##VIDEO ID:yNki0nVD9cQ## evening everybody I'd like to welcome to the town of air select board meeting for Wednesday September 4th 2024 this meeting SL hearing of the air select board will be held in person at the location provided on this notice members of the public are welcome to attend this inperson meeting please note that while an option for remote attendance Andor participation via Zoom is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting SL hearing will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems disrupt the virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of the public with particular interest in a specific item on this agenda should make plans for in-person versus virtual attendance accordingly this meeting will be live on zoom and channel 8 the public May access the proceedings by joining Zoom meeting ID number 897 980 0793 or by calling 92925 6099 for additional information about remote participation please contact Carly antonellis the assistant Town manager at ATM a.m. us or 978-772-4864 [Applause] indivisible with liy and justice for all all right um any changes uh to the agenda as presented yes Mr Mr chairman just to clarify under my report under appointments uh I do have two appointments for the cultural Council okay any other changes no Chris any changes I'll take a motion uh I make a mtion to accept and approve the agenda seconded all those in favor I I chair says I agenda is approved um no announcements this evening Carly nope okay um anybody oh yes please just thought of it y um September 13th at the Peroni Park is ET oh yes movie night yes it's movie night 7 around 7 right it's 7 7:30 yeah just for some it just grab your chair Gra blank be there all right perfect thank you all right is anybody here or online um on Zoom for public input Carly can we get that TV on oh God sorry don't see anybody all right not seeing anybody move on to um move on to our um opening of the public hearing um jam sorry Mr chair yes I just want to point out it's only we need three minutes okay no problem sorry yep oh yeah we still have two minutes two minutes [Music] okay so yeah I think everybody should go see ET if you've never seen it and they should bring cans with them bring cans and bring cans they're collecting bring cans they're collecting cans empty cans what kind of cans let's let's make sure we say this food cans all right I'm glad she asked right that kind of left it open didn't it okay tree food okay all right watching so on September 13th go down to Peroni Park about 7 7:30 p.m. bring some canned food to help out with the food pantry and see the wonderful movie of ET please bring Kleenex E phone home it's 504 okay it's good time pillar there for that one minute 40 seconds okay and Mr chair with those 40 seconds sure through you just a reminder that the Newton Street Festival will be on Saturday October 5th from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. and any interested vendors vendor applications to due Friday September mber 13th all right the day VT all right and food dri I'll start reading the those cuz by the time I'm done we should be okay good with that Carly yeah we got four five seconds on all right town of air notice of public hearing air select board the air select board will conduct an inperson and remote public hearing on Wednesday September 4th 2024 at 5:05 p.m. at the air Town Hall 1 Main Street air mass 01432 regarding an application for transfer of license of current General Law chapter 38 section 12 all alcohol beverages restaurant from page Moore Cafe Incorporated DBA billiard's Cafe to C Jonathan Moore what is the DBA DBA do business as doing business as Bard's Cafe 39 Main Street air mass for Zoom call and information please contact ATM a.m. us or 978-772-4864 n793 great thank you thank you um any questions from either the board members about this transfer no I mean it's for a sad occasion yes you know and uh I just want to point out I'd like to send my condolences to the Moore family um on the loss of Calvin um on that that that would be my only comment okay yes I Echo those sentiments and so Mr chair just for the record um OB uh the license trans for application is just changing things in the background it's still going to be villard's Cafe um operated how it's always been operated um the operations will be transferred to to calvinson CJ um we've reviewed it with all department heads there was no um no issues so we're recommending it be approved and Mr Moore couldn't make it this evening he's out of state traveling okay um and I have no questions and the same sentiment as my other board members um sorry for CJ's loss um all right uh I'll take a motion okay Mr chair I make a motion that the select board approve the uh all alcohol beverage restaurants uh application um to be changed to C Jonathan Moore as presented in the packet second other those in favor I I and the chair says I and it's approved and I'll take a motion to close public hearing right yep uh I make a motion to close the public hearing seconded all those in favor I I and chair says I all right um moving on uh presentation of proposed inclusionary housing zoning by law and MBTA zoning by law um by our town planner hello Danny how are you Mr good Mr chair yes just while they're teeing that up just to frame just the introduction um both of these items that Danny is going to present on this evening uh will be articles on the fall town meeting warrant uh this is an information presentation for tonight um the planning board will have the public hearing on September 10th on September 10th and the public and the planning board through the town planner at town meeting will also report on this as well so just to frame this as the beginning of the process on these two all right turn it over to Danny uh for everyone I'm Danny Ruiz I'm the town planner uh so just a quick uh uh recap um the working group that uh presented the to the select board at the for the fall town meeting the zoning amendments uh that working group is still uh currently working on uh creating some affordable housing um uh on ways to increase affordable housing in the town of air and uh this uh inclusionary housing bylaw is uh came out of that working group um the MBTA zoning is uh partially kind of tied to that but um that's something that comes from the state that we need to get um enacted by the end of this year to be in compliance with the state law um so uh the current bylaw that we have for inclusionary housing right now um has been enacted since I believe 2017 and it was drafted 5 years prior to that okay so it's been it's been written for quite a long time and hasn't been used that entire time so uh what I uh what this work group had proposed was looking at a new uh type of uh bylaw that would help um actually uh create more affordable housing and actually be triggered on potential projects that would come forth before the planning board um and the BW that I'm going to go through with you guys is the um uh MHP uses them uh uses this template it comes from Salsbury um it's a town that I previously worked in and I've seen seen it work and it's been working for quite a few years over there works very well uh but MHP uses it as their template for other towns um so we're using that one as a as our template as well all right um so the applicability for this project the current one that we have right now um only speaks about uh multifam if you have five or more multif family dwellings on a property that makes projects it make it makes it difficult for certain projects because our definition of what multif family is is very specific so what the way we changed it there's there's three different um triggers for it um the main reason the main thing is going to be the net increase of five or more dwelling units and there's going to be three different types of how it would trigger so the first one would be any residential development or mixed use development in a single structure or multiple structures resulting in a net increase of five more dwelling units on any parcel contiguous Parcels comprising of proposed development and so what that basically says is if you have a project that is residential mixed use has more than five dwelling units and that's the difference here we we uh specifically use the trigger of five or more dwelling units because um mixed uh so uh multifam has the uh definition of more than three uh units in a building whereas in this could trigger on single duplexes and triplexes and you know going up more on um a net increase of five or more so it's for really bigger projects not for um smaller projects like if someone wants to convert a single family house into a three bedroom a three unit house it's kind of the the reasoning to avoid not triggering those um so that the smaller developer or you know uh town uh resident it's not hindering that um the uh so a finding the second one would be a finding or special permit of a variance from the zoning board of appeals or planning board that results in again a net increase of five or more dwelling units whether by new construction or alteration expansion reconstruction or change of existing residential or non-residential structures or space whether on one or more contiguous Parcels comprising a proposed development site so on this one that would trigger on the firehouse so as an example if if that project had would come after this would be enacted that project would trigger uh the inclusionary housing bylaw because they would be increasing to five units there and it's a conversion from The Old Firehouse to a new residential use um and then the third one would be any division of land including a not limited to the divisions as a result of U Mass General Law chapter 41 sections 81k to8 81g as well as um 81p and so on that is uh subdivisions and anr lots so a a specific example would be on Shaker Road the AO project the development there were nine units there on that it would have triggered at least one of them would have been affordable and so our current bylaw requires 20% of affordable housing and uh during the MBTA zoning um some of the CP cptc uh courses that we've been taking um the state had talked about uh the requirement if you have higher than 10% you are required to do a feasibility study to see as part of the MBTA zoning to see if the uh 10 uh your 20% or 15% or whatever your number is above that 10% is a uh how it affects development and so what we had decided was we noticed that 20% was much higher than I'd seen in most towns and 10% is what the state requires um so what we had talked about was going to the 10% what the state would require we would not have to do a feasibility study for the MBTA zoning and um it will at least get us to be in compliance for the state law and as well as still get affordable housing um and so on this one also the way it would work is fractions of 0. five or more would be rounded up to the next whole number and then fractions of 0. five or less would be rounded down um so uh the on how affordable units can be provided for um the project uh there's going to be uh several types of ways that you could do it but the main way is on-site units um so we we provided a a trigger in here of if you have fewer than 19 units you're not required to do that on-site unit you can do a payment in Li which I'll get to later on um and uh if you have more than 20 units or 20 or more you would be required to do that and this was what the so when we were going through this the working group felt that this would help the smaller developers not who don't have the experience with dealing with Shi units and affordable housing and having to do with all the legal portion of that because there is a bit quite a bit that goes with that um this would also um so it would help them not have to be burdened with the additional costs on that for the development but the developers that are typically you know building more than 20 units have that experience because in most towns the triggers are are right around this number and they have that experience with inclusionary housing they know that uh the um affordable housing component is already in part of it they have the you know the infrastructure to help them get through that and the experience um and then one of the big things on this one also would be the on-site affordable rental units would be required so if uh for example the DMG project that had that gone through they would have been required to provide the 10% onsite because that would have been uh their rental units whereas in market rate that's where kind of differs you could do the on-site or the uh payment in L um and then also there's a combination that you can do for um if you don't want to do just the on-site um as working with the planning board or the zba depending on who is um the permit granting Authority at that point um the uh they would work with the affordable housing trust and the affordable housing committee and they would uh either do a combination of on-site payment and lie or offsite we allow for the off-site units because it's it's a rare occasion in which you actually see this um it is allowed by the state law to do offsite units um you don't typically see it because uh the land owner has to have additional land somewhere to give to be able to do those units offsite um and they have to work with the affordable housing trust to really work on the agreement they would still have to look similar to what is within the development as you know that state law uh you can't make the affordable units look any different than what's currently uh being built um or so that is kind of just in there so that if there is a rare occasion like the um the molten project in in um gron on Westford Road there is nine units I believe in that uh little there's a parcel over there in which they did offsite units as part of their project so there are rare occasions where it works typically you just don't see it typically what you see is De uh developers going for the on-site or the payment in L um and this is the breakdown that we have for the payment in L um and we did some different uh stages to try to incentivize uh keeping the prices down um so the way it would work is if if a market rate unit if you choose not to do the on-site um affordable unit you're going to pay um a contribution for every market rate unit you sell so and that goes to your air to the uh trust which then they'll be able to use for later on for other projects um so if if you're $400,000 or less it's a flat fee of$ 10,000 for each unit um if it's between uh 400,000 and 600,000 it's 2.5% of the market sale price and I provided some examples so that you could see what that contribution would be um so at 500,000 it's 12,500 and at 600,000 it's 15,000 uh and then as you step up to 600,000 to 800,000 it's 3% of the market sale price and then the examples on the right is 21,000 and 24,000 and then uh for 800,000 or more it's 3.5% and you can see on the right it says for 900,000 it's 315 and for a million it's 35 and so what this does builds in kind of a structure to incentivize developers that even if they're going to do market rate um uh choose the payment and L to try to keep their the sale price lower so that the the contribution isn't as high uh so it's kind of It kind of helps big a affordable and little a affordable um just it's kind of a way to try to combat the you know the high prices of of of it because we as a you know as a town can't you know control the market but we can try to incentivize and so for and way that we're also doing to try to help the developer in to cuz it's a give and take to to provide the affordable units will also help them with a density bonus which is add additional market rate units to try to offset the cost of the affordable housing um because it does still cost the same to build the unit and they are selling it at a lower price so the market rate the the bonus units would help offset some of that cost um so and and an example here would be um if a a project comes in with 10 units they would have to provide one affordable unit if the developer chooses to do to give us two additional units they would get an additional six market rate units for a total of 18 units on the development so it it helps offset those costs and it also uh helps us get more affordable units uh the so they can provide them onsite so we'd get three out of that as opposed to the one um do do we want to do any questions or no okay this next section is section 2.0 which is the definitions these are additional definitions that'll need to go into that'll be updated um as part of the inclusionary housing bylaw so for the affordable housing we would just be changing the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development they're no longer called that they're called the executive office of Housing and livable communities so that'd be the new uh new name that would go in and then the air affordable housing trust this would be a definition that would just go into into the bylaw so that we know exactly how uh what it is um this is in a different location but it's not in our definition so we felt that it would be good to have that in there CU it is going to be referenced within that bylaw and Mr chair just as the board is aware this will be a separate article just because it's the definition section so there'll be a there'll be an article for what Mr Ruez presented for the inclusionary and then there'll be an article for the definitions yep and then so the next uh the next is uh the MBTA multif family overlay district and this is to be so that we would be in compliance with the um uh Mass General Law chapter 48 section 3A uh the uh zoning uh the zoning act that they just put in for the liberal communities um since we are a um a uh what's the what am I trying to say the a commun um an MBTA community couldn't get it out we are an NBTA Community we have to have it in by uh the end of this year um in early March of last year the town did receive interm compliance um so they did rece the town did receive a letter from the state saying that all of the zones the zoning and everything that we have met all of the requirements from there there were some additional changes that came from that which were the the feasibility study and the requirement of the you know having 10% if you have more or not and the requirement of you cannot require special permits within this bylaw and the reasoning behind that is um the state feels that um towns across the Massachusetts have been using special permits as a cudle to CL you know knock down projects and deny them because it gives the bo those boards so much leeway uh cuz it's a 4 to1 super majority and special permits always have kind of open-ended criterias which are very subjective um so the state felt that not requiring special permits uh would help projects be a little bit more streamlined for multif family and this we're allowing the state to be in charge cuz that's worked for us so well yeah and so I understand where you're coming from on that um but what we we as um uh so myself the planning board members and Alicia have done is they allow us to build in a lot of those requirements that we have for special permits within the actual bylaw just not required as a special permit so um like the aquafer protection our um flood plane all of those kind of special permits we've already built those requirements into the actual bylaw so they'll still have to submit all the information that we need we just it's not a special permit um so the uh so we need to have this in by the end of this year and our two zones that we're going to be having for the MBTA is going to be the West Air Village which is down on West Main Street and the downtown Park Street so it's going to be the two form based codes those two um zones meet all of the requirements that we need for which is the 15 units per acre so we're all set with all those units um all those uh requirements for density um we will uh this is going to have its own uh review process it's going to be called the mod development um approval process it's not like site plan review um it's kind of like site plan review but not as as as hard as I I would say um it's there's we can only review certain things we're not allowed to review everything we have a kind of a narrow scope as to what we're allowed to review and we've already built that into the bylaw and added additional some of the stuff that we wanted from site plan review we have built that into this bylaw and uh Town Council is actually reviewing this right now um we're using we use the template that Town Council had provided us from um Medway and uh so we've we've taken that bylaw and that template and adjusted it for us um so oh y so just kind of a recommendation for your public hearing and maybe we were already thinking about this way so you're saying that what this would be doing is everything that would be on a site plan review it just wouldn't be listed because it's already Incorporated in the bylaw right is that you have like a clear fact sheet of like this is what a site plan review would be and look those words are in this MH um so that there's this you know it's not just lost in this and you speaking but it's a l literally see we have this and it's literally written into this so that somebody can pick up that one sheet and go oh okay because sometimes when somebody's talking we all do it you know we all go what yeah so so you're right I can provide like a little planl showing that section that's just to kind of like so that everybody realizes that you know yeah all of it's going to be covered yeah okay okay yeah I'll do that um and this is the zoning map that's going to be updated as part of uh the uh overlay uh so we're creating a new overlay just over the downtown air I mean the downtown Park Street and the West Air it's going to it's that red dash line now and so the way it works is the underlined zoning still exists this is just something that hovers above it as a different type of application so you would either apply under the form based code or under this section um so and for this one would be multif family is what's the uh um application and so what this does uh so this bylaw makes it so that uh there is its own application process specifically for multif family and mixed use development um that are located within the MBTA overlay district and so we added in mixed use because that's a new thing that actually just recently came up um that that would also be part of the MBTA zoning um we talked about the uh development plan approval um the special permits cannot be required under the section um so some of the special and this is where I talk about some of the requirements that we've already put into it uh so affordable housing off street parking which we currently deal with under um uh site plan review other overlay districts would also be applicable um the requirements for them and site development standards so the site development standards is where a lot of the site plan review requirements would be coming into play uh this bylaw provides a more expeditious uh process for multif family housing to try to combat housing shortages shortages in Massachusetts uh is dealing with so um and just remember that I know there's been a lot of towns that have been fighting this because they assume just because we provided this zoning we're going to have a th000 units because our requirement is I believe 750 uh units should be uh able to be built in these zones there's not necessarily going to be built 750 units uh 750 dwelling units when you look at the land the you know what what the constraints are and all that when you apply that and also the time period it would take to get a full build up you wouldn't see this that quickly it would take take 10 15 maybe 20 years for us to even get to maybe 50 60% at most of what that requirement is or what is allowed I don't think we'd ever hit that 750 we just don't have the land the size of those Parcels just don't don't meet that so people aren't like hovering at the gate waiting like to build 750 rushan you know no so it's funny we did uh so at cptc in March they they had the state come in with a a guy who did he had this uh analysis that he did in um I believe it was Arlington and he looked at all the parcels what the costs were and put it all into like a model and showed that even if you like allowing for a th000 units over a 10 15E period you're only building they said at almost like 500 to 600 units so yes we're allowing it but it's not necessarily meaning it's going to get built right um so compliance for this uh we need to have this Ina um voted on enacted by uh December 31st of the of this year and the big thing with this one is we're not allowed to State uh to apply for State funding grants if we're not in compliance like the mass work grant that we got for West Main Street um and the cdbg grant that we get to that we help with us for seniors those would be uh not we wouldn't be allowed to submit for those anymore until we were in compliance so that's one of the one of the other things that we need to make sure we're in compliance with them big letter in red yes I will you know if we don't approve this this is what we lose yeah and and the and we do receive a lot of those grants you know we've we've applied for quite a bit of them MH and we just got I mean we recently got one for the downtown Park Street you know that we were using to look at um and as well as uh they're doing the intersection down the street which is through Mass doot but that's State funding so it's like we would lose all the opportunities that we have there um and that's it any questions um I good job yes um I do recommend those little tweaks so whatever question you think no one will ask that's the question someone's going to ask okay I guarantee so you want to be prepared that but if I could just segue just a little bit CU we're talking about a you know affordable housing and everything um do we know about whether or not the it got passed as far as uh what governor wanted to do in devans regarding increasing the affordable housing that excuse me the economic development is uh still stuck it's still stuck okay all right pending okay thank you I just that was a good place to segue to it um because yeah because that if they do something out there that'll also impact us here so okay all right thank you questions please no all right great thank you Denny all right thank you appreciate it have a great night when's the public hearing uh September 10th September 10th and actually so I actually presented to the affordable housing uh joint uh committee and the trust uh last Wednesday um and I've given the a couple of the you know highlights to the planning board in the past couple of planning board meetings but we will be opening the public hearing on Tuesday um we don't necessarily uh aren't going to vote I don't know if we are or not um but we uh we also have September 24th as another meeting that we could so it's during the normal planning board meeting yes yes it is so September 10th and the 24th you at 600 p.m. uh 6:15 we start 6:15 okay yes all right so now people know I didn't know about the 6:15 yes all good all right thank you good all right um moving on we have our director's report uh from the Department of Public Works Matt in the role of Dan tonight and Mr chair um Kimberly Abraham water and SE superintendent on zoom and the town engineer is here good evening hello Kimberly yes so the DPW has just two items on tonight's agenda um first item is a petition for Street acceptance of Shaker Pond Road um so the petition was submitted by the developer of the Shaker mil Pond subdivision that's Mr Daniel AO um so he's requesting that uh the road be considered for acceptance at the fall town meeting okay so the road um was constructed the town standards for a public way um myself and the director both inspected the road um just a couple of really small items that need to be cleaned up but that should all be taken care of before the the fall town meeting um so the street acceptance process it's a multi-step process so tonight is really just the first step um so that is the Sight board voting on intention to lay out the road as a public way um so that's a request tonight and obviously DPW are recommending that the select board um vote their intention to lay out the road as a public way um any questions Chris any questions um no nope okay I'll take a motion I'll make a motion that the select board what did what was the word that you wanted uh vote intention the select word vote to the the intention for Street acceptance of the Shaker pill Mill Pond uh subdivision Shaker Pond Road uh second all right all those in favor I I the chair says I motions approved uh the other item on tonight's agenda from DPW is a project at the spectacle pond water treatment plant so the DPW opened bids last month um this is a bid to replace um carbon that filters out p in drinking water oh yeah yeah yeah so it's very important it's important for compliance um the bid opening wasn't as favorable as we hoped um we have $100,000 appropriated toward the project and the low responsive responsible bid for the project was um 100 $644,500 so that's a a $64,000 $64,500 funding Gap um so DPW looked at any sort of possible funding transfers appropriate toward this project but there were no viable Alternatives or options to um to do so um so DPW is recommending uh like what authorize up to 75,000 in udag that 75,000 would cover any possible contingencies for the product as well what what does the um or where how they dispose of the carbon once it's you know absorbed with all the P I mean is that a process the I think Kimberly might be able to expand on that she's a water treatment expert I I can answer that question part of the the contract is that the contractor who takes the carbon away properly disposes it disposes of it with state federal within State Federal Regulations so we kind of leave it to them um so but my understanding is that it is landfilled I could be wrong but that's my understanding okay interesting so I know like and it would be an appropriate landfill that was Lin and what not yeah I just know because they always say this is forever material and it's okay you're removing it from one spot and then where does it go off to it I also know obviously it's going to be treated correctly but I know there's a huge uh expense in that and I didn't know if that's was kind of part of why this was so expensive was you know the final uh resting place of this material but you know just for my own information but thank you um Janice any questions uh quick question um what is our you balance just so the current uh udeg balance is um just over 2.5 million and everything has been replenished today so we would be we have money we would be respectfully looking for the board to authorize up to 75,000 subject to replenishment by a future town meeting and historically in traditionally that's the annual town meeting we use available free cash to replenish it so the udag fund is is available in its fullest sense everything is replenished okay cool all right um I have no questions so I'll take a motion uh I'll make a motion to authorize the use of up to $75,000 of udag funds to be replenished at a future town meeting for the replacement of the GAC media at the spectacle pond Water Treatment Plant seconded all those in favor I I chair says I and the motion's approved thank you thank you thank you you all right moving on um we have our town manager report Mr chair members of the board good evening and hard to believe that Labor Day Has Come and gone and fall is upon us in the packet you have all of the Town warrants that were reviewed in approved uh since the board last met on August um 20th in terms of the administrative update um the last five weeks as this board has been very intimately involved with the focus has really been on the nooba Valley Medical Center and continues to be and I'll have a little bit more on that later under item number three on my report under the administrative matters I want to thank the Town Clerk and the assistant Town Clerk and all of the election workers yesterday for very successful full election uh as always from uh that group and they put a lot of effort and work into that so onward and upward towards November um on August 21st uh the DPW director and I had a very positive meeting with the business Community regarding the proposed storm Water Utility Fund um as was joined by the conservation agent and the town engineer as well as Jonathan cran from the working group and the working group's consultant um the group is looking to come to the select board on September 17th to make a presentation on their recommendations uh for the storm Water Utility Fund to be considered by town meeting um on October 28th but it was a very favorable meeting there were a lot of good questions a lot of clarifying questions but um a lot of support it was different than it went 10 years ago so that was encouraging uh also on August 21st I was joined by the senior center director and Mr kend the vice chair of the building committee and selectman Chris dearis uh joined us um and Dr patrai presented The Groton Harvard Road Site uh for the senior center uh it overall was a positive meeting uh there were some questions and concerns uh raised by school committee about the future of the school uh campus site in terms of school use however since then and I don't want to steal their Thunder but I know it it is a matter of public record on August 20 8 the senior center site selection committee met to formally vote on the recommended site of um off of Bishop Road uh to be presented to the select board uh they're planning to come to the select board on September 17th to make a formal uh presentation on their work and their formal recommendation um for your consideration in the meantime um we have begun to look at some due diligence on next steps um next steps specific spe ific to um the size and scope of this project will require it to be largely a borrow authorization which will require not only town meeting uh but a ballot for debt exclusion and we are just in the process of getting all of that information together so on the 17th in addition to the recommendation we have all of the of the facts and the steps that are that are involved so um September 17th uh they're looking to come to the board um an update on the 71 uh Sandy Pond um planning process as mentioned we greatly appreciate the board's support of some Opa funding um for consultant support um going to recommend on September 17th a working group um to start um on this process it um proposing um a nine member working group The DPW director Parks director a Parks Commission member a representative from the community preservation committee the town planner a planning board member the conservation agent and two residents so it'd be a nine member Committee of which six of the nine would be residents um of air this would just be a working group to start just begin to shape this what I want to really stress that we've been talking about all along is that there will be several public planning meetings uh for input in a series of meetings because I think the DPW director said it best that this is sort of like a blank canvas so we want to get everybody's input everybody's um ideas and begin to to shape that ultimately what that will culminate into is a recommendation as to what to do next on that site which is also going to um require some funding considerations and not to speak for the CPC but the CPC when they supported the land acquisition did indic um you know to be determined some future um CPC support and funding and we'll look at some other opportunities Grant town and so forth but looking to get that process um going and off the ground and really promoting the the public input piece of it as I mentioned earlier the Newton Street Festival uh Saturday October 5th from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. deadline for Venda applications is Friday September 13th um we're in the process of of confirming the music performances and the food vendors and we should have all of that confirmed by next week you know for promotion and interested vendors should contact Samantha Beno at the Town Hall up in the building department um and we're also looking for volunteers for the day of the event uh volunteers are needed and welcome so uh and we want to bottle this weather today for that event in the event it's going to be a great day weatherwise but the rain date is Sunday October 6th but it it don't jinx us I'm not going to jinx us that's why I bottled this um almost done on the update um fall town meeting update again just reminding fall Town meetings on Monday October 28th at 700 p.m. the warrant deadline is 12:00 p.m. noon on Friday September 27th that's also the deadline for any citizens petitions to the town clerk as of right now there are uh nine uh potential articles the storm water utility ENT prise fund which there'll be a presentation to this board on the 17th you heard from Mr RZ on the zoning byw Amendment for MBTA zoning the MB uh bylaw Amendment for inclusionary housing um zoning bylaw update of the zoning map and the zoning BYO update of the definitions and as he presented tonight that's sort of a a cluster uh together um there's an article to resend some prior year unissued borrow authorizations from the finance manager these are previously completed projects that came in under which is great and it's more of a housekeeping um she also has another article um which she'll give a more information to the board um shortly um asking town meeting to adopt Mass General Law chapter 44 section 54b which is called The Prudent investment rule it's a statute involving the Investments and all of the trust funds and I'll have her do a detailed memo and explain that much better than I can um but uh it's a positive thing um more for the trusts and then the supplemental funding for the assistant Parks director position um contingent on the certification of uh free cash which is underway and then the street acceptance that you heard tonight so that's where we are now I'll continue to keep the board um updated um on on the town meeting FY 26 budget preparations um so we talked about the FY 26 budget calendar at the at the last meeting which the board has and is in the packet several of the budget related committees are going to be meeting before the board meets again on September 17th so we'll have their um proposed schedules to integrate into the calendar so no action on the budget calendar just yet but looking to that for the end of September beginning of October um the rate Review Committee is going to meet on September 10th at 400 p.m. uh their two initial agenda items are one ongoing um review of the feasibility study for the transfer station and some of those recommendations and to start the transfer station permit rate review uh process to start it also we're in the process of reviewing all of the previous Capital plans um that had been submitted in projects in preparation for Capital planning uh which will start uh very shortly uh um in in October um since July 26th and unfortunately we've been focusing on this even in more detail because the reality of the and I'm going to stress my word the temporary closure of noova Valley Medical Center the Chiefs and town departments are actively developing needs and potential budgetary impacts regarding uh the temporary closure of noova Valley Medical Center and I'm going to be meeting with all of the Town departments on September 11th at the department head meeting to talk about this further um this has serious implications potentially not only on the development of the FY 26 budget but even the budget we're in now is we're already seeing and it's difficult to quantify but we're already seeing um potential negative impacts um from from the closure in terms of of potential costs so what I've asked all departments to do to the best of their ability and I'll get this to the board and we'll talk about it more detail is to begin to look at what these costs are and what these potential budgetary impacts are and as we have continued to stress both on the federal and state level and I'll speak because obviously air but all of the towns but specifically for air there is no way that we can successfully and responsibly provide these services in light of the Hospital closure without an influx of resources and financial support from the federal or state sources and we'll talk about that again in a minute on the hospital please but we need to begin to shape that and begin to stress that because we have $150,000 in the reserve fund which can go pretty quickly you know and when we developed the reserve fund at the last budget nobody knew that the hospital would be in this position so we are I am we all are I know this board is fundamentally concerned about this and though our main goal is the ongoing fight to get this Hospital back open which we'll talk about in a minute unfortunately at the same time we're in a position where we need to plan for the reality of these impacts which started at 700 a.m. on August 30 August 31st so we'll have more information for the board and for the fincom as we begin to shape this because it's difficult I mean I'm already hearing from the director of the senior center we have one van where she's already we're looking to put together hopefully a plan with some support from Mart for at least a second van because now used to be able to run the appointments right up the hill to go to lemonster you you all experts on on on where what we're facing um I would just want to point out too in the FY 26 budget preparation on the capital side um that's why we're starting the initial analysis and the due diligence of the potential borrow for the senior center project and I want to stress the need to make their recommendation to the board the Board needs to do its due diligence but part of that is looking at the potential I just want to stress publicly that no decision has obviously been made but information governs decision so we want everybody to realize what are the potential cost impacts and so forth of that the other thing on the FY 26 budget I think we just need to start to keep on the burner and be mindful of both of the school budgets specifically the air Shirley Regional School District budget last year um there was some work that was done to make it manageable for all sides um the issue of the Federal grant situation Rel continues there um also they have some the teachers contract is up um so the issue of the scho and that's just a reality I'm not and we have cont contracts up on this side too but the so as we're beginning to shape the FY 26 budget there are some things in the last 45 days that are new realities the hospital impacts the potential school budget and you know some of the larger Capital but we'll we're just starting that process and we have an excellent track record of solving these issues and we also are in a strong financial position thanks to everybody's efforts including this boards that we can weather storms much better than many of our colleagues um any questions that's my administrative report I know it's a little long but any any questions from board on any administrative matters and we're going to talk about the hospital on a second but well this kind of goes with it a little bit you know you spoke how you are working with the Chiefs um about these new costs that you know as you said the temporary closing the hospital um I don't want to give them any more work but um you know tracking What In Real Life numbers what this is doing is that being done or because you know data yes it really drives things and if you can say we had said a million times this is what it's going to cost but when you actually have real life numbers that you can you know put down that helps sment Taris your spot on so we're doing two things uh and and chief Johnson is taking the lead on this on both of it so for the town from the town era as of August 31st unfortunately we are tracking everything in detail because we as you just said we need that to justify our case the second thing is Chief Johnson with District Six which are the fire chiefs all of the fire chiefs in our nooba Valley region are also going to be doing that collectively and standardized so all of the data so when we deal with our friends at the dph and other places it's all clean and on the same page so you are spot on we'll make sure that data is periodically is available to the board and and its public record but we're tracking all of the um quantitative data and some of the qualitative data is important too I mean when we said all of us said publicly that people and this is awful I can't believe we're saying this that people are going to die or people are going to have serious issues that needs to be recorded and it is going to be now fortunately we don't want that to happen but yes and and we will um continue to do that because there is going to have to be some federal and state resources um in order to make it through this transition period and and the longer that this goes on the bigger the impact that's why time is of the absence but great great question just to kind of back up what he said I mean I had a resident contact me wanting to know if we can have like you know do like a a weekly posting of you know this is how many man hours were spent uh transporting somebody um also so it goes along to exactly to what he's talking about uh how much uh is spent in man hours and fuel transporting patients to the other hospit hospitals and whatnot um again real data you know yeah and and even trying to make the intangible tangible but you know just stress levels things like even if the the hard data like you said the quantitative drives a lot of things but also as we said that human kind of part on it and put in there that this is It's morale it's it's it's affecting people uh adversely and that's you know right there with everything and I know it's tough when you're trying to from a management standpoint like how much money or you know 1 to 10 do you feel stressed out it's hard to say but you know if you can capture any of that somehow anecdotally or just those those things it helps you know that's spot on and not to speak for either of of the Chiefs but this discussions that we have had our concerns at this point is burnout and and you know Personnel you know support and so forth and people the whole work like balance vacation and and so forth and we're not fully there yet but these are things that we are you're absolutely right things that have to be watched yeah so that we're not blindsided yeah cuz we cuz we've been blindsided mhm you know so um okay um before item three so number two as I mentioned under appointments um I have two um that came in I think the board has a copy um two appointments I'm recommending for the cultural Council uh the first is Miss Lisa Nelson of air um to I'm recommending to be appointed um to a term to expire June 30th of 2025 and Miss Carrie Murray of air to a term to expire June 30 of 2027 and you have their background um from their intent that look excellent yes I'm just reading all this like who you want yeah they're enthusiastic too I like that um any questions no very very thorough all right I'll take motion okay I'll make a motion that the select board appoint uh lead L Nelson to the cultural council with the term to expire on June 30th 2025 seconded all those in favor I chair says I the motion passes and I'll make a motion that the select board appoint Carrie Murray to the cultural council with the term to expire on June 30th 2027 second all those in favor I I Shar says I the motion passes right so Mr chair the number number three the noova Valley Medical Center update and then just briefly from my perspective I'm sure members of the board um may have some other things um to add so um unfortunately or frustratingly the first thing is they don't have a a detailed substantive update yet I wish that I did that there was a operator or so forth um couple things from the update um last week in preparation uh for the unfortunate um both Chiefs and I met with Dr pla up at mova Valley Medical Center regarding the property during the closure so as of Saturday the property has closed it is still um Dr pea is still the point person at the property for the next 30 to 45 days and we're waiting for confirmation on which is it because at the end of that period Then the Apollo Land Group which own owns the land in the buildings is then responsible um uh we talked about a whole range of concerns that the chief and the town had about the building um there is going to be 24-hour security still at the at the facility which is good exterior um lighting and the Chiefs have the direct um contacts um for the folks um at the building uh because one of our number one goals that we stressed is we don't want that building to deteriorate or to turn into a problem spot and the both Chief's departments are now already taxed with additional uh that we're not going to just be we'll do the right thing as always I'm not speaking for the Chiefs but we're not this is not going to become a problem property um up there especially if our intent which we will be successful is it's temporary so um we did have um uh that meeting um up there um two things I already stressed is the increased ambulance resources that has been communicated both to um congresswoman Tran on the federal level and to the state delegation and to the state that we need to the the right now in this transition period increased ambulance resources whether Financial or equipment or both um are needed the other thing that has been conveyed by representative Scarsdale and Senator Eldridge to the dph is the medical building is still open which is good and there are doctors there however they relied heavily on the hospital's laboratory for a lot of their Diagnostic and ancillary testing which is now closed um Dr pla did put together a proposal which has been sent to the dph for the state it's the least they could do to fund a laboratory in the medical building and there's apparently a significant unoccupied space space in there that could be retrofitted into a lab which would be an investment also for the future meaning as the doctors stay there because the concern is yes many of the doctors are staying there for now but one of the reasons and not all of them but I would guess that one of the things that made the building attractive is it was right next to the hospital with a support lab so the sooner we can get a support lab in there I think uh would be a win-win not only during this period but you know move moving forward um there are no updates yet that I'm aware of or definitive updates on potential biders or operators um as been indicated in some of the media and so forth um you know UMass Medical um is interested um and as are some others I think now is to steal from what mayam mazarella said at the at the hearing up on devans now is actually the critical time for us to keep the pressure and the involvement on because you know that the feeling is well now the hospital is closed back to school the holiday we need to keep um uh the the pressure and involvement on and so one of the things I was going to propose tonight um for the board to consider is that the board authorize another formal letter uh to the governor in the dph to keep now I know we've sent tons of letters but to keep the the momentum going and and some of the the points would be so now with the closure of August 31st we remain committed and resolve more than ever to reopen um noova Valley Medical Center I we'll put much stronger language but I think one of the things is we have to stress we need to get this thing back open sooner than than later at this point in that time is of the essence another key point is of the proposed it's now $700 million in taxpayer funds for the other Steward hospitals so remember when from 30 million we're now at 700 million all of that is east of 495 yet all of the towns out here including all of us are footing the bill and the state often talks about equity and and one of the criteria the dph was equity and access to healthcare the $700 million Steward bailout which nobody's knocking those other hospitals I mean but not a dime of it as right now is west of 495 um that the town of air and and in air specifically leading the other towns is willing to provide the leadership and resources to solve this problem and invite the governor and the dph again to come to air to meet with the towns to discuss Solutions in next steps there still has to be some communication not only formal communication with whether it's the select board but also with the public and and sooner than later as okay what is the plan what do we need to do what can we do as I have consistently said not no specific ask has been made of any of the towns that I'm aware of and we're part of the solution not all of the solution but the towns can do something and will do do something within reason um again I the priority at this point is securing that qualified bidder or operator so what do we need to what do we need to do and this is rhetorical Mo for the state that the town remains committed to a re this is a key point I think the town remains committed to a reopened Community Hospital we need more than just an Urgent Care an emergency room and I know many of you are concerned we've heard this phrase that's been used by the state by the governor about reimagined health care we've heard talks about urgent care or emergency room the whole point is we need the hospital back and yes emergency room in Urgent Care is a key piece of it but I don't think we should settle for anything shy of that in in of unless it's a phased a legitimate phased approach where obviously we get the ER and the Urgent back online with the goal of getting the whole Hospital there's too much at stake so I think that's a point that needs to really be be stressed because the easy way out would be Urgent Care Center um and then the town of air um and as I talked about need supplemental resources and financial support during this critical period and for ambulance and emergency response support and the ancillary Lab at the medical building and then ask specifically what is the Department of Public Health in the state doing and provide that information formally and publicly I think one of the concerns now is we're going to hear what we're working on it we're working on it but time is of the essence okay what are you doing I mean even the that cone of silence has been the most problematic so again I'll stop there that's sort of the update we will continue to keep the board and the public updated as we move forward we put all of the record information related to the hospital on one Central spot on the web page as selectman Livingston mentioned tonight we'll look into adding to that about showing you know the data and as we move forward I'll talk to some folks on that but if the board willing to authorize uh another at least another letter for tonight to keep the and we we need to continue to think of other ways to to keep this ball moving forward and Mr chair I'll stop there absolutely so I I totally on board with this letter um I'd like it to be as meaty as possible um also you know maybe in even like some of the impacts in bullet form for example um I was at my doctor's office uh Harvard Medical and and he's got to get privileges at another hospital that takes about six months um that you know seniors are afraid to call 911 because they're afraid that they might take it from somebody else which unfortunately that's always a constant sometimes with seniors um but now it's even worse you know because of how far an ambulance will have to go you know um you know so there there's those little things um trying to you know gain a rapport um for our doctor's offices with the other hospitals and everything and try to navigate cuz there's I guess no emergency application they can fill out you know I mean they were thrust into this situation too so you know that that also as far as the equity of Health Care um is where we're going to be lacking because you know if our doctors don't have Privileges and we're all trying to navigate the the new reality and everything whose health is being impacted so somebody went up to the hospital because I guess they never got a phone call to say the hospital is closed they go up the building's closed they go to the doctor's office and like what do you mean well now where do I go as they're scrambling to find a new place for them to run a test again that falls onto the this whole Equity this reimagining a little scary that we're not being included in this conversation because I mean you know what exactly are you reimagining cuz I know we're not in a century that we can do this in the way that I would reimagine it at so what are they thinking and why aren't we being included in the conversation and I think that that kind of uh needs to be added um and and the fact that again we have no public transportation so you know is somebody having a problem getting from like lunar ber to Harvard what about from lunberg to Emerson yep you know so this whole thing you know um the cone of silence I I saw an interview congresswoman uh trean did nothing I mean it was I mean wow it wasn't even good political nothing it was like wow that was really nothing you know um and to be honest our governor spent more time with Julia L dfus ice cream and Senor warrren campaigning then she did for all our because from what she's showing us on this issue because there's no record of her showing us that she was working on this issue you know um so those are just other little things you know that are kind of the impact and it's every day there's going to be you know we think we we got it here oh wait you know I went over here there was this when it opened a door and now we're now we're over here and you know this whole mess is just going to get bigger and bigger and bigger um because and and also because of this rush job to close this facility you know um it wasn't even done in a logical manner Toys R Us would not have done this you know but a hospital oh just shut the door you know it just so I I do like what you mentioned in the letter too pushing them for Action items you know what are you doing hammer on that over and over again um because again in experience that's what you need is is to keep on saying what are you doing I want some kind of plan that you're going to stick to because we haven't got anything it's it's the worst part silence yeah there just you know stand by and we can't um so I and I think that's one of my biggest frustrations in all this is we keep on asking for a plan and it just keeps on not being a plan and you know what's also so insulting is that this town has never really gone to the state and said we need we need we need we need we need we need we really haven't I mean of course we've we've asked our hey you know can we have our share and everything but we really have not bothered anybody far as this is what we need and then the one time we do it's like a door get slammed in our face I'm not even sure if the door got slammed I'm not even sure there was a door there I think there was a complete wall you know and and to not and I and I said this before bad leadership to not even come out and and even weekly saying hey look we tried this that didn't work so we're going to try this or you know hey you know you're not forgotten nothing zilch n just yeah and as Pauline pointed out a few days ago there needed to be a med flight um which you know hey wish we had a nice helipad that you know was at a medical facility somewhere in town it landed at the high school which hey you know I mean it's great that someone in in got got the you know Med flight and they could land there but it's that's not what the high school fields for I mean that's why we have that helipad um and that was one of my thoughts all on this was losing that MH and the fact they're just going to decommission or you know just say yeah yeah yeah that's that's closed now um you know I started thinking what if the high school isn't available what if there's you people and they have to clear the PE you know it's just it's all those things so you just kind of keep on going down these weird little hallways um yeah exactly and you open the door like oh that's not good yeah yeah yeah you think oh I cleared that room oh gosh darn it look at that yeah and those are the things like I said be excellent if we could capture you know there's these weird little offshoots of an offshoot that no one ever thought about you know we got 98% going forward saying these are going to be the huge impacts it's all these small on that had up so Mr chair uh respectfully if the board wants to authorize the letter it will be from the board yes I would and I took notes as well it will put together a draft for the board and for for each of you to see and offer any input and then um from that consensus issue that letter for Signature by the the board yeah absolutely just one of the things we can't get her to come to us okay just infuriating me I me we offered her ice cream and everything um from the cottage so you know it's going to be good um what if we requested a meeting yes and to your point I think that should be in what I'm envisioning for the letter and I'll defer to the board using your point about the bullets cuz I'm a firm believer of the next steps we we put that request in there if you can't come to us we'll come to you yeah okay I know how to get to the state house yeah okay so do you need a motion yeah just said that because the board it's the board's letter and you'll be authorizing it all right so take a motion on that yeah trying to think of um I make a motion for uh the select board to um write a letter to to the governor um regarding the reopening of nooba Valley Medical Center seconded all those in favor I I chair says I letter is authorized okay and then um Mr chair and members of the board through you I'd asked Chuck Schultz the facilities director to come up to the table um for items number four and five which sort of go together so I item four and let me pass this out I sent to the board earlier there's a revised memo it item four is actually before I I'm getting ahead of myself um we have two um our proposals for your consideration um and upon scared upon appro no upon approval on upon approval of both of these uh the town will have committed all of its um arpa funds the first one is a memo you have in your packet um so this is under number four it's under my it's from the Department of Public Works is requesting that the board authorize up to $8,700 from Opera funds for the installation of outdoor lighting at the spectacle pond water treatment facility um the work would include three outdoor lights with all Associated conduits and Hangers um you can see in the memo from the DPW director and the water and sewer superintendent the spectacle Pond drinking water facility is in a remote location of air with no outside lighting um it is very pleasant down there in the daytime very natural yeah um but at night and staff gets called out there and so forth and the town just spent a considerable amount of funds on constructing the plant so we felt that this was a reasonable request for the aunds a small one uh for your consideration just I had one question on these these aren't lights that would be on all the time right this would only be in correct activated when it gets dark y I could just see the neighbors yes yeah any other questions on the light request no pretty straightforward yeah I'll make a motion that the select board approve the allocation of the 8,000 $700 of arpa funds for the instulation of outdoor lighting at the spectacle pond water treatment facility seconded all those in favor I chair says I all right thank you and now um so I'm want to ask through the chair um Chuck is going to do two um brief presentations the first one is for an opera request um which would be for 76 um green one right 76,000 uh uh 7,244 for the total upgrade of the first floor meeting room and then his second presentation is an update in the in the plan to submit a proposal through capital for the Great Hall improvements the challenge we have is that the the this room we have the Opera funding to do completely which this room needs desperately on multiple levels as we've all witnessed upstairs we don't have enough money even with the remaining arpa to do upstairs but through the capital and and Chuck did an amazing job in my opinion in turning what was the Super Cadillac of $900,000 proposal down to 10 something so with that um the first one is the Opera proposal for the first floor meeting room upgrade in the amount of $70,000 $244 and I'll turn it over to Chuck um for the presentation and copy all right so here we go first floor meeting room media upgrades all right so to start with let's start with the monopad Windows 7 almost 10 years old now Zoom equipment purchase it's an it's an older version um Zoom it so uh Zoom equipment we purchased during uh the thick of Co it was just a temporary solution Apex equipment is been here for about 10 years other than these microphones you see on the table so the goal of all this is to um combine it all we would have the same platform if you're on Zoom if you're on your local broadcasting or you're here in room uh watching the events or uh at the meetings it would all come up off the same microphones same camera same speakers so up on the wall where we have the monopad now there'll be two 75 in screens um one could do your Zoom stuff one could do your um presentation so you can see everything that's going on on the table itself uh right now to have a presentation we got to do what Carly's doing is H give it to her prior have her upload it to everything so we have is a Bluetooth Puck here that you can plug your laptop right into that's a built-in firewall that'll keep their stuff safe from our stuff and um not corrupt our system by having a laptop plugged into it plus it would have the ability to use Mac computers as well as PC computers on the table itself also we would have 11-in uh touchcreen that would be able to control all the zoom meetings kind of everything that's going on um from the table itself on each wall we would have speak microphones for the crowd so the when the crowd's talking um the microphones can get them good we replacing the cameras and speakers around the room and then we're going to do a 75 in on the back wall here with a better Clarity so everyone can see it better and then we're going to have four looped in um hearing aids for the crowd PE uh folks we talked about doing a um a speaker or something thing for people to hear in the back with they're worried about uh cross uh sound and it just always just getting really funky so the solution was for microphone uh hearing aid type devices um and then additionally they're um it's going to be a microphone so if there was like a special event we wanted crowd to stand up and talk into a microphone um so the that's better than the wall mics that we'll have just on a regular basis there'll be a special uh event microphone um and the big thing of all this is the equipment starting to get very out of date and very old it's got to H happen sooner than later replacing a lot of this stuff it's better to do it all at once and have it all communicate together work together and be a good platform for everyone to uh be on either Zoom or local broadcasting or here you get the same uh same quality anywhere you go um help keep labor cost down um usually when we do projects like this it'll be like 50/50 50% equipment 50% labor but on this one we're more about 7030 I'm going to try to do as much inhouse of the in-house work as possible with our electrician to run the wiring um to conceal things to hide everything to try to keep cost down CU I understand it's a large cost to begin with so just a quick view this is the touchpad that I was speaking of real quick um this is what the cameras will look like additionally we'll be upgrading all the Apex local broadcasting equipment so it'll be new controllers for the cameras all new software all new Hardware in the closet back there for them to uh control everything it'll be nice and new um kind of went over all the other stuff already and I did kind of a quick uh picture with the 75 in what a 75 in actually fit right yeah so they measured it we got 4T from the wall where that 4T where we got for space and that's why they're doing two of them they would rather have done like an 85 but we didn't have the height to do one larger one so that's what the idea of going side by side was because of that restriction we had there okay don't have the Big Frame like this has you know exactly yeah yeah and we wouldn't have the speaker because the speakers would be built into the overall system so it would just be the two monitors up there then we would have the PC hidden behind it we have a monitor pad now so the PC the computer's built into it how many times we actually use the touchcreen nowadays you know at any of these meetings I'm sure you guys never really go up there and touch it or there's kind of no seen once in like 5 years there's really I remember once years ago when we first got it and somebody's tried dialing in and we were all scared it was amazing technology yeah when it first came when it came out it's amazing technology and know top top of anything you can get um it's just 10 years about have passed and Technology changes so drastically that now it's just big bulky displays and then a PC hidden behind and you control everything from a wireless device you know on your tabl talkop or something um so then we'll go into the budget uh so we got so the equipment alone $ 42,700 um the wiring with our local electrician and myself I'm not that sounded WR oh the wiring cost the electric Co cost or $8,900 for our electrician and then $25,000 for the install the programming everything that takes to get it working and then in-house is my end of things I'm going to try to do some trenching the finish work and then renovating the closet back there and getting rid of a lot of the old stuff that's just lingering around get very a little more space to sit in there comfortably it's kind of CRM in there feel junk yeah so the idea is in there to uh put a new rack put just all just modern equipment in there and get everything nice and neat you know I just want to stress you know if we do move forward this project it's new technology there's going to be a glitch here or there but we're me and Carly are going to be here to teach everyone try to get through those first learning curves but I feel strongly after we get through the first couple glitches issue here issue there it'll be a great product for uh the town folks to have and sop yeah you know like just a just a white sheet that kind of steps you through all this stuff because I just joined I had no idea that was a touch screen so there was like a little tutorial there you know just look that oh so that's so you're one of those who likes to touch them oh yeah so actually that on the sheet there it's because the Mondo pad itself the USB ports are broken me and Carly rled it for a couple weeks trying to figure out why we couldn't get this camera to work right and the last thing you would ever think of the most simplest thing was is the US Port was broken right um You never think of the simple no unfortunately went from the most extreme to the simplest instead of uh that was my fault but uh yeah that's why we have that up there and so Mr chair as in the the m you have the the request is for authorization of $ 70,2 for arpa and then as uh Chuck has outlined um to get the total cost of the project is 7689 uh 6,653 is coming from the facility's budget so we would be looking respectfully for authorization of up to $ 70,2 44 and that with the lights that the board just authorized is all of the town's Opera money is committed God finally any other questions on this proposal well I got to say when I first looked at it I the lighting you might want to look at the lighting in here too because I read it wrong and I almost that's why I was looking at you going no about the next thing we're going to talk about I was I was like well I can't have heart attack because it takes too long to get there you know um but yeah so then I was like oh good I read it wrong um so I got a quick question so we had already authorized do we already authorized the 67,000 on August 24th I'm sorry I made the request on August 24th to Robert of the $67,000 oh it was only to him I apologize yeah he doesn't count I have no Authority right I'm like I don't remember that but you know there was a lot going on in August so okay cuz that's I was trying to think of like how are we writing the motion so now I get it okay no this this sounds great this sounds great and once I've read it right I'm I'm yeah so yeah have the lighting in here it's always I always thought it's been terrible so yeah Chris any other questions no um but I think that's it need needs it oh yeah does oh yeah definitely especially you hear it all the time from people in town that say you know I I couldn't hear um or the the broadcast on Channel 8 didn't work you know something that comes up a lot ironically though like when we have the Devin jurisdiction meeting everybody who meets here they're like oh man you got the best meeting room anywhere so you know all a matter of perspective so uh quick question all right so if we authorize the money tomorrow when you start and when you finish it all right so I talked to him about that it's their busy time cuz school starting I guess they do a lot of work with schools and stuff but he does believe you know a four to six week uh lead time on getting the project started the Project's going to be a onewe project from start to finish and this room would be very unusable during that one week cuz it's going to be a mad house running wires stuff but one week to get the work done once we get it done and hopefully within a month to a month and a half we could start the work so maybe by the end of the year oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah okay wait wait know you already know Robert already quizzed me on that one and yeah I feel pretty good about it so four to six weeks lead time a week to do the install and then we're going to have again we going to get the glitches out we're going to do lots of training part of this if we end up going with the company we're proposing is we'll have a service maintenance contract on the equipment and we won't do it forever but for the first year or two with that they come out once or twice a year depending on which level of contract you pick they check all the equipment they do any training or answer any questions you may have and then they're on call within four or eight hours depending on the uh service contract you pick for them to come out and fix any equipment or replace equipment until they get you new equipment oh that that sounds like a good idea all right all right I will take a motion clapping love it love it love it um all right so it's the 7,244 okay uh I would like to make a motion um for the expend expenditure of $70,200 well you jinst I know something's going to come back we're going to come back to the next meeting he'll be like nice problem to have you know we're giving back this amount of money I think it's a great use of it though and so the next presentation will be for upstairs and just again want to stress Chuck will be formally submitting this to the capital planning committee to go through the capital um planning uh process but wanted to update the board on this because this is also extremely um important and I my opinion I think Chuck did an excellent job since we last met taking the almost million dooll proposal to come up with what we believe is a a a solution in progress for the Great Hall so not looking for any vote tonight but wanted to give an update so Chuck absolutely um so the in your guys's black books I put together has a lot more detailed information on everything um amazing this is amazing I love the big scope of things is Robert just alluded to oh you really gave Black Books I'm sorry oh yeah give allbody else needs to step it up okay my name on it I know my computer wasn't working I had a handw write it I'm sorry uh but all right so um it was about $700,000 we had proposed this Cadillac of audio visual the BMW the James Bond's car the whole n yard so since then I've been working with um the same company and we've brought it back a bit to about $120,000 for the audio visual equipment what that will include is six speakers around the room up to 10 um presenter mics um crowd mics everything you could possibly need to hold a great presentation additionally we wanted to do a drop- down screen we wouldn't be able to in this proposal afford to be able to have the mon the uh projector actually like drop down like we were talking about before what we' do is a rolly cart then in the floor we'd have a place to plug it into that connected to what we needed to connect into and then once we're done with the projector we just roll it out of the way and put in storage um so the protector screen was still part of it all the audio visual acoustical uh paneling what we're going to do is on the interior walls only we're going to stay away from the exterior walls that we have all these issues 150y old building with and we're going to do some paneling behind the two double doors when you first walk in the room and then where the stage is on the back wall there and then we're going to look into some kind of carpeting that we can possibly roll in or roll out some kind of solution to help with the floor dampening is the guy uh the fellow that we had here talked about we want to soften the room as much as possible that's going to help with the noise in the reverberation and then the last part on the acoustical part um sound proofing we're looking into panels possibly so like if we had an event like we did with the senator behind this last set of seats we can put some paneling behind there just acoustical paneling that would help with the noise and kind of block it into where we want it to be in also to part of this project would be in that cubicle space that we renovated up in the Great Hall it would we have a zoom room for about $16,000 that give us a 75in screen all the audio visual equipment that you could host a meeting similar to down here additionally all the equipment that we're proposing Apex or local broadcasting would be able to plug directly into it and um get their feed from our speakers our microphones our cameras um also Furniture replacing the chairs I'm sure you guys have been up there the chairs are starting to get pretty beat up and torn up they're just they're they're almost 20 years old now and then we're talking about uh getting a couple tables that if we did have a meeting or something that we would have those flip down wooden nice tables that we could set up and host an event with there's some documentation in the books about uh what it would look like and stuff but uh I just wanted to talk about it and uh so wrap all that together $179,000 not bad but I just that is a big reduction and I have to like we would in would be hling the acoustic panels for this price we would be mounting the speakers we're going to have our local electrician run the wiring it would probably more like $250 to $300,000 I know it sounds crazy if we put it out to bid and had a project manager we paid the overhead of company would take the labor cost of prevailing wage we're trying to eliminate as much as possible 120 of the proposed 179 is equipment pretty much only so it's a pretty good piece of the chunk of it literally the equipment that we're going to be purchasing of the overall price but uh yeah if you guys have any questions or anything no where where will the screen be so it would be where the post picture of I believe it's Dr air is Dr Air's uh picture would be it would be up top there okay we mount it up there and then we would have either a pull down or a a button or a switch you could press to drop it down so it just lower go up and down as you need it so it would be kind of tucked away up top there but then I we you need you can press it and pull it down and then how about for like um so my one issue at our meeting with Senator and um and representative Senate was that the screen for Zoom was here so I kept having to rely like on Carly to see if anybody was there so it just wasn't ideal so two things one everything off the projector screen would be our feed to like the local broadcasting and stuff but we would still it's it's very inexpensive to put a 55 in 60-in screen on a rly cart and be able to add that to this whole project and give us like a flip so you guys can see it and no one else can we kind of did it during a town meeting when it was Co and we had that uh room uh oh yeah remember we had that spare room and then we put a monitor that you guys can see the people in it'll be something similar to that that we could definitely do yeah you screen mirroring that way yeah if you have overflow and and and things like that yeah I mean I think the biggest thing I remember the Acoustics you know like I mean that's that's the big thing in that and you know in this proposal like the original proposal like at almost a quar million 3/4 of million dollars we were going to be paneling everything and we spent a good amount of money having a Prof come out and test it and stuff we're not proposing to put that much acoustical paneling up for a couple of reasons one I'm really worried about water getting in and destroying them it's a really old building we just have a lot of quirky issues with this building being 150 years old um old yeah but we're going to put some paneling up to try to help as much soften the room as much as possible that we can but to have the audio visual equipment when we had that Senator uh meeting with that you guys did up there're like it would have been awesome to have like you know I went to the local AV store that weekend to go buy those speakers and micro the microphones that you guys had on the table and I wish we had a more professional uh setup to offer you guys to use yeah the other problem is a lot of people don't know how to talk in a microphone they think that their mouth needs to be right on it so then you're like youone and there yeah so I mean you know what somebody's in front of a microphone they really should kind of just like raise their voice just a little bit like you're trying to talk to your significant other who all of a sudden gets deaf when youve tried to call them you know what I'm saying that's that's the visual and you're like oh that's the voice yes that's the level I need to be at when you're in front of the microphone because it's if you whisper in a microphone it's going to pick up it's just going to whisper you know screaming horrible um I'm usually the everyone tells me to get close and I'm like no cuz I talk loud I like the proposal I do I love the presentation yes that's I'm telling you you every person at town meeting or oh I don't know if we can afford that but I can offer it to anyone who wants one for it's great and uh yeah if you guys had any uh other thoughts before we get to Capital season and let me and Robert know and we can incorporate them into the proposal and yeah we'll try to get it done do the best we can I love audiovisual system so this is very fascinating to me yeah good good oh this is great all right guys thank you so much thank you for having me have a good one Mr chairman unless there any questions from the board that concludes my report this evening thank you for your time and consideration absolutely any questions for Robert all right um next item on the agenda is the new business select board member questions which there weren't any in the packet any I thought of something today and it's just um you know coming up I don't we have we the date hasn't been set and and that's fine but coming up is going to be the tax classification hearing so you know we always have like a little presentation I think it would be nice if like in the presentation they could say you know what has like things that had gotten approved at town meeting for example 71 Sandy Pond Road that does not affect your taxes so this is this is the items that affect it this is the items that didn't affect it cuz I guess there were some people that're confused y okay so good point it was our federal funds came out of our taxes that we all paid Wisconsin helped pay for it um but it did not come out of our local taxs so okay yeah we can do that and then um if there's nothing else I will we have no minutes to I know I didn't see on the agenda I just yes um as I said so the so the next meeting yeah so we'll have the ones from the special meeting on the August 6th and then the ones from the 20th which I took so oh that's yeah y so much has happened the past month and with that and with that Mr chair if there's nothing else I'd like to make a motion to adjourn I will second that all those in favor I chair says I we are adjourned