##VIDEO ID:mSoBPuAT4ls## it is 6:02 pm on Tuesday August 13 2024 and I am calling the wait meeting of the weightly select board to order uh item number one on the agenda is to review and vote to approve the meeting minutes from July 30th 2024 is there any discussion no comments comments question to approve the minutes second all in favor I I I roll call uh next we typically review and discuss vendor and payroll warrants but those are not available at this time so we will take them up at next meeting um yeah our accountant is on vacation having a good time uh public comment do we have any public folks no Nobody by Zoom who would like to provide comment on anything um appointments uh ahead of 16 10 p.m. we have a public hearing to consider a petition submitted by eversource for the placement of a utility poll on streets Road at the intersection with River Road I open that hearing and eversource are you available and ready to speak to us hi yeah I'm here online excellent so what we would like is to hear your request uh for the placement of utility poll the board will discuss it and ask you any questions if necessary if there are members of the public who have questions they will type in and then uh the we will close the hearing and the select board will discuss and make a hi yeah so we're we've been having some um load growth in wayy so we're planning to add this poll in kind of in the middle but tune two existing polls just so that we can use that for this load growth for our capacity so we're you know building on our existing structures and we would need the extra po to do that so we're just adding it right between the two poles that exist on Straits Road I actually think the two one pole is on Straits Road and the other is on I think that's Main Road and is there a map included or description I see the description yes after the after that there and it folds out look at that beautiful look at that this is and I'm sorry would you state your name again yep my name is Desiree Dodge hi Desiree thanks for being here would it be okay that ask them to camera so they can be at least if Des can we see your face you absolutely can give me one second yep hopefully I can get this to work hi everyone Hi hi alrighty so I also have the map in front of me as well terrific so you sent out notices to a butters for the hearing have you we don't see anybody here in in the public who has do we know Brian is here who Brian oh Brian I don't know Brian's last name but Brian via Zoom are you here for the eversource meeting okay you not okay right any questions or comments from the board um usually we bring up the the double PS um yeah I did talk to someone about that so this is a job um that was submitted by uh one of our U project Specialists Michael Santos but he's not here um so I'm filling in from him so they did give me a background story on those double polls um I believe that there was 47 of them that you guys were concerned with and I think we did remove 41 of them already um still lot yeah there's still um there's still a good number um and member of the of our town um said there's um at least a couple that have been here well over a year there's two um just west of the bridge on Christian Lane that's just been taken down to one lane I'm told um and then there's one uh what's called a leaner somehow um that on Long PL Road um south of the elementary school by about a half a mile so those are three that I know about that I am told have been here for more than a year I don't have documentation to give you but I've got no reason to think that the the you know the citizen Supply information is is making that up um Keith is here Keith May uh our high there's far more than those three but those three at least have been there more than a year yeah I did we get a list of those ones because the again I got this from somebody else cuz there was some talk about it maybe a little while back between you and projects that there was 47 that were listed um so I don't know if those three that you're talking were on that list or if these are outside of the those ones that were provided to us um it might be good I mean we we've um got a new Town Administrator since last time we had a poll hearing so this is this is Pete's first poll hearing so we yeah no we want to address those polls too because they are you know Hazard for us if they're leaning over over um and I know that they are making the efforts to um get those taken care of for you guys um so as far as I know we are go ahead uh you say there was a list of 47 and you re removed 41 Keith would you say there are more than six remaining yes okay so that the 47 is not comprehensive account yeah could we could we possibly get from you yes I could that list I could prepare another list plus the ones on the list that you think have been taken care of and the ones you think have not been taken care of right because because it's that it's often you know we just keep submitting the same thing but somewhere on on your list it's been checked off it's done it's not actually done I mean I could see where that kind of an error could could slip in yeah let me clarify um the place where you would like to submit the new poll is there an existing poll in we are ending up with another poll or are you Joyce requesting that prior to us approving this you'd like other polls well that would be in the discussion of the select board to whether to hold up this one until some more of the get taken care I think a reasonable point to that is if any of the six that desate believes is on the remaining list are within the vicinity of this request because if the request is to do this poll but there are still double polls there they should mitigate the double poll at the same time y y okay um Keith do you have any questions or concerns I mean some of them are definitely are I'm G to say three three plus years on a few of them that they've been yeah in Li both waiting for things to be transferred are the Comm still oh yeah that's the big it's you know and this is the always the problem in many cases ever source is is usually the most responsive to work that needs to be done right so we can't remove any of the ones that Communications are still on just because we can't touch their facilities so I I don't know if this the list is longer than 47 and 47 is the number that we are completely ready to transfer over and maybe the uh ones that are still in place are waiting on like Verizon or um some kind of uh Communications like a cable or something like that I think I heard you say transfer over 41 are ready to transfer over so they're not taken down no I'm saying I don't know if the 47 that we have on the list 41 of them are done I don't know if that number of 47 are ones that we could have worked on because let's say the number was 60 but only 47 we could have moved over cuz there may be Communications like he had said um on those ones and those ones we can't um move anything over until Verizon or if it's cable TV is still on them I think we need to get lists from both and ever source and well yeah we need to check list because if we're looking at two different lists then there's no there's no sense in that yeah do you know who um that was originally submitted to the ones that were um had issues with you guys who who um from ever Source it was given to back in your in the last time you that search computer for that yeah I think it was an action item for Brian Brian um and he would have probably kept a record somewhere of who we sent it to so we'd have to probably look that up oh okay it looks like it was yeah he's trying to find it in real time okay no problem yeah I just want to make sure that um because I know that we are actively working on them right now from whoever the list was given to um and I want to let them know the six that that are left I believe they're still obviously going to do those ones and then if there's anything outside of that on the list I'm wondering if Communications is still on them and that's why we can't move everything over how's it going in real time um well I did find an email but this was between Brian and Natalie BCE um which actually acknowledges that there were six over 60 but 14 so that kind of gets us to this 47 that 14 had the rise in Communications which was why they were not on the list right so it must have been 61 right and we do have here the other 14 that are outside of it because they were Verizon and unfortunately it's only a street name not a uh whole number oh mhm so those ones so I think the the 47 which we've done 41 out of them we have six left that we're still actively going to be replacing um those remaining 14 we need Verizon to do some work CU without them we're not unfortunately we're not able to touch their plant so um yeah I think like I said there's six left that we're working on currently so those should are you all in touch with Verizon like every day saying hey Verizon no yo yeah yeah yeah yeah we um our processes we're supposed to be reaching out to them which we have to get them to do stuff this would have been prior so that double wood that you're seeing um is something that they're already seeing from us the request to change it um as far as making them do it um they're a whole different entity they you know but you see how much they listen to us right right right it's it's kind of like s unfortunately as far as we go like making the request um seeing where they're at with it they kind of give us similar answers as they would to the general public as well that's how they kind of treat us in this thing I mean we can reach back out to them and I'm sure that when this list came in we probably already have um but where they're at with it that I don't know they might need a reminder though yeah we can send a reminder these other six and um and we keep getting they they got this real Bach on the spor selectman there who just gets on our case all the time about these polls that you guys AR Stu on yeah so those should be done if we have six left I wouldn't imagine it would take very long to finish those ones I don't know when that list do you have the date there with you um that that was sent out that list it was in 2023 but that's not not the list that was just a back and forth with our State Rep um like formal I was trying to see a time frame for us of how how fast we completed um least a year ago or so we I think denied BS just because we were so seted up with not getting any action on the double pulse right right yep so I think go ahead go ahead I was I think for us what what we can do is just the six left and then the reminder to Verizon to see where they are at with that as well for the remaining 14 and then once they transfer everything over then we can go back out and complete those the six that are left are your responsibility that solely any communication is off of them that's for my that's from my understanding CU they gave me confirmation today that there was 4 that we could do and we did 41 already Yes Jesse Martin this was back in 20 June of 2022 Jesse um was the one that was working with our previous Town Administrator that had put together the lists the weight Le double pull report okay I don't know if that helps I can yeah Jesse Martin he still works in the department oh great okay yep Jesse Martin works at ever yeah yeah there were other email back and forth on the Verizon thing because I guess the Verizon more problematic Point yeah resp all right do we need to gather any more information to close the hearing and discuss and make a determination I'm s i all right I'll close the public hearing portion uh the select board will now discuss and determine what to do is there a motion I I have no problem with this particular poll the question is how it fits in with the double P right right yeah how about you choice I feel similarly I think the only time we've gotten responses in the past was to refuse to allow the polls to go in um and uh I think there's been a lot of progress on the other hand so um it I me I don't want to be another poll hearing or we have to be really mean uh Peter we have another poll hearing next time for Verizon project this it seems like we could get mean with Verizon get Verizon we should not you have a much larger quanti that are problematic because of rizon and ever sources solely are much smaller in quantity y y and and has seen actions in the last roughly one year okay I so I would move go ahead that we approve the placement of the poles and is marked on our map one one pole it's one pole and it's put in between two other poles yeah that would not close enough to be those um and uh yeah a jointly owned poll um as shown on the map I will start no comment from the property owners who are near it so all those in favor I I all right go install your PO aw sent off to you thank you so much and I will Hound down Jesse Martin for you guys thank you thank you very much no problem you guys have a good one you too bye byee good night okay new business first item is to review vote and sign on warrant for the 2024 State primary here that's one does anybody have any questions or concerns how about the warrant we approve the warrant as the V second all those in favor I signature yeah this one get all three yep yep I believe all but the K's agreement gets all three so the the double those two yellow tags are the petition from my source that they need all three okay all right maybe I'm just getting excit next item appointment of election workers Amy do you want to speak to that oh I just had a few people reach out who would like to help out in September but especially November so they just need to be appointed one of the um people on that list is a high school student she is a senior honor student who is looking to do some community service hours so I'm very excited excited about that because I did put a call out to Frontier for a couple of honor students to come in and help out service um are these volunteer or they paid positions the high school students volunteer the rest are paid so on our list which one is the high school student that would be the lady name okay and also out of curiosity does a high school student have to be of voting age or not um so the state of Massachusetts allows you to have two 16 or 17 year old okay students uh volunteer they do not have to be registered to vot all right do I have a motion I to approve the appointment of the six people named on this list as election po workers oh second that all those in favor I I I to back up and clarify this is not just for the primary this is also for the general election right it's for 20204 also want to say to the public that Amy I believe is still looking for folks for the general elction looking for for no yeah so if you're interested her particularly a vote counter Amy would be very grateful uh next appointment of senior operator Highway Department Dylan you toen you to venis thank you he you want to speak to um Brett Peter and myself did the interviews of the two existing employes that showed interest from within to move into the senior operator labor and after reviewing L interviewing and having a discussion afterwards we came to the conclusion for to appoint Dylan into that position and and has Dylan previously worked for the highway department yes yeah oh yeah that's what I thought quite he has the most seniority of the two terrific employees both were employees yes both of them are very good and they both I wish I could make both of them senior operator I mean they're they're both very good qualified applicants good okay do I have motion to we Appo Dylan as the senior operator Highway Department he can't there was the recommendation the additional the recommendation includes a requirement uh to apply additional supervisory ret training such as through the basate roads program within six months of this appointment and we'll be doing a U an another probationary period even though he's an existing employee probationary in this position review his progress as time goes on so okay okay I've got your motion motion as I second that all those in favor I I Dylan we're so proud of you congratulations Dylan uh discuss and vote on potential date for special town meeting uh it has come up with uh two separate potential meeting dates which are in the Town Administrator meeting packet on page two toward the bottom 22nd October 22nd and November 12th yes just as informational my I believe uh your normal practice has been to hold your special Town meetings following a select board meeting y you may prior to or prior to yeah you typically do it onest like board night is that right right typically yeah there's some compelling reason to do it outside schedule so these dates were you know your typical dates uh one thing I do want to note or there are two notes um the first is the primary requirement that you have to hold the a town meeting is posting of that warrant when it comes to a special town meeting you have to actually post the warrant two weeks before the meeting annuals are only one week so it does mean that we have to have it actually printed finalized printed so that it can be posted and then near two weeks the other thing is a lot of the potential articles are requests to use free cash in order to use free cash we need to certify that the cash um I need the accountant is currently on vacation um we're still discussing getting that free cash certified that is pretty much on schedule except for one piece that is making it problematic um and it is the outstanding uh invoices to casts for their police detail essentially we have invoices to an outside entity during FY 24 that have not gone paid which impacts our free cash which could require a negative on the free cash because we have not received payment on those so we're looking at what we need to do as a process um it it granted it is I believe around $6,500 so somewhere around there um so it's not a huge amount but it do it is creating a problem um and it is a problem that we have do have to discuss unless they were to get caught up beforehand um but otherwise that's the only thing right now Dar pretty much is on track for getting uh that that free cash certified um but she will be back next week so when we have your board meeting at the end of the month I can give you a further update as to where we are and certifying free cash isn't certifying free cash something the state does like we a process that we're doing with them and we just never know when it's going to be that's true yep which is why this unpaid thing also helps slow it down and which is why we're concerned about when we can definitively know when the free cash can get certified um because that piece is impacting that process we we have to give them a definite number yes and then they're looking at it yes and um so it seems like the later the two dat might be the same more realistic yeah because I don't remember free cash being done by like October 1st is when we have to sign that war right well or just you just can't hold the the it would be impossible for town meeting members to vote on an article requesting use of free cash if you haven't certifi the yet so it's really the town meeting date is the date but it would be good to know that you have you don't want to be walking into town meeting and say we still have not heard the state we're going to have to hold off this right yeah I mean unless if if there were other articles that were just really imperative yes um to get done and there's an advantage doing those earlier U like the October 22nd date and you know like have another one later certif yeah so curious are any of the um potential articles on the warrant that time sensitive the only time sensitive one that I'm aware of is the CPA fund request to do the center school project um I don't have the specific detail but I do recall Judy mentioning uh a request that that meeting be in October or that the the CPC fund or the CPA fund sorry be appropriated in October but I don't know how definitive that still is that back in June you could double I see here we don't have to set the we can two more weeks can check the June and see if that is if November 12th is a problem or may need October 22nd that's no problem and also a request from the board that um Castaways holding up they owe so we can which we've asked them for before we sure it's worth yeah I can yeah I it's not really an agenda item this meeting but maybe for another meeting the question and he might need some time to look into it what is it we can do if they don't pay those bills and uh that's a and along those lines people you know whether they are up to date their taxes are they were up to date as of O as of July 31st but then of course the next tax bill came out on August 1st uh but they were behind before they were behind up so now there's the new quarterly um yeah which they may or may not be behind on which they may or may not be behind on also there was the fact that in August um the business was going to be purchasing the property because the property was owned by a separate entity and there was supposed to be a closing that was supposed to happen in early August so that the business and the property were owned or yeah Castaway's business was also owning the land uh the communication that we've heard recently does not indicate that that happened um but a closing would have required up up uh getting up to date on your real estate taxes as part of your uh reporting process um but I don't know we have we've been trying to reach out and unfortunately they not getting responses so um I don't have specific details I I can just confirm that they were definitely caught up on their property taxes as of July 31st okay and they so at least they pay what they had owed yes as of June okay all right so we will table the decision about a potential date until the next meeting and you'll get more information from uh the center school committee about whether particular date or another is necessary their Grant process it seemed like their grants were they were going to have some decisions in September yeah and if the decision came out one way they would need to get the commitment within a time period so but if the decision's not out yet then they may not know they may not know by the end next by our next meeting yeah uh and so yeah I did so on this same topic I did put together a list of all the possible articles that you could consider for inclusion on this warrant and I'm happy to put together a draft of that warrant for your next meeting with all these ones unless there are certain ones you definitively don't want to include um some of these are some standard operating procedures uh one is um moving the opioid from funds from the stabilization fund to a Special Reserve account not review account a reserve account correct um this is actually happening in almost all communities Massachusetts originally everybody was advised to create anization fund when those funds were coming in unfortunately it doesn't mean it's very problematic to actually use and expend the funds so but if you put it into a Special Reserve account it makes it a lot easier for us to rather than going back to town Mee need every time we want to go use funds for opioid Addiction Services or educational it actually can go into the reserve fund and be under the control of the of Health in order to do such um so it just makes it more flexible um and all other communities are doing this um and it's just a what you legally can do with the money and how based on the type of account y uh item number two budget we do have that prior year bill of the assessor CA Cai Technologies which is simply the assessing platform that we have on the public website um this prior year Bill does not need to be in your special town meeting you always have prior your bills in your annual say we happen to know we happen to know about this bill now so I just listed it and it's possible you can do it you don't have to um number three was that Center School CPA number four in Community Development we have two different Grant items that need Capital funds the first is that mvp Grant which I will mention later on but essentially this is a reimbursement Grant meaning we need to allocate the capital funds to then be able to pay the invoices on that project and then the state will reimburse us so that was an $882,000 and change um Grant so we need to allocate that 82,000 which we will then get returned um that 82,000 is over the course of two fiscal years I should go to uh and then the comprehensive plan Grant we had a commitment when we apply for that Grant to do a 10% match therefore uh we need $842 as the match portion for that Grant and that is uh for work on the comprehensive those are two Grant items next one is the fire department they currently have a Special Reserve fund where all of their inspectional fees are going into theer Reserve fund but they cannot expend money from it because it's in a reserve fund so the request is to convert it into a revolving account you have in your general bylaws a list of various revolving accounts essentially revolving accounts are created as a mechanism to be able to collect fees those fees go explicitly into that revolving account and the controlling body can then use those collected fees on their program so the same thing is requested here just like the existing ones is to create a fire department revolving account that is explicitly set up to collect all fees and then now those fees would be used by the fire department in order to either do education training or provide for equipment to do those inspections um are there Monies currently in a Special Reserve fund if so how much is C and with that and with that being moved overol yes this item five is a two-parter it's first to create the revolving fund so you do the general bylaw Amendment and then once that article is approv approved the next article would be to move the monies from That Special Reserve into the r account uh the purpose of this revolving account is it would never be funded by uh town meeting it will it will be self funded uh there are some revolving accounts that are out there that do get accommodated by town meeting Appropriations but this one um I off off in my head I don't recall and the chief is not on right now but he will be joining us later that um um this item number six um is a place holder um I believe the select board had been discussing that when I think it was when Brian was here actually the potential of purchasing a strip up land that is adjacent early uh field um along the River Road um I don't believe that piece of land is necessarily up for sale but I believe the discussion was that a board member maybe I'm not sure the details on this would be reaching out or talking with that land owner to see if they were or if they were even interested um this is more of a possibility I don't know if that yeah I know property has been talked about as POS as possible but I don't think it is I never heard that it was yeah then it's been that way for since my kids were in sports a little while they are about 30 right now so I think it was bubbling to the surface sometime in the spring oh so if something has happened to change that possible but if there's nothing right that has changed find out May I think l i mean the only thing that I can add is that the owner passed away and so oh the air is maybe more amable po make sure that other airs or whoever's going to get it is aware certainly was aware and chose not to ever seller yeah so that's no but whose plate is that on well I can I'll I'll look into it a little bit further that next week or next meeting sorry um I'll be able to let you know if it's something that we should consider a waight okay um item seven the police department um has a request it has to do with appropriating and repurposing funds for purchasing of new Firearms I don't have enough details just yet explicitly about this uh whether this really need to happen for your special or if it can happen for your annual but I can talk with uh Chief speak later on and didn't we just do that at our tell me just I think we put it off to special to a fall because I I feel like this request has been this was sounding yeah but I think that this was moved over into a special see I thought the I thought we approved the U the a purchase of the new Firearms I'm thinking I'm trying to remember that there was finance committee meeting that there was police vehicle there was a police vehicle but I thought it was like his part yeah I it did come up for discussion I'm clearly I think there was a fund that was not being utilized that the I think it was training yeah they did not need as much uh money for training um and they've got all their officers through the training and they want to repurpose it but uh I'm remembering I I don't remember it being at annual town meeting so I think we we did right um eight um Julie and I looking into a little bit further we believe this actually was already corrected so been looking at the Appropriations that were voted on for fy2 and what we have as the pay rate it actually meets the so I think this was an outstanding note from the interum Tas but it actually was resolved you did do here to I can double check on that because as I recall it was appropriating it was transferring money from a fund that did not cover salaries into a fund that they could use for salary I think yeah I think it happened last fisal year yeah yeah y y so I think this is actually just a old note that was there that yeah that may already be rectified and then finally there are two zoning items um the first is to approve the Fe the new the latest FEMA firm Maps um this is simply procedural essentially you approving FEMA f Maps Val verifies FEMA's map it's not saying that you're adding any requirements it's just allowing and ensuring that those properties that are within the flood zone get flood insurance uh there were two additional properties that fell into the flood zone now due to additional modeling that was done um this is more processed really what can happen is if those Property Owners determine that yeah my property is at a low elevation however my house was built at a higher elevation they can do what's called ala uh I believe it's ala where they uh submit a um an elevation study to the FEMA to verify that their structure their habitable structure is actually above that and that that's a private property um function it's not something municipality does but all the municipalities because we always refer to the FEMA firm Maps we have to acknowledge in the bylaws that we're utilizing the latest version so this is just to um refer to the latest version we can't reject it say maps are wrong I mean you could but it could negatively impact the property owners that would benefit from being able to um get that insurance um the second item is not directly related to FEMA The Firm M but it is related to the flood plane and it's specifically an amendment that the planning board has been working on to amend the flood BL flood plane bylaw that to get it a little more in line with masteral law but also to add in C process and procedure and what for need to review it what staff may possibly have to review it um it's a little cumbersome right now the main point here is Select board you probably recall you don't draft zoning articles you wait for the planning board to submit one so essentially this is notification that the planning board is working on one that might be ready for to for the select board to receive during your open warrant period um but obviously they have to hold a public hearing they have to finalize their bylaw myself Sylvie are and Sylvie and I are meeting with uh the chairs of con common planning board next week to discuss where they are with the draft see where we can make improvements see what their process is and kind of discuss this I mean for special town meeting if I remember correctly these could have been ready for annual town meeting except at the FEMA map Orland and if they approve its amendments they just have to go back back and do it again after the them of maps were approved I think that's correct yeah so they just put everything off yeah rather than have to bring it up twice I think you're right yeah okay those are all the possib articles that I'm aware of I don't know if the board is aware of or wants to take into consideration additionals there are a lot I know that this is a little bit more than you typically and it's not like you have say some of those are probably going to fall off National it's not I mean 10 articles could take 10 minutes or even 11 all right next item is to discuss and potentially vote on the potential venue change for future Town meetings before we move into discussion I want to say if I'm understanding correctly your your potential calendar for the special Town meetings means that we would need to set the date and location at our next board meeting no says the Tuesday August 27th um will that's when you're determining when town meeting is going to be you don't have to have the location locked in until you finalize the warrant the warrant say that earlier and I transposed that information and you could always after you open the town meeting or you can change the date yeah just has to be a later date you can't do it earlier but you can always push it so the the venue change for Town meetings we're talking about annual town meeting not no you could do it for this is up for because in general we have special Town meetings here in annual Town meetings yeah it's it's up for the board to decide if you want to do one location or two yeah yep in the past we've had two different locations yeah yeah just because uh for special time meetings the population who comes is fits in this room um it's not been a problem um but we want a place that's uh very accessible that's really the school although town hall is also accessible it doesn't always hold enough people uh that we get an annual Town meetings B crowded for annual Town meting and that's my concern doesn't even hold it in the upstairs Auditorium do that many people um well if you're really squeezed their elbow to Elbow you can get 200 people in there but I'm going do 300 people in town meeting and that's that's my concern about this building is that for a big meeting they would not be the for yeah so I think for annual town meeting it should be the elementary school now whether it's indoors or Outdoors that's um I mean that that certainly is both are possible we've done it in the gym before we've done it I think that often will depend on exactly when it is you're right right in a we've never done it outdoors in April but we've always done it Outdoors when we've done it in May June so there certainly have been complaints though particularly this year about one complaint there's been one complaint well I heard from a published news privately complaint yeah but I I think yeah true we didn't necessarily take a we also didn't hear the complaints that we would have gotten if it had been in side in true yeah would not have been that weather we can table this for yeah yeah this is more informational and discussion time okay uh next item to discuss and vote on the proposed fee schedule update for the fire department if I don't see that and come back to it yeah I didn't understand the stuff that we got in our packet on that so I had actually questions you I assume want to ask right yeah fire okay uh review and vote on Regional animal control services agreement the agreement which we thought was happening then wasn't happening and now is actually happening uh they approved it they yeah the advisory committee did approve weight ley's um joining the program all right uh Kyle and Kyle is here um representing the regional contral service uh program but uh we've been updating the information on our platforms and distributing information about contact and how to get a hold of the animal control services um and now it's just to finalize the agreement um the agreement is uh essentially the same agreement that you did see earlier this year when you were the program um and the only note that I do have in here is that when you put together the FY 25 budget it was the understanding that our participation would be $523 the the end calculation is $5,299 so there is a $65 discrepancy which we can easily Rectify in a town meeting or even a reserve B transfer that such a small dollar amount it could easily be a reserve fund transfer but I just do I want to note that one thing I believe that program participation Kyle you can certainly go into it that fee is always based on your budget your your program budget and the number of communities that you also have to in Yeah so basically it's whatever the budget is set is in Split amongst all the M counts so right I thought there was some verage in here regarding how it how yeah it's uh the town as well the5 yeah if I do remember reading that when this came to me an email it be towards the back of that pack would there be any pro rating given that we B approve membership until well I mean that would be about that $65 unforunately yeah and I think um I meyle speak so okay they have been they have been providing us some significant Mutual Aid during this G service that we are very thankful to the shelter and the the program to yeah okay any more discussion or do I have a motion I move that we sign the regional animal control services agreement second all those in favor I I I that will thank you uh next item to discuss and vote on posting of animal inspector position newly updated description of the position and I believe that Pete would like to post it to the public and he needs our approval to do that yes so the animal inspector position is it relates to the ACO but it is independent because it specifically deals with animal inspections uh primarily rabies um uh animal RAB issues as well as the main piece is our barn inspections the barn inspections are going to be happening October November time uh we do need an animal inspector in order to perform that this is a stien position with minimal um need this position it has been funded full as the stien but also a line item for U mileage reimbursement because this individual would be using their private vehicle and so we do have funds of allocated for mileage reimbursement um the job description that the Personnel committee approved was pulled together from example inspectional or animal inspector job descriptions from other similar communities um also finding following the guidance of the state department that oversees this program or this process um so we do have that finalized but yeah just a request from the board to now be able to post to I have motion or any questions or I've read this 13 times uh I move that we uh go ahead with this description of the animal inspector second all those in favor I I I'm sorry you're you're fine with that one we have to step back Kyle oh U no we don't need Kyle per se okay um with that Regional anal control program every participating Community has to have a representative on the advisory committee and there needs to be an alternate to act in their stad in case they're not there the history has been it's either a select board member a town administrator or a police chief serving in one of those two roles so you the board does need to appoint its representative and it's alternate representative for this year given ongoing litigation I would suggest the police chief I'm just saying he's he's really got the most knowledge of the right yep and there are a couple that do serve on it so that would be an issue yeah and they don't meet yeah I would suggest the police chief and we need an alternate then and I'm happy to be an alternative for one of the board members well I I nominate then officially CH to be our representative and B K to be our alternate all those in favor I I I all right sorry that y that's great uh old business ARA clf RF money a variety of before we move on just I want to go back to the poll you put a potential motion here for the approval of a poll you want us with with more specific language do you want us to go back and necessary it's not necessary no I was just looking at the specificity there the no it was just not what you what you did as a motion was completely fine because you did reference the plan as submitted that's the main point to that that's a great point though does the board want me to give you recommended motions for all items or just primarily public hearings I've always done it for public hearings because they're are pretty specific but I would say motion earrings or items which you think specificity in the motion so use your discretion you can always just pretend I didn't write something if I didet did think but no what your motion wased okay F I just saw this thanks for checking Fred uh rfrf there are several requests for the remaining unobligated $27,000 625 uh first is the request from Keith possibly for uh automatic door openers at Town Hall library and town offices and this is this is ongoing in the aspect that um it started what some time ago at town hall and then the library after they got their Renovations done is expressing interest in having the handicap bathroom in the basement so now that they have the the lift to get people downstairs if you're in a wheelchair it's very you know it's difficult without having an opener to get in and out of the bathroom so this just makes it easier and also Amy had spoken to me in regards to the the two doors here because again handicap people coming in yeah to get to the counter to pay or need services from the clerk or the treasur would also be a good inclusion so that puts a total of nine doors because there's six at the to all that were in the the town hall doors have been approved already yes there's our was $20,000 in ARA money towards that right so a little bit of time has gone by it's been stagnant to get completed um originally when we first were trying um get this done we were hoping to just be below the chapter 30b threshold but it's obvious that it's not so it's going to require more of a a bidding standpoint or quats things of that nature so things changed there in the method that we are trying to to get this done yeah yeah sorry to be like I'm not trying to push back or anything but for Town Hall you said there were four doors six doors so like the entrance at the front and the back there doors bathroom doors first floor there's four four four and upstairs two doors oh there's two doors upstairs the door that goes um out front to the staircase is that is that one of them yes so you would need wheelchairs to be able to it out to the staircase oh that was the front door yeah back door both men and women's bathrooms has three the back door as well right which is really the handicap entrance the exterior double side light door so that's out that's an exterior door that's downstairs the upstairs auditorium door in the door next to the community room see that's the other one oh downstairs downstairs yeah yes so only one upstairs only one upstairs corre that's right there's no need of getting one out to the stairway the yeah okay and then for this building it would be there's like two doors two doors are what would be required here and then at the library just they already have the the library already has the exterior door that was done some time ago but that was before before bathroom handic so there an interior drawer that'll be doing on that one okay and then that's it so that makes total of nine nine okay and nine means you have to go out to bed because the tot's going well we're in that yeah we're certainly it's it's what's going to be the easiest for us sorry no just wanted to kind of go through it I think I'm I'm going to get asked that's the real reason I asked questions and that's okay someone's want we're looking to do all of these as one bid I feel that would be beneficial if you're bringing a contractor in I just know you're G to get a better price to yeah no no I'm just clarifying oh and we don't want to do the restrooms here we're just thinking it's just the front is for people getting in for services primarily the likelihood of yes yeah the usage by wheelchair vot is really low on the restro it we've already allocated 20,000 towards the town hall doors be just an addition how you wrote it 11,500 the only problem though is that this estimate right now does not include the electrical work we're not quite yeah I'm not 100% I just have spoken to another company that just did the town of HS town hall and I spoke to him and he over the phone gave me an estimate of about $3,500 a door but he also said he was going to send somebody here to look at it all of our locations and give me a tight a tighter number realizing that it's we're going to require additional bidding numbers from him at a later time but so kind of a soft request of because it's not firm number waiting for firm numbers to really make correct okay because like for instance there's a possibility where the the double door here normally you have to have a a pad on either side here we would only need one on the outside one on the inside and one within the vestibule so that's three hit pads instead of four for two doors so there might be a slight savings there just when they do the evaluation is there a way that they can do walk outside inside that then you only well the problem is if you go into the vestibule and then you start looking at the bulletin board oh it'll close it'll close and now you're stu yeah yeah we tal we talked through it earlier today like oh doesn't really work yeah about all the ones I've seen where I work and U when you got that double door set up there's still two buttons inside but there's only one like electrical box that had to be installed it's got two buttons but you could always do one button and it's opening both sets at the same time that's one other way to do it where that that hit is actually sing the charge to pull yes I didn't I've not ever seen that yeah um where I work but there whatever the electrician or the the door guy they would know what yeah next uh Town Clark Amy has updated her request for funding electronic voting [Music] machines I secured a grant for $5,000 congratulations free and clear it's not a reimbursement it's not um anything with the match or anything like that um I did get a quote for one that you guys should have so I would just need the additional couple thousand um Joyce you had asked at the last meeting like what programing would be and I did talk to them and it's about $570 yeah yeah so what people are going to ask me is how much do how much do the do the people C right so if we're doing because if we're comparing being done by um by hand counting this just the counting right people still will do their ballots the same way but um but the ballots are going to be entered into this into this machine and it's going to count it and at the end of the night I'm going to take a take a tape and that's it we won't counters stay until midnight and is this a a scanner yes so it's an optical scanning system um and uh so each time we have an election there's a $570 cost at least in this year um so uh we won't probably have any time for this year's elections but in any given election year it's number of Elections times $570 is so for each election how much does it cost us for the people to stay so that number for November my co workers get approximately $20 an hour as counters I have ideally five teams of two so that's 10 people uh at 8 to9 10 say four saying the big one for like November so that would be this is just it's just how many hours I didn't T that probably four four hours 20 per hour that's $800 okay you're well gave me round numbers so that was I so $800 on a big election what about on like a local election where people it's about two and a it was two and a half hours and I had four teams of two so that's eight people that's two and a half hours saying like there's no discrepancies or anything like that that's about 400 okay um so it's it's numbers that are like some sometimes it's going to be less sometimes it's be I did ask if we could um use paper ballots for local elections is the turnout is significantly lower this state said no so yeah like use a tabulator for state and federal elections and just use hand counting yeah people still but they said no you can't go back so this is not voting machines this is a tabulator it's just reading that people are still going to fill out their their ballot and still it would be nice if we could still crank it and then take it out of the crank it will make the little sucky noise as it goes in yeah can you actually walk us through the physical process of how it works so so a voter will come in the ballot will look a little bit different okay it's not going to be the triy or bu or trifolded paper ballots that you get now it's one sheet okay you're going to mark your ovals you're going to go to the machine and you're going to slide it in and then you can get your eyot it sticker and being on your Mar you get a receipt and says do not get a receipt you don't get a receipt now right right but we know you have a piece of paper but but there will be the heart well you'll piece paper that will be your ticket that you get when you check in okay oh and you'll still have like the the ballots themselves are not they don't go they don't get shreded this so I go no I have to keep those for 24 months 27 months for a federal election okay uh one question I had when your previous request was $177,000 for two tabulators yes for a regular a backup yes now what we want do we need a backup so the state recommends a backup in case your machine fails however the state also allows hand counting if your machine fails so I know that the town kind of bed at Jesus $177,000 that's a lot for two machines I would honestly be fine and comfortable with one machine and if it breaks or something happens then we still know we those we'll hand that was my question getting one machine didn't commit us to I mean in ideal wonderful awesome world I would have two machines and I could have one here for early building and not have to Lug it over but the machines that they have now those especially the one that I want is not that it's it's not a big giant thing it's definitely hor signs of back machine or something yes yeah and uh because we only have one freeing there's no Wi-Fi or anything like that so the chances of hacking are zero it literally is not connected to the internet it's literally not connected to the internet it's just plugged in and it's counting the ovals and that's that yeah and that's literal in actual literal me not the way a lot of people when currently when we cast batt that go into the box which is blocked and yes no one has access to the what happens to the physical ballots after they get run run through the machine on they they're stored into the machine there is a compartment just like the B Bo they all go in there and you hope that they don't get like jumbl up because well there is an access obviously there's access to get into it if they get jumbled up or something happens and then they just get taken out at the end of the night and placed in okay they're in in a in a locked container on Election y there is a lock like the opposite of the paper tray on your printer right exactly it doesn't come out right could be subject to a paper jam if there's a paper jam then is there like an alternative place to lock them up like you might have to remove some if there's a if there's a paper jam I would take the paper out and leave it in the compartment if I could until the end if not the state does allow removal witnessed removal and placed in a locked bin which is how it is now okay so we we already have that locked bin or lockable bin well that's the ball B yeah yes yeah I'm sorry I thought you were talking about the B box itself but no if there's ever an issue I have bins that are lockable on site that I put any extra ballots so like when I bring the early voting ballots they're in a locked bin and then they get counted at the end of the night okay they're actually placed in locked bag and place in the water in case of flood we need one more layer of water in the locked plet within yes uh none of these are things that we need to vote on tonight but this is new information and it yeah does make it more palatable and I would still hold the informational session this yeah yeah still the issue with community and I think put something in the scoop and and don't be afraid to put numbers in the scoop because I think if people object to like oh my gosh because I think the first time we went through this the estimate was it's going to be $2,000 each time to program it but knowing that it's actually a third of that or less to do the to actually program it because that also seems like kind of a racket $2,000 really that's a lot that's an awful lotr that's too much that's pretty simple no our estimate $500 if we were a large city it would still be like $800 yeah okay uh thank you next request thank you Amy next request is from the fire department there's some information but no fire department to speak to it so we I can Havey to happy to give so I have spoken with the fire CH on this um originally you received the estimate for the mini split which was about $10,000 you did have a number of questions primarily on as to occupancy and what space it was going to benefit um in talking with the chief the Minit would actually be able to provide um conditioning to the meeting room the Radio Room the the chief's office as well as the bathroom um so this mini split not only helps to condition it but also helps to dehumidify the the space as well which the fire department is dealing with significant fold or has dealt with significant fold so be running it all the time it would likely yes in order to deal with only during high humidity issues or when there is humidity issues um they would be running it right which be also when you have usage charges so it could get quite expensive it could yeah I I think that you then have to take the fros and cons right the when you do have humidity issues and you're having mold it then is an Airborne issue right remediation remediation which those are longterm tend to be more expensive if you let them get exacerbated as opposed to doing preventative type of mechanism which you're right it does mean that the energy Hill could be higher unless we were to put in a heat pump down the road and convert it into a heat pump where it then reduces the energy load but it's still powering the split I'm always baffled I by the heat pump slash minisplit right question they're the same thing yeah a mini split is a kind of heat pump yes it's a kind of heat this one is like the less expensive one that's not really it's not really a heat per se it's just attached on the exterior of the the building and it's running drawing electricity directly for us there are other heat pumps that are actually utilizing the ground oh ground most yeah most many splits are air source yeah yes not thank you yes that's thank that's where where I was going appreciate that okay and then the other point was um he did have the request for three Windows Replacements um but he didn't have an explicit number now he does have an estimate and it's about 6,500 in order to replace those three Windows would that help with the humidity so that is one of my points to when he and I were discussing saying if it had to be one project or the or the other I would recommend the windows you want to do an envelope Improvement before you do any system Improvement um because the envelope is the biggest issue and so if there are problems with the windows they directly relate to yeah moisture impeding or cutting in or even transfering of the Heat and if he get goes from the single paint to the double pain it's really going to help with uh right key and um we keep we get notifications every so often maybe the T us too there's a lot of programs for Energy savings kind of improvements that um and I don't I don't know it because I'm being asked like I feel like once a month I'm getting an email asking me to have the mass CC folks come over and check my house and do a bunch of free stuff to it I've done it often enough that I'm pretty sure right now now there's nothing more that we'll do for free but you're allowed to right yeah you can do it every year or so the municipality has an availability for that and Keith and I and syby are actually doing an appointment September 9th we're doing it here but then there may be additional buildings that we it would be great to have somebody professionally look at that because there may be better installation there may be things that can help mitigate that um and the like you you off of yourself those assessments really are putting together a menu of things that you could do but it's not telling you you have to do this um so it is just a free program that allows us to see all of the possible uh improvements that we can do but with that assessment we can use that to then apply for Grants to paper because it really is the first step for you to demonstrate where yeah exactly prove that you're not just going to be putting the installation where you already have an r46 or something [Laughter] all right okay moving along to select board liaison updates start thank you ke oh um I've got two things on the senior center we had a nice meeting uh last time I reported that we just had a nice meeting with the Design Group that's doing the feasibility study there'll be uh an update meeting tomorrow um so that is progressing uh and then next week on the 21st there'll be an information fair and cruise night at herle Park there'll be a food truck I don't know which food truck it'll be you'd have to call and B the senior center folks for that but that's at 4:00 at hurle he and um I think it technically goes till 6:30 or something like that but uh you know it's just the information tables from various organizations and I assume people will be putting their vehicles out for cruise night and a party atmosphere and U don't miss that I'm going to try and get there I get out of work in time and get there before they close what the I don't know what the food truck is so what's the date again the date is next Wednesday the 21st water department met last week they are purchasing some they have problems ongoing with um Saddles that connect various underground pipes rusting through and breaking so they're looking for something that's longer lasting they're going to be purchasing some stainless steel ones that seem to be they're going to be purchasing at least past stainless steel ones and see how they work before they make a significant investment and then second is is they're making decisions about the difference between residential water drinking water hookups and um sprinkler or long sprinkler as fire sprinkler hookups um whether there would be an additional charge and what that might be if folks wanted to have fire suppression systems either in their homes or in their businesses oh there be an additional charge for that because they have pressure or something uh no it's more like it's another it's another hook up going oh just hook it up to your yeah one you drink and one you suppress fire yeah and it is a it is a bigger oh I see oh okay that's and I had a South County EMS meeting uh we approved a promotion policy for filling vacancies pretty much in anticipation of establishing some in in a change of the structure such that it's in anticipation of establishing positions of lieutenant and Captain currently don't exist there and the promotion policy was put in place to uh guide that process of establishing those positions and then filling them either from within or outside okay anything else no Town Administrator updates thank you a few items uh the first is an update from FR Regional Union 38 school districts uh because of the Final Chapter 70 numbers that were released and approved for the fy2 state budget it actually did provide for an increase in per pupil funding which means that there is a reduction in weight leas at y25 assessment of $454 so there is a reduction on our cost thanks to State additional funds going to funding um Highway Department just lost Keith but the F550 truck the dump plow truck that uh was the new purchase last year will be uh delivered to the town within a month um it's finalizing its fabrication uh with the additional requested comples that were part of the project job openings we have posted uh based on your approval last meeting that operator laborer position in anticipation of Dylan being promoted which happened this evening we actually have received nearly 20 applications already um it's great the amount of applicants and they're all within the area um and so uh Keith and myself and probably Fred will begin review on those applications August 21st or shortly thereafter um so next week and then um as part of the shared multi- toown conservation agent agreement that the board approved last meeting as well that job posting has been posted by Ashfield nfield is the lead community and bl the uh securing of that conservation agent so they did post that position I've shared it I know the other Town administrators have shared it um I don't have an update yet as to how many applicants or when they will start their process but um the word is out the mass doot repaving of five and 10 that will begin in Hatfield next week originally we were of the understanding that the repayment would start North and head south it's actually starting from the Northampton Town through Hatfield and then will'll come into Wadley so it's the inverse uh so the one note though is that the contractor that's handling this project will be using the Deo lot um for the highway superintendent communication and oversight to store new catch Basin frames that are going to have to be replaced as part of this project so they're just using it as a storage uh loading site during the project as part of the the benefits of the Town though we will be given some millings from this process of the Milling of the roadway we'll get additional material that the he won't have to worry about curing so we are getting some benefit out of it no it will only be storage of the catch basins no fill material or anything else are going on the mail and then there is the mass doot uh V [Music] particular oh wow I just lost what the VRU stands for essentially it's a uh systemic uh Safety project in order to multi-year project in order to reduce the um uh safety limitations for non vehicular users on State Road so pedestrians bicyclist whatnot uh this is a multi-year project this first year project right now is looking at uh doing uh immediate low hanging fruits improvements at bus stops or installing bus stops on state roads in district one two and three um so for weightly this includes three uh four bus stops along State Road um at the 9 to13 State Road there will be new sidewalk curbing pedestrian curb ramps detectable pads crosswalk and signage at Tom's long hot dogs there will be a new sidewalk curving pedestrian curve ramps and signage muffins General market new sidewalk curving pedestrian curb ramps and signage and then Club Castaways new sidewalk curving pedestrian club uh curve ramps detectable pads uh crosswalk and signage um all of these improvements just a a note um this is not the limit to the work it's just what's happening in this first year and it was explicitly projects that didn't require them to do additional acquisition of easements or land because the right of way was impeded where the pavement was right at the boundary line so this was things that the state looked at that they knew they had full land rights to they had all of the ownership they could do immediate improvements but um I would suggest that if the board has requests for recommendations um Joyce had made a good point about this Improvement has a bus stop to muffs right yeah there's one like going northbound yes you can get off at muffins or Club cway going Southbound you get off at Club cway um Tom's long dogs or state road but like you can't like get off like if you're living at that Motel which I guess right now nobody's living there because of the fire but it's seems like you ought to have a stop on both sides of the road and maybe they'll stop there and it just not be not having to sidewalk and it maybe I'm not understanding that but it seems like these are defining the places where the bus will stop and or it could be where similar to that they need to acquire some additional right it look kind of close yeah it l kind of close on the map like they might not be able to fit a sidewalk in their EAS and I I have a feeling the same thing that they're not going to put a crosswalk there until they have a sidewalk there as well because you don't want the crosswalk to Nowhere right the bushes right most of these are little actually little sidewalks to Nowhere too they are they're improvements just at that property yeah right right and and I don't know how many years it'll be before there's like sidewalks where you could like walk from muffins down to Goan or up to Toms and that might be yeah I wouldn't hold my breath yeah not not holding my breath either but uh yeah out of curiosity what is a detectable pad uh so it's those PL not plastic but they're essentially plastic pads uh with the little Nubs on them and they're there for the visually impaired so that when they feel or their their uh with their shoes or their stick their stick detects the pad that tells them that they're at a transition from the concrete sidewalk to gas it's a way for them to detect that they're about to do a transition cool learn something new and all of them I think I missed one of them but muffins does muffins and um long dogs do include the detectable PS I missed those some sidewalks along there will be next complete streets application know I hope we'll get down to weightly Center W well okay the one after that uh one more thing on that the municip the mbbp grant oh yeah sorry there's one that one additional one so uh sylv and I attended the governor's announcement last week at l City Hall for the next round of the MVP grants which is the municipal vulnerability preparedness program Grant uh this grant round was their largest one 52.4 million uh in funding to towns Regional agencies and tribal groups uh it's the largest one in its history weight Le has been awarded $882,000 towards its project the future looks like weightly planting resilience through nature-based Solutions this project will look at uh doing project on Municipal property that uh essentially are doing programs of like pollinator Gardens in order to help create some catchment areas for water but also to support the natural environment and the farm the as well um so we and we are had the um the con the service provider selected that was working with us on the grant um they'll be landscape so be help me out here sorry landscape interactions cool okay terrific congratulations yes thank you congratul yeah uh lastly items or semilly items not anticipated anything discussion uh next meeting is Tuesday August 27th 2024 it will include a public hearing for Verizon utility poll yes yes so we got to bring our game Bas okay you could bring our game and can if you have a name of a contacted Verizon they do you can if you can whoever comes to this heing provides a list of what they think are double polls not yet and Status right yeah so we don't have to wait for them to go back to their so we don't have to reject them and I have I actually realized I have one item not anticipated a citizen asked me about the display of the zoom meeting um they would love to see the board big oh we should pin that one yeah so um I can show you how to do it oh yeah you can that be great they said sometimes there's a big black and and nobody else there we go okay so if you pin that then it'll always even if it'll always be that one and then you can always unpin it and like when sylv's talking we'll want to see sylv's face yeah or if somebody remotely is doing a presentation we have to un it uh yeah they'll do they're doing a screen share screen fantastic this is great thank you very much um do I have a motion to adjourn I move it we adjourn second all those in favor I meeting is adjourned