##VIDEO ID:vsahB4E8eDQ## [Music] Tes how are you today oh not bad thanks so looks like you got thank you for having me um just wanted to uh we have um two positions um that i''d like to fill um one we have one individual um who is I guess you could say for lack of a better word I wouldn't say on leave but he has uh his wife has some medical issues and he's unable to work so we're looking to bring someone on to be able to fill his role okay and then the um we have one other person um who would be uh feeling that a similar position as an equipment operator is a full-time person the first individual would be part-time sure and these are already budgeted positions you yes they're in they're in the uh F my 25 now budget sure perfect Mr chairman I'll make a motion to appoint Mark Lopes as a part-time golf equipment operator effective upon qualification honorable 7 September 18 2024 and I move to appoint Robert Lort as a full-time golf equipment operator effective upon qualification on on or about September 18th 2024 both at a rate of $18 an hour a second all those in favor I I all right easy now thank you thank you Mr tibles evening right right now we are going to talk about special fall town meeting warrant I think we came to a final agreement on to put on the warrant um but we did expand upon it upon it um if you guys remember correctly we had spoken about the different options we'd have for the school articles um what we ended up doing is we asked Mr Kelly to add pretty much duplicates of the articles that were presented by the school committee but also Rewritten to reflect a prop 2 and a half override or debt exclusion after digging into the finances and really trying to break down how much this would cost on the ban and bond it is looking like the only way to do this is going to be through a debt exclusion that's how I personally see it unless somebody's willing to take a drastic H to a budget um but I did want to let everybody know that the reason why there are four articles that basically say the same thing for the two articles needed it's for the different funding sources that we have to tackle is that correct Mr Kelly uh well the fact that as originally written the money would have to come out of the operating budget which as you know we were million two in deficit until we did our Cuts last year and so the only viable way is through a debt exclusion and since we don't have final numbers yet uh it's a worst case situation excuse me yeah I think a big part of this is is really opening my eyes personally to digging in to see if there's any alternate ways of approaching this and I think no matter what now that we've been in communication myself I've been in constant communication with Patrick over at school um I think no matter what we're not going to have the information we need for either of these until the the day of town meeting which is obviously going going to be too close to review before we actually vote on this at town meeting but I also think that we need to open up the conversation about expanding what we should tackle and we got to see if there's another way that we can address each of these issues individually we break it down that way there just might not be a possibility that we can do this directly in one shot like they want to which I think I understand the the reasoning behind it um they're trying to save time they're trying to to save headaches by having it all encompassing but due to the town's budget we might have to split these projects up and not take this particular path forward but I I I am committed to trying to figure out this problem and and solving it I just think we have to get creative and come up with some more options yeah Mr chairman I I think first and foremost getting it right for the people that we serve is incredibly important to me right and I'm not so sure that getting it right for the people that we serve is coming in two weeks ago having a 20 minute half an hour Zoom meeting with a company an HVAC company telling us what we actually need to do and you know buying their products and they them doing this project stop to finish I honestly think that this project should be reviewed by an outside independent firm to let us know the town's people know what it is that's actually needed not a company trying to sell their product right that's my problem with it and the lack of Education that this board has had um from the school department school committee trained um to spend $4 million that's a lot of money so I I I agree that we should be looking at different Avenues I I also firmly believe that we need an independent consultant to come in and review exactly what's been presented to the schools and give their honest assessment um on how we get that done right I don't think from one summer to another summer is a a big overhaul to ask when you're trying to spend 4 million bucks um or even $3 million whatever that number may be right but to throw it out in front of us two weeks ago try to digest that I just again I firmly believe an independent contractor SL engineer to do a complete review of this I think it's well worth a Time whether it's going to cost money or not we can come up with those funds to do that um and represent the people that we serve right a little bit more properly than rushing something the Judgment saying we're just doing this and not being able to educate the people of the community long enough and hot enough right to vet this process out so however we go about doing this on toown meeting it is what it is but that's how I feel I just I strongly feel that it should be vetted out longer period of time I know they bought air conditions and and dehumidifies and think of the like last year or whatever they use that process for one more year from this summer to next summer to get the project done whatever that project looks like so be it right Mr chair Town Min has got his hand Mr Kelly also just the logistics of it and if you're going to do a debt exclusion and scheduling the vote on the articles for the debt exclusion as it relates to an election which the closest one that we could feasibly do is the town election and you have to have a vote on the article those articles within 90 days either side of the election it might make more sense to have the board uh schedule the vote on the debt exclusion prior to the vote on the articles but either way it has to be within a 90-day window of when the electorate vote and I think the logistics of it and educating the public about the impacts of it are to the extent that uh the vote on the debt exclusion which I think is the only valid f fing Source whether it's an advisable funding source is an entirely different correct but it's the only valid funding source because I don't think the operating budget could take a hit of $300,000 and even if we could find $300,000 this year we can't guarantee it's it's not it's not feasible for 20 years right I don't think you could find it $300,000 over the next 3 [Music] years just because of I know the work this board did on looking at the revenue figures and then looking at the budget and there isn't that much room that a major concern of mine which I brought up at the last meeting when the school was here is the warranty on that brand new roof right that's that's a major concern mine um and I and I I think from this this boards needs to have that in writing from whoever did the school roof right um saying that they'll fully warrantee it no matter who's up there doing whatever they're doing um I don't see how any company would honor that warranty not knowing who's going to be up on that roof and what they're going to be doing and five years later you got leaks and that company's going to come in say yeah no problema will warrantee that I I I've never seen that in my lifetime with any kind of things that I've done um in the business world so um maybe perhaps somebody's willing to do that I don't know but it can't be a verbal it's got to be a written document right doc so we just spent 2.5 2.6 on a school roof this board was very creative on how we were going to fund our share msba funded 52 53% whatever it was of that project we were very creative on how we were going to pay for it not to do a Deb exclusion on override on our taxpayers um look doesn't mean that if we're given enough opportunity in time to think this thing through maybe we could be creative in the future but having something like this presented to us and saying it's got to be done it's got to be done um in a rush $4 million rush we spent $5 million building a police department right that's a whole building whole facility to spend three and a half or 4 million on air conditioning some other Mickey Mouse operations I don't know they said something about an envelope that all needs to be done great let's do all of that work too right and see where we're at but spend 3 and 1 half 4 million bucks on phase one as it's called that's never even been Ved to this board either right what's phase what how many phases are there first of all right and what are the overall total costs of all the phases it's never been discussed with us correct and I think I think that's going to be broken down more on that report that were expected to get on September 30th but once again I mean September 30th is the same day as town meeting so I'm not going to vet an entire no not report in the morning of town meeting I'm probably going to be focusing on preparing for town meeting so I'm not even going to be able to address that and I'm sure you guys have other things to do morning of town meeting too not saying we don't want to read it but we definitely need the time to read it read it correctly ask the questions based on that report and make the right decision to make sure we're doing it the right way and protecting the taxpayers and the students and the teachers you know we I think there's a a way we can get through this but I think rushing it like you said is definitely not something that is going to be possible whatsoever Mr Kelly in addition this whole thing is a package that includes a number of Grants and if the package is going to be delivered September 30th you don't know the individual requirements of each of those grants and you don't know what the town's going to be on the hook for so you're going to have to digest all of that too that's the other thing and I think part of the time frame involved some of those grants because I do believe one of the major grants they were looking for it has to be applied for by October and you can't apply for it unless you have a performance contract so I understand their their reasoning for that but sometimes you got to say you know is it worth rushing into something to save a little bit here and I'm sure next year even if we push this a little bit further and figure out a different way to do it there's still going to be grants available just different ones and and we'll work on that too I just want to make sure that we don't set us set ourselves up for failure Mr chairman Mr can I go back to Article 13 and ask a question it it it doesn't appear that we're capping Article 13 which is the expenditure of 100 $8 6,26 out of the school special ed Reserve fund on the article there's an explanation that says the amount of money but the way the article is written it doesn't look like there's a cap so I I think that might have changed from our previous draft article so I just asked that question the uh there's a cap on how much money you can put into that fund yeah he's talking about the article itself reading 18 6 026 so it says it in the explanation but I believe it used to say it in the old draft warrant that we had it it said 186 but now it says without further appropriation for anticipated on unbudgeted cost of special education and recovery of high school programs AO District tuition Transportation are the onaction relative there to but it doesn't mention the amount so I don't know if the motion's going to have the amount the motion can and but there is a question that the fincom has on this article on whether it should be put forward now or whether we should wait until the spring and see the exact amount needed and that discussion is ongoing it's a it's a valid it's a valid question right um don't know how that works within the school department um but it's it's a good point by the finance committee so I'm just concern concerned about the way it's written it just it says that they can just take the whole 329 whatever we have in there right and do what they want with it at that point oh that's that's there lies the problem we want to make sure that can't happen so you're not depleting that stabilization so that would be for the motion uh if the article goes forward now or is postponed till the spr whatever it may be y yeah as long as I mean if they get some clarification from fincom as long as the motion is direct and has that figure included I've got the motion I've drafted has a a figure in it but fincom even question that amount it's it's a valid concern I mean the questioning was versus the money they used to balance a budget last year versus what they actually need did we print all the copies for town meeting because under the index of Articles I'm happy to say that we don't have a page 176 but in this copy that I received it says page 176 I think it should just be 17 that was fixed that was fixed that's what it was fixed before it went to the prary okay just saying what's on my I got 17 you do I think you promise Kevin okay that's fine as long as it's we can make we can make the correction on Town me Flor I'm just bring it in case we went to we didn't blast them all off yet uh gentlemen any other questions on any of the other waren articles not at this moment sir all right I am going to ask for so like Mr chairman just for the board edification I've met twice with the town moderator uh we've discussed a couple of the motions and we are looking at probably the beginning of the week uh next week to have finished all the motions and uh sent them hopefully Friday to Town Council perfect this week Friday and so the board would have them hope as long as Town Council doesn't turn around Monday or Tuesday up to the right and to the left sorry wor give him directions trying to give him directions yeah he'll probably get lost but that's excellent hopefully you'll figure it out uh we're going to jump to select selectman announcements if anybody has anything I do not I do not other than just uh support your local farmers right they got their stands out there selling apples and the remainder of their crop so if you can and you wish to please stop by and support your local farmers it's important excellent and I would just like to say a very happy birthday to my oldest daughter beatric she turned 10 today um know never expected I'd have a 10-year-old it's pretty awesome you just rang a bell and I'd like to wish selectman w a happy birthday I know it's not his birthday today but in the upcoming days it'll be his birthday and we won't be able to see you I'm sure but so happy birthday select L enjoy your day than happy 21st here you go speed limit all right uh gentlemen uh we should recess for a couple of minutes before this whole hearing till Anthony shows up I need to make a motion for a recess or just say recess yeah motion a motion to recess so moved motion to reconvene so moved second all those in favor all all right it is 5:00 p.m. we are at our appointment stage here we have some public hearings that are open and we contined to today which is September 17th 2024 at 5:00 p.m. four total first one is w124 57056 we have an ma22 4-22 an ma22 4-23 and an MA 2024 -25 first one here is an Urus pull hearing petition is the 124 57056 to install approximately 742 ft of conduit and three new main holes in Wing Lane 322 ft of conduit one new J pole two new man holes and halfway Road these proposed locations are necessary to provide a new circuit installation from eversource Wing Lane station uh gentlemen I've spoken multiple times uh with various people in the know in this and um the location of this is actually up near my house um is there anybody from the neighborhood that would like to speak on these nobody here for this one um gentlemen I'm okay with this one if you are um we are provided with all the documents in here Anthony gave us all our information and I would take a motion to approve so moved second oh those in favor all all right following three have ma2 24-22 ma20 24-23 and Ma 2024-25 gentlemen uh I think we just were provided with a list of some double polls and some more information um until we get a plan in place for this I would ask for a motion to continue continue uh those three till March 11th at 5:00 p.m. in the selectman's meeting room so move second all those in favor I and finally this one has not been open this is a petition m2024 D40 from Verizon New England Incorporated an NSTAR Electric Company doing business as eversource energy proposing to place new facilities poll 104/55 .5 on Middle Road install one joint owned bid span pole on the east side of Middle Road which will be approximately 865 ft southwesterly from the center line of Paris Lane the new pole will be installed in line with and approximately 86 ft south of existing pole 10456 and approximately 106 ft north of existing pole 10455 the installation is being requested by urce to support the existing Pole Line uh uh is there a motion to open the public hearing so moved second all those in favor and is there a motion to continue that to March 11th at 5:00 p.m. in the selectman's meeting room sove second all those in favor I all right is there a motion to adjourn all you got to close the public oh we got to close the public hearing for the first one is there or continue the public hearing continue the public hearing that's what I just did for that one correct okay we need a vote yeah didn't we just do that I said is there a motion to open is there motion to continue to March 11th at 5: p.m. I didn't hear yeah we continued that one but we got to close the first one correct the one we just voted on the one we approved first one is there a motion to conclud uh is there a motion to close the public hearing for ever Source poll hearing petition wo number 124 4 57056 so move second all those in favor this Anthony I had something to say sure Anthony uh Mr chair can I absolutely um Mr chairman and members of the board I just want to if I could if you guys had five minutes I just want to explain a little bit about the bigger scope and how we're trying to tackle some of the double pole issues in town sure I will always listen to that story anony nice I mean let me just give you out this thank you thank you uh some some of you have seen that before but I just want to um review it again um sort of the big picture scope of of the work uh eversource so in the region essentially we we're at capacity for solar um distribution like industrial scale solar right so we went to the dpu we petitioned them we call this a group one project uh it's to increase solar distributed distribution energy resource capacity in the south coast region basically from Maran to Freetown we have four towns that again substation upgrades Acushnet Rochester mapet and Fair Haven two of those are double basically doubling the size two are basically staying the same Wing the lane and the cushion it's on that list it's staying within the footprint but the petition that was approved uh tonight which I really appreciate that's an underground service because we're essentially adding a second circuit coming out of that substation um that's the reason why you're seeing uh replacement pole sets at a higher level 50 ft um on those po are now going to be two circuits so uh but what you looking at in that map we just we've been working with Verizon to try to split the work up into different segments different projects so the red line is priority number one we call that the ACC cushioning cluster that's we're giving you guys a brand new wire reconductoring so it's a heavier cable hence the taller poles and on those poles there going to be two circuits one under each other as part of that two you're also going to get new equipment new Transformers new reclosers new switch gear this increases the reliability resiliency redundancy so let's say does an outage right some I think six weeks ago uh I'll use mendal Road for an example a car had a pole you get to turn off a thousand people for safety now imagine if instead of turning off a th000 we only have to turn off maybe 100 because we have switch gear in place to switch a circuit around that's sort of the onus to do some of this work uh it's a lot of coordination a lot of behind the scenes with Verizon the priority is the cluster that's the red line we've worked with them to say set only the Main Street first let us knock that out then we can move on to project number two which is either mendal Road or one of the other streets and uh we're trying to do that in order to not indate the town with uh bazillion double poles at once we just think that's the best way to approach it it's taking a long time it's a lot of uh handhold and a lot of work but we're doing the best we can and we're trying to do that uh as quickly as possible so uh on that sheet that I gave you you can see it's 188 pole Replacements but there's 10 new poles and I also want to put this on the record that if those poles get staked out it's uh you know Verizon's responsibility as the this because it's a Verizon set town but just because a homeowner sees a pole staked out on their property doesn't mean we can't move it we can move it as if we have some flexibility i' say you know 10 ft to the left to the right I don't want people to feel like it's if you guys just give me a call and say Anthony this poll too close to a driveway too close to something just call me I'll be out immediately we can we can we have flexibility to move it within uh a few feet you know so I just want to make some of that stuff clear and if there's any questions you know feel free to ask but um I just wanted to put it on the record and sort of clear up some of the confusion Co no I appreciate that I think my biggest my biggest I don't even want to call it a concern Anthony because and I thank you for this you've always answered every phone call and every email um which is very helpful um I just want to kind of get to a a point where anytime we do have a petition for a poll hearing it's directly involving the priority projects right I don't want to start seeing poll hearings all over town one over here one over there one over here one over there because it's really hard for us to keep track of this we got to drive from one end of the town to the other see where they're staked out then we're going to make sure we advertise for a public hearing so if we keep it Priority level and you know you keep in constant communication with this office along with Verizon whoever setting it and and we can do that I'd much appreciate that just it makes our job a lot easier especially if we have residents continually asking us what's going to be done with the double polls why are these still here how come they can set these polls next to these other polls but they need to do this why are they putting in my bay window you know sure when we have six or seven poll hearings at once you know that we're getting hit with that aren't even a necessary thing to do right now it just makes it a little bit more difficult to us for us to communicate with the public totally as long as you stay in contact with us that's all I ask happy to do so and uh for the permit that we got tonight it's all underground work there's only one poll set and we fully own that poll y but uh I just want to make sure and I'll reach out again to do a pre-construction meeting before we start this I don't know when we're going to start but I'll get back with the scheding plan because I think that'd be very important even though there's not a lot of folks that live in this area but still be very helpful to for them to know when we're going to start what the plan of attack is for them work is that the one that's going to coincide with the other project that you had um that was postponed that we were going to do in July uh I think that's Wing Road right yeah so Wing Road through the scurve wing Lane's on the right halfway go straight exactly so digging through your map here it looks like it pretty much coincides with that project yeah we're not going to I'll get back to gas and Al make sure they don't do them at the same time so there's nowhere for anybody to go that's that's one of my concerns was you know we're already at a situation where being a main road we can't close it down completely like we had discussed so I I I'd hate to see half a road taken up and then on the other side there's somebody trying to set a poll sure understood good gentlemen got another Mr Jam go thanks thank you Anthony a motion to adjourn so move thank you all those in favor all right thank you [Music]