir I I covered the Adon thing so thank you Miss Forker if I may just a little bit on the Conservation Area um you know we did act very quickly right to shut it down because that's what needed to happen um it should be open uh the lake access is the is the only thing that's keeping you know it's because the lake is there if it was a mountain if it was just a hiking trail it wouldn't happen so it's really about um removing the access to the lake and tomorrow I do have that I will be seeing all you know the conservation and the state and you know I do apologize for not being on the agenda um but I since I didn't necessarily have an update and you know talk with the different groups I really believe Lake management should be on there too um they're going to the lake so they do have some responsibility for what's happening on a Shore um so you know I'm hoping to speak with these different groups come back to you with some suggestions and after I speak with the state tomorrow have other information for you as well and we really we hadn't planned this it wasn't on the calendar we we threw this one in at the last minute well so but and I noted it wasn't on there as well and we had that conversation and in previous with there had been previous violations by others on that property state was in favor of installing a fence either at or past the shoreline and um I'm not a proponent of that but I think that was the level at which the state was willing to go in order to preserve and protect that Northbound area it's probably going to be one of the only real solutions because people from the boats come out they want to picnic and then the people come from the and that's the only issue is accessing the water we've got to stop the access to the water get it I I I don't have the solution but and I didn't know of the visit to I hopefully this week he'll be given back to me with good y those trees coming down when they come down they could be you know they could be strategic players and part of that process too anything else is farter no so all right we have exact session I was just I don't believe we do late agenda so for an unscheduled meeting somebody asked me thought you guys weren't meeting I said wellow we took advantage of the opportunity I it was we actually missed when I saw Miss Parker's so you know she's like well since we were right meeting I and I'm GNA be not I'm nor am I I will be get I'm preparing for my surgery okay I will not be here oh I kep my powder dry on this other stuff I know no executive session no executive session I would be looking for a motion to add second roll call Jason I I mug yes very good thank you for your patience one more time almost