##VIDEO ID:d2vRcupUWhM## e board for December 17 2024 first order of business is that I moved that the select board go into executive session for the purpose of discussing strategy related to a litigation matter I.E the case of Amy hingston Hall versus the town of Brookline and the Nori County Superior Court litigation matter must be discussed in executive session because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigation position of the town and the chair so declares an executive session therefore to be necessaries all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren I David prman I and chair votes I we will return to open session after our executive session is over thank you m is in e for e w you in for oh oh all all for e e good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brookline select board and this is the regular meeting of the select board for December 17 2024 let's start off with announcements and updates from the select board and I'd like to start with two announcements first of all Thomas Brady not the football player but R arborist a dedicated and accomplished professional is resigning after 24 years of exceptional service to the town of Bine where he served as tree Warden and urban foresty manager to take a new exciting role as the Director of DPW for the town of Watertown his tenure is marked by steadfast commitment to preserving and enhancing Brooklyn's Urban Tree canop contributing significantly to the town's environmental and aesthetic values Brady has been instrumental in planting thousands of trees protecting existing ones and mitigating threats to Brooklyn's natural landscape in addition to his forestry responsibilities Brady played a key role in supporting the Conservation Commission helping ensure compliance with environmental laws and promoting sustainable practices across Brookline his meticulous work on the Muddy River Project exemplifies his commitment to large scale ecological restoration blood control and ability to navigate a complex political landscape Tom's leadership was also pivotable pivotal in guiding the Department of Public Works here in Brooklyn through the accreditation process elevating operational excellence and making us the first accredited DPW in New England Beyond his technical contributions Brady has shared his expertise widely known for his engaging educational walking tours he has introduced residents to the diversity of Brooklyn's trees fostering Community appreciation for local natural resources Brady's departure is Bittersweet for brookln as it transitions to the role of director of Public Works in Watertown a significant step forward in his career while his leadership will be deeply miss his legacy in Brooklyn's thriving Urban forest and land conservation practices will endure we wish him all the best in his future endeavors and you know it's Spirit sweet also because we're losing someone very important to our community but we should be proud of the fact that we actually helped develop them into the leader uh in urban forestry that he has become so yes we're losing someone that was very valuable uh to our town but um we're helping him move up in his career and and we should be proud of that so um the next thing I want to uh uh mention is that this will be the last meeting of the select board in 2024 we will return in the new year on January 7th but the town will not be closed down just because the select board is not meeting police and fire will be on the job even on the holidays and town departments will continue working although on reduced schedules to give them time with their families or signif significant others so as chair of The Sight board I think I'm speaking for the entire board I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season I put an emphasis on the safe part because we want to want to see you next year as we start this process over again in calendar year 2025 and we don't want to overwork our police and fire departments during the holidays so uh happy holidays everyone thank you any other thoughts or comments here we go I'm often the the first to raise my hand but I hope not the last um and two announcements I I want to acknowledge um the passing of Ruth Reen O'Brien and Thomas F O'Brien um names that are actually quite familiar to a number of people in Brooklyn because of their long-term resid in the town um but also because one of their children um happens to be Conan O'Brien um and it was because of Conan O'Brien's huge reputation um as a celebrity and and a comedian that um the obituary for Ruth O'Brien and Dr Thomas O'Brien got a lot of attention um but they themselves um absent Conan would be getting a lot of attention for the circumstances of their passing which um they died within days of each other in their 90s um but also for the very very rich contributions they made as residents of this town neighbors um um within this town um contributors to the Civic life of the town to the community um health of the town and so I I I I observe that the passing of those two individuals because it um is being felt by a lot of people in work line and rightly so um the second announcement I want to make is in the form of um a request but it's a public request and because I'm making it public I'm hope hoping that we'll have a little bit of clout extra clout um in the in the um with the people who um who it is directed to uh there was to have been a meeting on the Washington Street um comp excuse me Washington Street complete streets plan uh and uh it was it was going to be a very key meeting at which individuals who are very interested in the future of that plan and the impact that it's going to have on the Washington Street Corridor would find out um latest iteration of some key aspects of the plan as it affects Brookline Village that meeting for understandable reasons was cancelled two weeks ago because it conflicted with another very important meeting um and it was decided that the two meetings shouldn't cause people to have to choose between them um and at the time of the cancellation um it might have seemed well why not have it a week later but the decision was announced that the meeting would be postponed for an entire month my request is that since there was material um that is of great interest to the public and to the stakeholders in this whole Washington Street complete streets process that was ready for presentation um two weeks ago that it should not have to it should not go until the meeting in January before people have a chance to actually share in the knowledge of what is in the proposed latest iteration of the plan um it has to exist because the meeting was going to go ahead until the last minute when it wasn't going to go ahead uh we haven't heard anything about the plan that would have been presented at the meeting and yet people have and I'm one of them um an intense interest in the details of what was to have been presented at that meeting and is now going to be presented at a meeting in January and quite honestly um when it comes to transparency and open meetings um um I think it would be unforgivable to withhold that information and then only present it um on the day of the next meeting at the meeting which which is kind of a pattern that has been followed in the past so that's my request if if um if the if the material exists and we have every reason to believe it does um don't wait until this next meeting and hold it withhold it from the public release it as soon as possible so that people have a chance prior to the January meeting to absorb orb it think about it have conversations about it and then engage in a discussion of it when it is presented in January and so be it um I I hope there'll be a positive response to that request strongly encourage you to make that request me um and to departments please um I apologize of doing it publicly was you know was a um put a strain on people but um so be it you know I'll just leave it there uh I'd like to follow up on um John's um mention of the O'Brien's uh we lost someone else uh here in town recently a firefighter at engine company number six Richard Gillis uh who was appointed to the fire department in 1998 and he died December 4th of this year uh he was a young guy um not that young but you he was not old and um it's really uh unfortunate that we lost a firefighter not in the line of duty but um you know for other natural cause reasons uh his funeral will be at 10: a.m. on the 23rd at St Mary's um right across the street from or sort of across the street from town hall but uh you know we uh give our condolences to the family and to the fire department for uh for this loss so any other comments no okay okay okay great they're on there you go I'm glad someone knows how to work that okay uh moving on to public comment um Tiffany would you like to lay out the rules thank you for joining us for a public comment this is an opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brook line that matter to you each person speaking tonight is limited to three 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 any person wishing to speak must begin their comment by identifying themselves with their full full name and either their Brookline precinct number or street address the board encourages but does not require that remote users turn their video on when commenting as a note tonight we have several public hearings one on a noise bylaw waiver uh several renewal categories for licensing if you wish to speak on those items we ask that you wait to speak during those public hearings otherwise we'll entertain comments on General business at this time the first Speaker we have that signed up in advance is Arthur Conquest I think Arthur may be in the room yes can you hear me yeah y thank you AR the conquest town meeting member Precinct 6 I received my first email from the staff with Center for Resort restorative justice on the 8th of August 2024 I have 50 back and forth emails with them as of December uh 4th I'm submitting for your review that email since your names don't appear what's more there is no no possible way I can explain in the three minutes allowed to me the restorative justice center and the 13 individuals who were ultimately invited to participate in the meetings and discussions that took place I'll I'll say something is very wrong and it showed the questions we must ask is what was accomplished what was the outcome of whatever the restorative justice group did specifically how many individuals participated their reports uh their report should include the specifics to say that the black community in Brooklyn is in total sad uh is a total sad mess is a gross understatement and my words spoken at town meeting a year ago were President Lincoln's uh A House Divided cannot stand but some of the problems we have created by some of the members on the select board and the town administrators the black community doesn't want to air their dirty laundry in public uh then do it in private but do it we're short changing the future of black children uh when the problems issues Fester like the little dirty black Secrets uh stealing from each other cheating one another and backstabbing one another the restorative justice program started out with erroneous and confusing information the initial three groups proposed were whittel to one but that final group selected was wholly disjointed and disconnected and the information selected participants receive was very vague and cryptic if a foundation is crooked what exactly can we expect of the finished product we must do better we must do better finally public I I want to applaud uh town meeting member Regina froley and her invaluable and steadfast encouragement and input she's the one that really pushed me to try and uh stay on top of this thank you very much thank you Arthur okay there are no other speakers who signed up in advance if you're online and wish to speak during public on this at this time please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature and if you're in the room please make your presence known to the Town Administrator there are no hands in the there are great thank you and there are 27 participants online and no one else is indicating their desire to speak during public comment okay thank you Tiffany next we'll go to our miscellaneous calendar and approval of meeting minutes from oh what was the date of those minutes the 10th my notes um uh December 10 2024 which was last week uh any comments or edits to the minutes I had a minor edit okay did you was that I believe was made is that correct Tiffany yes that edit was made yep okay uh all in favor of the minutes as um amended please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael sandon I Paul Warren I David prman I shair votes I next I'd like to approve item items 5B through 5 p in Omnibus fashion unless the select board member would like to take an item out for further discussion this will include items 5G to 5p that were considered by our licensing committee uh following hearings on each of these items uh they are now recommending that the select board vote to approve the two grants of location and seven licensed change of manager and change of lodging agent items so anyone want to take yes I I wonder if I could have a short conversation about item F the $580,000 related to livic okay um so um the um eron Chu the DPW commissioner wrote a very helpful summary of what's being done at LS Anderson um but uh I the contract for for the repaving work that was that this would be added to was something on the over a million and a half dollars and um the request is being made because apparently there's ledge that has to be dealt with on the uh uh on the um uh the right way or the or the or the on the road that's being repaved and I have to say I had a constituent who said to me last night um you have to be kidding uh the um anybody looking at that at that Hillside would know that there's leg and so I would like to hear something about the what was done ahead of time uh and I I can appreciate that there are always unforeseen uh circumstances in construction particularly in Highway construction and Hillside and so forth but I would like to get a response to that that concern that was expressed to me okay uh I see commissioner sh is um on good evening commissioner of Public Works and Alexandra Veo our director of sustainability and natural resources and interm director of parks and Open Spaces also here um she worked on the memo that was provided to you early so um Alexander if there's anything that you want to um add please jump in um yeah I uh agree with this statement the you know Lars Anderson Park is a Drumlin uh there were test pits that were uh conducted uh prior to uh the contracts uh being put out to Bid And so this these were large excavation trenches looking at soil conditions looking at soil depths looking at uh base conditions to ensure that we had um the really the conditions that would allow the storm drainage structures um to be installed uh as part of the construction so there were various test pits we know there's ledge as well um but given those test pits they felt that they had um the space and the area to install the drainage solutions that um had been uh envisioned and designed by the consultant team uh when uh the construction was underway uh you know it became clear that that was not um the case and that we were going to have to modify the design which meant some regrading um and Shifting the drainage Solutions on both the front and back side of the um Hill uh to get that surface water and flow which is in pretty steep conditions away from um the edges of the road so if you know historically we've had a lot of erosion along the side of the road which is undermined uh the condition of the road and so this solution because we could no longer rely on um onsite you know simply the structures um infiltration and um you know piping the water offsite that we're managing it on site but we had to get it to the appropriate locations for um infiltration so into the wet lower Ling areas um which is appropriate to Those portions of the of the park um this extra work order um includes that work um but you know we also with this um so we have an extended route with a 12-in plastic pipe it's the stone it's the restoration um lman seed uh some additional drain man holes uh catch Basin we also had some additional Granite that was um required to manage some of the water around uh the entrance to the autum museum and um as part of our initial plan uh we also added some additional Filter Fabric and perforated pipe to improve um sort of some of the water movement as we're trying to manage it um again both up and down the slope this is a huge project it's the full roadway through Lars Anderson Park it's the park parking areas it's new granite curbing a huge amount of grading um intense coordination around all the other users in the autum museum so this has had a lot of um oversight by um the department and by our consultant team and um this will ultimately get us to a successful um conclusion of this project and frankly the road itself has not been upgraded or renovated for over three decades right okay that's very helpful especially the comments about some changes that you've made to actually improve the whole the whole package okay thank you very much yeah uh and uh thank you uh commissioner shuon uh Alexander for providing the response to my initial inquiry uh which was how does this particular component of the project fit into the broader picture and so it was really helpful for for the memo um I think Alexandra had developed it to provide context because there is a tremendous amount of work uh that's planned uh for the park and includes funding from the CIP and also some some other grants and other uh uh Pathways for funding my quick question is there's an increase in a half a million that seemed unexpected what's is there something that's not going to be done or done differently in the future in order to fund that sure good evening Alexandra veio uh director of sustainability and natural resources and acting director of parks in open space um ultimately when we're looking at this uh comprehensive work at LS Anderson Park we're really looking at um obviously leveraging the dollars that we have through the CIP but then also looking for Grant resources um to uh either serve as matching funds um or to extend the life of those CIP dollars so um while it's it is expected that we will still be able to move forward with all of the other work that we have outlined it will require that we continue to look for additional funding sources to support that um I think the CPA funds are another good example of where we're looking to to supplement the the work that we have going on at Lars ultimately as we kind of mentioned in that memo Lars has um a great deal of work um that's coming over the next several years um and we're looking to leverage as many different funding streams as we can to help uh achieve that work and make it as uh sustainable and efficient as possible okay thank you John um couple of questions but um first I just want to be sure I understand some one of the key aspects of U what we have in front of us and thank you for being here tonight um was there actual work done and in a more or less finished um state that had to then then be addressed through ripping the work out and starting over again we actually had them um put a top course so that we could complete sort of we had once once we recognized that we needed to make some more significant design changes in terms of the drainage system we said we want you to put this top course on this will be um at this is this actually part of this because there were some grade changes on the contractor was at their expense we said we're going to do a pause on this work with you on the cost and then come back so that is not a cost that we are paying for again oh okay yeah you you got to head to the second part of my question and thank you very much um because you my my familiarity with projects such as it is um includes the um uh the the there is usually a process by which um if if a change order is is necessary especially a change order of 580,000 um $47 um the question that arises is is this a design was there a design flaw um that led to um the work having to be stopped and re the design had to be redone um or if the design was actually correct um was there a construction flaw that led to the constructed finished product not matching the design and in either of those situations there's an assumed amount of liability that has to be shared by the team that did the flawed design or or the team that did the flawed construction and I've been having a hard time pinning down was that uh a part of what happened here and how much of the $58,700 uh the paving was finalized in those sections of the park so that was caught and we received a credit from the consulting company on those Design Services um there were a couple um construction Errors By the contractor but we had them um modify and amend those um all through out until where we are right now so we're not paying for those um frankly we find those all the time that's why we have our construction Engineers on site overseeing work so I would say that through this project we experienced a little bit of both and sometimes that happens you may have um you know some errors in some of the numbers fortunately we were able to catch that um and make the adjustment get a credit um from that consultant separate contract and um with the work in the field um we have uh worked with this contractor to be credited and have them responsible for portions of the work that didn't meet our standards so um I would say that where we are now is largely things that we wanted to add because ultimately we felt like there were better Solutions once we needed to Pivot from how we were going to handle the overall drainage and Grading of the site okay so so will there ever be um at some point at the end of this an accounting of how much was reimbursed of the added costs um from the various you know errors that needed to be corrected we have very detailed accounting of all of the costs um it's a line item bid for all um components of this project which you're welcome to take a look at okay great and thank you again for answering those questions okay any other questions or any other items you want to pull out okay so I move approval of items 5B through 5p all in favor please indicate by saying I John Bak hi Michael sandon hi Paul Warren I um David Broman I and chair votes I okay next let's go to the calendar and stabilization program that has been postponed until sometime in January oh we don't have to discuss that okay uh the continuation of our noise bylaw waiver public hearing remember last uh week we noticed a noticing error and public uh with respect to the posting of the hearing um the hearing went forward though and we are it was continued to today so let's open the public hearing on the noise bylaw waiver request uh for uh from uh for work that that would be done from 4:00 am. to 3 pm on December 18 202 for delivery of equipment and assembly of equipment at the peer School site is there someone who's gonna talk about that bring La Is With Us online okay hi could you also promote uh Bill trail from kigle Bill C has just been promoted okay so um this noise waiver is for uh the delivery of a rather large piece of equipment which we're using to De demolish uh the old the new peer school I would say the the 1970s Pier School uh this uh piece of equipment make the the demolition of that much easier uh it is oversized so which by DOT regulations means it has to be moved in in uh in off hours uh When there's less traffic on site um that's really the gist of it we uh I believe if you uh Bill do you want to say anything else on it um yeah I mean you covered it well um but yeah the the intent is it's it's just because of the overside oversiz load criteria and Dot standards and it it can only be moved between certain hours so that it has to be off the road by 6:00 a.m. um so essentially that's the only thing that's really going to occur before our normal workday from 7:00 to 300 p.m. is that piece of equipment will arrive on site it will pull into the site in inside of our fence line and it'll shut its engines down and then nothing else will occur after that happens until um around 7 a.m. and the expectation is that a piece of equipment will arrive sometime between 4: and 6:00 a.m. and uh last week you talked about the level of noise uh being relatively um low do you have anything to add to that yes I mean yeah for this operation the noise levels will be you know the loudest part of it will be just you know the sound of a a normal Trail or truck driving down the road so you know less than 90 DB for sure any questions or comments from the select board before we go to the public okay let's uh oh the public hearing is open any uh questions or comments from the audience just online or in the in the room here I just wanted to add that uh uh mailings were sent to all the abuts uh and um they they know about this thing and we've given a map of how we plan to do this work too so great thank you Bernard there were no speakers who signed up in advance for this public hearing if anyone is online who wishes to speak during this public hearing please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time if you're in the room and wish to speak please make your presence known to the Town Administrator at this time there are 29 participants online and no one is indicating their desire to speak Chaz I assume no one is interested in the audience correct thank you okay so we'll close the hearing and move on to a vote um I'm Mo approval of the noise byall by law waiver request um all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael sanman hi PA War hi David prman I sh votes I thank you next disparity study and who is going to do that David jenus on the team um from our uh procurement office yes and friend our our consultant Griffin and strong who are part of the joint presentation joint uh The Joint operation with um the city of Somerville hello everybody David junakis Chief procurement officer I also have uh Lincoln heinan the finance director and Richard Seville the procurement officer here and I'm not going to say a lot this is really uh Griffin and strong has done a y amount of work and I want you know to give the time to present from them to you uh the findings and the general uh content uh of the disparity study that's been going on since September of 2023 uh there'll be time for question and answers afterwards and if there is anything you need from me or Lincoln or Rick uh please let me know as well uh thank you okay please give us a thorough explanation of everything since we don't have any anything written to refer to chess I do want to I I have a quick question before begin because he's point up the slides I'm just curious what what prevented us it's been being worked on for two years from getting a copy of this for public review and also the select board before the presentation I would ask the consultant that question um is there reason why this didn't make any packet in advance um we we did have a draft Yeah is there is there anything substantively different between this and the draft so from from the mo let me introduce myself sorry Hi everyone my name is Kevin Vega I'm the deputy project manager on the 2024 town of Brooklyn disparity study I work with Griffin and strong and I'm here with my colleague dve marah and to answer your question select board and uh chairman uh We've provided all of the chat s consistently throughout the duration of the study along with we hosted a findings and recommendations presentation about a month ago and the presentation itself did not change we also submitted a draft of report as of about a week and a half ago and we didn't receive any comments and so to directly answer your question no there have not been any changes thank you okay so so at some point someone fail to provide right we'll we that's on our end I'm just I'm saying this for the first time we'll dig into it uh so because there's clearly a breakdown there we'll figure that out okay proceed all right in detail course slowly yes of course of course so um already introduced myself I'll let my partner introduce himself too hi good evening thank you for uh allowing us to present my name is David M I'm with the legal division at griman strong all right so today we will be giving the final presentation of the study which includes some of the findings that we conducted as well as um some graphs and charts which explains the quantitative data that we analyzed more in detail and then at the end we'll have a section dedicated to the overall legal findings in addition to recom commendations and recommendations and so to tell you all a little bit more about our firm uh Griffin strong we're a firm that specializes in procurement research training P diversity Consulting contract compliance and program development we are based out of Atlanta Georgia and with regards to this specific field we are the most qualified team we have seven JDS two phds in economics a PHD in social psychology and one PhD in anthropology and so just to kind of break down the agenda we'll talk about the technical approach the study parameters and then all of our findings which all each has a designated chapter in the final report says the policy quantitative findings Marketplace disparities anecdotal finding and then the overall legal findings in the end and like I said the sections dedicated commendations recommendations and then in the end we will give you all the opportunity to ask any questions as it relates to the study so to explain the technical approach the overall report consists of legal analysis policy review from the documents that we collected in the duration of the study process uh We've also collected and cleaned data that we received from the town of Brookline which we utilize to conduct the in market analysis the utilization analysis availability analysis and then ultimately the disparity analysis which is um composed of a ratio that is calculated from utilization and availability analysis then we'll it's also composed a private sector analysis which is conducted by our senior Economist and anecdotal evidence collection and Analysis conducted by our anecdotal analyst and then in the end we have our final report with recommendations which will be provided by Friday so now the study parameters the study looked at the utilization and availability of firms and contracts dating from July 1st 2017 to June 30th 2022 or fiscal year 2018 to 2022 and the five industry categories that we analyzed were construction architecture and engineering Professional Services other services and goods and now we'll I'll hand it over to David to talk about the policy findings great thank you very much excuse me as Kevin indicated um early in the process uh the policy uh review and Analysis is conducted in policy chapter was circulated quite some time ago uh and evaluated by uh the town of Brooklyn But ultimately these are kind of the highlights that are part of a larger document there is a again a policy chapter that contains each and every one of these uh fun findings but for purposes of the presentation we break it down to some of the the core findings which is uh with respect to Professional Services um the analysis showed that contracts with Architects Engineers or related profession professionals are exempt from chapter 30b uh the state statute uh under Commonwealth there is a mandate mandatory advertising competition and qualifications based selection process for choosing designers for building projects uh the Town also has an on call process for construction related Professional Services with respect to Construction Services blanket contracts are applicable to individual project tasks with construction labor cost up to $50,000 blank blanket contracts create a roster of possible uh Professionals in the specific trade areas enabling the town to request quotes from at least three vendors on that list for the separate construction tasks as they come up uh and use a combination of blanket contracts and state Contra construction trade contracts excuse me for the many of those trades blanket contracts were typically threeyear durations uh in Massachusetts awarding authorities have the option to use construction management at risk or semar uh techniques or design build approaches for certain project types uh the methods are applicable when the estimated construction cost is over $5 million and the town has used these two Construction procurement methods during the course of the study period uh finally Massachusetts employs a filed sub bid system for selecting subcontractors on certain public projects uh the system applies when the project is in excess of $150,000 when the subcontractor work is within a specified category and when the subcontract cost is over $25,000 on that larger contract with respect to bonding and insurance there is a requirement for 100% performance bond for building projects over 150,000 uh the town procurement staff did not report significant vendor concerns about bonding requirements or levels the town procurement staff also did not report specific vendor concerns about insurance requirements uh there has been uh nevertheless uh some discussions among staff about lowering the insurance requirements regarding payment Massachusetts Law requires progress payments uh to the prime contractor on public projects payment is due within 15 days following uh submission of an appropriate payment request and then final payments to Prime contractors are due within 65 days when uh of the date that the project has reached substantial completion final payments to subcontractors are likewise due within 65 days following substantial completion of the work that that particular subcontractor did uh in the event of delayed or unjustly withheld payments in public projects in the Commonwealth the outstanding amounts are subject to interest payments Town staff interviews did not report problems with prompt payment of primes outside of some particular delays involving the school department uh which is again discussed a little deeper in the report uh payment of subcontract was generally resolved through negotiations uh in the anecdotal analysis 39.2% of the survey respondents stated that it took more than 60 days to receive payment from the town and 26.1% of the subcontractors reported that it took 60 days for them to get paid by the prime contractor the town has no vendor registration but it does encourage firms to sign up for email and text alerts for bid notifications the town uh purchasing website presents current bids but does not contain forecasts of upcoming bid opportunities the town Post solicitations in the state's Combi system as required by Statute for formal procurement uh com as you know is the commonwealths electronic procurement system with regard to certification the town does not certify um minority or women-owned business enterprises or small business enterprises but the state Supplier Diversity office and the City of Boston do certify disadvantaged firms uh there is reciprocal certification with the state of Massachusetts uh and the City of Boston uh as you can see in the table uh there these are the certified firms located in the town of Brookline as of 2024 and the uh office of uh diversity and inclusion in collaboration with Brookline Economic Development and the long-term planning division created a diverse and inclusive business directory which focuses on marketing local businesses and not on firm seeking procurement opportunities with the town of Brooklyn there are over 40 firms and organizations currently listed in the directory the town currently does not have any mwbe or SBE goals set asides or preference programs uh in the Commonwealth of massach Massachusetts mwbe goals must be included in procurement processes for both design and construction phases of capital facilities and assisted bu building projects that receive any form of funding such as grants or reimbursements from the common oil uh staff reported that on School uh projects funded by the school build building authority um they did not recall mwb project goals resulting in uh any bids being rejected for failure to satisfy uh those established state goals uh with regard to sheltered markets the state law does allow for local governments to have a shelter market for disadvantaged vendors the town does not currently have a sheltered Market program however the town has not provided Small Business Development Assistance or partnered with small business development organizations at the current time the town Economic Development Department will be directing firms seeking assistance to score and to the Center for Women's Enterprises the town does not also uh routinely uh provide small business loans to firms uh during the co pandemic the town did Issue some federally funded forgivable small business loans for about $450,000 and several rounds of funding the town prioritized small local businesses financing uh to mwbes into lgtbq lgbtq EAS I'm sorry that's a typle um reporting mwb utilization the town does not currently track or report utilization of minority women-owned business enterprises vendor demographic status is not indicated in the town munis Financial system although it has the capacity to track such information the town has not conducted a previous disparity study before this one finally Staffing and budget the office of diversity inclusion and community relations I'm sorry could I can I jump in really quick thank you I wanted to just flag for you um this is a really busy meeting tonight and I appreciate that you're reading slides but can we if you can summarize some of these things that we forward thank you certainly actually again this actually what what we really need to know is why this study was produced and what we can do as a result of it and appropriately so so the these as as you'll see at the end of the report there are recommendations and commendations that are made those are based on the findings that we got so again what you have is statistical findings you have anecdotal interviews and other findings you have policy-based findings those lead to the recommendations recomendations that are at the end of the report um but if you know the select committee would like to we it we can move forward to the recommendations and the commentation we're not voting tonight on this so uh why don't we um pardon me what is the objective of tonight so we're we're not voting tonight so maybe what we ought to do is just get the report in our hands and take it up at a later date because it really doesn't do us any good you know not having had the opportunity to think through what the purpose of this is and and you know what the recommendations are and you whether we yeah go ahead with it so this actually I agree I I this is something we've been talking about literally for years yeah um and it's very good to see that it's gotten this far but honestly there's no way to evaluate sitting here there there's it's very difficult on the fly to evaluate so um let's have a look and maybe these gentlemen will come back and okay answer some questions yeah let's set a time when they can come back again but I want to make sure that in advance of the meeting we have both the final report and an executive summary we'll we'll talk internally and I think this is just an issue of some some Communications issues but yes also we don't we I don't think we had a copy of the final report but we did have the draft I want to one thank you for the work that you've done um it's an incredible Endeavor and to your point the team did a huge amount of work on it um but I think this has to be taken up in a manner where the board is better equipped to understand what it is that we're talking about because the objective of this is to have understanding of how we how we provide opportunities to do business for businesses that are run by that have been historically locked out be people who have been historically locked out of that process so minority owned contractors women owned contractors and so forth um in Massachusetts in order for that to in order for us to do anything like that that has teeth know in order for us to really set policy that requires any sort of minority contractor or historically disadvantaged contractor requirements we need to conduct a detailed study like this a disparity study in order for there to be a next step and so I think what needs to happen here and again apologies to you I think there was just a communication error here on our end is that we need to make sure that the board has your report a summary thereof we get it to them we'll make sure that it happens and we'd invite you back to give a summary of that to the broader public because I do think the public needs to hear about this too but it needs to be done in a context where they've seen your final report right right um I will say um having run a couple of small businesses and mediumsized ones uh hearing that it takes 60 days to get paid um uh that's a that's a significant barrier for a small uh a small business uh particularly uh one that's not one that's that's not used to dealing with a municipality so um this is beyond scope of what you're looking but we you know we we're embarking on uh uh an effort to look at our permitting process we probably ought to be looking at our payment processes as well to see if we can speed that up and and the report cites a number of other policies or procedures that we have that impede uh small businesses from right taking the time you know applying for more positions right no I appreciate that but but but 60 days is a long time to wait for your money one of the problems yeah yeah okay great yeah I'm sorry thanks thanks thanks Berard and I want to thank the Consulting team for all the analysis I I know how much work goes into these reports um having it ahead of time is actually going to be helpful because I I know I'll read it and my colleagues will but when we come back knowing that also that the public needs to absorb this the whole thing needs to be boiled down significantly to what it means where the gaps are and where the opportunities are um the detail is good but I think you should let us read that in the appendix and then boil it down to five slides or not a problem you you are the client and and we certainly take the instruction we know that the the executive summary that you will be provided will I think get us closer to what what you're seing um but uh also this this presentation can be made available as well want to dig a little bit deeper it would be very helpful if we could have the presentation to post as part of this meeting and then and so people again will have it so thank you thank you so I just wanted to flag something um since we're going to be revisiting this on a future at a future date um in 2022 there was presented to us you know pretty much just as a um uh point of interest on the town's efforts to improve upon its um use of um minority contractors um a a software program called quali and um uh I I haven't heard much about it since so that since we're going to be discussing this again at a future meeting I'd love for for an update on whether quality is still a part of our efforts in this direction um and and sort of a summation of uh whether the qual um introduction to our um array of you know softwares uh was was helpful um and is continuing or was something that you know was tried out and and then was not continued so Dave jenus who spearheaded that process is online and came answer actually WR some maybe now yes okay I can be real how you doing we are still using quali we've enhanced its capabilities and I know the folks from quali would love to come in and tell you we've had quite a journey over the past three years uh they're they've expanded into they're now working with having a a directory working with Lloyd's office uh that will be hosted online we've worked with economic development so yes qual is alive and well and you know companies are actually accessing it on a regular basis uh but we'll schedule that as well uh so that they can come in and tell you it's been at least a couple of years since we've come in front of you regarding the quality uh software but it has been I think very successful and it's it's been a compliment uh to what's being done here with the disparity study so I think it's it's part and parcel part of a larger picture of Outreach and information that we get to the vendor community so yeah I I will make sure I'm meeting with them in the next couple of weeks and uh we will definitely get that set up hey thank you so much I'm really glad to hear that that Innovation is um one that has been worthwhile and is is actually growing I guess in in its use okay thank you thank you very much okay hey next uh question of approving the application of a new entertainment license for uh bo doing business as Pokey pokei at 415 Harvard Street and question of approving the application of a common Victor for Bo youu doing business as pokey pokey at 4:15 Harvard Street Mikey have your hand up uh yeah I wanted to comment on this but Chaz is yeah may be saying the same thing here yeah this was continued over this is a continued public hearing say that too oh sorry goad you know better um this is continued from the licensing panels um public hearing ing uh last Wednesday this applicant came before the panel um describing a business that is going to be opened on Harvard Street a common vieler business whose primary method and it was described at the time that the primary method of its um uh primary customers would be uh delivery services um doores uberit and so forth and it would while it would have limited indoor seating of capacity for limited indoor primarily the business would be one that would be conducted through takeout um at the time the panel identified that's a very busy uh Street and there's not a lot of loading space on the street directly and that there have been complaints about delivery drivers using that space blocking bike lanes and so forth we also had a member of the public appear and raise the same issue accordingly in as as we do with these um licensing panel hearings if there is an issue of public concern we elevate it to the select board and that's what we've done here so we asked the applicant to come back and come back with some detail about what it is that they're going to do to ensure that they are their operations do not disrupt the flow of traffic along Harvard Street it's my understanding that the applicants have retained councel and um are I wasn't sure whether or not they were prepared to present but I believe they are prepared to present um I I do have a qu one question that as long as we're going to hear from the applicant I hope that they uh can address one question I have is have they signed a lease for this space and you know how how far down the track are they um because the I've actually gone looked at the space and the the storefront is Tiny uh and they're really that's a really busy part of the part of the street uh it I'm going to have a very hard time uh thinking that that this is a is an appropriate place for this particular kind of uh of business um we with that said their attorney is um Stephanie bedro um so if we can promote them and also the owner of the St or the uh representative of the establishment uh is here online as well or I saw Stephan has been promoted and Bo is online as well there we go Mr U good evening for reasons I don't understand I cannot my video is not working I can click the mute button but I can't click the video button uh I'm not before we know who you are right okay okay well here you go here's my voice so Stephanie Jo here from araw I'm here tonight uh for the petitioner boou doing business as uh under the name of pokey pokey uh Mr U is here with me this evening should the board have any questions um as you apply noted we're here on the applicant request for a common Vic and entertainment license both to be exercised at 415 Harvard Street which is the former Club down day location the theme of the restaurant um will be service of Poke Balls and fruit teas both inhouse and to go and I'll note um to your comment um slbo sanman uh this is um going to be the same kind of operation that was in club Dante the same number of seats um so it really isn't going to change um as it relat I think the question had to do with uh pickup and deliveries right so I think that the the extent and amount of pickup and deliveries will likely be the same or similar it will be dine in and take out and to address this issue um because obviously we knew it was going to come up we reached out to the transportation department and spoke with Amy Eng Les uh the transportation administrator thinking that possibly we could have transportation carve out a short-term parking or one parking space that could be used just for this tenant um or this applicant um for the door Dash and Uber during a you know the busy hours um and what Amy reported is that currently um this is uh an issue in all of coolage corner not just this neighborhood and the town has hired a consultant to undertake a comprehensive parking study for the whole coage Corner area findings and recommendations are expected in January specifically relating to food delivery issues and they expect that once that's complete the town will Advance a comprehensive approach to dealing with the parking and delivery issues which might include designated short-term parking spaces during certain times of the day to reduce double parking and other like ideas so we do expect a resolution um of this issue to come through the town I think like I said they're going to consider because in this neighborhood there is um there is uh Anna tearia the kosher walk the daily catch geniya and Tate just to name a few there's many restaurants that are creating uh takeout issues double parking issues Uber Eats issues so it's not just it certainly is not um limited to where Club Dante is and to what this um applicant will be um and we anticipate with that resolution the concerns of the neighbors will be addressed but it does not seem and to answer your second question the tenant has already signed a lease is already incurring uh lease payments and to further delay them when all of these other applicants or lenses are operating under the same types of restaurants with the same amount of delivery seems to be uh unjust and unfair and could really be financially disruptive to this um applicant so we would ask that the license be approved the CV license be approved the entertainment license be approved the entertainment just so you know is for typed in radio and the television is um going to be the menu so it's not really a television it's going to be kind of a monitor with the menu live so anyway we would ask that the board consider and approve these um license applications and um understand that we will do everything we can to work with the town to make sure that um any issues with delivery drivers and pick up are reduced in whatever way we can yes um so two quick questions one I I take your point but I think the issue that we encountered on the panel was that when we asked the owner do you have a plan for this the answer was no um so that's a pretty tough issue you know you're right that other businesses operate in this community other businesses have an understanding that if there are backlogs if there are people blocking traffic the board has said Transportation division has said you can't do that um you've got to tell them to move along you've got to tell them to find spaces you've got to have some process in place so to say no there's no plan that's that's not similar to the other businesses in the community the other question the other question hold on let me have have another question the other question I have for you is um what about around the back um there's a parking lot back there uh do you have access to that lot is that a possibility I'm going to turn to my client for that I don't know if he has also been promoted he has yeah so Bo can you speak to that um do you can you speak to whether there's access from the restaurant from the parking lot in the rear yes uh there's actually there's access uh parking lot at a back but those are leasing to the you know resident like nearby is now like a private parking lot but you're not talking about parking you're talking about pickup aren't you uh yes but like there's a very limited like space I don't think it can be like a pickup but I mean you know theoretically the space on you know there's a there's a there's a space on the right side of Fuller Street for example um it says no parking um I don't know if there's the you know and then on the um westbound side of Fuller Street um there is I believe parking on that side theoretically might you while you wait for the town to finalize the loading zones utilize Fuller Street as the place where you do pick up and drop off of um again not I would be clear not impinging on the people who live on Fuller street but using that little strip on the corner of Fuller and Harvard um to potentially do delivery there as opposed to having people flip on their hazards in the middle of Harvard Street absolutely I think that makes a lot of sense and what one of the things the town said is they they're they want to deal with this and they want to help these um these uh restaurants figure out the best way to to address it to work with the neighborhood and they just didn't want to do a pacem mail so they weren't willing to work with us initially but we will stay on them and make sure that this issue is resolved and in the meantime we can definitely direct the Uber and door Dash drivers to utilize uh Fuller Street um and again I don't think that the traffic or business or um parking issues will be any different than they were when it was Club Dante okay as the um Town Administrator mentioned you don't have a plan I think that I would like to uh request that you put together a plan that includes use of Fuller Street as well as the parking and back so that we at least have an idea that U you know you you've addressed this question um and and have a way of um of dealing with the problems that that are created Mike um maybe there's a I'm sorry uh somebody ahead of me go ahead I was I was just going to ask um because we didn't benefit from the public hearing you heard yeah I heard summarize I look I trust you and for you to elevate this you heard something uh about the business model uh and also from the residents that caused you to say hm this is different tell please share what sure so there were there were two residents who made the point that uh this is a a a tight neighborhood it's very difficult to park there the traffic is uh is heavy on the side streets um uh they they feel the effects as well and so I'm sitting here thinking we want them to use Fuller Street that's a side street that that that's a a it it's it's not a totally perfect solution by any means means and then the other thing is um uh is the uh the op the the the the restaurant owner actually going to be able to get the Uber uh eats drivers to pick up on Fuller it's much more convenient for them to stop on har it right at the curb and run in and run out uh and uh speaking also as a cyclist when I ride up that street and I do and there's somebody parked there I'm pushed out into a live traffic lane as are the other cars uh so uh attorney P absolutely right there are lots of restaurants operating there they're all causing problems to to one extent or another the question is whether there's any way that we can prevent this one from adding uh and uh that's why I thought that it was sensible to bring it uh bring it in here it seems to me like it might be possible to uh or is it possible to have as a condition of the license that they have a plan to have uh the drivers pick up and that way we have at least a little bit of a way of twisting the uh twisting their arms if we find that that's not the case I think that's fair I want to double check yeah I think that's that's fair okay uh David say a couple questions I have so it was referenced that there's the possibility of reserving a space on Harvard Street for delivery service Vehicles is that something that is done elsewhere in the harvestry corridor uh not in the harvestry corridor currently but that's an idea that other communities have taken up as over the pr with the proliferation of door Das uberit and so forth so we're thinking and again again it wouldn't be 247 it would be at peak hours uh in order to ensure that there's still adequate parking along Harvard and then a second question I have is we're hearing about the importance of having a plan in place for delivery drivers is that something that we have consistently asks of all the other establishments in that area yeah you know this is this is the issue of I think that Mike raised which is you that attorney betro raised which I think is accurate to a certain extent is that there was this steady drip and in the same way that we you that you the board at some Point said with 2 am licenses wait a minute wait a minute we got to have a policy in place before we let more of these go through I don't think it's unreasonable for the board to say wait a minute wait a minute I hear what you're saying you're saying this is not going to be any worse than Club Dante but we need some assurance that that's going to be the case and in order and a way a form that insur that Assurance could take is issuing a license conditioned on providing a park a delivery plan within 14 days I'm just wonder if by way we condition licenses on things all the time understood I just don't like the idea that we're holding the line on this business but on other ones we didn't even ask for such a plan yeah and also to U an earlier Point raised I'm not sure how any business owner can tell these independent Uber Eats drivers you know Park on this street how are they going to know that in advance I think that's you know when when you sign up right I I believe that you are able to tell them pickups have to be here um now to your point right at the end of the day the drivers are who the drivers are and it's hard to in it's not it's not impossible to enforce though and it is something that you know we we want to encourage these businesses to do but again think about when the number of lenses that attorney buo just referenced how many of those lenses predate the be the upsurge of the delivery services right it's not it's not that this problem it's it's that this problem is relatively new uh and that those lies the barrier you know it became it became a problem over time it wasn't that that same problem existed when you approved the license for say anara I'm just not sure that this problem is specific to this particular business and so I just wonder why we be addressing what will be a necessary broader policy change off the backs of this particular applicant to me I think it would be more sensible that we explore a policy for delivery services more broadly but I'm not sure why we would connect that to this particular applicant I guess you have to start somewhere um and so and and if it's possible um to um to put in a condition and the and for the applicant to uh to tell the uh the pickup drivers that they should Park on fer Street or around the corner it's not far you can see I've got a map up here on my uh uh um iPad and you can see it's it's just around the corner um maybe that will help at least to some extent uh as you said we have to you have to start somewhere and so and we're responding to requests from residents in the that Community which I agree with had a hearing and and they and they brought these up and we're trying to respond and it's important to be responsive but there are a lot of businesses on that street so I think this is a broader problem absolutely it's not just about this one corner so I think that a more pragmatic approach would be to look at this at a more macro level and what's going to be our plan to accommodate delivery vehicles in general to the neighborhood I'm not sure I like this uh oneof in terms of tying it to Independent license applications instead of just dealing with the issue at a macro level I think's I'm sorry John has I didn't mean to but um so I I have to ask you a question um the there are a couple of pokey pokey restaurants in California that seem very similar to what's being proposed here is is this part of a group of pokey pokey restaurants I don't believe so but um Mr U can you uh no no yeah not related no what's pokey pokey mean well you want to explain is is that just a name like we came up you know like that's it it's a play on the word Poke Ball if you know to Pokeball is Pokeball and if I may just continue question not a reference to the way traffic will move on Pate Street well and I I I asked that question for a reason because because the Pokey pokies um that you know I'm looking at their website right now in California they seem to be almost entirely oriented towards you know o o order online and will deliver to you um and I I do think Mike had the right instinct when he chose to bring this to the board as a whole um I understand David's concerns but on the other hand um we have to be very careful about trying to preserve street life in our commercial districts and one thing that doesn't contribute to street life in a commercial district is to have what is basically a kitchen um that provides food for delivery via um Take out delivery vehicles but minimal minimal um interaction with people walking in off the street um and people sitting down and enoy enjoying a meal and people socializing um from tables in in the restaurant you know there's a restaurant is a restaurant and um a kitchen that does takeout service um is something else allog together and not necessarily good for the health of your commercial districts so I I think we have before us an applicant that um is is very deserving and you know uh we we should perhaps figure out how to go head um so that this person has a chance to have a successful business at this location but if commitments are being made that this is not a takeout only operation and will have an active um presence as a restaurant serving the public who walk in and sit down and enjoy dining at tables um I I think we have to figure out how as a town we can monitor that in a meaningful way so that we we don't allow a lot of operations that are takeout only to kind of sneak in under the well we're a restaurant um but it turns out you know it's actually a location that does 90% of its business um as takeout and delivery okay Paul yep so um try to thread the needle here so um as you know I live in St Mary's which is essentially a restaurant area now um we have giggling rice which is purely takeout you can't sit in giggling rice and and eat there um it frankly it's about the size of this uh this storefront I don't know how many seats are in here I guess they're saying they're going to seat 10 um uh one of my favorite uh restaurants the busy be which is now gone uh my cholesterol has improved substantially since then however um you know they had maybe 10 seats uh in their booths in their restaurant um and a significant portion of their business um was uh was take out um so I'm very familiar what it means for uh Uber Eats drivers and now uh you know scooters delivery scooters um you know even if you have a a place that is a drop off even if there's a spot open a parking spot they don't use it they just stop in the middle of the lane and they run in and get the food um so it's going to be very difficult to um ask the restaurant operator to administer and enforce um where they're busy trying to cook food and and get it ready for for customers um really that that is that's the job of our Police Department frankly um and they need to do much more enforcement uh for double parking because it's not just Uber people it's everybody's double parking these days um so I I'm with David I think we need to be careful about penalizing this particular restaurant um for wanting to come into this area but I do think um asking them to demonstrate that they have access to that back parking lot we we can ask that because this is a unique situation they actually have a parking lot behind them and ask that uh that they direct uh the the delivery drivers to that location um until such time that perhaps the parking study creates a situation where there maybe is some more quicker turnover and parking in that area I don't know what the solution would be but I do think it would be uh difficult for us to place to deny the license for one um that's that seems unfair because there are business other businesses like this in the area and we do have a bigger issue a bigger issue that we need to solve which is how do we accommodate uh the business models of restaurants now which do depend upon uh you know delivery and also walk-in customers so I would support a condition that they demonstrate that they have access to that parking lot and that they can actually instruct uh Uber Eats and other delivery drivers to that location for pickup and I would I'd be prepared to support that yeah and that's asking a awful lot I think we just want a plan that that um well that would be their plan other than what's what's see what what would be the other plan tell what the plan is we just I yeah I I think we should I listening to all of this I if uh uh if um these folks hadn't um signed a lease I would have a little different perspective on this I would say don't uh this is not a good not a good situation recogn recognizing that was a similar similar operation before and there are lots of restaurants along here but uh they've signed a lease and it's really um it it's very difficult to say no sorry you can't operate that business there um the but I think it's reasonable to say let's have a plan and leave it at that and say okay you figure it out uh if they can get access one of the things that they'll need to have if they're going to use that uh space around the corner on that lot around the corner of full street is can they go out the back door from their from their storefront if they can that's much much easier than having to go all the way around the corner and it's much more likely they get that they get compliance from the drivers right and I think you know to David's point because I think it is a good point we do need an interim broader policy in place about this so in addition to this we can come I think we need to come back and say pending the resolution of the traffic study for all applicants for common velers who intend to do take out need to provide an Uber eat St Dash plan um and we can put that policy in place be clear that this is not we're not singling this business out this is just the reality of this the situation in the commercial District um and you know in this case it should be you know we maybe we maybe you say you condition the license uh on the presentation of a uh uh delivery plan to the transportation division for their review and approval in 14 days um and that you know then Amy who's been doing all and her team who have been doing all this work to try and figure this out will have an understanding of whether or not it's workable okay I was just going to say I'm fine with that if you don't want to be too prescriptive about what what the parking solution is I'm I'm fine with that but I do think uh as part of and I assume this area is part of the coage corner it's the very North End it's where JFK Crossing yeah yeah it's really the but you know just you know we have we have parking minimums for uh for I think some businesses and for residential development correct we we have those ratios um maybe we need to start looking at ratios for you know blocks that have restaurants um should there be a you know a a place that the meter can be turned over quickly or is a delivery per number of restaurants that are in an area because that's I mean that's really what we're talking about is they don't have access to uh to Quick turnover delivery parking hopefully they would use it if it was available I should even know okay um unless there are any other questions I'd like to move of approval of the application so I'm sorry this this is a continued public hearing so if members of the be heard on this can use the hand raise feature online or if they're in po person and they wish to be heard they can raise their hand there are no individual who signs up for this hearing in advance however if you'd like to speak in your online please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time if you're in the room please make your presence known to the Town Administrator there are 34 participants online and no one is indicating their desire to speak Mr Carri is anyone in the room nope okay okay then I'd like to move approval of the application of a com for a common Victory license for ou doing business as Pokey pokei at 415 Harvard Street conditioned on the um the uh okay we already have this I have something in here well conditioned on a plan to address the uh delivery um uh vehicle uh traffic uh to the U to the restaurant um and said plan to be delivered to the transportation division within 14 days of this uh approval um I think that's about it right okay all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi um Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David prman hi Jer votes I and secondly question of approving the application of a new entertainment license for U doing business as pokey pokey at 45 Harvard Street hours hours of operation will be Monday through Sunday 10: a.m. to 9:00 p pm. and entertainment will consist of recorded music and television which as uh we were told is really just a monitor for the um menu uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van coak hi Michael Sandman I Paul Warren hi David prman I sh votes I thank you okay thank you thank you for bearing with uh us on this we really appreciate your cooperation thank you so much okay uh next we have question of uh approving a change in live um oh excuse me in lodging agent from Dana Hill to Kenneth Daniels at the location of 53 and 57 Beal Street any um anything to add to thaty do we have anyone on this application U Mike Kylie who is the director of operation housing operations and Property Management might be in the room or another PSI representative or online if you're online please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature this is not here no are they there I don't see anyone in person is this a public indicate that they were going to um be present however there's nothing um terribly significant on this one I do want to note that we did uh receive approval from the health department um after we originally loaded the packet so that was added in later um so that's that's what I have to add on that one this one didn't go to the licensing panel we did not receive materials in time but given um the neighborhoods desire to have a housing manager on site we wanted to make sure to move this one forward in a timely manner and so that's why this is coming directly to you okay great uh Paul you have a hand up yeah I do thank you um so um this this location has been the source of um quite a bit of uh uh complaints from the neighbors um since I joined the board uh it's been it's been it's been there's been issues there and um I know that there's two the thing here is that there's two lodging houses it's not one it's actually two separate buildings um and for some reason there was a an agreement and I don't know I assume we can change this agreement that that this particular location only requires one um lodging manager between the two locations and what the the the abutters who uh have reached out a lot on this issue uh back to uh um Devon's uh days and assisting us and trying to manage this that that that when you're in one building you're not aware of the issues going on in the other building um and you know they have been requesting uh quite extensively that there' be two lodging house managers just like every other lodging house that we have in Brookline um each location needs a lodging house manager and for some reason they have they have one between two buildings um what so while I'm I'm very appreciative that there's uh I think they've been without a lodging manager for a little while lodging agent um especially in overnight manager um I do think that we need to revisit this location and and look at um adding a second a a requirement revisiting the policy that we granted them and adding a second uh lodging house agent for so there's one in each location but again there's been a lot of complaints uh from from these these two particular locations are the two locations attached or they no they're adjacent they're right next to they're adjacent they're directly next to each other yeah um I mean that that you these uh these houses help us provide shelter to our small homeless population in in Brooklyn um the idea of requiring two lodging agents um you know it's probably a requirement that could put them out of business yeah I you know Bernard I appreciate you know the the the need for you know the desire to have you know someone in each house yeah honestly I'm not so sure that that I buy that that the Pine Street in is going to go out of business if they add a second oversight but and again this I just I want to be respectful here um I I absolutely think think these are critically important uh lodgings for for Brookline uh for the population that they serve that that I understand that I just think that they they shouldn't be treated any differently than any other lodging uh uh facility um which does require uh an overnight manager and again this this location has been uh has seen a number of calls number of interventions um a lot of disruptions um for whatever reasons and I just think you know I've been I've been working and advocating for this to to come to a a reasonable uh solution uh for for quite some time and I think at some point we just need to face the facts that this um that they just may need some extra help is what I'm asking um We're Not Gon to solve it tonight but no yeah I think that's that's right I couple couple things in this um just to your point um yes I believe in 2004 for the town and PSI entered into an agreement by which the town said because of the proximity of the site um you're allowed to have one lodging agent for those two properties and the issue there is once you grant someone a waiver like that to take it away requires a level of due process which is to say there need to be an you know we would you would really need to look into the the the underlying issue there and whether it would be resolved by that because I understand the um you know the the um I'm blanking on the word uh the the the the clarity of the argument that we treat them we should be treating them like everyone else but the fact of the matter is they have this benefit that the town has accorded them and before we take that away or modify it we would need to have grounds to do so yeah and I'm not I'm not Chaz I'm not suggesting that uh that that it be revoked right without due process I just know that you know we've talked extensively about this issue um and at at at these two particular locations which again they provide a critical service to a disadvantage and atrisk population um and we want to make sure that they have everything that they need to be able to um you know manage and service the population that they serve very effectively um I'm not there's no change tonight I'm using this as an opportunity to say we should look uh specifically at what's taking place and I know that tonight there's another lodging houses that we're gonna hear from the neighbors um it's the same group of folks that have the same issues um with what with with with uh with some some locations and again uh I raise it because I think we need to discuss it in the future Mike so uh I uh lived next door uh to uh Pin Street in property on right on Beacon Street for um a few years and I must say that Pin Street was a great neighbor y but that was uh nonetheless they had a great manager uh and um I guess one of the things that concerns me so they're certainly capable of uh of running a property properly and and they It's a Wonderful organization absolutely but I am disturbed that there's nobody here representing them for this um that that bothers me uh and so I really think we should continue this and ask for some input from Pin Street in is to uh what they have to say about the difficulty that they that they've had with one manager with two managers isn't the point they have two properties uh and we have um we have uh neighbors that are consistently complaining and seem to not just be complaining for the sake of complaining but actually have a a cause okay I think that that makes sense um what other people think John I'm I'm sorry I have to ask this but are we talking about the 5357 Beals situation um uh and this is an application for a change of the lodging house agent right right so um and people on the board have raised U justifiable questions I'd be raising them too um I have heard from Neighbors with concerns as well um but are we helping or hindering if we delay their um efforts to change the lodging house agent yeah I do I do we we're reaching out to them now we're not sure why they're not on this was noticed they were aware of it they said they were going to come so I'm not sure why they're not here but um we do know that it's important for them to get this agent so if we're going to try and get them on before the end of the meeting so that this can go forward as we're talking about the absence of an on-site you know manager right and they're asking to make sure that they have one to replace another one um well how long have they been without an agent J uh Tiffany do you know how long this particular site has been without an agent I thought they're replacing an agent no it's there's not an agent they they're actually going to change the agent that the name but the the agent is they have been without an agent they have been without an in-house living agent but we do require a listed agent even if there's someone not on site so the listed agent was Dana Hill that shooting to Kenneth Daniels um I believe that um it was in February when the um last livein manager uh left so they've been without a Livin manager since February Y correct and they provided a coverage plan this this is the problem right that I'm trying to and again I'm I'm trying to be very sensitive I love the pine shet in we donate we help them um but there is there's an ongoing issue and again I I don't understand why and I think it would be um it would be very helpful to hear from them um about the particular location what their what challenges their facing okay can we can we have them come in but at the same time approve this new agent because I mean I think it's John said I mean if we if we don't approve the transfer I you we're really uh cutting off our nose to spot our face you can do that yes one agents's better than none um well this isn't the and also just to be clear uh Tiffany this this is not the overnight manager right I'm sorry Tiffany's currently on the phone oh go ahead Tiffany sorry I didn't realize this will be an overnight living manager this particular one would be an overnight yes so I would I would uh I would be uh I would support as John said approving the overnight manager of record here but I would like to have them come back in uh and and help us understand what's taking place you know it's been okay so we nine months 10 months without a manager that separate meeting and and vote tonight on on this manager so yeah you can you can can you know you're we pre we want applicants to come in and and present we don't we tend not to take things unless they are truly like you know a reduction in hours without a presentation from someone so I don't think it's unreasonable for you to say we're approving this conditional on you coming back and making the presentation about the the lodging house agent okay okay so uh I'm Mo of approval of change in lodging house agent from Dan the hill to Kenneth Daniels the location 53 and 57 be Street who will be living who will be a Livin agent uh conditioned on uh them coming before the board um what at our next meeting or next meeting or cly thereafter um at a future meeting discuss a uh discuss uh discuss something okay all in favor John vanak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David prman I and chair votes I okay next is oh oh license renewals public which is a public hearing these are a variety of license common VCT license food vendor license alcohol license entertainment license inh holder license lodging house license secondhand articles license in class one and class two motor vehicle uh license so who's going to present all the interesting information on that one so we have the licensing team here um Tiffany Su uh Tiffany Souza is online I believe um and Melissa is online um I so you have in your packet the list of uh licenses to be renewed on an annual basis um and you can also see from Tiffany's list uh The lenes Who as of the date of the packet publishing uh did not yet fully have their applications submitted for one reason or another what typically happens on this is that we have public hearings on this by class of license uh and the class of license uh and we ask members of the public who wish to be heard on any of these renewals to be heard uh then we close the public hearing any applicant that does not has not satisfied the requirements of renewal has a conditional license renew Ral offered um which is conditioned on them fulfilling the application requirements uh and then you basically authorize me to sign off on that since you don't meet again before the start of the new year um and if they don't meet the requirements then the license is forfeit um I will say a couple of caveats here and then anything that Melissa or Tiffany want to fill in um one um we say this every year um the purpose of this process is to to make sure that all of the lenses have their paperwork in and are operating appropriately we're not missing any businesses that may have gone out of business we're not missing any businesses that may have shifted operations in a way that requires an update I know that in the past people have come to this meeting very concerned about lenses and saying hey I think you should take this license away you can't do that at this meeting because there hasn't been adequate notice to a lensee that their license may be in Jeopardy because someone came to the public hearing and said please don't renew this license um so just to set expectations for the public we do take the comments the public makes on this very seriously we follow up on those accordingly but we what we cannot do tonight is ask the board to not renew a license what we can do is take those into consideration if there needs to be a hearing on a potential license violation for example we can schedule that early in the next year um but what we can't do right is just say well we've heard some complaints so we're not renewing that license so I just want to set that expectation accordingly the other thing that I want to flag is that there are a couple of um specific license C categories for which there are um uh just flags for your consideration we'll get to cannabis separately so I'll talk about cannabis when we get there but the one that um just requires a particular flag is the hotels um there's been a new bylaw passed as you know about traffick you know posting of traffic human anti-human trafficking uh requirements and making sure that those hotels are current the police are still in the process of firming that affirming that up and inspecting all the hotels for compliance so approval of the hotels this time around is to be contingent on uh the police signing off on that so there will be um as they complete that process of making sure that they are all in compliance with the new anti-human trafficking bylaw so your approval tonight would be conditional for hotels on whether or not the police sign off on that um because they're still doing the inspections and the accommodations there um there are also several smaller individual categories of applicant whom you have asked to be present uh to come back and give a presentation one of those is a hotel you've asked for updates on their operations um they are present and they will be uh being able to give a presentation as part of the public hearing um and then I believe you asked a a cannabis retailer to be Pres present as well I believe they are present and we'll be able to give that presentation as part of the public hearing so um those are the uh caveats or specifics there as we go through this process and again we take it through by um licensed typee um Tiffany Suza or Melissa any additions there anything I left out Oliva here and I think you've covered everything I agree so we'll go category by category uh Hearing in each a separate hearing for each category okay right yes um okay I'm looking at the list here and let's start off with secondhand Motor Vehicles class one and class two uh one application has not renewed yet um and is that Audi Brookline yes okay so that they're the one oh they're big business they should have renewed um so uh so we're going to vote to to approve their license subject to um on condition that their application be completed yeah so I think for the the kind of vote languages we vote to renew all the licenses in the packet except for those that are listed as having not completed applications and for those applications the um We additionally renew those pending their completion of the application by Cate by category by category so let's open up the hearing for secondhand Motor Vehicles class one and class two uh anyone in the audience or on Zoom that would like to speak Tiffany have you do you see there AR no speakers who signed up in advance for this one if there's anyone online who wishes to speak please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time there are 32 participants online as no one and no one is indicating their desire to speak Mr Carri is there anyone in the room there is not okay so having opened the hearing and give given people opportunity to speak I now close the hearing on secondhand Motor Vehicles class one and class two um I move approval of uh the U secondhand motor vehicle licenses uh conditioned on uh Audi Brookline completing their application renewal that correct y okay so all in favor please indicate by saying I John Bak hi Michael Simon is abson oh temporarily yes Paul Warren hi David David Broman hi and Sheriff oai okay guess we have to do this one category at a time let's do it quick second hand articles and antiques we have three applications that have not renewed yet so we will uh uh P approve their application uh conditioned on completing their renewal application and those three are Village vinyl Zone design and yes I can the name of the store any um let's open up the public hearing TIY there anyone online there is no one who signed up in advance for this public hearing if there's anyone online who wishes to speak during the public hearing um please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time there are2 oh great and there are 32 online and no one is indicating their desire to speak okay so uh I will close the hearing and uh move of approval of uh secondhand articles and antiques licenses uh conditioned on uh Village vinyl Zone design and yes I can completing their app their application for license license renewal all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van scer hi Michael um y Michael's backman I should abstain I was not present for the discussion go ahead oh we had no discussion no discussion in that case I well I David pran I chair votes I okay inh holder and this is hotel right including hotels yes all paperwork uh has been submitted and there are no outstanding issues except that the police department has to complete its um compliance check with respect to the human trafficking bylaw um so Tiffany let's open up the hearing yes um we did ask that Iris Hotel be represented here today to follow up on the approval earlier this year I believe Bob Allan or Jennifer Depo Gilbert are online to speak on this matter okay so let's hear from them hi I think um Stephanie is covering this item let me just uh make sure she's still in the audience one second she's online yeah I will promote Stephanie now thank you chz well she's uh coming to be efficient um is Bernard can I if I ask question um do we have a time frame of when the police department would be done with their end of the year by the end of next year no by the end of this by the end of this year okay all right thank you there aren't that many ins and they want I didn't think so perfect thank you okay uh good evening Stephanie BR here for Wagner Hospitality Group uh doing business as the iris Hotel here with me this evening and I'm not sure they've been promoted are the manager eigor barin and the two alternate managers Wagner Quinton hila and Eva Kavanaugh um so all of us are here and can answer any questions the board might have by way of reminder the iris hotel is a 119 room Hotel dispersed among seven guest floors with 17 rooms per floor it's an extended stay hotel primarily servicing those with longer term business needs and needs related to hospital stays um there is a 247 concierge on Deck um and um yeah so so the restaurant and bar are situated in the lobby of the hotel um there are a total of 69 seats current hours are 6 to 11 and for the bar 10 to1 the restaurant also fulfills the room service request for both food and alcohol uh the the hotel is before the board on July 23rd on the common Vic alcohol and entertainment applications and at the conclusion the board approved all the applications but asked that we come back in December to report on how things are going which is why we're here now um 7 months in and things so far are going great the hotel and restaurant are beautiful uh there hasn't been a single complaint related to noise alcohol related issues are otherwise and the hotel has been a real value ad addition to the neighborhood um the L has been working closely with DPW to make some upgrades along Webster Street all the way up to Harvard Street um in terms of finishing off the project these include upgrading crosswalks and drainage in front of the property repairing the curbing adding bike parking to meters adding trees replacing sidewalk levels um cracked concrete panels on both sides of Webster Street resetting uh and replacing bricks along Webster and replacing tree grates and Outing mulch just to further beautify the street um and and really we're reporting back today that there have been no issues and that things are really all going very well uh again both uh myself and the manager of record and two all managers are are here to answer any specific questions that the board might have thank you um before we open the public hearing any questions from the board seeing none Tiffany let's open up the public hearing yes and this again is the general public hearing for inh holders and so the first individual who signed up in advance is Jonathan Davis who I believe might be in the room Mr Davis is in the room okay uh let's start off with Mr Davis hi thank you very much uh my name is Jonathan Davis uh I live at 125 Park Street I'm a town meeting member from Precinct 17 uh I had previously sent uh an email to the board in connection with the Marriott um and I just wanted to uh take this opportunity I don't know if there's any representative from the Marriott who's here uh to just U reiterate as I said in the in my email uh that during the Summers for the past two or three years uh the Marriott has uh been given a a permit I believe uh to have U uh band performances uh on Thursdays in the courtyard uh and there are many times actually every time that they have the performance the uh the volume is ratcheted way up and uh there are complaints that I've heard from neighbors neighbors go over in person to complain about the the volume of the sound they call in uh generally speaking the staff is either uninterested uh or says well we have a permit uh or we can't do anything or they just ignore the the complaints so I'm I'm here to ask you to somehow figure out how you can uh how you can uh impress on the management of the hotel that they are not being a good neighbor in this respect uh and that uh they after all have the ability to require the bands that they invite to uh reduce the volume and if neighbors take the trouble to come in in person and complain or even call up on the phone uh then the staff should take that seriously and do something about reducing the volume all right so that's I don't know how you're going to do that maybe you maybe maybe you put in something in the in the renewal maybe somebody is representing the Marriot here and maybe you know you can give them a dressing down but that's really that's really what I'm I'm here for I do want to add a couple of of things just and and uh this U uh this is in connection with the uh introduction that the the town manager had uh had said there are two other parts of the new anti-sex trafficking bylaw that requires uh submission of documentation from the hotels that's in addition to the to the signage okay thank you good thank you um wait JZ do you you have a response no I want I want to thank you thank you for bringing that to our attention I know that there had been a couple of noise complaints that the police responded to there as well we will follow up with that business and make sure they understand the requirements under the noise bylaw so thank you very much thank you great Paul yeah so uh speaking to that specifically when we licensed the iris hotel we did not allow them to have entertainment outside I believe we restricted that because we were concerned about um the neighbors and the close proximity and density uh and of course the marriot's right next door um and then also uh the Newbury uh we also did the same thing um that there was going to be some restrictions for out outside events or music I forget specifically we did and again it was because we were concerned about uh the the carrying of the noise and the disruption um why can we revisit the licensing conditions for the marit were they allowed to have banss outside so my understanding is that there was some confusion there in the Marriott about what they couldn't couldn't do in the outdoor space I believe the licensing officials the LI the lieutenant in charge of Licensing Lieutenant brother at the police department has spoken to them and tried to resolve this issue so I believe the question of what they can and can't do out outside has been resolved well what can what what what can they do outside I will double check on that what the what the entertainment license says um but the short answer is just because other businesses subsequently weren't allowed in entertainment licenses it's not sufficient grounds for us to revoke theirs um there would need to be you would need to queue it into a particular problem that they had refused to resolve and my understanding is that after the police reached out to them they've taken a more aggressive tack on this and if is if the issues continue then we need to make sure then that will be grounds for us to revisit that at a hearing so the so is it okay ber if um so as conditions change over time right we're becoming more dense we're building more mixed use housing we're getting more people in proximity to businesses um we don't have the authority to change a license because the conditions around that license have changed we have to wait for a complaint you have to you have the authority to do that but it has to rest on something more than a sense of there's there's a there has to be data behind it there has to be something more than it's more dense and therefore we're more worried about it it has to come it has to come from something more it has to be the decision to change the terms of the license has to be commensurate with an issue or a harm identified right so it's not necessarily a complaint um and you also have to be careful about targeting particular businesses to David's earlier point you have to think through what your policies are for this you know is it that we don't think there should be you know uh private outdoor performances in certain neighborhoods um and then kind of enforce it from there but what you can't do is say kind of on a general level just because we're becoming more dense I worry that there could be problems here and therefore I don't want this well but this but the the I'm sorry just one second the the iris hotel we decided right next door to the Marriott that out entertainment was going to be problematic and we said no we we said the mar many many years ago yeah and it and and and I'm just saying I'm trying to understand what the what the where the fence is for us Bernard because we we are going to start changing Brookline right we're seeing we we just did the NBTA communities act we we're increasing density mixed use um along Harvard Street residents above uh entertainment below and of course the conditions in the area are starting to change and therefore I would hope I would expect that we would then be able to change the conditions uh with the businesses over time I mean otherwise we're we're we're going to be chasing our Tails all the time it in until we go through a process whereby you giving them fullo process rights you we we make those changes not just you know on fly but you know through whatever you know process process that we use ber um okay Mike um so but we have a complaint and or a history of complaints uh it seems to me like that's um the trigger to start looking at uh whether we should make a change if we're looking for data we have data we have people who've called the police department we have people who've walked into the hotel it's more actually the data comes from people who call the police department so isn't the issue you we have to app approve the license but we can set up a process for dealing with the complaint what what we can do here is you know my my understanding is that there were a series of complaints that related to what they could and couldn't do in that space and where they could be set up and that that situation has hopefully been resolved but I could get more information for that for the board so that the board has an understanding of what the issues are and if there is a need for a hearing on that we can set that up um but the you you can see for example in the police department's report about the alcohol license there there was a noise complaint uh that was attributed to the Courtyard that wasn't actually the courtyards fault um so there are some there I I want to see what the full details of the situation is there the other thing to note is that the courtyard does have that space that is not directly on Beacon Street but is adjacent to Beacon Street and the iris hotel is set back from Beacon Street on Webster you know further back than that and doesn't have a dedicated space I believe the issue about the entertainment license at the iris focused on the idea that they would have speakers outside the hotel um playing music as people drove up to it and the board viewed that as problematic given where it was I thought it was also just the use of that outdoor space but I can't I can't remember I can't either so I won't pull that up John yeah so this is a difficult issue but I do have to say I I see the point in um the the the fact that a leny who was granted outdoor entertainment um at the time that they opened as a hotel I'm talking about the courtyard now going back in history would you know would have um a good case to make that their their investment in that hotel was predicated on the town's approval of them using the outdoor Courtyard for entertainment and so we cannot willy-nilly say well we've changed our mind about that um and this is not to put an unfair burden on the neighbors Mr Davis is is one one of our best you know sort of Guardians of um the the the peace and and uh calm of of the coolage corner area um but uh the the complaints have to be pretty specific and there has to actually be a noise by law violation it can't just be you know um I was around when you granted this approval for them to use their Courtyard for music but I've decided I don't like it um because it's kind of loud and it's kind of um you know not to my taste um so we we have to be sure that we are consistent in what we do and that when a business opens on the assumption that um the approval of the entertainment license um is is is how they will be able to operate going into the future as long as they observe the conditions uh and and don't repeatedly have um use use of that space in a way that violates the noise bylaw um that they could continue to use that space but um violations of the Noise by law are a different matter all altogether and there needs to be a record established mik I it's really very interesting to Listen to If you put the discussion together about pokey pokey and the and and the interference with traffic uh flow on on Harvard Street and the discussion about lodging house manager and the difficulty that uh that neighbors have with with situations where the residents are not of the lodging houses are not being supervised in some fashion um and this discussion about the Marriott and and thinking about Paul's comment that Brooklyn is changing it's becoming more dense uh over a period of time it has been you know it's been going on for hundred and something years but it continues to go on uh and it it strikes me that um we're talking about about doing a strategic plan for the select board we're thinking about the comprehensive plan that that little cluster that we've just discussed is emblematic of what we need to be thinking about what we need to be dealing with not at this meeting yeah but but much more broadly uh uh and and with a longer term view so I I appreciate that comment very much I think we need to pay attention to it David along the lines of what Mike is saying I think it would be very useful for us to very purposefully look into strategic planning around issues of whether it's parking for delivery services whether it's some sort of policy guideline around when we're going to allow for outdoor entertainment and when we're not going to do so because I'm a little worried that if we do this on a oneoff basis we're going to end up with a hodg Podge that is inconsistent and it's difficult for us to defend some of the decisions later on and I understand that there are certain legal realities around taking something away that was already granted but it gets harder when a new business uh is coming up for its initial license and their all their neighbors are allowed to do something and suddenly we tell them no so I think it's important that we have some policies around this okay Paul right and and and I agree 100 perc and um that's the issue that I'm raising John I just I I want to say with all due respect I take issue with you categorizing a a a serious issue that gets brought up by one of your colleagues and you characterize it as willy-nilly there's no Wily hold on there's no there's this is important because words matter will willly nilly well you know John's claiming that what's I wasn't referencing any comment by you I'm not that we're making willy-nilly changes yeah it's a deliberative body we take things very seriously we had a member of the public come uh raise issues complaints we know that there's documented evidence um and we should deliberate about whether we need a longer Term Policy change as David just mentioned or whether we should actually consider having this particular ly come back in the near future that's not willy-nilly that's what we're supposed to do okay uh any other um uh members of the audience would John Jonathan you want to speak more one another 30 30 seconds yeah I just wanted to clarify uh I'm not suggesting that the license should be uh cancelled I'm not suggesting that the permit for outdoor U outdoor performances should be should be withdrawn uh all I'm and I'm not I'm not talking about the quality of the of the music or the performances that's a matter of taste uh I am saying that I hope that there will be some way of getting through to the to the management that uh they really have to be better Neighbors in this regard and that's that's all I'm saying and I'm I'm hoping that you can figure it out thank you all right thank you I think the Town Administrator indicated that we are doing that and we will follow through on it so but I we we will follow up with you Mr Davis thank you okay any other uh public uh questions or comments Tiffany anyone online I don't see anyone in the audience raising their hands there is no one online raising their hand at this time okay then I'll close the public hearing and move approval of the licenses for uh inh holder um um businesses uh so I guess we have not a condition but just a commitment to follow up with uh the Marriot we we will follow up with the Marriott but then everyone else these are all conditional on them fulfilling the requirements of the anti-human trafficking could could we get a report on yep we just on what's going on with the marot I just asked for a report of all complaints received on the Marriot so the board okay with those caveats I move approval of the inh holder license caveat being completion of the um human trafficking uh compliance check and um commitment by the Town Administrator to follow up on the Marriott U noise matter all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David pran I shair votes I okay next lodging houses and um we have seven applications that have not been renewed yet is there a reason why we have so many nonre there not not too many more than seven lodging houses in town right no I'm actually not sure on this Tiffany do you have a sense of what the what the hold up is on these sometimes sometimes it's it's frankly it's us getting the paperwork back to them sometimes it's on their end so I want I'm not sure what the issue is on this but we do yes Tiffany Susa I think hello can you hear me yep oh hi yes um uh relle has been working with them and reaching out to everyone to get all the paperwork in um I can say that in all the years that I've been doing renewals I have not missed my Mark I will get everybody in before the year is up yeah okay yeah I I think sometimes this is just a matter of you know some applicants some some there has been a lot of vacations um around licensing um a lot of people have been out of town yeah and this is a process where we have to really stay on some of these applicants who are less sophisticated so but so does this mean that they didn't get the paperwork in or we just no we're waiting we're waiting for them to get the paperwork in um I don't in some circumstances there are sign offs or approvals that need to come from departments but to hear Tiffany tell it this is more a situation of just these are small tend to be smaller operators who you know need to get things done by the end of the year um and so that's what we tell them and and Tiffany and Michelle go after them and and pester them and get documents signed yes so yes and as a note we do have far more than seven lodging houses um in the town so this is a smaller number okay great how many lodging houses do we have oh 20 something yeah 20 something okay that's Rel a little more than close to 30 okay this is a public oh let me just mention that the seven applications that have not been renewed are 1085 Beacon 1876 Beacon 58 Manchester Road 89 Marian 259 St Paul 16 Williams and 50 Godard so uh let's open up the public hearing and um see if anyone wants to speak on these Li yes we did have several people sign up in advance for this public hearing the first speaker is Elizabeth ke Elizabeth Elizabeth Kane I'm promoting you now and then you can state your name and precinct number or address for the record and begin your 3 minutes hi uh my name is Elizabeth T and I live at 74 Mama street with my family we share an Alleyway between Beacon and Mama streets where there are eight lodging houses on this one block three of which are Pine Street in homes my neighbors and I have repeatedly asked the town to require the Pine Street in to abide by the town's bylaws for lodging houses and we now ask again for the town to hold up the lodging houses license of each Pine Street inh house which is not in compliance with the rules as follows the pin Street in houses are currently not in compliance with several of the town's bylaws including providing proper supervision 1017 Beacon does not have a building manager they have not had one for nine or 10 months exercising due care of the selection of Lodgers enforcing such House Rules as are necessary to to prevent the lodging house from being a cause of Complaint to the police department or a cause of nuisance or annoyance to the neighborhood adherence to the requirements of article 8.5 of the Town bylaws require regarding disorderly Behavior cleanliness of common areas specifically the outside areas in addition we know for a fact that on our block drugs are being sold out of one of the properties that a resident or associate of a resident was arrested last spring stealing packages from numerous Mammoth and neighboring residences and that the police have also found Stolen Bikes on this property there's also ample information available from the police department to support all of these statements we would ask the select board again to review all the information provided to them and we would ask also that the Brooklyn Police Department provide a sled board a recommendation on these houses in a report as to all of the police fire and EMS calls to these houses during the year as well as a complete report of any and all illegal activities happening in this houses as is required by the Town rules thank you thank you the next speaker is har ke Terry I'm promoting you now if you could please take your name and precinct number address for the record and begin your 3 minutes are you there hey hi are you are you able to hear me now yes we can hear you okay great and my videoos now on thanks very much um my name is Terry Keane I'm in autter to the um Pine Street in houses that are on Lower Beacon Street and um I have lived here on Monmouth Street for 35 years and um the problems with the Pine Street and managed houses here um began in Earnest about five years ago it'll be five years ago in May um that our community um saw a raft of problems uh stemming from these houses our community then uh joined with the be Street Community understanding that these houses were also managed or um are unmanaged by Pine Street in um in similar ways um the issues have just simply um expanded in scope and um have created I think a very challenging matter um for our communities and it is um sort of our sense that the Pine Street in is not only working with us and we have tried we've reached out on literally dozens and dozens of occasions we've reached out um and they have even stopped taking our phone calls um we have implored the town of Brookline to enforce their regulations uh the town of Brookline has not helped us they have assigned people to meet with us we've met with them in some instances multi um um multiple times a year um but we are really finding ourselves without any recourse um I will disagree with John vanak um pin streen is not a good neighbor they are a terrible neighbor they have more than 50 houses that they're trying to make manage in addition to the huge um facility that they have in the South End of Boston they are simply unable to do it and the fact that they cannot hire managers they cannot provide any kind of support for the residents makes these um U makes these residents a danger uh to this neighborhood um I implore once again this is the fourth time that I've been here I implore the board of Selectmen to do their job to enforce the regulations and to deal directly with the pin Street in Mrs DS is the um is the chief executive officer she has been largely unresponsive to us now for years um and um the problem for them is that the uh the nature of the population is becoming increasingly severe and their support services for um for these houses has declined 30 seconds remaining thank you um it is it is necessary for us before something even more violent occurs in our neighborhood for there to be action taken and that the Pine Street in should be um um uh should be compelled to take into account the regulations of the town of Brooklyn which they are now ignoring um completely thank you thank you um John V would like to um I want to thank both of the neighbors who have spoken so far and and I respect deep their concerns and and the problems that they've had and I just want to make sure that we can go back to the record later but I don't think I said um Pine Pine Street in has been a good neighbor I think I heard those words during this meeting they weren't said by me so um but if I'm wrong I'm wrong and uh we'll check the record on that but um that doesn't sound like something I said and it it would certainly not be said by me as a way of minimizing the seriousness of complaints that people people have brought to our attention Okay um Mike yeah I think I I believe I said that when uh when I lived on Beacon Street um going back to what 1999 2001 2002 Pine Street in at uh 1754 Beacon Street was a very fine neighbor that was then and I have no recent experience with them now but they were indeed then a very well organized uh uh okay so the record has been corrected and it is kind of a running joke between me and Mike that people mistake us for each other all the time it could have been just one of those times I don't know if anyone on the selectboard remembers when people uh Mist mistook me for um U uh Ben um Ben Ben Frank yeah we both had Baldhead one bald head deserves another right okay um the hearing is still open yes the next speaker is Doug Hughes Doug I'm promoting you now if you could state your name precinct number or address for the record and begin your three minutes um thank you Tiffany um my name is Doug Hughes uh I live on Mama Street I want to thank all of you for uh for the work you're doing and um Paul uh in particular and uh I just want to say that you know I've lived here for many decades on Mama Street and Pine Street was was better run than it is for the last five or six years it's really deteriorated um there are houses on Lower Beacon senior housing and toughs and student housing um that are very well managed and you know I have no issue with them I I think the housing is very important but uh 1017 Beacon Street in particular is very poorly managed and Pine Street does not seem to care at all they they they pretend to care they will sometimes have a meeting or they'll send out something but they really don't seem to care whether it's trash whether it's their people being aggressive whether it's their people stealing things from us are threatening us um uh are flattening tires on our cars they really don't seem to care um recently not recently but they send out these lists um when we complain to the police or We complain to the town sometimes we'll have a meeting with Pine Street and they'll send out this like flyer or this list and it gives us a call list of who to call and you know it has all these names and these phone numbers and these emails and everything and it looks good the paper looks good and we think well maybe we've turned a corner but you call that number and the house manager is more often then not not been hired or if hired quits or is in training or leaves I think the house manager is rarely there The Substitute or temporary house manager will not return calls is has been my experience um you default to the night coverage that person doesn't return calls they have sort of this night emergency coverage which tells you basically to call the police um they have a security person who if you call doesn't call back in the meetings that we've had with Pine Street um he says well really you should call the police if there's a problem so it's just they're really not following their bylaws they don't seem to Really Care the things that they do are just meant to sort of look good to the you know to the leadership of Brooklyn 30 seconds remaining thank you Tiffany but I don't think there's any sincerity on their part to manage um these these uh populations anymore more and what used to work there was that they they could get people to cover the houses but now the houses are so out of control they can't get people and when they finally get somebody those people are overwhelmed and and leave so if you can help us I'd appreciate it thank you thank you Doug the next speaker is Sean Lin Jones Sean you've been promoted you can start your video see your name for the record uh and your Precinct can you hear me yes yes okay thank you very much I am sea LY Jones and I a town meeting member from Precinct one and uh before I get to my comments I just want to make a couple of things they're very clear I don't think I or any of the uh local residents or Precinct one are coming to this meeting expecting that license renewal applications will be denied and the Town Administrator mentioned that earlier but we are here because for years we've been told that this is the best forum for raising concerns about lodging houses and their operation and if there's another public hearing where these concerns could be raised I'm sure that my neighbors and I would go to that uh but this has been the main forum and maybe we do need to have some further discussions elsewhere about particularly lodging houses I want to make three points first just to reiterate the problems that you've heard people describ have been going on for a long time I went through my email archive going back four or five years and I found dozens and dozens of emails with a long Litany of the same sorts of problems it was depressingly similar to what you've heard uh and in fact what you've heard was is really just the tip of the iceberg here and I'll also point out that many of those emails from Neighbors also said they recognize that lodging houses are an important component of our housing stock here in Bine and for some some people well some people desperately need lodging houses it's the only thing standing between them and being homeless and those emails from my neighbors also emphasized uh that they have compassion and concern for the residents and wonder if the operators really are able to provide the services that the residents uh need so uh just to emphasize this is a documented long-term problem and uh be happy to share dozens and dozens of emails uh with you some of them were with members of the select Board second and you know this already the select board is the sole Authority when it comes to licensing it's up to you to deal with licensing matters you don't have to work with town meeting get another board or commission cour to to report coordinate with the school committee uh the buck stops with the select board when it comes to licensing you can approve or deny you can apply conditions you could revise the regulations for lodging houses and of course you can ask departments to provide you information so uh that's an important responsibility and uh you know I hope you take it very finally I have a question and this is maybe a harsh unfair and very blunt question I know very a lot of things have been done regarding the lodging houses we've heard the complaints about there have been meetings there have been memos there was an audit uh there have been a lot of communications and hearings but my question is can you please explain to my extraordinarily frustrated neighbors and residents of recn one why after all of these problems over so many years you haven't been able to provide a solution you haven't been able to do anything to actually solve uh the problem because you don't understand how frustrated people are thank you very much thank you okay the next speaker is Rob Jun Rob I'm promoting you now hello uh hi Rob Shon town meeting member uh Precinct one I just want to Echo Shan's comments I was going to say very much the same kind of thing that Shan said uh I'm kind of new to this problem but I've been hearing from uh a lot of the constituents in in um Precinct one in that Monmouth Street area about the same kind of thing you know you heard from Doug Elizabeth and Terrence uh spoke to a number of other people in that area that have feel exactly the same way and have shared all the same experiences um look yeah I think everyone acknowledges that the service that the the Pine Street in you know provides on Beacon Street is important but it's only going to be successful if it's managed you know competently and really there's a lot of evidence I think that it has not it's been undermanaged um and not and where it has been managed it has not been managed competently so um I think this is a real problem needs to be addressed in 2025 and I'm really grateful I think I heard the select board say earlier that they were going to do something this year like hold a hearing to talk about the management problems the fact that a lot of these lodging houses are not not being sufficiently staffed and yeah that's I really encourage you to look into that and hold a hearing later this uh you know in early in 2025 to address this issue because the the community has really been um just super frustrated at the lack of response U to this problem over a number of years so I'm I'm really grateful that select board is talking about you know addressing this in 2025 thank you very much thank you that concludes the speakers who signed up in advance um if there's anyone else online who wishes to speak on lodging houses please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature if you're in the room please make your presence known to the Town Administrator no one in the room and there are 38 participants online and no one else is indicating their desire to speak okay so we'll close the hearing and um uh Jaz you have sure I I want to address Mr Lyn Jones's question which I think I let me Begin by saying that I think all of us on staff who have worked on this across many different uh people who have been involved in the select board's office in the police department in many other capacities um understand and sympathize very much with the residents concerns and frustrations that they have raised here we understand that that these feelings are very real that these issues are very real and we don't want to discount or or minimize those issues and we want to thank people to Mr ly Jones's point this is the opportunity to BR the best opportunity to bring this in and to the last speaker's Point yes we are conducting an audit across all lodging houses about lodging house agents and what they can and can't do whe How it takes whether you know who is in compliance and who isn't I want to talk a little bit about the limits of what we can and can't do and why you know why what we have been able to do and what we're where we have where we encounter the realities of other situations so we have been able to work with Pin Street end to establish this code of conduct I understand I've heard I hear from the neighbors that they feel like that is insufficient so we need to speak with Pin Street in on that and think through what else can be done on that front to ensure that that is enforced appropriately um but what we can't do is treat a lodging house differently than other lodging houses or other businesses because of who lives there we specifically can't do that if those people happen to be formerly unhoused people people with mental illness people with substance use issues substance use disorders um I understand that those encounters and the issues that are raised by that are difficult um but those people have to go somewhere um and the the support that they need is obviously a concern but what we cannot do is say that is is discriminate against them on the B on the grounds of the the conditions that they have that are beyond their control um now I understand for example we don't hold private other private landlords accountable for crimes that residents commit right we don't say to an apartment building you have a resident who committed a crime we're going to find you um we don't say or you know we don't we don't do that um we need to treat these classes of businesses the same way and we need to respond appropriately to that which is why the issues that are being raised here sound like uh uh an issue that is that that is that touches on The Business of Being of lodging house which is maintaining control and oper control and order operations in the lodging house such that it's not disruptive to the community around it so as we go through this audit which we anticipate being done with in March any lodging house that is not current on its obligations be it Pin Street in or anyone else we will be brought in and subject to the additional to any additional process that we may be able to bring to bear there to make sure that these problems are that can be alleviated are alleviated but I just want to be very clear that ultimately there is a limit here when people talk about folks the behavior folks the the mental illness that they may face I that's not something I can regulate um and I wouldn't want to regulate I don't think that's legal um so I just want to be very clear that we do not discriminate against people on the basis of their disabilities and I don't think that's what the neighbor I want to be clear I don't think that's what the neighbors are saying but I want them to understand that that's where the limitations are um so I understand that people feel like there's not a lot that has been done I feel like staff has really made Ed repeated efforts on this and we share your frustration that when you come back to us and say you don't feel that it's enough we want to be we want to be helpful to you we want to be helpful to you and everyone who has been involved in this so I hope you will you will understand where we are in terms of what we're trying to do and trying to be helpful but also understand the limitations and the realities of the situation which is we cannot discriminate against people who are formally unhoused uh oh yeah uh thank you thank you Chaz and first I want to thank these are my neighbors that came out um and Chaz I you know you and I have been talking for a year and a half about this um and and frankly I want to apologize to them because I'm embarrassed that we haven't made progress for you on this issue um this isn't about discrimination of people that live live uh in the Pine Street in this is about mismanagement of the Pine Street in um their properties we don't hear these issues from other lodging houses and I believe we actually have other lodging houses that Ser asp populations like that similar to what the Pine Street had Pine Street in uh uh services and we don't have these issues um the issues are cutting across two neighborhoods St uh the St Mary's neighborhood on Beacon Street and also Beal Street the one thing in common is the Pine Street in and you know this I understand that that um the population that they serve is a critical need they have a critical need in housing um uh individuals with with uh you know substance abuse use and other issues um is a is a critical need um within the community but I will say that um I I will attest that I've heard these issues over and over and over uh from from these neighbors and also the bill Street neighbors and it's not just it's not nuisance you know we've had people yelling out the window these are people that are coming up to their children um approaching their children in the park um there are some very very serious issues going on on there's needles uh throughout the alleyway uh you know this the disposal of drugs this is a big problem and I don't want to minimize the fact that we just say keep taking it on the chin you know these many of these residents on mmed Street have been there for decades they've been supportive of the Pine Street head they welcome them into the neighborhood something changed um I think as Doug had said within the past five years the same thing on Beal Street that neighborhood welcomed them they supported it and advocated the the two lodging houses from the Pine Street in to come into the neighborhood something has changed in the past five years I don't know what it is but um I think the time of us keeps saying be patient with us we'll work with them we need to take action um and and frankly I believe that uh the Pine Street Inn and lodging houses that service a population that do have significant issues is a type a different type of lodging house this isn't like a noisy you know uh college student uh in in in in a bu lodging house um these folks have sign significant needs and they need support but yet we're treating them like any other lodging house maybe we need to start thinking about creating a different classification of lodging house so that we can regulate them in a different way so that they can't say you're treating us differently they are different they have a different population a population that needs much more needs and services and help than your average lodging house that is uh that is one room uh for someone that's going to be in the area for your a year so I do think we need to take this very seriously I think we need to listen to what they're saying uh you know I used to go to a yoga studio next to my house uh and and go to yoga all the time and I had one person from be Street constantly say Paul what are you doing about the lodging house next door to me what are you doing you know that's what was on my mind during yoga this is a significant issue we have to stop pretending it's not a big problem it is a big problem we have to stop worrying about being litigated against and we have to start listening to the neighbors that welcome and support the pin Street in their neighborhood and they need we need to address this issue I think it's really important and we need to start doing it now go just a question um for Our Town Administrator do do we have the power to compel representatives of let's say in this instance you know the Pine Street and it could be a question aimed at any other representatives of license holders in Brooklyn um do we have the power to compel them to appear before us to answer questions yes you can have a you can have a hearing based but again it has to be yeah absolutely you can now you have to well let me take that back there's there's we're yeah take something away from there's no subpoena power right you can't just say hey you have to show up and answer my questions what you could say is we're you we're going to hold a hearing on this issue and we're we're inviting your attendance and there may be consequences for you your failure to appear um but you have to make those consequences yeah and you know I'm I'm kind of disappointed that they're not here tonight um I believe they are oh they are they were they there was a mistake there in terms of um when they when they were going to come on but I believe they are present here um but I'm not sure because I I I would want them to hear this you know it uh feels a little empty for us to be you know hearing it in this room without them present um I hope if they are here and if they are hearing it um they are taking it very very seriously and and are cognizant of the fact that they have created a substantial problem of um bad feeling among the their neighbors in in Brookline and uh this is not the end of the the discussion of that and if we can figure out consequences that will bring about better behaviors um we're going to figure them out but um U if they if are here good if they're not here I want them in the room so to speak um at a future meeting of the select board so that we can make sure they are hearing what the neighbors are saying and that we have a chance to hear what their response is to that as well okay so you you'll be able to set that up we we'll we'll speak with them we'll speak with them um when we hear you loud and clear and we hear the neighbors loud and clear um we want to be responsive to this issue I just I want to be clear tonight chz when when when we ask for the renewal of the licenses I'm voting no on renewing Pine Street in um until they can demonstrate that they can actually manage the properties that they have you know this has gone on long enough it's been years it's been since the day I stepped on this the select board the group of neighbors that have come up have reached out to me continuously including sha Lin Jones I've got as Sean said I've got hundreds of emails in my inbox uh okay is there for not voting a license yeah I mean we've explained assuming you have three votes you'll get three votes but I'm going to vote no yeah and that's fine but what what's the consequence well I mean again because this may come up in different cont no I mean it's it's one of the um we're the the license that's on our agenda is for 1085 it's not for 1017 what's all of them actually now those are the ones that haven't app completed their their applications so we're we're doing all you're proving them conditional on them completing their application yeah so again you haven't noticed voting on the category right you're voting on the category you haven't noticed any of them for discipline um so the only grounds that you could vote no is if there were if there was something that they hadn't completed to renew their license and I I I want to say one thing about the fact that we haven't noticed them for discipline that's because we haven't taken action Chaz okay I know that we keep trying to work with them but the complaints that you heard we should have noticed them for discipline a year ago two years ago right we keep letting this go on and on and on to the point where you've got I cannot do something that is illegal I can't I can't explain that to you anymore clearly I can can we can we notice them for a public hearing I will let's let's talk about that because yes I think we can talk about where where there are where there is grounds where there is data that's why what what I've asked is especially given Mr L Jones's point I want all the data of all the complaints from all the lodging houses I want you to see all of that so that you have a sense of where these complaints are where they fall and which lodging houses are not in compliance with the requirements of the bylaw so that you have grounds to bring them in for a hearing so that's what I want to do I want this is you know if you're going to make these kind of decisions they have to be bullet um because otherwise you'll be in a situ you'll be in a worse situation um so I want to give you the tools necessary to do the work and it just takes longer it's takes longer to do things by the and they just they just need to start paying attention that this is a serious issue for the community that's what they need to do and they haven't been and it's really a serious issue okay M there's one last thing I'd like to say I'm looking at the pin Street in's uh audited financial statements which are for 2023 which are online and I compliment them for putting their 10 their uh 990 and their statements up in a timely way but they're um uh they're not in a situation where they're so financially strapped they had a $3 million four about $4 million operating Surplus uh in in 2023 uh there um uh it's not necessarily a lack of money that uh is uh is contributing to this problem so recognizing that I think it is important uh it's one thing to say well you know we haven't got the funds to hire people and pay them enough but looking at this at least I'd like to have somebody tell me why it is that they're not able to hire okay um so this category of licenses which is called lodging houses we will vote on as soon as I find it Bernard I'd like to propose um a condition for for the Pine Street in renewals um can I can I offer a condition what is it you want to and the condition would be that um you know they their renewal would be approved conditioned upon um them coming back at a future date um where we will hold a public hearing with information specifically on uh the Pine Street end with respect to um complaints and data uh police reports uh that we we know exist uh with respect to the properties how long they've been without lodging uh managers on site we know that beel street was has been at least 10 months without I understand that Beacon Street extensively without uh a LOD overnight lodging manager um and hold a public hearing so that we can figure out what to do okay that's separate from our approval of the license say you you can I think you have to take those things separately you can't necessarily condition the renewal of the license on that but what you can do is I want to get you that information and this will come back on your agenda such that if you want to then call a public hearing based on the full facts in front of you you can it's just that tonight you can't condition the renewal of the license on that because there hasn't an adequate notice to them that that's going to that basically says to them you're in D you're in Jeopardy of losing your license so you're saying we can't you have to renew the license despite what we heard right and you have to notice a public meeting hearing y separately yes and what we can do but you know and that's why I want in in that notice of public hearing there has to be the adequate grounds so that they are advised of what it is that the town thinks is the violation here so I want us I want that if that's the direction the board decides to go in I want that to be comprehensive uh and I want it to be legally sound and clear because some of the things that are being raised like the violation of the bylaws that is something where the town may be on firmer ground things that you raise that may be issues that are really you know serious and potentially even traumatizing to Residents like people approaching them in the park panhandling has been decriminalized in massachusett not a panhandling issue you know so we can't that's that's not something that we could bring it's not a paning issue so um but again so those that's an area where um we if we put a if we put a hearing notice together it's got to be it's got to be right yeah so I would what I would suggest is that we revisit this issue and once we've provided you with the data and you the board um can review with the police department with Town counsil yeah um and make sure that any sort of request for a hearing is at that level that it's going to withstand scrutiny okay so um if we close the public hearing if not that's it's closed no but I will say that I will put that on the list for the end of January so that you have a timeline we have that discussion um and that is running in parallel with that broader analysis of all licensing houses for the issue of and again the data that's going to be provided to the board is not just about the p stre in it's about all loing an and I I want to just say one point before we vote I want to be very clear about this this isn't about the type of people that are being housed right these are about the external the the external impacts that um how the properties are being managed um are impacting those that that support their mission including myself so if you're committing to getting that data to us um in a timely fashion yes um and that based on that data we will have we will take action in some way shape or form I'm I'm willing to approve but we do need to we need to take Serious steps and take this issue very seriously then let's get you the data so that you know what it is that you are where where you were on strong grounds so okay and whether to take action that's right it's not a foregone conclusion it's not a foregone conclusion but the first thing is the Board needs let's move on y um so I Mo of approval of lodging house licenses uh subject to the completion of the um applications by the seven um lodging houses I mentioned earlier and um with the understanding that uh Town Administrator will pull together the uh complaints and other information with respect to all license all lodging houses so that we can make an assessment of whether we want to vot a public hearing with respect to um some of the issues that we find that that sounds okay all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael zimon hi Paul Warren hi David Perman hi Sher oai okay next category alcohol application for um local alcohol uh license um and are we is it a license or is it just approval of what the abcc is already it's a we have we have our just want to make sure I got the right terminology okay we have seven applications that have not renewed yet actually it's six because one has apparently either renewed or some other reason it's crossed off the list uh those seven applications that have not renewed and that will be approved conditioned on their uh completing their application are Alden Castle Anatolian Buffet Hamilton um meliss restaurant W buur in zingy China um okay this is a public hearing why don't we just open up the hearing unless someone on the selectboard has uh some comments or questions okay Tiffany let's open up the public hearing on the Alcohol licenses yes there is no one that signs up in advance for the alcohol license public hearing there's anyone online who wishes to speak during this public hearing please raise your hand using the raise the hand feat if you're in the room please make your presence known to the Town Administrator no one in the room and there are 33 participants online and no one is indicating their desire to speak okay so let's close the hearing and um unless anyone has a question or a comment I'd like to move approval of the seven alcohol of the alcohol category of alcohol licenses subject to the or conditioned on the six um lenses that I mentioned uh completing their application uh by the end of the year all right so all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David Perman I and Sher vot I now we have common victur and entertainment licenses and there are 18 applications that have not been renewed and I will read each one of them anast takaria Athens European bakery baby Cafe bear Blends Busy B Busy B is out of business right yes haven't renewed okay so um neither have they surrendered the license though so okay uh CIT Fresh Cafe Creo French Patisserie I think that's how you pronounce it Lake Bakery fuel America Life Alive Mamay Delicatessen Martin's coffee shop meat Point Patisserie refo Cafe sub way Union Square Donuts Village Pizza House Ziggy bomb I'm sure they'll get all their papers in by the end of the year but any um any discussion from the select board before we open up open up the hearing okay Tiffany let's open up the hearing yes there are no um speakers who signed up in advance for this public hearing on Comm vict if anyone is in the um room who wishes to speak on this public hearing please make your presence known to the Town Administrator if you're online please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature uh no one in the room and there are 32 participants online and no one is indicating their desire to speak okay I'll close the hearing and um unless anyone has a comment on the select board Paul I just one question chess Sunset Cantina we've had a number of issues with them which where do they are they common Vic their issue came with the alcohol license there there have been two discrete issues with sunset can Tina okay I missed them I guess cuz we already voted the alcohol yeah sorry it was in the the um the uh The Memo from Lieutenant brother in your packet um the um the issue with sunset Cantina was that there was a um the abcc actually issued them a suspension for an issue which occurred in October of 2023 yeah um that's separate and apart from the issue that you brought them in on a hearing for correct where you said that they were basically on probation that incident occurred outside of the term of their probationary period so you basically have two incidents that are fairly far apart from one another such that they have served their probationary term for the violation that you issued them and then separately for an issue that fell outside of that probationary term abcc issued them an 18-day suspension of their alcohol license and what can I ask Bernard I'm sorry because that one got past me um what was the what was the 18-day suspension for um they identified underage patrons consuming alcoholic beverages on the premises now this and this is the St establishment where we had a major police incident right that is correct and so there's multiple issues uh going on here that's correct and Lieutenant brother has play advised the they are under monitoring going forward and if there is a subsequent issue there that they will be brought back before the select board okay thank you okay so I move appr unless there are any other questions I move approval of the common victure and entertainment license applications uh subject to the condition that the 18 applications have not been renewed yet uh be be renewed by the end of the year uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak hi Michael simman hi Paul Warren I uh David fman I and chair votes I Next Food vendor licenses U and we have seven applications that have not been renewed so we'll condition their Li license renewal on completing their paperwork by the end of the year and those are Harvard Street sonoko um Leon Paris ptis party favor royalty Seven Subs and when pigs fly Bakery any discussion from the select board their breads very good okay so uh Tiffany let's open up the public hearing yes now that the chair has opened up the public hearing there are no speakers that signed up in advance for the food vendor license um if there's anyone online who wishes to speak during this public hearing please raise your hand at this time if there's anyone in the room please make your presence known to the Town Administrator no one in the room and 32 participants online and no one is indicating their desire to speak okay so I'll close the hearing and unless there are any discussion further discussion from the select board I'd like to move approval of the food vendor licenses uh subject to the condition that uh the seven or actually six uh applications because Hong Kong Cafe has apparently completed their application I believe so subject to the condition that uh the six applications that have not been renewed will be renewed by the end of the year on in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Paul Sandman oh Mike Sandman Paul what Mike I'm confusing the two of you now Mike S he's not Paul I Paul waren I David Perman I and Sher votes I and that is the final category correct yes everything except cannabis sorry Canabis well that's a separate separate World okay so um okay let's let me go down and find that on the okay so the marijuana license renewals uh this is a public hearing we going to have a separate public or do you think we should have a separate public hearing for each lensey I think was a hearing for all four lenses is sufficient okay good it's nine o'clock just I have a couple of items on this one is you asked Neta to come back and be and brief you on their efforts at diversification and ensuring Equitable owner structure of ownership and operations their council is here and ready to present on that the other thing is that two of our four uh applications are incomplete um for different reasons missions is incomplete because of the issues that we have raised previously about them potentially surrendering their license we are in conversations with them on how to address that issue uh and we would just ask for conditional approval pending their paying the fee which is what they're which is what the holdup is the paperwork is in they just haven't paid the fee yet because they are talking about the again there's a hearing in January about whether or not their license is forfeit they're talking about the possibility of transferring it we're just finalizing basically an interim process through which they can temporarily renew the license until the select board's hearing so we just need some time to finalize that so we'd ask that that be conditionally approved comad Canada I believe you have their letter in your packet they have recently uh We've congratulated them several times uh become a social Equity um business uh meaning that their ownership structure has shifted and they've been certified as an equity uh owner Equity owner business by the State um they um the uh excuse me the um the uh Council for uh comf canana reached out on Friday asking for a reduction in the fee uh and as a social Equity applicant and what I've said to them is the time for you to ask for a reduction of the fee is not the 11th hour before the hearing so no um but we will take that under advisement and we will be happy to look at it in the next year but you can't ask on Friday night for something that's going to be heard on Tuesday for the fee to be cut in half that's just not how this works um so we've given we've told them they have a week to pay the fee and we'd ask that you conditionally approve their application pending the actual payment of the fee and that we will of course look into as the social Equity sphere expands possibility of what we can do on that front but to make an 11th Hour request to cut the fee in half is just not the way that things are done okay and um to be clear Tom kan's um um um Equity category is Veterans I'm not actually sure 100% sure of that I will double check okay anyway uh before we go uh before we start I'd like to sort of make a statement with respect to the Neta um issue um just so it's clear why we're asking them to come back uh the cannabis license or legislation in Massachusetts was specifically designed to provide ownership opportunities to black and brown communities that had been disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of cannabis on in April Neta came before us for approval of a change of ownership with a proposed ownership structure that so far as we or their regulatory Council uh knew was an all-white ownership U structure basically 64.4% of the ownership of the main operating companies was in the hand of what was called other owners the rest of the ownership structure was through sunstream USA which was Kyle Dew's uh company we asked uh Neta whether among the other owners which as I recall is not a large group of people that uh whether there are any Black Or Hispanic owners for example I don't mean to be smart here but professional athletes entertainers or others in the Cannabis culture who have money and could have been approached with the opportunity to invest in in in the company uh now I promised an answer that was submitted that uh speaks to this issue so we have to to actually discuss this on the Fly um by responding to what you tell us tonight as opposed to having had an opportunity to read materials and think about them of course we cannot require you to have a non-racial segregated ownership structure but we can ask the question and we did and you promised an answer so I thank you for coming to give that answer so thank you so much my name is Jennifer depaso Gilbert and I represent Netta um and I also um full disclosure I represent a potential Equity applicant that would love to operate in Brookline one day um if a license ever becomes available um Neta is the only applicant that I am representing this evening and um I want to thank you Bernard for saying that you cannot require that the ownership um be a certain uh diversity or racial divers diversity we did submit all of the diversity reports that are required um by law and just um I agree with you that the intent of the legislation was to assist those most impacted um by the War on Drugs cannabis in particular and to benefit black and brown people and actually the state um set up a law that allows a certain number of licenses to be for Equity applicants um the town did not hold back any licenses for Equity applicants and I'm so happy to hear that there is one now Equity applicant and maybe there'll be another one in the future um we all know that the fifth license was not voted through um so there's nothing else available for Equity applicants under the town's policy which is also encourages Equity applicants with residency as far as ownership um the answer Remains the Same as it did last year and I believe it was Mike Sandman that quickly got to the point um in in discussing the answer to the question and that is that there is no demographic data for beneficial Equity owners and we cannot defend a ly speak to the racial diversity of ownership because these are corporate owners and shareholders and shareholders are not asked to identify their racial um or ethnic background um nor is it quite frankly legal to ask that question so I don't have a better answer but I do want to say that Neta has been probably the boldest and um the most Progressive Advanced when it comes to diversity programs and partnering with Equity applicants giving them shelf space working with couriers partnering with wholesalers and they have a much uh more diverse percentage wise uh staff makeup than the demographics that are in in Brookline itself um you've got their diversity report and unfortunately um ownership is is made up of shareholders and we just don't know um nor can we ask uh what their racial uh background is I do have two people here at least two and maybe Ali henriquez has joined she's traveling but was going to join but Nicole Heisler who really um runs the diversity uh program and makes sure and tracks the goals Etc is here as well but um I don't have anything more for you on that other than to say that the town um has so many Avenues to support the current Equity applicant and to support those that might be coming down the pipe trying to get into Brook line because no question the the both the state and the local regulations uhu make it in incredibly difficult in this market for Equity applicants so I would encourage the town to take some steps in that regard and and I'm not questioning the uh commitment to diversity of NATA um by any means I just want to raise the question and that is why are we setting or why do we have a a an industry that is basically segregated there are some blackowned businesses and mostly white owned businesses why can't the larger white owned businesses seek out investors among you know I I mentioned sort of f fly entertainers and and and and athletes who you know are part of the sort of cannabis culture and have money and could be um pulled into your ownership structures well money is the key thing right I'm just just raising the question pardon me it's it's it's so so so expensive to break into this business so whatever the town can do locally to assist Equity applicants and get a second license in Brooklyn and help the current Equity applicant to stay open that's where I would encourage the efforts of the board yeah but that's a separate issue from why why are the cannabis companies owned by white investors white companies because they can be uh yes those things you can't you can be but is that and I can't I don't have any power to change that right I say that is not acceptable yeah I I don't have the power to do that and I also I spoke to the Regulatory and the corporate attorneys and they simply said look we don't have the information on the shareholders the demographics so I don't know how else to answer that question when when when the investor group is being put together you went to the country club and looked at your friends at the Country Club and said why don't you invest with us that's the problem right I'm not talking about you Jen yeah that's the problem I can't get into the country club um so I didn't do that I don't mean the country club but a country club I can't get into any so that wasn't me I understand your frustration um with the the whole industry right I do I do but more than what I provided you I just don't have the information who knows who these shareholders are it maybe maybe um you know may maybe it would surprise all of us I just don't have the information um if if you want to promote Nicole Heisler from Netta she may have more to add okay well first I just have a I have a I have a quick question I just want to clarify because you've you've said a lot which I I I appreciate and I appreciate the issue that you're you're raising um Neta is changing their ownership struct Neta is changing their ownership structure in April in April which means and I we're transferring license I think to to this new structure right um that was already voted that was already voted right that the the transfer was already voted yes okay so there's no leverage to get them to change the own no you know we're not asking forage that would be illegal that would be illegal to to to condition a transfer of ownership let me finish because I wanna I want to comment on Mr Warren's comment to to use leverage in a in a racial manner to stop a transfer when there is no law that requires diversity at the ownership level that in and of itself would be a violation of law so okay but but it it was not illegal for you to promise to come back to us and discuss this issue which is and and I talk to the corporate people and they do not have the demographics to provide you the r IAL and ethnic uh background of the shareholders that are involved in these companies right so so to to to to respond to uh Jennifer or I'm not leverage was maybe the wrong word there's there's what I'm saying is it's already been done the trans words matter words matter Paul yeah yeah and and so so is how you're yelling at me that matters too um so it doesn't it's that's not right either I'm trying to understand I'm not yelling I'm voice and I apologize for that Jen look I don't want to do back and forth with you I'm trying to understand what the objective is here um basically what Bernard is asking around the demographics of the new ownership um which is a legitimate issue but we have no control over that is what I'm trying to get at is that correct that that's correct we do have the right and control to ask the question I well I I agree with that you can ask any question you want but you might yelled at respon I get yelled at all the time I don't really care yeah but my my reason for raising this is to sort of make that part of the conversation yeah right when someone's putting together an investor group to buy a marijuana marijuana or cannabis store I don't want them to just go to their you know small group of white friends and say okay we'll put this okay group together from the from you know my friends okay why can't they reach out okay why don't they have you know a more diverse uh set of friends yeah um why don't they you know reach out to a more I mean okay I understand I understand but we can't require that we can't require that but we ask the question okay Jennifer thank you for your clarification okay so um you have more Jennifer is that it um no I just wanted to say that we've been working um cooperatively and really I want to thank Dan Murphy and his team in the at the DPW we made a couple of minor changes to the traffic demand management plan that you had um earlier uh designated for them to look at so that went really well I just want to shout out to DPW for um helping us through that so and the other thing is just to report that it's been really quiet um at the site uh we had in 201 19 just so that you know 790 total staff members uh throughout the Neta organization in in Franklin and Northampton and Brooklyn and today they're down to 290 I think that's a reflection on you know the business it's it's not the way it was it's not the wild you know the wild west anymore thata is not the only game in town and um it's been pretty quiet neighbors um haven't raised any issues and there's been um absolutely no uh violations security Bach breaches or any citations and uh they're working cooperatively with the police department to make sure that there are still details on the busier uh times and and that's it okay um this is a public hearing and we're going to have a a hearing on all four of the applications uh Tiffany you want to open up the public hearing this is the public hearing covering Sanctuary medicinals Comm can Netta and Mission cannabis the first Speaker who signed up in advance is uh Ed bloomstein with com Kaa I believe Ed might be in the room please come up to the microphone I'm Ed bonstein I live on rosson road that's Precinct 12 uh I've been a homeowner in Brookline since 1978 um I don't know whether the board remembers but in the early 2000 from 2000 to 2010 Brookline was covered with graffiti by a couple of young kids who lived in town they were finally arrested in 2011 thanks to one individual who not only cleaned up their thousands of of graffiti and vandalism himself um but notified the police after he figured out who they were and they were arrested after one of them moved to East Boston um a good friend of mine who lives in Precinct 12 um has kind of taken up the cudgel of keeping Brookline free of graffiti vandalism and we have gone out we know what colors paints to use on mailboxes we know what kind of uh flungers to use to wipe rafiti off of all sorts of objects we were I I'll use the word shocked but we were really disappointed in May of this year when Commonwealth CA pasted stickers from Chestnut Hill Reservoir to Keno square and on every pole and surface that would take a sticker on Commonwealth Avenue from package corner to Amry Street Aaron my friend Aaron wrote to them emails trying to take them to course of this and finally got through to them and they apologized oh we're sorry to this day nobody in that organization has gone out and taken any of the stickers that are still on Commonwealth Avenue off the poles or off of Chestnut Hill driveway or any other or the parking meters in in Cleveland Circle or done anything except a phony MPA I don't know why people in that organization were in arrest like the way these two teenage kids were 30 seconds remaining 201 and we admitted to the town administrator's office Aaron submitted a package full of pictures and emails and we went up to the office and spoke to the assistant of the administrator saying we wanted to protest these people having a renewal of their license because they are just the opposite of good Civic citizens I don't think they should have a license now thank you that concludes your time I don't care that anybody on Commonwealth Avenue is stoned I choose not to drive on Commonwealth Avenue for that purpose but there are already other okay cannabis companies who have making up the cudgle and started that concludes your time thank you I've waited for two hours to make this comment thank you for waiting and uh yeah I don't I feel like letting the lawyers go on and on about what good Civic citizens they are so I'm but public comment is three minutes sir I'm sorry okay thank you well you have the package we've had it for months and we've asked your office to sir I I can't get into it back and forth with you but if you I I'll I'll resp I'll respond to your comment because I do I appreciate your Outreach on this so so do I understand now there will be a a meeting of the select board to discuss the sir okay sir this is not a back and forth sorry that's right um the next speaker for public we will we will follow up let me let me let me follow up on this before we you know I because I want to make sure that we get this out there um yes we have followed up with Kam afana on this issue we've followed up with the Department of Public Works we have told we have told them that you can't you know obviously it's you know the the distribution of stickers and so forth is uh legal we can't stop you from doing that but you need to have an understanding of the potential consequences and if you you know if this is some sort of marketing Ploy where you are directly involved in it then that's not uh then there will be then that's a that's a that's vandalism that's a violation of the law um but again handing out stickers in and of itself is not an offense uh but we've strongly encourage them that look at look at what the natural outcome of this is so um um Paul yeah I just I'm I'm confused by the issue Chaz but what's happening so he's stating that there were advertising stickers for kav Kaa up and down comav yeah and did K did kav Kaa apply those stickers or were they handing them out at their store and then people were sticking them my understanding it's the ladder is that the the they handed out stickers as uh part of the um for for customers and that customers would just stick them place so if we had if we had a situation where there was a business in town it's non-cannabis and they were handing out you know utensils that had their name on it and we found those UT plastic utensils strewn up and down Beacon Street would we require them to go pick them up we require them to we we would talk to them about the process of making sure that they had adequate trash Management in place we would make sure that you know there's you know and we do you know condition things like outdoor dining I'm sure there are trash management policies in place we can't stop people from advertising their product or handing out stickers but what we can say to them is the downstream consequences of this is that people are you know taking this and sticking it now you know that and if this continues to happen we need to have another conversation we do is there some do we have any regulations around advertising cannabis is that still part of we have regulations about advertising more broadly yes uh I'm not sure what our specific rules on cannabis are but I will double there yeah it wouldn't apply here and the only thing that would apply would be littering you know yeah again you can't you can't just introduce waste into the system um and so we work with businesses to say you can't do that um but we also are mindful that at the end of the day if someone hands out a single sticker to a to a customer and that customer decides to then put it somewhere where it's not supposed to be you know it's there's that line between is that an attractive nuisance is that something you know so we're working with them on that but and I do appreciate their Outreach on this I understand their frustration I don't like it either um I tear down stickers and signs in Brooklyn Village all the time it drives me crazy so I really do appreciate their Outreach on this okay okay uh any other comments from the public yes um the next speaker is Susan Park Susan you've been promoted and you can begin your three minutes okay before I begin um I would like to share my uh my presentation so can I share my screen please would should be able to share your screen Susan okay great thank you okay so let's see can you see my slideshow yes okay hi everyone my name is Susan Park I'm a town meeting member from uh pring 17 and I'm here today to talk about uh some Cana ads and when I say ads we're also talking about the stickers some constituents have emailed me over the last eight months really upset about these stickers one of the gentlemen Aaron fredman was was saying that it's a nuisance and their failed response problem uh is is even more of a nuisance because when a constituent reaches out to a business and then they are not responded to that's not really being a good neighbor so I'm here today to show you some of the stickers that were found around town so from what I just heard that you know Kaa was giving away their stickers and maybe you know one of the um customers just stuck a sticker on um you know a piece of property here and there but that's not what um I was seeing from uh the emails that I was getting here are some examples there's a sticker behind a meter behind a bench behind poles uh on a dumpster and then here are some more you can see that the stickers it's it's not just like stickers that you get from a pediatrician's office and then you stick on the trash can or whatnot this is basically advertisement all over town all over Washington and according to my constituent it was Washington Harvard and uh Beacon here's some more some more okay so the timeline uh if you can see this on the screen um the uh Aaron had reached out he didn't get a response he finally gets a response he talks to town administrator's office Etc and um and then he ends up spending his time scraping all these stickers off okay but not only that what was more startling shocking to me was on December 1st and second as I was going through my Instagram I see an Instagram story of Commonwealth Kam Kaa so I click on that and these are the images I see basically there's music there's a flying dragon there's a kid that's 9 years old having a good time and then the the uh caption is you have 30 seconds remaining thank you when the gummies kick in as soon as you get in or you can read a kick in as soon as you get in the Uber so then G when the gummies kick in this is this is what you're going to feel like completely inappropriate completely it tempts kids it looks fun cool for kids and uh the character in these images are 10 years old what's worse is that includes your time okay so I I just think that we really have to think about staying away from stickers um who is the Instagram Handler these are questions that the select board really needs to ask uh Kenna's management do they even know who Instagram are so please keep this in mind since tonight is a is a renewal meeting uh for these licenses okay thank you what I would ask the um Town staff to do is to uh talk to uh uh the companies about the advertising I mean may maybe the advertising is perfectly illegal but it seems to me that uh advertising advertising Puff the Magic Dragon in an Uber may not be within the uh parameter parameters of uh the uh regulation governing licensing or governing advertising the state governs what cannabis companies can can't advertise at that level so we can obviously talk to the CCC but they are always that's that's always an adventure um but chess if they're VI if they're VI let's assume just for arguing that they are violating or potentially violating State advertising laws can we take that into consideration yes and as you say in the future maybe bring them in for a dis here yes yes but but the first thing we ought to do is reach out to them and say this is a problem you better fix it right I believe so we don't have to do that right one of the are there other folks signed up Tiffany there I know other folks that signed up in advance we do have a couple who raised their hand to speak um so we do have other speakers yeah Mr barnoski is actually councel to come have Cana and I think he wants to speak on the social Equity issues can we continue with the speakers then uh I'm sorry do you want to continue with the speakers uh yes and then we'll go to Mr bernoski okay I'm promoting Adam um bernoski now with K he's he's the he's the counsel for um yes and he's next on the list oh he's next on okay let him go and he'll have three minutes to comment Adam I promoted you now hi good afternoon or good evening Mr chairman members of the board Adam barnowski my address is 255 State Street in Boston and I'm here on behalf of of common uh Comm AF Cano um so I I just you know thanks thanks for you know allowing me to have uh the time here I wanted just to touch upon a few things um related to some of our prior correspondents and um and some of the statements today so I think you know we we had made a request uh com comf Cana had made a request uh for the board to review uh its social Equity policies particularly uh those related to um Financial incentives and and fee waivers um KF can is the first and only social Equity uh retailer in town and we provided a a notice of such to the board uh back in May uh but but I do think that the character there's a characterization earlier in the hearing today that this request that we've revived or or or or brought up again last week uh is somehow an 11th Hour request you know we made this request eight months ago um the the only time this request was responded to uh in any way not even in any material way but in any way was at 5:30 p.m. today um so you know we we think this is a failure of the town to act we think that um there was an opportunity that was missed here uh the the board has consistently talked about wanting to support social Equity um tried to get licenses to attract social Equity businesses and it has one now um so I think that uh Mr chairman you you asked why I think you asked why earlier there's not more diversity in the Cannabis business I mean I can tell you why in Brook line it's because Brook Line's not competitive with other municipalities you look at Boston Cambridge Newton summer they have the kind of businesses that this town is seeking um but they also have incentives in Boston social Equity applicants do not have license fees do not have Community impact fees and you have a host of diverse um retailers throughout the city and I have to think that that's part of a result of it um you have 30 seconds I also would like to to just mention the idea that our license is um is not complete um it is complete we were sent a renewal notice uh back in October that renewal notice contained what we needed to submit and we submitted everything contained in the renewal notice renewal notice had nothing about fees it didn't have a fee schedule it we did not hear anything about Fe conclud your time Contin if I may until we continually asked the uh the the town about it and a fee was published on December 12th showing that retailers owed $20,000 and we received a statement at 4:40 pm today about it so I do want to say that for the record we are not incomplete we have a completed application and we're requesting that the board uh reduce the fees for the social Equity retailer thank you we got it wait hold on hold on did you wanna no it's fine I I was just goingon to say I like this he's not your typical public comment he's he represents he represents the the the the organization so he signed up for public comment well I okay I I don't know how but he's he's the lawyer for KABC right I mean Jen depaso talked at length so he was invited though okay so we so I mean I'm just wondering about I'm just wondering about the constra I'm just trying to understand our process he signed up for public comments so subject to the three minute okay period now if he's going to represent Commonwealth KN in in the you know the regular presentation that's that's a different matter and if the board ask questions since K have canid is here you can obviously ask questions um that's fine okay since they are the LI the subject of renewal you're right they are a little different in that regard but it's a public comment process I know it's bantine it's I'm conf I'm just a little confused but that's me maybe it's getting late it's getting past my bedtime sorry yeah mine too John I if I may ask the the the representative of KF Kama Ka excuse me um uh you mentioned uh being a social Equity um uh ly are are you in the category of social Equity license or or were you m simply making the point that um there is diversity in the ownership of kav Cana Adam Mr bernoski do you want to answer that you're a mute sir uh so the well comf Canon provided a uh sorry can you hear me it looks like I'm frozen up on the screen no we can hear you thank you okay uh so so kth can provided a letter to the board of Selectmen dated May 10th 2024 where we listed uh the social Equity um categorization of the company um and and and requested the board take action on its policies now now to your question they are the social e Equity designation it's obtained through the CCC certification process right right and it's available for those who have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs now that is a combination of several factors including residency income thresholds uh marijuana related criminal convictions or the spouse or a child of criminal convictions and a whole list of um of qualifications that the that the CCC looks at and so that uh that process was obtained by the individuals that were listed in the letter oh and so they do have a a state um designated social Equity license uh yes they they are a social Equity company it's not it's not a separate licensure but it is a the license they okay okay just want to be sure I understood okay Paul so maybe it would be helpful to hear from Chaz about the the the alerting to us he's claiming May um I don't know if if their social Equity designation which sounds like they obtained it through the Cannabis Control Commission does that automatically uh uh provide them with a discount on their license or is that no so the letter in May um which I believe was circulated to the board um and the follow-up letter because it was addressed to you Kate and whenever we get letters like that Kate circulates it in your packet as things that you we've received that are not necessarily on the agenda okay um the board in that letter it describes Kam afana as being uh designated a social Equity applicant by the state and encourages the board to revise its social Equity policy and includes in that you know mirroring the things that the state does for things like fees and that was their request of us that was that was their that was their letter in May okay the first time I got it and again I don't want to split hairs with Mr bsky it's it's it's it's a matter of semantics and I I don't want to be I don't want to rules lawyer him I take him at his word that's what he was asking for I just think it needed to be on my end I would appreciate it being clearer um because I didn't get a specific request saying would you please lower kav can's fee until Friday okay I'm just trying to understand chz that that it's not an automatic it's not it's not part of the social Equity program to get a discounted license fee from from the town from the state yes from the state they do get a discount they do okay but it's at the discretion of the municipality whether that gets correct and again I think this is something that the board absolutely should consider as part of ongoing things here and again I understand where Mr Browski is coming from but I also you know you have to ask for what you want you can't just say I I encourage you um you know and if I if I may some point if if I could if I could address that because the the letter is very clear this is not this this the letter I really don't want I really don't want to split hairs with you you've been you have been told numerous times that you owe a fee for one thing so I don't appreciate this idea that somehow you weren't told that you owe a fee what do you think a license is what do you think a license renewal is everyone owes a fee on a yearly basis this is feels feels like I feel like I'm being gaslit here um you owe a fee uh you don't can say oh no one said I owe a fee I don't have to I don't have to pay you anything uh one absolutely people have said you owe a fee and two uh it's you know we set those fees as part of a negotiated agreement between the Realtors so for you to say magically oh you didn't say the magic words we don't know a fee no uh okay okay so no okay I have I actually have another another question for uh for um the representative um I just you know a couple of issues were raised tonight about advertising um I think on Instagram and then also uh the advertising stickers that are showing up on posts and stuff like that could you just speak to that about about that issue what your awareness of it of it is and whether there's any action being uh taken by your organization that you representing uh well I I was made aware of of of the problem through the comments this evening I I my clients are listening and watching this even okay uh so we can certainly take that and take and take the concerns of the neighborhood seriously um but I but I I do want to just just on the idea of the license fee I want to make it very clear that we are K can is not contesting the idea that a license fee may be owed but there has been no communication about that fee wait wait let's not get into this back and forth I don't think well no but no but fine but it's but it's important because we're beinged as not help what's that may be important but it doesn't help you to get into it back and forth with us I'm I'm sorry but I early on when when these fees were discussed I said in a negotiation with attorneys representing your uh uh your your marijuana um outlet and and the other three so to say that they haven't been informed or weren't this is just ridiculous I think you you really got abandon that yeah let's abandon this discussion John well this is one more Point not to the um person who's um you know joining us tonight but just to so that the public realizes this um anyone who does a Google search you know what does what fee does Brooklyn charge for cannabis licenses will be directed immediately to the page where we cite the fees for cannabis licenses it's it's all there okay yeah okay um okay let's move on Mr B uh Broski um just just so we're so I'm clear uh you're a social Equity liccy because you're majority owned by veterans is that correct uh I do not believe that is correct no okay could you tell me what what um category you're in well there are several in the way that the social Equity classification works is through a majority of the uh the majority of 50% or more of the individuals have to obtain the classification for social effort so uh I don't think that all of the individuals met the qualifications for the same reason and uh I am not at Liberty at this point to to talk about some of the issues which you know I I'm sure you can understand by by the the descriptions and categories I mentioned earlier may be sensitive in nature okay moving right along um any further discussion um Tiffany any other people uh looking to make public comment there are no individuals who other individuals who signed up in advance for this public hearing if there's anyone who wishes to speak on this item uh please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature if you're in the room please make your presence know to the Town Administrator if you wish to comment no one in the room there are 27 participants online and it looks like no one else is indicating their desire to speak I will say that cannabis has not been controversial for years and suddenly tonight it became really right because of stickers you know stickers and and questions about ownership okay oh boy um but I will say you know to the Miss Park's comment um we do take that seriously we have spoke we have spoken with the owner I would note that the timeline there ends in summer uh that was when Tiffany spoke to the residents who came from Precinct 12 uh and we haven't had a complaint since then uh I understand there were some concerns removal of the stickers and so forth I think the Instagram thing is more of a newer Phenom maybe um we instag that you talk the ad the with with the dragon and the kid yes that's new that's that's it was just I want to talk about the stickers to that um I mean you know the dragon is sort of both child child and adult looks like a never- Ending Story to me well there but there is you know and and remember Susan's an advocate for um concerns about the impact that cannabis can have on Youth and and there's so there's rightly so there's a lot of data that shows that um it can have a significant impact on the developing mind and I think that's where she's coming from that we I actually think state law says you can advertise towards a certain age group uh Youth and that's so Puff the M Magic Dragon is that sort of um borderline issue because well that's from your days in the 60s yeah yes you did not me but maybe you okay um so let's close the hearing on the marijuana licens renewals um and uh any further discussion from the select board I think it's just the conditional approval on Mission and and um kamav on the fee payment right okay so I'm Mo approval of the um um cannabis license uh renewals uh conditioned on the um uh condition on Mission uh paying their licensing fee and commonwell Canada uh Cana uh also paying their fee uh so the we'd like to just set a deadline by by the 24th because we're coming we're close to the end of the year here and people won't people may not be in the office between Christmas and New Year's so oh good point um so it's conditioned on paying the fees by the 24th of December um so all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David pran I and chair votes I okay thank you everyone and thank you uh Adam bernoski and Jennifer depaso let's see okay next uh police order 43 question of author authorizing changes to the police department's general order 43 Federal immigration enforcement and immigration raids which is a new version of um of uh general order 43 to include um the piece on immigration raids you know what we um expect the police to do and not do if there is a RAID here in town of Brooklyn so any discussion by the select board I will make one point because you know it's so late and we want to just keep hearing Warren talk uh this I did get an inquiry about this today from from a resident and they were unsure about um you know what it was about and what were we doing and I just think it's important for for those watching that um this is cons this is consistent with um the the will of town meeting from I think 2005 was a vote 2016 uh there was another vote um at town meeting a resolution I think a former select board at that time in 2016 actually crafted a policy um around issues of of Co you know not cooperating um uh with with immigration that's probably civil detain civil detainers yeah it's probably the I'm not phrasing it uh but this is what we're doing tonight is removing the uh the capturing and storing of information specifically around detainers uh so that's not we're just taking that out of the policy and the reason why that was added in the policy originally was because those who are advocating to not uh detain people wanted a record of those who were potentially detained thereby creating a problem that we're actually creating a record and we don't want that record uh kept in the policy and so that's that's that's why that it's being deleted okay is that right does that make sense I wented all this time and you just that's what I was GNA say you were G to speak on no no that's that's okay good job and that's EX right and actually this policy when it was revised in 2017 was to bring us into compliance with L versus Commonwealth so it's state law as well as um firmed up in our local policy so I think um this I'm glad that this was brought to our attention this is a good change um but I'm happy to take any questions yeah no questions from the select board one very small question Chief I'm sorry is wouldn't this be I I'm confused wouldn't this be 43 43.2 43.2 yes yes on the front page we just got to that's we'll we'll take care of that we we'll we'll we'll make we'll we'll correct that everything references back to 43.2 yes okay okay I it's done um we should always always be quiet and careful um so I Mo of approval of U changes to the police department's general order 43 Federal immigration enforcement and immigration raids uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David Perman hi and chair votes I thank you Chief Pastor thank you thanks sorry I had to be here all this time just that okay final Opera re reallocation question of approving the final slate of American Rescue plan act funding allocations as presented by staff is that you Charlie young is on Charlie young hello Charlie hi Bernard thank you chair scen we have uh Tyler bile on with us as well um I'll I'll introduce it but Tyler uh is here if folks have any questions so um so thank you chair green and good evening select board members I'm Charlie young I'm the assistant Town Administrator for finance um and we're here tonight to request a vote to approve a final allocation of arpa funds um before I uh go any further I just want to call out that today marks a couple of milestones for the American Rescue plan act funding first first of all uh this will be the board's last opportunity to uh make a vote on on arpa and allocations of those funds um so I just think that's a that's a major milestone for the board and uh and you know just kind of marks another another major point in the the schedule for getting through arpa the other uh major Milestone today and um Tyler thank you for all of your work on this uh is that we have finally received approval on all $1 million of our nor County arpa allocations that we submitted to them um so thank you very much for that Tyler and uh and and Nicole in our office and ni and Chaz and Melissa everyone who has helped us get there um okay hug as you know uh the deadline for obligating arpa is at the end of this month we've had a few turn backs since your vote in November and we're recommending filling gaps in two projects that were created by that vote um the memo explains it in more detail but we're adding funds for Engineering Services on the senior center electrification project and we're adding funds back into Recreation scholarships that we did not intend to uh to reallocate in the November vote uh there are a couple of other small allocations we're adding $2,000 to the funds for the eem the fire department's emergency vehicle they were granted in uh November and we're adding $10,000 for uh the Brookline commission for the Arts uh matching funds so um that is the the majority of what we're looking for tonight but the other key that we are asking you for um and Bernard this is in the vote that is included in the memo is to authorize Chaz to make any final reallocations of funds that get turned back in the next week or two before December 31st um we we are tracking a few projects that may have some small dollar amounts to turn back and we think we can utilize those if we have the opportunity to do so if you'll give Chaz that authorization um so that is the that is the the request we're putting before you tonight um the the the the Full Table of all final arpa allocations including what has been approved by Nora County on the last page is included in the packet and we're here to answer any questions okay any questions from the board uh John uh I'm just trying to get clarity here um sure so this is our last vote and we're going to authorize Chaz to make some reallocations but um is it not the case that that uh some of these uh Awards uh were awarded for uh funding of programs that extend out in time so there's a second year of the program and there's a third year of the program yes that money hasn't been spent yet um what happens to the recipients who don't spend that money um that is you know in their future spending plan yeah because they basically you know um over over budgeted uh and don't have uh anything to show in terms of invoices for uses of the money so Tyler you're welcome to jump in on this but you know the the essential answer to your question John is that at this point after December 31st we won't be able to reallocate any funds except for those that fail to um that completely fail to to come to fruition like and Tyler you can you know expand on this if I'm right but you know if if some if a project were if a subrecipient were to completely fail in there um in completing a project could we reassign it then otherwise John the answer is those funds get turned back to the FED at that point turned back to the Fed so that's the answer the first part of my question there's a second part um who who monitors from this point forward to make sure that um you know it's one thing to maybe not spend the money and it gets turned back to the federal government but who's monitoring to make sure it's being spent on what was promised in the budget that was approved I'll and not other things you know sure Tyler so I'll I'll take this one um one correction just to what Charlie said we we cannot reassign or reallocate funds at the after the end of this year so if a subrecipient fails to deliver any any piece of their project that will automatically get turned back we can't shift funding around after uh the end of this year um as far as the oversight piece goes that is on us with the town that is part of what the quarterly reporting is required um as I've mentioned in uh previous meetings one of the pushes that we're aiming for in uh 2025 is to actually provide those on the arpa story page so that there is complete transparency and to show the board show the public what is going on with each of the projects each Milestone um those are all captured in the invoices those are all going to be captured in um those quarterly reports um but as far as what's actually being spent we we still look through these with a fine tooth comb so if there's any issue with certain project budgets we still have the capacity to come back to the board at after the end of this year to amend certain project budgets if there is a change in the scope of work or just a significant change in a dollar amount so I won't ask for specifics but have have we disapproved any invoices what do you mean by disapproved um well well you know um seen invoices sent for reimbursement and and said wait a minute you're spending this money you're spending money on coffee when you said you're gonna spend it on you know something else what you know this is not an approvable expense under what you were assigned as as the the purposes of your appropriation so a majority of these with the subrecipients nonprofits are treated as advancements so part of that is on good faith that we're trusting those nonprofits to spend the money accordingly when we look at the quarterly reports and look at the invoices if we catch things like that we will raise that to the subrecipient and try to work with them on those Corrections so far everyone has been staying in their Lane and spending what was promised like specific dollar amounts so we haven't seen anything yet but then again we we're still two years from that final exp dat so right right okay thanks well yep um and thank you for all your work on this this is a remark a level of detail um my question may be a little unrelated to this list but it has to do with the county money um I don't know you know it's been raised a couple of times that there's County money I think there's a deadline is this Chaz is this separate from the money that might be available to us from the county we just got approval of that so uh Tyler you want to talk a little bit about that I think that's it might be helpful to have your kind of talk through there so when funding was sent out to each of the municipalities County governments held onto a portion of that based on a federal formula what we're seeing in this case is Nori County still being a functional County government required us to apply for that $1 million that was part of our overall $44 million allocation um of course some of the benefits were we had two different sets of a that could also look at projects so we we did aim to send some of our more um I don't want to say wonky but trickier projects to make sure that they were still eligible but as far as the county funding goes when we were budgeting these we we acted as if the 44 million was there and as of today we we have received that full $1 million um I I do want to just to point out that um we received the final approval for half a million which is not reflected in um in the list that you see in front of you so when we post this on the website that will be corrected um or updated I should say uh to reflect that amount that was okay so just just just to be clear so my understanding um we we've applied for all monies of available to us from the county and we've been approved for all those funds at this point that is correct okay and the expenditures for those funds have been approved and the expenditures because you know we have ch you remember there was one individual who kept pushing us on this yes and so that issue is resolved done perfect thank you Mike I think u t deserves um an extra um measure of credit for working with the county uh early on um we had a meeting uh I think I was still on the advisory committee we we had a meeting with the County Commissioners uh and uh it was very clear that the it was going to take a certain amount of convincing for them to move through their bureaucracy they're perfectly willing to to to provide the money but the processes there were uh Bustin uh and Tyler managed toh to navigate that and that's through his credit thank you thank you Tyler T Tyler um let me a question um that's sort little off point but is relevant to this have you been able to follow up with um uh the school commit the um public schools of Brookline um um administrator dear regarding the B Baffin I I'm aware I'm aware of um what's going on with Baffin at this moment not not the not the fuffle uh with banin but apparently they need some guidance in terms of uh of documents they need to file and uh other things like that it's my list oh goad I can take this one Tyler um so uh great question Bernard um so ENT the essential question from the schools is they have this $20,000 that um was tied up for Professional Services they had a plan to use that but they are no longer going to be able to do that um and so they need to come up with another plan for how to use the the 20,000 um that that needs to be you know that needs to go through the regular process for procuring and getting those funds under contract and that is something that would need to happen before December 31st so Bernard that that language in the boat that we're asking you to make you know that the Town Administrator can reauthorize funds sort of partly directly addresses that question of whether and how they're going to use that $220,000 and so um we Tyler and I will work with them do everything we can to get them to get that you know that the $20,000 obligated um and being used for the purposes it was allocated for but if it can't be used if it can't be obligated um we you know we want to be able to to find a use for those funds um so we we're not clawing them back we're not clawing back to $220,000 in this vote it's still allocated to Baffin we're going to work with them and if if it doesn't work out we have a backup plan in the vote that we provided you yeah I just want to make sure that you're you're communicating with them as part of yes thank you for thank you for the reminder Tyler and I have been working hard to get this slate together and get this vote together and then our plan was knowing we have that contingency plan uh to work with them after we get this through great thank you I proot pardon me time for a vote time for a vote okay uh I move of approval the final slate of America actually there is some language magic yes thank you Bernard you please please use the vote in the uh in the in the uh memo thank thank you question of approving the final slate of American Rescue plan act funding allocations as presented by staff and to authorize the Town Administrator to reallocate any funds that are forfeited prior to December 31st 20124 all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak hi um Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren I David Perman I and chair votes I thank you Charlie and Tyler thank you thank you appreciate all the incredibly hard work you you've done in this project okay uh next oh this should take just a few minutes um special appropriation reallocation request okay so wait a minute um Carol do we we have someone from the school committee and I think they should go first Ellen's here who's here Ellen is here is Helen going to make the presentation Helen is online okay Ellen are you making the presentation for the school committee I wasn't planning on making the presentation I thought that you had had a presentation from Susan like two weeks ago three weeks ago right and is want to rely on that well I think that is Carol there too is that y okay she can go first huh she can go first if you want well or be the only one well In fairness Bernard school's presented she for all this time let her go first and and In fairness of the process I think the last time we talked on this subject we voted to ask the capital subcommittee to give us right I mean it's not a question of fairness it's a question of catching us up well I'm fness I'm just to catch us up it's late it's 1010 sorry for the okay Carol come up come up and do your thing quick yeah me mine I have that problem too um okay first before you go um so we have three options I think uh Chaz tell me if I'm wrong none uh one approved the request of the schools as is to accept the recommendation of the advisory committee subcommittee which is to not approve any new projects for inclusion into the fiscal year 25 and 2 CIP until December of 25 or three and tell me if we do have this option pick and choose from the projects uh and there's a list on page 960 of our packet those that we have been persuaded persuaded should go forward oh let's do that you have those options yes um I would there's a little bit of nuance there I think Charlie's the the director of public buildings request is a little more narrow than advisories but not much um it's that the the request be made that the current projects go forward and that if available funding comes for those other projects that they can address it then I think advisory is concerned are a little broader I I don't want to let speak for them I want to let or the subcommittee's concerns are a little broader I want them to be able to speak for themselves um there's kind of there's more more broad language of saying you know these things don't qualify for the mini CIP I don't think that's necessarily Charlie's position I don't want to again I don't want to speak for him either um but the Buildings Department the building Department's position on this is let them finish the work they're currently doing and then if there's more time and more money come back um and the school request is different um but I would let okay so so they they will come back to us the building commission come back to us with possible projects that can be approved by by us that's my understanding yes okay Carol what say you what say me so you asked that we come back tonight speak to the microphone okay and also we have a presentation on ah thank you all so you asked that we come back tonight um with a recommendation which was in your packet um the next slide please so I wanted to just give you a quick refresher of the history of the mini CIP it first came into existence in fiscal year 2018 with the express purpose of addressing some of the Deferred maintenance that had been accumulating primarily on the school side but also a little bit on the town side and as you can see it was funded just marginally if at all through um until fiscal year 2004 when we gave a million dollars to the schools um and then because of the strong free cash position last year for fiscal year 2005 it increased up to 3 million for the schools and 500,000 for Town facilities next slide please in in fiscal year um 24 there was $300,000 taken out of the mini CIP that was redirected to fund work at the Baldwin School and this was in circumvention of the town's established Capital budgeting process as a result of that redirection along with the much larger proposed funding amount for the fiscal year 25 mini CIP the special appropriation language is brought in line with the rest of the capital budgets other special Appropriations and Were Made Project Specific excuse me specific is three as seen in these next three slides this if you want to advance the slides please these this uh these three tables are exactly what town meeting approved in Spring you can go ahead to the next slide please um and this is the final allocation the Appropriations that were made that you see here and the 180,000 that was crossed out reflects the the higher amount that was approved for Baldwin at the request of um the select board and which was approved by town meeting so it was a little less than $3 million that was approved next slide please and then this which you probably can't read is the condition of appropriation um and it references those tables that I just showed along with um a request that any school department approved deviations be approved by the select board after prior notification to the advisory committee next slide please so on December 5th the both the capital and school subcommittees of the advisory committee met met and we had the following goals we wanted to understand what had changed since May town meeting um we wanted to determine if the proposed projects actually fit the Deferred maintenance classification and determine if the projects were historically appropriate for the mini CIP and then recommend a course of action to the board next slide please this was what you were presented by the schools on November 12th and I know that you can't read it which is fine next slide please read and then this is what I've put together that's in your packet which you also cannot read um the goal of this particular table was to try and reconcile with the schools presented on the 12th with the format that was used and approved by town meeting in May so um though you can't really read it here we've updated the um the the third the third column of numbers is an update of the actual fiscal year 25 expenses um those have increased then when the from what you were presented by the schools uh this is was done with Charlie Simmons and the building division it includes things that were funded and also funds that were encumbered uh we also have a line that shows what um the new projected costs are for fiscal year 25 for 26 excuse me oh thank you that helps if you can make it bigger and then finally we combined we have a total for fiscal year 25 and 26 Pro uh projected expenditures finally you see that it's colorcoded and the goal of it being colorcoded was so you could at a glance get a sense for how much change is involved in what was proposed by um the schools the gray things are projects that are going to be completed in fiscal year 25 the big hunk of gray that you see there in the middle that's the Baldwin School Green are projects that have been expanded in scope or are new to the mini CIP for first fiscal year 25 and therefore unapproved the peach colored are things that are new to fiscal year 26 and out years and pink are things that are new to fiscal year 20 26 and are not Min CIP eligible or historically have not been funded by the mini CIP if you can go to the next page please and this page shows Hayes the high school Lawrence rle and for the first time Lynch was thrown in and I'm not opining on whether or not Lynch belongs in the mini CIP for schools or not but this is how the schools presented it next page please this table um shows an aggregation of that information it shows you what was approved for fiscal year 25 26 as you see the total that was approved was a little less than $3 million and then the next column shows based on the adjusted costs of what's been spent to date along with the new um expenses added in with all the requests that the schools have made it brings us to a total of a little more than 3.1 million so there would be a shortfall of 135,000 almost 136,000 if everything went forward is planned this last column also shows on a per school basis which schools have a surplus of funds projected in which schools would be in a deficit position so you can see Baker they've expanded the scope or they're proposing to expand the scope of the number of projects there and it will need an additional $250,000 in funding whereas RL now has almost $400,000 in excess funding because of a a reduction in scope of certain projects next page please um one of the most important takeaways from this analysis was that um the actual spendings to date for fiscal year 25 is much higher than was originally anticipated by the schools the schools on November 12th or at your last meeting said $765,000 and it's almost $1.3 million and as I mentioned earlier that's in part because of more invoices coming in and also taking account for funds that have been incumbered but have not yet been paid out next slide please so we approved in May almost $3 million as of as of the end of November almost a million three has either been spent or encumbered for those projects that the schools are hoping to retain um for fiscal year 26 and the remaining projects for fiscal year 25 were currently projecting about 664 th000 being built being being necessary and there's a deficit for those projects that ran over budget in fiscal year 25 of almost $150,000 which need to be covered which leaves us with a Delta of about $870,000 available to in in Theory fund new projects or cover cost overuns in the remaining projects next line please yes Carol and a quick time check you have two minutes okay I get a few extra minutes because it's so late speaking slower okay I'll give you that okay thank you this is an attempt to show the show the sources and uses as you can see this the $870,000 there's two big chunks sources of money the first first is a delay in the project for the Lincoln School kitchen and cafeteria redo the schools would like to push that out to fiscal year 28 that was originally budgeted for 150,000 and then the rle flooring project was reduced in scope and Charlie Simmons and the building division agrees with that reduction in scope and that generates $400,000 uh some of the completed projects are going to have a surplus of 134,000 for fiscal year 25 and then Charlie as he always does found alternative sources of funds for about $95,000 so I've been able to explain about $800,000 little less than 8 $800,000 of the $872,000 that was there next slide please um so the question is with that $870,000 what should we do with it well um we should retain the money that was appropriated for the Lincoln School kitchen and cafeteria because that project is going to happen the question is how extensive and how expensive will it be the scope really wasn't very well defined when the $150,000 was budgeted and in all likelihood it's going to be more than $150,000 whether it's going to be 200 or five 400 we have no way of knowing but we feel very confident that it'll be higher there will probably be overages on some of the approved projects because we know costs are going up and then there the question of what is actually new deferred maintenance that we need to cover next slide please these are the I believe it's 10 new projects that have been proposed by the schools and that right hand column shows whether or not they meet the definition of deferred maintenance that has traditionally been used for the mini CIP and you can see that there's approximately 820 $5,000 in new projects being proposed 445,000 of those projects would not be considered Min CIP eligible and there is approximately $380,000 of projects that are Min CIP eligible and those are primarily things like painting and floor repair and refurbishment next slide please so the conclusion was that we should that the select board should defer any action on the school board the uh schools proposals until December of next year and the reasons for those are we wanted to make sure that there are sufficient funds for the projects that have already been approved in the minip we want to make sure that there is uh sufficient um projects for those future Pro already approved projects such as the Lincoln School kitchen and cafeteria rather than expect expecting that we'd have funds available in future years CIP to fund it there's also a lot of additional work pending at BHS you saw that big block of pink on my chart for new BHS projects there's also another list of projects that the building commission has in its possession that if there are funds left over from the uh BHS renovation project that the schools would like to see done at BHS so there's a lot of work there and we don't know where the money's going to come from and finally Charlie Simmons requested that we defer decisions on any new projects until December of next year and why December you may ask it's because most of the school work occurs during the summer months so the fiscal year 26 projects will happen in June July in August of of 25 and it really takes until late November early December for all these bills to come in thank you wow okay Mike are you uh I I I so just scratching your head or no no no I'm perfectly having to I actually do want to comment I think um uh this is a very thorough piece of work uh it especially where it explains the S where funds come from the sources and you know over uh uh um projects that have been deferred and so forth and where um uh money is being spent um and I have to say having asked for this and looking at it I would have a very hard time not taking the recommendation uh it's uh it it seems to me to be a very well thought out the one concern I do have uh is that whether we're or the advisory committee is doing the uh the schools job in for example reserving funds for Lincoln if they don't want to do that work then why are we why are we holding that that back they're postponing it they aren't saying they don't want to do it they're just saying they aren't ready to do it this year because they don't have a scope yet okay so they haven't finished it okay got it all right thank you David well if they want to postpone something I another reason for that Beyond not having it fully scoped out is that they deem one of their new proposals to be higher priority so for example I've had some discussions with school committee members and they uh appreciate this process that they had with you and uh going over what's truly high priority and what could maybe be pushed off and so I think it's been helpful that that interaction occurred uh but it's been made very clear to me that the Lawrence project in particular of converting a locker room so it can be used as uh special education office space I believe is really critically important for Lawrence and that the estimate of $250,000 was probably U on the very high side my understanding is they feel that the more basic components of being able to convert that into an office space could be done for 100,000 so given that they are not prioritizing Link in for this year they are prioritizing Lawrence and they do have about 800 ,000 Plus available and what's being proposed here would be almost 400,000 I think that we could take the in between approach of approving The Advisory committee's recommendation with the caveat that we also add in the 100,000 for lence that the school department and school committee saying is really critically important good Paul yeah I first uh I want to thank you for your work um I know just what Mike said this level of detail um is is really important and I appreciate uh the extent to which you did do it um and I appreciate David's comment um chess what's the difference between Charlie's you had me alluded earlier that Charlie has a little bit of a a different view on this it's very minor it really is just about this idea of if you want to do additional work it's not necessarily wait until we have a good sense it's just wait until we have a good sense it do it doesn't necessarily have to be until December of next year but okay if there's if the opportunity arises we want we can take it back plus it it's much more Char Charlie's view on this my understanding is it's much more about capacity okay he thinks that he has enough work to do and that adding more work at the structure even if it is critical work uh work that the schools really want yeah he's you know yeah you could take it out to bid all you want he doesn't have the capacity to take that work on until the work that's currently on the docket is done so if we want to go back to the issue of the Lawrence Office Space we can we don't have to wait until December to do it um we can we can see as the as the year progresses yeah how these projects are coming along where capacity is and Charlie understands that's the priority of the schools he just needs to make it he he needs to he needs to get out from under what he's currently under before he does that work but the select board can make it clear that we think that that is a priority because I agree with David not just because I had a senate at at um Lawrence but because when we're going through the ninth School process one of the issues was putting specialed kids in open uh hallways which not only is just kind of disgusting but it's also probably a violation of the um uh of the federal law governing um you know disabled uh students so I mean I'd like to I don't know you sort of urge Charlie to to at least make that one um a priority if you know if he um is able to uh loosen up some some resources for it may I just speak to that converting space from one use to another is not a minic CIP activity well that that that's yeah that's technical issue but we're talk no it's not a technical issue because there is a wellestablished process in town for how we our Capital Improvements and there's no difference between building a woman's locker room at a fire station or making modifications to the public safety Lobby or any of these other changes in space uses they have a process that they go through and a process needs to be gone through for converting that even if it's appropriate I don't even think that you know we know yet whether or not it's feasible or where that $100,000 is coming as an estimate front so when town meeting voted about deviations from that table it wasn't with the intention that the select board would circumvent the budgeting process that we already have in place in town it was to provide for the flexibility if certain projects ran over or under to real allocate funds we talking about reallocating the funds if if if they're available approv projects there was I I don't think there was ever a a a a consideration that you would be able because this was in reaction to what happened with Baldwin which circumvented the process it was not but I mean I would just say even in response to that the language of the appropriation says that it's not deferred maintenance it's minor Renovations and upgrades to school buildings yeah so that's not just it's not to language of the appropriation allows something like this in our opinion um that's what town meeting appropriated it may not be necessarily what you want the mini CIP to be or to do but theor under these proposals and I agree with you this process used to be a lot looser even than that and then the issue with Balwin came up and there was and this town meeting tightened this language but it still doesn't say deferred maintenance it says minor reservations and upgrades and a project of that size probably qualifies Mike um I have a I have a uh something I'd like to say that I think um is much more General and and I wonder whether it's premature to say I think perhaps I wonder if he'd come back to me Bernard I'm sorry towards the end of uh towards the end of this I'd like to throw something else in that is a much more General comment yeah well I'm sitting here to be honest somewhat confused because I'm not even sure what role the select board has in in this um I I you know I keep hearing about how you know there was a town meeting appropriation and then I keep hearing about how there were you know some changes of thinking in in the school um on the school side as to you know the projects that should be first priority and the projects that should be deferred um and then I'm hearing that the advisory committee quite on you know quite understandably wants to have a say in this as to um you know is is the School departments or the school committee's change of preferences um in keeping with our building department and Charlie Simmons's sense of what should be the priority projects but but what's our role in this um do do we really H have um authority to say you know Charlie's right and the school committee is wrong or the advisory committee is right and you know what what's our role in this well we have the authority of what town me granted us the appropriation and that and the authority is we we could make the changes to the CIP yeah the the goal the goal of this is oversight right there was the the concern raised about Baldwin and how that process went meant that town meeting put additional oversight onto the process and they voted it through this language but they still kept the idea that it is not solely it could be changed it could well yeah the the uses are a little broader than just deferred maintenance that said right I think Carol and the team and the process that they followed was very in-depth and very and great in the sense of thinking through what it what what you know what is necessary and how to get the school committee to think through before we flip I one I I what I wanted to say but um so David had said something about the Lawrence I just can I could someone explain to me what the conversion of the locker room is going to be to is it office space or is it to education space it's to meet with special education students but we have Helen on and she could probably give a more specific answer yeah and I'm very familiar with uh with the Lauren school I have two children that go there and I know I see where the children meet um for for special assistance um and and it's not great right now it's in an open hallway that's in an open hallway or they've got some some barriers that yeah hallways so um the Charlie's recommendation which is let's let's get some of the work done so we have a better sense of what we have for money left um does that would that impede the conversion of the locker room to uh special ed space it absolutely would because if we're saying that we're only going to go with what was already approved and that means that they go forward with Lincoln even though even the school department depart doesn't want to go forward with Lincoln no no no that's not what we're saying we're not saying to do the Lincoln C cafeteria and and kitchen well that's that's what's approved that's what's been funded so saying that you could that that would have to be done first before Lawrence because Lawrence was not approved that's not what he said that's that's it's a matter of holding the money rather than allocating it for something else and I think what David and I are saying instead of holding the money yeah I I understand it's not a matter of saying that you have to spend the money on on on on Lincoln it's a matter of saying let's hold on to this money until we see what the costs are of the of the remaining work that has to be done but if Lincoln doesn't get done for a few years andless then how does that help Lawrence so I I don't understand why we would be holding on to money for a project that's not high priority when there's a project that is high priority and there's money available for it in terms of in terms of the bandwidth issue if the uh school committee and school department are saying Lincoln is not as important Lawrence and we approve Lawrence then Lawrence could be worked on now instead of Lincoln or instead of some of these other projects Charlie you know on this call Charlie is not Charlie is with family tonight um but I also I would I would be cautious there just because I don't know how far along the work at Lincoln is um or what's going on there I would I would I think Helen might be able to actually provide us some color on that if she's able to he Helen are you will you show yourself there is on the table that you can't read okay can you hear me there she is yep I'm sorry I've been trying to say stuff so I have had a conversation with Charlie about Lawrence he was going to go over there and look at it um he wasn't necessarily averse to it but he wanted to look at it to make sure it had been a while since he'd been there um in terms I mean I if I could say a couple words would that be okay yeah um we appreciate what the advisory committee has done going through and making sure that everything is you know um more or less what what we had asked for um I think what I would like to request is two things one to be able to go forward with the Lawrence School uh is basically taking out the lockers putting in some flooring and painting the walls and we have the furniture and everything to go in there so that speech therapists or occupational therapists could use the space to work with children and not be in the hallways as you were saying Paul um the other piece that I would like to request is that you approve what they've approved including Lawrence and then allow us not in December but if we see that bids are coming in at at the uh amount that they we estimated or under that we'd be allowed to add to that list sooner let's say in April or May so things could get done this summer and not wait till fiscal year 27 I guess it would be Paul y so um first again I'm gonna say thank you because I know how hard hard hard you worked on this I'm going to see if we can get get move get to a path here um so I I'm wondering if we could approve what Charlie Charlie's version of this uh which he said he wanted to wait a little bit but let Charlie make the decision when the Lawrence gets the trigger gets pulled on Lawrence because he's essentially the one who has to do the work and the oversight and you know let's delegate the authority to him that Lawrence is certainly a priority but you know it's going to start when he's when he's ready and able to do it um and then um I think there's a broader discussion around a policy about what the mini CIP is and because that's what we're getting stuck up on here um and we're getting caught up and um you know if we were to do those two things Charlie's version with approval for the Lawrence locker room on Charlie's timing um if they got to come back for changes later in the year they come back to us could I make one suggestion or modification to that that hold on voting for the Lawrence until you hear from Charlie after he assesses the reasonableness of making the conversion and the magnitude of funds he thinks he's going to need I guess I I I would you know he's in charge of our buildings I almost feel like we could delegate to him making the decision but you'll be telling him that he has to do the no what we be saying is conditioned on your ability to uh Garner the uh resources and funds to complete the project yeah does he have the money does he have the time yeah yeah if we run out if if he may say he can't get the I don't know you from a from a from a real estate perspective he may say I can't get the proper HVAC in there or or to do it it's gonna cost a lot of money or he you know it's or I can't say that I don't have a window or so that's why I'm saying there's no r because they aren't going to go out in the next three months and bid this so at least let him go and assess the situation and tell you whether or not it's doable before you say that's what we say yeah there's no there's no it's it's just like you know we're not directing the the Lincoln work be done we're saying take the We There are funds that need to be that can be held back let's see what else needs to be funded same thing with this let's see what he says absolutely that's and and we're saying that you know there's not a um prohibition until December 2025 on yeah yeah let's let's let it come now what what's going to happen is that they'll the requests will come back we'll need to act on those presumably they have to come back to us right yeah okay can I say one more thing Bernard sure and then I'm going to stop I do think that this this is an important issue that we've raised right that that our our real estate is a portfolio and we have to look at it as a portfolio and we need someone to be able to review assess and confirm how we're man managing and maintaining that portfolio you've raised a lot of issues here but I think that's really important and whether I think the the capital subcommittee has done a great job here working with the schools in Charlie this is what we actually want to have happen I think so um just following on from that if I may this is the point that I wanted to make earlier is that I I I would love to give the advisory committee an assignment of course I have no Authority whatsoever to do that um but uh if I could I would say can you organize within the resources that you have uh a a a benchmarking basically looking at comparable communities uh that uh look at pick I think we typically we say well Lexington or Welsley or whatever but look at look at four five six comparable uh communities and see what their policies are for managing that portfolio because the school building is just as much as school buildings are just as much a part of that portfolio as this building or anything else that we own and we do have this odd frag to me at least fragmented view uh of uh of how uh improvements and and maintenance is done in these um in these really very similar facilities so they're buildings so uh it seems to me like that would be very uh a very helpful exercise so we I was just gonna say the so the when the capital subcommittee met with Charlie on the F we started talking about this very thing and have already agreed that we we as a subcommittee are going to start working with Charlie and he's very interested in our doing this reaching out to other communities to find out how they're organized their public buildings how they manage them how they budget for them and what their policies and procedures are because we feel that um now that we're you know these are these are very sophisticated complex buildings that we have now and we can we deserve an update how we manage them Carol one of the things I think you will find is that in most districts the buildings are under the school department and not under the town we'll find that out we'll find that out we're hearing mix reports on I just at given the hour um I was thought maybe I could offer a motion are we uh okay why don't you take a first crack I'll take a first crack I would um I would like to uh move that we accept the recommendations of the advisory committee uh with the exception of the Lawrence School and that the Lawrence School locker room would be added um and at the approval and assessment of uh of Charlie Simmons on timing ability and capacity as long as that doesn't prevent Charlie from coming back the the he can come back the comp the component of the advisories committee's recommendation that I think just diverges this idea that don't come back until December uh they he can come back earlier back yeah yeah come back when he's ready yeah yeah yeah December has nothing there's nothing uh any is that okay is that uh that's okay okay so um I move approval of Paul resolution all in favor John vanak hi Michael S hi Paul Warren hi David Perman I and chair votes I thank you Carol thank you and write up youru someone needs to trans we got it we got it yeah got be in the record of the Mee Kate is watching thank you Kate TI the whole team are we done or do we get one no we're not done yet have a lot more promise yes the revised the revised charge that we discussed at your um retreat at your Workshop uh for expenditures revenues I made the changes that the group suggested particularly language about being mindful not to duplicate the work of the prior bodies updating the bench uh making sure that guidance is provided to the advisory committee as appropriate on measuring benchmarks and success basically setting the table for advisory to take this work over but not dictating how they do the work because advisory is a separate body uh and an independent body uh and updating the membership to um nine members uh and making clear that it's at least one member of the select board at least one member of the school committee so that if you wind up with um you know two one in one but there's a balance there that you're satisfied with so be it um otherwise no changes and what about the open meeting um I mean this is this this is assumes that this will be subject to the open meeting um okay um any questions or comments there okay I move approval of the expenditure and revenue study committee charge as revised um all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi davidman I jar votes I finally 20124 annual town meeting and 2024 special town meeting followup question of transmitting the following warrant articles as home rule petitions to the state legislature as a result of town meing action um is anyone going to talk about that or is it fairly straightforward just do it let's just do it be true yeah okay waren article 14 an act authorizing the appointment of retired police officers as special police officers in the town of Brookline uh and warn article 18 an act authorizing the town of Brooklyn to prohibit or restrict the application of second generation anti- ulent rodent sides um the first one was from the 2024 annual town meeting and the second one was that's a typo 2025 special town meeting yeah okay 2024 special town sorry 24 okay and you will see Melissa has put both her Memo from uh the 2024 annual town meeting from uh earlier in the year and her new memo from the special doesn't cover just this it covers everything this is the basis of the town meeting tracker that we are going to that's going to go live at the end of this week so again we're we're a little behind schedule on this because I wanted to just touch base with the moderator and a series of comical maladies befell me during this month um can I raise one can I raise one one one quick point one quick point about this so um you know Chaz the moderator um Ben Kaufman and Mike toffle really initiated this um and we ended up approving the memo for this tracker it's never been communicated to town meeting uh what was done and I you know I think it would be really helpful to share the memo and um and you know it's Genesis especially with Mike because he did do Yan's work in getting us to do this and I do think we just need to close the loop with town meeting because we've never really alerted them Neil spoke a little bit about it at but people didn't know what was going on uh the moderator and I we're going to have a conversation hopefully later this week about about that roll out because I want to be sure that I'm not stepping on his toes you know it is his body so I want to make sure that he gets the message out and it's commensurate with the work he's also doing on other recordkeeping and upates and storage so but we never communicated The Memo from the board no but that that I want Neil to be able to put that out to town meeting on the on through the the email system you know officially okay when it goes live okay okay okay thank you um so I'm move approval of the question of transmitting uh warrant article 14 and warrant article 18 for I'm sorry pardon me we're article 17 from the annual town meeting and 18 from the special town meeting okay so there's another type one here at least in my not so it's one article 17 17 from the ATM and 18 from the STM wait yeah okay what did you said okay as as as described by the time I'm over approval of the Warren articles that's described by the Town Administrator and and you you will make sure that our minutes are accurate yes all in favor John Van skak hi Michael S hi Paul Warren hi David fman hi and shair votes I and that is the end of our meeting unless someone in the public would like to speak hearing none meeting's over thank you everyone thank you have a happy New Year yeah have a h happy and safe new year and holiday season