##VIDEO ID:riS_kH6kO58## [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] in [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] chair of the Brookline select board and this is the regular meeting of the select board for September 24th 2024 first order of business is uh I will move that we go into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to potential and imminent litigation threatened by Shabad liovic of Chestnut Hill involving property at 90 and 100 Bellingham road we will reconvene an open session at uh the approximate time of 7:15 uh and we're going into executive session because the discussion of such litigation in an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the town's litigating position and I so declare that that is our reason for going into executive session so all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Mike samon I and may the Lord forgive you for mispronouncing kabad oh sorry yes I'm going to hell um Paul Warren hi David fman I and chair votes I [Music] [Music] in 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meeting of the select board for September 24th 2024 uh let's start off with any comments updates or uh thoughts from the select board I'd like to start by saying that we just got back from a really nice event at uh the VFW Hall uh honoring the uh Community Emergency Response Team and uh medical uh uh Medical Reserve Reserve Corp um volunteers who um are trained and work throughout the town in times of emergency whether that's man-made emergency a natural emergency or act of Terror like the um Marathon bombing uh it's very nice Affair and and you know I really think that we're very lucky to have over 260 people who are in those two program actually over 300 people in the two programs together um who are uh ready to help out in the event of an emergency so that was a enjoyable time and they had good food so came back um Mike uh thank you Bernard um I last week uh last Wednesday night uh there was a forum uh In This Very Room uh in which uh a non a person who's a nonprofit developer of affordable housing and a person who's a for-profit developer will both um uh both answering some questions uh about the barriers and the and the potential for uh constructing affordable housing and uh it was sponsored by an organization that some people would consider to be well not some people but is partisan uh but it was very much uh an informative and I thought rather a nonpartisan evening uh and I would um urge anybody who's interested in understanding the things that need to be done in order to develop uh affordable housing from the perspective of a developer to take a look at uh either the YouTube presentation or go to the Brookline Interactive Group and look for the for-profit and nonprofit developer perspectives video it's um about an hour and a half uh and uh it really provides a lot of useful practical and as I say nonpartisan information yeah I'd like to second that um I I didn't attend I did watch the Youtube presentation in terms of just this minute details of development things that you don't normally think about I mean it was really very very informative um and I I you know second Mike's suggestion the people go and and watch it so um did John yeah thanks very much um I want to say just a word or two about an event uh Bernard uh and I were there Sunday um so was a former chair of the select board Neil washinsky was there others many others were there I'm not going to go down the list of names but um this was an event that preco um was somewhat Common Place uh among organizations in Brooklyn um the way it works is um people form an organization the organization has a mission people volunteer to do um Community projects that are consistent with the mission of the organization and then every now and then they do a little fundraising through the generosity of a couple of members who say open up their home um or invite people to visit their home in their Garden um people get together and socialize for an afternoon um and um chip in some money and it's those kinds of events that allow us all to kind of connect to each other develop a feel of community feeling of community um that is um more than just neighbor to neighbor but it's kind of a commitment to improving the town over time and the organization um is the Green Space Alliance uh in this case and the event was wonderful um and uh there was even a connection which I just found out about this connection today um to the history of the Olstead firm um the Frederick Law Olstead firm in Brooklyn so what you know what better setting to gather a bunch of folks who want to support green spaces in Brookline um and they want to do it in a way that um is uh is going to last um make a lasting impact on the town and that that's what this event was I was grateful to have been a part of it um but the good news is uh anybody can become a member of the Brooklyn Green Space Alliance um and get involved in some of their activities um including a couple of activities that they've got coming up they're going to be doing a guided walk of Riverway Park on October 5th they're going to be doing a bird walk on December 8th um and if you visit the website Brookline greenspace all one word Brooklin greenspace dorg you'll learn a lot about this organization and maybe the next time they have one of their annual events I'll see you there and you'll see me so um thank you Brooklyn Green Space Alliance yeah and just to add U if you want to see the benefit that the town receives from the Green Space Alliance go up to Fisher Hill Park Reservoir Park and walk around the signage describing the wildf flowers and the and the U the other things about that Park uh is just really incredible very educational uh and a great U benefit that we reive uh from the Green Space clients PA yep thank you Bernard um on average we have seven meetings on the public calendar per day um so there there's a lot Thursday there's only four I think there's five um today there's six or seven um so I'm going to highlight two and it doesn't mean that the others aren't important but um there are two that are are pretty significant I think for uh for the public may be interested in uh the first is actually Mike you're uh 6:30 on Wednesday I believe there's a Chestnut Hill area study committee I'll make a plug for you uh this is going to be a presentation um on uh a concept for uh a part of that area for for development that the the the the community may be very interested in that's at 6:30 p.m. and it's it's bumping up right against another important uh meeting that's taking place the Washington Street complete Street design Review Committee is is uh is being held at 6 PM um so you have to maybe pick which one you want to go to or try to have two screens going but uh the Washington Street uh project is very important U there's a lot of interest in it for cyclists and motorists and Walkers and everybody has an has an interest in what's taking place with the potential redesign of Washington Street uh so two meetings 6 PM Wednesday it's on the calendar for complete streets Washington Street and then 6:30 pm Mike may make a comment about the just Hill commercial area study um sure if you Berard if you don't mind and thank you Paul I um appreciate only only wanted to highlight one thing but uh um happy to highlight this as well uh we have um a fairly detailed proposal from uh the from uh city realy which uh acquired the chest Hill Office Park which is basically a vacant uh group of buildings at the West End of uh of of uh the stretch between Hammond Street and Hammond Pawn Parkway um it uh the developer has made an effort to incorporate what they heard in the neighborhood uh about about the neighborhood's desires and at the same time tried to figure out how they could U make the development economically viable and there will be some very interesting tradeoffs uh between those two uh desires and uh I think certainly for people who live in the Chestnut Hill area but in general uh this will be an interesting and instructive uh presentation so I hope people will tune in and uh at the same time Washington Street is equally a lot going on pretty important so uh I'm thinking about having to do a split screen myself Avid did you have your hand up no may I mention one more of it sure oh um this one is an amazing event and it is happening this Saturday September 28th and it's porchfest so um uh I I just marvel at how this event comes together once a year and uh as I say it's this coming Saturday um there are so many music groups and so many locals around town where you're going to be able to witness um and enjoy performances of individuals and groups um uh sharing their music from porches that uh it would be Folly for me to even try to begin to list them but if you go to uh um uh the website of the Brookline porchfest uh you'll be able to see the entire list um this is this is the real number um you take the various groups who are going to perform many of them in more than one location you know over the period of the porchfest um and it adds up to 101 um different individual performances scattered around Brookline this coming Saturday so just look up the website of Brookline porchfest and you'll see the entire list and you can have a really good time Saturday just visiting porches and listening to music thank you okay um next is public comment uh Tiffany want to explain the rules yes thank you for joining us for public comment this is an opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brookline that matter to you each person speaking tonight is limited to 3 minutes you don't need to use the entire time but you may if you like once 15 minutes has been met there is an opportunity at the conclusion of the select board's business for additional comments members of the public sometimes raise questions during public 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 are welcome to send an email to board members expressing your thoughts in Greater detail the first person we have signed up in advance is Kathy Jansen Kathy if you could approach the podium and when you're ready your three minutes will begin hello my name is Kathy Jansen I've lived in Brookline for over 25 years and we have come here to ask for your help I'm a founding member of Brookline uh friends of Brookline Raptors which is a small Grassroots organization that is working to restrict the use of second generation anti-coagulant rendds known as esars escar are a class of rodent poisons that prevent blood from clotting when an animal ingests a Lal dose of an escar it dies slowly making it an easy target for Predators resulting in escar being deadly for these Predators it's also deadly for household pets eagle owls Hawks and Falcons are dying at an alarming rate one study by Moren Murray a tough's veterinarian found that 95.5% of raptors seen in Veterinary emergency rooms in Massachusetts tested positive for escar and 81% of those had two different types of the poison in their systems being exposed more than once there are many other safe ways to manage rodents in the long run killing Raptors that can each eat over a thousand rodents a year backfires friends of Brookline Raptors is taking a two-pronged approach to try to address this issue legislation and Community Education and empowerment currently we are supporting warrant article 18 a home rule petition to allow Brookline to restrict the use of esars on private property in favor of using other safer rodent control measures many of those safer methods which are now being used on public property in Brookline there are 44 groups in process of organizing 17 groups fully established across the state of Massachusetts six other communities have already filed home rule petitions including Newton and Arlington we ask for your support of this very important cause and if I have any seconds left i' like to give them to my colleague who's going to speak further on the issue uh we probably have about 30 seconds 30 seconds okay David brick did sign up in advance to speak oh he did okay then you get the full three minutes I'm a slow talker that's why I asked for the exra anyway sorry um hello I'm uh David brick um also founding member of friends of Brookline Raptors um first of all I just want to um appreciate the work that the select board and um the Department of Public Works and the Department of Public Health and many other people in Brookline have already put in to try to uh address our rodent issues um in as safe and effective way as possible um I know a lot of people in our community care about um about the environment um and about the impacts on humans of harming the environment um and uh you know Kathy mentioned that we're we're supporting this legislation and legislation is one of our approaches um but and we we hope the waren article 18 does pass Andor we hope that there's State legislation to restrict the use of these poisons um and whether or not they do um a really important um piece of whatever happens is going to have to be Community Education and empowerment um we're all going to have to decide as a community um that that we understand that these poisons are dangerous that they're not the way forward um and and that we want to take a different and better approach um it's going to involve Behavior change it's not um there there are um safer ways of addressing rodent issues but it's not going to be uh an easy fix um and um so we're asking for for your help and the help of the town government in general to do what's really the heavier lift than passing a law uh which is actually um educating the community educating homeowners and businesses about how dangerous these poisons are and um about the other means of controlling rodents um in including denying them food um which I know the town is already working on um addressing how people uh deal with their trash and um you know helping people to to understand the need to say for example take take in their bird feeders at night and um other ways denying the the rodent shelter um and and also learning about how to use non-poison methods you have 30 seconds thank you um so I'll just say that um this this is going to be a long haul and we we need we need your help on this and um we need the community's help and uh to start we're having a community event on October 7th um in the Denny room which is in the basement of the Public Health Building on 11 Pier Street um that's where it's going to be in person it's going to be a hybrid meeting um please email us at friends of Brooklin Raptors gmail.com you can also visit our website friends of Brooklin raptors.com .org to learn more um that concludes your time thank you and that's Monday October 7th 700 to 8:30 p.m. thank you the next speaker signed up is Alec leitz Alec I'm promoting you now and you should be able to start your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes thank you Tiffany can you see and hear me yes excellent uh well good evening and uh thank you for the opportunity to make public comment comment uh I'll be very brief because I I wouldn't want to make any of you sick of me before the main portion of the meeting with our our Warren articles uh I just wanted to come in the board on their last working session their meeting last week um I thought as an attendee it was a a fascinating session uh lots of good discussion and in-depth evaluation of uh future challenges for the town and how we might strategize to combat those um I am particular want to commend the board for including the review of Brook Lin's pilot agreements uh as one of our key uh fiscal Improvement goals uh for the coming fiscal year um and I wanted to just briefly um comment on two of the points around pilot agreements that were raised uh one by uh David and one by Bernard um I think David had raised the point of uh there being potential value for the town in securing uh access to community benefits from certain pilot eligible entities uh and in particular access to Athletic Field space uh one thing I just wanted to flag for the board's attention uh is that under our current pilot policy uh we are only allowed or we've only establish the ability under administrative policy to consider uh the admission of community benefits in lie of pilot payments for entities that own less Property Holdings valued at less than eight million or so dollars in Brookline uh and just wanted to flag that certainly for entities like nor Eastern University that own uh field space and some of the other private secondary education facilities uh those Property Holdings exceed that value um and I would encourage the board to consider changing our pilot policy um to make it more permissible for Community benefits to be substituted for monetary payments in these cases uh secondly I wanted to comment on a point raised I Believe by by chair green um about a desire to use the pilot program uh to provide some benefits to smaller nonprofit entities uh that provide real Community value but may be uh underresourced or fiscally stretched um I I also just wanted to to flag for the board's attention that uh there are no provisions on our current pilot policy for us to provide any benefits uh in return uh for pilot payments or or the provision of community benefits um the pilot moderators committee did recommend that we include those uh the provision of those benefits in exchange uh for nonprofit entities fulfilling their pilot obligations uh in particular one thing that we uh recommended was providing access for those entities to the 30 seconds uh finance department L purchasing collaborative uh which could extend to those entities that fulfill their pilot obligations uh discounted bulk rates for the purchase of heating oil office supplies uh and other necessary materials um so just again wanted to commend the board for um putting some focus on reviewing our pilot program for the next fiscal year but would also encourage the board to consider reopening the pilot policy to make some of these changes possible thank you very much thank you that concludes speakers who sign up in advance if there are speakers in the room who would like to speak tonight okay we do have one person raising their hand online that's Sarah uh Ron neard um Sarah I'm going to promote you now Sarah you should be able to start your video if you're ready and begin your three minutes hi uh I'm SAR raner thank you for the opportunity to comment uh I just want to thank the board for hosting these meetings I I didn't know that these were happening this is my first time here um I'm not sure exactly what was discussed in the executive session I'm a neighbor of 90 and 100 Bellingham Road and I just want to say that I I hope the select board supports the decision made by the preservation department for the demolition delay um that was all I wanted to say thank you thank you Sarah the next speaker is Marissa vote Marissa I'm promoting you now and you can start your video and begin your 3 minutes hi everyone uh my name is Marissa vot I'm a town meeting member um in Precinct six um and I'm also a purce parent of a second grader and a a be um prek student um but I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the safe safe roots to school task force um which is a group of parent and teacher representatives from all PSB schools as well as other community members um who help coordinate activities aimed at getting um students and families and staff safely to school especially by um walking and cycling and um I just wanted to address the issue of the um midday crossing guard at um Pierce at OS um as you know during construction uh Pierce kindergarten through fifth graders are being um housed at the or are going to school at the um at the old Lincoln School which is on Route 9 or Boon Street which is a state highway and unfortunately the school playground is across the street um from the school and for the past few weeks there's been a crossing guard um at the school all day to help students and staffs um safely cross the street but unfortunately as of this week that crossing guard is now being that daytime crossing guard is now being funded by the PTO um and the safe Roots School task force course um it fully supports um finding funding for this crossing guard um we would like to ask you to um please do what you can on the town side to help identify funding and make sure that our kids um Can safely get to and from their playground during school hours and then specifically um we just want to address your role as police Commissioners to please um ensure that um enforcement is taking place during uh commute hours to and from schools not just Pierce at OS but all schools um though for um for the old Lincoln School currently there there have been a lot of issues um one is behind me you can see a U-Haul truck um parked on the the sidewalk um there just there are lots of issues with um with traffic with cars um this morning a parent reported that a car went through the the red light at that midblock Crossing in front of the peer School um OS um you know cars blocking the box and that um there's need for increased enforcement of the traffic rules that we already have to help get your um and all of our uh PSB uh kids and um staff and families you have 30 seconds so thank you very much have a good evening thank you Marissa Iris Albert I am promoting you now and you can begin your video video this will be the last speaker at the for public comment during this period there will be additional time for public comment at the end of the meeting Iris you may begin your three minutes okay thank you very much um okay okay here we go yes um I like Sarah am also speaking to the executive session that just occurred um obviously we don't know the outcome but all of us who are here tonight are in support from Bellingham Road are in support of the preservation commissioner's decision that was the second decision already on the same topic um you know it seems unfair that this is being questioned again and that uh you know it's totally legal for the litigation to be made but um it seems that the best way forward is really to respect the neighbors to work with the neighbors to make this more of a community effort rather than adversarial um and we just hope that uh the select board will see the good sense of going in that direction um because according to our Council we also have strong legal grounds um for for our side as well so uh just uh wanted to put in our our opinions and hopefully you'll hear from from the rest of us later thank you so much and there's definitely a more peaceful way of going about this thank you Iris that concludes our time for public comment at the beginning of the select board's business if you have additional thoughts that you'd like to share please email them to the select board or there will be additional time at the end of the meeting thank you okay thank you Tiffany um first uh on our miscellaneous agenda is minutes from September 10 20124 uh any um corrections to those minutes then I move approval for the Amendments for September 10 2024 all in favor please indicate by saying I John B skak I Michael sandon hi Paul Warren hi David Perman I and chair votes I uh next I'd like to take items five b 5 C 5D and 5f in Omnibus fashion and vote item 5e separately unless someone wants to pull another item out of the U Omnibus uh votes that we will take okay um okay I'm move approval of items 5 b c d and f um in the miscellaneous agenda all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak hi um Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David Perman I your votes I uh now I'd like to take uh item 5e um question of approving a request by Brookline rotary to place signs in various locations related to their annual dog Daye event on October 20 um all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I um David Perman I and chair has to abstained okay uh next our calendar boards and commissions interviews we have a lot of people to interview on a lot of very interesting boards and commissions uh starting off with the police commissioner's advisory committee um any order you want to go Tiffany I have Joseph figler first yes we could go from top to bottom on this okay good um Joseph Is With Us online Joseph I'm promoting you now and you should be able to start your video and once you have the chair will begin your interview hello can every hear me good evening please introduce yourself and tell us why you would like to be a member of the police commissioner's advisory committee and what you can bring to that committee sure so my name is Joseph figler I've been a resident in the town for a very long time um you know I grew up you know in South Brooklyn went to the public schools went to the high school did that whole thing um you know I've been working in the financial sector for past 23 years the last five years of which I've led a team uh that's been responsible for the oversight and governance of business process Outsourcing and so if you're not familiar with what that is essentially when um business units send work from a high cost location to a lowcost location you need to manage that relationship right to make sure service levels are you know being provided the way they should be and so with that there's a lot of oversight a lot of governance a lot of documentation that's needed um to ensure that relationship's working properly you need to look at what's called service level agreements which are very similar to um contracts right um You need to make sure that the service Services provided are are met right to the standards um you know that you expect and that you agreed to and so when you look at you know the police commissioner's advisory committee and you look at some of the remits that they have it's civilian oversight it's studying and scrutinizing policies procedures practices and things like that and that's very familiar to what I've been doing um a lot of what I've been doing you know for you know the past five years is it's all about risk mitigation and I feel like that's what this committee is all about right we can help mitigate risk related to the policies and procedures within the BPD and if we do that effectively it will just help the town um and I think with my experience there you know that's a value add to the committee and into the town at large um when you look at what I've done in Brookline specifically as a constable it's a little different than being a police officer but what is similar is the interactions that you have with the people right um I've served over 8,000 notices over my what 12E um career career as a conable in Brookline specifically and you know over that time I've had a lot of interactions with just people in I I I describe them as not very friendly situations right they are but they're not right and you just have to approach it in a very even kill non-confrontational way and I feel like that perspective right when looking at policies and procedures and how they're you know put into place by the police I think would be very helpful um you know especially when you start looking at the complaints because that's another aspect of the committee from what I understand is you have to review both internal and external complaints whether that's within the police department itself or from the citizens and I think my perspective you know as a consle I think would add value to the those you know within the committee who don't have that same experience um and so you know at a high level you know I think those experiences that I have in the various different professions that I've worked in um I I think would help great thank you Paul you want to start off yep uh Joe thank you for uh for going through I'm I'm actually pleased how you connect your your business experience um is I I thought you were going to focus on your your Constable experience but I was really pleased and and I happen to agree I think that's pretty interesting that you're managing uh you know contracts Outsourcing and that is very a procedure and SLA type of focused activity uh which I think could possibly translate um I do have a I want like to get an opinion from you your thoughts on on on something uh for years ago or so um the the school committee uh actually I think it was the U school superintendent discontinued the school resource officer program uh in in the Brookline public schools and I'm curious do you have um do you have thoughts about the sro's um and in in particular uh with respect to you know what's it working not working if was if it was to come before you again for advice what what would be your perspective so I'm in favor of them just in general um you know I don't want to date myself but back when I was in high school I thought they they came in handy right I thought they added a benefit if it's a and and you really have to dive into the why as to you know why they stopped having them if it's an issue of funding there's only so much you can do right if they they were proven ineffective then I would ask well why that is you know and you really have to dive into the details to come up with an informed decision on that um I'm frankly too removed from why that decision was made to really give like an informed opinion on it but you know as a general rule based off of my experiences I'd prefer to have more security within our schools than less so you know providing we can afford it you know I I would love to see them back okay uh in your um application you mentioned that you'd like to help create an that atmosphere where complaints can be filed without fear of Retribution do you have any um information that that is a problem within the police department anecdotally right I'm not gonna give any specific names to any people but you know as a it just seems as though people are afraid to say something because they're afraid that they might experience retaliation or retribution for what they they say how they come forward and so just in Reading you know about the committee I feel like the committee can really add value in that regard and I feel like if we can give from an internal perspective right police officers um a a place to go and just let us know what's going on without fear of Retribution or retaliation and feel and whether we do that anonymously which we probably be preferred right um or you know have them come forward and and state their name I guess we could do it that way too but you know I I feel like that's where some real value ad would be and I feel like um just because so my experience with that is from a financial industry perspective right we created at the company I worked for a speak up line right where you can go and anonymously report incidents that are I don't know how to say that nicely but that need to be addressed right um and so if we can give that sort of venue to the police offices of Brook line so that they can do that um I think that'd be a great thing and that's something I'd like to help do if possible he thank you any any other questions thank you and thank you for applying to the uh bcac well thank you for giving me the time I appreciate it okay okay the next applicant for interview is Karen linski who oh Karen lishinsky Is With Us online Karen I'm going to promote you now and once you start your video um if you're comfortable Bernard the chair will begin your interview you are on mute good evening everyone my name is uh Karen lashinsky um and I'm I I've only been living in Brookline for about one year I moved from uh Newton Mass okay um so uh give us a sense of why you want to be on the police commissioner is advisory committee and what you can bring to it as well as what do you know currently about its operations so I'll just say I I'm a sociologist and I teach full-time up at Curry College I also teach at the boss College Law School um my experience is I've taught a lot of police officers um uh classes most specifically around the intersectionality of racism sexism homophobia transphobia classism for many many years um my primary focus in criminal in the criminal justice system has been that I brought uh restorative justice practices to prisons in Massachusetts throughout Massachusetts um and the whole idea was to have those who are incarcerated if you really want uh to have folks take accountability for um the harm they've inflicted um then we're GNA have to do it a little differently and move from um this idea of just punishment to more of what I would call a healing environment it's tough to do in a prison I think we were pretty successful and continue to be uh successful but that is asking the incarcerated to go through a process where they look at their own life and try to connect the dots of their life what was the thing that led to thing that led to thing that has you sitting um in this prison maybe for the rest of your life likewise I work with a lot of survivors who've experienced um uh not only personally extreme harm but have had family members um murdered and they have continually uh said and spoken up that they want a different way to do this thing called criminal justice um and so my job uh had been to work with the incarcerated around um how trauma has impacted their life go through a process and then bring in um those impacted um by harm and go through a process together it's not for everybody but it is certainly for uh some folks presently I'm working um with a lot of uh correctional officers around the issue of trauma because I think prisons and jails are trauma Rich environments that I don't care who you are once you put your foot into a prison or jail you now um will experience some level of trauma in your life uh it's incredibly important to process that through so I think I bring a lot of uh experience Insight wisdom around um uh the system of Criminal Justice and the correctional system um I just moved to Brookline so I don't know the inner workings of how your commission Works um but I certainly have had conversations and continue to have conversations with those in law enforcement in terms of um how do you do things uh more transparently effectively um relationally uh with Community um because I think communication transparency is uh critically important uh David C could you explain what some of your priorities are if you are to get on to the commission well I I think first and foremost um uh the interactions between the community and the Brooklyn Police but also the experiences of the police officers right you definitely you want to know what the experiences are of those in the community but the officers work in that community so what is their P perspective how can you do a better job in having um everyone's perspective validated right I don't think at least in my travels often folks do not understand um uh the difficulties of the job say for correctional officers but once you go through a process and explain some of the traumatic events that they will experience um I think you have more understanding uh Community but there's a lot of misunderstandings among both groups right so that would be a key for me in terms of looking at the relationship between the community and uh the police I'll ask this quick first thank you I your resume is very impressive um I'm amazed at the number of Publications that you've done in in presentations and the work that you're doing I think it's very important um but I I do want to ask similar to what I asked you I'm just curious about your your perspective on uh school resource officers um you know at generally you don't know much about Brook line I know because you're you're new but generally you may have a perspective on this given given your work and and in areas of Interest yes so I certainly would want to uh know and have more insight into the history of that program but if you're asking me just in general um I think uh the less presence of officers in schools I'm I'm a teacher right and I think the less presence of officers in schools um uh is more effective in terms of learning and I also think you have to think about the history of police and police officers in schools uh in the issue of race right and be mindful of what that means uh for students of color um black students in particular uh who are in those schools and the history connected uh to to um very difficult issues it doesn't mean I'm therefore saying um that there isn't a place uh for policing uh and schools but I think it has to be really thought through um because it hasn't historically um been effective uh if you um listen to particularly students of color and how they feel about a presence of officers in their schools um again I so that's what I would say yeah yep thank you okay thank you thank you for applying to the police commissioner's advisory committee and um uh we will make our decisions at a later meeting thank you thank you Karen um the next candidate for the police commissioner's advisory committee is Christine no who's in the room with us okay hi everyone hi I'm Christine knf I'm um living currently live in Precinct 15 and I've lived there for 21 years and prior to that I lived in um recing six for about 10 years so that makes me a 30-year resident of Brookline um I am a member of the friends of Baldwin Park DNE Park putterham woods and Su Park all down the street um I'm the mother of a Brooklyn firefighter who has gone through Brookline Public School System K through 12 very proud of him um currently I'm a 99% retired nurse as I periodically do some for DM assignments um like to keep my hands in it um in addition to nursing I have a degree in political science I've worked on various campaigns while living in Boston that's what drove me to get the poly side degree um I believe living in Brooklyn for 30 years gives me knowledge of the community and its values through the years I've been able to build relation ships with many residents as a nurse I have experience with crisis management communication and most importantly empathy I went into homes in a wide variety of diverse neighborhoods as a visiting nurse into matapan Roxbury South Boston doorchester and Jamaica plane as a senior citizen I have a different perspective as to what this demographic may need we now worry constantly about falling as the statistics are not in our favor we worry about safety as we are more vulnerable physically and mentally we worry about Mobility even just crossing a street we worry about respiratory illnesses we worry about scams but mostly we now have time to choose with whom and where we want to be and this seems to be a benefit of being a mostly retired senior as noted in my application I'd like to see the police department with ongoing efforts to diversify the department on ongoing or increased engagement of seniors and children would like to see ongoing efforts to stay current with NE technology to help and enhance the police in their jobs in order to support the police officers in their day-to-day job efforts it's important that they have access to mental health care and consistent diversity training as the cultural and racial fabric of Brooklyn is changing 30% of Brookline Community is are now people of color um and to our Brookline citizens they deserve continued respect and to be supported as needed um the little and induct that I have at the end is when I first met a police officer in Brook line and that was when my son was about 9 or 10 riding his boom live next to the high school riding his bike around Cypress Park with his little helmet going on and on I looked up and he was stopped by a police officer and I said oh holy moly now what and as I walked to him the police officer drove on and I said to my son what's going on and he was grinning showed me a ticket that he got for ice cream because he had his helmet on handy land right thank you John um Christine thank you so much for um applying for this particular commission and um uh thank you for that last story really I didn't I didn't know how that story was gonna end now what but I think after that he wore his helmet kept riding around the bike waiting to get stop another Cruiser another ice cream out of the deal that was a a nice surprise ending uh I I'm just going to keep it short um I very much appreciated uh your use of the word empathy in what you just said to us and I think you you demonstrated empathy by the the breadth of um concerns and populations and interests that you covered you know in in your short statement um and those are all good things and um I didn't get a chance to ask this question of the other uh applicants so far but I'll go ahead and ask it of you um have you had um occasion to follow the meetings of the pcac to kind of get a feel for what they do no I've gone into um the summary of their meetings y I was a little surprised on how long they were and um their um their outcomes and what they were talking about and how you know I thought it was a lot of work yeah commission yeah and you're pointing out that there is more than one way to follow what the pcac does you know there's yes tuning into the meetings that you can you know observe through Zoom um or um checking out the record of the recent meetings and and their activities which is great and I just want I you know often in these interview processes make a point of saying um I would I would love it if uh people came forward to show to um apply for positions on boards committees and commissions um having actually gone to a few of their meetings or or through some other means you know gotten um well acquainted with with what they do because I shudder to think you know that anybody would ever get appointed by us and then find out you know what the what the board does and maybe change their mind um so it's a it's a good exercise for everybody to go through and I'm I'm glad you went through it that's good I did I went through yes Mike um thank you um thanks for applying uh and um one of the comments you just made was in uh sort of caught my caught my ear uh you pointed out that Brooklyn's demographics have changed that 30% of the population in town are people of color and of course people of colorers diverse as else uh and I wonder what how do you go from that to thinking about what the pcac should be doing uh and what the police force should be doing well I've had a lot a lot of um interaction with diverse neighborhoods I spent you know most of my nursing career working in diverse neighborhoods so I think that um if we could all kind of get on the same page in some way to understand different cultures different communities what might work for them might not work for someone else and I think that um having ongoing diversity and having the police force you know be committed to diversity training along with citizens as much as we can do so so in I'm sorry go ahead man in terms of the diversity of Brookline uh how do you see the pcac uh contributing to um s breaking down barriers between different uh groups I because brookline's diversity is primarily not the non-white population is overwhelmingly Asian yeah uh and that creates a lot of interesting and very um difficult um um problems that maybe we haven't thought about as much as we should do you have any thoughts on how the pcac which is an advisory committee to the select board uh can play a role in that oh I think that um the community and and and community of color I think that they need to um be aware of this commission I mean I was just aware Ware of it maybe a couple years ago and I think that the community needs to be aware because when I went online I saw the fill out the form and I think that that would be very helpful if people knew about the commission knew there were steps that they could take if they had concerns with um with the Department well were you ra I did raise okay I thought you just playing with the glasses I got my vaccines this week and I can't raise my oh yeah yeah that's another thing uh Christine thank you for uh coming forward um I'm going to ask the same question as I asked the other the other candidates I'll be consistent this evening sro's do you have a perspective um I think we all need to take a deep dive into that I'm not sure um what the statistics were or how it worked out when when they were there um I remember it was um I remember it was uh J pastor had initi ated that and are we officer friendly or are we officer intimidating I think that that needs to be established on the purpose they're gone I think it's been okay but then I hear about a school shooting and I say oh joh I wonder if we should have an officer in the school so I think it needs to be established really what they what who they are what they're doing and I think there's strong arguments really on both sides yeah and just to be clear I mean if you you go look um because you're visiting uh the website there's also some quite a bit of history on digging into the SRO program um when it was reviewed by some committee a couple of years ago committees two committees a couple years ago um and uh you know their their their mission involvement in schools is not security it's relationships and education right right right thank you yeah and I remember when I Liv near the high school seeing a police officer out in front and again I'm like now what but it was Huggy how are you sh you know it was like the um ambassador to the high school so that seemed pretty good okay great okay thank you Christine thank you thank you for applying thank you the next applicant is sah sedi SAR I'm PR promoting you now and you should be able to begin your video there you are good evening my name is sah sodi I am an attorney practicing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 200 six there's an admit here do you want me to admit this person in the waiting room no don't worry about that just continue with your interview I uh am currently appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court for period of three years from 2024 as a board of bar overseers hearing officer wherein I sit as a hearing officer for attorneys that face disciplinary action and I hear trials and after that I hand out discipline if necessary I formerly taught at nor Eastern law school trial practice class with judge catch ttz who's a retired appeals court judge I own a small private firm in the Back Bay I focus in litigation I have uh done multiple Federal Criminal matters I think I have over 36 uh completion successful completions and I have tried jury trials civil trials I am new to Brookline I moved to Brookline I purchased a home with my my husband and our daughter who is 3 years old in February and I would like to join the board because I think I would add uh a different perspective as a newcomer and someone who has experience uh with the law so yeah so tell me what what what specifically uh you would bring to the police commission's advisory committee and you and more generally you know why youve picked out the pcac as a committee to apply to I picked it out because I have experience with the legal system and I know the law very well so I have that perspective and knowledge I also have experience sitting on previous boards I sat on the uh lrs committee for the mass Power Association uh for multiple years and it essentially controlled the budget and uh we promoted as well policies and trying to improve the mass bar uh so I have I have those skills uh why I picked uh the police board is because it's um interesting to me and I I have experience in the area of the law you also are applying uh for membership on the um Board of assessors and the um another zba right between the three what what what what really um is your top interest well I would really like I would I really wanted to be on the Assessor's board first uh because I currently in my private practice I deal with appraisals day in and day out so I have a very real time experience with that however I do I did find out that there's no more openings so I don't think that I'm in a candidate for that position at this point my second pick was the police board because it I find it interesting and the third would be the appeals board uh because it would be more Law related than the other boards that I saw and at this point I am interested to get involved in my community and give back some resources that I have as an individual on a voluntary basis I also am um ethnically diverse I'm Iranian and German and I am bilingual and I think that as a female in my mid-40s with ethnic background I will also have a different perspective um when I sit on these boards well yep uh first welcome to Brookline you bring um no matter what happens tonight or in the future with other boards um you were clearly a very accomplished lawyer um and um um uh and apparently a runner and soccer and a violinist and a whole host of other things that that that you've been able to squeeze in um but I'm I'm G to go and and I do I do mean that welcome uh you you it's uh individuals like yourself and all the folks that came tonight that Express an interest in our boards and commissions whether they've been here 30 years or six months um we we really greatly appreciate it um I did want to ask do you have a perspective on SRO uh you've heard me ask that question of the other other candidate school resource officers yes you've been consistent this evening asking that question to every candidate I noticed um So my answer to that is I really should not uh give an answer to that until I have a little more information and resource research on the topic I don't think I can I don't think I can take a opinion one way or another it's like here a he at my bbo hearings the prosecution comes in the defense comes in they put on their cases and I should never prejudge anything until I have heard everything and in the sro's I know that they're not in place anymore um and I don't know why they were uh removed I don't know how affected they were I don't know if there's any data or if there was any um data taken in uh while they were in place to do an analysis of how positive or negative they were so I'd like to do that first before uh giving an opinion okay that's fa thank you sorry I didn't tell you I just don't know yet okay thank you for your interest in the pcac and the other committees that you applied for and we will be making our decisions um at a later meeting thank you okay next uh Park and Recreation Commission Park and Recreation Commission and the first candidate for interview is Juan Almagro I believe H's in the room good evening uh my name's fer I moved here recently uh I did before moving here I I lived in Cambridge and the before that I uh did go to high school you speaking into the mic is this better yeah perfect all right is this good yes all right perfect uh good evening my name is Swan magro I moved here recently in June uh from Cambridge uh and then before that I was all over the place but uh went to high school here and I've uh wanted to get back to the community for a while so good evening so tell tell us a little bit about why you Excuse me give us a sense of why you're interested in being on the Park and Recreation Commission and what you can bring to that uh board sure um so I'm interested in the Parks and Recreation committee um because as kind of a member of the community I just really enjoy green spaces and uh have always uh been passionate about what they could bring to the community both in a sense of kind of uh active spaces meeting places um and then places to just enjoy um so having been able to experience different cities and what kind of uh parks and and other things they offer um I I would like to kind of bring some ideas uh and and see how I could contribute so in your application you mentioned that you're interested in bik bicycle infrastructure of course that's not something that Park and Recreation Commission does but how how do you see uh your work on the Park and Recreation Commission contributing to um the appreciation of bicycle infrastructure or other things sure uh I don't think while they're not directly related I think they they do kind of intersect uh quite a bit um ultimately they provide a way for for people to be uh active um with with Parks uh I mean you get there through bikes uh you can um sorry all over the place um yeah so uh bicycle infrastructure could help with uh connecting different Parks throughout the city um connecting different communities through the parks uh and just increasing green spaces depending on how you do those bicycle infrastructures uh Mike so um a couple a couple of the ri candidates were asked whether they had been to the police commission advisory committee meetings have you uh sat in on either via Zoom or in person on any of the uh Parks and Rec meetings as of yet I have not okay okay uh Paul I do have one question and it's un it is unrelated I'm trying to get a sense are you a a licensed commercial pilot yeah you are yeah okay that's that's fascinating cuz I know I I I was trying to fly for a long time and I it's I be realized I was afraid of heights and I stopped but you're but you are but you're a commercial uh a commercial pilot I'm licensed yeah I don't I currently am an engineer um techical engineer um but I am licensed okay you're not afraid of heights I am actually afraid of heights yeah thank you where does that have to do with it once you get up there you oh has a lot to do you ask the yes real question [Laughter] not for Park and wreck oh I'm sorry course sorry okay thank you than you all right the next candidate is Rory Hollowell who's also in the room with us good evening evening thanks for the opportunity to be here uh I've always loved Parks but as I've gotten older I've had the opportunity to see uh not just the parks as they change you know seasonally but as uh Town politics and acts change whether it was statues EV parking lighting all sorts of things um and while I've actually grown up in the town of Brookline I think I've actually grown up in brookline's Parks I would always come home very dirty whether from school and then going to a park or just going to a park and my mother never liked that but she always appreciated and I think my buddy friends parents also appreciated even when we would come home uh quite dirty we were learning things at these these Parks we were having a great time we were engaging in nature growing up uh that's what I sort of mean when I say that I grew up in these Parks I learned so much there uh and still to this day I learned so much there and um I think I've actually injured myself more at Brook lines Parks always at a fault of my own uh than I have in college I just graduated uh anywhere else um but funny enough those memories of those injuries it's actually sort of Unites us we think of this whole Saga with the large skating rank uh I know so many people we've all lost our baby teeth there and those memories as painful as they were they're sort of sweeter than they are tragic uh and that's really fundamental to parks and wck that's an opportunity um not just to go you know skating but even just to lose your baby teeth in a place and remember it funny enough a little bit fondly the stars above you all sorts of things and so as I mentioned I just graduated from Maine where I studied the uh Humanities and I ran the school's environmental magazine fauna actually brought it here because in my final um contribution I have a photo of a Brookline Oak and a Brookline raccoon yeah great uh this past year I was also appointed as one of four main delegates to the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities um there I was lobbying for increased funding on the federal level um two main environmental publication Arts things like that these are things that I really enjoy um and funny enough going to college in Maine I never really thought that the thing that I would miss the most besides my mother and my family uh would be Brookline Brook lines Parks Maine is is so big you know forests mountains trees all those sort of things and there are a lot of parks in Maine but funny enough they're a little bit quieter you know you're not really sharing that space uh with other people and growing up in Brookline and going to brookline's parks there were always other people around whether they were your friends they had dogs even the animals the raccoons um and that was sort of funny you know having left college now thinking about the difference between parks and programming and the effect that that can have in bringing people together um and sharing spaces growing up I think I always met friends at the Chipotle Cleveland Circle but we would most always end up bringing our burritos to one of Brook Lin's parks and we even did this in the winter and so we got a full 360 full seasonal view of Brook lines parks and that was kind of fun and I think when we think about Parks and Recreation and getting more people out to those spaces we have to remember that the Winter's there too uh and the winter provides wonderful things that the summer doesn't the Silence of the snow the way that the sounds sort of echo across the lands the stars um I've enjoyed you know not just being in in Brook lines parks in the summer but also in the winter I'd love to join and contribute to this Commission because I've always been interested in in preservation and the changes that occur to Green Space uh I've benefited so greatly from these Parks I see this as an opportunity to give back uh and I've enjoyed attending many of the parks and rec zooms this summer uh I think the uh design review committees also look really interesting in terms of you know cooperating and getting that Community input when we enact change when we build things when we about taking things away Community involvement and input is really important and I think that's kind of fun uh in college I was involved in a lot of school politics and we always got that Community input whether we were building a parking lot changing somebody's view whether there was a building involved uh even co-ed bathrooms for the freshmen you know we always had to talk to people and I think that's something that I would bring uh to this commission that sort of centring of community involvement and input um a lot of the ideas that we had in in student government came directly um just from regular students who would have been affected by some of these changes um and then we had the opportunity to Workshop to think about it um and at the end of the day we just wanted to make people smile as best we could um and oftentimes it was fun that we could do that and it was sort of fun to see that last week at the putterham meeting um where you guys were exchanging ideas knowledge you know working on that sort of critical language in the end to create a recommendation for parks and wreck um and that was sort of fun I think one interesting thing that we could do actually is is bringing theater back to Lars Anderson Park um we've got these spaces you know many of them have programming Lars has the rink the fields I used to chase geese over there um even the Temple of love but I I would see it as my responsibility to consider not necessarily maxing out our use of these spaces and sort of squeezing it as much as we can but adding value and adding value in a way that doesn't detract from things doesn't cost too much those sort of things you know it's better to be used than to just sit there and Miss Anderson who used to own the property used to have theater all around it um we could invite Brookline theater we could invite Brookline High School theater Brookline High theater and dance performance artists to go to all sorts of Brookline Parks you know Lars Anderson included and that would be a way to get people who wouldn't ordinarily go to parks to those parks and I think it's important to get people to parks and get people to parks near them but also to get people to all the parks what I've sort of enjoyed is going to all the different Parks you know spending a little bit of time there comparing them thinking them and looking at the different trees and the different birds and uh the different plants you know Cornell has a wonderful Ornithology app that tells you what birds are singing and if multiple birds are singing at the same time it can still detect which birds those are and it shows you a little photo and that's something that sort of enhanced Brookline parks to me because I can compare the different birds you know in the different Parks um and I think this Lars Anderson idea is kind of similar to the putterham golf course haunted hay rides with the firefighters they were awfully scary um but there was always a smile behind those costumes that was a recreational activity where we were going out into these green spaces we weren't actually affecting or detracting from them you know we weren't building something things like that but people were coming together Community I was getting terrified you know and it was just sort of fun and I think that we can think about these uh in the future so you've given us a pretty thorough view of um why you want to be on the parks and rec commission um and what you can bring to it uh let me just ask you one concluding question that I found interesting is some where I found something you said interesting um wintertime in the Parks I mean other than CrossCountry skiing what ideas you have to to sort of make winter a time for people to enjoy the parks also Snow showing snowshoeing painting uh I'd listen to the wind in some of the parks I think the wind is fun and pretty to listen to the way that the wind changes and the way that the wind is different at different Parks um just the view from some parks great we great thank you I love the parks just what one Rory thank you for your presentation and um that you're growing up in the Parks like and losing teeth that's uh but I do have one question you just graduated from college um you were in Maine you're back what's next hopefully uh parks and wck but well I hope you spy well Colby built academ goldby Park and wreck I'm just curious about you know you just came back what What's um it is a serious question about employment opportunities what do you what do you see going forward uh you know for more education or work what's your plans I'm looking for opportunities really in Communications and relationships that's something that I've done inside both within and outside of college um and also curated language and understanding how we can you know effectively communicate an idea or something to whether it's a client a potential clients or the client's kids and we want to keep them involved in an organization or a structure you know in the next Generation Um so the sort of strategy and relationships it's something that I think is fun as well okay I like it thank you John uh AAR thank you so much for applying and I I promise there is no right or wrong answer to this question and if you don't want to answer it that's okay too um because you mentioned the decision decision that the select board made just recently to recommend retention uh of uh an open air ice skating rink through and you know restoration red renewal of the ice skating rink that's available at LS Anderson Park in its current location um uncovered do you think we made the right decision um yes I think so and having watched you make that recommendation at that meeting you know you didn't start there um you worked up to it you exchanged ideas information and the language um that you ultimately came to in that recommendation as I saw it um was slowly developed and at the end you know you you focus in more on it and um so in terms of the sort of process I I think it was a wonderful process to see uh but the actual choice that you make I certainly agree with it um but I think also Community involvement is important and the people who wanted you know a larger rank it's important to hear them and the listen and to get that feedback um but then the process of deciding what happens everybody should be involved um and one one quick additional question does Brooklyn have sufficient opportunities for [Laughter] squash no I'm serious Brooklyn High has a wonderful squash team it does yeah National right oh yeah yeah very good I lost to a few Brookline High players yeah good okay okay thank you Ro appreciate your application okay next we have the um no commission that's it for this one well I'm sorry preservation commission is next right no that's it for this one than you no more interviews yes done my notes are wrong you like to call somebody up it's hard someone come on we were in a group not you Scott the um okay so uh next we have um I'd like to push the November election items to the end um for reasons that uh I don't know but we'll do it um Warr articles U item nine on the calendar first uh public hearings and possible vote on warrant article three appropriation of the transportation Network company funds who is going to present on that online okay good evening uh article article three is an appropriation article uh where the town is looking to appropriate our transportation Network funds TNC funds these are monies coming from from Uber and Lyft um 20 cents per ride is charged to these companies and if the ride is initiated in Brookline um we get half of that money so um we are looking to appropriate $160,000 um 100,000 of which is going to the uh Council and aging to support their transportation program and then um if I could just give me a minute uh have to call sorry I was giving you a hint the lifeline and then the well the balance is going to the uh I was looking at the exact amount um the 6,266 90 um going to support uh the payment marking program and Amy is here um these are recommendations of the um voted by the transportation board as well okay any questions Paul yep I have a thanks Melissa um actually I'm I'm I'm quite pleased to see the money going to uh subsidized transportation for older adults uh love that and payment markings of course because many of our pavment markings are fading um but I did have a question about um I thought in the past we were we had used TNC funds or uh for our audible signals with respect to um traffic signals in crosswalks are we um not doing that this year Chaz do we actually maybe this is for Chaz I I think this Amy might better be better equipped to address this one are you referring to the um the audible signals that um have enable pedestrians pedestrians to find the yeah um so we've actually been able to uh install those audible pedestrian signals at all signals in the town um save two intersections I believe that are going to be covered as part of the Washington Street uh project um so we we're done outfitting the town so we're all caught up with one thing I will say about that is that the very first set of uh ones that we installed were on Beacon Street and they're basically reaching the end of their useful life now some of them are malfunctioning so we are looking to replace those um but we're looking at some um some leftover funding in a few accounts uh for similar items and also um uh Grant um to fund those so so Chaz this if you remember this this came up uh quite substantially in the past two years yes um we got a number of complaints about the audible pedestrian signals aps's not functioning yes we didn't have the little remote that we needed to program them we had to acquire one remember that's right um I'm surprised to hear that so we've replaced replaced them all everything's been done it's all up to new technology my understanding um we've replaced what we need to replace but as Amy pointed out we're now we're now at the point where some of the ones we replaced earlier are at the end of their life so we're going to have to two years that's no I mean it's not so we didn't do that so the ones on Beacon Street yeah sorry go ahead Amy um I just I thought I heard him say two years but it's 10 years 10 years not that quick those ones were done earlier in fact they were some of the only ones that were done all right that was my question thank you by John um I love that you know any funding that comes um in the the direction of uh Transportation assistance for seniors um let me just stipulate that however um uh I just have a question because um the language seems clear to me appropriate this money to address the impact of Transportation Network Services on Municipal roads Bridges and other Transportation infrastructure um are are we stretching the um the allowed um use of these funds by applying them to um trans subsidizing transportation for seniors no I don't believe that we are I think that this program has been supported by TNC funds for a number of years um we submit annual reports to the state um but also I think that the senior center made a compelling argument in front of the transportation board on the impact of uber and Lyft and their ability to um navigate around town with the loss of the taxi industry so there there is you know a Synergy here that I think that they've been able to kind of show the the need and why they why they need these funds to help support the program thanks for the answer okay this is a public hearing so let's open the public hearing see if anyone wants to speak there is no one who signed up in advance if there's anyone who wishes to speak on this matter in the room please approach the podium okay there um if there's anyone online who would like to speak on the matter if you could raise your hand using the raise the hand feature there are approximately 34 participants online and no one is using the raise the hand feature at this time thank you so we'll close the hearing and um unless anyone objects I'd like to propose that we vote and do we is there anything that anyone wants to think about over the next week or so okay I move favorable action on more article three appropriation of Transportation Network company funds on fa please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David kman I chair votes I thank you thank you Melissa uh are you here for the next one also no that's um actually the petitioners are um online C Bo okay on article four except chapter 59 section 5n of the general laws allowing for the creation of a veterans tax workof reduction program yes we have the petitioners yeah okay and I I think my co-petitioner Neil Gordon should be online as well I have promoted Maria as well Maria should be able to start video so so Maria's article 17 my my co- sorry thank you let me promote Neil Gordon there we go Neil you've been promoted sorry about that all right excellent thank you so much Tiffany um I'll get us started with by the way thank you for joining with Neil Gordon it just shows that even in Brooklyn we can come together even though we have absolutely diverse opinions absolutely on various things just thinking that please please do a screen capture yes well good public policy uh unites us all um and that's always encouraging and thank you for for those words Bernard I I couldn't agree more um so I'll start off with a with a brief overview of what the article proposes and then I'll turn it over to Neil uh to offer some thoughts of his own um very simply this article is essentially enabling legislation uh to accept the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 59 section 5n uh and what this will authorize the town to do is to create a veterans tax workof program very similar in nature to the senior tax workof program uh that's been an operation in Brooklyn since 2008 um on a at a high level eligible veterans or a design from their family uh would be empowered to apply for a slot in the program uh potentially be placed in a position with a town Department uh and be eligible to work up to 125 hours of volunteer service annually for a pro-rated abatement set at uh an hourly rate of the state minimum wage uh which takes you to a maximum annual abatement of $1,875 as established under state law uh the implementation of this program uh we believe would closely mirror the senior tax workof program um with the major uh difference being that the Department of Veteran Services would take on the role played in the senior program currently by the Council on Aging uh and that role being promoting awareness of the program U recruiting uh potentially applicants to the program overseeing the application process and then assisting with placing the program participants in various roles throughout the town government um and I do want to just briefly note that these functions um have very similar functions I should say were uh previously carried out by DVS um through an internship program they ran uh for about a decade uh between about 2010 and 2020 that placed eligible veterans again in kind of volunteer roles in different town departments um and there are existing materials procedures and brochures that have been developed by the Council on Aging uh for the senior workof program that I believe could be easily adapted to the veterans uh an analog program uh and in terms of how this might uh work the finance department just like the senior program would likely process and issue the abatements in conjunction uh with the supervising Town Departments of program participants uh and we expect this would very minimally increase the administrative burden placed on the finance department uh because there's already this path created for uh implementing the senior program uh and I do just want to reiterate that uh this article is only enabling legislation uh many of the program specifics um are left to the implementing body in this case the select board uh which include the number of slots created for the veterans program the maximum allowed abatement level uh within the confines of the state law who could be named as the veterans design be it a surviving spouse or child uh and preferential or the implementation potentially of preferential selection criteria such as mean test so these would all be left to the purview of the select board if this article is approved by town meeting uh and finally I'll conclude by just saying we expect the fiscal impact of this program to be very minimal uh even a program with 10 slots uh set at the maximum abatement level would be estimated only to cost roughly $30,000 annually and that's including both the abatement amounts uh and the administrative and staff cost based on the cost incurred by the COA for administering the senior program uh and finally I just note uh we did receive last night the unanimous or near unanimous I should say five to zero to zero with one member not voting uh uh recommendation for favorable action from The Advisory committees uh help Human Services subcommittee uh and I just note that uh that committee report and the full AC report I think will go into great detail exploring some of those Design Elements so uh should the article pass I would encourage you uh to review both reports uh as you make your decisions there and with that I will toss it over to my co-petitioner Neil Gordon uh Alec thank you and thank you to the select board I'm Neil Gordon I'm a Precinct one toown meeting member member of the advisory committee I'm a Vietnam veteran member of the VFW um Al Alex noted uh twice and I'm going to say one more time uh this Warren article is uh enabling legislation to authorize the select board to establish a program uh it doesn't design the program it doesn't set parameters uh you may or may not start with the parameters that are in place for the senior workof uh you can uh uh tweak it uh to your to your heart's content it's a program that would belong to the select board uh I I think that Alec was uh generous in uh uh conservative budgeting as to what this might cost I'll note that um income eligible uh veterans who are age 60 plus senior veterans are already eligible for the senior workof program um the uh the Alec Alec reached out to me in uh preparing to bring this article uh and um asking for co-sponsorship and my number one concern uh which continues is that I do not want to uh dilute the effectiveness of the current senior workof program I don't want to pit veterans against seniors seniors against veterans or anybody else uh in in town that way I believe this is a valuable incremental program that will help um Alec may not say younger veterans but but but I'll say younger uh those who are not yet uh 60 60 years old my guess if you established a pilot program the number of uh participants is likely to be one to three um uh one to two would be my my tighter guess the senior workof program started with a pilot um you might start in the same place uh the uh Alec noted the sub committee last night went into considerable detail about how we might design uh a program uh and what the details might look like and the comment I made is let's define who the Wii uh might be because the Wii are not the petitioners uh nor the advisory committee subcommittee nor the advisory committee uh the Wii is you uh and you have the flexibility and we did not um uh bring this other than is enabling legislation uh I suspect there there's work to do uh Alec and I are willing to help you participate uh actively but I suspect that uh um there'll be uh you know work and review and hearings and the like uh and uh again I thank Alec for reaching out uh and I thank the select board for its consideration and I'd like a vote of recommendation of favorable action I thank you oh yep uh thank you uh first thank you Neil um and Alec for working together in this um I appreciate it um I I do I have a couple first this is this the form of a resolution or is it a bylaw what so so this would be a bylaw this is the accepting of the State uh General law Mass General Law chapter 59 section 5n and is is that is the only way for that to be done is to have town meeting accepted or could it be done by action of the select board so this this requires town meeting the acceptance of the legislature it does okay so that was my first I get a couple of questions Bernard um so thanks for clarifying that and then Neil I'm I'm I'm glad you brought up that you were concerned and wouldn't want to dilute the senior workof program U because that is really important um and in your opinion it it it wouldn't but of course that would depend on how you design it um of course the the details would be um I guess you know I had and if you're saying it's just one or two because the others may be seniors that could fit into the senior work off I do wonder about the positions you know I know that having the slots available for seniors to do the senior work has always been an issue um you know do we have enough jobs to fill or positions to be filled um uh is is an important question that I think is uh asked when we're when we're designing the senior workout program right because it's not only you have enough slots but you have the capacity to process everybody that's asking for them and then overseeing them because it's an administrative piece um chess I'm gonna ask you um do you have any insight in into that or um do I mean as Neil said I I we don't think the the uh additional um under the additional upkeep that we would need to run this would be so significant given the relatively low uptick we would see if there was a sudden run on it we would obviously take a look at that and we would be able to adjust the program accordingly we wouldn't we wouldn't we wouldn't create a program that would lead to Capac excuse me would lead to capacity issues we would want to be sure that we would be responsive to the conditions we're seeing on the ground and I will say you know vetan Services is one of our you know strongest personto person divisions bill mcgr um and and his team have you know um personal contacts with a lot of the you know I would say pretty much every veteran in town um you who who want to be in contact with him he knows what the lay of the land is and he knows what the likely uptick of this will be so I'm not concerned here okay thank you okay this is a I'm sorry John did you have question if I may yeah yeah um Ju Just further on Paul's question um uh do we um approach this uh as it currently exists by um essentially saying we have 30 openings for volunteers who qualify under this program program and then find you know open it up to people to apply and take the first 30 that apply so we'll have to see what we how we structure this I don't want it to be as Neil put as Neil put out I don't want it to be a zero some gain right I don't want it to be a situation where someone's where I have a wait we have a waiting list uh and it's pitting two groups against one another I would want us to be clear that we were providing the appropriate amount of capacity for the separate program WEA that Situation's mixol yeah okay okay this is a public hearing can we open the public hearing um is there anyone in the room who wishes to speak on this item Regina fry yes is there anyone online who would like to speak on this item if so please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature there are approximately 34 participants online and no one is using the raise the hand feature at this time Regina Regina fry a Tom meeting member from um pring 16 and a senior and a user of the senior center um I had a few things I still want to say but I have I must say that what was several things were left out and I attended the meeting last night but what uh the Town Administrator said was very concerning because a big part of the testimony last night is that there are no jobs openings at Town Hall in particular there are very few that there's when they've been approach there's the department has have been less than enthusiastic about it and I believe the current number of 33 tax workout people 27 have been graciously given jobs at the senior center because the were no jobs prior to co there were more jobs but um what was mentioned by the um director ruthanne dobeck was that um there's been such a turnover in staff and a lot of people who have no experience with how things were working and so that hasn't really happened as something people um could do more jobs so we'd love the Town Administrator to and this brought up privately after the meeting that the Town Administrator could instruct all the department heads to make an effort to see if there's ways and Slots that people could be make a contribution um that's a leadership thing that could make a big difference for the opening of of back in the the various programs okay so that's one thought um there's a lot of significant difference between what's being proposed and that was on the camera last the senior program is um restricted um if you if you uh don't complete half the hours you don't get a dime so there's this a threshold that is not being applied to this that could be changed by the select board in implementing this but just to call it to your attention that's a major difference um what else did I write down um I asked last night about the skill set and I never got an answer because uh Alex said that there would possibly be different skill sets and I asked could you tell us about it never got answered and I wanted to know as well what department might have been been approached and asked about the availability of jobs for this program so that's another thing and um over and over and over it was about how few jobs there were so if there's a big effort for the veterans to get it they really it would almost we a differently the other and final question I wish you would ask the petitioners um in the questionnaire that concludes your time in the questionnaire Alex said just this last point in the questionnaire Alex said that the program would actually be conjoined but testifying last night he said no they'll be separate it'll be in the um in the uh under the veterans could you ask him as well why said one he heard he is heard and he can answer thank you thank you yeah he heard your question yeah I'd be happy to speak to that if if that's of interest to the board um so just just to clarify uh at no point did we claim that the program would necess necessarily be uh jointly administered with the senior tax program uh what I did note before the advisory committee is that some municipalities that have both programs and operation have chosen to do that um per you know going back to to chaz's comments you know me personally uh and I wholeheartedly agree with Neil um I I would want to see these programs likely administered separately um to ensure that we're not pitting uh you know veterans and seniors against each other for a limited number of slots um so by by no means is that requisite for the programs uh just merily wanted to note that some communities have chosen to do it that way um as to the skill set uh you know we did discuss that at the subcommittee hearing last night um I I fielded that question to uh uh to Bill mcgi uh Who provided some specific examples that uh his Department had observed through the internship program that I made reference to earlier uh that in particular the veteran Community possesses uh certain engineering skill sets and it skill sets that have been very valuable in the past through that internship program and that would likely uh make it somewhat more manageable to find placements for them and in fact in our conversations with uh Council or with ruthan dobeck uh through the drafting process for this article uh she had mentioned to me that there were potentially more slots even available at the senior center which is where the ma majority of senior uh work-off applicants or uh program participants rather are currently placed uh but I think as Regina rightly notes um there were a a wide variety of town departments that were hosting senior workof program participants uh before covid um you know there's an exhaustive list of them but they include the select Board office the Department of Public Health the putterham library um the public schools of Brooklyn uh the list goes on and on um so you know I I think with some concerted effort certainly if we see uh you know an uptake of interest in the veterans program uh or even an uptake of interest in the senior program you know I think it would be worthwhile uh for the board and for department heads to explore where we might create more workof slots um but but I I would not characterize the discussion last night as being you know we're shutting the door on the notion that we've reached the maximum number of slots I just don't I don't find that to be accurate based on the pre-co experience okay thank you um any other public comment uh there are no other individuals raising their hand at this time and we have about 35 participants online okay I I'm going to close the hearing um any questions from the S board yeah uh Paul I don't think I have a question but I do think it when we write up the report we should note um you know some of the concerns about when the program should it pass uh that the design should be very conscious of capacity um of of jobs how they're allocated we don't want to create a situation where we're we're creating one group against another um I think that that is really important I I I appreciate that the petitioners are not dictating to us the program should be uh and and allowing uh the staff and the select board uh to craft a program that you know certainly should be integrated and taken to full consideration is what's going on with the senior tax workout program so I I'm I'm inclined to uh to support this um you know with us writing up the guidance or at least the recommendations suggestions things to look out for uh when we submit our report okay um I'd like to put off the vote on this one for our next meeting unless anyone you desires to vote now I think there enough issues that have been raised that we should you know give it give ourselves time to just think them through and make sure we we're fully informed okay so moving on to the next item War article 17 petition for a special act allowing the town to disqualify biders that engage in the design manufacturer or maintenance of nuclear weapons yes um and since I'm you don't like nukes either huh since I'm sure uh you're all sick of hearing from me by this point in the evening uh I will turn this over to my co-petitioner uh Maria udalova who is a senior at Brooklyn High School uh and a passionate advocate for environmental sustainability and nuclear disarmament and if possible I will share my screen to pull up slides um one moment all right um is that visible yes excellent all right uh take a is that visible yes yes all right okay and U you have no more than five minutes so okay can you guys hear me yes okay awesome so uh yeah this is warrant article 17 which should be a home R petition to disqualify nuclear weapons companies from bidding on Town contracts I if you could do the next slide so uh why disqualify nuclear weapons companies uh well it's one of the most powerful ways that a municipality like Brooklyn can put pressure on the profiteers of nuclear uh proliferation companies um it's by publicly refusing to do business with them so by deciding to not contract for or purpose any of these goods or services from a company that's also involved in the nuclear weapons industry a municipality can vote with their and send a powerful signal to the entire industry so uh Brookline has actually uh supported nuclear disarmament in the past in 2018 Brookline passed the warrant article 35 or the back from the brink resolution which resolved that the town of Brooklyn Massachusetts calls upon our federal leaders and our nation to embrace and sign the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and make nuclear disarm a centerpiece of US national security policy so Brookline should take steps to uphold this commitment and act for possible and by passing this warn article it would be upholding that commitment to nuclear disarmament slide please um this has this initiative has also been uh previously successful specifically in Massachusetts uh Northampton city council passed an identical home rule petition that was approved by the legislature and signed into law in July live 2020 and uh around the country several other municipalities have also taken the same action to disqualify nuclear weapons companies from contract bids including in Oakland California Maron County California and Tacoma Park Maryland so uh article 17 proposes um well it actually seeks authorization for the town of Brooklyn to disqualify the companies that manufacture and maintain nuclear weapons from bidding for Town contracts uh and Alex spoke with the town's Finance director and he was not aware of any specific contracts in place with companies active in the nuclear weapons industry and it wasn't deemed likely that the town maintains many contacts with these companies currently and as part of the current Contracting process biders are required to complete an attestation form that collects relevant information about their bidden company so specifically um warant article 17 next slide please um to implement it the director suggested that a future nuclear disqualification policy uh would just require future biders to declare if they are manufacturers or maintainers of nuclear weapons in the process of submitting a bid and completing their attestation for uh a bit of for a contract with the city or the town I guess and a policy would only be required to Future contracts it wouldn't be applied retroactively to existing Town contracts um and like in Northampton there could be exceptions to Bitter disqualification if um a situation arises where exception is necessary so please vote favorable action thank you so much for your time thank you okay I don't think anyone is going to object to not working with nuclear weapons uh producers even though we've never we haven't used nuclear weapons in War since the second world war and we do use we do use 2,000 pound Bombs all over the place but I still you I'm not uh I still am favorably inclined to the warn article David you had a I I do have a question so certainly I understand what you're saying Bernard about opposing nuclear weapons I think we we all do or mostly do but my question would be how are we defining nuclear weapon are we defining it as any potential material that gets used toward a nuclear weapon I know we had an explanation of that but I'm just wondering where the line is drawn and how um how uh wide sweeping could this potentially be in terms of who we would be prohibited from working with yeah it's it's a great question David um and I think it returns to kind of the the theme of the night uh for Warren articles which is I think the way to view this home rule petition is also as enabling legislation um you know just we we in kind of looking what the town could feasibly do to take concrete policy action in this space um you know the the Northampton home Ru petition provided I think kind of the the only real legal Avenue that we could find uh for this kind of translating our values into policy on this issue um and so in Consulting with State Rep uh Tommy Vito uh we were strongly advised to stick to the language that Northampton had received approval from the legislature for and that's exactly what we've done um and the way that has worked both in Northampton and the way it would work in Brooklyn is we are simply asking through this Warren article um for essentially being allowed to apply an additional Criterion to the already municipally or state prescribed Municipal Contracting process created under Mass General Law chapter 3B um so you know some of these specific questions would again come back to this board uh for discussion and ultimate approval I will say in our discussions with uh Lincoln Heineman um you know I I think we as petitioners agree with Lincoln that um you know there has to be a reasonable line drawn somewhere and for instance it's not our intention as petitioners to say disqualify thirdparty companies who might do business separately with these weapons manufacturers or companies or individuals who might say hold uh investment Holdings from these companies potentially in you know index funds in their pension Holdings um so you know our our main focus here is using this authority to just prevent and it's a list of essentially 13 companies from uh being eligible to bid for these Town contracts so we would want this Authority I think our vision is for it to be used very very specifically and in uh some you know a small number of cases we're not looking to cast that that too wide of a net you know for fear of um you know disrupting Town Town operations so that's certainly not Our intention okay so this is a public hearing U can we open the public hearing yes is there anyone in the room who would like to speak on this item Regina fry thank you Regina fry from Precinct 16 could you watch keep your headphones away from the mic I pardon could you just keep your headphones away from the microphone we're getting a little feedback from your headphones on the button near the mic if you could keep yeah just um a little further away from the microphone we're getting feedback online sorry wait a minute I have to also be able to put it on quickly to hear you sorry thank you yeah I got it okay thank you um yeah I'm worried about the inconsistency of town meeting everyone here knows that the number one reason that we ta somebody tabled and town meeting mostly voted to table meaning no discussion whatsoever on the Palestinian issue and the number one reason that was said online and by many organizations in town was we shouldn't be voting on international issues in fact we're going to be caucusing into see if somebody wants to apply and and that question has been put on the question how do you feel about dealing with issues at town meeting that involve International policies so here we are that's a non-binding resolution that was proposed and will be again rep proposed for this town meeting and here we are binding resolution binding bylaw on a very International Global Galactic issue um it doesn't if there's no logical consistency here if we're going to say we don't do it over here why are we doing it over here so thank you thank you are there any speakers online who wish to speak if so please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature Iris Alpert I'm promoting you now you can start your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes yeah I don't I don't need three minutes I'm just curious about if we can uh see a list of those companies the 13 companies that uh have been listed as uh non non biders thank you I take it that that is in the materials that U the petitioners have put uh put online it's not it's not um it is not in the warrant article itself but we can certainly uh get that that list to you if that's helpful okay thank you and I will it is a it's a small list of predominantly defense Contracting companies I see a list on your in on page uh two of the Warren article in the description companies that operate in Massachusetts are Ecom baa systems Jacobs Engineering elados General Dynamics Honeywell Lockheed Martin northr Grumman rathon Technologies Charles Stark Draper lab Co group and Textron uh yes thank you Chad sorry that was in a footnote so my my footnote well that's online uh Paul so I guess um I'm gonna disagree with you that this is a slam dunk Bernard I'm sorry um well you said it you said you said how could anybody argue against this well I'm gonna argue against it um well I have questions I'm not arguing against it I came back at the right time thank you um so you know it's not just it's not just a list of companies it's subsidiaries right if they're a holding company if there's this is a pretty extens this could be an pretty extensive list of companies that we can't do business with that actually might be involved in in you know aspects of nuclear energy or or components or whatever they provide other services are important for us for sustain ability so I I have a lot of questions about um what is the universe of companies that um that I'm G I'm going to talk for a little bit Mike okay uh that that this would include I don't I don't believe that it's just this list of companies that that uh that Chaz just rattled off um that's the first issue um the second thing is if if you're saying well we don't do any business with any of these companies already then why are we going to take the time of legislature to go do this um in the time of to meeting to go do this um I just I don't understand I you know we filed a uh water rebate program for seniors and it was argued at T meeting that we shouldn't waste the time of of the legislature because there wasn't enough detail um so I'm going to agree with Miss rley that there's quite a bit of inconsistency um and I'll tell you where I'm worried about this leading we if something like this pass is we will see a similar uh type of legislation I'd be worried about it uh against Israel and we can't do any business with uh any company that does business with Israel we've seen quite a bit of that in the news uh the protests with colleges and I would be very concerned as to where this is going um you know I I don't know if this can be handled by policy Chaz or if because it's it's bidding that on on contracts you have to you have to do this type of thing but I am not convinced uh that this is a direction that we should be going in to feel good um I'm I'm worried about it uh and the impact on on um the town its ability to function um and also what it may lead to uh other types of enabling legislation specifically against Israel which I'd be very worried about um M Mike you want to speak say I respond resp to Paul's comment no we we would need legislation to do this yeah um I do want to point out that um Honeywell is a major manufacturer of HVAC control equipment I'd be really surprised if there's no honey well equipment in this building um I think that um one of the difficulties that Paul raises is that these are corporations that in many cases some of them aren't but but in many cases corporations do all sorts of things uh Boeing makes um missiles they also make passenger aircraft uh there there's this sloshing from uh commercial to military that is uh slashing wrong word it's it's the crossover uh you take skills that you developed in one area and move them to another it's a natural thing for a corporation to do it's good actually for the economy we end up with better HVAC controls as a consequence of some of the things that Honeywell has done with cabin pressure control systems for aircraft something that I've actually consulted it so uh I agree this is not it's it's well-meaning but not thought through I think it is something that the legislature will file in the circular file uh and uh I doubt very much that the our state representatives will be interested in getting it out uh and I think we're uh honestly I I I I think we lose something when we uh file a piece of legislation that ends up in that file uh John CH did you no no I was putting joh sorry he just pointed to me um thank you Paul for your comment thank you Mike for your comment um and with all due respect to our chair I'm going to agree with Paul and Mike uh I I think we have um I I haven't stated okay okay made an observation okay nuclear weapons have not been used and 2,000lb bombs have I'll grant you that um I'm just going to cite it specific about why sending this to the legislature uh would would be extremely unrealistic expectation that they would actually approve it um one of the companies cited in that footnote that we referenced just a couple minutes ago um is Ron Technologies Corporation um so we would essentially be asking the legislature to um enable Brookline to discriminate against rathon in in terms of our um letting of contracts awarding of contracts so Ron employs 15,000 workers um in Massachusetts um our Congressional Delegation has been known to occasionally take credit for um and to celebrate winning um federal funds in support of Ron research and uh development of various sometimes weapons to be honest with you Ron developed the Patriot missile um so if you if we think that the legislature is going to say on the one hand we we love it when we get money from the federal government for Ron we love it when rathon employs people but but let's approve Brookline um saying that municipalities shouldn't do business um with Ron it's not going to happen and we have been given ample um advice from at least one of our state reps Tommy vollo um that when bookline town meeting sends to town meeting to the state legislature these home rule petitions that are going to go nowhere it undercuts the ability of our state representative to do serious work um in the legislature so I just can't see voting for this may I briefly respond to to some of the points that have been raised sure uh yeah I I just wanted to to state um for the board that you know as to the question of can this feasibly pass the legislature um it already has uh northampton's identical language was passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor in 2020 um so we have a recent example of this exact program including you know its potential implications for rathon uh passing the legislature uh you know only a handful of years ago um and in fact you know that was one of the reasons like rep folo encouraged us to adopt that language uh you know should we decide to move forward with this um the other the only other point I just wanted to raise uh in response to uh Mike's earlier Point um is in the communities where these policies have been put into practice um it is routine that certain exemptions be included in these policies uh again as as I mentioned earlier this is enabling legislation uh given the path that had already been established through the legislature we didn't want to uh put necessarily additional program specifics into it that might complicate that passage um but the enabling language itself uh does say that notwithstanding chapter 30b or any other general or special law to the contrary the town of Brookline May disqualify from an award of a contract a bidder you know Etc so we are not setting ourselves in a position where we would be required in all cases to disqualify these biders and in fact uh I I'm you know the petitioners uh in addition to the other communities that have done this uh have supported uh exemptions for instance for critical functions or goods or services the town might need to employ uh for which there are not available substitutes so you know were it the case that Honeywell had um some HVAC technology that we thought was really valuable to the electrification process in Brookline uh you know I would expect that Common Sense exemptions would allow us to contract for that capability um so you know we're we're trying I think to strike the balance between translating what uh you know our stated Community Values are into policy while also not um backing ourselves into a corner where we won't have the flexibility to still attend to critical Town functions Mike so what's the point uh thank you uh if you if we're going to have exceptions to suit ourselves what are we doing here well the point is I think as has been borne out by um our you know investigation into the current Town contracts that we hold and in these other communities uh the point is many of the services and goods that these companies provide that are of interest to municipal I ities have readily available substitutes so my expectation is these exemptions would be edge cases they would not be the rule they'd be the exception to the rule uh in reality the the majority of goods and services that are provided by these companies have uh our understanding is they have substitutes available on the market so again this just gets back to um providing ourselves flexibility under chapter 30b to everywhere possible live our if that makes sense Mike can just I I think we're we're not providing ourselves with flexibility we're providing ourselves with something that makes some people feel good with absolutely no effect so doesn't town meeting always I think the word is or phrase is virtue signal that's we were so just wonderful that uh right well but I think I think there's there's there's really but there's important you know there's there's things that that we do at town meeting that send a signal about values and you go okay thank you and then there's things that can actually do damage um and you know this the again the legislature is going to get something from us we're actually saying we don't do business with any of these companies I mean talk about an exception like there's there's have we ever um and and to take the time and again I it could limit in the future um I I just don't I can't support uh placing a limit on something that doesn't exist today that isn't a concern um it's not happening um it's never been brought as a resolution to say hey guys could you go investigate whether you're spending money with nuclear arms which is not David D do you have anything to say here yes everyone has spoken I think this does tie back to my initial question about how wide a net we would cast we're hearing that there would be certain exclusions which gets to Mike's Point if we're going to have all these exclusions and what's the point something else I want to raise that John touched on is the issue of bandwidth and credibility with the state legislature uh I hear that northampton's went through but even so there is a limit to the capacities of people to pursue home rule petitions and I think we want to be judicious about what it is that we send to our State Legislature and if this is not something that's going to have any practical impact then it seems to me it shouldn't be a priority irrespective of one's values as to the underlying merits just if it's not something that's going to have a meaningful impact let's focus on what will okay so uh John just just as a followup um because I I I thank Alex on the one hand for educating me that Northampton actually did get a bill through but it sounded like in his explanation what I heard was and Alex correct me if I'm wrong that northampton's approach did not include um for example specifics such as it would um it would include as a prohibited entity uh rathon ours might um and for now at least in a footnote ex of an explanation of this article does include rathon but if I heard Alex correctly we would probably make an exception for Aon and other companies um in practice so you know whether Northampton got something through the legislature or not it doesn't sound like anybody got something through the legislature that in a meaningful way actually takes aim at companies that are involved in um nuclear weapons production um except in cases where it is of no consequence to Massachusetts it's to to uh prohibit business doing business with a company we weren't going to do business with anyway okay so um it's interesting conversation people want to wait another week before we vote on this and and or let all these ideas percolate through our brains or do you want to just I think it's help the other bodies to hear our opinion on this pardon me I think it's I think it would be helpful for other boards and commissions that are going to hear this article understand where the select you want to vote I think we can vote tonight okay um so I hear that the vote would be no action um I think we still need to close the public hearing officially close no we did not public hearing is closed um I move uh no action on Warren article 17 uh petition for special act allowing the town to disqualify nuclear weapons manufacturers um all in favor please indicate by saying I John V skak hi Michael samon hi Paul Warren hi pran hi and chair vot I thank you thank you next uh boards and committee can I say can I say one thing real quick um you know in the past um when we've had um some folks bring articles from the high school um they've interpreted that we don't want to do what they want to bring forward automatically and that's not the case here actually I I appreciate that a thoughtful article uh you know they took the time to bring It Forward um and that's that's greatly appreciated um it's just not a great fit uh for uh for the town um this particular legislation so I just I just want to say that and say thank you to the individual okay thank you okay boards and commission um sorry uh where are we the annual reports uh chair of the Small Business Development Committee uh will present the annual report of that committee thank you for my technical assistance too good evening select board members um I am delighted to present the annual report from the Small Business Development Committee um my name is Alish Gilligan and I am the chair of the Small Business Development Committee I joined in 2022 and became shair in 2023 I am a local business owner I have owned and operated the Public House in Washington Square for 22 years I'm also a resident and a proud parent of two BHS students I joined this business committee because I believe in the potential of our town to become even more of a hub for entrepreneurs and small business owners as someone who experiences the challenges every day and rewards from running a small business in the town I feel like I have firsthand experience on how we can improve a goal of mine in joining this committee is to advocate for policies that truly reflect the need of local businesses and to Foster greater engagement between business owners and our community I am passionate about ensuring that our town remains a place where business is not only survive but also Thrive so oh my arrow is not moving I think we're stuck Tiffany you want to use this sorry give me just a second it's not advancing correctly there it goes okay um I think perfect so before we dive into the work that we've accomplished I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the members of our Small Business Development Committee we have a diverse group of local business owners and professionals each bringing their own unique expertise and perspectives to the table our committee includes representatives from Industries ranging from retail to marketing Hospitality to nonprofit ensuring that we have a well-rounded understanding of the needs and challenges facing different sectors of our local economy this diversity allows us to craft initiatives that benefit a broad spectrum of businesses within our community together this group brings passion for supporting small business and a dedication to the growth and success of our local community here is the mission which is kind of small I don't know if you can read that and quite detail so I can just summarize it for you here um this committee aims to identify and propose solutions to various challenges that small businesses are facing these may include Rising rent which can strain a business's ability to remain in a physical presence in a competitive or gentrifying area regulatory restrictions that may create hurdles for small business to operate efficiently comply with local laws or expand parking access which affects customer foot traffic and overall accessibility which is a key concern especially for Brick and motor B businesses commercial displacement where small businesses are pushed out due to Urban Development or changes in local economies or other headwinds referring to any additional economic social or policy related challenges that hinder the growth and stability of small business by tackling these areas the committee strives to create more favorable environment for small businesses to grow ensuring that they can overcome these obstacles and continue contributing to the local economy um this is about our early years which I have to tell you I was not a Committee Member until late 2023 I believe the chair was rul Fernandez during its Inception and during the early days I do believe I received a lot of information as a small business owner in town during the the pandemic from this group um they were faced with unprecedented challenges at this time as a committee local businesses were dealing with uncertainty sudden closure rapid changing Health regulations and despite all of these obstacles the committee committed to meeting weekly to respond to the needs of the business Community one of their key efforts during this time was organizing and distributing local rapid relief resources they worked diligently to ensure business owners were aware of what ACC what on how to access financial aid grants and other forms of assistance in addition they provided clear information on involving Healthline Health guidelines helping businesses remain compliant and safe by maintaining regular communication they kept local businesses connected and informed during a period of Crisis and here is what we have worked on in 20123 um we had in-depth discussion with econ on economic devel velopment about their 5-year strategic work plan um we looked at our monthly arpa funed projects storefront surveys we discussed the MBTA communities act um we discussed the regulations that mass D instigated for organic waste the threshold was red reduced which meant a lot more restaurants now had to compost we discussed sofa um the digital marketing uh platforms that are you see all around the town and we also discussed Park parking and meter rate increase and how that might impact local businesses this year we have also been very busy um we have discussed commercial Area Bicycle parking uh reusables in restaurants that would in that would involve uh people actually ordering take out containers that would would be reused in restaurants when you order takeout um small business resilience Grant presentation pop-up St discussion parket locations outdoor dining um Washington Street complete Street project and also we've organized a discussion with our Town Administrator um updated guidelines with economic development about outdoor dining program and also address the 2 am extension on liquor licenses these are remaining topics of concern that we still are focused on on um streamlining and and dealing with and that's business licensing and streamlining outdoor dining and Commercial area parking which is obviously a Hot Topic at the moment so as I I won't go on I'll conclude because I know you're under pressure for time so as I conclude I just do want to thank all the individuals and teams who have been instrumental in our efforts to support and enhance small business um first to my fellow members of the committee whose dedication and countless hours they volunteer here to this cause are deeply appreciated the progress we've made would not have been possible with their insight and commitment a special thanks to our vice chair and Meyers for her constant expertise and for our select board member representative John Van soek whose guidance has been invaluable and steers our discussion and aligns our goals with a broader vision of the town I also want to thank the team at Economic Development whose organizational skills and attention to detail keep us on track and should make sure that all our efforts are well coordinated lastly thanks to town Administration for your openness and willingness to engage in conversations with local businesses your approachability and receptiveness to addressing problems has made a real difference in creating a supporting environment for our local Entre entrepreneurs great thank you um I take it your report will be on your website yes I believe we're uploading it yes please make sure it is yes oh yeah aish uh thank you uh for serving um I have a quick question could you name based on your experience and serving on the board um and all of the long list of things that you've covered two things that we should be doing more of or small businesses in Brooklyn and two things that we should be doing less of um I think we've addressed one major issue and that would have been this the um onboarding and streamlining of applications that's a very Antiquated system licensing you mean yes okay the online portal is is is not very user friendly and we've discussed this and we're and I Know Tiffany is working hard on improving that um I think that's a positive move I think a shift in town culture a little bit would be good I feel like in Co during covid there was a lot of disconnection between business owners in the town in in various ways and I feel as companies have adjusted their company culture postco I feel it would benefit the town if we were looked at not as commercial entities but as a real valuable asset to the town and that we can all engage in productive conversation in an easier way um not just through this committee but maybe through feedback loops where we could uh you know send information and get responses accurately and quickly things like that that's positive also guaranteeing parking is a very important part of why I do business in Brooklyn you know when you think of accessibility I look at you know who can get to my business on the train is there parking to support a customer base these are things that we need to to focus on preserving okay so you gave three things that we should do more of yeah what are the two things that we should stop doing so much of I'm going to get into trouble for that no it's no this is a safe place um there's arbitrary policies that I think are redundant um logos on umbrellas whether you're doing outdoor seating is is redundant um those umbrellas are very expensive often um donated by beer companies or liquor companies or whoever um and I don't see the point in having uh a policy where they we cannot use those I believe we're addressing that later though aren't we um that's one thing that's bothersome um the other thing is just a a more of approachability like who are we talking to who has the answers when I'm asking a question on the portal I do not know who is responding and and that's frustrating so I think that comes back to like having direct contact and feedback to various people that would be great okay great thank you it's very helpful uh John you wanna yeah um Alish thank you so much and thank you for you for the work you do and also the work that all the other members of this um sbdc do um it's really been one of the pleasures of my time on the cboard to have um arrived at the the position of being the liaison to this committee I'm going to just give a shout out to rul Fernandez whose idea it was to create this committee um it is it has evolved as you heard tonight um and I think that it is more and more going to become an important part of the various things that we do from you know in from town hall outward um to support the commercial districts in Brooklyn uh because part of that is hearing from the U people who actually operate businesses in Brooklyn on regular and continuing basis and developing relationships I think that was a word that Alish may have just used um that um create a real sort of a team effort between town hall and those who do business in Brooklyn to have our business districts Thrive because when the business districts Thrive it's better for everyone people are happy to have shops that they can enjoy um and experiences that they can enjoy in our business districts and we we at Town Hall are happy because of the fees and the taxes and the revenues that come in from you know a healthy business climate um in in the town so it's a good committee and and uh as she mentioned an is a terrific um asset to the committee and Aon Norris Staffing the committee also just terrific okay thank you thank you and thank you for your report it's it's uh very informative and um our uh requirement of policy to have committees present reports of their work I think has turned out very well as evidenced by your report so thank you thank you thank you okay next um outdoor dining yeah stick around for some good news on The Umbrellas I think so before we pass this over to Jessica deroy um with economic development I just wanted to frame this conversation a little bit uh Tiffany assistant Town Administrator for operations um uh in 2021 a multi-department uh staff workking group gathered together um to think about what the outdoor dining program looks like post pandemic um or as we transition out of the pandemic of course we know it still lingers um and part of their program development and memo document that they created tasks The Economic Development Division with coming back to us each year to revisit the initial initial set of fees um that were proposed for the outdoor dining program um so Economic Development has done a fabulous job um in partnership with the Small Business Development Committee developing research and recommendations around that program so Jessica is going to go through those and then after she presents I will layer on some additional recommendations um that we are making based on some of that we the Town Administrator sign a select Board office um is uh about the common uh vix outdoor dining program so we'll start with her research and their recommendations and then later on our offices recommendations with that thank you Tiffany um as Tiffany said I am Jessica Dey um one of the newest Economic Development and long-term planners within the planning department um Economic Development Division I've been with the town for about eight months now and I've had the pleasure of working on this project is one of the first ones that I've taken on and it's been a great partnership as Tiffany mentioned across multiple divisions and the business Community as well um so it's a pleasure to be here tonight to talk to you about this program um so the purpose oh to share the screen sorry y that'd be helpful oh I know the hour is late late but uh I want to make sure that I get what you say so if you could slow down your delivery just a tiny bit of course lean into the mic so the purpose of the presentation tonight is to talk about the 2022 proposed fee changes or sorry the 2025 proposed fee changes and the guideline amendments that we're looking to do based off of the discussions that have happened with the various divisions businesses and other organizations involved in this program and to provide context on the reasons why we want to make these proposed Provisions in advance of your vote next week and this is something that the select board does annually to review these guidelines this is the first time we will be actually recommending a reduction in the fees rather than continuing with the original proposed 2021 fee structure so they're going down is that I Y there we go yeah right we had this discussion the other day so just to do a brief recap as to the timeline of how the program came to be we of course initiated the temporary program in June of 2022 in response to the covid pandemic which required doing things differently to allow the businesses to maintain their livelihood and to continue running their business with a safe six foot distance and preventing the spread of the covid-19 um FL or pandemic we had 48 participating businesses within that free 2020 program that was originally meant to be temporary because of the um enhanced commercial vibrancy the responses from the businesses the um support of the select board town meeting members and the business organizations we did decide to enact a permanent outdoor dining program in 2021 which was when we went ahead and determined what the proper regulations licenses and procedures should be to make that program a reality with the official launch in April of 2022 now the feure structure that we developed was based off of what we could um look at for our administrative costs and we were looking at parking meter Revenue loss that was um estimated based off of what we were charging for three days or um three metered spots for eight hours of the 12-hour day and this was because the other municipalities in Massachusetts specifically had not actually launched their own programs yet so we were one of the first to implement so we had to kind of take what we thought was best for how the Fe structure should be implemented and go with that until a time like today where we now have more information to go off of now that other municipalities around us have implemented their own programs sorry go back um so for looking at the contrast of our fee structure versus the other municipalities I did do some research on all 351 municipalities or 350 if we exclude ourselves and only 36 including us actually have a permanent outdoor dining program they are all seasonal so you'll see on this slide that there aren't any pit proposed fees to use as a comparative for the annual Entre or annual sidewalk however 20 one of the 35 other Massachusetts municipalities do have a seasonal on Street fee of between $50 and $500 and a seasonal sidewalk fee of $50 to $250 this fee structure is based solely on the administrative costs involved with putting this together so the application review inspections and the Jersey barriers if that is something that the municipalities are offering on them on their own some of them have started implementing a um either a fee for the Jersey bear areas which is included in this maximum 5250 total um or allowing the businesses to provide their own and their um their fees don't include the parking revenue and that is primarily because these other cities and towns do not have consistent metered parking throughout their entire municipality making it infeasible for them to be using that as a basis for all updo dining across the municipalities our current existing fee structure um which these slides specifically are in the appendices that were included as part of the agenda packet for tonight our closest fee structure comparative across um the N right now is actually Times Square and Broadway in New York City versus the 500 2250 for our fellow Massachusetts municipalities so to kind of give you a brief overview of how many different licenses we had active for the annual sidewalk annual parklets or both the annual on Street annual sidewalk as well as the seasonal breakdowns of on Street sidewalk or both um we did have some consistency across the board but we did again I mentioned this before but had a maximum participation 20120 at with 48 businesses at zero cost they're not included in this because there was no official breakdown as the type of dining at that time in 2022 the businesses declined in terms of number participating mainly because they were attempting to return to the pre-co Norms they could start opening their restaurants as normal with the indoor seating um 2023 we did see a slight increase again up to the 41 which is only seven less than the 48 that participated when it was free of course we know 2023 during the summer specifically brought a lot of rain so there wasn't as much use of the outdoor dining as one would anticipate given the standard summer weather um and with the fee increase we did actually keep the fees the same moving forward into 2024 because of the fact that we didn't have the comparative numbers yet or the um real evidence that the parking meter loss really was what we had anticipated it was would be at this particular time so keeping the consistent fee amounts from 2023 to 2024 we actually saw a big dip from 41 businesses participating all the way down to 25 which is just under half of the total participants of 2020 and despite this number um there are still a very large supportive group of businesses that see the benefit of the program and that's not just the restaurants participating but the retailers as well who are reaping the benefits of people spending more time in the different commercial areas around town so they're appreciating the commercial vibrancy that's being created and would like to see more happen moving forward and this is based off of the conversations we had throughout this process um and just to give you an update on the parking re U parking meter revenue for 2023 um we were originally anticipating that the estimates for seasonal parking meter loss were about $5,000 and about 8,600 for the annual and what we found um based off of the actual meter amounts from the IPS system is that the average per meter per day is $7.38 or 227 $34 on average for the year and that's just to provide some oversight as to what those actual reeven U parking meter revenue losses would be in reality with these programs um so our proposed fee recommendation um for 2025 um based off of the comparables to the other Mass municipalities and based off of um conversations with selectboard office Economic Development building in DPW um they're amenable to decreasing the fees and subsidizing a bit of the cost that overlaps with what's not um encumbered by this original fee we are looking at $250 for the seasonal sidewalk renewal or $500 for the first time applicants just to um to account for the additional application processes that have to go through to approve applicants for the first time and $500 for the seasonal off street with $1,000 for the firsttime applicants again just to cover the extra costs with onboarding the the new business um this aligns with the other um 35 municipalities there are a couple of outliers which is where we kind of brought in the first time applicant fee that's something that um Somerville specifically is doing and Boston has a similar separate fee structure depending on which type of program they're doing but they complicated a little bit bringing in the alcohol license fees and things so this first time application fee really comes from somerville's model um and this will promote further chall vibrancy we have heard from multiple businesses who were part of the 48 or some of the newer businesses that would like to participate in this program and I think um personally and through the conversations that reducing the costs will also reduce the barriers of entry for the businesses and we'll continue to see the commercial Town vibrancy um without too much extra work on in terms of administrative um timet taes and things I think um based off a conversations we would be closer to that 48 number again not so much above and beyond that um just to get everyone back involved in the program as they were before and in terms of guideline changes um and different things um Alish did mention this earli about the um um The Umbrellas with the logos one of the biggest um questions and concerns from the businesses was the cost of these umbrellas that they use for the outdoor dining can range between um $300 to $700 per umbrella but their vendors whether they're alcohol vendors or food vendors or otherwise actually provide them these for free as long as the logo stays there there was one option to just cover the logos but that would um basically exempt them from using them because the point is the vendor gets the advertising by providing the umbrella so the recommendation is to remove the proposed Lang or the language that says that no promotional signage or logos shall be allowed on any outdoor dining elements but maintaining the concept that the Jersey barriers cannot have advertising or be painted unless it is approved by DPW beforehand that is everything so I thank you for your time I welcome any questions uh before we take questions on that I do just want to layer on if it's okay um the select board licensing perspective on this um and we are in agreement with the proposed um uh fees for seasonal on street and sidewalk um right and in talking with the Department of Public Works and building are also um in agreement that we would be willing to remove if the select board is amenable to it the requirement um that prohibits uh them from having advertisement or logos on umbrellas um of course Jersey barriers um is would still be prohibited to have any kind of painting or advertisement on that the reason for that is Department of Public Works cannot um promise that they will the businesses will get the same Jersey barriers every year um a couple of other things that we wanted to layer on um based on economic developments research um we became aware that Brookline is the only identified Community with an annual outdoor dining program right now and so we're proposing kind of phasing that program out um grandfathering in those who currently have annual on street and sidewalk programs um and lowering that fee for those that are grandfathered in for next year so the fee for annual on Street would be $2,300 which would R reflect a reduction from annual on street from last year which was around 4,000 more than 4,000 um and would reflect a rate that's lower than that than the seasonal entreat uh rate was for last year and then also annual sidewalk um fee of 350 this is a $10 reduction from last year but fits within the new proposed framework for seasonal fees um the other thing that we've edited the guidelines to reflect is just to manage expectations on when DBW might be able to install Jersey barriers um so we've adjusted the language to state that they would begin doing so in early April um but it's going to be subject to staff capacity in terms of what does the weather look like what backlogs do we have in the spring that we need to address and trying to incorporate that into dpw's spring workload um so just trying to manage those expectations we'll try to get Jersey barriers out as fast as we can um but we don't want to promise folks that they're going to have them up April ail 1 um Chaz is there anything you want to add no thank you very much Paul thank you um all right go ahead I just um thanks so much for your presentation so I just want to understand so it we've seen a significant decline right um why do we think it's going to go back up to 48 well I know one of the um concerns when we were talking about this um interde departmentally and just generally was whether or not um we would see a extreme influx of businesses rep participating or joining for the first time this program because of the reduced fees um the reason I mentioned the 48 is because that was the maximum we had during the heat of the pandemic when it was really just a matter of keeping their business alive and maintaining their livelihoods so I think while this program is very popular um in terms of the anticipation of the influx of applications and things that aren't just renewals I don't foresee us really surpassing the 48 Mark just given the history of the program um even at zero cost okay okay so it's so it's it's the reduction and I I was confused by the different numbers is the new program 250 or 500 or is it the the numbers that are earlier um where we it's a slide with cross outs I'm just confused so the the slides with cross outs were the original um the original dining program fees per the 2021 policy when we initi appied this got select board was um going to approve the updated fee structure based off of that particular um chart each year up until this coming so now it's 250 and 500 and then my second question is um the counter of losing Park metered parking to outdoor dining which is great I know some have we heard the other side of of of the coin from other establishments saying you're taking away parking it's impacting my business um I would say maybe one or two but the majority outcry especially from retailers is that it actually supports their business so a lot of these restaurants don't have other restaurants next to them and in terms of um any restaurants that are going to have any kind of abutments where it's impacting or impeding on the neighboring businesses retail location or otherwise they actually have the opportunity during the application process to voice those concerns in advance and throughout the process as well if something does change mik um thank you B so uh Paul just a quick answer the um I think it's Thea de CI across the street from town hall last summer did not have outdoor dining and I asked the proprietor why and he said the price was too high gone up too much it wasn't supportable um which was a great disappointment to me because it's a great place to sit outside in the summertime um I I need to throw um a bit of a monkey Ranch into the works um uh and I I don't know quite how to deal with it but one of the things that we've been talking about or will be talking about is removal removal of parking spaces in uh Brooklyn Village in Washington Square as a consequence of uh the complete streets remake of uh of uh that street and um it strikes me that we are within the tight boundaries particularly of Brookline Village um by putting uh restaurants in front of by putting barriers in front of parking meters um where not just potentially taking those those meting spaces away from the people who might want to park there and go into a store we're also impinging significantly on the freedom that we have to create shared space between bikes and cars uh and uh I don't honestly I don't have a solution to that uh at the top of my head I know the the the Draconian solution is to say well within that from Holden street to um to Station Street you can't have on Street uh dining but um uh I I think we need to have a serious discussion about priorities whether dining is a priority um or finding a solution to the um use of the space for other purposes is the priority okay CH that's I think David it's a great question I think there are a couple C things here one particularly with the Washington Street um that work is not anticipated to begin until FY 28 y um so we have some time um which I think is important to note to let us game this out and and achieve the balances that you're talking about we're not even at the 25% design mark on the proposed Washington Street process and I think it's important to realize that there's a lot more Community input and prioritization that needs to go into that and I think we will I I'm confident that we'll come up with a solution there that may involve you know you're right there may there may be circumstances in which um you know a a restaurant's particular location is just going to preclude it from having on Street dining um because it would impede you know the remaining parking in the area or a bike lane you know a a protected bike lane or or both you know um and in that instance what we would say is we would probably work collaboratively with that restaurant if possible to work on sidewalk processes that would you know potentially solve some of that and I know it's not the same thing but it is something um and in other instances we might just have to say right the design of the streetway is not going to provide for what it is that what you want to do here that's why we're going to have some time under this revised program if it's approved to see what the uptake is to see if there's because if there is a massive uptake in this and the community really values having a lot of outdoor dining in Brookline Village and that rev continues to revitalize the neighborhood we need to take a hard look at how the how we prioritize that um the one the one thing I'd be concerned about is by the 25% um is kind of a a a boundary line once it's at 25% it becomes increasingly difficult to make changes um so before we get to that point and submit it to the state um we really need to have a thorough conversation about this and look at whatever data we possibly can to make sure that we're setting our priorities in the right place I think the the excuse me sorry I think the safety of pedestrians um we try very hard to take care of that with sidewalks um we're just getting to the realization that we need to take care of the safety of um of cyclists and other two wheel vehicles um no matter whether they whether we like what they they they they do in the in that lane or not just as pedestrians occasionally will cross the street against a a weight sign um and we also need to make provision for uh for parking in the commercial area because it's vital for the stores perhaps more so for the stores than for the restaurants so because you walk around the corner for a restaurant meal if you want to go in and out of a store then you know you you you haven't got a parking space you'll just keep going um so let's let's have that conversation in detail with ourselves and with the um uh with the community uh as well baby so I have a few questions so one of them I'm trying to understand the financing of this a bit better so the uh per parking meter cost in terms of Revenue in a year I think was $2,273 or thereabout how many parking meters are typically taken up uh by outdoor dining per on a per restaurant basis so each restaurant takes up two and a half spaces so it's two spaces the outro dining and a half a space for the um diagonal or um Jersey Barrier yes the diagonal Jersey Barrier so we're looking at two to three parking meters yes okay and the fees that we would be that we receive from uh on Street permits obviously don't add up to that amount of three meters but clearly there are other uh positive attributes including Financial that we derive from allowing outdoor dining so I'm wondering if you could articulate what some of those are so one of the things that um I wasn't able to gather enough local evidence in the businesses themselves just because of um the way that the numbers break down internally um is the meals tax there was some conversation um interde departmentally and um the Mals tax for for Brooklyn over the last few years is incorporated into the appendices packet as well um that does show an increase in the males tax collected once this program was initiated there is no um evidentiary proof that that is truly correlated but um we were um basing it on the assumption that there was an increase we did have one or two businesses that were able to provide the numbers but not enough of the population of applicants or participants that could really show us what the true face value is in terms of males tax collected from the Adroid dining specifically um but there is some conversation about um the males tax being the added um income or revenue for the town that's based off of this program all right another uh related question that I have in terms of outdoor space that could be utilized for dining has there been any thought to rooftop dining that's certainly popular in some communities I understand that there can be safety issues there and some of our roofs have utility so it won't work everywhere but it might work in some places so is that something we've looked at I'm not sure if we've thought about it in the past um I don't think there's been too many roofs that were able to do that and I think um so many of the restaurants rent from their property owners um which I believe that the property owners are part of the application process anyway because they have to have approvals but um I don't think we've attempted that as of late or as yet and one more quick one if I may we heard Tiffany mention that the town is looking to move away from the annual on street and you cite it as a reason that Brookline appears to be the only municipality that's doing that is that the only reason though because for me just because we're alone doesn't mean we're wrong could mean we're a Pioneer so the um the other big reason for this is the concern about the winter and what happens in the winter we've the pandemic coincided with a couple of extremely mild Winters um where we didn't have a lot of cause for snow removal um and in the winter you know the the circumstances where if we get a you know a multi-day storm and we're trying to navigate plows around permanent structures in the public way we're going to run into trouble um and it's just the cost of trying to figure that out and all the potential contingencies there is going to be difficult so given that there's been low uptake of annual dining we know where the current annual dining locations are we can plan for specific plans around those unique circumstances um that makes us feel better about ensuring that the current businesses that have come to rely on that will have that opportunity and tell the road till the road gets redone um so it's kind of a long you know Sundown for that license but we're you know the worry that we have is that if it did go in the opposite direction and we had a lot of things in the public way in December we'd really have snow removal issues serious snow removal issues okay John um a few points if I may and I'm going to start by saying that uh you know I think down the road maybe Mike and I are not going to see eye to eye on every aspect of this question of you know outdoor dining bike Lanes parking meters but I do very much agree with the thrust of his comment that we need to come to some kind of understand standing on these issues now and um by that I mean we we really don't have the luxury as I understand it of waiting until 2028 you know when the serious work on this begins because by that time we will be doing serious work on a plan that we agreed to three or four years ago in terms of the specifics of it in terms of the parking meters and where they're located and so on and so on and so on so I agree with the thrust of what Mike has said the other points I want to make um are that um first of all on the question of like okay so you have an outdoor dining area and it causes the loss of two parking meters and I sort of experience here people doing the calculation in their heads the average M meter gets us to B bum you know what does the permit for the outdoor dining get us what is the balance between those two things none of this um is that simple to calculate and I'll just cite the example of okay so you lose two two parking meters in order to have an outdoor dining area people come in increasing numbers to the commercial area because they like the outdoor dining area what happens when they get there and the two meters that somebody used to park at are no longer there where the outdoor dining is they move on and they park at another meter a little bit further away so have we really lost any um meter Revenue we might have actually gained meter Revenue because there's more people coming because the outdoor dining attracts more people to the commercial area so it's not easy to just put a number on these things excuse me having said that um that there is the experience of the owners of the restaurant businesses and the experience of the owners of the adjacent businesses be they restaurant or other types of businesses in the commercial areas Washington Square coolage Corner Brookline Village and every time there has been a conversation of the Small Business Development Committee on these issues not just the restaurant owners have said this is um in some cases kind of an existential um matter uh that having these outdoor dining areas makes the difference between staying in business or not staying in business the restaurant owners have said that you know on more than one occasion the adjacent businesses that I've heard from and and it's more than one and it's at these Med meetings regularly want the outdoor dining because it improves the overall business climate in the commercial areas so you've got kind of fair amount of human unanimity if if not absolute unanimity among merchants in our commercial areas that outdoor dining has been good for Brookline and you've also got I think a very difficult case to make that that for some reason the loss of the meters Whenever there is an outdoor dining space might actually be costing us money I doubt very much it's costing us any money and I want to recognize the work done by the town staff they have shown that they are listening to um the you know the the the real numbers here in terms of what is charged in other communities and what we have been charging in Brookline and they have adjusted and I think that sends a very good signal to our business community that when a good case is made that we are out of step and we are creating an onerous fee structure um Visa our businesses um we'll correct it and we'll adjust it and we'll lower it and I think the adjustment we made by now allowing for um some of these restaurant businesses with outdoor patio space to get umbrellas um offered to them Grace from companies that do sponsorship on The Umbrellas that's just being realistic that's kind of how it works in other communities that have good outdoor dining programs um there's no reason why we should put an extra burden on on the people who do that in Brookline they all compete with each other Brookline competes with Cambridge competes with Watertown competes with Newton you know and if we make it harder for our competing restaurants to survive um it's going to have consequences uh Paul yep uh thanks B wrap up my my thoughts on this uh first I I want to uh agree with John and Mike that um and and reiterate what I said at the offsite meeting uh which was you know supported by the town administrators correct this board has to approve the 25% plan for the Washington Street redesign so it's going to be critical for us to come to at least this board come to agreement possibly on what the mix is between outdoor mining dedicated bike lanes and and parking um it's going to be really really important because as John said once you're committed very difficult to go back uh on these programs um but I do all this talk about uh lowering the the prices potentially increasing the demand just like with our commercial um on street parking permits right we have a limit on each street because you can't take up all the parking for the commercial no one else will be able to park so the question is do we have any design into our program to say what how many on a certain Street when is too many outdoor uh you know dining areas taking away all the when do what's the capacity and have we thought that through and that that we have that varies District by District um it varies based on you know do we have public parking lots in the area do we have you know what's what's on that street are is there a need for Street action where are the loading docks where's you know where are all those things do we have a map that shows us where you know where outdoor dining can go and when it's too much I mean what's the capacity I think I think it it would be difficult for us to make that determination because we have to see what who applies right we have to see where the eventually someone's going to come to you and say I want an outdoor dining area and you're going to say sorry yep we can't and there has to be an articulable basis for the reason for that other we're going to be right but right I think if we put a map out there we would kind of be saying here's you know here are the little blocks that you could put a restaurant into and I would I would want us I would want us to take a more um holistic and dynamic approach to that uh and be able because you're predetermining the location but you understand the problem that potentially develop here yes right that you've got four restaurants on a block that say why did they get one but I didn't that's right and that's where if there is if there you know again if we were a victim of our own success um if we see a influx on this then there will need to be articulable reasons for the denial and in this instance one of the things that has to happen here is there needs to be a submission of what is your outdoor dining going to look like to planning and to buildings it needs to pass building code needs to be ADA Compliant and planning needs to certifi you planning needs to look at this and make sure yep okay there's enough the the the neighborhood the surrounding area can support this you know either either extension into the roadway which much which typically is more easier sidewalk you know well we're going to we're going to have an acute uh challenge with that uh because of Washington Street it's gonna Force us just my point right it's gonna Force us and that's where you know I just want to say went quickly to John's point which I think you've all echoed and is is is you know I'm not saying that we can afford to wait to sort out the the prioritization of all of those things that's right we can it's got to be decided before the 25% Mark it's really about the pract then the Practical impact the question of all right the the the design has been made and as we continue to move on towards 2028 knowing what you know knowing where the meters are going to be knowing where the bike lanes are going to be is there an appetite in the community to say all right given those things we're going to allow dining here or is it too much of an imposition onto the new infrastructure and we have to say no no outdoor dining here um that's that's all I was talking or is the infrastructure too much of anul uh John one question U remember is 10 or 10:30 um I thank the chair uh the question is we have been referencing the 25% Mark I just for people listening at home who don't know what we're talking about could someone give an explanation of what we mean by the 25% Mark and Chaz so there um the one of the m so the Washington Street redesign is a state tip project which means basically we are receiving a significant amount of federal and state money um to complete that project a little under $30 million um and in order for us to get that money we need to submit design documents that are listed as 25% complete which means certain Milestones have been reached they are not final final but the foundation of the design is final that's how I would describe it the bones of the design are set such that there's a reasonable confidence that those are not going to change and so the deadline for submitting those is I believe early next year and the process that's going that we're going through now is getting the documents close to that point and then running them by the stakeholders the transportation you know again after the community involvement the transportation board the select board anyone else that needs to sign off on those documents before early next year yes okay we're going to be voting next week on this uh item um not going to ask there are any more questions but to just move on to the next item on the agenda thank you thank you your presentation thanks very much yeah great uh next marijuana retail establishment licenses nothing in the packet uh there is there is one there's a memo I apologize it's my fault um but thank you Tiffany for um working through that um we have received notice that um Mission Brookline a cannabis retailer in the community has ceased operation uh they have ceased sales activity uh they have uh complied with the requirements it's our understanding that they've complied with the requirements of the state cannabis Control Commission to transfer uh Supply and uh they have closed the business uh they have announced their intent to return their license uh and special permit to the town uh we have accepted that and so the town will now now has one retail marijuana retail establishment license special permit available um what's going to happen is um we are going to open the application process for that license in mid- October we will make an announcement before the uh before the application officially opens the application will be filled out online um I want to be clear to folks who are thinking about applying that the process will be in alignment with the select boards uh marijuana establishment Equity policy so per that policy uh at the time the application opens we will will exclusively accept applications from Equity applicants which has been described as entities or individuals that have received economic empowerment status or social Equity status from the CCC the state CCC um additional preference to the extent Allowed by law will be given to applicants who have resided in Brookline for the 5 years preceding the date of the application and who continue to do so at the time the application is approved so the the top line of this is we have an a marijuana retail license we will open applications for that license in October we will get an announcement before that happens and any anyone seeking an application for that license must be CCC certified as either an economic empowerment applicant or a social Equity applicant and when when we're ready for that we should have in our packet um the process that we use to um accept the application and and process it through I just want to make sure that we we know exactly what steps we have to take and what things we can't take yes this is a multi- departmental operation now to the first time we've had an application in a while um and the um the um the landscape is very different to put it mildly with that said there's a lot of interest we've been getting emails at the select Board office saying I hear you have a license do you have a license um and so we've said to them let's be patient and we will have a fair and Equitable process for ensuring this license great okay anything else okay I thought John had his no no no no sorry okay um so we have to vote on this question of accepting the return of the Brookline marijuana retail retailer establishment license from Mission ma. comma Inc um all in favor of accepting the return of this license please indicate by saying I jnan SC hi uh Michael Sandman hi uh Paul Warren hi David Perman hi vot I uh next boards and commissions reappointment question of reappointing uh Rita MCN to the housing Advisory Board uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John B skak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David prman I there v i uh boards and commissions new appointments question of appointing new members to various boards and commissions age friendly cities committee uh Ruth mof um I assume people don't have any discussion of these we we okay go okay all in favor of Ruth nsof Omni by saying pardon me you want to put them all together but well just one more oh there okay there's just one more yeah um please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Mike sanman hi with pleasure hi David Perman hi chair vsai finally Brook line commissioner for the Arts K the seedman um all in favor please indicate by saying I jenan Sak hi Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David Perman hi Sher vs I and finally you have the election sorry finally in the back of the room there is our town clerk keeping us who has three I think three items on the agenda for our boat you better not be charging us overtime theyve been the best for last uh so fun fact I do not get paid overtime for work so the joke is during election season I'm the lowest paid person in my office because everybody else does get paid for their fortunately we're not your yes exactly if anybody would like to stay late uh we have not gotten the ballots yet we expect them next week um they told us by the 7th so if you want to put on your schedules doing some late night ballot stuffing feel free to come down or ballot prep I know uh not ballot stuffing um uh thank you Mr chair there are three votes before the board uh tonight related to the November 5th uh state election uh sometimes referred to as the presidential election but it is a state election so that's what we call it um the first is uh vote to execute the warrant for the election uh which includes numerous offices including uh electors for President and Vice President as well as five ballot questions the polling places are exactly the same as they have been for the elections in 2024 um a note I will make for voters who do not vote except in presidential years the redistricting has occurred since 2020 so they might have a different polling location so we are encouraging people to double check uh their polling location before they go to the polls on Election Day itself and in the future vote in our local elections yes please vote in all of our elections uh it is uh very very important uh all of them we put in the same amount of work pretty much for all of them and uh uh a staff member once described it as it's like throwing a party and nobody shows up so don't make them sad please come out and vote um the second vote is a vote on early uh the setting the dates for early voting uh for the November election our November elections are a little bit different than our other election for early voting the state law passed in 2022 requiring early voting at all elections and allowing it at Town elections um expands it specifically for State elections every two years in the November uh those November elections so instead of one week of early voting it will be two full weeks of early voting starting on October 19th and running until November 1st uh we will have it at the coolage corner putterham libraries on the weekends uh from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and then at Town Hall on the weekends 10: to 4:00 and then during our regular business hour for those weekday uh so many many opportunities for people to go and vote early if they would like to vote early in person uh and then the final vote is the authorization of police details for the election um we have police officers at each Precinct as well as a handful of others for situations where we know there are parking issues or schools have asked us for an additional police detail um with this election uh we do expect very high turnout uh as well as a large number of people who might be uh standing outside holding signs might want to be observers inside uh and we we take the security of our elections very seriously we're always in close communication with uh the police department uh with the Secretary of State's office with the federal elections commission uh with Homeland Security um on regular calls with them to make sure that we know what's going on they know if we have any concerns uh and so that there can be communication very effectively for any issues that might occur so uh those are the three questions that are before the board uh happy to answer any questions that you might have hey Mike can we wrap these together uh let's do it but any questions no the only thing I hope is that the candidates have another debate so I can make up my mind okay I'll take that as it's late just okay so I move approval of um the three items on the no for the November election uh issue the warrant for the state election on November 5th approve the early voting schedule for the November 5th state election um and authorize police details for the November 5th state election um all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael sandon hi Paul Warren hi David Perman hi and sherff oai and that unless there's anyone who would like to make public comment there are meeting are 20 participants and no one is raising their hand okay anybody in before we before someone does raise you got hands actually there are hands up um and I will I will say this to folks um if you're commenting on the same thing that someone else has commented on you can always send an email to selectboard at brooklinema.gov the select board reads every email they receive stuck it out you should hear them one hand is lowered but one is still raised and that's Sarah sha yep um hi so um I've been a long time B Cline you identify yourself first oh sorry can you hear me yes we can hear you just identify out um I'm a long-term brookin resident so um the issue not necessarily is related to the 90 and 100 Bellingham but um it's been you know this is my first time listening to the tongs meeting and uh I really appreciate the format where both sides get to you know sort of advocate for their site and you know just a public forum and you know everybody seated here gets to make a decision an informed decision um you know we're just asking for a little bit transparency here because you know both parties advocated for their side during the preservation meeting you know everybody was informed information was brought in you know so we were just hold this decision went into a executive committee meeting and you know I I would imagine every decision made in tonight's meeting you know is upheld to the public for you know we're going to like continue those decisions I think everybody who set through tonight's meeting will be devastated if another committee above you just took every decision we made voted on and just vetoed it behind closed doors so I guess you know as a town member we're just ask I'm just asking and on behalf of the neighbor who were asking for some transparency just in terms of you know we went through two public forum information was presented everybody spoke up you know and both sides has you know their story so we just we just want some transparency I guess this is my question or comment and then and I appreciate everybody's time I know it's late but I just want to kind of you know I set through tonight's meeting I kind of really want to understand how a decision is made you know how we vote it looks like everybody is well informed everybody you know nobody was you know made a decision because they're concerned about someone else's objection right there's never going to be and no decision can be made if we're just all worried about what decision what objection is going to be there so transparency thank you very much and have a great night yeah thank you thank you thank you the next speaker raising their hand is Ray Chong Ray I'm promoting you now um you can share your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes go ahead uh thank you uh thank you very much for um for allowing me to speak and and I I too want to comment on the 90 and 100 Bellingham Road um uh issue that you had closed uh session executive session on earlier uh this evening um and and I I really want to restate um what has uh in many ways been been said said earlier which is that the preservation com committee um on two separate occasions uh had the opportunity to uh vote on the historical significance of of these homes uh voted twice um to support that significance uh and um we have every reason to believe that uh that that finding uh stands on solid legal ground and to have this again challenged um uh and and to be adjudicated in a closed do session again strikes uh all of us uh as as seemingly unfair in the in the process um so we um as as uh neighbors um and residents of of that Community uh stand really extraordinarily United in in our in our view that the preservation commission are um um stated its case uh and we believe that uh that that it stands on on EXT on uh absolutely Solid Ground um so um thank you for your consideration um and um and and I hope that you two stand by that preservation commission vote uh we have another speaker raising their hand Linda Thompson Linda I'm promoting you now Linda you should be able to start your video if you're comfortable and begin your 3 minutes okay hi my name is Linda Thompson and I'm at 121 Grove Street and I'm part of the Bellingham neighborhood um I just want to reiterate what my other neighbors have said and I'm hoping that the preservation commission's two decisions will be upheld um and that's really all I want to say um I'm hoping that uh this will stay put thank you thank you the next speaker is Diane abrain I am promoting you now you should be able to start your video if you're comfortable and begin your 3 minutes thank you um my name is Diane abinas I live at 59 Bellingham road for the last 24 years with my family and I just wanted to stay say that that um our whole neighborhood supports the decisions um that have been made twice by the um preservation commission and we hope that the select board will uphold those decisions thank you for your time thank you are there any other speakers who wish to speak online lyanna Lipton I'm promoting you now and you can start your video if you're comfortable and begin your three minutes you can you can call it just another Bellingham neighbor echoing my neighbors and friends thank you and so much they I just say the preservation committee um took the same care that you all took tonight with every decision and we would like to see that upheld okay okay I'm gonna cut off uh fur the comments um you of course can and should convey your thoughts to the select board uh through our to our email account or email address um with respect to this issue um so thank you and that ends the meeting thank you thank you