##VIDEO ID:_E-yplL8VD8## e all right I'd like to call to order the select board meeting for Tuesday September 24th uh in Carlile um I'll quickly go through the agenda um we'll have a roll call vote and then we'll um from there uh go into our uh agenda for the evening so uh we're going to at s start with Community input then have appointments and resignations we're going to have a public hearing with a um the uh NSTAR for the electric company uh then we're going to have a fall town meeting warrant review then at 7:30 Human Resources presentation by done by Aubrey um then a complete streets presentation which is uh important to discuss about uh our our streets and Roads s in carile uh then the TA bylaw draft review then at 9:20 a Town Administrator report we'll go through the warrants and minutes Cemetery deed transfer requests liaison reports and then further Community input so I'd like to start by uh doing a uh roll call vote for the attendance tonight I'm Travis Snell uh chair of the select board I'm Barney Arnold the vice chair of the select board triola Clerk of the select board Kate Reed member okay and we have one one member here saw out okay well he's not here at the moment but uh David Modell and I'm sure he'll be coming in shortly using the facilities before okay great well why don't we start we generally start with h Community input this is the opportunity that anyone in the community may make a comment on uh any topic that preferably ones that we're discussing tonight but you're welcome to talk about anything we have a policy here where we'll have one person speak at a time and we have uh a twom minute uh timing of the the comment session we do that in order to kind of allow people to have enough time to comment if there are multiple people commenting and we want to move through our agenda so I'll look to our audience first is there anyone who would like to make a comment or have a make public input you you're welcome to introduce yourself if you'd like or anything we were talking a little bit before the meeting but we really appreciate you allowing 3.35 to be present to work in the communication Mar great thank you hello David hi welcome David my mother's fine very chat right hard to stop a 96y old from telling the stories of the day all right so it looks like online we have one uh hand up for a request from Debbie Bentley Debbie do you want to speak yes uh thank you can you please introduce yourself and your address please sorry uh Debbie Bentley uh he Road 128 he Road um I'm here with as a the co-chair of the cultural Council just to uh remind you and invite you if you haven't received an invite to um the culture council's annual reception for grantees and to discuss the work of the council and um it's tomorrow at Center Park at 4: from 4:00 to 5: and we will have music and refreshments as well as a few speakers so please uh it's going to be a a nice fall day apparently so wear your hats and your jackets and come along and hear about what we're up to wonder thank you very much thank you very much Debbie and congratulations by the way yeah thank you and there's usually some good music there when uh up yes they usually bring something with them so and refreshments as a rule So Perfect all right um are there any other comments online I can't see the screen at this point Sor that's okay yeah all right it looks like there are no additional comments so we'll go into our agenda and we'll work on the appointments and resignations um the first one is regarding the carile affordable housing trust um you want to make that K or no since I'm on the okay moved to appoint Sophia Norris 145 carile Pines Drive to the Carlile affordable housing trust with a term to end June 30th 2026 second okay is there any discussion any further information we should know um I think she's going to be a a good member um ready to roll our sleeves up and uh we still need somebody from select board a second member from select board uh because we sometimes having trouble U making Quorum with that with being down we were down two members we'll be only down one now okay it's also good to see um I noticed she's been in town for three years so it's kind of nice to have a new person get involved too great all right let's take a Voice vote all in favor I any opposed none all right um so the interim town clerk oh that wasn't on our thing yeah okay that's on the new agenda I'm sorry I didn't all right so um to oh yeah so we want to first thank uh James Mullen who um helped get us through the first election um and helped study um an office that had a really hard summer so that was really great to have that stable Iz um so starting today uh Ryan did temporarily appoint uh a new interim town clerk Rosemary Harville um and so tonight we're asked that you formally appoint her um and so she can serve until the November elections and uh and get through uh the end of December um in the meantime we are um we have posted the the town clerk position and our receiving applications and as I mentioned in the last meeting I'll be following up with getting interviews started shortly um I just wanted to give you a quick um uh bio about Rosemary she uh was the Sudbury town clerk for 13 years before she retired in 2019 and then she served as the interim town clerk in Bedford where she continues to work to help the town clerk's office and be a mentor uh she'll be in our office two to three days a week and of course even more for the days leading up to the elections um she already noted that today she already had a very busy and productive day in the office and really enjoy working with Alana so it's really exciting to have her here what's her last name Rosemary h r v l h r v l l yeah would you like me to make a motion or somebody go ahe okay I move that we appoint as the interim town clerk Rosemary harll anything else I need to add okay second okay any further discussion just a quick question I will will the other aspects like um some of the changes that were made around I forget hours and things will everything else continue as they were yes the interim yeah and so or do you anticipate some additional changes might be made when when she comes in for this for this new no it'll it'll be similar like it's only limited hours up to 500 hours of Total um and not no later than after December 31st so and I know some of the election qu that was for the last election right there were some there yeah with the exception of time needed for election and will that all be redone for the next election or was that did we approve stuff for both elections last I'm trying to Oh you mean the time we have we haven't done anything for the November okay so that okay thank you so we'll have to consider that like for the oh for the hours voting so that will be proposed her yeah yeah sorry about that yeah okay thanks all right so we'll move on to a Voice vote all in favor I I un opposed um we have a hearing at 7:15 but we have to wait till 7:15 for the hearing so in the interim um is there anything in the Town Administrator report perhaps that we could start to fill some time let's take a look about so part of this is just for the audience here is that we have an agenda and there are certain things like a public hearing and a public hearing has to be properly noticed so that everybody in the community knows about it so that there's nothing secretive or about it um and because of that we have to note when that will take place and so we have it on a specific time so if you wanted to listen in on that or comment on it or something you would know this is the time to do it so I can't start it early and then have someone walk in and say oh I didn't get to hear it or see it or talk about it and so that's why we have to keep to our schedule of what we're doing so I'll just um briefly touch upon a few things that Ryan wanted to mention um we are now going to update the first floor floor employee spaces um as you know the second floor had a lot of movement so now there's some availability in the town clerk's office so um we've been meeting with COA and the town clerk um clerk's office to see how we can best FIT employees that makes more sense for the services that they need so that will be coming um uh down the pipeline by the end of the fall and then the the end of the calendar year um Human Resources update I don't have a lot right now as I mentioned we're collecting the town clerk um applications um and then we are also collecting applications for the facilit facilities technician position um as well as DPW heavy equipment operator which we want to make sure is ready to go for the snow um so we'll continue with that process um we're also um finalizing the internal um application process for the Social Services me manager position so if we get an internal hire we'll have that person be appointed at the next uh select board meeting so and then special fall town meeting that'll be talked to we'll be talking about that shortly um this is the status of some of the potential articles um where Ryan is um looks like most of them are now targeting for the um annual town meeting so that will be discussed more in the next um uh subject um we are really excited we're having Town Hall in Center Park on October 2nd um so this will not only just be the town hall uh employees like myself there to chat away but also we'll have uh Public Safety they'll have DPW trucks police cruisers fire trucks um so it's a great way for people to get together meet folks in town and also get to um see some cool vehicles in action so we're really excited about that any questions or anything so it's to get everybody out of town hall and and in front of folks will it be a dunk tank for there should be Ryan yeah yeah or the was the baseball the speed of your throw who's volunteering for that ran is he's not here so we'll right we'll volunteer him now is there a time yet on that Aubrey I yes I think there there's a couple times I can confirm for you I think there's a morning time and then an afternoon time and I'll show you that I've been sharing it on social media as well um so um it'll be so then people can kind of so emplo as well can kind of pick which time they can kind of be available but it should be great um the bog house it's resetting to a storage status um he's working to secure the building and and put together a two to threee storage plan um while you're investigating options take that long the municipal facilities committee will develop and recommend the final stage of this interim plan bring it to the Conservation Commission and the select board for a final decision um and then the budget continues to work with C Capital planning um potential you know to determine potential facilities projects for the next 5 years um and this is also considering Road repairs and other necessary horizontal construction um and this will have an updated Capital plan to present to you uh and the finance committee on October 8th and then we are recommending that the select board recognizes and proclaims the month of October 2024 is conquered carile Foundation month in carile this recommendation would re recognize the vital role the foundation plays in the life of our town and allow the select board to wish members of the foundation success in Reading their reaching their annual campaign fundraising goal so that'll be a motion that will be can we just do that get absolutely so I move the select board recognizes and proclaims the month of October 2024 as conquered carile Foundation month in Carlile second is there any questions discussion I mean I was I know the cccc like Community chest is the thing people know I I hadn't actually heard like this that we we say it's the foundation are they going to know what that is people generally know it as the community chest no this is something El not the community this is a I thought it's a parent of the community chess oh oh oh gee so I think it should be the name people know which is community chess in my opinion it originated from the community chess correct but that's what you give to right that's the guys that thing you all the time so I I I don't know I think it would mean more if you say community chest nobody knows what they I don't what does the proclamation um it was founded in 1947 as the conquered Carl Community chest to provide support for Community Human Service organizations right so maybe parenthetically or something we should change it or add add next to it yeah well formerly known as otherwise known I just wonder though if they provided the proclamations didn't they yeah but I mean it doesn't mean anything to people who read it they don't know what it is well that's the first sentence of it is says whereas the conquered Carlile Foundation was founded in 1947 what does it therefore we Proclaim here's your controversy that part um let it be known select board uh recognizes and proclaims the month of October 2024 is conquered Carlile Foundation month in carile to recognize the vital role the foundation plays the life of our town and to wish members of the foundation success in reaching their annual campaign fundraising goal can we can we say the Carlile Community chest plays in our conquered car the conquered car Community Chest car um instead of found that second Foundation well see the thing is they also serve the needs of our neighbors including communities for restorative justice Carl Council on Aging right but that all unless I'm incorrect when you get the letters from quadruple it lists all those organizations but they go under the umbrella of community chest I've just never heard of it wonder if they're trying to change something though yeah somebody did make a note um sorry um that the organization has changed his name that they believe so not sure okay did they change its name to Foundation I guess so okay yeah it's now being called conquer K Foundation ref would they be upset if we it's our Proclamation right so we could say what we want but would they be upset if we parenthetically referred to their former name so people know well they're probably working on trying to get well again it says right at the front the first sentence says it was founded as the com the community chest all right fair enough I withdraw I think that this if this makes it in the mosquito is going to be you know enough to Spur everyone's knowledge of I'm just trying to help them hey example number one right okay that's fine for those okay so we had a motion we had a second um we've had discussion we've had discussion anything we're just going to leave it as it is and all right all in favor I None opposed all right change it to the carel conquered all right it is it's it's 7:15 so why don't we uh have our public hearing um do we have to open yes can someone move to open them please uh I move we open the uh public hearing for let me get my you want me to got right here okay I I move to open the public hearing pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 148 paragraph 13 I move to open the public hearing for the grant of location petition submitted by NSTAR Electric Company doing business as eversource energy to install plus or minus 5 ft of electrical conduit in West Street Street okay I second that great okay so now they the do we have anybody hearings do we have any representative I thought at one point we were going to have a representative Jackie from wonderful can you please just introduce yourself again and uh we'd love to have you just give a quick presentation on this I'm Jackie deppy from evur how are you tonight great good good great um I would like to install approximately five F Conduit on West Street we're looking for a gred location and this is to provide electric service to 433 West Street okay um I've asked this before this is is uh this is any of this five feet in pavement on the road or is it all in the shoulder in the RightWay Miss Duffy oh I'm sorry I I she's asking a question no it's fine if you could just it's on the shoulder on the shoulder okay yes I have no problem sir with this and we've done we've we've um given a number of um of these location for the same kind of thing kind of thing so okay is there any um any other comments questions from the board otherwise I'll open it up and see if there any public comments no comments are there any people and members of the public who want to ask a question or make a comment on this all right seeing none then I'd suggest we oh I move I move to close the public Hearing in that case for the grant of location petition to install conduit in West Street second okay and I further move to approve the petition and plan submitted by instar Electric Company doing businesses every Source energy for the purpose of obtaining a grant of location to install approximately five plus or minus feed of conduit and West Street said work is necessary to provide electric service to 453 West Street Carlile second okay any further discussion by the board okay seeing none we'll do a Voice vote all in favor I None opposed all right Mr chair yes so can I for the thank you thank you you're welcome so for the benefits of the scouts as you mentioned the hearing had to occur at a specific time and this seemed pretty dry cuz it's they want to put 5 ft of cable in a location and it seems benign but there are times where somebody wants to do something like build something on the end of their house or wrect something and the neighbors might not like that and so they have to be notified they're called the butters they could be next door or nearby 100 ft and they they would want to know and they would want to actually come to the hearing and they would want to raise their hand and say that blocks my view of that oak tree or you know it's going to cast a shadow or I don't like it or it's ugly or whatever and you know this is a public body we we work for the town we don't work for ourselves so we listen to all the inputs and if we think or not just we there other boards other boards similar thing happens uh and they may decide to hold on or check with counsel or send them back to revise the plans I mean that's how in our opinion at least good government works that the people have a voice it's through these bodies that are elected or appointed and there's a process it's clear and then if you object as a citizen and you have the right if you have the standing you like a neighbor you have the right to object to it and you can't be across town and say I object just CU oh you can you can make com you can make comments just may not have legal stand don't have standing right yeah but those are those are often times zoning board of appeals other types of things but these are just many times just general public questions and just quickly for those online if you can't tell we have troop 135 here from the carile Boy Scouts and um they're participating working on a merit badge um for this a Communications Merit Badge so um that's why we're talking about this thank you good to you have any do you have any if you have questions just raise your hand you you don't have to sit there it's not that formal really right that's true okay all right so we'll move on um to talk about the special fall town meeting oh let all right well David why don't you uh we can you want to go back to the PA report just to look at that list that short no not finish I would just think that one section where he's listed the items that uh we've all said could wait till spring but might be good review yeah sure hold on let me yeah and before we close them the warrant it would be nice right to talk about it yeah yeah all where is and for your benefit um Our Town Administrator is Ryan mlan Ryan is uh this week he's taking a couple days doing professional development so he's working he's at a conference learning new skills and in his absence we have our assistant Town Administrator Aubrey who is filling in and so she's doing this the work he would normally do and then some and then some exactly right okay so we have so yeah we can uh you want to Au you mind just walking us through or sure so um we're going to talk to the Town Administrator bylaw that you know is now looking to Target for the annual town meeting do you want me to just go through each yeah well the accessory dwelling Y and what the status of each yeah so it looks like the planning board's targeting for the annual town meeting for that as well um and then the tailings um I don't know too much but it looks like it's it's just not at that point to have that for the special well it's we think it's maybe a a minor enough issue having ath before that and then changing the general bylaws um for the veterans and celebrations committee language we just need more time to get that um and then the conservation restrictions transfer um more information I believe is needed for that so um yeah so that's a part of it too is that none of them are large enough to need an entire fall town meeting by themselves right so so that's part of it fall town meeting would involve a lot of preparation it's a lot of expense as well U for the town of carile but it does give everyone in carile an opportunity to come and um vote um on specific things that the way we govern our govern our town so it's a really worthwhile to see if you have the chance you should actually come to the spring town meeting I just think you'd find you guys all know about town meeting you're all aware of that anybody ever been to a town meeting ask the adults don't count so Barney I have a question for you uh for the um communities um CBC yeah um and that is I know that uh the there was one grant that was as asked for an extension till December thinking that they were going to have um town meeting in November I'm not sure they're going to make it and so may have to come back for another exension yeah but and of course it'll be beyond the extension that they already asked for right just so you know that and um I guess the question is for you are there any other have there been any other applications or people that were looking to do grants from uh CBC nobody um submitted any anything official but um when we had the meeting with various boards and committees at you know and asked for input about CPC funding and potential projects there were a uh the Recreation Commission brought up um possibly doing some kind of a requesting money to figure out uh the the demmon park and the field and the idea of a splash pad you know some help trying to sort that out and then um the Conservation Commission had also raised a question about the um Greeno Pond uh Hy not Greeno Pond sorry cranberry bog um the other Dam that is not yet been repaired but uh that Dam we need to wait until we get the results of the hydrologic study so we know better what be done yeah so they both and the Recreation Commission was fine to wait until the spring as well so if it's only that one this is we're talking about the um Community preservation act committee which is um a group in carile that is um elected by the select board or appointed I guess by the select board is the right way to say it and um there's a state program called the community preservation act that Pro where part of um our property taxes a percentage of those 2% goes into a fund and then the state matches it it can be anything from you know a 80% match which used to happen in the early days of the program to as low as this last year it was 177% um and anyway all that money is available for making uh Community improvements around Recreation housing open space and the fourth one historic historic thank you historic preservation so at this point um I'd like to move to close the special town meeting Warren or ask for a motion but just to explain what that means so anyone can get enough signatures and have a warrant put on or an article put on the town meeting um so if you wanted to change something in carile if you said I I really want to see a bylaw change or I want to see something happen or the town spend money on something you could get enough signatures and then you could present this during this period for the town warrant the town warrant then once it's closed we don't allow any more people after that time period to put things before the town or it's actually comes before the select board and then we decide about the warrant about the town meeting what to put on the town meeting um from there but that's a process but right now what we're I'm suggesting is because there's not well we're going to close it anyway today was the day we said was going to be the last day of the warant so I just ask for a motion and we'll go into the next I move to close the special town meeting warrant second okay no more any discussion okay all in favor I I None oppos all right so now the next step is we have to decide do we want to hold a fall town meeting we initially thought we had a number of Articles and items that could come before us for the fall town meeting um typically the town of Carla we've tried to reserve the fall town meeting for things that are less budgetary and more uh changes maybe in zoning bylaws or in in um I don't know just just changes in uh our operating procedures of the town and we had a number of things come forward but some of them didn't get fully developed and others were relatively minor we talked about tailings which was just has something to do with um our accounting and how we uh account if we give you a check and you don't cash it that's a tailing that's right we have to chase you down to say cash your check right so but that doesn't warrant a an entire town meeting I don't think so I would ask for a motion to cancel the move to cancel the special town meeting scheduled for Tuesday November 12th 20124 second okay is there any further discussion I think it's the right decision for sure yeah okay I I just also want to say that we did have a governance committee um and they're the ones that have recommended that we do have two Town meetings a year uh we have had two Town meetings on some occasions but it's in this case um we just weren't able to gather enough things to make a second to meeting and it's that doesn't mean that next year we won't try to plan forward for it I'm not sure they said have to they said you should P you should allow for two you should and as uh just said let's see what we might have in theory it's a good opportunity as you said to clear nonfinancial things give them their own space and if it was a significant um event it would have a little more breathing room in in that and secondly there are some things that may not be able to wait a year so you have the opportunity to have a halfe gap so I think their recommendation was fine but you shouldn't have a meeting just to have a meeting to have a meeting right so that's I was trying to okay so we have a motion and we have a second um I'll do a roll call or I mean a Voice vote all in favor of cancelling the uh special town meeting hi n opposed all right so we're not going to have a fall town meeting this remove it from all right it's 7:30 it on our agenda uh we're going to do a human resources presentation I think Aubrey you're going to lead that I am great hold on one second all right so um so I have have been here for just shy two years um and uh before that um you know my position did not exist so I am now officially the assistant Town Administrator HR Director so very long title but um one of the big goals of my position was to formalize HR um so um there's still more work to do but there has been a lot of great progress um Ryan has been really fantastic in leading this um so I wanted to give an overview of what that looked like and also um to touch upon what uh next steps um I'll be asking for in this fall from the select board um to move some other um policies forward so one of the first first things um that I've been working on is to standardize the office schedule a standardized train training evaluation step increases and acrs um so we've been working on performance evaluations as you're well aware we now have standardized those so all employees have a performance evaluation their step increases are tied to that evaluation and if they meet you know their standards then they can um they will get that step increase July 1st so that has standardized that um um just before I came um became standardized for everybody to have one step increase every year instead of one every three years so that really made a great pay Equity um we've been working very hard to make sure um any new roles or changing roles fit within the the classification plan and they make sense that they make sense compared to other roles in town and then similar roles in comparable towns so it's been a lot of work but we've really U made sure that that all fits and that's really um been a huge asset um we have a formal offer letter that we send to everybody and you know formal um start uh we you know starting wage so it's it's been really fantastic um one of the things that I'll be asking again this fall is more about the Town Hall hours um so we have um we've needed some clarity for staff um in particular now that the uh the um tax bills are getting sent only twice a year um even even though there's the like to to let folks know their bills will still you still have to pay every quarter but they won't be mailing it every quarter part of that is that they are required to have the Town Hall hours on that mailing so um the treasure collector is asking for um confirmation as soon as she can find out so that they can make sure that they're complying with the law um but also this there's consistency and she um made some valid points that kind of went in uh that aligned with some of the memos I've um sub aded about um most towns in the um Commonwealth now have one later day so if we were a little more consistent with other towns where residents are able to pay taxes on that later day um that would be good um and then also making sure that all the T office hours are the same for everybody in town hall so if if a resident comes in to be able to they were able to do all everything they need to do on one visit right so having that consistency will be very helpful um and now that we also have the new security system making sure that everybody can enter and exit whenever they need to um of course exit when they need to but enter whenever they need to um will also be good so I think that that will be a big an ask that you know I'll be following up on again this fall and especially um on behalf of the treasure collector to make sure that she's able to um have the proper uh hours listed on the mailing for the when dides she need that so I double she wrote to me um she one going back cuz one's going to soon before next one will be sent in early December for the payments that are due February 1st and May 1st so we would need to know by early December what those hours would be that would go up and through May May 1st so so we'll have to get that on the agenda Dy noted or sooner than early no December because she needs to get it printed right so maybe that November one of those November meetings yeah as it relates to the later ta discussion do we have the authority as a select board to set those hours as needed to that could standardize it for all the services that a resident may require and if not is is the idea is we will make a request to do that to the other departments so my understanding that that that is an authority of the select board it is an authority I know that the BW we control the the actual can't make C we can't we can't tell the department oh you know so we could open the building at 8 and say the hours of the building or town hall are 8 but that department you know because we don't have a TA bylaw that would given the authority so in in sub in the bullet three standard office schedule for town hall employees right that's not really what we're talking about is Town Hall hours right right right although the goal the ultimate goal but for the tactically for December we need to set Town Hall hours the discussion of who sets hours for employees is that's a bigger that's a bigger question bigger okay so that's what you meant or that's what's meant by the third bullet point or is that just the larger discussion under under point one I think that's the larger discussion but let's set that aside and say what for the ones we can tell what should it be it sounds like we can set thetive we'll have that discussion in the future let's keep going with Aubrey's um sure so um so that's one of the first asks I'll have um so with online HR trying to make sure that everything is as digitized as possible not everything in the HR onboarding process can be digitized um for example middle sex retirement system still requires H hard copy to be hand signed everything so and witnessed so that's a big part of it um I just went to their training last week so I know that is the current requirement um but uh I've been working on making sure that HR records are still Consolidated to secure location um and then that the future records will be digital we're still working on that um I'm still working on getting more digital for the onboarding um more of the other um systems are going online so we're trying to get the health insurance system and everything online and also making sure that all Resident our uh employees are aware that they can access all this information through the app and online uh we already have integrated bamboo HR uh Kelly the town accountant has been a huge um asset in making this work um so a lot of the employees um and not in the school side but in the rest of the Town Hall are on it um there's some that it just doesn't work with how they're paid it just doesn't fit into the system but um but there's a huge chunk of employees that are now um in bambo HR and so that has streamlined so much um you can also anybody can see who's in and who you know who's out sick and everything so that's been very very very helpful um you you request your time off so time off has now been streamlined and tracked a lot better um so that's been also helpful for you know including when you need to know who's in the office when people are asking so it's been a huge shift for folks um and it's a really easy system so people in general have been really um appreciative of it and it's it's been a very huge asset for us um talked a lot about Su succession planning we're still working on that the next step is to um send a survey out to all employees and then follow up with department heads on you know making sure that cross training's happening that um you know there's a plan for um when folks leave like what does that look like are we prepared for that right um at any level so um that is still working in progress this fall youve heard Personnel policy updates we've already done some of them but I will continue to um update these so one of the ask I will be asking is uh what do you think the best process will be for these policy updates there are a lot in the pipeline that I will be proposing um some are coming from the town accountant some are coming from um the Town Administrator some are myself and so forth and you know how would you like me to present that to you what kind of how involved do you want to be in that process for approving because it will be ultimately you that would be approving uh policy update and the goal is to have a new one as of July 1st of 2025 version want your question Aubrey is do how much input do we want on the policy policies so um or the actual plan of so for the end do you want each of the policy policy that I have like presented individually or do you want to just all in one whole all the changes at once you talking policies generally or just succession planning policies uh no this is not the beyond that you're in the next yeah just any policy yeah how much how big is the it's it's big it's it's very vast of what we're looking to change um like hundreds of like dozens I wouldn't say yeah not dozens but I would say a good close to dozen if not more um we have Evan accumulating is it is there is it part of an employee handbook or is it its own thing yes so it's it's it has the policies and procedures that that hold I if I'm an employee I get a electronically yes you electronically rece Handbook of I have all the policies mhm the way these are changes excuse me these are changes in existing policies or additions or both we both y so the one that was already approved that we just need to add to the next one is like veteran the the um military leave policy right that that was already approved then that just needs to be added so do you want a process like that where we approve each one and then we have it ready to go and then I have just the whole packet we had we had done that previously like with tailings that we mentioned earlier we had a a list of five or six policies and we went through them and um I think you have to have enough to have a critical mass I I don't think you just have one every meeting I I think that personally but I don't know what the board one you know one possibility is to deputize somebody like Kate or or or um Barney who have I believe both of you were involved in drafting at the beginning right to kind of go through them in a sub not subcommittee is not really right it could be open meeting but just to go through them in detail without tying us up and just give you a recommendation and then we could do it in the larger I think we should bless it as a committee I think select board should bless it having been involved with it um and kind of resurrecting it because it was you know wasn't even really um the last time around I'd be interested in seeing what the changes are personally and you're more familiar with the Baseline so you would know yeah but maybe the whole board wants to take a look at yeah I I would be more inclined I know we we are talking about a TA bylaw but in the TA bylaw we're still retaining authority over our policies because that's how we run the town or how we're running employees and I I think that's worthwhile for us all to just see I know it takes time and well no but it's a two but I'm proposing is a two-step where some body INF Fender work is done by a couple people who were the time to dig into that's what worked pretty well at as I mentioned in the past at the Schoolboard level at both school boards that I've been on region and the local one it worked pretty well like if you have the time in the interest you kind of dig down you spend time with Aubrey you maybe make some changes we are cumbersome as an editorial body partly because of the oml rules like we can't do it in between meetings because it's you know Collective what do you call deliberation so it's inefficient it's not like it work where you circulate drafts people comments and then you're done right we have to do it in like this public session so it does in my opinion it's I agree with you Travis we should absolutely have the final review at the select board level and if other people have comments they certainly can make them but if a lot of vetting has been done by a couple of other people it just saves time we have a lot to do so that's my I mean I think you're talking I think it's a little bit of a semantics where Kate would be involved in kind of the FI creation of the final draft and then we would review something that's at least been reviewed by one of us that's fine I just want put side comments about this is a change that's a change maybe just a change know right so we can review it knowing it's at least gone through one set of eyes and then that's fine I just don't I I think we need to at least if I will schedule it in two maybe two meetings so you get a chance to read this everyone on the select board reads it goes through if you have comments about the policies you can propose your comments and then they'll go back and do one turn of it as long as we have a a process but I don't yeah I don't think it's a problem starting it having can you do that with open meeting law have one she can ask I can ask anybody to to help me with the draft so for this for for you guys oml open meeting law we're only allowed to discuss things even discuss them in a public meeting that's posted so we can't just get together informally and do work together we if we want to discuss anything we have to post it publicly so people can see it at least two business days ahead of time so it makes it there's reasons for doing that so everything is open and transparent but obviously for things like this where you just say well why can't you just do it offline because we can't it's open meeting law so that's what we're talking about and just a quick question um have you involved anybody from council's office in this because I know in the past we had done a brewer look over sort of final versions absolutely yeah yeah they'll be part of that process as well okay yeah so yeah so what I've been doing since I've started us accumulating the different policy changes either that have already been approved or we are looking to change so that we can just have one updated Edition since the last one was August 2021 so then it can be July 2025 so it's not updating too much yeah Bo it was L that long ago like it was just yesterday it takes them that long to finish and then by the time you're done it's time to start again so does that give you enough guidance auy yes thank you so I can work with one or two folks to help me um with that and um a lot of Staff members will be helping as well and again your goal is to get them all done by July is that the terms of between now and then of that so then you have time June right approved yeah approved by June so then the official version can be you know in the summer so but have that present it to you in advance in the spring at latest and uh so if there's any changes or requests or anything we can look into that and then uh benefits research uh so part of that has also been um in the fall I uh reinstated the insurance advisory committee um and so uh they were very helpful in um in uh looking and reviewing what our current benefits are and so we've opened that window so we've let I know that we are annually going to re be revisiting you know our benefits and um what options we may have and it might be options within their own their own um options or it could be elsewhere um and then also just beyond just health insurance what options we have for benefits so um the goal is to have this insurance advisory committee be a continuous uh committee and to be reviewing it and then providing recommendations to the select board um every February who's on the committee so uh it's determined by law um uh certain uh staff members and that's a certain criteria of who's on it I was on it for the select board the last time yeah and um um the chair of the thcom was on it and then you know a representative for Union it wasn't him ly was and she was actually great because she knew a lot is that you going to change your makeup or you rot it's generally by Guided by law so it I try not to deviate too much but you know a representative Lyn's not on fincom anymore right exactly so it would be you know ahead of the fincom and everything so um it it's really about the position rather than the person so they will be a select board rep there is I believe so so um the law doesn't outline select board par in particular but it's up to us it's a little like it says you know at minimum here's some folks you need so each Union needs to have a represent ative that the union chooses and so you so this is only in like medical health insurance it's not Insurance broadly like property and casual no no yeah so it's it's and it's it's um it's not open subject to open meeting law it's it's just right for them so um it's a unique committee but it's important that um and do you have a benefits consultant yes so we have um folks that can um that present and everything so okay um yeah so this past year they did not make a recommendation to change anything but um but they are they were looking into what future options there were they were given a choice and they opted not they could have saved actually some money uh but there were bigger you know there were pros and cons and the unions decided not to opt for the changes y we're about out of time on your thing there anything last oh just quickly um it says HR policy handbook but it really should be procedure just working um on consolidating HR processes um along with public safes School everything so making sure it's more streamlined with everybody um so I am continuing to work on that um and then Wellness just um taking advantage of Maya um that we go through because there's actually a lot of free options through them and making sure that any grants that they offer um that we're taking advantage of those great thank you thank you very much appreciate the update yeah yeah and also a lot of great work's been done I was going to say I I want to thank you for all the work because um when Barney and I tell us about what it was like in the old the old days it wasn't going so well no HR no even knew what HR was you know because it really has to be a staff function and it's not really a board function and we were trying to do a staff job and we weren't doing so hot I want to commend Aubrey for doing a great job but also for especially Kate and Barney but Kate really led the charge years ago when we were in the wilderness and you know took it on it was hard because there was not a lot of proactivity going on so thank you for starting it all right we're going to move on to our next agenda item which is the complete streets presentation I believe we have representative Matt are you here from Niche hey everyone hi how's it going great thanks so great you're you've got the floor matt what would you like to tell us about great so Ryan asked me to present um to the select board a presentation that I'm going to be presenting to the Safety Committee next week um it's about complete streets and kind of roadway safety and a little bit on kind of um how roadway projects are done and then kind of an open discussion on kind of you know the challenges Carl has with complete streets types projects and also kind of going over the MTO complete streets funding program and everything that it's involved with that um so if we can go to the next slide please so as I noted I'm going going to go overal roadway projects some type of safety studies and roadway studies then kind of complete streets and what that really means to Carlile um the graphic on the right is a graphic I always like to show and it comes from Mass thought and it just kind of shows the importance of trying to slow down speeds and provide awareness to multimodal accommodations it really kind of takes into Gras the difference between 20 mes an hour and 40 miles an hour for roadway speeds with um um the biggest thing on the top you can see the risk of pedestrian Fatality and serious injury goes from 18% to 77% just in those you know speed ranges um then also the cone of vision so just kind of really trying to explain the the enfor benefit a slowing down so Matt can you give us the context of the percentages it's what over what that is the percentage of if a let's say um mistaken a pedestrian was hit the risk or percentage that that they would get a fatality or Serious injury if they they I see okay oh well F so just trying to bring this really home you know we're talking about safy we're talking about people's lives so I would say also there's the larger the faster you going the larger the percentage or the a likelihood that you're going to hit somebody because you don't see them the well that's what the the graphic the con of vision would suggest that which I agree so it's a little bit I would just suggest that there should be I don't know it seems like it should be more the OD we have some buding young drivers here I think not like 77% this is a m graphic their complete Tre guidance and then just kind of trying just to sell home you know we're talking I apologize I actually completely forgot to introduce myself um um I'm at suus for you who don't know me I'm project manager at Niche been working with Ryan on a number of projects in town as part of the on call contract we have with them um most recently I kind of led the design and the construction of the West Retreat cul replacement um and then also the pavement Management program um so various different things that we're working with Ryan on so you have't my name sorry I forgot to introduce myself thank you all right so yeah next slide please um so kind of talking about safety a little bit um you know 10 15 years ago the C approach in the engineering world was always saying um you know we're going to model all our design design based on perfect human behavior we're going to prevent all types of crashes regardless of the type of crash or the severity um and that saving lives is a very expensive process um but now this new approach to safety is Vision zero where it's really all about policy and looking at the individual Road users and knowing that traffic death can be preventable and in our design analysis we more think about you know what what the humans are actually going to be doing in each mode and not assume everyone's going to stay in their traveling all the time no matter what and act as like perfect robots um and instead of focusing on just preventing all collisions it's more a focus on preventing fatal and severe crashes so a minor fender bender you know hate St in this type of approach is you know more okay than a fatality or severe crash and we do that kind of like when we go through our crash ratings and giv more weight to fatalities or severe crashes and really looking at those crashes rather than just a um you know a fender Bend for SE not saying those aren't important but really trying to to limit those the fatalities and sever crashes and and types of designs that could um lead to those so just kind of wanted to kind of give that some for some realm in the background uh next slide please so for those of you who don't know typical roadway process Ryan kind of asked me to give kind of some background on um how we take it from just an idea all the way through construction so typically we start with some sort of study we're just trying to outline our goals demonstrate either a problem or a purpose of the project um from there we'll take you to the next step where we start looking at a concept design where it'll demonstrate yeah this is actually buildable if it is these are the challenges are permitting right away needs or environmental needs that we'll need to do it and then try to set us up for some sort of funding source and whether it's Capital funds a grant Federal grant State Grant you know various types of projects that ultimately to the design where we really look at the funding public engagement permanent cost survey easements all those things that go into it all the really technical aspects um then it goes out the bid and then ultimately construction so I just kind of want to give that highlight overview in terms of how things are kind of done um next slide please there's any questions I'm going to please interrupt me a lot of this is kind of background until we get to the Nast the streets part but I think is what really R wanted me to focus on a little bit um so some example engineering studies when you're talking about roadway safety improvements um one of the more popular ones is a road safety audit which is actually F out leaves a lot of Le it's really to make um the state eligible or a project eligible to re see Federal fund through a highway safety Improvement program and with road safety out is the meeting of not just the engineers in the town and Mast out it's really the fire the police and Community Advocates and what you do is you really look at an area roadway and intersection kind of pick apart everything that's possibly wrong with it document that and then come up with Solutions and everything's on the table type Solutions you know what what in a dream world would you have um and that's usually a basis for the design Ming forward so it really kind of looks at the crashes the fire crashes what the police are seeing the fire are seeing emergency respon bonds and just kind of patterns out there um then there Safety Action plans these are get really popular um with various municipalities because the bipartisan infrastructure law through the federal government is funding a lot of these um with typically an 80% of the federal government and then a 20% match um so those are getting really popular for towns to do a safety action plan and then if you do that then you're eligible for implementation funds um through the federal government and the types of various traffic studies whether it's bottom speed man man or crash mapping and Corridor studies looking at what type of cross-section you put on a roadway can you put sidewalks and bike lanes and make it multimodal and then infrastructure assessment pavement cohorts garos those type of things and that screenshot on the right is is from the Safe Streets for all and how to create an action plan where it's really not just an engineering study it's really a comprehensive process with the town and stakeholders in the town and really what's what's the goal setting for the town in terms of safety do we want to vision zero where all fatalities you know are preventable and we're going to ensure that um what are we going to do to do that so it's it's really not just an engineering study it's really with the town policy makers as well so it's kind of a good comprehensive study and um we could have a separate conversation about that I just wanted to introduce that because they are getting popular around other municipalities and they issue about two or three gr rounds a year through the federal government so okay next slide please so been talking about complete streets and I'm going to start the next few slides is talking about the M stop complete streets program which has been around for 8 nine years now or so so a complete street is one that provides safe and accessible options for all travel modes so that's walk-in bikers Transit users and vehicles um and not just for all modes but people of all ages and abilities so accessible Transportation solutions that and increase Mobility um and the mass black streets funding program provides technal assistance and construction funding to all principalities which car is um next slide please so I'm not sure how many of you kind of are familiar with the math do fet treats program I know I'm car out it's been a little the town went after some grants and I'll go through a timeline back in 2019 but um they haven't recently so how it essentially works is tier one town has done this in 2018 they have to set a policy saying we adopt the complete treats policy we're going to look at multi mobal Solutions as part of our day-to-day projects and also any new projects we're doing um then the town created a complete treat priorization plan under the previous Town Administrator where they created a list of projects kind a wish list of sidewalks or bike projects in town um kind of ranked them said what what's the challenges with them and through some estimated cost on them and then tier three is the actual implementation grants where you can go for up to $500,000 for construction only funding um and basically what you do is on your approved tier 2 plan you pick what projects you're going to apply for construction um demonstrate to Mast do that you're ready to go or will be ready to go um and then they'll it's a reimbursable gr program for the construction um as I mentioned it's 500,000 every four years in a rolling fiscal basis so once you use up your 500 then the time clicks you can either go after one grant for 500,000 or various Grant over the fouryear fiscal rolling period up to that 500k um and one other thing is a lot of when this Ro program first came out and I wasn't working with the town de then we worked on the Town Center implementation but the town can receive up to $38,000 to do their priorization plan and I'm not sure if the town previously did that um to hire a consultant to really dive deep and develop a plan and do some public engagement on it um and just one thing to note is RO babying is not an El project they really want to focus on inting those multi Solutions what I've see a lot of municipalities do is pair their payment management program with a sidewalk project so their chapter 90 is going to fund the paving and they're going to supplement the complete treats funds to do the sidewalk work in um pedestrian improvements per se or bike improvements and this and that so kind of using both Grant programs or funding programs to you know get one project done just Matt so I understand what the prioritization what what is that that would be a consultant who would come in interview people in town trying to determine what what should be the priorities and then present that what what's a typical more or less yeah so either the town could just develop themselves and it math thought or sometimes do hire Consultants um to kind of look at it you know look at the existing infrastructure and demonstrate what kind of projects you know from an engineering background and also interview people in town and come up with the type of projects they see and then rank them in a non you know biased way and say like what projects are you get for the most Bay your buck you know what project is going to fill a 100 foot sidewalk Gap to a library per se right um down a roadway where there's a missing sidewalk yeah those type of things that have limited right away are fairly easy to construct and kind of looks at like to different criterias per se so the complete streets um uh table that we've we have from the work that um was done I guess what four or five years ago now or than that y if you go to the next slide actually it kind of put up the timeline which but will help me talk about what I was going to ask before you do that is that um so was that done the way you're describing you just described no I am not sure because we were brought on in 2019 um to do the design of the tier three projects which was the Town Center round about Westford Street in the sidewalk so I'm I'm not actually sure something because got a rank next to it no and there wasn't I don't recall any budget specifically approved for a prioritization plan yeah no maybe this was just done by the um by Luke and his yeah but they put a priority I mean somebody whether it was formal or not it was a rank here right they certainly did not get a consultant to help them yeah okay okay yeah I will say you you know I've seen other lists where the towns may be you know put it together and the car one that was done in 2018 is pretty comprehensive munity they had like seven projects and it was just like townwide striping it was the most vaguest projects out there um that couldn't they're putting them in a pigeon hole now to try to get funding so um but mot does encourage updates to that plan on any basis you know it doesn't have to just be one stag in document they want you to continually update it and kind of see what projects are so this was adopted before you guys in 18 you guys were on the board right yeah and was this first voted you guys it says no this the first time we've seen this adopted by Board of Selectmen in 7 then you don't believe that well we approve no I think that's right the policy the policy not this not this policy but not this list but it says prioritization plan approved by mot yeah yes approved by m so it never came back to select board that seems odd yeah there there were a lot of things that we didn't get to see okay in the day so you you think your recollection it's only you two guys right so your recollection is Luke or they presented a policy which you agree to then they went off and did a plan and sent it to mot and that was that yeah and we got updates on the rotary project but I don't so these these guys with check marks have been done well let's let's let um mat finish up get there was involved we're jumping the gun yeah yeah so you guys have it approved tier two plan tier three in 2019 Town submitted four projects and only got funding for three of them but if I remember correct ly all four were built uh as part of the Town Center improvements which included sidewalks improving the the roundabout there and some pedestrian Crossings and also teaming up um Bedford Road over there um East Street yeah East Street yep over on the far East Side yep so um but now the town is eligible for up the $500,000 of construction funding since it's been you know you guys haven't drawn down that in quite some time so you're eligible for the full 500k good um and as soon as you start drawing down done from that down start clicking the the fiscal for your plock right and it go it's Matt it's 500 every four years yeah yes ah okay great that'll go very fast right so you can either use it all at once or spread it out over a few years per se just make the check payable to town of Carlile and we'll you have first I think we have to plan and we'll do that as a select board plan to have you know figured out before the right we're not going to make next week no y so I put the deadlines here so there is a deadline next week um and then the following deadline be May first and that's every year they kind have the same deadlines um so you can you can do it twice you could actually propose twice a year you could um I think the next slide kind of lays out some more timelines in terms of how fast n moves in this program um so you were to submit in October 1st you would hear back from Mast out of your projects are approved within three months y um and then after those three months it takes another two months for them to issue a contract that you can actually then start construction right so the whole process takes about five months to actually get your your dollars inhan August September October and I I think the the question for the select board is do we we now have a Safety Committee which is really D in this and do we kind of push this to them as as they're they're the ones kind of taking charge and then timately have be approved by us but right I think this I mean a lot of good work was done here so they don't have to reinvent the wheel they can no but they can reeval all list and reevaluate and there'll be other things maybe but yeah sure yeah I agree with that okay give them and they can obviously we're looking at hold on second Matt could you start over again on that last comment yep so let's say the Safety Committee and the select board want to update that tier 2 priorization list they can get that into Mass D and and get that approved before the May 1 date those dates always the tier two next deadline is April 1 they always do that intentionally so you can get it in approved and then go right immediately um hit that may 1 deadline so it kind of allows you to do that if you know you wanted to go and update a few projects that you wanted to go after for tier three funds but if you're not going to go after a tier three grant for a project you're going to put on there immediately it's you don't have to go through that time crunch so Matt does that mean that things that are already on this approved list the spreadsheet that they are tier tws already because mathot approved them as tier tws yep correct so any of those project doing a project on this list it'll get fast-tracked so okay it's good to know and it's only if it's a new project then it would be a tier three okay yeah so I think if it is the consensus of the board that Ryan had wanted to know know if this is the direction we're headed with it to the Safety Committee yeah so would we do you think we would I mentioned that can can you suck down the whole 500 in your first application yes of course you can that's what we did the for the rotary project we added a it because it may not may go away yeah when the ducks quack feed them why you can okay Al it be cheaper if you do it earlier than right later but um I guess my question question is if let's say we just you know the Safety Committee accepts this list but wants to reorder rep prioritize what how does that um affect you know with is that a big Milla with with mot or I mean let's say you got number seven and you'd like to put it at number five think if it's two two it's really is that yeah so nasta doesn't care which project you go after for your two or three funds I've been with municipalities they went after one two and then 35 36 and they got all approved okay so that's that was the question okay great they're okay with that and they're also okay with minor scope changes on a project based on what's actually in that plan they understand things change so okay great yeah so that application's really a narrative high level cost estimate um and then just a brief loal checklist form it's not an overbearing application like I said it's more the timeline the October 1 deadline is just pretty popular because it kees you up for construction next summer whereas is the May deadline you're looking at maybe possibly early 2026 at this point just been this extra five months and then you're looking at when you're shovel ready for construction you know once the best time start construction so that's all I wanted to communicate here I just have one more question oh y I'm I guess I'm jump the gun never mind when we get to the Mast doot um spreadsheet I have questions about that okay yep next slide please um so as you all know Carlo has a number of challenges is when you know you kind of think up the treats you might think G Somerville Boston you know they have space and these roadways and carile as you know it just has a lot of narrow roadway curves and it really is a a lot of vegetation along the roadways the steep slopes that can be challenging um but with that I don't want you to be discouraged because we can design solutions that are contact sensitive and do improve accessibility and safety in the town and make Mobility better for residents um and users um the other thing is you know carile after doing the P management we kind of learn you guys have a lot of local roadways and only a handful of arterial roads through the town I think those just kind of limit maybe where your Project's going to be because a lot of local roadways and the eyes of design guidance bicycl and pedestrians are almost expected to kind of share that road together because the volumes are so low you think of like a Cess act type roadway so just kind of something to consider being contact sensitive to carile and and making sure whatever is implented fits car's character I don't you know you're not going to force painted green bike lanes and bus lanes and car just doesn't make sense um and then just you know a lot of environmental resource areas which you know when we think about these projects and there's 500k that's not a lot of money in construction you all know that you know making sure we're finding projects that aren't going to require massive environmental permitting um and aren't going to be relatively easy to construct I think it's just something that gets ranked into like of the priorization or what projects the town ends up goinging after so just just want to buy that off there um so the next slides was just the the the approved priorization plan I just put into the slite so we all had it here um and this just shows that one two three and four are built uh one two and four were approved by mot and then number three was ended up being funded anyways by the town since it just made sense for you're there anyways and I know there's been some talk in town about phant Hill um a sidewalk along conquer Street um actually more or less where you have the picture with the red house there exact that from name that location yeah yep so I know that's been kind of a topic and and I just wanted to say that that is on the list it was a bigger project but M's okay like I said with minor scope changes I think that was number 17 was like a little Mark next to it but streets oh yeah the orange mark on 17 yeah conquered Street sidewalk so um my question about this uh spreadsheet is about the um the kind of a million yellow the the on the right hand side five there's five columns there um the total estimated project cost the complete streets funding requested and other funding how good are these numbers anymore if we did this in 18 no there eight there six eight-year old numbers right and and and I guess the other question is Who provided those numbers that's what I was wondering if we didn't I can't speak on Who provided them I will say that Math's not going to hold you to those numbers they were kind of used as more programming sense they know prices of construction have been inflated drastically past Co um and that's why as part of your tier three application you need to provide actually not just a lumsum cost estimate but an itemized cost estimate so how much cubic yard of deoration how much gravel how much pavement for sidewalk curving you need to detail all that out in in a cost estimate for them so they can kind of understand you know is this cost realistic or not okay all right was to ask are there further questions here um just I'm looking through this under the project or origin and type so when it says CS needs assessment complete streets needs assessment who we don't know who did that that's kind of a blanket term is doing these were you know saying hey I looked at the town and that's kind of our needs for the project or what we think we need for the town so yeah that's not a typically not a formal report okay unless there was a formal which doesn't sound like this was the case in Carlile okay and the environmental justice population that's based on sort of equity of access for different populations so that's why it says no for all the car that comes from the federal government as part of different census tracks and they look at minority income minority language barriers so communities that are you know um that are yeah underprivileged for so yeah okay yeah then there's the the safety Ada accessible those little x's in that column there completes treatment yeah okay yeah I mean the massat funding is kind of they like projects that are close to schools and year or town of that at East you know they do have you know they want to know how many feet it is radius to those they want to provide Mobility connections that really are meaningful to a town and and everyday users uh the environmental justice isn't necessarily applicable to carile as much but they do look at that for other communities um and they are looking at making ches not just for a AA Improvement project Jing safety in other needs too so that's kind of where those check boxes come in on their spreadsheets yeah and this is actually new spreadsheet much more columns there much more questions okay so in some if I'm understanding this correctly all of these uh projects that are haven't been done yet they've been um they've gone they're considered tier two by mass do even though it's five years old correct correct there is no expiration date on its tier two as far as I'm aware okay and so to to um so the Safety Committee what we'd be saying to them is look at all these projects and we're interested in a recommendation from them about what we should be applying for to make that um May deadline yeah or are there other projects I don't know if we can get them to tier 2 status no not I don't think this year the the I don't think the Safety Committee would be prepared to get there okay um for additional project yeah I mean there's there 25 of these they ought to be able to they like I mean unless something cropped up I mean like the North Road North and Rutland but I don't think it really comes under this CU we decided this this is sidewalks or you know halfways other things right right I mean what they could do I guess if I were if they were here I would say maybe take another look at sort of the common use area I don't know if it's a poll like a survey I mean the idea is to right to create to alleviate the road the narrow roadways for bikers and Walkers right I mean that's kind of at the core of it is other PE let other people use the road in a less dangerous fashion and we're such a you know nons sidewalking town and that's a real issue with people that want to water a bike so I I would I mean I would recommend to them just without getting too detailed maybe focus on are the usage patterns still kind of the same as they were five years ago and there's no reason they can't contact Luke or whoever they you know pick their brains right because most a lot of these revolve around building sidewalks in certain locations and that's big money if you're going all the way to conquer I saw like a million dollars right so I mean if they kind of have a good understanding of where people want to walk and then pick I'm sure it's already on this list like pick those it is it's just a question of you know they've ranked them already and would we do those or do we exactly so I think that's an agenda they could do in a few months right yeah I we will offload that to them probably not the for but one question I have too is also it seems like a lot of these projects are overbuilt for Carlile and I'm referring to like the rotary when you pull into town and there's like a sea of crosswalk signs which I actually find more because it's a state right that's what I mean and and um I think it's also important for the Safety Committee to understand what the regulations are going to be in the construction because I think in some cases the the solution that's implemented to adhere to whatever the requirements are may not fit that particular use case because again I think like the rotary is a great example where the improvements are good but we have the Sea of like crosswalk signs which it's not in keeping with well I find it's distracting actually you know and so I think that's just an interest and I'm assuming that's just prescriptive from the state right yeah what one thing I'm noticing is that except for two of these items everything's got an X in the safety um and the two items that don't are rebuilding a sidewalk which is already there which column is are you looking is uh in the blue means what it is a safety item yes this a safety there are no X's anywhere where in the bicycle Mobility column I'm wondering if we should you know if we should direct the Safety Committee to look uh for or prioritize these needs in any way for yeah I think it can't be that none of them are it's that maybe they didn't have that category when they did I think they can evaluate all this I think the task I think should be Broad and and we'll see what they come up with okay it's probably only cover two projects in act so I know so they get we we do need to to move on because we have Ethan waiting okay just sorry one quick question which is and all of well any of these that are going by private property all require the leg work to be done around getting the right away right yeah an easement or whatever because we had to do that when the pathways came by our house so that's another whole lengthy process could so something for them to consider yeah okay I'll just say you know the mass Tre program as you said is really focused on pedest and multimodal and there are other funding programs out there that maybe look at roadway safety as the whole more and maybe prioritize that it's more overall roadway Safety Action Plan type study or analysis that kind of looks at you said anything from intersection layouts to stop bar locations to different signage that that includes multimod so a little more comprehensive you know than the narrow window of nasda so you know it's not the end all you know type of study it's just formatted for Ms fing require for the specific PR great well Matt thank you very much this is a great you know overview and helpful for us to think about so um we appreciate your time I just have one last question and that is why do we have three checks on what's the star what does that the star just means it wasn't approved by Masta but it was constructed ah okay that's what I was wondering why I had a different so it was constructed but not approved by mast doot okay correct it was paid for a town could a little capital be sure to let the safety committe the safy committee know what right and and Matt when you present to the Safety Committee maybe you can use you know what you've heard tonight from our board as to how we thought about it just at least um you know communicate that a little bit to I think our representa our leaz on to the Safety Committee will do the same too yeah well the leaz on to the Safety Committee won't be there for this presentation she be in Spain all right well Au make GL glad to have seen it at least okay great Ryan will be back by back okay thanks thanks Matt we my contacts information in the last slide any other questions but Ryan Ryan knows where to get me so anything you know go have so great thank you all right thanks have a good night thank you everyone much yeah have a good one all right so we are rapidly moving along here um I want to keep us on Target because I see Ethan diely Our Town Council is online here and we're going to move to our next agenda item which is the town administer bylaw draft review just as a way of background um our last meeting we had a conversation about the ta uh bylaw we started with a discussion of what we thought were some of the key components that we might want to include and then discussed within those um you know what Authority we would want to delegate to the Town Administrator I put together a memo based on what we had discussed which is in your packet um I then sent that that memo was made out to to Town Council um Town Council has reviewed that and then come up with a draft bylaw based on what we had um requested at our last meeting and I'd asked Ethan to be here to kind of walk us through that bylaw and some of the the thought process and he put together a memo as well that you saw in our packet um but this is our opportunity to have him weigh in on where we're headed with this and if you have questions as a board we can ask that okay so Ethan I'm gonna turn it over to you at this point thanks Travis and good evening everybody um as I think you've all seen we have um a letter and accompanying the letter is the draft bylaw excuse me that is en larged part the result of the memo that Travis shared um a few weeks ago which sort of as we understand it is the distillation of sort of the key points that that you talked about in terms of the authority that you would like to place in the hands of the TA um under a draft bylaw so I guess I don't know what would be most helpful in terms of going over this I I'll say a couple of things about the letter um and as a followup to the last meeting that I joined at the end of August one of the questions that we talked through at that point was so if we want to put hiring Authority for for certain positions in the hands of the TA which ones are going to require special legislation um we talked about the statutory boards that would have their own authority to hire their own staff and as a result the TA wouldn't sort of be the default person to hire or evaluate those staff members so I have included in the letter a list of um the most common positions you'll see throughout communities in the state it's probably not everybody but um included in that list is the sort of statutory Authority for you know the kcom and the historical commission and the zba to in fact hire their own staff now as I note that those positions are always contingent on funding and so you'll find many communities around the Commonwealth don't necessarily even have staff that is unique to say the zba and the planning board maybe they'll share share staff so this is a summary of the kind of positions that um the TA would not be able to appoint um without special legislation from the state I also did want to note that um we had talked last time I was with you all about sort of the process for adopting a bylaw like this through a special legislation and then amending it if you'd like to do that in the future um I think I might have misspoke the last time I was with you all and suggested that it would be easier to revoke The Authority than it is to sort of get the special Act passed and and I think with what we've disc discussed generally here um if you go the special act route um you should expect to need a subsequent piece of special legislation to revoke any of those grants of authority and so I think that's sort of the first issue to tackle in terms of what the board would like to do to proceed is um would you ultimately like to see a bylaw that can go through without special legislation or um are you interested in achieving the goals you've you've discussed to this point um by going through with a special act and so I think that's sort of at the top of this draft bylaw the very first thing that we talk about I've given you two sample paragraphs for 3.3.2 which um the first one sort of gives the TA authority to hire anyone who could be appointed or hired by the select board um the second one goes further and and sort of addresses the issues that were included in in Travis's memo um which gives the TA the authority to basically appoint evaluate and remove um pretty much every town employee except for the short list um included there so we talked about Police Chief Fire Chief town clerk um School Employees fire department employees and and in conversation with Travis I I confirmed that um probably Town Council you would intend for them to be on the list as well um and I mentioned this to Travis recently as well is that um my office could potentially have a conflict of interest at some point if we sort of modify the way in which the bylaws prescribed for the appointment of Town Council and I so I don't think we're there yet because this draft sort of maintains the status quo uh select Bo interviews and hires Town Council but think we I I didn't make the decision but I did Ean I thought we would certainly talk about it but yeah we would want so hey Ethan I have a kind of a just a wording question here on the on the second um on the second one um where you uh I guess it's a second I'm confused now 3 the school why isn't it not the same Police Chief Fire Chief why well I have now two questions no special act required in 3.3.2 oh because you're saying only the ones we have perview so you don't have to list the ones we don't have purview I get it but on the 3.3.2 for the ACT it's like the fire chief has Authority o the fire chief we are not giving him authority to hire the fire chief and we are not giving him to go below the fire chief into his direct reports because that's you know strong Chief stuff isn't the school committee similar like the school committee really only controls the superintendent and the superintendent has authority over all you know generally not all cases because there's some differences but I think that needs to be nuanced per the real statutes of school committee Authority school committee only has authority over like the business manager and the superintendent and and everybody else reports somewhere up to the superintendent doesn't it yeah but we're not talk this is just accepting it's taking out the employ I know but the way it's wor I mean I'm just saying it's not parallel cuz it school committee says managed by the school committee and the fire it I don't know I just say look at it with with the eye of that law because I don't think it's exactly right or it may be legally correct but when you read it it doesn't yeah school committee doesn't have as much Authority they only have they have we certainly can't take their Authority but they can't even take some Authority below that so okay certainly I think that's something we can you know look at more closely for for the word it um the the gist of this of course is that um yeah you folks aren't going to give the T control over any any yes understood right and Ethan a clarification question so uh what my understanding from the last time we talked was that we could separate this into two two um courses of action one would be the the bylaw that we could that wouldn't require any special act that we could move ahead and have town meeting approve and then follow a different track if we wanted to for some additional um Authority given to the Town Administrator that does require a special act but am I incorrect in thinking that that you could do two separate tracks sure so um certainly we can propose sort of a a two-step process for adopting and then amending the bylaw um this will be a new bylaw section for the town if it's sent to town meeting and approved so um that's certainly something we can do this draft doesn't specifically do that that wasn't my intent here I wanted to understand the board's um sort of opinion of of of the language that we have here and then also whether or not that is sort of something the board would like to see in another draft um I think if if that was to be the case to you know sort of adopt a bylaw that would get through town meeting and and in short order be approved by the Attorney General's office and take effect um which would then be amended at some point in the future when special legislation were to be approved um I think it would be drafted a little bit differently because we'd want the um paragraph that would be inserted to address those things that were require IR ing the special act to be supplementary to it so we' want to think a little bit about how that would be phrased and sort of what the home roll petition itself would would ask for um but but certainly that that's something that can be [Music] done I have a question about 3.3.3 uh can we really just do that with bylaw and without having to go to special act to and because that's Town ad administrator shall supervise and manage the day-to-day activities of all Town departments and employees what about employees and departments that are not under the select board's Direct Control sure and that's that's a that's a good point so this um 3.3.3 and then through to the end is a simplification of some of the language that was included in the the original draft that you folks have worked from and this language without a special act that sort of gave um the TA full control over you know management hiring um removal and evaluation of the employees of statutory boards um would be lacking teeth I I would say to some to some degree right so the Town Administrator um pursuant to your current set of bylaws administers the town's Personnel policies which do apply to all Town employees and that's true regardless of who is the um appointing authority for those those employees I think one of the things that we've discussed before is sort of what what happens if one of those employees um isn't following doesn't right doesn't doesn't want to submit to the process that's dictated Personnel policies and so that um 3.3.3 would be functional as is because every employee should be subject to the Personnel policies But ultimately um if some kind of removal or something else was warranted based on um employee conduct um that's sort of the 3.3.2 piece of this that does require special legislation because the employees of statutory boards um could only be appointed or removed by their appointing authority yeah and I think oh I'll just speak P from my personal point of view that was the whole idea and we kind of embarked on this was to make sure that not only did the TA get saddled with responsibility but he could also be afforded some Authority so it could actually do his job and I think without the um special act um he really doesn't get that right so I'm happy to talk through some of the other points in this draft and how I think it addresses some of the um thoughts in your memo um but certainly if there's any other questions I'm happy to do this however however you folks would like I I guess I I wanted to talk about the pro process and Barney was talking about a little bit earlier but if if we are inclined as a board to say that we are trying to give the TA the authority and to do that we need to do it as as an act um we would go to town meeting with this proposed bylaw as with the ACT language have the the town vote on that if the town decided that it was an agreement then it would go to the legislature to enact that is that the process or what and I'm sort of asking the select board as well but Ethan from a technical standpoint is that kind of how it would play out if we decided that sure te technically I guess there could be sort of two ways to go about doing this you could um take the position that the entire bylaw requires legislative approval and sort of draft a single warrant article um to authorize the select board to petition the legislature for um a special act to approve the entire bylaw that could be done as as one more article um alternatively you could I I think do the the sort of two-step adop option that we've discussed where article one would be whether or not to adopt a version of the TA bylaw that would not require special legislation and then probably the immediate subsequent article would be to authorize the select board to petition the legislature for um the insertion of the supplementary paragraph or maybe the replacement of a paragraph that was just adopted um in the preceding article and so that way um you could do it in in two steps and um obviously if the town didn't vote to adopt the um sort of the plain version of the bylaw then then there would that makes sense that makes sense to me so you at least get one under your belt right but the one doesn't really have any Authority it doesn't change no but it C I thought we acknowledged that it codifies some things we want to right you know I mean we like the options I think Ean said it earlier like you could do nothing we like our TA he works well does what we ask so why fix it but future boards and future Tas it may not be so great so it's nice to have a document that we can refer to right then and if if we are lucky you know if the town if a the town approves us to go forward to the mgl and the mgl approves it then great and if they don't we at least have you know one thing done so it makes sense to me is there a procedural advantage to just submitting yeah the step two to the legislature versus the entire bylaw or does that not really matter I don't think it it's really going to matter um I think sort of the legislature who's going to review this and certainly your local um state senator representative are going to have I think the same questions for a short version of the article as they would for the whole thing and it's um largely going to be about sort of the motivation for adopting this and then understanding um sort of How It's going to affect the town and why it's essential um so I I I don't know that there's a strategic Advantage One Way or Another with respect to how the legislature might view it um we did a little bit of searching as we as we drafted this and and there are examples of special legislation out there whether it's to establish a town manager or ta position or to amend or establish a charter which do give this broad grant of authority to um people in this administrative position whether it's a TA or a town manager um and so I think there's there's precedent for the legislature approving um a provision like this but I think we discussed um at the last meeting I was at in August that um certainly if if the town is unsure I would say if sort of this control is something that they want to give to the TA um it will be important to work with your local reps um to make sure that they they understand why the select board is pushing this and and why it's essential to um the operation of the town as you see it can I ask a followup question is I can see one of the risks of not getting the special legislation passed obviously a town meeting then it could be declined um if it were a say one of those like 55 45 or 52 48% votes does does that inform a decision or um by the mg by the by the legislature I mean our town meeting you know it's Nar narrowly approved it it goes to legislation say h like I don't know what that level or I think in the previous conversations I got the sense that typically they'll will'll approve these things if they're obviously well thought through and and handled properly but is there a risk at the legislature it's a it's passed narrowly at town meeting or by whatever proportion and then it's declined sure and that's that's a good question I I think um I I will regrettably punt that question to local reps I think um that that is a very good question to ask to your your local Representatives who sort of are going to deal with the ins and outs of how the legislature as a whole views these things a little bit more often than than Town Council does um usually those are those are conversations that are had frequently between someone in the TA position actually um who who has semi-regular correspondence with with your elected officials um I think they would be the go-to for questions about whether or not some conceptually like this is likely to be viewed favorably favorably by the legislature and then um certainly if how they would view any any questions over um objection from you know say some of the boards who might be subject to this or um sort of a close vote at town meeting that sort of thing quick question I was just was one do both houses have to vote or is it just the House of Representatives or or the I mean I I understand that it's it's both houses it's both houses okay and um I want to see if I understood you correctly if we were to have um the the a bylaw that did not involve the um act by the legislature and then had the so we had two items on the town meeting warrant one was to approve the bylaw that town meeting can approve and could be implemented right away and then the second warrant article was I think your language was to authorize the select board to submit this to the legislature for as a special act or whatever the language would be so potentially town meeting could approve the basic bylaw but then could not approve saying authorizing us to go for the special act right but but the basic bylaw would be the first paragraph not the second paragraph no I know I know that's what I'm saying that's what you were saying you get one You' get something right so we so it yeah we really have to be sure we are doing our Outreach and education town meeting it's not going to doesn't wait for a board for instance to be complaining to their to our State Rep right it's it's we covered I thought we covered all that in previous meetings that's why we're not doing it like now CU it takes some time to mark it right and they just we got to wait a long time before you bring it up again so right yeah see we should should be transparent we should say what we want to do and there'll be you know questions that we should answer and hopefully convince people so I guess I'm leaning towards the two articles first one the bylaw second one the with the reest request for the special act and at least get the bylaw because that doesn't step on anybody's toes particularly but I'm not I'm not necessarily sold on that tactic though okay all right not either I think if you do that you also if there's some level of dissent in what we want to do I think it gives an easy out to people say oh well we'll just compromise we'll compromise and you get your bylaw but we're not we if you just put it all this is what we want yeah and then you know if they don't if they decline it then we can come back later we can create a policy but it's like you don't want to I I don't know what the answer is but I think it warrants some consideration I tend to agree given our discussion that I think that's you know an approach we might want to take assuming we do some Outreach here and get some Buy in on that you know and we talked about we you know once we have at least some a concept right that we wanted to reach out to the various boards we're talking about and see what kind of reaction we're going to get um that's because that could also change things right depending on right but I'd rather reach out with a what we really want one one bylaw rather then here's a two-step because I do think that there that does allow for people to say oh well maybe this is and as as Scott said we could enact this as a policy if if it doesn't if we if we don't get anywhere with it we can rush we can say well we'll codify these things so that the future a future ta will at least know you know but I guess anybody can but I I do think the to my earlier question I do think we need to do some due diligence on being confident that if if we go with a special act and if it is approved that it will be approved because the other risk is that it is approved but then it's for some reason declined by the by the mgl like by the state and that's that's a part of the equation I don't really have a graph should Ethan and Company should be able to research but I think that's just part of I would support the former the two-step if we thought there was risk significant risk that the state might decline right then it might favor that I mean we can reach out also yeah we can find we can reach out to our Congressional you know leis Simon and Mike and all those guys they've been around they know someone want to take the lead on that and do that or not I'm happy to reach out to Simon because I know you talk you you deal with Simon yeah I can I can talk to Simon and uh I mean I don't know Mike that well but I do talk to him too I could do that so Mike Barrett and but there needs to be an entire out as you said Outreach process we need to get public feedback on this I mean we should we should know the landscape walking into town meeting on in terms of oh yeah yeah right um this is not this has to be very open we've got to move board to board Outreach to get you know the boards that we know are going to have questions we the ones that have independently appointed a people they're going to y not like it so we got to have a talk about you know but I think that also should be by the way in the broader conversation of the personel um policy and and you know hiring procedures and things like that because I the other part of this whole thing is to assure ourselves in the town that we're not going to be open to liabilities for um poor hiring procedures and make sure that you know well I think it's important that we you know people don't see this as some kind of like power grab it's it's really part of a larger effort and a critical piece to ensure all this other work we're doing actually has practical impact yeah and and you can't do that and I don't think I'll you know you can't do that without some of some of what we're looking for so it's not about consolidating power it's about enabling these policies and procedures there's three yes but there are three kind of layers to this so that one I think we can sell like in other words we should have standard hiring practice we should have standard policies that all employees adhere to and I think we could probably push it to say you know not for nothing but town hall is a service organization and when we have ours a representative of your function needs to be there to serve the public I I think we can get that far the second layer is going to be the one that they say well gee okay fine but I still pick who I hire like I don't want the TA picking that specialty that I've been elected to manage that should be our board's decision and that's going to be you know a discussion and then the third one which we counter is to say okay maybe that's true but you know what we still have the budget so if we don't like it we won't fund it so can we put ele I think you know strategically if you put elements two and three together say look we have the ultimate veto if we have to use it we will so let's not do that let's try to go together maybe it's a joint discussion of the picking of the person and then get an agreement that once they are hired you know they fall under the rules I mean those are the kind of things I think we have to kind of navigate in the they have to be managed and clearly they have to be managed right but boards are not no they're not to manage staff right so right so we can pick the first argument only and leave reserve them the right to we this is revisiting that same issue we talked about this last week and we said you know we're not inclined because the issues get into Personnel issues which we're trying to to ourselves I'm just I know I'm reiterating things you've covered but the point I guess is that well we need to strategize I think we all agree right we want to go forward sounds like we want to go forward with the clean bylaw that goes to the mgl and you know it's just Outreach and discussion but I'm we should be prepared to yeah I've said enough in public track that i' I'd like to do is identify and talk to some towns that have done something like this just to see did it have the effect that they wanted it to have what were some of the negatives so you know if there are I'm happy to to do some work on that front if there are some examples obviously every town is different but if there are some recent examples of towns that have done some kind of special legislation like that um doing some Outreach to those towns and getting that feedback I think would be helpful because these are problems that aren't specific to carile um and we may as well learn from what other people have done and I think that would also help inform people's opinions if you can point to right other towns and and maybe that may inform our own opinions one way or the other eth you don't have any knowledge of that do you just because you represent other towns as well or you have experience in this you you wouldn't happen to have things off the and you don't have to disclose them tonight but is that something that you would have knowledge and could provide or is that something better served by a TA or by one of us researching so the the answer is a little bit a little bit mixed um as I thought about this issue um some of the other communities we represent do Place similar hiring Authority in um a town manager and those tend to be communities that have adopted a full Municipal Charter and so that's that's a little B different from what we're talking about here right but in many ways the sort of level of approval that's required by the legislature to do that um can be similar it depends on on the process employed for the charter um we did do a little bit of research before this meeting to look for other examples of special legislation doing this and um there are some examples out there of towns without Charters that do have special acts for um Town manager positions mostly that are um created and and have this sort of broad hiring Authority um and you know every Town's a little bit different so some of the examples I've seen they've sort of picked and chosen which positions will be hired by the TA and when which of their stat story boards will continue to retain that Authority so it's kind of a mixed bag um it's certainly something we can do a little bit of research on on our end um and and give you anything that we find um but but again it's not really a there's no one size fits all for this kind of thing and so I think um I don't have any good examples to point you to at the moment but we can we can do some research but certainly if anybody else on the board or or if if Ryan when he's back has any thoughts on sort of peer communities that might have had similar issues um I I would encourage you to reach out on your in as well okay thanks um are there other questions on this I don't want to keep Ethan too long either is there anything we want to look see the blue comment on 3.3.1 uh this is around says something about Cemetery Deeds right that's um to speak to that briefly so one of one of the items on the the memo that we received was about um the TA being able to sort of manage the hours of operation and days of operation for town hall and then also included there was was executing um Cemetery Deeds right and I think if you look at 3.31 and then also um together with that let's see 3.3.3 together those two so the the authority to supervise and oversee Town employees and then the authority to oversee management of town property um achieves the the first goal of of giving ta the ability to decide when town hall is going to be open and and um sort of what days of the week it'll be open that sort of thing as drafted here it goes a little bit further and um essentially would place in the ta's control um any Town property where it's not specifically um in the care custody and control and another board so thinking about um conservation land for one thing would be probably outside the scope of this but um it's a it's a general grant of authority to the TA to manage um almost almost all other Town property the the cemetery Deeds thing is is interesting because it's a tool reserved to the Town Cemetery Commissioners which the select board is um I think it it fits into the category of something that might be better established as a policy than than written into the bylaw where um you folks can um establish a policy in Your Capacity as Cemetery Commissioners delegating the authority to sign those deeds to the TA um it it's it's the kind of thing that's a little bit too specific in some cases to be in a bylaw but but I I think we could probably probably includeed here the way you the way you've written it it's nonspecific right yeah it's I so that's good so I mean I I would tend to take his councel on that and say we don't want to be specific policy okay um there's only one other question uh that the M the MFC ran into and that was the property managing the fire department property because of the way the strong um fire chief um bylaw uh legislation is written um there was some um dispute about you know what the property the fire Pro Chief's property included and whether it was the fire station or just the you know the equipment um so if we could get some clarification on that isn't that similar schools as well well we're working cooperatively with the schools I know but I'm just saying the fire department has been excluded from all that so I just but I mean is schools the similar they they have we own some of the property but they own some of the property right but we are starting to put that we're working towards putting under a common facility management no but again that's a policy thing facility Department right but if it moves that direction does that also Encompass the police or fire station right I mean that's a question for Council that's what I was was a question I was asking I know but you you you you were narrow in what you asked I would ask it broadly kcom you said is off the table off the what do you you said we can't we conservation land sorry you can't give the TA authority over conservation land because he doesn't we don't have that authority to give him and the mgl would unlikely do that so my question is if you're going to say fire you should say schools as well right certainly so I think this is a good example of sort of one of the thoughts that my team had while drafting this byw that we kind of wanted to push back to you folks is to think about sort of what is the scope of U Municipal property that the town has where who controls it at the moment and sort of what is what is what is the goal going forward um because again if we're if we're going to submit the whole thing to the legislature there's you can you can ask for a lot um so I think that's really a policy decision for for the town to determine um sort of which pieces of property the the TA would control and um I I don't know offhand the answer to Kate's question about about the fire chief and and how much physical property um of the fire department he has control that's something we can look at certainly as a part of a larger conversation about um how to describe the authority over municipal property that would be be delegated by a BW like this yeah I I would like to get that actually but in in theory right we would retain the if you had this bylaw we the select board would retain the right to or not the ability to hire and fire the fire chief yes right so if we had a situation where we wanted the the facility maintained a certain certain way and done under a certain department and a fire chief were to say no way this is my structure we could ultimately have the control to say you know sorry follow yeah you know and and whether we would do that or not and have the political will maybe not but maybe you know if we're this is all part of well but that's Travis that's like the budget question at the end of the day we could zero fund anything we wanted to Z Z out people could yell and scream but we could do it the town approves the budget right but we can propose a budget which has no funding right and we can say we want to kill that department off because it's useless or whatever I mean those are nuclear options right so we don't like to operate that way the the point I think that Ethan's raising is is there a Nuance here that's why I brought up conservation land that's clearly out of bounds so we wouldn't try it because it'll get soundly I'm sure rebuffed by the legislature those gray areas the fire station who controls the town yes we are working cooperatively but it would be nice if we're going to go to the trouble of getting a a bylaw changed to figure out what makes codify it so we don't have to have that situation we just go hey the bylaw says like it's our building like you got the people we got the building right that would be a easier way in the you know that's a good point okay we don't know the answer we don't we still need to have an interpretation of the strong so we need to understand the current law right what what current where it currently lies and then that'll inform yeah if we need to do anything right well where it currently lies mean to the authority yeah right for the facility as K was mentioning we we need an interpretation of the state law somebody other than the fire chief right we need counil to says about that town okay and control so maybe Ethan you can look into that yeah that that's something we can do and I'll um if it makes sense to the board I I'll make it a little bit broader than that because I I mentioned the Conservation Commission because they they have the statutory authority to accept um conservation restrictions and other real property um of course subject to select board approval but but there may be other examples out there that that Merit some discussion um Library trustees come to mind I would think that they probably have control over the library facilities as well so there may be other things in that ve similar to the list that I shared for hiring Authority that um you know they would have some control over their own facilities as the default under under the statutory Provisions that that are worth discussing what what we've done though is with the MFC we've moved that you know and I guess it's been a process and and David you have a good point you know if we codify it in this but it's been a process so you mentioned the library the library previously did everything themselves and now they've gotten on the program of saying hey this works really well we just file a ticket and you know the facility Department takes care of it and facilities and through the MFC decides priorities if you're going to do Capital Improvements there and stuff rather than having you know a librarian or a committee that doesn't as familiar with that deciding that and I I think it's it's working well right now now what I'm wondering is right now yeah right well that's the point though isn't it like because we're trying to establish something that I think I just it's probably it's personalities it's worth getting that list just for our knowledge for properties just so we know what's in and out of scope and then we once we have that list we can say is this something we want if it's say the library we is that of bounds currently but we're working cooperatively then we can look at it and say do we want to codify this for the future or do we just say it's working well now we don't need to mess with it we can have that discussion or or we don't need to have that discussion because we do have jurisdiction I think that's kind of the key question okay great we'll have Ethan we'll we'll do that as a Next Step but I do want to keep this moving um and as a bylaw so that we can get it out get it you know start publicly going over it um one more quick yeah one more well under 3.3 2 the third paragraph about um the event in the event of a vacancy disability Etc the town the TA could appoint another person to serve in an interim capacity but you're saying over here Ethan except for the Town Clerk and wanted it to include the town clerk that is part of a special act right so this is an example of the town clerk has statutory authority to appoint an assistant um you know again subject to appropriation as as of everything else um but they have the authority to do that and and the assistant is someone who's qualified to um Step In in the event that there's a vacancy in the town clerk's position whether temporary or otherwise um so that that is one example of sort of a temporary hiring Authority that um exists other than in the hands of the select board and that's that's by Statute so it is something that would have to be superseded by special legislation I I read go ahead I I read that and I actually did want to talk about that because I I had a question it's I I just thought maybe that isn't what I would personally think of is if the Town Administrator has a you know disability absence they're going to be away for more than 30 days they're incapacitated I would think that that would really fall not to them especially if they're incapacitated how they going to appoint someone but it would fall to us the select board to appoint in that situation because that is the TA that's who we're giving all the authority to the invent of the vacancy I Town Administrator Cano any appointed Town official or employee okay okay I what if the Town Administrator had that they would not I'm sorry I read that totally wrong totally just reading it okay yeah yeah no it's the Town Administrator he's not replacing himself yes right that's what I thought um okay so all right and do that's true of a town clerk which is appointed and not necessarily elected I take it obviously yes this is this is a a power that the town clerk has by Statute and that's that's separate and apart from their the mechanism for their for their but um it doesn't preclude though that language doesn't preclude the Town Administrator from appointing another Town Administrator because he's in a if the town is an appointed Town official right but you going appoint a person is it implied to appoint a person who already works for the town or just anybody I mean he can and he does right say Aubrey is acting Town Administrator does when Hees I'm G okay so we're fine with that we're fine with that but Ethan do this it's silent onto whether that appoint like another person who already works here or somebody he pulls in from the outside George so this this paragraph is drafted to apply broadly um to you know any any and all vacancy that that may exist in the town whether it's Police Chief Fire Chief um anybody um so in this case if if we'd like to be more specific about what would happen um in the event of sort of an anticipated absence of the TA that that's something we could do um I think you know at 3.3.1 the select board has complete control over the the appointment and removal of the TA and I think that would be perfectly clear in the event that um you know ta was anticipating that that's perod leave and then appointed someone who turned out not to be satisfactory I think the the select board would retain control to you know get rorary employe I took us down a rabbit hole I'm sorry but no but now that you but I mean I I guess we could put language in 3 3.2 the vacancy thing we could put language that said you know the Town Administrator in such cases it wouldn't be the TM s it's like you said the police chief you know should he be guided well either we give him the Authority or we don't but if we give him the authority give him the authority then we should maybe also give guidance preference should be made to appoint as interim someone who's already in that department or function I don't think we have to be no all right never mind all right I I think we've had a good discussion here if there's any other question for Ethan I'm I really want to let him go Okay Age this evening right Ethan thank you very much for this this is really helpful and it's great work I think we're we're moving down the right Road I think there were a couple of items we discussed tonight that you're going to follow up on and I'll follow up with you making sure that you know we get this and we'll probably move it to the next meeting or one thereafter just for a discussion all right great thank you that sounds great to me and let's maybe connect later this week to make sure that I have the same to-do list for my team as as you do sound sounds good all right thank you all right Ethan thank you all right um great well that's good um we are sort of ahead of schedule we did we did the TA report I think we got through some of it I think there might be a little left sure why don't we work on that and so um another thing is we already just were discussing the cemetery task force that new one um so they met for the first time this month and they con conducted a site visit at the Green Cemetery um and they're working as uh a set of goals to present to the select board for further consideration um this will include uh expansion planning operational regulatory considerations Cemetery software um Capital planning and historical preservation so a lot of changes coming from that which is fantastic and I I attended that visit um as the liaison and I had no idea like yeah there's I when I saw a cemetery task force I didn't have any idea of what the scope of work is actually entailed and so credit to the volunteers who stepped up and credit to Ryan for uh identifying this as a need because there is some work to do yeah believe it or not yeah not to mention the fact that nobody knows where anybody's bued well no we yeah it's there the knowledge is there it's there but it probably be a lot easily accessible um then uh chapter 90 approvals um attached to the report is an update um on the road M maintenance plan um so there's additional Paving Happening by Newport construction uh Church Street uh needed more repair and asphalt than originally anticipated um and this is already determined to be fair and accurate Maple Street guardrail there's an extension request um adding 275 guard rail to all four corners of the Maple Street project um they were assessing the stone banking that they need that got the and we just got the note yeah this afternoon from Ryan right that got the grant we got the grant to cover the T of that oh good I missed that okay um the culbert assessment project um uh that was discussed this summer um and then there so there's a long-term maintenance plan um and this will also be added to the gis platform which I want to add is a fantastic platform U for a legacy plant platform um and then Fe Hill Lane design considerations uh there's need to finish the top cour top coat for f and helan um there's significant drainage issues that need to be addressed prior to Paving um so there's a proposal attached to this that um assists the road and offering solutions that will correct the identified issues and then um this what there is a spreadsheet um with all the total Paving costs if you wanted to take a look at that um and uh the grants are totaling more than $90,000 um so you can expect somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 State funding for 2025 and I have to bring it up unfortunately um with chapter 90 how much input do we have on things such as guard rail replacement or extensions I I live off of Cur Street and I hear a lot of feedback about the size of the guard rails the uh the resulting width perceived or actual width of the street um and as as a resident that goes by there all the time it it it does raise those questions in terms of why are these so big sure is is that just a function of one it's over a dam two it's chapter 90 in the state is it's basically adhering to whatever the state requirements are yeah so I'm not sure what requirement what requirements is coming from but I'm sure there is some sort of engineering spec that is trying to cover for that and that's generally done by the state for these projects right like they they basically I'm sure they just have yeah I'm not sure how much controlled in chapter 90 like controls with that with like that specif specifity so like that would be a good question for Ryan when he gets back of you know why they're engineered the way they are with that size so I think that would be a good question it's because it's um they couldn't go out further because because they would have to have graded and that would have been more disturbance in sensitive area so that's why they didn't do it yeah and I think there was a comment that Maple might have a similar issue in terms of new guard rails and with and even you know do we need to put on like uh yield signs one way because in some cases you can't two vehicles can't pass and maybe before they're doing the wrong thing where they're driving off the road a little bit and then eroding the bank now they'll one somebody has to back up and so something to consider also is in these projects do we need a going to yield the traffic sign at least in One Direction good thing for the safety Community yes exactly H res to go I always say there's there's narrower parts of curve anyway I mean yeah but it's and but you're so you're typically almost driving into the telephone pole about four different spots but you can get around each other and I think the perception in some of these cases you put these big guardrails up right they feel really high yeah you just psychologically you don't want to get over as far because you feel like you're about to scrape it but I I do think we should look at um if that's the reality we should account for that and and in those cases maybe something we can have the Safety Committee look at is just do should we just put a it's only like a 100 feet but it's who goes you know when they meet yeah um so for Capital project updates um um there was a uh there will be a final project walk through at the end of the month to close out the gro Barn deconstruction pro project Ryan also approved the restoration and trans Transportation cost for the Kua um so yeah uh then slate roof tiles will be stored at the DPW um the Cory you know when that walkth through is um I don't know on top of my head I we can confirm that tomorrow that like to go to that yeah um the Cory Auditorium uh lighting project continues to move um and it remains on schedule uh should be completed within 5 to 7 weeks um there's been a lot of uh tree clearing um that will be starting this week um uh to complete the dog park at bant Davis and there's a timeline attached for this for when that will be completed contracts are being sign F signed for the central baring ground projects that first phase will include removing trees that threaten the historical gravestones uh next the contractors will store the gravestones to their original positions and replace the roof of the Lichfield seat um although the entrance pillars were included in the original job description the budget will not allow these to be replaced and the historical commission is likely to seek additional CPC funding in the spring um for the building construction projects for the library renovation uh the library building committee uh shortlisted some owner owners project managers and we'll interview the final candidates at the beginning of October um and those are the three uh candidates um for the police station renovation um Brian is negotiating a scope of services and cost Proposal with construction monitoring Services um so he'll present the results of this negotiation um and ultimately you know select board will uh approve this um if he's not able to negotiate an acceptable fee we will move on to the second place candidate um he'll lyoo so and then the fire station renovation um The Firm sent representatives to the fire station renovation OPM project walk through last week um there significant interest um and but bid proposals are due at the end of the month and uh Brian's still recommending that you hold a separate Workshop to vet proposals and create a short list to interview an upcoming select board meeting and that's the special meeting we have set in October right an additional nighttime meeting because I don't think that was on the calendar make sure that that's on the calendar then yeah forget when it is it's not on there sure I'll make sure that that's on there yeah um October 8th 15th October 15th okay so when do we think we'll have the actual proposals because that'll also give us a sense of the cost and sure so if he's um collecting these at by the end of the month so will probably be quick turn turnaround by then so um I can have them confirm with on that tomorrow so we wouldn't meet before the you said the 15th of O 15th of October but it would be nice to get them so we can read them we wouldn't meet if we don't have them right we wouldn't meet on the 15th no you would definitely had them before then I yeah so but so when do we I'm kind of in the back of my head I'm just trying to get a sense of timing and cost because it'll it relates to some of the remaining arpa work that needs to happen um so the sooner we know generally what it costs and the timing my plan would be at the next meeting to make the some final adjustments to free up remaining arpa funds all right I'll have Brian confirm when yeah okay because we can put that on the next agenda police station for which one fire station fire station fire station fire station op okay okay uh okay so then um just upcoming discussion points Capital planning as always annually um so there'll be a presentation to the board on October 8th um Kelly and Ryan have been working on a 5-year projection um with the newly created chart of accounts which is exciting um and that will also be presented on October 8th fire station OPM and uh as you know the select board has decided to serve as designer selection committee for this appointment um so that'll evaluate that as we were discussing so schedule hold a work workshop okay so it's saying October 22nd for that Workshop so and then staff recognition no I think that's a excuse me sorry I think that's a regular select board meeting okay so we let's confirm that with Ryan um you the special meeting is the 15th 15th right okay yeah it's the Tuesday in between those two regular select board meetings okay okay we have a busy October oh yeah yeah and then because the 16th I'm going to remind everybody again is the open house the first open house for the MBTA Comm Community vulnerability the MVP no MBTA communities 6m right 6 p.m. and we today decided on a second one so we'll do on Saturday 16th of November U so you guys have a chance to have go to one or the other so say the the date again no uh October 16th at 6:00 in the evening okay 4 Sorry 4 to 6 what I think at 600 p.m. uh sorry 6: p.m. we are here here is there a zoom option no that's why we're doing it uh or November 16th 9: to to noon okay and but what is it like are there going to be officials here for Q&A or there's going to be the the MBTA subcommittee will be here with the big posters that will show you know you're considering things yeah there's that showing trying to give information about the technical details about the law and things like that and then we're it's going to be an open house so people will be trickling in and out and there'll be somebody at each station that you can have a discussion with and ask questions of their presentation there so 6: to 8 and then November 16th is what 9: to noon and we're going to be sending out a postcard to everybody in the in town oh good just and if you haven't already don't forget to do the uh survey yep okay sorry those plugs that's good so yeah we can check with Ryan with these upcoming upcoming selectboard dates um and then uh obviously F Fel meeting is not going to be on there anymore um and then just some upcoming holidays all right staff recognition we didn't do that oh sorry I skipped that um so uh like to publicly thank um the facilities folks Dan blanner Alit for their above and beyond approach to town Building Maintenance it's been a lot happening and they've really been doing a lot it's been short staff so they've been uh very very busy I see them running around constantly yeah um making sure that everything is you know maintained but also improved um there's been a lot of changes so it's very much appreciated by uh stepen conery and Ryan in and then the next is just the draft agenda okay um November 12th since we no longer have a town special town meeting will that be a select board meeting that's maybe a question for Ryan I think we we will would would normally if it's a regular schedule a regular Finance stuff so maybe mark your calendars accordingly yeah just another other words don't take it out of your calendar right exactly okay November 12th select board and I wanted to ask or just make sure everyone on the select board has scheduled a time to meet with Ryan for no I have to already done it good when's he back tomorrow uh Thursday Thursday he's out tomorrow yeah oh sorry yeah he's back thday that's when I'm meeting with him okay I'm just know 230 we're doing the the sexual harassment workplace discrimination training and so there's 3-hour session in the morning and then another 3-hour session in the afternoon that folks can choose from so um I'm also going to just announce that um some Services might be limited dur hours of the day but this is on this Thursday but most departments have made it so then they're staggering who's going when so that makes it so that's good this is a third party doing training y mhm okay all right anything else um we do we have some things to sign I just wanted to make sure we pass those around before we absolutely and it says the draft agenda to be discussed at the select board meeting um for October 8th yeah for the next select board meeting I guess that's not in here okay it's it's in there um is that that one that this October 8 one oh yeah so oh okay so it's not in this ta report oh I see but it's in the it is in there if you keep scrolling down I got so well no I'm just looking at the TA report alone okay got we need uh before we sign these aren't we supposed to um we haven't done the we haven't done the motion is that all that's in there I didn't know if there was anything else there was another motion and the warrants and there's the we already did that can sign the acclamation okay uh I moved to transfer land in the public burial ground at the Green Cemetery described as follows lot D 337 Graves 1 and two to Deborah crup at for Garrison way lot d390 Graves 1 and two to Michael ciacia formerly of 320 Russell Street lot D 401 grave three to Linda uh bazy uh 240 Acton street I hear a second second second all right any discussion all right seeing none all in favor I I all right uh and then um action item nine for meeting minutes of the warrants and minutes than yeah we have to review and approve the minutes right we do we do just all right so we have the Tuesday August 27th [Music] minutes move approval you do yeah okay second anyone second all right everyone have a chance to read them look at them I read all right uh all in favor I all right none opposed and what's the other one move we approve the board meetings from September 10th as printed second all right all in favor I I'll abstain because I wasn't at the meeting okay hey Kate the second meeting it can't be November 16th right that's a Saturday it is a Saturday oh it is going to be on a Saturday because we wanted enough we wanted not to have the same day in time you know we're trying to get as many people in yeah um if you can't make it on a Thursday evening maybe you can make it Saturday morning all right I can see us waning a little bit I think we are go ahead well just one quick caison report which is um I can't remember if I me I don't think I did um that the um Housing Trust and the CPC um and with help from Julie are um meet going to be meeting with some of the officials from habitat yeah that hasn't been set up yet though has it yeah it's October actually there's a little confusion about the date but it's either October 2nd or it's October um 9th well I hope it's not the second because I'm not around oh right okay and yeah did um Chris reach out to you aware okay I hope anyway we can we can can we can do that offline but but that's moving ahead to just have a general discussion with them about um what they might do and if the bog house were available and we wanted to move ahead you know how that might work all right um I guess the last thing on our agenda unless there any other liaison reports anyone have anything they want to add share no okay um we will do community input I don't see many members from the community left but if anyone has anything this would be your time Empty Chairs okay seeing none I'd take a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved second all right all in favor all right we're done thank you very