##VIDEO ID:YIoLqBt_CH4## [Music] I [Music] in [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] and we'll begin in 5 4 3 2 1 good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brookline select board and this is the regular meeting of the select board for November 12th 2024 so uh first I'd like to move that the select board go into executive session for the purpose of approving executive session minutes and discussing strategy related to the purchase exchange lease or value of real property which must be discussed in executive session because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the town and the chair so declares an executive session therefore to be necessary so all in favor please indicate by saying I um Mike samnon I Paul Warren hi share votes I okay we will return to open session after our session of the session which is scheduled for 6 o' [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] in [Music] [Music] in [Music] I [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] one good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the brook line select board and this is the regular meeting of the select board for November 12 2024 four I'd like to start off with announcements and updates from the uh select board and I'd like to start uh today is uh November 12 a week ago it was November 5th wow how did that happen many of us are shocked that our wonderful country has revealed itself in the person of a pardon my language but convicted felon a traitor to the Constitution and the nation a rapist and a to toilet bowl of hate and just an overall bad person that person is now America's role model in Chief okay think about that you know protect your children I mean think about your daughters and what he says to them as to what they should accept from men think about your sons as to what they should grow up to be uh I I think about that I mean it scares me but as uh Comm Harris said this is not a time to throw up our hands this is the time to roll up our sleeves locally most of us in Brookline individually will live our material lives pretty much as before our values however may lose out and our struggles to raise our children as good people will be much more difficult but there are many people whose vulnerabilities will leave them oing to to suffering and Grievous harm our values as a diverse Equitable and and inclusive Progressive Community will be under attack quickly we must we must make sure that we have compassion for those and think about those who uh are going to suffer over the next few years and town government must respond to provide defenses and safety nets to prevent the worst from happening rest assured that we are taking steps to protect our residents and our values um it's not going to be easy but you know we have to do it for you personally I'd like to suggest uh you inform yourself of what we may be in for and here are three things that I always tell people uh they should read uh they're very helpful first uh Timothy Snider who's a I think a historian at Yale wrote a book called on on tyr tyranny it's a small book and just has some points of uh uh make some points as to what you do in different situations under authoritarian rule um the things you do to protect yourself as well as to protect others very straightforward it's a short book it's worth reading secondly if you really want to get into this meline Albright wrote a great book called fascism which provides granular in granular detail how authoritarians take over Democratic societies Peace by by Peace by piece by piece and finally keep yourself morally focused read Martin neer's poem called first they came I'm sure people have heard this which is a poetic form of a post-war confessional by n n Mueller who was a former Nazi who ended up in a concentration camp and he failed to follow the party line sufficiently completely so so those are my thoughts um I know everyone is either in shock or just wondering you know what comes next but that's those are my thoughts I hope they're helpful to you so Paul sure uh thank you Bernard um so we had a uh Veterans Day ceremony on Monday um uh a little bit different configuration there were some chairs there for folks that in the past everybody's usually standing in the street uh but it was a good turnout and I wanted to uh in particular thank you Bernard for your uh your comments your speech was uh very moving and Powerful um and I would encourage um I assume it's recorded somewhere on big will'll be at some point yeah at some point um and I would I would encourage uh everybody to um to watch that uh uh certainly for your speech but also for the the comments from many others and uh the you know the sentiments that were expressed for uh our veterans and and all that they do and those that that serve our veterans so again I want to thank you for for your speech it was very very well done thank you I appreciate that um I also wanted to let everybody know that the Town Administrator November newsletter it's it's you just can't you don't want to miss the town administrators newslet it's chalk full of information but it is it's a good one uh it's up on um the the town's uh main uh homepage and then I wanted to announce that the Brookline neighborhood alliance in this room tomorrow night um at I think it actually starts at 6:30 for coffee and uh and some socializing and at 7 o'clock they will be uh discussing Warren article 12 Warren article 16 and Warren article 18 so that's outdoor lighting some changes that are coming in our zoning code um article 16 which has to do with tree protections um on uh specifically private property and then article 18 uh which is uh regulating rodenticide to help uh protect uh Wildlife um birds of pre and such so uh those are three quick announcements thank you thank you Paul um anyone else um Mike thanks Bernard um thanks for the those introductory introductory remarks um there's a uh going to the local level uh there'll be a uh uh meeting for the the Cheston Hill Neighborhood in particular but other people are certainly welcome uh to come and uh and participate on uh uh on the uh Monday the 18th at 6:30 pm. uh in the Department of Public Works training facility off of Hammond Street uh to have a conversation about what uh the neighborhood's priorities are for the development of the uh Chestnut Hill commercial area uh where it it arises because we had uh taken some really quite a bit of input from people uh on uh what they wanted to see and then when we got a proposal from a developer that incorporated some of those ideas uh it turned out that as one person uh on the U uh advisory committee uh that's working with us on chest Hill said be careful what you wish for um because the proposal Incorporated many of the ideas that people were asking about but uh at the cost of substantial amount of density so we're actually going to take a vote I'm going to ask people to say what their first and second third priorities are uh for the development of uh of that uh that stretch uh and uh I would certainly encourage anybody who lives in chest Hill or drives along Route n for that matter uh and uh past the um uh past the street on one side and the um and the largely empty Brook line uh chess Hill Office Park on the other side uh to uh to come and listen and contribute thank you nothing else okay let's move on to public comments uh Tiffany please explain the rules thank you for thank you for joining us for public comment this is an opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brookline that matter to you each person speaking tonight is limited to 3 minutes you don't need to use the entire time but you may if you like once 15 minutes has been met There's an opportunity at the conclusion of the select board's business for additional comments members of the public sometimes raise questions during public comment we may be able to provide a quick answer to a question but are more likely to work with staff to get a more thorough answer and respond over email we'll let you know when you have 30 seconds remaining and when your time is up please conclude your remarks at that time if you have more to say you're welcome to send an email to board members expressing your thoughts in Greater detail the first person we have signed up before you go just want to remind people that we have what may be a contentious discussion coming up on the school resource officers do not use your do not waste your time in public comment with comments about that we'll have a hearing at when that issue comes up on the agenda at which point you can make your comments thank thank you uh the first speaker is Megan Megan McVey is yes yes please hi um I'm just here to speak in favor of protected bike Lanes um so I your your name and your Precinct your address sorry uh Mayan McGarvey 21 Addington Road um so I uh work at Boston University I live in Washington Square and I cycle to work every day um and uh I you know I I just think that protected bike lanes are extremely important uh in Brookline for safety it's um just so much safer than uh than what we have on Beacon Street at the moment and I understand that there's um an initiative on Washington Street to uh potentially introduce protective bike Lanes I think it's really important um and I just want to say that I understand there's um some controversy about whether uh the changes on Washington Street will negatively affect businesses um on Washington Street by removing parking spaces and I just want to advocate for the fact that cyclists also frequent businesses and that we need to take into consideration the possibility that um increased cycle traffic along Washington Street could offset any potential loss uh associated with losing parking spots so that's it probike Lane thank you the next speaker is Jessica leazar hi my name is Jessica laaser microphone directly the microphone oh sorry hi my name is Jessica laaser I live at 164 coolage street in Precinct 9 and I'm also here to speak about the protected by Lan um potential project uh so I just wanted to say I know there's a lot uh going on about it I'm just wanting to speak from my experience in Brookline and hope that you'll consider others who are in a position similar to mine I've been a Brookline resident for nine years thank you for having me here today and uh my four-year-old who came from speech right before this um I'm here to uh speak in favor of the protected bike Lanes as part of the redesign of Washington Street between Washington Square and Brookline Village um I've lived here for 9 years now with my spouse John are six and four year olds and my 17-year-old who's a BHS student um I grew up in the Montreal suburbs riding my bike uh going to so many different places Parks sometimes other neighborhoods because we had protected and separated Lanes I then moved to the Chicago Sub subbs where I continued to have access to protected Lanes uh when my oldest was born I acquired a bike trailer I was able to um go around the town go to different areas go to for ice cream to Parks further away from home on bikes when my oldest was able to ride they would follow along with me um that all ended when we moved to Brookline 9 years ago the lack of protected bike Lanes the amount of traffic on the streets just made me so much more worried and anxious in my first year of living here I had two co-workers who were in bike accidents one of which from an Open Door from a parked car um the resulting injuries made me even more hesitant to have my own children on the streets in bikes um I feel like you can tell how safe a town is by how many families are using the bike lanes and I don't have very many friends who feel comfortable having their children in bike lanes and Brook lines unfortunately um at this time I think protected bike Lanes this is an opportunity to consider how much more some of us who are sitting on the sideline who are interested in using our bikes and Brookline um would be able to access who would feel more comfortable um the safety of our children 30 seconds remaining thank you my 17-year-old hasn't ridden a bike since we moved to Brookline they are currently at BHS and and um they also haven't gotten a driver's license for much the same reasons they feel like the roads are a little bit scary here and I feel like having a protected bike lane would provide them the security to have a safe route to the high school and my younger ones as they get older so thank you for your time and consideration thank you the next speaker is Susan Ivy good evening I can't call my precinct I'm at 158 Thorndike I voted at the senior C senior center for the last 14 years so I'm not sure the number I'm sorry that's okay so um I want to speak to you about the Washington Street redesign and as the woman who just spoke I'm very concerned about bicycle safety I lived along Washington Street for about 15 years of the 40 years years I've lived here in Brookline my children attended peer school and the high school we're all cyclists and for the last 16 years I've been carfree as well Washington Street has always been somewhat hazardous to cars bicycles and pedestrians firstly cars drive up and down Washington Street at a higher than usual rate of speed um next in the mornings as you drive toward Brooklin Village the sun is right in driver's eyes so it's particularly hazardous that closer you get to Brookline Village near to the pier school to take your kids to school the sun is right on your eyes is quite dangerous and additionally the intersections at Cypress and in Brookline Village are kind of awkwardly arranged there are three main reasons for us to begin to prioritize cyclists and pedestrians as highly as we have valued cars along Washington Street first is education our kids need safe access to commute to pierce Driscoll and the high school four classes and also for after school activities which might include after dark the second issue is Commerce often when I know parking is going to be tough and I certainly know that cycling is very dangerous instead of buying locally I admit to resorting to ordering online next Brookline Village is the center of the town it's full of gathering places for Citizens Town Hall the Public Health Building are there the main library and the police station and and both of those buildings 30 seconds community meeting rooms available we need these important places to be equally safely accessible to drivers cyclists and pedestrians thank you for your time thank you the next speaker is Doug Hughes Doug if you're online could you raise your hand using the raise the hand feature okay the next speaker is Carol lvin Carol I believe you're online I'm promoting you now Carol you can start your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes thank you uh Carol Lin 61 Lake Road Precinct 6 I'm here speaking in my capacity as chair of the capital subcommittee of the advisory committee regarding item number 10 the special appropriation reallocation of the what's known as the mini CIP I'm here to offer um a the assistance to the select Board of the capital subcommittee of the advisory committee we would appreciate the opportunity to do a somewhat deeper dive into this proposal um and review it and help explain and highlight to the select board the various moving Parts which projects have been expanded in scope which projects have been reduced in scope in addition there's over a dozen new projects that have never been part of the mini CIP that are being proposed for fiscal year 26 that we'd like to get a better understanding of whether or not they actually belong in the mini CIP which is uh historically been for deferred maintenance so um as I said I'm here to offer our assistance and I hope uh after your conversation this evening you'll be interested in taking us up on that thank you thank you the next speaker is Blair Hines Blair I'm promoting you now you should be able to start your video and begin your 3 minutes if you're comfortable hello I'm not sure can you hear me not very well I just wanted to comment and appreciate Green's fabulous introduction I think it's really important for all of us to think about how Brooklyn will respond in the next two to four years thank you very much thank you that concludes the speakers who signed up in advance of the meeting we have time for more we are at uh 8:16 so we could entertain another speaker is there anyone in the room who wishes to speak during public comment at this time denell while he comes up I just want to remind folks um it's your precinct number or your address it's not both so if you're not comfortable giving your address you feel free to give your precinct number thank you uh good evening everyone Donald O'Neal Senor Town meting M Precinct 4 um also on the advisory committee I'm not here to discuss the item that Carol was just mentioning I'm sure um um I'll hear more about that in the coming days um my question was in regards to if y'all were going to speak on Mission or not this evening because if so if you're not then I can run home for advisory if so then I have to stay here and listen so that was my question thank you so um we've received a request from the license holder to delay the application and the board will consider that question as to whether to delay the hearing um so the the answer is it depends on what the board wants to do um if the board says they're going to delay it which I mean it's it's a reasonable request but it's the board's decision um then we will delay it until probably January um and if not then we'll have it tonight okay will the board know before or after the this school resource discussion if they want to delay or not it's after sorry after all right thank you so we do have time for one more speaker is there anyone else in the room who wishes to speak during public comment at this time is there anyone online if so please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature okay it looks like no one else is indicating their desire to speak okay thank you he next on our agenda are miscellaneous items starting off with Pro of the minutes from October 29 and November 4 2024 any corrections or edits to those minutes seeing none I'm Mo approval of the minutes for October 29 and November 4th 2024 all in favor please indicate by saying I Mike Simon I Paul Warren hi and David Perman I chair votes I next we have pardon my voice I'm not sure what's going on um next we have um uh miscellaneous items uh B I'm sorry 6B through 6m um and I'd like to take those in Omnibus fashion unless someone has want wants to take one of those items out of um on this uh vote and discuss it no I'd just like to note with respect to item 6h which is a request for um from the chief of police to appoint eight probation AR police officers that most of these police officers come from local uh College police forces uh some of them have have been in uh Municipal police forces previously but most of them come from college uh police forces college and university police forces who are not eligible to be transferred laterally into our department under Civil Service since we're no longer in civil service we have the opportunity to get these trained professional uh uh police officers who are working currently uh in the University or college settings to join our police force helping to under helping to eliminate the deficit in our staffing that we've had for for years so I just want to mention that you know that's good news um and you know that's some background to that item any other questions regarding these items I would like to just follow on a comment uh consistent with what you just said um this is a remarkable turnaround uh in our Police Department which does a great job uh but you know several years ago we had um some some some action taken uh that was National in nature as well as local um and it it it did have an impact on our Police Department uh we lost quite a few individuals to retirements uh some took jobs in other places um morale was very low um and I believe that the hiring of our outstanding police chief Jen Pastor um and the work that uh that town meeting and the board did to uh negotiate a a contract to get out of Civil Service uh pay increase pay for our officers um has really set the stage for us to begin to attract talent and people want to come and work in Brookline for the Brookline police department and I think it's uh it says quite a bit um about our the leadership in our Police Department um and the support that our uh police department um and all uh Public Safety officials get uh from this board and from town meeting and boards and commissions so I'm I'm I'm I'm excited to see eight officers coming Bernard so thanks uh okay so I'd like to move approval in Omnibus fashion of items 6B through 6m all in favor please indicate by saying I John um Mike sandon what's his name definitely not John okay hi um Paul Warren hi David Perman I and shair votes I um John vanak is not here today he's um traveling but he's usually the first person I uh go to for a vote so next uh calendar items boards and commissions interviews we're starting off with a candidate for the Brookline commission for the Arts Stan treker uh he in the audience yes oh see you over there you may approach the podium so start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your background including your background with respect to the Brookline commission for the Arts I'm sure you'll mention that uh and uh you why you want to come back to the commission thank you and happy to be here tonight and speak to you um my name is Stan treker I've lived at I currently live at 21 white place my wife an and I have lived in Brooklyn for 40 years uh Anne has also served on the town meeting uh as as another example uh I appy to rejoin the Brookline commission for the Arts after I left for a year to do some traveling overseas um I've been gone for for uh about 14 months in total and I'm happy to rejoin the commission if so permitted uh I have both an MBA in international business and have worked as a banker for a while and an MFA in photography and for the past 45 years I have led several nonprofit Arts organizations in different areas and most recently for the last 18 years been the president of a College of Art and Design here in the Boston area I've also served on a number of different uh nonprofit Arts boards uh including one right now that happens to be in East Boston uh an organization called Z that serves underprivileged teenagers with music programs uh with all that said um um as I said I've been on the commission for a three-year period and and I'm happy to be reappointed again if so voted um I have to say that I am a strong believer in the Arts and what the Arts contributed contribute to this town and to its citizens and also the impact of the Arts on the economy of the town I believe that it is uh a a strong value to our citizens and they take advantage of it simple examples are the many music programs that you experience throughout each year um the the recently painted electrical boxes around town which are a delight really much better than the plain uh gray boxes that existed prior to that and as in one other example the Annual Outdoor exhibition of public art in along the muddy river Emerald necklace adds so much for our citizens and contributes to why they want to live here um that's all I have to say and if you have any questions I'm happy to take questions great uh Mike so first of all um uh you were uh you were the um executive director of the photographic photography Resource Center over itbu uh which is a very fine place um I have a question what did you do where did you go for 14 months not that is relevant to this position but well honestly honestly that it's not absolutely correct but um I mean the STS qualifications just there they're extraordinary uh and so that that's not at question but what did you do all that time well my wife and I are both retired now and we decided that uh we would go on an adventure for a year and rent our house here in Brooklyn to a lovely couple from California actually and we uh spent six months of the year in Mexico at a place we really love and 6 months in a house on Deer Isle in the coast of Main and it was fabulous it a very very strong experience right Paul y uh thank you Stan it's it's rare for us to be able to interview essentially this is a request for reappointment uh we've already served so often those folks don't come to us and we get to talk to them so it's actually uh it's a great opportunity uh to speak with you what what's the one or two things that you'd really like to accomplish in your next next term that you weren't able to accomplish in the in the prior yeah well I I have to say the the the the commission has grown in uh Personnel in the last several years and now has I believe 10 Commissioners which is great when I first joined uh four years ago I think it was six so I'm happy to see that um and it mean only means that we're getting more voices heard in our con conversations what what the uh about two years ago um I led an effort to have the uh monies that the funds that we received from the state Arts Council uh matched with funding from the town many other towns around the state have had this before Brookline has never had it it allowed us to give twice as much money to artists and arts organizations and to present more programs for the public of citizens of of Brookline so I would like to continue that I'd like to continue to advocate for even more funding it's still a very limited amount we get $8,000 a year from the state so it's a small amount but it does help a lot to bring these programs about and I'd like to see the commission expand its efforts in other directions as well for instance um as one example art Barn is seeking some leadership and direction in terms of a new home for it uh perhaps the commission can uh become an advisory in that capacity those kinds of things as well thank you uh you know one of the things I'm I'm always interested in is how excuse me art you know of various types can be made a part of the curriculum in in our schools or in some other way contribute to the education of uh a students I remember my son uh was at Lawrence School when they had an incredible program with the Isabella stward Gardener Museum and you know introduced the kids to just I to to Art and the museum and it didn't cause my son to become an artist or anything but it had an an impact on his way of thinking his way of appreciating Beauty in general that is very very subtle but is very important so you do you have any ideas any suggestions or no I think that's an excellent point there's no reason that uh the commission and other parts of the art community in Brookline can't work more closely with the schools I mean we have so much to offer the students there so um I I would love to see that I think it's a good point for discussion among the commission how we can do that uh one small example is when the uh US Open was here um and we created the banners that appeared all over town um I led a a a subcommittee to uh reach out to different parts of the town to uh ask for submission art submissions of designs for those banners including going directly to the art department at the high school and asking them to circulate this opportunity to their students so I I'm thoroughly agree with you commissioner well if you're on the commission do something about it uh David based on what you're seeing in other communities are there any innovations that you would like to bring to Brooklyn it's a good question I mean [Music] um one that comes immediately to mind is is a is a project that Cambridge does every year around the river and they hold a festival for that is there an opportunity to do something that with with something like that something different obviously that might take place over at uh the the muddy river or in some other location in the town that would be uh would be opportune to do that okay thank you you're wel we'll be U making our appointments at a later date and uh thank you for your interest in thank you returning to the brook line Commission on for the Arts welcome okay next we have um two candidates for appointment to um to the Brookline commission for women uh Elizabeth uh Kerman uh Kernan and Shai Ur I'm sorry Amir e FY and if I got that wrong I apologize um anyone have any discussion okay I Mo of approval of uh these two applicants or these two um individuals to the Brookline commission for women all in favor please indicate by saying I Mike Sandman hi Paul Warren I uh David Perman I and chair votes I next uh Capital Improvement program allocation request who's going to introduce that is that you Susan Dr Givens Dr Susan G is the Deputy superintendent good evening good evening so I'm hoping that in your packet you get a memo and oh good and a document that was approved by the school committee last last week after pretty extensive review at our Capital subcommittee um uh back in August and then again in early October um this was a little different than we um had for a process last year because the town was gracious enough to provide us with resources over the course of two years so fy2 and FY 26 um and we knew last year when we put our CIP request together that we um had more work to do in terms of um reviewing the needs in our schools uh last year we didn't have a director of operations and so I was coming in new and uh so we took the information that we have and we could validate and we put that forward in our CIP requests last year um this year we have a director of operations we're grateful for that and um we had three new principes last year as well who were just walking into the facilities and so they hadn't had the opportunity to work within the building and then offer uh some suggestions for work that they felt would um be essential moving forward so as we approached the cycle this year uh we took the feedback um from our administrative team um and we met with our town counterparts um director Simmons and his team and um we've probably invested about 50 to 60 hours in putting this uh CIP request uh before you so what you'll notice is that um there was work that was done and we completed and in the worksheet that we provided we outlined for you the work that was completed in fy2 or will be completed before fy2 is is concluded and then in FY 26 we listed all of the items that appeared in last year's schedule um and then we have the new additions um that um are also included so the way to read the worksheet if you if you have a moment um is uh in the First Column uh we identifi the items um that were in Def either in deferred maintenance and or were added in the second column we put plan modifications so that you would know if it was a new item if it was completed in 25 um Andor if it was um um slated to be done in FY 26 and we had to make and shift some some priorities around the other thing we had the benefit of is uh getting new pricing refresh pricing for some of these um and also in really assessing some of the scope of work that was put forth for 26 we were able to refine that a bit and make some adjustments there so um we tried to uh document for you what changes uh were made to the plan that was proposed last year um and that's what appears in column two uh again column three and four are what was approved for 25 uh what was actually accomplished in 25 and then refresh pricing for everything moving forward from 26 hours um the original FY 26 uh that was approved at last year's uh budget cycle review cycle appears uh in the next column and then what we are proposing now uh for the remainder of the funds that were allocated to us at town meeting um and then 27 through 31 is uh new information there are a few instances where we moved a few items out a year or two that were earlier um and there's uh a couple of situations where we moved something to a higher priority based on what um current uh needs are in those in those particular buildings so as I said this has uh been presented at three public meetings this will be the fourth public meeting um there has been input um throughout this process from members of uh the advisory committee as well as uh uh um our Administration um and the town Administration as well as the school committee so we feel really good about the proposal that's before you and the changes that um we're requesting that you approve tonight um this will allow us the opportunity as as we had hope to be able to go out and seek bids for the work um and then get uh this work scheduled in advance uh one of the things that is difficult is when the when when town meeting appropriates money in May and we have June July and August to get everything done in the schools when we're not in them this gives us um some lead time to be able to um uh go out to bid and schedule the work in advance of uh the end of the school year so we're very excited about the opportunity to be able to move forward and and plan and and get more work schedule um for the upcoming summer so that we can complete some of this really important uh deferred maintenance take any question question you might have okay Paul yep uh thank you Susan um so it I'm I read through the spreadsheet today I just had a hard time like getting my head around what what was going what was happening with it there wasn't much of a narrative with it um what is the so this comes the reason why you're coming to us is because there was an appropriation in um the uh the annual budget that town meeting approved that said if there were going to be any changes to the Min CIP that you would come present those to the select board for review and potential approval that that's why you're coming um okay and that's never been done before this is the first time we've tried this process um because and I think there were some issues raised with the prior mini CIP there were some changes and um and we wanted to make sure that we started to get some more visibility around what the changes were and why um I guess the first question I have is what percentage of the budget of this for the mini CIP is being re reallocated from the original how how many dollars are actually being changed that is a great question um I didn't view it through that lens uh so I would have to um it's see I guess my my when because I'm the one that actually propos that uh appropriation language in in for a town meeting and the reason why I did I I expected that you know as the the the contentious items that we had at the last time was like one or two uh items that that had changed um I think there was some transfer from one school that maybe had some work that wasn't completed or was completed but under budget and the money was moved over to another project I'm just and going through this I feel that maybe 40% or more of money is actually being changed um and I'm just I'm I'm wondering about that a there seems to be a lot of new projects here um the cancelling of other projects or discontinuing of them um and I'm just wondering H why so much change uh at this time didn't we know what we were proposing at the last you know for town meeting I think that's a great question I'm happy to answer it um as I said last summer when this CIP process kicked off um I was walking in the door and there was no director of operations um the CIP from the school prior to my arrival was $17 million um I didn't feel comfortable coming before the town or the school committee frankly um to request $17 million of things that I couldn't explain and so I spent time with the principles and Charlie Simmons um to come up with a proposal last year in the CIP that dramatically reduced the amount of money in our CIP to things that Charlie and and I could both understand and present we it wasn't our intention to ask for and neither did we ask for funding for FY 26 last year so our Focus was really on fy2 and what we needed immediately with placeholders remaining in our CIP requests for out years um and then through the process the town had additional resources and graciously allocated more money than just fy2 which is all we had in the first place so we hadn't um refined the out years uh grateful to have it um and when I was in conversation with the deputy Town Administrator last year uh she felt very comfortable that every year you go through this process of assessing and re-evaluating what is essential to be done in the upcoming year and things change um and so the items that are new are things that um uh you know some of our buildings are very old and uh some of the repair and maintenance costs that we've had to encounter this last year have been U more significant and so replacing some of the old equipment um is is a high priority for us in some of the buildings that have not had renovation for example the Baker School this year you'll see uh that we're we're adding um in uh some kitchen equipment in two of our schools that had not not been identified previously but is simply because we feel that there's some um some urgency in getting those attended to that was not on the list last year it wasn't on the list prior so that's that's it's kind of a process situation and so we're just trying to um bring forward what we feel in the next year really is important to be addressed so can I have a followup R uh yeah one one follow one quick followup so and I appreciate that that explanation so there is a significant amount of change in the CIP and and one of the benefits of the process that we go through at the time of appropriation um at to meeting leading up to the annual town meeting for the budget is that we do go through a process that includes the uh you know the capital subcommittee of advisory which does do a very deep dive um historically on all capital items including uh School Capital items and uh this change isn't benefiting from that now I don't believe that we need approval from the advisory committee for adjustment to the CIP that's why I inserted the select board can be can be the proxy for that but you did hear from Carol Lin who's the chair of the capital subcommittee for advisory um asking for a delay and in fact she sent us a request I think it was Friday um asking that we postpone approval of this um so that so that um they could review this in collaboration uh with uh the school um Capital subcommittee I'm thinking Carol specifically uh Mariah and Cliff who I have tremendous respect for um and as you know I'm a strong supporter of the schools but there's just so much change here um I'd be much more comfortable uh if we could hold off on making a decision tonight and have uh the the capital subcommittee for the school schools and the capital subcommittee for uh the advisory committee have a review of this I mean none of this stuff is pressing for an approval tonight a week or two to have that come back um shouldn't be a significant issue correct if that's if that's your wish I that's mine I don't know what my colleagues would think but that I'm uncomfortable approving yeah yeah sure uh Carol has been at every one of our meetings and has had uh input and we have responded to many of her suggestions for changes um and have Incorporated some of them um however you know of course the school committee has their ideas about you know how they would like to see it what they value and think is important to so um yeah I don't I don't want to walk away with you thinking that Carol hasn't had active involvement in the process and or the development of the plan as it's presented to you tonight it's been approved by the capital subcommittee of the school committee it then has been uh brought forward to the school committee with approval there as well so I yes there has been quite a lot of dialogue um with the advisory committee but you know there's no pressure in having to do this tonight um for sure but um there has been ongoing communication and dialogue right along you know since you know really August okay David so I have a couple of uh more specific questions I see uh two particular items that have changed pretty dramatically so one of them is renovation of bathrooms at Lincoln where that request would more than double uh and then the other one is floor repairs at RL which would go down from 500,000 to 100,000 uh were there any changes since the prior mini CIP was approved at uh in the situations at Lincoln and rle that prompted this request uh the pricing uh so we were able to do one bathroom over at Lincoln this year we had estimated $30,000 per bathroom and the prices were significantly higher so this uh FY 26 has been updated not to change the scope but in fact to reflect changes in pricing so that's why that's so so much higher than it was when we initially had put that forward for for uh FY 26 RL was a change in scope so um in the in the FY 26 request I think it was half a million dollars to replace flooring when we went through the building and uh looked with a critical eye uh the all the flooring didn't need to be replaced there were some target areas that needed to be replaced and it didn't make sense to us to move forward and tear up perfectly good flooring that has uh you know 10 years or more life in it um right now so we modified the scope of work um uh after taking a deeper dive look at that um and that's why rle was reduced for flooring thank you Mike uh thanks uh so um I appreciate the fact that you're uh you came into the uh into the school system what a year and a half ago is that that correct and there's a fair amount of history and I think that that the mini CIP uh is a sensitive topic I think the term deferred maintenance says it all because for long time uh there was a sense on the advisory committee um which advises town meeting not directly the select board but the advisory committee that um uh School M School maintenance was not being uh uh completed properly or comp yeah let's just leave it at that so you've come in sort of as a victim of History uh and I'm um uh and I think uh uh I think it's important to give the advisory committee a chance the advisory committee Capital subcommittee to give them a chance to take a careful look at this if only to reassure them that uh the changes are as thoughtful as they appear to be from this very well put together uh spreadsheet uh and I spoke to Carol this afternoon and her comment was well none of this really needs to be uh finished up until FY 26 you think yeah but FY 26 is July 1st 2025 so uh it's not a matter of Doling and I asked her when she thought that the advisory committee would do be able to um provide a report and there's a capital subcommittee advisory committee which then will report to the advisory committee and the sense that I had was mid January uh and so my question is um if we were to hold this off for what is it now mid mid November for as long as uh eight weeks would that be a problem uh in terms of getting the work done in terms of moving funds in terms of pricing uh that's been you know quotes and so forth or is that something that you can live with well I mean bidding if it's of this type of a magnitude usually takes you know a good to eight weeks uh sometimes 12 yeah in order to go from putting a scope of work together to to going out uh through the bid process and then awarding a contract um and so the longer we take to be able to do that um you know the the the less opportunity we have to get things scheduled um and as you know when you have flooring and painting and all of these other things that you're trying to balance the sooner you can schedule them the better of course we'll do whatever it is that uh we're being asked to do um in order to be able to to to get the Deferred maintenance uh program uh in place for next year but I will it compromise but could potentially compromise what we're able to get done that summer but I I can't really say uh for sure is it possible that it'll be more costly is that is that an issue uh it could potentially be why um in terms of the bidding process yes yes so the closer you get in my experience the closer you get to the time that you want uh a contractor to conduct the work they are already out there actively engaging and bidding right and so the competition gets greater when your run line is shorter so that's just based on my experience um I know that the town also has and you know Charlie's at we have the building commission meeting tonight so most of my colleagues are at that meeting and I'm I'm representing everyone here tonight um he could probably speak more clearly about that and I know know we also have uh painters on staff and such and I I don't know for certain what percentage he would be bidding out versus what percentage would be done in house I I really don't have um that level of information for you tonight yeah uh thank you and I um I appreciate Mike's Mike's comments and experience on the chair of the advisory yeah right I should have said I should have given you for warning that I'm I'm former chair of the ad um I although I I may I agree with you but I'm going to differ just a little bit on on potentially The Next Step here the advice so I do think as the body that is having to make this decision we can ask for anybody's advice on this matter um I don't necessarily think it needs to go to the full advisory committee um I think if we could get the capital subcommittee to work on this yeah and then issue their report to us doesn't need to go to the full advisory committee schedule meeting and have them vote and debate it um I'm actually looking for the advice and input from from the capital subcommittee uh that would be some not sufficient for me so Mike uh what would the full advisory committee think of that uh that's a really good question so um because as I say the uh Ian the advisory committee is the creature of town meeting uh and the capital subcommittee is the creature of the advisory committee so there may be some concern that well gee where is where's our role in this and the answer essentially is there is no formal role uh it was the the way the war article was put together comes back to the select board not to the advisory committee but that we're very interested in hearing what the capital subcommittee has has to say because there is expertise and experience and I as I say I think the major advantage of delay is that it gives the um it gives the capital subcommittee an opportunity to give itself some reassurance given the the history of deferred maintenance in the school system yeah um uh chess I maybe then so your last meeting of the Year double checking your your calendar your last meeting of this calendar year is December 17th and obviously that's the licensing hearing and there's a lot there but theoretically if you only want input from the subcommittee maybe you set that as the deadline so rather than January you have a month and that kind of gives them a little more run it is we are we are heading into town meeting so there's you know if we have if town meeting is one week then you've got two weeks after Thanksgiving when what's our first meeting in January we don't have we haven't scheduled out that far yeah I'm just approved the select board agenda for January so January 7th would be the next meeting in um in the New Year well I I think taking Paul I'm sorry I should oh no I was just gonna say I'm really hesitant to extend this out too far yeah I agree I I and and I I accept Paul's comment that that uh that having uh a report back from um from just from the sub committee would be fine and if um the advisory committee is unhappy with that well um this not the first time that we've made the advisory committee on happy about something after all yeah I mean is that a good practice Yeah it's well to ask the for to ask a subcommittee for a report I honestly I think that's where the expertise lies okay David I'm more with Bernard in this in terms of the timing I would be worried about the unintended consequence of increasing prices look what happened to the Lincoln bathrooms for instance that appears to have doubled so if we could set this deadline for December 17th I understand that's rushing things a little bit but it's also important that we don't end up uh hurting the school department here by raising costs and prices even more and then they have to come back to us again because of a delay that we created yep fair enough so um I'd like to get us a better sense of what it is we're expecting the subcommittee to tell us um I think what the subcommittee would do is give us a very similar to report to what they gave us on the mini CIP uh during town meeting um again I had said that uh you know many of these items would normally go through uh the process uh with uh the subcommittee and full advisory but subcommittee specifically um I I I I think clarifying the items understanding how they fit into deferred maintenance versus Capital items um you know uh other details about readiness for the project what they do um I would feel more comfortable uh with that with a deep dive from them because we're not going to do a deep dive and I'm okay with December about any number of uh issues coming before the board yeah I agree and I think we should I think we should lean more on Experts when we can um good task when we need them when we need them I so in terms of what we're looking for uh it seems to me that we should be asking for uh some comments on the new items and um not to question the Judgment of the folks on the capital subcommittee and school the school committee's Capital sub committee but um let's let's as I say get uh some uh uh create some reassurance on this side of the house that uh the changes are um are appropriate and uh the new items and the post and the postponed items are really the things that I would think they would focus on okay uh David what what's your what's your them in this and let's say we're talking about um at December 17 in terms of you know getting something back I think a slight I think a I prefer if we can build consensus here and have Buy in uh that being said I'm a little uncomfortable with this level of micromanaging I think that we do want to trust other committees and other departments in their recommend if the question for the capital subcommittee of the advisory committee is more around the logistics of many CIP planning I could see seeking their expertise in that but if it's really more as to what Mike just said about the appropriateness of needing a new dishwasher I I trust the school department to be able to answer that question they already have they're saying that they need this so I don't think we need to go to the advisory committee for that uh element so if we are going to trust the school department and again I don't think we should micromanage then I would be prepared to approve this tonight if it would help other members come on board to have more information about the CIP process part of this uh then I think a slight delay would be okay but we don't want to prolong it too much a slight delay on voting right or you said you're thinking of of approving it tonight but yeah it's sounds like we don't have the votes for that but I think that you don't have to be a weatherman know where the winds blowing right I see it too uh I personally would be fine with voting it tonight but I see that we have two of our colleagues who want to wait I just hope the wait's not too long and that the uh and what we ask of the um capital subcommittee of the advisory committee is not about whether these needs exist that's for the school department to determine but about the fin Financial processes behind it so this is so this is um May this is the specific request of the chair of the of the capital subcommittee she writes the AC would like the opportunity now I'm going to say the AC Capital subcommittee would like the opportunity to provide an analysis of the proposed changes for consideration by the board in its discussion the analysis will address Financial changes changes to the scope and cost of IND project individual projects as well as the consistency of the new projects with both the CIP and the overall CIP is historical guidelines and procedures um I yeah what that sounds a little a piece of it sounds like micromanaging as as David mentioned um right because what what Mike said was about asking the subcommittee about the new items the new items are removing a carpet uh refurbishing some staircases a new kitchen service line a dishwasher the capital subcommittee of the schools is in a fine position to be able to address those questions I don't know why we would have to farm that out to the advisory committee so to me the advisory committee's role would be more on broader picture of the CIP not the specific items I don't know I just I see a lot more items than what you just mentioned and and a lot more change um I I'm just I'm not prepared to vote in favor tonight so um I I'm happy trying to figure out you know what what is the scope of what we're asking thisis subcommittee to to give us and I mean I'm uncomfortable asking them to you know second guess the school committee's uh uh subcommittee on you know little details like uh floors and and someone said dishwashers things like that but if we can come up with something where they could actually add value to our deliberations I mean I'm willing to you put off this vote until then but of course is what is that did you want to say something chess I think you know just in terms of the process here I think the subcommittee will will will write its report you know it'll report on what it kind of what it wants to report on you're with your guidance I mean I think that's the reality is that advisory is an independent body and it will it will issue a report you know as kind of it sees fit and I think it will take but but if if they want to issue a report to us that they that is not required I think we have some authority to tell you should you have what we don't want right um and what we do want right and I think the message that you're that seems to be coalescing here is there's the question of you know the the processes involved in this but not necessarily the the propriety of the request right it's not necessarily do you need that dishwasher it's does that dishwasher belong in the mini CIP that seems to be the concern that reading between the lines of Carol's email that seems to be what she's saying um yeah I mean you pick up a dishwasher as a as an example it's probably not a very good example because it's not a very large large dollar item I think it's you're probably right though and David's right as well when we talk about let's let's ask the um this the uh advisory committee subcommittee to um give us some comments on the overall approach and the uh to uh shifting uh shifting items within the CIP and specifically say that we're not particular really interested in having them tell us about an individual item yeah um who can you put together a sort of scope of services for this can do our we can do our best and we can come back to you I also think that given the given the turnaround on this you might want yeah I mean we I I I think we're I think we're analyzing this this too much I mean the we're responding to a request by the chair of the capital subcommittee who I think she pretty much knows what she's doing she this is her business you know she lives in in capital planning just let me not not well they should they should um but you know I would I would ask them to follow through on what she's asking for and do it by give us a report by December 17th what's in her note the analysis will address Financial changes changes in scope of the individual projects as well as the consisten in new projects with the mini CIP and the overall cp's historical guidelines and procedures we've never done this before guys this is the first well well well you know this is good Financial that's not the reason that that we that this whole process is in place in the first place is what I alluded to that deferred maintenance says it all that there was an awful lot of Maintenance that was um was deferred uh and funds were used for uh other purposes within the schools I'm not saying that the funds were used inappropriately but maintenance was deferred when it was expected to be completed uh and there's a history here and unfortunately as I say um Dr given is the uh uh is is the has to operate within the context of that history at least for a little while okay so I I get the sense that we're going to put it off until uh December 17 um I'd like to you know do it a little sooner than that because December 17 G to be a very busy night uh with a lot of things including the prior meeting uh that's your but that's your Workshop unfortunately yeah okay all right yeah you just don't you don't have a lot of meetings left in the year unfortunately all right well um just be prepared for um ending the meeting on December 18th guys I I you know I think uh I doubt that it will go I doubt there's going to be much happening between now and January 7th for issuing rfps uh cost escalation I mean let's we could push this to January 7th and it would have no meaningful impact on bids processes to get bids cost for painting a floor I just I don't know I I I think um I think January 7th would be fine back yeah I don't don't agree with that yeah um I'm with you the the sooner the better I don't think it's very respectful to the school department to keep them waiting for weeks and months at a time over a request that I'm not even sure what's going to be added exactly but I hear that two of you want that and that's fine but let's not drag this out well then have it come back to 17th I mean we just have them that their report needs to be delivered by the 17th if they could do it before that time then they'd be fine but okay let that alone the 17th okay uh do we need to vote on that no um so it has been discussed it shall be done and you're going to put together a scope a scope for well we we'll summarize this in the minutes and make sure that it gets to the subcommittee this this discussion gets to the subcommittee but yep the the we will calendar it for the 17th and and we'll be voting on the 17th yeah yes yeah let's make that clear yeah thank you yes thank you okay next uh school resource officers this is a public hearing uh let me start off by saying we're having this hearing at the request of members of the community and in response to information concerning the value of the school resource program that we have received from teachers principls and others the SRO has developed relationships with School principles teachers and other adults in the schools and the community to provide a safety net for students engaging in Risky or borderline illegal activity uh in addition to developing relationships with those students following the murder of George Floyd and other police killings and incidents I when I was chair at the time appointed two committees to look at policing issues I chaed a committee on policing reforms that produced among other things the proposal to establish the police commissioner's advisory committee which has been a very successful uh committee and has really assisted the board in doing our work as police Commissioners rul Fernandez who was on the member of the select board at that point shared a task force on reimagine in policing that he had proposed the task force proposed among other things eliminating the school resource officers from the schools and also eliminating eliminating the related walk and talk officers who develop relationships with youth and public housing these two programs in my opinion were critical pieces of brookline's community policing concept and program under which the police developed relationships with the community community instead of just going after the so-called bad guys they proactively got involved before problems arose to prevent them and they used the relationships they had with individual youth to devise alternatives for those youths when their acts and behaviors were appropriately handled outside of the criminal criminal justice system when the school eliminated uh the school committee eliminated the school resource program it promised to devise alternatives to provide the service the sro's provided I'm unaware of any such Alternatives maybe David can refresh my memory or or tell me otherwise uh the select board does not have any authority to reinstate the SRO program which is between the superintendent which is an agreement between the superintendent and the police chief the statute States uh that an SRO is appointed by a chief of police at the request of the superintendent and subject to appropriation that appropriation is not a school appropriation it's the police department's appropriation but we are responding to concerns raised in the community and we will be discussing making a recommendation to the school committee um after at this meeting or a later meeting uh and what we're um what we would be doing is reconsidering and reversing prop I propose our vote which is by three to two uh that's supported the decision of the select board to um eliminate the SRO program we're first going to hear from Chief Jen Pastor uh to just tell us what the SRO are you know what they did uh their value in her opinion to uh in the schools um and you know what the police department has been doing in the absence of those programs because the issues that youth face do not go away um and and you can't you avert your gaze from what's going on so I'm sure you're you're taking certain steps to to help out and and the highly trained officers who were walkand talk officers and school resource officers are still around we see them all the time so what are they doing Chief Pastor um and after chief Pastor we'll hear from the public um the p and I want to just mention I'll say this later uh the public hearing is going to be run as follows no more than 45 minutes with each speaker getting uh three minutes and we'll start with alternating between the pro and con sides until one side exhausts its speakers at which point the remaining speakers will be heard up to 45 minutes uh after the hearing the select board will have an opportunity to respond and then I will propose a resolution to the school committee on the SRO program uh SRO the school the um who are we select board can agree to vote on that tonight or later um and uh at that vote they can approve or disapprove my proposal so so Chief Pastor good evening sorry about that um I had sent over a PowerPoint presentation although it looks like the one that is here un loaded is not the correct [Music] one and that is that is on me so we're going to do it without visual aids we're just going to talk and sorry that you have toare send send your PowerPoint to us I will I will do that for sure um there's a lot of adorable photos of kids and cops um and I will make sure that the public gets to see those um but thank you so much for having me here tonight and to re reintroduce this important topic um I would like as you mentioned to address critical issues about school safety Community relationships and the role that our youth resource officers um play in Brooklyn as you mentioned several years ago a slightly different select board made the 32 decision to support the school committee's decision to dissolve our school resource officer program at that time there might have been valid intentions behind the decision but I firmly believe that the absence of sro's has been detrimental to our students our schools and our community as a whole there are several key areas where the abrupt ending of the program has left gaps that are not easily filled tonight I want to take a moment to walk through what SRO were doing in our schools and what we had in place to support our students and to explain what we've lost since the program was canceled I'll then talk about the broader con consequences of these changes and why I believe reinstating the SRO program is essential for the wellbeing and safety of our students one of the most vital functions of our SRO program was the relationships that officers built with our students and our staff SRO were more than just law enforcement they were part of the fabric of our school Community they built personal connections with students and they made themselves approachable figures that students could rely on in times of need before the disbanding of the program there was a steady day-to-day flow of communication between School staff and officers teachers administrators and other school Personnel would interact with the SRO frequently which allowed for organic conversations and informal communication to occur when a staff member may not have wanted to call the police but did feel like a situation warranted a conversation some general examples of the types of conversations that used to occur but are far less frequent now are those surrounding safety planning on and off campus mutually beneficial training ideas and opportunities concerns for students during off school hours such as possible fights disputes runaway risks unsupervised parties 51a filings and navigating harassment and Abuse Prevention orders as one senior staff member mentioned to me last week the school staff lost important thought Partners when the SRO program was disbanded for students the SRO were familiar faces our students didn't necessarily know the term school resource officer but they knew if they could turn to officer Keli officer carrian officer Joe or officers Kati and bear if they needed help with a problem these officers got to know our students on an individual level learning their Baseline behaviors and understanding warning signs that could indicate that a student might be in need of extra support when a crisis arose one of these officers who had an established relationship with the student was in a much better position to deescalate the situation to offer support and to help the student and the staff through the crisis without the relationship in place we lose that level of connection a student facing a crisis may become more agitated when confronted by an unfamiliar officer and that only escalates the situation I believe you heard some of this echoed by our principles and the heads of school at a recent subcommittee meeting so what have we lost since the dissolution of the program the pre-crisis everyday communication between officers and school person personnel has disappeared staff members can no longer rely on a familiar officer to talk to questions about student Behavior to talk through safety concerns questions about student behaviors or potential issues that might arise when these conversations do happen now they're far less frequent and often more formal meaning less opportunity for early intervention and the development of strategies to prevent problems before they arise many alternatives to arrest or Court action have been stripped from us because by the time the problem gets to us in the police department laws have been broken and people have been hurt in the first half of 2024 my department has arrested nine juveniles a statistic I'm not proud of it's more than more juveniles than we arrested in all of 22 and 2023 combined I think we can agree this is not the direction we want to see things going additionally the relationships that students once have with SRO have faded there's no longer consistent presence in the school for students to turn to in times of need whether it's a minor issue with friends or a more personal serious crisis the absence of relationship building with the trusted adults has created a void that can make it harder for students to reach out for help when they need it everyone here has heard about adverse childhood experiences but more recent research has focused on the important importance of protective factors and the positive childhood experience and building resilience in our children in fact research has shown that the presence of two trusted adults in a child's life who are not related to that child is one of the strongest PC we can offer and I believe we have many young adults in our community who would identify their SRO as being one of those adults Beyond building relationships our SRO served as valuable Educators teaching teaching students crucial life skills that they might not learn elsewhere through programs like aware our sro's help students recognize the dangers of substance abuse bullying and risky behaviors these PR programs which were conducted in grades 6 through 8 provided students with valuable tools to navigate the complex world they're growing up in our detective division has been responding to calls for children who are alert into sending explicit photos either to each other adults have been blackmailed and in one horrific case recently sexually assaulted at a local hotel because of online activity with somebody they didn't know under the aware program that we had in place our sixth grade students learned about safe communities cyber safety and the dangers of substance abuse in seventh grade the focus expanded to include healthy relationships Substance Abuse Prevention and understanding good cyber citizenship by eth grade the program provided deeper insight into healthy relationships cyber safety and Substance Abuse Prevention and included topics like sexting digital Footprints and Internet safety our SRO remain dedicated to staying on top of the latest social media trends like dangerous Tik Tok challenges and are instrumental in reporting local concerns back to our entire department for awareness unfortunately with the disbanding of sro's these classes in proactive education that they provided are no longer offered in our schools we continue to hear from teachers and staff that students are still grappling with issues like online bullying sexting substance use and misuse and to my knowledge there's been no comprehensive replacement for these preventative programs you give me 12 minutes so I'm going to take it all I'll give you a couple more all right thanks the programs we had in place were co-created with our beloved PB teachers and guidance counselors and where we once had strong collaboration we now have individual scrambling in silos trying to figure out how to make up for what was lost the need for this education remains urgent particularly as our students are increasingly exposed exposed to these risks at a younger age since the SRO program was ended we've received requests from schools at least once a year to have our officers come speak to assemblies about cyber safety and specifically about inappropriate pictures being taken and shared we're seeing instances of teens and pre-teens sharing nude images of himself not knowing it constitutes child sexual abuse material and not fully understanding what that means our kids are really struggling to understand that the internet is forever and this is presented multiple times in cases of revenge porn which thankfully is finally explicitly prohibited under Mass General law with foral requests we've gone to the schools and cover these topics but generally it's been in response to an incident and it's less effective than a proactive approach when we come in to respond to a specific situation it's perceived punitive and that we're only lecturing to students who have already done something wrong our officers are now in an awkward position where we've been told we're not welcome in the schools but we're never going to leave the students or our school personel without assistance when they call us SRO were also integral to building a sense of community within our schools officers participated in field trips sporting events graduations and school Traditions becoming a visible accessible part of the school environment whether it's joining students at Field Day attending track and field meets or simply being a calming presence during mcast SRO were there when the school Community needed them our department has been praised for our community pleasing efforts and we're told by the school committee in 2021 that we're not welcome in that community part of the disconnect I believe has to do with misinformation surrounding the school to prison pipeline a catchphrase that was widely used in a of context and that's eradicated by safeguards we had in place including M us clear guidelines about the rol of SRO in disciplinary matters and the elimination of zero tolerance policies the multifaceted factors that contribute to the school school to prison pipeline implicate fundamental questions of race in class it's not the presence of well-trained SRO in school that create a school to prison pipeline it's a socioeconomic and other factors present and economically depressed neighborhoods and failing school systems we're very lucky in Brookline to not fall into either of those categories and as a reminder in the history of the SRO program not once did an SRO arrest one of our students another beloved part of the SRO program was be the Department's goofy golden retriever anyone that was present yesterday at Veterans Day could see the kids flock to bear and we all always joke that he's the most valuable member of our department bear was a comfort to students often roaming the hallways or joining students during lunch or class breaks his presence offered students a moment of calm in the middle of their school day for students struggling with anxiety or School refusal beay often made all the difference helping them feel more comfortable and willing to attend class without Bayer and the sro's these positive low pressure interactions have diminished and students have lost that important source of comfort finally the SRO has also helped bridge the gap between schools and families when a student was struggling whether due to mental health challenges behavioral issues or family problems SRO could step in and provide the support to the student and their family officers who had built rapport with students were able to provide a calm and calm and familiar presence in the home helping families navigate crises and access to the support that they need it's important to remember kids are only in school about 6 hours a day for about half of the year total often times our officers can bring to the table missing pieces of the puzzle that help explain why a child behaves in a certain way and sharing this information in a responsible manner is likely to increase that child's likelihood perform while at school without the sro's our families now face a more distant form of relationship with law enforcement which can make it harder for them to feel comfortable seeking help or guidance in difficult situations if our police officers only interact with community members during crises or strictly imp punitive situations we send the message to our kids that law enforcement is something to fear these encounters become adversarial by default which increases the likelihood that any interaction will start off tense or escalated even when it doesn't need to be this is the entire reason for our community policing model the loss of this Community Connection is felt not just by students but by their families as well I worry this particularly I worry about this particularly with our third culture kids who might arrive from place where police have a much different role in society an added recommendation would be to remind the community of our Department's general order 43.0 which explicitly prohibits members of our department from asking about someone's immigration status and or working of agent working as agents of DHS including but limited not limited to holding people on detainers in closing I want to emphasize that while we can't go back in time this is our opportunity to correct the course the loss of the SRO program has had lasting consequences but it's not too late to reinstate the program and bring back the relationships the education and the support that our students and staff need so desperately reinstating the program would not only restore critical safety and educational functions but would also signal to our community that we committed to providing a supportive safe and nurturing environment for every student we have a dedicated team of Youth resource officers who have kept up with their SRO training and certifications and while we could reinstate the program quickly my recommendation would be to spend the remainder of the school year and summer months working with school staff and concerned community members to address any concerns they might have such as the location of the SRO office or the role of sro's as disciplinarians to get us all to a place where most of us feel good about their presence by doing so we can return to a proactive approach to school and Community safety one that focuses on prevention building relationships and addressing the challenges before they escalate okay you've taken more than a couple minutes well then let's work together to get it done okay great thank you um next I want to open up the public hearing um and as I said uh the rules are going to be as follows we go no more than 45 minutes with each speaker having three minutes and we'll start with alternating between the pro and con positions uh on this uh matter until one ex one side exhausts its speakers at which point the remain in speakers will be heard up to 45 minutes um and after the hearing we'll have the select board give their thoughts so Tiffany hearing is open who wants to speak the first speaker is Linda Roseman okay she's on the pro side yes s good evening thank you chair green for putting this on the agenda I'm Linda Roseman town meeting member Precinct 14 and former chair of the police Commissioners advisory committee almost four years ago our well-respected school resource officer program fell victim to the Nationwide anti-p police sentiment generated by the murder of George Floyd I believe that those who advocated for abolishing the SRO program did not fully understand what they were eliminating our program was a model for other municipalities and ironically we are now one of the only school systems in our area without a school resource officer program SRO were not security guards surveillance teams or disciplinarians they forged relationships with students and often connected students and their families to services and resources in our community they helped to steer misguided students away from the criminal justice system by negotiating diversionary contracts so that first offenders could avoid criminal record sro's augmented the health and wellness Curriculum by teaching about Internet safety relationship safety drug and alcohol use and abuse and how certain behaviors can result in criminal charges some have argued that police officers should not be in our classrooms teaching our students but the SRO came in as experts just as many parents and other community members are invited to speak to students about their area of expertise I was inspired to come forward to speak in support of the SRO program after hearing a mom speak about her daughter who sought help at the Brooklyn Police Station one night she was feeling distraught and suicidal her daughter viewed the public safety building as a safe haven because she had a positive relationship with the SRO at Brooklyn High School community policing is about relationships public safety officer are part of our community whether they live here or not they should not be anonymous people in uniforms we should know their names and they should know ours forming and maintaining relationships between our young people and our police officers is good policy at the August meeting of the policy subcommittee of the school committee principles were invited to come and discuss their top priorities reinstating SRO was in the top three they spoke eloquent about the void created by the absence of the school resource officer program let's support our principles and our students and the faculty and bring back our SRO program thank you thank you uh is there what anyone in the room who wishes to speak against okay so I actually only had speakers what about online is there anyone online who wishes to speak against Marty I see your hand raised I'm going to unmute you if you could state if you are in support or against Mar's going to be in support in support okay um Ry will give you a chance boy you're jumping the gun all right Marty are you in support was that to me again yes you're in support yes Bernard knows me well okay we'll come back to you um is there anyone online who wishes to speak against the sro's program if so please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature to comment at this time hi rul Fernandez I'm promoting you now R you can start your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes um one second here uh Hey folks uh R Fernandez um executive director of client for racial Justice and equity uh let me just start by saying um if um if there is going to be a um a thorough and thoughtful conversation about this uh dock getting a conversation for the Tuesday after a long weekend um with um with very little engagement with members of the public to to be known that this is a conversation um that is going to be happening um which kind of for many of us came out of the blue is not exactly the best way um to do community engagement um I'll say um you know I've talked withum some members of the select board about this already and expressed our strong opposition to returning school resource officers to um to Brookline schools um I was chair as Bernard mentioned of the task force to reimagine policing um contrary to one of the what one of the earlier speakers said there was a very thoughtful months-long process which involved interviewing the police officers themselves uh families Educators and engagement throughout the entire community that led to um the decision to end the school resource officer program which a majority of the select board at the time agreed with the school committee engaged their own process separate and apart from our process and a unanimous uh school committee also voted to end the school resource officer program knowing full well what the situation was what the officers had been doing and had not um and really seeing the full field so this idea that it was um sort of an impetuous decision is is is just um is just completely false um you know we stand against this um you all now have letters from more than 30 community members that have written to the select board saying that they're against this um if you'd like us to get letters from a 100 more community members we can do that um and if this moves forward we will do that um you also have a letter from Leon Smith who's the executive director of the center for Juvenile Justice who wrote a really thoughtful four-page letter directly to the Brookline select board about why this was such a bad idea about Brookline being a leader in eliminating sro's programs in 2021 and that we shouldn't um move away from that um no one no one aside from it seems a handful of people want this conversation um the school committee I don't think is interested in this conversation um and many school committee members haven't been engaged before this being brought to the select board the Brooklyn Educators Union wasn't engaged before this being brought to the select board and certainly organizations like ours brookin for racial Justice and Equity um which you with with many members who have very strong thoughts about this weren't engaged proactively before this was brought to the select board I don't know what this process is and what it hopes to accomplish but if it seeks to actually understand the will of Brooklyn residents this ain't it um and so um this by the way I'll just say this public hearing was supposed to start at 6:30 it was the past practice of the select board to hold public hearings when they were expected to be held so that members of the public that made time to show up and give comment could do so it started about 45 minutes late making it very difficult for the for the public to weigh in so um I'll end there and say just reiterate our strong opposition to bring this program back and happy to talk with anyone one-on-one who's interested in talking about that thank you thank you the next speaker is Susan Park let me see if Susan's online Susan I'm promoting you now you can start your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes you're on mute Susan hi there can you hear me now yes uh hello everyone my name is Susan Park I'm a town meeting member uh from pring 17 and I was also on the wellness committee um this past year as we drafted the new wellness policy um and I am coming here through the lens of mental health and so in this policy that uh the wellness uh committee drafted it talked about a lot of the gaps that we are seeing in the school district uh there were gaps uh regarding substance abuse education there were gaps um about vaping marijuana use and also I think what's really important to recognize is that um during the George Floyd um tragedy and all the things that happened after that that was during covid and we are now in 2024 so I am coming through the lens of mental health and the Mental Health crisis that we're seeing in now I'm I'm here uh to support um Chief Pastor request to resubmit to um have the SRO officers back in the schools and my reasons is because we know that youth what they need um is communication with trusted adult with trusted adults we know the the students who are um you know needing the support the most perhaps don't have those communication channels at home so all the things that the SRO officers um could do to support the students I think these are real gaps and uh we are so lucky to have Chief pastor we are so lucky for her to uh know what the needs of our students and our community are and I just I I agree wholeheartedly with what she's saying especially since I did serve on the wellness uh policy committee and these were serious concerns um I was also on the board Bo of the marijuana study that we had and you know the numbers were atrocious these were uh BHS students who took these Anonymous surveys and one in three students one in three 12th graders uh who were exiting were saying that they are using marijuana regularly in the last 30 days 30 seconds um and and so that's just one thing but you know I think the SR Ro officers this is an opportunity to reimagine the SRO officers and to really see how they can compliment help support our students who are in a mental health crisis according to the Surgeon General thank you very much thank you again is there anyone in the room or online who is speaking against okay the next speaker is Marty Rosenthal Marty I'm promoting you now Marty you can start your video and begin your 3 minutes I'm not seeing oh wait a minute I see myself we see you and I'm Audible and you're audible all right yeah thank you sorry I'm still after four years getting used to all this so I'm Marty Rosal Precinct 9 Tom meeting member long ago select board member and chair and uh believe it or not I I hate to summarize a little bit my credentials on this but I was 20 years a public defender 10 years on the board of ACLU uh I've been honored twice by Statewide groups with third Good Marshall Awards and I'm a Brookline lifer okay for three and a half decades I've been active on Brooklyn Police issues and still feel as I did with Jeffrey Allen in our 1987 report on police community relations the Brookline Police Department is among the most professional in the Commonwealth and there is room for improvement which we then offered in over 70 pages so I'm urging to reinstate the SR program and candidly I feel its demise was one of two scapegoats of what I called Brook what I have called Brooklyn's anti- police troubles I join Linda in uh talking about how the program was fell to fell victim to the Nationwide anti- police sentiment generated by the murder of George Floyd my two main positive points the state's 2022 memorandum of understanding looks to me like a great starting point and Brook Lin's program epitomizes or did community policing which we emphasized in 1987 was one of the six pillars of President Obama task force on policing and the 2021 police reform committee chaired by Bernard that committee after seven pages single spaced concluded that the SRO program supports healthy trusting relationships between police and students uh and then recommended some changes in the program but basically supported it I wrote the same thing in my separate statement in that report I'm convinced that both that the officers doing that program are very sincere and thoughtful and that they are Paradigm for community policing and also saying Guardians not Warriors so why are we here I believe in Raul sites extensive evidence that there is no evidence highlighting the problems other than from other communities that are not representative of Brookline including an ACLU report 30 seconds an ACL report that R sites those are where we find the the prison school to prison pipeline but that's not what happened in Brooklyn and a town meeting member as well uh sent out something from one of his friends another ACL report the same problem it is not representative Brooklyn so what I'm urging like like the movie Shane please come back that concludes your time and thankfully our police troubles seem to have been rejected by our voters so please revive the scape that concludes your time thanks thank you Marty okay uh the next speaker is Debbie hats that's left right hi Debbie hatsy thus also known as Debbie hats um Precinct uh town meeting member pre in ing 15 uh also retired Brooklyn Police Officer um I sent you guys an email and I came here without a written statement because I wanted to hear what people had to say um I was the deare officer for many years in Brooklyn and also I would be called the SRO uh officer at Brookline High School before it had a title I was there and um I I was there I I I there's not enough time in a day that could tell Val you the value um that the relationships that I made with the children of Brooklyn um every day I was in front of the high school um before school after school at lunchtime and I can't tell you I can tell you on every given day there were 10 15 kids around my cruiser talking to me laughing with me asking me questions um not at one time did it was there any um penalties was there um did I arrest anybody the kids came to me they trusted me the kids came to me with with um in with information that there could be arrests but that was not my job there my job there was to deescalate situations was to Mentor people was to mediate situations and that was done the teachers came to me and talked to me about students that may be at high risk and I reached out to those students we all it was a collaborative um effort to make have these kids go through their four years of high school the best way possible um there was no arrest I can tell you that um it is so hard to be a kid nowadays and there's this um perception of with the police and with of students of us and them and by being there by talking to them by um going to their games that doesn't happen that that melts all of that away I can tell you now I see my students as adults and they come up to me and they thank me for being there they tell me how valuable our relationship was um and this happens uh sometimes on a daily basis I still live in town and I see my former students um when this program was taken out of Brookline my heart was broken because I you can't I can't even explain the situation TR that I that the kids had in me they knew I was there for them and I know that that was the case when the SRO officers were at Brookline High School please bring this program back and I too I welcome anybody for a one-on-one conversation on what I did on a daily basis and what we did to promote to support our students we didn't arrest them we supported them we took them out of the system we never brought them in we are we mediated we uh supported each other that concludes your time so please bring this back thank you thank you that concludes the speakers who signed up in advance is there anyone else for or against that wishes to speak in the room or online if you're online please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature there are approximately 15 people in the room and 31 participants online and no one else is indicating their desire to speak okay and not 45 minutes okay so I'll close the hearing and open it up to the select board for any comments they have none well I have I have a number of comments and questions actually um but I was waiting for someone else to speak up well I I'll I'll say a few things yeah um you know there's a there's a misconception among many people that uh the sro's aren't successful because they they there's no evidence that they could stop a school shooting or gun violence in the schools well the fact of the matter is that's true but that's not their purpose I mean their purpose is different um if you have a school shooting uh if you have a couple cops right there at the time very little that can be done so let's just be clear what the SRO program uh is intended to do and what it's not intended to do um you know a lot of discussion of the so-called school to prison pipeline people throw that out as sort of a vague concept without thinking about what are we talking about when we talk about the school to prism Pipeline and what is it that can prevent that pipeline from operating school school to prison pipeline is when between youth talking about youth youth and the courts and prisons there are police officers who aren't trained and don't have the type of relationships that enable them to intercept the pipeline from the schools to the prisons when you have officers like uh school resource officers they understand the kids they they know their backgrounds their their home uh situation they know the issues that they're struggling with they have empathy uh for them and uh they they can come up with solutions to uh the issues and problems that they have that uh just a regular cop on the beat may not have the tools to to come up with I mean I remember when I was young we always got in trouble um not always frequently um no I was never in trouble but those other kids were right and um you know it was very easy for uh of course you know where I lived Philadelphia completely different situation but uh it very easy for even U you know small problems that kids were having to result in them you know going into the criminal justice system and ultimately to jail because the cops that were uh dealing with those uh sort of typical uh Teenage problems were not trained and did not have the relationships with us to be able to avoid that so you know when we talk about school to prison pipeline don't just use that as a um as as a slogan let's think about what are the concrete steps that have to be taken in order to prevent that pipeline from directing kids uh to um uh to prison um that's really all I have to say I think those two things were really key the the two issues that came up in the comments in the letters um and U elsewhere um did Paul you have um so I think I think it's important I I I should say that I was on the um task force that R chaired uh and what we heard was that that sort of the other side of the argument which was that the presence of armed uniformed officers in the school was distressing to some portion of the school population undoubtedly that distress was heightened by the context by the fact that George Floyd had been murdered and uh and there and but it wasn't just George Floyd there was a there there has been and continues to be uh a string of young unarmed uh black men uh and occasionally women uh who have been killed by police officers and uh there's no question in my mind that the actions of those offices are not even remotely typical of what we would expect from from Brooklyn police offices but just the same that context had its effect on the people who came and talked to the task force about what made them afraid uh and so you have to balance the good that was done and and can be done by school re Resources with that fear uh and so the task Force's conclusion was at least at that time that uh the fear was something that we were most concerned about um I will say I as I listen to the to the things that the officers did um for example uh uh talking about cyber security and talking about um uh vaping and talking about a range of the a range of threats that arise from technology in the modern world um I don't see why that isn't being done through some other mechanism in fact it's rather disturbing that it's not uh and uh if it requires these are not things that that that require a police uh officer in particular in fact uh it seems to me like there are there there there are um uh people with expertise in those specific topics who could be brought brought into the schools I I absolutely endorse the uh the idea that these these programs are important uh and um the question is who should be uh who should be providing them uh in the schools and I have lots of other things to say about this but I won't be it would take allog together too long and we would use up your 45 minutes no we're out we're not subject oh no no I appreciate that yeah Paul yeah I'll speak uh briefly um and thank you for everybody that spoke uh both for and against uh this evening it's it's helpful um to hear the perspectives um when this went on the agenda and I had some earlier conversations about this with some folks that that raised it um I ended up watching the August 19th school policy subcommittee meeting and it really really informed my perspective uh coming into this meeting um that that meeting uh is recorded I sent a memo to the board um just to make you aware of it I don't know if if if you all aware aware of it um and I I indexed where the where they started to talk about the sro's but at that meeting um there were five members of the school committee the chair the vice chair three other members of the school committee as well as the superintendent of schools all present uh during this uh this policy uh subcommittee meeting and in addition to that there were I believe five principles uh of of of of the schools and um they spoke um quite frankly and uh uh supportively of the SRO program um they it it was remarkable to me because I had because of the history with the reimagining the police and and the votes and ending the SRO program um I had expected that this was really a perspective that came from the administration as well but it's not uh the people that are are in charge of running our schools and overseeing the the day-to-day well-being of our children are saying we want the SRO program we would like to have it come back we miss it it was a very valuable part of uh of our school Community um and it was it it provided critical relationships not only to the students and parents but to the staff um and that's something that I was just not aware of uh and I think uh Chief Pastor articulated this tonight there are these Rel relationships that exist between administrators in the police department that are informal in nature uh that allow the administration to deal with complex issues uh with with youth in our schools without having to go through the formal process and the formal channels um you know they can pick up the phone and call and ask for advice why can they call and ask for this advice one because they have relationships with with the administrators but more importantly they understand the kids they have relationships with the children um so I would encourage anybody to uh and everybody to go to the agenda for the select board that my memo is in there um and you can quickly link to the video and I I would ask you to watch it um it's it was uh it was very informative for me uh to watch it you know as a saying we all know it takes a village to raise a child police officers are part of our village um and I will tell you uh how what informs me as my personal experience as a kid I was one of those kids that was constantly intervened by the police in the community that I lived in I was in constantly in trouble probably way more than Bernard was um that was a good kid you were a good kid I didn't go bad I was a good kid too but I was a kid that was prone to get into a lot of trouble um and it was the relationships with the officers um a number of officers not only with me but with my family given the family history that were really really important um and I can't tell you how important those relationships were um in our community there's very uh there's very few opportunities for our youth to have a positive experience with the police officer those officers are in squad cars often with flashing lights going down the street directing traffic we do have good relationships with school crossing guards but you know because of the cost of housing in our community there's very few police officers that live in our town that means there's very few police officers that coach baseball coach football interact with them for track lacrosse um you know and that's not a good situation um the the relationships with our between Youth and officer is critical and it can't come at the time when someone's getting in trouble those relationships have to start early um and I think it's important that we we not throw the baby out with the bath water which is what I think happened four years ago I think that there was an overcorrection uh due to George the George Floyd incident um which was absolutely horrendous um other incidents that were ABS absolutely horrendous I think covid played into a lot of this um uh when when our community was devastated by that by by the lockdowns um and I think we absolutely overcorrected by ending the SRO program um was it a perfect program I don't know uh could could could it be enhanced could have been improved um sure I read the reports I sat through today uh listening to uh the the reimagining committee when they took up the SRO I took the time I watched the videos I i' encourage you to go watch it um it's it's very very helpful to hear the perspectives but I think we made a tremendous error in ending that program um I think we threw the baby out with uh with the bathwater um and I don't know what form it should come back in um and I'm not sure what your resolution is uh this evening Bernard but um I would be I'm supportive of uh asking that the school committee and the superintendent explore um you know uh reinstituting this program in some way shape or form um I think we're doing a tremendous disservice uh to our entire Community uh by uh eliminating opportunities for our youth to develop positive relationships um with our uh with our Police Department um and that's what I would be prepared to do this evening is to support that type uh that type of resolution bid I I also watched the subcommittee meeting from August 19th of the policy subcommittee meeting of the school committee and uh as Paul mentioned there were five principles there they spoke very compellingly about the gaps that they have been able to observed during the three years since the program was eliminated back in 2021 when the conversation took place the uh potential harm was theoretical because we didn't know what might happen back then but now we know there's three years of data points and in those three years there are significant gaps that have been identified ifed uh by our school building leaders and I think it's important to keep in mind that these principles are very mindful about the potential impacts of SRO or of anything on the full breadth of their communities and they are very active in deij efforts that's uh been a major Focus area of the school department and even with that Focus they are saying bring back the SRO the sro's uh help all of our students and in particular uh those communities that Mike was referencing in particular um African-Americans so if that is what our principles are saying and we're going to trust our educational leaders and we're going to appreciate what we're hearing from the uh chief of the police tonight who by the way has an advanced degree in social work uh I would agree with Paul that we should recommend that the school committee bring back the pro program in some shape and form uh and I do think that we're in a different place today than we were back then because again now we know that there has been definite harm uh experienced in the schools from the lack of this program it's not a theoretical question anymore okay um let me uh propose a resolution of the select board and I think it needs to there is we need to add something with respect to what we're asking the school committee to do in terms of figuring out how best to do this or or maybe that's really as you know assumed that they're going to go through a process to really figure out you know what type ofou uh governs the SRO program Etc but um I'll start off by the following resolve that the select board requests that the school committee vote to recommend to the superintendent of schools the reinstatement of the school resource officer program in the high school and the middle schools pursuant to a memorandum of agreement as required by chapter 71 section 37p of mass Journal laws um and I talk about how this res resolution plus the record of uh this hearing in the minutes of this meeting uh shall be delivered to the chair of the school committee for inclusion in the record of the next school committee meeting uh and copies of the re resolution uh should also be delivered to the super superintendent of schools chief of the fire of the uh excuse me chief of the police department and also posted to the uh town meeting members list served so any thoughts as to yeah Mike so um I would um you're talking about you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is Flowing um but I would uh be uh much more comfortable with uh a resolution asking the school committee to look at uh a mechanism for replacing the services that the SRO program provided uh services and support that the SRO program provided without explicitly saying put the SRO program uh back in place uh a lot of what the SRO program as as Chief Pastor described it did was social work uh and it happened to be Social Work by officers uh in uniform and armed uh and uh it's the uniform and particularly the armed part that Disturbed the people uh who came to the task force on reimagining the police and honestly I have no idea whether that fear persists uh in the uh in the in the African-American Community uh it would be very interesting to to to find out to learn more about that uh but to say re to to recommend straightforwardly that the SRO program itself be replaced as opposed to um the services and support that it provided be replaced um I I would prefer the latter how about excuse me how about uh saying reinstatement of the SRO of the school resource officer program or similar program so I I want to I want to raise one point because I I think we're missing something important here um it's it's not the it's not just the content Mike it's the relationship with the officer um understand so so if we and I no and that's and I think that's really important if you take you know if you take a person to go teach about you know drugs and alcohol the the the the the the the child the young person will learn about drugs and alcohol but they're not going to develop a relationship a trusting relationship with our Public Safety officers that we have done tremendous damage tremendous damage four years ago to our Police Department tremendous damage by this by the firing or resignation of our police chief we are just recovering from it now and we're we're we're having police off is actually want to come here because it's positive there's still The Hangover of the damage that we did to our community Community by so disparaging our police department and the eliminating the SR program was part of that and so no I don't think uh just taking a person and saying Teach the content that the officer was teaching um I think I think we need to help rebuild the relationship between the community and our Public Safety officers so I I disagree with what what Mike has suggest you disagree with what I said but uh well I wanted to catch you before you tried to negotiate it away okay David also from what the principal said at the policy subcommittee meeting they talked about how the sro's provided General wraparound Services it's not neatly siloed where one moment they're offering instruction on substance use and another moment they're dealing with a particular student it's it's everything combined and the principles explained how it could be it's been difficult for them to essentially have some kind of mechanized system where they'll bring in a police officer for one particular student but there's no pre-existing relationship anymore uh and then they when it's two piece meal it doesn't function as well as having an existing program that's all-encompassing where everything is included and so I think the notion that we can uh subcontract each individual piece sort of misses the uh proverbial Force for the trees right uh and I I think that we would want to make a direct suggestion that it be the SRO program uh again to what Paul said and I believe you as well that doesn't mean that uh improvements can't be made and can't look at the details and that's what theou is for yeah and certainly theou that would be uh ratified by the school committee if that's a Direction they go in would uh address some of those particular details but I think Broad picture macro level if we send the message that we would like for them to explore bringing it back uh that's going to be a clearer message and then they can work out the details mik um I I think I'd like to respond to something that um Paul said uh when I was in school in high school um even in Junior High School uh we didn't have uh SRO certainly uh and um nonetheless there were teachers who uh I formed relationships with close relationships with could talk to um there are other people in the schools that kids uh latch on to if there is no officer there there's there is somebody else if the child is open to that and looking for it and uh there's an adult to to respond and I think what I'm looking for here is a mechanism to put um adults in place who are are uh whose job it is to respond uh and there are School social workers there are school guidance counselors uh is is it possible to augment that those programs um with uh and and provide the services and the support as I say that the SRO program provided so I don't think uh it's reasonable to say that is the only way to do it yeah I think I think and I and I'm not going to disagree with you Mike and as you know I have a tremendous amount of respect for your opinion in um on on many matters um I just think that that setting up an approach that would exclude the reinstatement of the SRO I think is a mistake how much they do how much they do I think is is is what would need to be figured out through the meem memorandum of of agreement or understanding but I do but I do think tonight it's important that this board um correct a Rong that took place a number of years ago um you know this board not this board but the select board is the one that initiated the elimination of the SRO it wasn't the school committee who decided to take this up and end the SRO program it was the select board that initiated the action that said we no longer think we should be doing this school committee and that memo went over to the school committee and then they did their thing and they concurred so I think we I think we have an obligation to correct that wrong I think it was wrong I think we did the wrong thing yeah and you know the school committee can you know sign social workers or teachers to deal with cyber uh crime sexing Etc but I think we have to have cops in the school okay because because a teacher is not going to be able to prevent a kid from from getting into the criminal justice system when does something really bad a cop who's trained as the SRO can do that because they they they know you know they will know the kid the background and whether you know this is a real risk that requires you know serious for example incarceration or whether you know this is something where uh as as the police department does a contract uh can be entered into between the kid and and and the and the schools regarding behavior to give uh to give Comfort both to the school community as well as as others that you know this kid doesn't have to go to jail you here's an alternative way to keep him out of the criminal justice Sy B i' would also just add uh Mike that guidance counseling was augmented to the tune of nine FTE and even so we have five principles High School level as well as K8 saying we still see these gaps we need the sro's back so what you're suggesting has already been tried and principles feel that it has been in sufficient right I watched the same uh uh the same video and actually I got a slightly different take on it uh but um as I say I've made my suggestion uh is and and I and I was trying to negotiate with you and I was shut down suggestion M right then there's no sense in trying to revive a dead horse but I but you know this but this meeting is recorded people will watch it to try to understand the sentiment of the select in the direction that we're going in I mean but the reality is we don't have the authority to do it right all we can do is say the objection that this that a former select board had to the SRO program is now being removed and we would ask you school committee to pursue a reinstatement of the program in some way shape or form that's that's that to me is the best that we could do tonight uh because frankly we can't we can't tell the school committee what to do if you simply stopped and said uh to the school committee uh the previous board's objection to the uh to the continuation of the SRO program is removed I would say okay uh when you then say we'd like to have you put it back in place that's we'd like you we would like you to explore putting it back get back in place that that that troubles me I think the school committee is actually waiting waiting for you know something more specific from us um so ber could you could you reread your your resolution sure um resolved that the select board requests that the school committee vote to recommend to the superintendent of schools the reinstatement of the school resource officer program in the high school and middle schools pursuant to a memorandum of agreement as required by chapter 71 section 37p now the actual process by which this happens is a superintendent you know works with the police chief but you I just want to make clear that we're asking the school committee to back up the superintendent yeah um and and you know giving some recognition to their role does theou come back here or does it no no between the police chief and and the superintendent but you know um I think in our in our packet there is a seen right that's based on on the um on the Statue so it's pretty it's pretty thorough I mean there's certain things that you know we can add in terms of for example you know the type of uniform uh or the location of the office and things like that but for the most part it's pretty tight and and you I think not perfect but you know pretty good in terms of setting up an SRO program that addresses all the concerns that people have from SRO programs across the country you know most of which are just not relevant to us but you know is sort of the back background for uh much of this the discussion so I'm I'm I'm prepared to to support your resolution as as worded okay so uh that that's the first part and then the second part just talks about Distributing it to the school committee and others so that everyone's aware um so I move approval of the resolution as read uh all in favor please indicate by saying I Mike you're first no okay um Paul hi David hi shair votes I okay thank you um very good discussion in my opinion next item 12 also a public hearing uh marijuana retail establishment license violation but uh the Cannabis establishment that uh was subject to this um license uh uh violation Mission Mass Inc requested that this hearing for license violation be proposed postponed until later um and in December we're going to vote on a tentative license to enable them to then sell their license um so uh that did I state that correctly Chaz so ultimately right the the the letter that we got for Mission which is in the pack in the public packet if people are interested and want to read it is they've asked for a delay to January and their delay is to um explore explore options for its future future operations that's what it says so they're considering the possibility of selling it the obvious issue here is that they are uh they they've been noticed for having violated the terms of their agreement and the select board has to have a hearing on that and determine what the consequences of that would be um so prior to any of that happening there has to be that process um we'd recommend under the circumstances staff would recommend of the circumstances it's their first request there doesn't seem to be any Prejudice to you know um you know any any interested party by having a brief delay for them to figure this out um we're fine with we're fine with the delay if that's uh how the board wants to go with it is it okay to talk a little bit about sure okay so um Jaz and I I appreciate you've probably been in contact with them um what and Bernard had mentioned something about them selling the license what can you talk a little bit more about what does the delay do and does it further that cause that that's the first question and I'll get it all out the reason why I asked that is of course this this license should it become available and it is available needs to go to an equity applicant and ideally an equity applicant that's been a member uh living at Brookline for five or more years um now I know that that you know part of the cost associated with um obtaining and then starting up a cannabis operations is acquiring a site going through all of that stuff the processes is very very expensive right to to to secure the site get it approved by all the bodies that are we already have a site right which is Mission um is is the intention to keep the license associated with that property do we know or like what what's going to happen we we have so then when they reached out to us they said you know again just to really count the history they said whoa whoa whoa we didn't intend to close we didn't intend to surrender our license we wanted to sell it um and we said that's all well and good but you closed up shop and under the terms of your HDA that means you're in trouble uh and they said okay um can we have some time to figure this out and what we said was exactly what you said we're not there's no guarantee there's no promise there has to be hearing and the board has to hear from them and make a determination on what an appropriate sanction is for the violation of the HCA um but what they've said is we want more time so we can put our best foot forward to the board so that we could say to the board look we are going to sell it to a local Equity applicant um pursuant to the terms of your Equity pursu to the terms of your policy and you know that's what that's why so basically they said can we have more time to put our best foot forward and say that we're going to do that um and we said you know that's up to the board and so that so the the if I can ask one more question Bernard so if so if they propos the sale to somebody we would have to approve that sale yes right and so if we think that it doesn't meet our Equity policy for cannabis um we could reject it yeah you know again and this is something where I think you know we would want Town Council to give you advice on the the concepts here right this is again what what what penalty can you impose on a leny it's a first offense but it is an offense that voided the term of their HCA it's there's there's all sorts of things at play here um that where the we what we've been focused on internally is what is the best possible outcome here the best possible outcome is the lowering of a barrier to access for a local Equity applicant so whatever gets the lowest barrier access for local Equity applicants is the outcome that we and and that could be that they sell the license right but that's not a guarantee so we said if you you know you need more time we'll ask the board for more time but it's not you know nothing is guaranteed you have to make your case okay okay okay then um I move uh that we agree to the postponing of this license violation hearing um on face please indicate by saying I Mike hi Denman Paul Warren hi David prman I chair votes I that'll be on January 7th happy New Year January 7th you're welcome okay next we have um oh an economic development Advisory Board presentation and then we have warrant article reviews so we're not finished yet 8:30 forward hi good evening good evening I'm an Meyers and I chair the town's Economic Development Advisory Board and I'm sorry I just need I haven't I retired some time ago and haven't used a PC I'm a Matt girl so I'm just getting used to the buttons um sorry about that um the board has 12 members all of whom um work and or in my case have worked in the field uh we have a lawyer we have developers we have development Consultants we have people who specialize in finance we have Architects and planners and we support and are supported by an incredible group of Staff Meredith who's the development director and she's excuse me Aaron Norris Jessica Dey who's here and Zack tesler are the current staff our mission is to promote commercial development that enhances tax growth and offsets fiscal burdens for residents so the town can provide high quality programs and services we Aid in the growth and prosperity of the town's business Community improve the functional and aesthetic qualities of public space in commercial areas and promote excuse me promote equity and inclusion EAB Representatives serve on a number of other boards and committees the list is here um and uh we also work closely with groups like The coolage Corn emergence Association the Chamber of Commerce helping them with their events and their issues here's a list of the property tax generating projects that EAB has worked on over some number of years and those projects have resulted this past year in $7.7 million of tax revenue 6.5 million property tax 1.2 million in rooms tax um if you look at fiscal 23 uh there was what we think is an anomaly 2. million 2.1 million of hotel tax we think that was pent up demand from covid um and we also get $1.6 million in room tax uh excuse me meals tax last year from approximately 167 restaurants we don't know the fiscal 24 numbers yet we expect that it will be higher uh those come I think in later in December recently we've worked on uh the NBTA communities act Harvard Street zoning we specifically provided language that uh included the addition of General commercial use definitions the addition of non-residential parking requirements the removals of parcels surrounding Stop and Shop and TJ Maxx because we believe that those can be more densely developed and we provided early support for ground floor commercial incentive policy component the ground floor commercial incentive policy came up because as meetings were held about the Harvard Street zoning one of the biggest concerns people had was that the ground floor retail was going to disappear along the street so a group of edab members fall town meeting in 2023 at adopted the ground floor commercial incentive in the winter a working group of EAB members worked on the details of that plan and it was approved by the select board in this past July other things we've worked on recently the linkage fee Nexus study um the idea came up or somebody asked why we don't have a commercial linkage fee like we do a residential one and we uh had the only way to do that in Massachusetts is to hire somebody to do a Nexus study which we did uh we developed a whole lot of information and it turned out that it didn't make sense to do it and you all agreed with that a couple of months ago I believe um but again we we got a lot of information and if it makes sense sometime in the future we have a template for figuring out how to do that um a life science lab report a group of EAB members got together to figure out what we needed to do and and they work closely with the Public Health Department to figure out what we had to do in order to tee up potential Zoning for life science labs when that when that comes back which hopefully it will at some point and we worked on at the beginning of Co we developed a rapid recovery plan to help us figure out how we could best help businesses in town during covid current projects are a coolage corner parking study that's now underway there's a public meeting about that on uh Thursday night uh we have proposals due in tomorrow for the Center Street Lot study um which will uh begin hopefully we'll have a contract by the end of the year staff is working uh on the evaluation of the Gateway East buson Lane pilot uh as I think you know we've been working uh a lot on the Washington Street complete streets issues um the goal for EAB is to make sure that the businesses in Brooklyn Village and and Washington Square are not uh that that both areas stay commercially vibrant streamlining licensing has been an issue that both EAB and the Small Business Development Committee have been working on for some time Brooklyn is not known as an easy place to start a new business in fact we have uh a negative reputation uh Tiffany has a group of I Kennedy School students right um working right now on um uh streamlining the common V license and there's a public meeting about that in early December and hopefully uh that will be a template that we can use for some other licensing processes and then EAB does Warren article review in every town meeting cycle we take a look to see if there are any articles that uh that impact our ability to uh do development or impact our commercial areas and uh we have hearings and we aine on on those commercial area projects are also important just as important as the development projects you saw that we got $1.9 million in excuse me 1.6 I believe in meals tax last year and Commercial area vibrancy as excuse me adds to the tax base through increased meals tax and property tax revenues and we do a number of things uh to help that uh one is the outdoor dining program I believe that Brookline might have been the first or one of the first towns when Co started to set up an outdoor dining program and it's evolved through the years and uh last month you uh voted and EAB supported the guideline and fee structure amendments for fiscal 25 we use $365,000 of arpa money to renovate and subsidize the rent at 440 Harvard Street where there's a popup program where new entrepreneurs can test um brick and mortar space and see if that's something that they want to do we hope that if they decide to open up a storefront that they do it in town um and we contract with a women's own business called what uh excuse me called up next which does all the work for that they find the vendors they do the marketing they help them get set up in the store uh hopefully you've seen all the the um artwork that's around town the turkeys are coming the concrete bases I think are being set in various places and you'll see more uh wall murals and more wall art uh coming in the next year and we've given $500,000 in arpa funding providing 21 businesses Excuse excuse me 21 businesses the opportunity to complete 27 projects that grow or optimize their business and we have a facade Loan program that's quite old it's probably uh 10 or 15 years old uh that it was established to encourage business owners and Property Owners to undertake improvements to their commercial storefronts and we're working now to update that program to better align with current business needs uh we want to work on a couple of things moving forward um we as I mentioned uh Brookline is in the middle of a of a large urban area developers and new businesses that want to start up can go anywhere they don't have to come here we need to position the town so that people want to come here and make it easy for them to open up here uh so we want to develop a comp competitive Matrix to assess our policies um and indicators against peer communities we need to develop a good list of in indicators which we haven't done yet but things like other towns um other Town's uh licensing uh process whether it's easy or takes long a long time to get uh permits to open a business whether they um what their town government is how they get things done uh and then we also want to create a framework for development potential assessment using tools that hopefully are available to determine if proposed development projects are meeting commercial tax growth potential that we think they are so that we can again um we can we can measure the success we do have an Ask um eab's never had a select board liais on we'd love it if somebody was interested in serving in that role and that's all I have it Paul just raised his hand to okay is anyone anyone else uh anyone else I was gonna raise a finger but I'm happy to have Paul raise his hand his whole hand okay it's not on the agenda so it's not official but uh okay we'll get back to you all right um any questions yeah Paul yeah I have uh and thank you for the presentation and for all the members uh in their work this area is near to near and dear to my heart I had one question I was going to ask you but you you you asked the question you answered it and my question was you know do people think we're easy to do business with uh what's their perception of us um and I'm glad um well I'm not happy with the answer that you but I'm I'm pleased to hear that we're going to try to do something about it which is to assess our competitive positioning um you know against others um but I hope that we'll go further and you know once that's done but really start to Market um Brook line to the to to the region and Beyond to to it have people come I mean it's it it is a a tremendous opportunity and I do think we're very difficult to do business with um one of the things and I you know I live right in St Mary's so St Mary's is like my front yard so I'm very familiar with the business uh dist at least that business district U very intimate with it um and and I don't know if this is a general perception across the town but many of the the the businesses just feel a drift they don't they're not sure who's advocating for them they're not sure who's who's helping them who should they reach out to um and I hear that quite a bit um and I'm wondering does that is there a role for EAB in helping to figure out what's the best way to support the businesses that are have chosen to invest uh in Brookline and how to help them stay here and be successful yes um there is I don't know if um Jessica who's working with closely with the businesses do you want to answer that and also um the Small Business Development Committee uh has been looking for a representative we have a few empty seats on that committee I'm I'm the vice chair of that committee and Alish Gilligan from the public house is the chair and we've been looking for a representative on that committee from um from St Mary and we haven't been able to get anybody yet interesting okay so if you know somebody let us know okay so I'll just Echo what an just said I think that there is identif yourself for a VAST TV audience y so there is a role for oh sorry sorry Jessica deoy Economic Development and long-term planner uh for the town um there is definitely a role for both EAB and spdc to help the business Community um as well as the economic development team um myself Aaron Zach and Meredith who and mentioned earlier in the slide deck um definitely open door for the businesses that's what we're here for um Economic Development has zero regulatory power so one of the biggest um benefits to us is that we don't have any real skin in the game where here to help the businesses and really navigate between the town departments and really understand what their issues are and try to navigate the Whirlwind that can be the process of starting starting a business we do have a partnership with the local or I shouldn't say local they out Kansas um a co-op that does some backend software development for how to start a business in Brooklyn and Licensing navigation so in partnership with Tiffany work on the licensing stream lining we are working with them to have a nice beautiful website that makes it easy to navigate this so it is all in the works but our doors are always open thanks yes okay um okay David so I have a question regarding Outreach to potential new businesses for Brookline so uh I'm hearing a fair amount about working with uh current Brookline businesses and also streamlining processes so that those who go to you receive some assistance uh but are we ever going a step further than that and looking to potential Proprietors and telling them why don't you consider Brookline as opposed to waiting for them to come to us um we we should certainly be doing that we haven't I see Meredith is there I don't know if you want to answer that question mer uh so I I think ideally um it's it's important that we have Partnerships in place on the private sector side uh so we work very closely with the business organizations um select board member Warren and I had conversations recently about the importance of um you know Outreach to local commercial areas and a lot of that success depends on um business's willingness to talk to one another in a commercial area and create sort of a a pipeline and a central group like the coolage corner Merchants Association Brooklyn Village also has a Business Association uh that the town can really plug into and understand local business concerns with one voice in terms of recruiting businesses I think um certainly we get increase from businesses that are interested in looking for storefront availability in Brookline and we connect them with sort of our network of uh commercial brokers um again in an ideal situation I think you know having some sort of an entity like a business improvement district which has a very clear vision for um sort of what the market opportunities are and a vision of what the um kind of Target commercial business mix would be would be very helpful in in being able to engage more in the promotion of Brook line and business recruitment because I think recruiting is particularly important because a major part of urban planning and assessing the needs of our neighborhoods is being able to think proactively well what's missing from this commercial district and rather than waiting and hoping that somebody comes to us to fill that gap or somebody else comes in who doesn't fill that Gap and now all of a sudden that Gap still exists and there's no space left to address it that we get proactive on our end about what our vision is for each commercial District the mix that we would like to see and then we reach out so if for example there's a neighborhood that we decide should have a hardware store that we reach out to purveyors of hardware and say would you like to come here and here this is why Brook line would be a good place for you to do business and show them the numbers yeah we we have um we haven't done it recently but every once in a while we have one of the Brokers who's active in Brookline uh come to edab and talk to us about what's happening in the market um and Retail as you know is changing significantly one reason I think we have 167 restaurants now is because it's much easier uh you you can't buy I mean you can buy food and get door Dash and things but you can't order it as easily online as you can other things and um small retail is uh not many people are starting it it's very hard to do and it's hard to compete again um people got even more used to ordering online during covid when they couldn't shop and I don't know that the shopping part has come back well oh I'm sorry Mike m so um I'm very pleased to hear that um we're uh taking a look at licensing and common common vict Li licenses in particular um uh I'm Paul's successor on the uh uh the licensing board hearings that we have and the the volume of paperwork that leny a potential license he has to submit is just incredible and I often say to people who are regulators and in this case advisors try and fill that stuff out yourself and decide uh what how how high that barrier is because I think we and I don't know you know there are certain kinds of things with regard to health and safety regulations and so forth that are absolutely mandatory but uh it's just an incredible pile of stuff uh that has to be put together and um uh the best way to get a sense of how big that pile is is to do it try and do it yourself as I say and by the way I would suggest that you ask the uh Kennedy School uh students to do that for you yeah uh if if I may just make a comment actually today we met with um representatives from all the Departments involved in licensing and it was a very successful meeting of the minds um to talk about what redundancies there are um whether departments find the information we're collecting as a part of our process useful if they're asking for the same information um for their Department specific licenses so we're working through that right now right um and I'm optimistic that we'll be able to duplicate this in some way shape or form across all of the license types Yeah well yeah I I would um speaking what following up Mike just said I would challenge us to get to one form and you populate one form and it gets spread to everything else once we talked about a common app today whatever it is but one form you fill it all once it get it gets displayed but following on to to David's remark about you know different types of uses that we want to see in our neighborhoods to have them be vibrant you know when you have all the same use you don't have the mix of retail that doesn't really contribute a lot to the quality of life of our neighborhoods um I I think in New York they actually do some incentives on use um they've built it into their code uh to incentivize certain types of uses like a grocery store or a pharmacy or you know a daycare center um and I don't know if we've ever explored incentives like the ground floor commercial incentive is there a use incentive uh for areas that we would like to see certain types of businesses to contribute to the vibrancy of the business district hi Sandy silk on a member of EAB and vice chair to an um relative to the uses I'm going to speak here as a developer okay one of the challenges is that then you're kind of trying to make the market and so if unless you're providing incentives to support a use that may not be um Market feasible then you're you end up with a gap and and you run the risk of having empty storefronts so you you'd have to underwrite the use in order to make it viable well you need to make sure I mean I'll pick on a daycare facility daycare often cannot pay super high high rates so if you want to put a a daycare someplace where the rate is very high it could be very challenging so unless there's a subsidy somewhere whether it's to the landlord or to the tenant to support their rent there's a gap and so you're not going to get that use specifically so a little bit of uh and this is truly one of the things that we were trying to address not use specific but to create diversity of operators with the ground floor commercial incentive so I'll put a plug in and I will also wear the hat that I worked very hard on that it is a great I love that um that there was talk about expanding it to other areas once the we start to see um how well it works right with some initial groups so we should continue to look at that and we can certainly look at other areas and work with staff to identify where use um supports I'll call it have been have worked um but I would strongly encourage you to listen in the next time we get a a broker because it's extremely helpful and Brookline is facing the same challenges that every other community is and in truth we are much higher up the food chain so to speak in terms of um retail diversity and vibrancy um we we sit in a very strong spot there so we're in a good position with diversity exactly well and I mean diversity of use I'm diversity speaking of operator yeah no I meant diversity of use but we're still really hard to do business with it yes yes okay Mike um right I think it's true we we we are indeed the reputation that we have for developers uh as you know for as well as business people uh the advantage that we have is that we have a population a demographic that people love to try to sell to so you have berdick coming in and selling chocolates relatively expensive chocolates in the heart of kolish corner uh because there are people here who can afford it um the one thing I wanted to say is thank you uh because I've been the beneficiary of having EAB members sit on uh a couple of committees that I've been involved in and the support um The Common Sense the the numerical the numerical analysis that we get um and the experience that uh is uh is provided to us uh uh the knowledge that comes from that experience is provided to us has been wonderful um and so I want to say thank you to all of the members thank you okay thank you okay um I just to follow up with Mike said actually Paul stole my uh line when I was talking about all the disciplines that we have on EAB I was going to say it takes a village to get these project done which it does um in terms of all the disciplines that we need to to uh involve um Meredith money the board had asked edab to uh give you our opinions I guess or thoughts about what's going on in Chestnut Hill um so Meredith is uh in a box over there she's going to bring you up to date on this current city realy proposal and talk a little bit about uh the the whole chess oh excuse me the whole Chestnut Hill study area and then Ken Lewis we we spent a great deal of time at our meeting last week at EAB talking about this um we have some initial thoughts we have some initial concerns that's all going to change because this is going to be an evolving project and we're going to probably be back a few times to talk about it some more but um Ken is going to after Meredith gives a presentation Ken is going to follow up with um with uh a report on our discussion last week so thank you thank you thank you an uh and before I dive into the presentation I did just want to take a moment to thank uh an Sandy Ken and all the other members of the economic development Advisory Board we are incredibly um privileged in The Economic Development Division to have their um time expertise and commitment um so deeply grateful uh and my role as Ann said in tonight's presentation is really just just to do some quick table setting with an update about where things stand um with phase one of the uh ches Hill commercial area study and particularly with City realy uh recent Redevelopment proposals um and then I will transfer it over to Ken to walk through the remainder of the presentation so the last time the select board received an update on this proposal was back in early October if you'll recall we are moving forward with the Chestnut Hill commercial area study in two phases phase one um is from is the tul street block it runs from tul Street to the brookly Newton border and includes two properties uh one that's currently zoned for office 2.0 uh and one for General business 2.0 so this office 2.0 property um is a unique site in Brooklyn in terms of um its depth dimensions and uh Redevelopment opportunity and potential to contribute to the commercial tax base so this property was purchased in the spring by city realy city realy um over the summer uh wanted to put forward a Redevelopment proposal so that proposal was presented publicly to our community Advisory Group in late September just before your October update and so I just wanted to do a quick recap um to remind you about uh what was originally presented the last time you discussed this and then since then staff has relayed some feedback uh that's a a reflection of Staff feedback um public comment and uh feedback from our community Advisory Group and they have submitted a revised proposal which I'll just bring you up to speed on if you'll recall City realy proposal includes three buildings the tallest was originally proposed um it's building a in the upper leftand corner as 20 stories with luxury condo over Hotel um Building B was proposed as I think a 12-story multif family with ground floor retail and then Building C was proposed as a ground floor um first floor first four floors combination of retail medical office and then um I went up to 12 or 13 stories for uh senior housing that was a mix of different levels of continuing care so the street elevations uh from Boon Street Heath Street here the proposed access to the site was through Boon street with a new vehicular connection um so that the exit point was on to Heath Street and they were you know proposing turn left on Heath turn left on Tully to get back to route nine so the original anticipated net annual tax growth for that was uh in the neighborhood of $9 million uh the which did not include the hotel excise tax which is estimated as about 1.5 million per year within the first five years of operation and there were some followup questions about you know within that anticipated $9 million in annual tax growth what is that really connected to based on the components of their uh Redevelopment proposal so you can see the estimate is the majority um of that uh tax growth would be coming from the hotel and luxury condos with a quarter from the uh senior office Senior Living medical office and then the remainder from the multif family the revised proposal was presented uh a or October 30th so the tallest building building a they proposed a four-story reduction so it was proposed as um 16 stories of condos over Hotel uh and then the most significant change to the the program was changing the um kind of continuing care for the senior housing into an age restricted 55 plus um and uh still retaining the medical office retail combination so um and then to offset some of the changes in the um program to the age restricted housing there's a proposed increase in the height of the multif family building so here's another perspective about sort of illustrating the changes in terms of height um I would also go back and say uh these buildings are situated around a central Corridor in Green Space and there was a lot of feedback concern about the potential to create a canyon effect and have a lot of Shadows and darkness on you know what city realy feels as a very important centerpiece and component of their vision for the chest Hill Office Park so another sort of diagram to give you a sense of what we've what's changed in terms of the proposed massing another piece of feedback uh that was identified in our memo was concerns about the single entry point to the site and particularly uh not a lot of great access options from the brook line side of the property so city realy is having preliminary conversations with mass doot about creating a left turn um if you're approaching from the Brookline side to the site I think those conversations are still um very um early so we're looking to get a better sense from City realy and mass do about whether that's a feasible option this is a quick summary which captures a lot of what we've talked about I will point out you know given the study objectives of incentivizing net new commercial tax growth the modified proposal does include an addition of 25 hotel rooms as well as a slight increase of 30,000 square feet um for uh commercial use and uh significant change in terms of the number of residential units proposed most of that is coming from the change in the um Continuing Care Senor housing to 55 plus age restricted back of the envelope uh estimate for annual tax growth with the revised proposal is a 177% decrease to about 7.5 million so that is just a quick update I'm happy to pause here and answer any questions about where things stand um in terms of the city realy proposal but if not I can turn it over to Ken Lewis who is a longtime EAB member and as well as one of the EAB Representatives on the community Advisory Group for the Chesnut Hill commercial area study you know I have one question um I didn't hear anything about affordable housing heard about luxury housing which makes uh surrounding housing unaffordable more and more unaffordable so I mean how how are you addressing that that issue yes so uh City realy and I think Ken was planning on alluding to this in his update but City realy will be going to the hab at the December meeting to present and talk about a menu of options for complying with um inclusionary zoning affordable housing requirements um if I could just add one thing I I think it's appropriate to uh uh to say that we what you saw was versions one version two uh I would anticipate a version three uh so uh let's not get fixated on any particular feature of either one of those no but affordable housing is an important oh no no that's from the very beginning no no that's not what I meant at all but about housing no I mean in terms of the you know height and and circulation and so forth let's just wait and see what version three looks like in you have the floor thank you good evening can can I control this here Meredith is pulling it up for you but if you would like to Meredith do or do you want me to pull it up there or is that fine and I'm happy to flip through otherwise okay sound sounds good just goad yeah so for the record my name is Ken Lewis I'm a member of the economic development Advisory Board and as Meredith indicated I'm one of two EAB Representatives on the community uh Advisory board for the chesten hill commercial area along with Z Natalia and that that Community Advisory Board is chaired by Mike Sandman so we appreciate his leadership on that um I've been asked to provide a summary of initial observations of the eab's discussion on the chca with a focus on the city realy proposals for the Redevelopment of their 5.3 acre um site known as the Chestnut Hill Office Park so I'll summarize these observations in two categories first objectives that EAB supports and second uh list of some of our key questions and concerns and as Mike just indicated we should acknowledge that the city realy proposal is a work in progress and that many of the questions and concerns are are being addressed by the developer also wanted to update you on a an EAB ad hoc subcommittee that we've agreed to set up to help evaluate Financial feasibility and physical phys physical impact projections and then finally um provide a list of a checklist of key decisions that we'll need to make as a community to memorialize the town's objectives into a specific zoning bylaw Amendment and supplemental development agreements that'll be presented to town meeting so EAB supports a town wide perspective on this uh District we view this as an opportunity to create a new mixed use commercial District that can serve all of town residents as mered has described there will be uh commercial real estate components including potent potentially including a hotel with event space medical offices and Retail and restaurants as long as well as a multif family residential that'll essentially Target empty nester households primarily and also uh add to the towns of affable housing unit stock um we should Al take support a long-term perspective this is the single best Redevelopment opportunity that we have to strengthen brookline's commercial property tax base and people should understand that these annual tax increases um are going to be available to help support Town services for decades uh we the EAB supports the two-phase approach that uh the economic development staff has recommended there is a distinct near-term opportunity uh for the parcels west of Tully Street uh the parcel size the current vacancies as you're probably aware uh three of the four buildings on the chesten hill Office Park for vacant uh the age of the buildings and there's also um an upcoming uh lease expiration date for this Citizens Bank Master Lease on 1330 Boon EAB supports density that is substantially greater than that's permitted under existing zoning um some of the obvious factors that we we all know that this site en enjoys the multiple curb cuts on Route 9 its location on the south side of Route 9 means that there will be virtually no Shadow impacts on any Brookline residents from the new development we also think that uh sufficient density is important to cre synergistic land use mix between multifam and hotel multifam and medical office and all these can then help support uh viable on-site retail we also note that the obviously the density is directly related to the significant tax growth and substantial positive net fiscal benefits um with regard to vehicular access um we recommend that we keep an open mind on this issue I know it's somewhat controversial we need to create a balance for Access for all Brookline residents including those that are east and south of the district and balance those with concerns that the neighbors have about increased traffic we believe that the proposed traffic study that's being done as part of this uh analysis uh look at all the um turning movement options sorry my my the computer here went um and uh including a potential site Ingress from the route 9 westbound which would require uh if a new left turn lane was added would require Mass do approval also consider in Ingress and egress off of Heath Street curb cut and potential sight egress to rout n and West Via the Hammond par Parkway EAB also supports utilizing precedents from prior uh zoning Bo bolaw amendments that have already been adopted by T meeting um includes tax certainty agreements we have um other situations like Walder durgen and the recent Brook Brookline Housing Authority Walnut High Street uh zoning that tied the maximum height to specific RightWay adjacencies um we've done some uh massing orientation regulations if you recall we did a sky plane Zoning for the um Davis path project that um provided for a staircase design that mitigated Shadow impacts on the white Place Neighborhood um we have examples of shared parking facilities which will be a key factor of the of the CH the Justin Hill Office Park Redevelopment um we both both underground garage at Waldo durgen as you may recall and then on eal island we have a an agreement there to uh have a shared curb cut and garage ramp that would uh facilitate Redevelopment of the parcel that's north of that site north of the Hotel Site we also U use uh set minimum lot sizes for eligibility for uh the overlay zoning on Emerald Island which is something we may consider um moving on to the questions and concerns the probably the biggest issue that EAB members raised was the phasing of the Jus Hill Office Park site Redevelopment in particular the developers proposal to um build the entire uh 842 space 842 space parking garage underground for the entire project up front that would be a very substantial outlay of capital something north of $100 million um and that uh represents a a trade-off between the efficiency of uh cost uh the lowering cost per per parking space but then also increasing the threshold for the uh construction period interest in taxes the carrying costs so that's something that we want to uh take a close look at and are there options that the developer should consider for phasing the underground parking the development timetable itself needs to um cover multiple years and probably no doubt changing market conditions um and then can we create enough zoning flexibility to to accommodate those markting Market changes this project is it is currently conceived has a lot of financial interdependency the uh success of building a is feeding then directly into providing funding for the subsequent phases in Building B and C and that's a a critical issue with regard to site plans as an mentioned we have three Architects on EAB and we also have three Architects on the uh Community Advisory Board and they all have ideas about how we might organize the massing on the site um there is General consensus that it should be U oriented towards the north side with step Downs to Heath Street but there are also some debates between how much should be oriented to the west or east side of the site we also want to explore options for increasing pedestrian circulation and specifically enhancing Pathways to the street and to the chestman hill MBTA stop which we think will enhance the feasibility of the commercial retail hotel and multif family components the development proposal is a uh a vertically stacked mixed use development project that would have six components that help diversifi divers diversify the developer risk and also provides some internal customer base for the different uses and per the uh rkg analysis they felt that the um there was sufficient market demand for the long-term uses of those uh that's being proposed um I think one of the key questions that we need to face in formulating these regulations is how do we ensure that the commercial uh residential mix the Comm commercial component is retained um one could Envision a situation where as in subsequent phases in Building B and C the market for multifam Still Remains stronger than the commercial markets and therefore there might be some pressure to uh reduce that U that component which is currently programmed at about 38% of the total square footage there's also concerns about the viability of the luure condo Market which is a key financial driver um that you can understand why the developer wants to maximize the height of that building to enhance the views and noise mitigation pre 9 uh and then the hotel services and amenities could be linked with that so it is a uh it's an important um it's an important component it's a real driver um they're assuming that the condos would sell for around $1,700 a square foot which is pretty uh pretty uh highend um so we'll see about the depth of the market there um there's also some concern about medical office just how much U depth of of of demand is there for that um would note that the lower the lower level of the building across the street the old movie theater that's half half below grade that's uh that's also being marketed for for medical office um we have a niche in our uh or missing niche in our Brookline Hotel um properties with a lack of event facility space that's something that's being proposed here we need to understand what the parking and traffic implications of that are and then the retail is U largely oriented to the interior of the site and that's a concern potentially um our the the restaurant space over to Brookline Place For example is still is still looking for a tenant so that's something we should be aware of and then a question um as to whether we should think about Zoning for uh life sciences even though the market is very weak on that and likely to be so for many years is that something that we want to uh at least in permit as a or include as a permitted uses and that introduces some bolab Public Safety health issues that need to be discussed um the parking the town has supported as you all know A reduced uh minimum rate ratios um however most of those most of the community areas that fall under the teapod the transit parking overlay districts do have much better access to mass transit than this site does this site is about a half mile from the walking distance to the uh Justin Hill MBTA stop so the mass transit feature isn't as strong as obviously coolage Corner in Brookline Village um and we'll also need to understand how the shared parking Arrangements work between the different uses U let me go on now to uh just a quick recap of uh can you go to the next slide please um we've set up a a subcommittee uh ad hoc subcommittee Meredith could you go to the next slide please thank you um four people uh George Cole who's a a new member to EAB he's at the building commission tonight Sandy silk who's here with us mark Bearer who's um a development uh director at Len Le Boston and I'll serve as the lay ason to the community Advisory board our charge is to look at financial analysis primarily feasibility looking working with u rkg and and the staff on analyzing different sensitivity analysis and and doing risk risk assessments and then also looking at some of the physical impact assumptions um we'll not be duplicating the uh Community Advisory board but supplementing their their work on reviewing these proposals we have our initial meeting set up in mid December and we hope to produce uh really just a general work pro product of work recommendations to edab for consideration then to forward on to the select board um I just I I think we can click through these pretty quick these are the uh as you look at the U the challenge of translating broad land use uh plan planning goals and specific regulations we need to go through a whole set of dimensional standards land uses parking ratios circulation plans and then of course affordable housing could we go to the third Slide the last slide please Meredith and so I think Bernard to your question about affordable housing there is uh likely to be a mixture I would think of on-site affordable housing units as well as supplemental cash payment to the affordable housing trust perhaps similar to the agreement that was worked out with chesten Hill realy for the wal of durgen site um it provides some some units on site as well as U the fact that uh the hab probably needs a fair amount of cash to help support the BHA in their Redevelopment of the Walnut High Street and then finally I would um note that the ground floor commercial incentive program is currently restricted to the Harvard stre Main Street District in March of 2025 this board will have the opportunity to review that and decide whether um you might want to extend that to uh the Chestnut Hill commercial area which I would I would encourage you to uh give some serious thought to thanks thank you Paul yep uh thanks kenon I'm not sure who may want to uh tackle this question but the hundred million garage um how much risk and cost is that introducing it just seems like a a significant weight on this project um yeah and I haven't been able to get my head on it but it's a lot of money and it's adding a lot of cost and risk right I will say that the cost of a below grade parking spot just anywhere is somewhere between $15 and $150,000 a spot yeah um that gets a little bit better with scale but it doesn't get a lot better than that and so a lot of the conversation um that I've heard of um kind of one-on-one related to the Chestnut Hill um Community Advisory Group as well as at EAB has been that there we we need to be really thoughtful about what how they're going to do that a lot of the EAB conversation last week really got into the weeds of where are they going there's lots of examples of garages of that scale the seport garage under the seport hotel huge garage with three buildings on top of it that's a really good construct to think about this project um there were also projects in Kendall Square where garages were built there was one that sat with nothing built on top of it for several years during probably the early 2000s I think that was um later on a eight-story um residential building that was PL previously planned finally came to fruition so it's a it's a great point about the garage um and it's critical because without those parking spaces this no project works there um we there is a lot of discussion I just want to add this point about the height being a tradeoff for the below grade parking and to get to the open space and so these are really the issues we're grappling with and kind of one of the key things I think eab's committee will do will really think about how does the zoning and I want to be really clear that the zoning is the protection for the town right developers come and go um I've been the developer who comes in and says that doesn't really work can we change it so you know EAB in our role as kind of trying to protect the tax base right which is really our first charge um is thinking very um strongly about how do we make sure that the zoning really um gives us what we want at the end of the day and I assume Sandy that the site um is similar to the other project that's on the corner of ham and that's been going on forever yes right which has run into the problems with going down right I go as a developer right and forgive me if you all know this the risk is always in the ground yeah right like that's where you're most worried because it's what you don't know about um and in this case I mean that site at the corner of Hammond Street is very tiny so it's very you know there's no lay down area it's very hard to do that there will be a little more space here but it's months of of time in the ground there maybe even a year in the ground before you come out um and so making sure that I mean we also all remember are old enough to remember the hole at filin's basement that took a while so the lots of protections um needed because I don't know if there's many cases in Brookline with below grade parking to that to the scale yeah okay David you made a point about how the uh current design would have most of the retail on the interior of the site and how that could be a concern uh could you elaborate on that in terms of perhaps what you think would be a better layout or what the specific concern is is it about visibility from Route n of the retail that's yes that's that's one issue and also speaks to the issue of of how much density there is to support that but that you know so signage and and other things would be necessary for that it's it's not necess it's there will be re retail Frontage on Route 9 but most of the orientation in the entryway is anticipated to come in off that common area Corridor that's U been proposed you want to add anything to that I just add and I will be on my Soap Box a little bit about this point is that this is a development for all of Brookline um I live in South Brookline and so I have been um advocating that more people other than just the immediate neighbors here um get engaged and be heard through this process um as somebody who lives further away um access via Heath Street is super important um for most of us who live south in South Brookline the way we get to Wegman's is to go route nine or try to go the back way and to put people onto Route nine in order to get to South Brookline is challenging so I it's one of the reasons that the economic development Department's working with um and I'm probably going to get the Department wrong but with the traffic department to do a broader traffic study to really look at what the real impacts are so we can make sure that this project um really supports all of Brookline and enables everybody to access it um appropriately um this this area of Chestnut Hill is essentially coolage corner for those of us that live in South Brookline um our kids walk to this area so making it safe um from a pedestrian per perspective but also making it accessible um for everyone I think is really important and not to landlock it only to Route n to your traffic point do we have any idea about what would come in subsequent phases moving further down toward Hammond and then also on the other side where uh there's the um that Hammond Street entrance to the street there's the CVS then those three houses that are uh behind there that potentially would be rezoned into something and the reason I ask is I think it's important for us to have some understanding about neighborhood continuity when addressing these traffic issues great great comment um I might defer here to Meredith because she knows more about the scope but when I spoke with her the scope of that traffic study is extending to those areas um so I'll let Meredith answer that yes that's correct um we are finalizing the scope of a traffic impact study that will include the entire study area phases one and two which includes um a lot of the intersections and properties that you reference like board member pran but as a part of that traffic study do we have some idea will it also be mixed residential commercial what is going in there because I think that's relevant to a traffic study because you want to know how much traffic you're going to be generating for your development I mean Meredith if you want to do you want to take that again or you want yes absolutely so we will need to provide um some parameters in terms of what the potential development program would be um throughout the study area um and hopefully you know there'll be a model so as uh those could potentially shift as we move further through the study process that we'll be able to update what the projections are in terms of traffic impacts and you're aware that there's a proposed um 40b that's a six-story building that's been um propos and there's been a site assembly for those so the developer does own that and that would be a um sort of a new anchor if you will on to the east side of the site we also did speak with representatives from CVS they have absolutely no interest in redeveloping this at the present time um and they also have a long-term lease for the gas pumps there um when they bought the um property um so I we we can certainly include that in the zoning but I I would anticipate that that would stay the current use for quite quite a long time I'm thinking more about the four houses that are be beyond that because to me it seems like that might not be the best use of that space given that it's right on a parking lot for a major shopping center that that corner could potentially be redeveloped into something else or at least zon for it if the owner wanted to go in that direction and I'm wonder if there's any thought about doing that sort of taking down that fence there and having that be another retail area so it is included in sorry just to jump in it is included in phase two um that property uh and I I think we're certainly considering that in some of the concepts we've looked at um uh creating opportunities for some types of uses that would be a little bit more synergistic with the rest of the street is something that we're thinking about okay anything any further discussion thank you very helpful and thank you much to uh for us to digest the next uh we have a bunch of Warren articles that we're going to reconsider is um is Melissa here or is it Maria who's gonna walk us through good evening okay okay uh we are reconsidering Warren articles 124 7 and N um just make sure that you uh remind us what we're reconsidering what was our action before on war article 12 um there was a request from select board members to reconsider so um I think David you were the requestor there this was about the light yes so I I have some updates there uh so Joselyn Murphy of advisory committee and I took look at it and in considering the recommendations of Town Council uh there remains a concern that uh 4E and 4G in particular deal with further restrictions in terms of light use and uh Town Council indicated that we want to avoid if we're looking to not have light use restrictions embedded in our zoning that's not the place to be adding more restrictions because that puts us at risk for any attempt to try to enact a subsequent General bylaw addressing light restriction uh so I would certainly en endorse removal of 4 e and 4G uh I believe that the advisory committee or at least the one member I was speaking with directly on this would uh endorse that and perhaps the entirety of the advisory committee uh I also would want to remove from the purpose section where it mentions light pollution because that also indicates that we're trying to potentially put into our zoning code this issue about uh light use restrictions uh Town Council made it clear that zoning should be more about design should be more about installations and not about subsequent restrictions and we want to be mindful that if we were to embed in our zoning uh restrictions on light use then that would not be retroactive uh and it's only by General bylaw that we could have retroactive restrictions uh so I think that at a minimum we would want to make those three modifications remove light pollution from the purpose section and remove 4E and 4G now I also uh spoke with uh moderator wasinski about this uh he indicated that those three modifications would be within scope what would not be within scope is attempting to remove the restrictions on light use that already exist in the existing uh zoning uh so there's some mention about decorative lighting between 5:00 a.m. and uh 11: p.m. so that would be beyond the scope so we can't really address that piece of it but we could the rest so my suggestion depending on what the uh three of you think is that we uh either would recommend that town meeting pass a modified version of article 12 with the three elements I mentioned that would be within scope or that we recommend referral so that uh the planning department could also take a look at removing in a future iteration the few places under illumination where it does seem to look at light use restrictions such as the 5:00 a.m. to 11: p.m. hours in either case we we have to reconsider our previous position correct which was action we voted favorable action so can I can I ask a question David um so uh so David you ran these by the moderator and those would be within scope um advisory what did advisory do on this so advisory recommended referral but that was based on keeping 4E 4G and light pollution in the purpose section they were opposed to that because of the concern about therefore uh anchoring us within Zoning for light use restrictions if those three come out my understanding is that advisory would be more amenable to recommending favorable action but again I didn't you have one member you have one member of the AC saying okay um but that but that was a Thrust of their concern was those sections that include light use restrictions y so I guess the first thing is um we would need someone who voted in favor of the article uh to be willing to re I'm willing to reconsider it based on the concerns David rayed vote in favor right vot in favor y I did as well oh you did oh you did I unanimous so can reconsider it move reconsideration I was going to say I'm happy to move reconsideration and then to to this and I think that would be better than referral recommending to remove those items yeah I mean and that way we've got something the books and if there's there are further iterations then planning can just focus on that which if I remember that was really the reason why we voted in favor because we wanted something on the books and we deal with the bylaw later but David raised a good point that these things are in the so I would support removal as you yeah as David so has someone um I move reconsideration okay all in favor Michael I Paul I David hi chb I now um we take up uh the uh article as amended um you want to re I guess the record the minutes already show what the amendments are that removal of the two provisions and change of the purposes that's correct so okay so all in favor U please indicate by saying I Michael sammon hi Paul Warren hi David Perman hi and Jer hosai okay moving on to um um article 14 um that ownership of buildings on the same lot so this uh I I think I I asked for this to be put on to discuss a possible reconsideration um because I voted in favor of it uh David had raised a concern that we hadn't heard yet from um from the advisory committee and therefore he abstained um we now have the advisory committee's uh report and recommendation on this um and so I and I read it um and I you know they they rais concerns that um that I I wasn't aware of um namely uh number one that this is only uh this is only solving the problem for one district and you know this idea that um you know the condo provision uh needs to be added in or removed I think exactly what they did but it doesn't cure the problem it's we still have it across the other The Other M districts um and so you know I think in the report they actually quote uh I think one attorney Simpson saying this you know it this really doesn't solve the problem we still have the issue because it's in the other districts um so I'm just not con I'm not sure why we're doing it um if we're only why we're doing it at all why we're doing it at all um they you know the advisory committee recommend referral to the the the comprehensive Point steering committee I I'm not supporting that um frankly I I would I'm questioning whether we should be doing this at this time okay um which would probably be no action um so I just I'm I'm very skeptical about why uh why we're doing it um I asked uh Tiffany and she did she did include um The Advisory committee's report on this uh and it was hopefully you had a chance to read it was very very informative as to why they came to their conclusion I think they came to the wrong conclusion which was referral yeah um I almost want to just say stop the presses and let's come back to this later when we can do it we can look at all the zones um and come up with it so okay um do we want to hear from planning on this Maria is on sure thank you very much Maria melli senior planner in the regulatory division uh initially when we drafted this warn article we had all of the districts and and really the planning director said you know if we can just focus on one District where this is likely to be useful and keep out those M districts that are part of the MBTA community's overlay District where we adopted that overlay District so recently it would get people to understand that there is a problem where we do have people coming to the front counter asking about it they're your constituents they're homeowners they're not investors um so doing something in a way that is pragmatic um is is useful and I I do want to point out that there is nothing when you walk down the street you don't see the difference between a condo or a rental property um so I I think one thing that I'm a little confused about what would you be referring um I I do want to separate we're not trying to CH create an entirely new byon this is a concept that is already on the books and I understand people might have an issue with that particular concept but that really isn't the scope of of this particular Amendment yeah and that's a great Maria I'm not I'm not suggesting referral I think the advisory committee referred it um I'm not suggesting uh that it that it be referred um you know the the the stated purpose uh for this amendment was to deal with the to cure the conflict as it affects condominiums that was the stated purpose of it um however the addition uh in the deletion of ownership and the bylaw we're also proposing to insert new alternative public benefits uh requirements as conditions uh for the grant of permit including uh location of an on-site affordable unit if there's not otherwise required by the section or planting a tree or something with some certain uh diameter I don't understand how those relate to solving the condominium issue um so for for you know I know I think maybe I've heard you mention that there was one or two um unnamed parties that came and expressed an interest in this um which maybe triggered this um but again it's only to one District uh we're not curing it across all the districts um and the public benefits thing is just very confusing I I my my sense is I don't want to refer it I I just I I want to say no action at this time um and come back later with some other solution hey David I'm I'm just curious about why you wouldn't want to go with referral given that I think that would be more consistent perhaps with positions we've taken on other articles from the perspective of we want to allow the comprehensive planning process to be completed we want to have more Community input I'm not sure that planning department is necessarily wrong in its approach it's just we may want to wait longer to have an understanding of our broader land use interest and perhaps broaden this to Beyond just m districts alone which is one of the issues that advisory committee pointed out so with a referral we could address those outstanding issues I worry that a no vote would be sending the message that we're against this approach I'm not sure we're against the approach we're against the timing of it and its limitation you raise valid points David make a good point so where are we we voted for one favorable action it it sounds to me like we're we're still there rethinking about thinking about referral rather than are you so so I could I I could accept referral or no action if if if my colleagues prefer referral um and look at it completely and bring it back um okay so so we are reconsidering right our previous position I'd have to first move reconsideration okay um all in favor chz you have something to say yeah I mean yeah I mean it's it's fine I just think this this is an this is an issue where to this point we have we have the data in this district and we're ready to go forward but if that's you know I'm I'm I the only pause that I have here is that if you're telling us this issue is something that needs to be addressed townwide then but that it doesn't need to await the outcome of the comprehensive plan maybe no action is the better call but um if if the ultimate the thing is as David said is if you want this to be wrapped up as part of the comp plan see it strikes me as more of a binary Choice like do you want to fix this issue or not and if so in what districts um well I chess I think in the report um it was mentioned that you know one of the reasons why it was only one district is because we want to do a more comprehensive impact analysis and an understanding of all that so you know that is kind of consistent and and community and I think it actually talked more Community engagement uh with the community to understand what they were looking for and impacts um you know I guess I I'm more inclined to refer it to be consistent with the advisory committee and their arguments because I do I buy their arguments that that that's in their reports um versus just saying no action and have you bring it back in in in May so yeah and no acent so recom no action if if if town meeting then takes that up does you know follows that recommendation um it really has a chilling effect on looking at the whole thing you're right uh and so referral doesn't is no barrier to the planning department saying well we'd like to move this forward townwide or we'd like to make an adjustment in advance of the comprehensive plan and see you know and float that idea and see what happens so I think that's probably uh the the the better way to okay so you one of the um favorable action votes okay so I move reconsideration yeah all in favor Mike I Paul I David I chair side uh let's uh vote uh now for referral to the comprehens comprehensive plan committee yep um all in favor please indicate by saying I Michael Salon I Paul Warren I David Perman I chair votes I okay next warrn article 7 um on that we voted three to zero with two exensions so are we are we reconsidering article 7 so I think I I also think there's just an issue here there was a um something happened with the way that the agenda was posted and published so seven and nine appeared and then disappeared um we would need to retake the so we we would recommend postponing them just for the sake of the open meeting law issue was anybody asking to reconsider seven I thought someone was I thought after post I can I can help out here oh yes sorry this is I know this yeah that's all right um seven there was a a correction that needed to be made to the board's vote um that Maria had presented um not to the board but we I next week we'll have to put that in front of the board it's something that she had worked through with um I think dick Bena and L Linda pelky so um we'll talk about that next week when we put that in front of you before to okay so what about nine same same thing okay although nine nine does not need reconsideration I had thought that Roger was moving it but um Roger's not a town meeting member he would have needed either another town meeting member or the hab we were anticipating that the hab potentially would move it um but they chose not to so um there's nothing on nine for you to consider okay so that is the last item on the agenda we six are we doing something on 16 16 we do need to take up 16 sorry yeah 16 is on there yeah 16 is on there sorry this the the joys the joys of of of scheduling close to town meeting um 12 14 and 16 were on there so someone so someone made a change to 16 16 the moderator we we your proposed amendment went forward the moderator ruled it out of scope remember remember you made one modification which was about new new construction right you put new construction back in there as a condition in which this would trigger the moderator said adding that in accid I think by accident brings in things that don't require excavation but you have a language figure language yes so that's in there now um and the petitioners also cleaned up a little bit they accidentally deleted some language about solar panels and Mone of the many you know changes back and forth so adopting the version the the version that's in the packet that's listed as war in article 16 with all amendments submitted by the petitioners includes the revised language on your Amendment puts the language back in on solar panels and should be the language that goes in front of town meeting I I move right reconsideration okay um what was our vote before it was four to one John voted John was the only so you can you can move consideration Mike yeah thank you I knew I had voted in favor okay U all in favor Michael Simon I Paul Warren hi David pman I vot I now we're voting to um uh favorable action on war article 16 as amended by the petitioners and U pretty much everybody else um it's listed in the packet is Warren article 16 with all amendments okay uh any discussion no uh all in favor of War article 16 as amended with all what you say all what with all amendments with all amendments uh please indicate by saying I John Van I'm sorry Michael Sandman you don't want him here vote no again h i um Paul Warren I David Rowan I and cheros I now that is the end of the agenda do we have anyone who would like to speak and our post meeting public comment session uh there are approximately 18 in individuals online if anyone would like to speak speak please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature no one is indicating their desire to speak okay with that uh I will declare that the meeting is over thank you thank you one one thing I was um are we off we're still on