##VIDEO ID:WI8oXRHxxBI## e e e yes and the second night and all that yep Tak things out of order tonight with thato it being 6 o'clock I'll call this meeting of September 23rd 2024 of the select board to to order and want to let everybody know that chanc t media is broadcasting this meeting live and also taping it for later rebroadcast uh if you would join me in the Pledge of Allegiance United States America stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all okay I know we have a few public service announcements this evening so Aaron it's all yours um the health department welcomes you to join us as we walk on the Bruce Freeman rail trail with The Walking group it's every 2 and fourth Tuesday May through September from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and they meet at the 110 ball fields at the intersection of Fletcher and chelsford Street for questions you can contact the chelsford health department 978 25052 41 next we have an announcement from the chumford health department regarding their depression and anxiety support group um this group is available to individuals 18 years and older registration is preferred but not required and it's every fourth Tuesday of the month from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the chumford Center for the Arts Cabaret room for more information you can call 978 250 5241 the chelsford friends of the library would like to announce their fall book sale it's being held next weekend September 27th 28th and 29th uh Friday the 27th from 9 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday from 9:00 to 5:00 and Sunday from 9 to1 and um it's at the Town Hall gym at 50 Bill reca Road um you can enter from behind Town Hall the chumford health department would also like to announce their Fall Festival being held Saturday September 28th from 11: to 4: on the chumford town common uh there's free princess performances a petting zoo a bounce house Touch a Truck food trucks vendors um and 30 plus Community vendors fun for the whole family uh September is suicide prevention and awareness month and this announcement is regarding care Solus which is a free service provided by the town of chelsford to help connect you or a loved one to mental health and Behavioral Health supports uh to include counseling therapy support groups addiction treatment and more for more information you can call 1888 515-7882 from uh the mass higher Lowel career center we have an announcement regarding the Chums Chelmsford AG strong job fair this is being held Wednesday October 2nd from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. there will be 30 local employers there and it's at 50 B reca Road for more information you can call 9782445 303 next we have an announcement regarding indigenous people's Day celebration being held October 12th from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Chelmsford Town common and looks like there is a keynote and some opening remarks there is a dance there's a prayer there's some music a song um and keynote speaker Chief Tom Eagle Rising Libby will be making the keynote um presentation for questions on how to get involved or become a donor you can reach out to Karly ream or Sophie theme next we have an announcement from the Chums for DPW the DPW is seeking contractors for snow plowing for the 2024 2025 winter season they are offering a $1,500 incentive payment for each vehicle or piece of equipment registered with the town all completed application packages are due Monday October 21st 2024 and we have two announcements with respect to the uh strategic planning efforts in Chelmsford the first is that there is a social pinpoint site which is basically a public website where you can go online and take a survey you can also um post or engage in open-ended discussion in open-ended comments on that website so we welcome everyone's input in the community the second announcement with respect to the Strategic plan is about uh commun upcoming Community forums um on behalf of the committee and the town manager I'd like to thank everyone who participated in our community kickoff event last week uh and to follow up from that we will be having some Community forums that anyone is welcome to attend the first is October 8th from 9: to 10: :30 a.m. at the Center for the Arts the second is October 9th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at Northtown Hall and the third is October 10th from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. at the public library so we hope you can make one of those events and next up we have three announcements with respect to the proposed Fire Station construction projects the first is just a summary of uh what we are proposing and why and there is a website that you can go to to get more information but essentially the question that will be coming before town meeting in October and on the November 5th ballot um is posing whether the town would like to reconstruct stations three and five and we'll be talking about that later in the meeting the second announcement is um with respect to the fire stations we have tours uh that will be available to the public on Saturday October 5th from 10: to 2: p.m. at Station 3 which is at 260 old Westford Road by robertsfield and station 5 at 295 Acton Road so if you'd like to see firsthand uh the stations and their current state today and why um get a little bit more background on why the Reconstruction projects are proposed please join us in one of the tours the second announcement or the third announcement is for Paul could you scroll is for Thursday October 10th at 7:00 um we'll be having a public information session it's open to any town meeting reps or any members of the public and that St that session will be held at 7:00 at station three um on Old Westford Road near robertsfield thank you okay thank you all right now we're at the uh part of our agenda with where we welcome public input is there anybody here that would like to address the board on any topic this evening okay and uh remember you have three minutes hi drean Dasa Precinct 9 I just have a couple questions I noticed that there's a lot of work going on at the Rison and I looked in and I found that our governor has leased the Rison and I was just wondering what the plans are for the Rison I think I believe that the um citizens of Chels should have a right to know what's going on there that's my only question okay we typically do not answer questions during the public input because we it's not on our agenda to discuss it okay but um we can have the time energy of a report at some future uh meeting about that all right thank you anyone else I don't know if this is time for me or no you'll be under the war anyone else is there anyone on Zoom no not for that purpose okay thank you all right uh committee vacancies the following board and committees have vacancies as of September 23rd 2024 the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee the CCA Town Hall advisory committee the center Village master plan implementation committee the clean energy and sustainability committee the commission on disabilities the Community Action Program committee the Conservation Commission cultural Council the diversity equity and inclusion committee the historic district commission the holiday decorating committee the parade committee the Personnel Board the public records advisory committee and the recycling committee um people who are interested in joring a border committee can um find more information on the town website or by contacting the um Town manager's office okay thank you all right we have a public hearing this evening uh for the layout of uh parist Road um so Paul if you want to oh Christine okay Christine clany DPW um director is going to explain what what we're doing here sure good evening um so this public hearing uh is uh proposed to accept Park HSE Road as a public way um we have 187 mies of roadways in the town um of which could be public private or unaccepted uh as many of you probably know we've started or this past year we did reconstruction of parkur Road and we were looking at it we realized that it was never accepted as a public way um it is an unaccepted way um and really what that means so and what we have uh is really this process was going through uh hiring wsp license surveyor to go through and really reconcile the plans that we had on file um to put together to propose it as a public way there were previous plans there's a 1956 State lay layout a 1940 State layout in 1932 Westford Road County Baseline layout um and with that we also took all the property bounds a budding um Park HSE road all the way from North Road to Drum Hill uh really to create those Norther thingss and eastings it it because of that uh reconciliation of all those plans it really is a variable roadway with between 40 and 50 ft feet 40 and 50 ft wide 55 ft wide uh so this is a proposal with the plans prepared by wsp and also a written legal description this is proposed uh tonight as a public hearing for uh um for acceptance um and then continuing we would be proposing this at fall town meeting uh just a couple As far as the The Proposal there it's just about point the whole stretch between North Road and Drum Hill is about 075 miles of which we're only proposing to we're proposing to accept everything except the piece underneath the route three so it's about 65 miles um and this is based on recommendations pursu to Mass General Law chapter 41 section 811 um and I would say this is more administrative I mean it is an unaccepted way so it's always been recognized as as a public um it's owned by the town but it was never accepted as a public way so this is more of an administrative U formality also the benefit of this is we will be able to receive chapter 9 reimbursement um by accepting this and that goes into the calculation annually uh we are Contin we have are nearly nearly completing the sidewalk reconstruction on parkur and also uh Mill and overlay between Drum Hill and North Road that or sorry Drum Hill in um route three overpass that's all just being funded under Capital so moving forward if we were to do work on chapter on Parkers Road it could be done under chapter 90 um I don't know if there's any questions um so I have a question um I know we have to send this to the planning board uh do they have to um have their hearing before town meeting or not yes so it's proposed to go on for this Wednesday night oh okay it is okay and then after that it'll go to town meeting and then what it comes back to us to actually accept it I believe it has to go back to you on October 7th after planning board accepts it and then if you and then you would accept it hopefully October 7th and then it has to be filed with the clerk's office office 7 days before town meeting okay so everything has to be done before town meeting then basically okay thank you anybody else have questions about this no questions but I um will acknowledge that wsp I had them survey my properties be up on Drum Hill a couple of years ago they were recently back there this year and I was like what are you guys doing so it's it's been a mess up there for a while but it appears as though they've fixed it and we've got some really good data now to to pin this all so I will I I saw them on my property because they went all the way back to to the highway okay um with their survey to to bring it all back and make sure it all um played out and it did so they did a great job and I have all the confidence in the world that we have it right now great yeah it was what they said is quite of a project uh to really take all these layouts and reconcile it yep did did we so Paul did we notify everyone on that street or legal abutters about this public hearing there's no takings involved um so and so there's no requirement for notification again there's no impact on a Butters other than the town is going to literally accept the road that it's been utilizing for over half a century um you know so no there was no requirement no legal we could easily just keep the public hearing open till the 7th until we vote in case you have to you have to send you have to send it to the planning board so we have to close the public hearing to send it to the the planning board and then you'd come back and do a layout order on October 7th and then town meeting so if there there are concerns it could all be tabled till spring but again there's there's no and DPW is not proposing any work even beyond the RightWay in terms of what's going out there so again no taking and for those who don't understand where the right away ends and way the property is there's no change yet either thank you okay any other questions okay this being a public hearing is there anybody in this room that has any comments or questions about this uh um taking this accepting of Parker's road is there anybody on Zoom Paul no there's no one in Zoom for this purpose okay I'll take a motion to and we're not vote we're not making a vote on this tonight we're making a vote after it comes back we're take we're making a motion to send it to the planning board but we have to close the public hearing first that's the motion I'll make a motion to close the public hearing second okay we have a motion and a second to close the public hearing all in favor than okay um I'll make a motion to approve um the you can just I think it's written I move that just read it I do have I move that the select board vote its intention to lay out of Parkhurst Road as a public way the parcel of land shown as Park Hurst Road on a plan entitled Street acceptance plan Parkhurst Road chumford Massachusetts dated September 11th 2024 prepared by WPA USA Inc and to forward the proposed layout as shown on the plan to the planning board for its comments and recommendations pursuant to generaliz C 41811 second okay we have a motion and second all in favor I unanimous all right thanks thank you all right next up we have a a one day beer beer and wine license no one day yeah one day beer and wine license for chord Dental Group um is there anybody here from CHC Dental Group hi good evening uh my name is Vicor I'm here on Zoom call okay do you want to tell us a little bit about your event uh yeah thank thank you uh for taking the time today yeah so we are having uh we started about two years ago so we're having a ribbon cutting ceremony with the town as well as uh a top Boston dentist award ceremony so we're just inviting our patients to come in uh for two to three hours to just celebrate with us we'll we'll uh serve some other have uh some beer and wine and just show them the office okay does anybody have any questions about the this uh one day license okay apparently not so we'll take a motion I'll make a motion to approve the 1day beer and wine license for chelms for Dental Group at 275 Bill rer Road number 2A for October 28th 2024 is presented second okay we have a motion and a second all in favor that yes I'm sorry yeah yes okay thank you that's unanimous all right okay thank you everyone and uh have a good day thank you all right next up we have a bunch of the library trustees here um so if if one of you wants to come up and uh to the microphone and tell us uh about your reactivation of the associate board members looks like I was uh volunteered David brassa long time uh board member for the board of LA trustees uh just to clarify right our our request this evening is simply to have the select Board review our proposed um change to the bylaws for the Board of Trustees to confirm that the change that we're proposing is consistent with the policy that the select board has regarding associate boards and the the specific language that we've proposed which is up on the screen is actually for an Advisory Board which is a nonvoting um board um secondary to the to the board of Library trustees rather than an associate board so the specific language that's in the request um was put together by uh a working group of the board of Library trustees it's been reviewed by Town Council Town Council had some minor recommendations to the language to make it consistent with the rest of the bylaws and also confirmed that in town council's opinion um that the proposed Advisory Board was consistent with the select board policy okay so you're changing it to an Advisory Board from so we we disbanded the associate board um in response to the select board's policy and were proposing um a change to the bylaws to create an Advisory board that specifically uh consistent with the recommendation is a non voting uh position okay Virginia have I how many Associates did you have before this change uh so it was a flexible number if I remember it was a range of 3 to six was and several of those those um former associate board members ultimately became elected did they participate in the discussions in this advisory capacity as well yes and the associate and the former prior to the to the select board's policy yes so the up to four is consistent with how you had been operating yes thank you that's all I add so um uh just as full disclosure they had asked me to come to one of their meetings about a year ago is that when it was maybe uh to talk about their um what was then called their um associate board members and one thing I cautioned them about was allowing these not elected members to participate in discussions but not allowing other members of the public necessarily to participate in the discussion and that's where I saw the issue quite frankly um and um you may be aware in fact um since you're chair I'm sure you're aware that tomorrow night uh representatives from KP law are going to be here in town to have the committee orientation um program over at the at the library and I was kind of hoping that we could wait until after we you know maybe have a little bit further discussion with them because that's where I see the conflict is it if I go to to or if some member of the public goes to your trustee meeting and sits in the back these the uh associate members or the the alternate associate board members that you had before and the way I saw it they used to sit at the table with the elected members and you couldn't tell the difference quite frankly and I don't know that that's the way it's intended to be that's just my comment on it so I don't know if anybody else has a comment on that or if you'd be okay like I said with waiting until after we discuss it with town counsil maybe we could bring it up as as a discussion topic during that uh orientation session tomorrow um because there very likely are other um boards and committees that may want to set up something similar that but are reluctant to do so for for that reason that I just said I mean you know right now the the select board in this in this meeting um somebody couldn't just get up and and come before us and give their comments about what we're talking about right now unless unless they had you know unless they were unless I identified them and we knew that they had some association with the library trustees yeah I believe that the policy that we've laid out addresses that concern in terms of identifying the members clearly as Advisory board members and identifying clearly that they are nonv non- voting okay but they still are there they may participate in all discussions MH um that's that that's where I see like I said something that um was was the was the concern that Pat's raising specifically discussed with Town Council when you reviewed this or was it more of a review against the policy and the spirit of the policy and what you could put in place I don't know that I know the answer to that do you Leslie Leslie the library director hi everybody um so I I don't have the letter in front of me but Paul kindly um passed along our questions oh you have it it's right there um and one of the things that we did point out you know in our sort of that Communications was that that was a concern that had been raised um having to do with public uh speaking at meetings and the you know people being able to very clearly see that people who are Advisory board members who have been appointed to that role are participating in that role only and our non non- voting members these would have terms of one year um and the invitation does go out has in the past with associate board um in the past invitations would go out through the library Communications widely inviting people to um apply to the library board to be considered um for serving in this role so it is an open process for folks we have the attorney's letter we don't have yours but could I just ask a follow-up question then to what you just said why do you need or want an Advisory Board do you want to speak to that or sure I can what's different about the library than any other border committee yeah right so the there were several goals that had been identified in terms of why we wanted to have an Advisory Board uh the first was to broaden uh the diversity uh of opinions and uh input that we have on matters concerning the library the library board um is a relatively small group of people many of us have been on the board for a long time um so that helps us with the diversity uh second is that we wanted to provide a mechanism for people people who were not yet willing to commit to a three-year publicly elected position on a board as you saw you know in the in the number of opening open positions it's very difficult to get people to fill even appointed positions let alone elected positions in this town and we thought that by giving people essentially a trial opportunity to participate to see the board activities that we could create um a uh a pool of potential future board members and it's actually worked out very well we've had two so far either two or three um um members who started as associate board um members who have ultimately run for and been elected uh to library trustee position so we think it we think it's really been very effective at the same time were uh very cognizant of some of the concerns that were raised in the select board policy um hence the the work that we put in to try to come up with a solution that satisfies both we we have another trustee that apparently wants to give his two cents worth hi everyone thanks so much for having us Kevin Hamilton um I'm a member of the board of Library trustees and was first introduced to the work of the board through an associate board position and if I could just speak to I think what makes the library particularly unique is it I mean it really is the only kind of free institution that's open to all members of the public and in addition the purpose I think and the mission of our library is to educate and engage community members as somebody who was particularly interested in Civic engagement but was not didn't feel qualified to you know run in a for a more you know um established kind of role the associate board really allowed me to dip my toes into what Civic engagement is like as a young person um and and so that kind of gave me a lot of experience I think the mission of the library is to educate and so part of what is so special about the associate board is it gives that kind of opportunity um and it and provides a um a more whole uh opportunity for polit and encouraging future political engagement so um I would just say I think it speaks to the mission of the library um but I I also think um the library itself is pretty unique it's it's not quite like a school district it's not quite like the planning board it's an open you know Institution for all members of the public so I just wanted to add that too okay thank you can I ask um does the board meet separately and distinctly uh the associate board or the would The Advisory Board meet separate and distinctly from the trustees or is this just support for the support for the trustees we do form working groups for specific issues that come before the board and anticipate that that working group would likely consist of members of both the elected board and the Advisory Board okay thank you any other questions comments any thoughts about how we go forward with this C can you can you say again what clarification you're looking for from Council tomorrow about um allowing um Advisory board members to participate in all discussions where somebody on the general public may not be able to just like we have public input here but we don't let them you know let anybody from the public just come up and talk about anything that's on our agenda that's what they're appointing for though right say that again that's what they that's what the committee is for is to you guys need to fix the position of your microphones nobody sorry you and Pat need to fix the position of your microphones please M microphone thank you I think that's the purpose of their meeting is to work together right and that's that's what that's when when I go to one of their meetings unless they it's it's going to be handled differently than meetings that I've been to you can't tell who's in who's an elected member and who's an associate advisory member so anybody can basically contribute at any point anything they want um yeah they would know right I mean each they would know but somebody sitting in the audience wouldn't know well so it's a yeah I think it's a little it's it's it's interesting the gentleman who just spoke I forgot his name he he made a good point it's a little bit of a different setup like the planning board everyone is elected even the associate members are elected right so they can speak at in an open meeting environment and provide input um the zoning board everyone is appointed right but the associate members can also speak at will because they're appointed but in this case you have an elected board and they would like to add some associate members but without without them having to run they're going to call for the office so so they would kind of like to be set up like the CBA but they don't want their associate members to have to run for the office because they just want to have some extra input and there and some extra people so yeah it's a little different but uh I but I understand what you're saying if you the associate members on the zba or the planning board can participate in the meeting because they are either appointed or elected to that board exactly but in this case they would not be so um so if they're speaking with the board in the meeting it's a open meeting conflict well it might not necessarily be an open meeting conflict but it it puts other members of the public in a different category y yeah when you were on the when you were on the board of just clarify that when you were on the board of appeals as an associate member and you weren't voting on the case right you had more alterat than you had members people voted on the cas you you could participate in the discussion yes I could still participate in the discussion even if I wasn't voting necessarily on it yes I think that's what they're almost trying to equate to in this case is similar to that yes but they're because they're not because they're not an appointed board you can't just appoint associate members for them right so but that's what they're doing they they were asking that yes yeah but they're an elected board so their associate members would have to actually to be careful of the language they're not associate members that has a it's in the handout that has a very strict meaning under Massachusetts state law which is why they want to have an Advisory Board yeah yes and so I mean and so so I guess Pat the the question is should there be something in the bylaw that talks about how The Advisory Board is going to be used as a it talks about how it's going to be used but in terms of it only meets when the board the library trustees meet they're identified separately somehow in the meeting or you if Council says it's okay well that's why I would if there is no conflict with with the public input piece that you're saying then I to like to to Pat's question about would they be meeting on their own maybe there needs to be something explicitly stated that they're not because that's almost an extension of a public body right um well and that that could be an issue yeah so especially if they're appointed by their you know self-appointed I guess you could say by the you know because the the zba doesn't appoint their alternate members no the town manager appoints their alternate members so yeah they and as an elected board they can't appoint associate members yes I guess where I'm what I'm left with Pat is um if you want to take a little time to talk to council it could be tomorrow but there may be a deeper discussion that has to go on offline M depending what that initial yeah I mean that's fine feedback is so go ahead um I assume there's a chair of the trustees right David and and so does the chair run the meeting in a manner that um you know much like we would where public comp uh comment is kept to a a certain portion of the meeting and and so it's not a free-for-all discussion wise along the way that the chair uh points to who's um got the floor and and who's available to talk to a certain degree it's it's a controlled meeting I assume it it is a controlled meeting in that we have a formal agenda and follow generally Robert's rules um but I think as Pat has observed right it's a it's a small group of people there are rarely I can't remember the last time there were any members of the public pres yeah yeah pat pat might be the only one who ever attends the meeting who's not a board member or a formal um or former associate board member so I I think to Pat's point right there's more open dialogue during our discussions than there might be in for example a select board and and I guess you know that's my concern granted yeah when I was on the on Library trustees and every meeting I've been to since is is generally not somebody from the public there but at some point that might happen and then what do you do you know you you don't want to put the the town in a situation where we are subject to you know some kind of lawsuit because somebody who wasn't designated an advisory member wanted to say something and you wouldn't let them but you would let somebody else who's not an elected member you know have their say at any time during the meeting that's that that really is my concern that that somebody's going to come in at some point you know probably somebody's listening right now that's going to come to your next meeting you watch we'd love to have you know and and we're we're trying to navigate carefully because the the select board I I don't believe has authority over the bylaws of the board of Library trustees right so we're we're coming to you asking if our proposed language is consistent with the intent of your policy so that's that's really the feedback that we're looking for you know have is is what we're proposing consistent with the intent of your policy okay and I guess it would also say I mean our policy was based on um the results of a um a a a court lawsuit where um somebody tried to shut down somebody who was using language they shouldn't have been using during a public comment portion of a meeting and we had to re you know we went in and revised all our policies to take that into account to allow what we could allow um and to restrict things that we can restrict and one thing we would we can't restrict is what people say um we can restrict when they say it but you have to be consistent I I also add that the select board policies also address public input as well as um open meeting law MH so um it is all part of the same policy document um just as clarification we we did accept the not we the board of Library trustees did accept the um Town's public comment policy which um is very useful for giving that guidance and have since added the public comment uh agenda item working very similarly I believe to your board that people are welcome to um we State speak up to three minutes um and that the board in general does not engage during that time but either will uh speak to those comments if it is on the agenda later um or it may be on a future um agenda so similarly this way it does uh you know the the goal of the Advisory Board piece in the bylaws and you know make it as clear as we can but um you know is that it it delineates that that there are people who are appointed those appointments are in the minutes um they're recorded in that way and uh certainly the board I think um you know has been trying to really tighten up the way those those meetings happen who's present announcing at the beginning that uh the meetings are being recorded all of the different sort of best practices that um have been heard that the select board has been making so the intention truly would be to make this clear for the for the public anyone attending anyone attending remotely uh that these folks have applied for and been chosen as Advisory board members and that that process happens annually and that we would love to have um people approach and uh participate in this way um in an advisory more robust way um than is able to happen in a brief public comment okay well um you know again if um if you you know I hope you're willing to wait um you know I I forgot was it it is Deb that's a chair sorry Deb since you sent David up to the microphone he was part of the working group that wrot the poliy so um perhaps we can have a little side conversation with Town Council tomorrow if you can be there I'm gonna be out of town or if David or somebody can be there from the from the board of Library trustees okay so and and try to get more clarification and uh you know go forward from there okay all right is it okay with you I'm not a trusted sounds good okay thanks all right all right next up is um the diversity equity and inclusion committee has submitted a a proclamation request for indigenous people's day um and this our policy is to review this uh Proclamation at one meeting and then at the following meeting we can ask for any edits or clarification on the proclamation and then uh potentially at our next meeting um to sign it and present it to the the committee um everybody have a chance to review this proposed Proclamation any comments um I so I I support having a proclamation for indigenous people's day I would be more comfortable with the board signing this if we were to delete the third whereas that starts with a growing number of cities reimagining Columbus Day is an opportunity to celebrate indigenous Heritage and resiliency and my reason for that is that at a federal level and at the state of Massachusetts level Columbus Day is still the recognized holiday um I think if there's a many communities that will recognize them side by side and um I think if the intent is that we replace Columbus Day at some point in this town that is going to take a little bit more due diligence and effort with the public so if we were to just delete that third whereas it doesn't give the um I just read that as an intention to replace Columbus Day when we said we're going to reinvent it and there's a lot of um italian-americans in town who celebrate the Italian-American Heritage of it all so I'm just I just would like to keep it a little bit balanced that way and delete that third whereas okay I mean I I didn't read it that way but I can see how you could anybody else have any other comments or or feedback on on Virginia I agree with her Virginia's comment be honest with you I you I wouldn't want anything to ever getting away Columbus St right I didn't read it that way either I just saw it as recognizing Columbus Day as an opportunity to also you know um pay homage to oh okay I see that so so Erin I guess maybe you have no I I kind of agree but I also feel like it's I also kind of agree with Virginia I'm sorry but um I also kind of feel like it's it's a little I actually read it as because a growing number of other cities and towns are doing it we're going to do it which I actually think kind of takes away from the spirit of it Al together so yeah I I think the third wear is alt together I I don't have any problem with removing for I just think it's cleaner if we don't mention both holidays in the same Proclamation that too yes I agree with it could be Rewritten and and straighten it right out that that one without taking it out maybe it's just you know uh you know a number of um cities and towns have recognized the second Monday as both people take out the last everything after indigenous indigenous peoples they just take out the reimagining Columbus Day would that satisfy what you what you mean Virginia yeah and P what were you saying just rewrite it to say recognizing both or well yeah yeah because I I don't I don't see it as a negative I I think it the way it's written a growing number of cities and towns so like so we're going to follow the leader I don't buy into that yeah because I I do think that it's a good opportunity and it makes you mindful to look at you know celebrating uh you know something else that's important to many people in our area so I would so I'd be fine with either taking it out or just rewriting it so that it's acknowledging that they both can coexist were you were using the opportunity to recognize that part I like is that where you know you use the opportunity for of Columbus Day to recognize to also recog you said you didn't like having both holidays I don't but if you guys are well but I like you know what would what were the words that you just use I I don't like a growing number of cities you know I don't I you know I don't think anybody here is our followers um so um I think it could simply just say you know um we would like to use um the second Monday of October uh noted as gumbus day to also um take an opportunity to celebrate indigenous people's day or something to that and I think that would be fine too CU it doesn't sound as all or nothing to me that that was my only concern and I actually I I like that approach because it it acknowledges letting them coexist that was the intent yep okay all right I'll check back with the members of the diversity equity and inclusion committee and make sure they're okay with that beis yeah I can't see that they would object to that so and have it ready for our next meeting okay anybody else have any comments on anything else on it all right very good thank you okay um what and presentations we have uh Christine Clancy to talk about Americans with Disabilities grievance procedure good evening so as part of the open space and Recreation committee um we're going through that process to update that plan I believe every 7 years and one of the requirements when we were meeting is that we have on file um a procedure or written policy on how people can bring complaints related to um Ada or um uh Ada access or any other complaints um related to so here it says basis of disability in the provision of services activities programs or benefits by the town of chelsford um and we know there have I guess we informally have a process I know we have the um Commission of disabilities and then we have Jose Negron our billing commissioner where things are brought to him he does inspection he follows up but we don't have anything written right now as a policy so this would be proposed as a policy to fulfill that requirement on the open spacing committee report but really just also have one for the town um this process or this this um uh procedure was taken at looking at some other nearby towns um it seems like there's a standard template that towns have uh implemented and so this was looking looking at neighboring or nearby towns um and taking that similar um language and and applying it to chelsford uh so the process is this is really just writing the process that we really already have in place so if there is uh a complaint that is has to be written um written and then it's actually given to the Building Commissioner he has 15 days to respond um at 15 days if that cannot be um if it says here if so if there if that response is not satisfactory then that goes on to the town manager or their design um and then at 15 days that would that would hopefully have a resolution at that point um all written complaints received by The Building Commissioner or their designate appeals to the town manager or their designate in responses from these two offices will be retained by the town clerk for at least three years um that's it's pretty straightforward so I guess the request would be to uh to vote on accepting this as a written policy for the town okay does anyone have any questions about this uh proposed procedure yes um has this been reviewed by Council uh no no I mean I don't know if we've had Council I know Christina was working on it this is um there was a recommended template provided and this is essentially very similar to that that template that is on file for other community multiple other communities so it was recommended by Council or just no it was just looking it was um on some of the information available um through the the state state information and also looking it other communities have provided there's a recommended template um that other communities have adopted so I think it's a pretty standard it's almost like a standard proc standard uh template that's been provided across communities and did you mention did our own commission on disabilities get a chance to see this so the Building Commissioner had Building Commissioner hased this yeah he's and he's on the Comm he's on the board I had the same question as Pat about whether Council had reviewed it the Building Commissioner reviewing it is that the that doesn't mean the commission on disabilities reviewed it it was provided to not sorry the board but it was Pro it was uh present presented as a draft at the last open space committee meeting and they were there but it wasn't formally presented to them it was who was there or uh there were members of the disability commission but they weren't given this they were not given this form it uh it has been reviewed by The Building Commissioner though who is who is on the commission of for disability coordinator he's the he is the 8 coordinator so he's the one but so isn't he also a member of the I thought he was also he's not a member he he does attend those me he coordinates with them so I guess the commission of disabilities is has been made aware of this notice but has not been requested to review this the only the only reason I I bring it up and I think it's very important to establish um a mechanism like this for anybody in town that um may have a need but I also recognize and I think I don't think it's changed over the years and Paul correct me if I'm wrong but um Ada is under the justice department technically the federal justice department so that's the only reason I ask you know we're getting we're we're doing this as a local initiative to provide a mechanism for anybody grieved by some kind of ADA violation but I think in this case it would be just a good idea if we could get a quick review from Council just to make sure that it's in line with the overall Ada act as presented by the justice department well the board's policy is to table a policy till its next meeting anyway we can have Council review it and provide that report at your next meeting I just think it would be prudent is there a downside to getting input formally from the commission on disabilities I just hope they would no no I would hope they would provide that input yeah I mean we have to present this to them we have to make sure that they arew you know this is going this is part yeah no no no they weren they weren't planning to do that well yeah but we can we can do that right well I I have a my second question is why is this select board Pol select board policy like why are we even voting on it or why because we didn't we didn't vote on the sewer policy or any of the other operational policies the reason you don't vote on sewer policies is because under the town Charter the DPW director has the policy of the Sewer Commission the reason that this is is because we're required under this this der derives from the open space Recreation plan which is a state sanctioned plan and the state requires that we have a grievance procedure for Disabilities under that policy um the board that sets policy for the town as a whole is the um select board if there's a grievance or an issue that arises with disabil the town it's it's remedied by the disability coordinator who is the Building Commissioner um and then the appeals go to the manager and ultimately through the select board and then the Town Council the disabilties commission is an advisory committee to the town uh and that's the dis distinction they don't have the authority to adopt such a policy I wasn't suggesting that they should be adopting it I I think we were just asking if they had weighed into it that's my question but my so you're get you're touching on another question that I have Paul because you're using both a Building Commissioner and Ada coordinator terminology and I understand that today that's one person but when we talk about this policy should we be identifying both of those roles somewhere in this do they so what happens if someday they're two different people what's the role of the Ada coordinator in this policy because right now it's silent on that I Believe by definition the bill the abing commissioner is the disabilities coordinator no that's that's how it's implemented today but it wasn't that way before sure it was I don't think so since since even when lenen even when lenen and others were were at the Town the The Authority rested with the Building Commissioner and whether it was going back to SC but all I'm saying is we the the name Ada coordinator in that boards and committees list was not always the Building Commissioner that was a change when the last ada8 coordinator left that position okay I can check that I check that so if there's if there are two roles that we're talking about in this policy then we ought to be clear on what those two roles are in case they're not the same person someday that was a choice that the town made right it's not I I'll I'll confirm that with Council I don't I don't believe that was the case so it sounds like it might be nice to get input from the commission on disabilities and possibly from Town Council corre and then we can yeah yeah then our next meeting yeah we can go further with it no so where would this be published would it be under DPW policies so that no um I believe in a town clerk yeah it would it would it would be a I think it would also go into the select board's policies because again I believe the select boards want adopting the policy on behalf of the town all right well how would somebody know that it's there CU I think you'd have to codify it and place it in your policy book in the select board policy yes can we check with Council on that too it just doesn't yeah cuz like what do we have like harassment policies those person yeah this yeah that's a bad example it's a bad example but other complaints um that people you know might bring forward or grievances I guess you you is what this is about um yeah I guess where it's located I I don't I don't but who else who else can adopt it is it an H adopt it doesn't mean it has to be necessarily just in our policies but if it isn't in your policies how do we track the policies that the select board have adopted I just want to place that the general public can find it easy right and that's why I think I thought the reason we codified and have elaborated on the select board's policies is that there was an organized Central repository of policies of the select board for the town and I'm not aware of off top my head of any policies the select board have adopted that aren't in the select board's policies and procedures manual they're all there that's what I'm saying they're all there I think it's as simple as putting it under the select board policies and then under Ada you know Complaint Form or whatever I still wonder why isn't it an HR policy or something I mean if some because it's not HR it's because it's not HR that's the issue this has to do with with the idea of of issues of people who are grieved on the use and this comes out of the open space plan so that's what that's what's the Genesis of this and why it's coming up at this point in time and the reason that Christine is bringing is she's assisting that effort of the update the open space Recreation plan so that's where it's coming out of but if we adopt it in that plan it's not going to be known to anybody that's the problem because it'll be in an esoteric plan and not a general policy of the town right I don't think it should be in that plan I agree with that but I don't know I does anybody else have an example of where somebody might have a grievance against the town and where would they go to look for a form I I don't know is it something if people I I don't know I can't think of an example right and the ones that are HR related are under the personel rules this is an HR correct it's a it's a general residential type right policy or even visitors or all right well I guess we can give it to the Town Council to just review yeah we we'll chat with them but where would you go where would where would you file a complain on any other matter what what happens if an employee you know if if somebody wanted to file a complaint and say they're the file driver yelled at them when they drove by or something like where would you go to file that other than that's HR that's Personnel oh okay what if an employee has an ADA complaint is that HR if if that's HR as well because so this is for non-employees if if an employee has a complaint it's an HR complaint if it's if an employee had a complaint that wasn't HR but there was about an employee was on open space land not related to their employment to the general public but not relate to their employment then they would then they I think they would complain to does this say open space in here you keep talking about open space so what triggered what what open space plan requires that a policy like this be in place but there's no reference this policy as written is not limited to open space that's what I we're getting confused Paul well the the open space plan the so for other communities and looking it just requires that you have a procedure to um to file file a complaint on anything Ada related it could relate to the sidewalk outside I mean this policy is bigger than open space that's probably a polic a policy that should have been in effect before and that's and that's why that plan has to reference a grievance policy under space which is why again I thought it blind under the select board because it's a general policy and not buried in well we adopted this for the open space plan yeah so most communities do not have an ADA related open space they just have a general Ada gev policy and we just didn't have one okay I think you know if you put it under the select board policy just make a tab on the website that says Ada you know and talk about ADA policies under that website and gives give them a place to go to file agreements I guess well after we get answers to these questions will bring it back talk about it Tom thank you thank you thank all right so um we're going to start to review uh the warrant articles for uh fall town meeting um there are several people that are here this evening that have um interest in in several of the Articles so we'll cover those articles first and then come back and do the the rest of them um if we have time depending on how long we take CU we do have another one more meeting before town meeting so if it gets to be if the hour gets to be late um we can defer a some to our next meeting so given that uh we'll start with article three which is I mean article two which is a citizen petition submitted by Mary Donovan and I did see her here I think she's still here I have some right up for you thank you with an apology it's handwritten because I do not have the internet because I got scammed one for you thank you I'm sorry but my family had to leave due to emergency thank you as you know my name is Mary Donovan and I wish to thank the town manager the select board for inviting me to speak regarding my citizens petition tonight on the need of having a pet cemetery in town a pet cemetery will not cost the town or taxpayer extra money pet owners paay for casket grve flot marker and maintenance fee the maintenance fee will go into an interest endowment account for Perpetual care just like chumford human cemeteries the size of your hat is what really matters taking care of family and pets that our our children also need a place to rest a pet cemetery is a place where you can visit to share memories with friends and family with Safety and Security from not being hurt for eternity I thank you for letting me speak tonight and I do wish that we could have a pet cemetery I can give you a lot more information on costs and the laws that I'm working on there is a law right now in the state house and the legislation to be passed to protect pet cemeteries I am working on it and when it gets finally signed I will let you all know because as you know there's a pet cemetery that was in Kingsboro I have six dogs they are now buried under three fet of weeds I can't visit them or I'll be arrested they have just built a two family house on part of it I am going to fight this and hopefully Chumps it will learn from what I am have experienced and maybe put a pet cemetery here in chumford it will not cost the town any more money than a human Cemetery thank you for listen if you want to hold just for a minute does anybody have any questions for Mary I am sorry I can't hear I just asked if anybody here has a any questions for you about what you presented and I think Aaron might have some I kind of I have a question I think like I might have asked this the last time you were here Mary I'm a little deaf so until I get my hearing age so I think I may have asked this the last time that you were here but have you spoken to the cemetery commission is there any possibility for this to to be a cemetery Commission initiative I mean could they set aside a portion of an existing facility to be held as a pet cemetery and could it be part of that is that a possibility or Paul reported on that one meeting that they weren't not interested right okay Poli prude that oh they do and they they they've been aware of this initiative okay but I think the idea is it for to for it to be managed and run in a similar fashion in a separate location yes yes a separate location but a similar yes yes that's what that's what it says yeah they're not interested in managing a pet ceter okay thank you who would manage and maintain it the town I I think no it says right in here that town would not that it would be publicly I had more paperwork but I think you just had enough but the the article says the pet cemetery would be maintained by owners with a collection of fees by the town of chelsford for the use of this land and maintenance services provided by the town so you would need a you on town on land right so there there is a cost to the the town just to maintain the land but who would maintain it if it's not the cemetery commission or this some the superintendent most likely it would go to Public Works who who they the only people other people in town who maintain lands and parks and Commons and playgrounds you know that's that's who I would turn to but but that's not going to come out of this vote because we haven't identified the piece of land nor designated it for Pet Cemetery purposes town meeting has to do that much like later on in the town meeting you're designating land for conservation purposes you know for those wet Parcels that's what that's what would have to happen you have to identify the parcel and have a a vote of town meeting to delegate that use for that so what does this Vote for This is a this in my mind is a resolution that basically if town meeting votes this favorably then the message to me and to the select board is come back at a future town meeting with a parcel of land that can be voted by the town for that purpose in any Associated budget or other activities that would go with that because that would be the natural outcome for this so town meeting either passes the resolution and then you know we we what we would have to do if we don't have a piece of town owned land that's available we probably would issue an RFP or designate some kind of unique parcel of land because I believe in order to do this you need at least five acres because you have to have the land for the pet we uh place you also have to have some kind of access and parking for that um and so and my understanding is this is a 5 acre parcel so we'd have to come back to town meeting with that piece of land that's that's allowed for that use the only I'm the only land that I know that's not in numbered by the town is 54 Richardson Road and we know it's not going to go there because of the issue with the Water District's wellfield everything else in the town that's of significance is is either under the control of the school committee for school Properties or under the control of the Conservation Commission for you know for this is the this is a discussion we've had prior to this so again in my mind if the town meeting were to pass this resolution um then I think that we would have to go out and identify ify that land and then either come back to town meeting with a request to acquire fund the acquisition of that land or acquire it or accept it by gift or whomever would get to the town and then designate it for that purpose and then set up this kind of management control in terms of what fee is going to be collected and and how is that going to be managed and then then who's going to perform the maintenance and then it's and I think it's perpetual situation that's what this is looking for this is and I think that's what the legislation that Mary speaking of is that it's basically in perpetuity because right this is you know because that's what that's what's objected to and what happened in tingor is that there was a pet cemetery and it was utilized at a later date for another purpose and I believe the legislation that's she's referencing basically provides almost like a permanent Perpetual state for a pet cemetery can I ask another question so if we were even able to identify a parcel of land and set that up does the DPW have any feedback about whether they are um able or if there are any restrictions for them dealing with that type of uh business we would we would have those discussions with the DPW director um I haven't to this date um not getting I'm not putting the cart in front of the horse at this point um but it but I think that's the mechanism how but if this passes it kind of forces us to well it forces I think it I think it's a directive to the to the select board doesn't Force you it's a directive legis the town meeting can't force the select board to do anything what they're basically doing ising passing a resolution basically requesting that the select board come back with you know a a viable piece of land at a specified location with a management plan with a funding plan for a pet cemetery okay and if and if so a yes vote means that we would we would like that investigated right right if the answer comes back again or that there is no viable land or whatever it doesn't necessarily mean that we've been non-compliant with this warrant article because it says we wish I mean that's not no no there's no penalty for non-compliance or if you can't come up with anything but it's basically as it's I see it as it's directing the board to pursue it and if and the board can either not pursue it or they can pursue it and they can pursue it and they may not have a favorable outcome I think is what you're saying but there's no penalty to that yeah I mean and I think you know based on on what on his conversation um it makes sense I mean Mary comes before us once a year at least to talk about this so let's get her an answer either the answer is yes we can do it here or no we can't do it for these reasons so I I guess I would favor and the other thing we don't know is what's the demand for this right right it's obviously not happening in many other towns and it's not happening on the private market and so one of the other questions I don't know how will it may not be all the answer it would be if we go through all this are we sure that it's going to be you know be be utilized we could have another survey right so so if town meeting were to vote in the affirmative for this we could put this on another agenda and say what are all the different due diligence pieces that we need to go investigate but we're basically getting um the nod from Tom meeting to go investigate it that's what a yes vote means we're we're simply investigating all the details correct yeah engaging interest I guess right and town meeting has that right I mean they can request all sorts of things even aside from a pet semetary so this isn't a special thing of how we're handling a Pet Cemetary town meeting has the right to pass resolutions and and requests to to you know to the select board or to to or to any other board committee or even the legislature if they wanted to I'd be happy to further it to to meeting for discussion I'd be happy to further at the town meeting for discussion but but to me is gonna ask he's gonna ask for a recommendation right that right say you have to do that right now I'm just saying we should I think we should vote on what we want to do so if unless anybody else has comments I'll ask for a motion were you gon to say something George no I'm I'm be will to vote to go forward with the votee you know okay I think that's what Aaron's going to do she's going to make a motion I will make a motion to approve no recommend approval I will make a motion to recommend approval of Article 2 the citizens petition for a pet cemetery at um the fall annual town meeting 2024 second okay we have a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor okay nobody opposed okay Mary we we voted to go forward with it okay do you need more information I got two shopping bags at home well you I even have two pieces of sights lands I can also bring that in you should be you should go to town meeting we yeah we we have to wait till town meeting town meeting I'm working on that okay thank you okay thank you all right um next up is PA razio who also submitted a citizen and petition um about transfer of free cash to fund the Parker School feasibility study so Mr orazio it's I just have a short discussion here and again I just want to thank the board for allowing me to present my reasoning for article six and and thanks for putting it up front on the town meeting agenda there was somewhat of that was somewhat of a surprise to me to find it UPF front uh for those who don't know me and give you some background who I am my wife and I have been residents here in chel for over 55 years uh we raised our four children here and all four attended and graduated from the chelwood priv public schools some background on my career I spent six years as a CPA with a national International auditing firm 16 years as a corporate finance manager with a high-tech company and 15 years as International controller with a local medical uh medical supply company so Finance runs deep within my character as you can see I am a also a supporter of Education as my wife one of my daughters and one of my grand one of my daughter-in-laws are teachers so I have in support of Education my petition rate relates to the $1.8 million fees ability study for the new Parker Middle School which was passed at the mate town meeting however when passing it there was no indication as to how the how the expenditure was to be funded that was left open and that was the purpose and this is the purpose of my petition after the town meeting I inquired about the expected suris for the current for the current fiscal year of the town which I Learned was going to be about $2 million plus or even maybe more than that I find out now that uh it's closer to $4.7 million in my personal life and in my business life I never would ask for Bank financing if I had available cash on hand are readily accessible and this is the case we have here we have $4.7 million surplus for the past current year if there's available funds let's use you know let's not and why can't we use part of those funds to fund this and again we're looking to the Future we're looking to probably 2025 million bond issue for the renovation of the fire department and even a larger bond issue if we go forward with the Parker school system so again we don't need to push this step forward we have the funds available right now so my position is let's not b borrow I think it would be irresponsible to borrow to fund this $1.8 million proposal let's use the current cash that we have available and let's get it behind you so again my article request the Town Fund this article by transferring from free cash if the expected State reimbursement does happen then that would become that money would come back to the state come back to the town and we would be able to use it whichever way we want it so again hopefully you will all support this article any questions I'll be happy to answer them did anybody have any questions for Mr razio could could we review um the current recommendation for the free cash because this would come out of that right yes cor I'd just like to have the context page six do you want any discussion on this or just reviewing it I mean what what would wind up having to give if if article six whatever we're on passes six yeah thank you if my understanding is correct the request is $1.8 million I think the what would give you can't you you well shouldn't say you can't article four the sewer construction stabilization fund I think you put that off limits because that's the funding mechanism for the sewer project mhm and that's been a perennial town meeting vote every fall as calculated by the by the treasurer Finance director because the sewer Debt Service was was based on the premise that the interest earnings are re are reinvested um into the project and what the town chose not to do back when they did the super project is they didn't get a special Act of the legislature that would have automatically done that so I think one's off limits the article four um you you you've got two choices to go through there the most obvious one is to not fund the roadway and sidewalk construction um you know or you forgo the other ones or some combination thereof um the reason let me make let me go back to the premise here when we funded the feasibility study it was borrowed and that borrowing in 50% reimbursement would would we believe maybe it's 52 we don't know the exact amount would be reimbursed to the community over the life of the project um if the project moves forward what that means and why we borrowed it and why you borrow for the product is the people who are in utilizing that facility during the life of the debt are benefiting from the facility therefore I don't have a concern as professionally as manager or professionally as with my with my academic background of having people who are going to be in that Middle School in the year 2030 2040 the debt goes to 2050 paying um through that whether the interest rate is probably 4% because they're the ones who are going to benefit from that facility what I'm proposing to use of free cash primarily is for Road and sidewalk construction the biggest concern we have in this community from the residents that come into my office is on the conditions of the town's roads and streets we've heard professionally from our Public Works director about the condition of the town's roads and streets as graded by a professional survey that went through every road and sidewalk of the town as well as the amount of money that's that's needed to maintain the current status because those roads continue like any other asset Year bye and in fact as we speak now the MMA is doing another survey on chapter 90 funding and we know it's not adequate so I guess it's a long-winded way of saying is I think if this article is funded then I think you're not going to have the investment that we're traditionally been doing the last few years to supplement the road and and sidewalk construction and I will say this this isn't going to happen in perpetuity you will hear more of this in the weeks ahead but I think beyond the end of this current year and the free cash that's generated at the end of this current year it's going to be a whole new reality um financially for this community we will be talking about changes in town service levels um in the months ahead as we're preparing the budget for FY 26 because of the inflation and the realities that are out there um for the town so when you can say oh just you know take a pause on the Road and sidewalk um construction one is I don't think that's a sound thing but we also know from having been on the capital plan that we our Capital needs even at the level that we're now funding at aren't going to adequately meet the needs that this town has so that's the choice that you have um so that's I'll just stop there m Mr agazio I'm I'm looking at article8 from the Springtown meeting where the the town meeting voted and the article is worded to see if the town will vote to appropriate borrower transfer I I thought when that vote was taken it was with why eyes wide open that it was going to be borrowed yeah that was the That Was the vote it was borrowed it was author it's been it's an authorized borrowing of the town so so your Warren article is suggesting that we revisit that vote basically well I'm I'm saying that we now have I again I don't know if the money has been borrowed or not and this is this is only what two three months after the town after the town meeting I was saying we have cash available let's not we got debt in the future let's not add to our future debt I agree with u Mr Cohen about the roads I think the roads should be left but I don't see putting again I was unaware of monies that already been identified to use up the 4.7 million that was not that was not known to me I don't see any need to put more money in the stabilization fund of 560,000 and again the other McCarthy documents the other 89 11 12 14 those I'm not certain that are really specifically needed again I'm not aware of what they are so I don't know the details but I do know we have yeah and In fairness to you you would have submitted this you had to have submitted this before that was submitted it in July May was June August again as I've said we have the free cash let's let's use this we're going to have debt in the future let's not add to our future debt we have a you know Fire Department fire requests 20 million and we have a major one if we go forward with the pocket school and Paul is the 1.8 million or the 900k is that over like a 20year loan yes it's very incremental then right if right if spread out over 20 years right if the product moves forward and and 20 whenever it may go to a vote as early as 2026 but if this thing gets approved in 2026 and it's you you then got design construction you're probably beginning your debt debt issuance of permanent debt probably 2029 John 2030 or so and then and that we'd be borrowed to 2050 so this $1.8 million would be spread out over 20 years between 2030 and 2050 um so you you're roughly talking $100,000 per year plus interest over that period which and the interest rate is about 4% and that's with no reimbursement that's with no reimbursement if it's half that then it's then we're we're going to get 900,000 over so it's roughly 50 something ,000 a year plus interest over the 20-year period from the year 2030 to 2050 I think that's why the state allows you to borrow for feasibility um for these types of projects so we would borrow the 1.8 initially yep we would we would through the feasibility study and the work that we're doing now would realize what our rate of um reimbursement percentage would be which we expect to be I know last time we were at 54 something per we we are fairly confident at 52% right now hoping for more and we'll get more because we maintain our buildings very well um so I mean it's 900 at the end of the day is what we're really talking about here um what you what we don't know is if the product f fails in 2026 27 then how does that how does that get amortised and then and then uh and then reimburse from the state I don't know that right I doubt I doubt that they're going to reimburse US 20 20 years out for a failed feasibility study I just never just not aware no I I would think they're going to fund it they're going to fund it right fourth right and just be done with it right okay George or Aaron any comments I'm sure a lot of people are looking to see the taxes reduced a little bit I mean I know well yeah what's the budget this year the budget this year is about $167 million plus or minus um but but I also know as I didn't finish you know there were many many uh requests so it's a very difficult situation sure yeah Aon anything I know as Paul has fought for this uh a couple years in a row now right haven't you presented this another years no this I presented money in the past my presentations was basically to use the Surplus to reduce the current tax rates but I thought this was you know we have a $1.8 million expenditure we have surplus funds let's use it let's not create you know can't I don't know what the other articles 8 through 8 through 14 are I don't know what those are specifically okay I do know we have what 1516 million stabilization fund we don't need to be adding more money to that does that does nothing to the current yes so to that point can I ask in your opinion I guess Paul or anybody not contributing to the stabilization fund the question what what is your opinion on that I'd be curious to hear I mean we just got our right the propos I mean we can we can slide to that article if you want you want to cover Article 15 because to Virginia's question there really isn't anything else the documentation digitization we have to do because that's to meet the to I think what you're looking at with the stabilization fund is where are we relative to the recommended percentage and then with the with the economic climate and the financial climate that we're anticipating and the challenges do we want a little more cushion in that stabilization fund those are the two fundamental questions for me I think I know Paul's feelings on that but well because mind hearing them again we yeah even if we put this money into the stabilization fund it will still be within the policy range that the select board has of between five and 10% of our general operating reserves and I think we and and and I think the fact that I'm putting the million dollars in there will enable the town to get through a very challenging period in the next couple of years ahead um you know we've talked about this you know at at nauseum and I've sent information to the board as recently as six months ago but also we'll be having these discussions as early as next month nothing is breaking the way for cities and towns and state government um wage inflation health insurance inflation our retirement assessment utility costs and on it goes um and the demand for services and so we are going to have to have a discussion as a community about how do we navigate that period without violating the principles of of living beyond the recurring needs of the town and that's why we've done things like this and what I hope to do in the future is to use the stabilization fund to as the word to suggest to stabilize the town during a challenging period because as I said we're not going to be able to put $2.5 million in the Fable future into the roads but we may have to draw from the stabilization fund perhaps to do those kinds of Investments without throwing things a kilter in terms of the town's ability to provide service going forward that's going to be the those are to be the discussions that we're going to have in the months and probably years ahead uh and that's why I think as I said we you know at this point um when I see this request I I I it's a different request because this isn't going to provide tax relief to anybody you know n you know over $900,000 over a 20-year period that begins four years from now potentially is is going to have you know it's not going to have any appreciable relief for the community what I think it's going to do is it's going to hinder our investment in the infrastructure of the town which is what those other articles are attempting to do um in terms of the digitization in terms of the the um the um issue of the play you know the playing fields uh the courts at at McCarthy School uh and so forth uh and particularly the roads um so I think that's the you know that's the choice that the community is going to have to make at town meeting Paul let me um by [Music] maintaining the appropriate size stabil stabilization fund as we move on should we find that the town has the fortitude to support a Schools project or something like that that would be a major borrowing for the town our bond rating is affected by what we keep in our stabilization fund to a certain degree and helps keep our rating where we need to be so that we're borrowing at a much more favorable rate saving money right that way which could potentially offset easily something this magnitude as as down your town accountant Darlene Lucy report at the last meeting they look at the town's undesignated fund balance or you know reserves and you're right if you're if you're if we're going to borrow for a school project that's in the hundreds of millions of dollars without exaggeration and you can affect a better interest rate on the town's 50% plus portion let's say a quarter of let's say it's a quarter of million dollar project it's like $125 million Town cost and you could affect a better interest rate on $125 million then that would more than offset whatever you would save by the $900,000 return right and this is one of those things that I think might keep us from positioning ourselves to take advantage of various opportunities during a very down time so we we we need to be careful how we how we go along in situations like this and it's very meritable and I you know the initial premise is is thoughtful and and so on but I think when you really look at all the different things that I could affect us in the future I'm not sure that this is worth it and I you know so I'll give my my U comments on it um as has been noted we we did um pass a Warren article in the spring regarding this um I'm comfortable with with how that went and what that provides for us going forward so um if everybody's ready to vote and I think everyone is would you like it in the affirmative um why don't you do it how you would want to do it okay um I will make a motion to uh not recommend article 6 to fall town meeting as presented second okay we have a a motion and a second and the motion is not to recommend approval all in favor of not recommending approval I okay and that's 5 Z that's unanimous okay all right thanks Paul thank you okay um next up is we will take article 16 that's the fire stations you going to do the presentation [Applause] okay good evening members of the board uh I'm going to present article 16 on behalf of the fire station study committee and uh on the title page there I provided a link to the website that's been created where one can find summary information and all kinds of detailed information videos as well as documents depending on how you like to learn we're trying to put as much information as we can out there for the public so I'm going to cover the warrant article itself a little bit about the work that we did um in coming up with the recommendations and then we'll take a look at the um data relative to the proposed reconstruction including the um The Debt Service and the concept layouts and cost so first up is uh warrant article 16 just the uh you can go to the next slide Paul um the bottom line of why Warren article 16 so the committee is recommending 25 million for the construction and renovation projects uh station three which is located at 260 old Westford Road and station five which is located at 295 Acton Road when the costs were rolled up they came between 20 and 25 million and so at town meeting the town manager is going to request an allocation of 25 M million the um it it came down to two things from a public safety standpoint when we went through all of our trades there was no scenario um that was acceptable that involved closing either Station 3 or station 5 and then and we'll talk about that in a bit and then given that um if we need station three and station five from a public safety standpoint those stations um have gone past their useful life and there are safety and other concerns related to their current conditions the next slide I just put in for your reference it's the language of the article and the language of the ballot language that uh manager Cohen got approved by the state so if I go next to just the work of the fire station committee uh this slide you've seen before it detail it gives an overview of the approach that we took I just want to for the public to introduce the committee uh you know Chief Ryan Town manager Cohen and I we have two firefighter Representatives uh Rob albon is a resident in chelsford and is the president of the fire Fighters Union Greg sikini grew up in chumford as a chumford high graduate and is the secretary treasurer of the union we also have two resident members Cheryl o Cheryl odonnell and Bob Dy um Cheryl is a retired state police officer with 23 years of service with the state police and she spent 18 years of her career assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshall um as a certified fire and explosive investigator Bob is a career firefighter he has served um in the city of LEL for 30 years and he has been a deputy fire chief in the city of LEL for 11 years go to the next slide Paul so this is just an overview of the stations and the station conditions the two stations that we're talking about are station three in the lower left and station five in the lower right um again the building lifespan for a public building is 50 years and the are both well beyond that and then we have issues with um the fire stations and the safety conditions for our firefighters as well as the ability to accommodate the needs of a modern fire department operations and also changing staff and we'll talk about that in a bit so just a quick review of the success factors on the next slide Paul um we traded off five different parameters as we went through different scenarios we looked at the condition of the stations themselves um how many do we have what condition they are in and how are they used we looked at the Staffing and firefighter safety both from the standpoint of how many firefighters are on an apparatus and uh the shift strength and Staffing as well as span of control um and how we handle uh the command at at a scene the apparatus in terms of what do we use today in our modern fire department how is it used and how is it housed um and then the response times which come down to Public Safety and in response times we looked at both the response time for the first due company on scene and the response time for the second due company on scene because they have very different functions and they're both critical when you're considering um your ability to respond to the emergency we'll talk about that in a little bit so on the next slide our bottom line recommendation is that we recommend maintaining five stations for the town of chelsford we looked at three four and five station configurations um the three station configuration in any uh approach that we took was unacceptable from a standpoint of public response time there were too many areas in town where we didn't have an adequate first company response time or an adequate second and then the four and five um station scenarios both of those are going to require a reconstruction of stations three and five regardless of which one you pick we recommend staying with the five station configuration due to the maintenance of the public response times um and then it would also just allow flexibility if we needed it in the future to operate in a four station scenario the next slide summarizes the issues with stations three and five they're detailed in the appendix a in your packet and I also put in the upper right a link to a video where you can um visually see the conditions of the stations as hosted by the chumford fire department so in terms of firefighter safety and operations um if you look first at the top two pictures where the white box is that white box are the sleeping Quarters at engine five you can see that it's only a few feet away from the engine it is physically inside the apparatus Bay and the firefighters are hanging their gear right outside uh on the outside wall of the sleeping quarters in the bottom middle you can see how tight the sleeping quarters are at stations three and five and one of the issues that we h a major issue that we have here are the sleeping quarters are um and the living quarters for the firefighters are very close to the apparatus Bay where there are carcinogens um from the vehicle and also carcinogens from equipment when they come back from a a fire the equipment off gases contaminants there are no decontamination facilities in stations three and five either for um the equipment or acceptably isolated showers for the firefighters when they come back from a call the stations were also not built for a multi-gender Workforce so the sleeping quarters are very tight and you can see in the lower left the bathrooms were built for an all Mill Workforce and if you look at the picture that's in the middle um on the left it looks a little bit crowded and hard to see and what you're seeing there is the overcrowding in the apparatus Bay so the red is the fire engine in the foreground you see um the fitness equipment for the firefighters is housed right housed right in the apparatus Bay again with all the air contaminants and then if you peer close enough through that uh fitness equipment you'll see the emergency rescue boat that's used for har Pond and so one of the operational concerns um becomes the the for one the the um firefighters cannot use both doors in the stations for entrance and egress because the apparatus bays are so overcrowded and then trucks today are bigger than they used to be and we have different equipment such as the rescue boat and other things that need to be adequately housed in the stations so if you go to the next slide um the left side is the heat map for the five station scenario in this map red is good red is the fastest that it takes uh engine to get to a call um from from its site and then uh yellow and green are and orange are are uh longer response times so in the lower left is where station five is and then if you go up the side of um the the west side of chumford right above that is where Station 3 is and you could kind of visually see that if you were to pluck either one of those stations out and retire it you would have an issue with response times and we did a got a detailed analysis done professionally to look at um all the different factors that were involved there the right side shows um ideally where you'd like to be in an end State for the the Staffing the national um standards that are scientifically based call for four five firefighters per apparatus we currently typically operate with two most communities pragmatically can't get to four from a cost standpoint we're trying to get to three wherever we can like like several um comparable communities do so in the five station scenario there are a couple of compromise compromises in terms of we will still need to cross staff apparatus at the center station and then we would still have two stations staffed with only two firefighters um from an operation standpoint both the fire chief and the firefighters uh were comfortable with that level of compromise if you go to the next Slide the committee looked at how the population changes over time and you've seen this slide before um when the stations were built in the 1960s and 1970 uh our population has since more than doubled and if you go down to the green table on the lower left uh Chief Ryan had data over two decades in terms of the overall calls and the number of medical calls and you can see how the number of calls has increased and also the medical calls are escalating over time um one thing that I found interesting when we first built out this table we didn't have the 2023 data and if you look at just the change from 2022 where there were 6,020 calls to 2023 where there's 6354 calls in one year we had over 300 more calls um and that that was very telling to me when I looked at that and then kind of in the bottom of that table uh just a comment that as the population and the call needs have um grown in the town our staffing today is it still uh about what it was 25 years ago that hasn't changed the Box on the lower right are other factors that are going to affect population and increase demand for calls that I think you're all familiar with the next slide just um gives you a little bit of insight into what we mean by first and second doe response time one of the key responsibilities of the first due company is victim safety and immediate fire suppression that first due company only has enough water for 3 minutes if they expend that water at a maximum rate so the second due company um is responsible for providing water on scene Beyond three minutes and in some of these scenarios that I said were unacceptable that second du company arrived way too late to be able to continue to put water on scene the next slide just gives you a sense for some of the scenarios that a firefighter responds to we've been talking mostly about structure fires um as you saw in the previous Slide the medical emergency calls are increasing over time so they get called again it's the time for that EMT or the EMS crew to to arrive on scene uh they respond a motor vehicle accident and also Mutual Aid requests from other communities and it literally comes down to um response times literally come down to life or death or preservation or loss of property um the other thing that I want to point out is I mentioned in Staffing but also in response times when we looked at the criteria for the response times those are based on uh National Fire Protection uh Association standards which are scientific based they're based on data and anal analysis that the National Fire Protection Agency did in the next slide um there is a very outdated OSHA standard that was established in 1980 for firefighters a uh Chief Ryan and Paul have been tracking an update that whose release is imminent and you can see on the left side of the chart the categories of things that are going to be modified we were most concerned with the bottom one in facility safety and essentially what's happening is um the OSHA standards are now going to have more stringent requirements when it comes to contaminants and carcinogens and air quality for our firefighters so if we don't do something about stations three and five we are essentially going to be non-compliant with the OSHA standards next slide please um the next one Pauls fine so I'll talk a little bit about the permanent building committee engaged Weston and Samson to get us um better data on cost and concept and so what you're looking at now is the concept for Station 3 by Roberts field the apparatus Bay would remain untouched the yellow box that you see to the right of that would be um an addition single floor addition to that station and the floor plan layout is shown on the right side of the slide so the kind of the bottom line the green areas are um decontam contamination facilities for both equipment and people and then you can see that the um physical fitness and the Living Spaces are all adequately isolated from the contaminated areas the um cost estimates went from uh 8.5 to 10.5 million depending on whether you do modular or stick build uh I think the building committee and the chief senses based on past experience this may be a good candidate for modular build it's single story and this and the space um would accommodate that and then again the possible range for both together was 20 to 25 million if you go to the next slide this is station five station five gets a little more challenging because it's on a very small funny-shaped lot and so because of that we would have to um demolish and reconstruct the entire building and that would wind up being a two-story building uh you can see the floor plan layouts for the first and the second floor again the green green areas provide adequate decontamination facilities for gear and people and then the um exercise and all the Living Spaces are separate from that either on the first floor with the majority of the Living Spaces all up on the second floor in terms of The Debt Service itself uh Finance director John Susa helped us with some analyses and so uh we assumed the $25 million debt hopefully it'll be better than that uh but if you look at the averaged assessed home in chelsford they would see a um tax differential for this project of about $157 in the first year which translates to about $3 a week There's a box there I just want to point out that on the website of the fire the fire station Committee website uh one can go in and there's a tool that um director Souza helped build out where you can calculate the tax impact for your specific address and then there's other sources like the Senate Bill I've mentioned before that we are um still continuing to track to see if there's any movement on that the next slide um is a slide Mr Souza put together for us to show the historical and projected Debt Service as it relates to this project you can see in the green or the circle there in fiscal 24 we pay off the sewer in fiscal 25 and the purple the secondary school building projects will be paid off and then in fiscal 26 The Debt Service for the two fire stations would come in at a gross of 2.25 million because the school building Debt Service is coming off the net effect on The Debt Service is the 1.42 that you see in the blue square at the bottom and then that would also mean that the 157 for the average household tool would also be a little bit less than that and then the the last slide is just a a snapshot of the public educa the public education opportunities that are available um it shows you what's on available on the website as I mentioned before we also have a number of events coming up or that we're present at in the community and specific to this this committee we'll be doing tours on the 5th a public information session on the 10th and then if this passes at town meeting we'll also have a public open Q&A on the 29th before the November ballot any questions anybody have any questions for Virginia George it's not off my seat going once going um I have a question for chief Brian Chief um when's the last time station five was closed for a day or more for a day or more I would say for a day probably during the summer this this just for a day okay with um with increased um Manpower I think Paul's committed to 13 is that right if we approve this project well we have we'd have to come back at a future town meeting and appropriate funding for to add to add one additional firefighter per shift which would be four firefighters that was on the stand right but so based under this operation there is the possibility that five could still be closed periodically if we have I don't Envision it because we would be adding one firef per shift so um could it close certainly because you know if there's an emergency but I but that adding that one firefighter peress shift alleviates the problem of when somebody um calls out um not having somebody to go fill that shift or something along those lines is that so right now wouldn't add to what we call swing shifts so I'll give you an example when I started we had three so when we open up the third position at Engine 2 back in 2017 we took one of those swing positions so every unit we got four went from three swing positions to two right so the um the issue you're talking about closing a stage so if somebody's out on a vacation sick personal or somebody went home the other day in an emergency yes on occasion we can't fill it through overtime we will close um it's my hope that you know with the additional Staffing we're going to see less of that but I can't guarantee it won't happen okay okay thank you that's what I that's what I wanted to know Chief you almost it almost it um how long ago was it when it was closed for a very long period of time uh so it closed um 2008 um I think through 200 and we opened up in 2011 yeah great under our chief C the great the Great Recession your brother's we had your brother's house PR down at that time wasn't didn't he M yeah we had you had a couple of uh when when the station was closed you lost a couple of houses over there 2009 I believe the one you're talking right yeah yeah correct was it that long ago W it was it was a long time ago believe it or not yeah yeah and then you may recall when we opened the station up in 2011 we had a fire down the street on Park Road by the country club yeah how long was that close for at that time three years three years three years thankful it's open thank you okay Aaron any questions all right you ready to take a motion then I make a motion to recommend article 16 to fall town meeting as presented you want a second I'll second for discussion okay all right we have a motion in a second any further discussion um yeah I guess I I'll take this opportunity to to say my pece on this and it's and it's worthy work I I I I I guess I have to be really careful how I how I say this because I am in favor of giving the fire department and um uh the entire group everything that they need um to be safe and to live safely and provide um correctly for the community um if I thought that this fixed that problem once and for all I think I would jump right on it but it it doesn't um um it gives us good facilities and I'm not opposed to good facilities so you know part of me wants to vote for it just so that these guys have the right place to be um uh when they're at work um but the fact that you know um the there was still issues remaining at the end of the day and I think I'm not saying that you know uh I have all the answers to this but I think you know we'd be better suited to possibly go to a three station configuration keeping in mind that we still need to cover um a lot of the area for medical calls but our fire calls are obviously down and our medical calls are up um because of that you know I um we can't fill the fire station to protect these men and women the way we should if we were under a three station configuration with the appropriate Manpower we'd be able to have two men in two men out and all the other considerations so we still don't get there with this because we still have potential where we show up to an incident of fire or something along those lines where we can't act as quickly as we'd like to because we don't have the Manpower I think we'd be better suited to find a way to um have the appropriate number of um people in each station I think um May I comment on that well let let him finish I think um and you know and i' I've seen this I've been looking at this for 15 20 years so I'm very familiar with the whole operation and and how it goes um having been involved in the other two fire stations that were done over the years so my I mean you know I I I I understand the need for the coverage and I wonder if you know we might have been serve to think about maybe putting ambulance or something in five and over in the East or something along those lines and building a new station up on 110 that helps get us the best um response time for fire related but also having the appropriate manpower to respond and get right to work so if I I just wish we were solving the issue because we're going to be right back here in a year or two looking for more manpower and the same arguments are going to be had that we're leaving these people in an unsafe condition and this doesn't fix it and and I wish it did good for um just for clarification and I invite Chief also to speak to it the reason that we um we looked in depth at a three station configuration and putting um a third station in the vicinity of Route 110 in Hunt Road and what happened with those response time Maps were there were too many portions in town where um the response time was even off this map it was in the white which means your response times were greater than 8 minutes and there was no configuration that we could come up with for three stations that gave us an acceptable response time and I remember that meeting clearly as soon as we got the response time data Chief Ryan said that's not acceptable and so um we had some discussion around it and that is why we eliminated the three station configuration do you want to add anything and if I could add to that I remember having that conversation and recognizing that in East chelsford in particular where I live the response time would have been 8 minutes and um you know if you have a kid that's not breathing or something like that that's not that's not okay so that was yeah that was about point if you have a fire you don't have water on scene either yes yeah so yeah that those response times were really kind of the what put me over the I I do agree with a lot of what you're saying though actually but those response times when you look at them at the end of the day it just didn't it's it was it was kind of a nogo after that conversation just with where we're heading um you know um budget wise and things like that I just really feel like let's get it right let's let's put this issue to bed let's get get them the right amount of Manpower so I think that's what we should be talking about here and and I and granted I don't want to see these guys I've I've been a proponent for these guys for for years I've been out I took it on the chin getting the building next door approved so I'm all for giving these these folks the right equipment the right buildings but it doesn't I just don't feel it solves the problem and we're going to be back here thinking about it again so I'd like to solve the problem this is what we have before us this evening and we have a motion in a second so I'm going to ask for a vote so those in favor of recommending approval I I and opposed opposed okay thank you all right um is is uh anybody here for article 18 to speak to it yes David hson is on the line and he's also oh he's on the line yeah on the zoom call so we can we can take him next I'm sure Harrison is just waiting with baded breath out there to come up good evening David okay good evening good evening everyone thank you so much um I had um met with you previously to discuss this project and have been before Community preservation in the finance committee we are looking for $2.6 million for a more than $40 million project over at chelsford Arms on on Smith Street we're looking to use that 2.6 million to leverage um an additional $30 plus million from state and federal resources we're looking at 64 units being replaced with approximately 96 units we have engaged SV architects who will begin the master planning and our hope is with this local support we can kick off this project um as many of you know this is a 1969 development we have over $15 million of deferred Main M and these buildings are they're tired they're old and they need to really be replaced up to code um if we're able to secure um the support of the community we will be moving forward um with these plans and um just as far as CPC funds are concerned the B the bonding of this would be approximately you know the 10% of what's set aside um we have chelsford Woods coming off I want to say in 2028 and this would um may have overlap for a year or two but um I believe we'll be in a good place with CPC for the next 10 years plus with this project and be able to serve the senior population that continues to age um and to add 32 units to an additional site going from two stories to three stories um will be you know a great thing to do okay does anybody have any questions David apparently not so how about if we have a motion I will make a motion to recommend article 18 to fall town meeting as presented second okay we have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor I I okay very good David we'll see you at town meeting yes thank you so much everyone thank you all right now we're going to skip back to article 11 which [Applause] is a document Digi Digi digitization yes good evening uh members of the board Madam chair my name is Harrison Mayo I am the departmental support coordinator for the town clerk's office I'm here to speak to you tonight regarding article 11 um to date the town clerk's office uh has worked to improve the preservation of the town's historical records um this has been through environmental and physical preservation efforts um more space efficient shelving implementation of climate controls and restoration of high-risk historical records during the restoration of these uh historical records the Northeast document Conservation Center scanned these records and many are available on internet archive or the town's website but are not easily searchable in their current format looking at at the building Department's office um you'll see that there are some space constraints um the large rolling shelves in their office um take up a sign significant amount of their area the goal with the building department space would be to free up the area used by those shelves and relocate those records uh to a more spacious and controlled environment the L3 storage area has more capacity it's currently used for Planning and Zoning permanent records this space presents an opportunity for better organization and consolidation of land use related files even with organized physical records locating specific files particularly older ones can take staff a lot of time searching through paper records can delay the internal workflows and responses to public requests uh that the town staff have uh with a strong document management system all digitized records will be indexed and searchable and that will allow the staff and public to locate the documents instantly online and with no risk compared to handling the physical record with this project our goals include the digitization of these permanent departmental records ensuring that digitized records are fully indexed and searchable creation of a public access portal for easy retrieval for staff in the public consolidation of building Planning and Zoning files and clearing space in the building Department's office to achieve these goals our request for free cash from fiscal 25 IS300 ,000 this would fund the document Management Systems annual fee the one-time training and setup costs associated with that system building Planning and Zoning scanning which is approximately 1.87 million Pages including many large format Maps accounting phase one which is approximately a million pages and Fire Prevention which is approximately 17,500 Pages looking to Future years we'll seek to digitize permanent and long-term records across the town's departments looking to create efficiencies across all functions thank you for your time and if you have any questions I'm happy to address them any questions for Harrison apparently not I we'll take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 11 to fall town meeting as presented second okay we have a a motion and a second any discussion all in favor I thank you thank you okay we have I think by my calculation about 14 more articles to do is that about right Paul yeah but about more than half of them are consent agenda I mean it will move pretty quick if you want we heard that before no it will no I mean haven't have we presented that Finn finance committee and we went through it pretty quick and and let get it done I think you just want to get it done and then what's this what's the sense of the board you want to stay here another half hour and yeah I'd rather give it all right yeah let's let's knock it out all right so let's go back to article three article three Paul Paul speaks quickly I will I will do it like you're at to meeting Paul exact we article three all right article three is $60,000 this is a you know recurring Cemetery request article uh and again is to complete the paving at Pine Ridge Cemetery install drainage improvements at West cemetery and expand uh slight a dozen two grave Lots over at hard pond Cemetery any questions about article three we will'll take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article three to F toown meeting as presented second okay we have a motion and a second all in favor I article four is a super construction stabilization F I have John Su has been sitting there patiently in the back of the room so uh we'll have John quickly touch upon this and explain you know why this is here good evening Madam chair members of the board so this is an article I know that you've seen in recent in for many years as a town manager described earlier what this is is the under Mass General law the interest earnings that we earn each year on Su betterman funds and on the sore Capital Improvement fund which is part that's included in the sore user rate that everyone pays flow to the general fund so what happens at the end of every fiscal year the interest flows into free cash and so this mechanism is necessary we need a vote at town meeting so that we can set aside the interest earnings on these two accounts into the sewer stabil sewer construction stabilization fund so we can use them to pay debt service for the SE project in future years any questions for John okay take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend Article 4 to fall town meeting as presented second motion and a second all in favor I unanimous Article Five Article Five is no action all right that's easy that's easy uh now moving on to article 7 article 7 is roadway and sidewalk construction uh as I mentioned earlier we're seeking to appropriate $2.5 million to fund roadway and sidewalk construction um you know again I don't want to repeat what we said earlier but we're level funded for I think it's the past Dozen Years for chapter 90 which comes from the gas tax um we have received a half million dollars in in road construction and maintenance funding from the fair shareff slm millionaires tax but even despite all this the the cost of inflation basically means we're only funding about a third of what we need to do to maintain the town's roadway and sideway infrastructure uh even with the additional 775 from the capital budget um our Public Works director Christine Clancy is here um she developed this list and she can sort of speak to like well what are you g to do with the money go ahead chrisy thank you so we do have a lot of needs we have 187 miles of roadway um we've done a lot of Paving and sidewalk improvements in the past two years just this past year we've done um just under 10 miles of roadway $3.3 million 2 and half miles of sidewalk $1.1 million um but and so really moving forward to to to maintain the the in pavement index the rating that we have and maintain um the the maintenance that we're doing on our roadways we as Paul had said uh we need to continue to spend closer to that $45 million so that we we would be proposing this $2.5 million to go towards the roadway in sidewalks and we have a preliminary list here um of Paving candidates so we do publish the list annually um of what is actually on the list but we have a list internally we track and this is all through our pavement dat management database in our sidewalk management database um it's really an algorithm and how the roads are and compared to other roads in town and we also Drive these roads to verify that that is the latest because sometimes some roads can deteriorate at a faster rate if there's uh you know Construction in within that roadway or for other various reasons so this Paving candidate list that you see it's about 10 miles of roadway 4.4.1 million and for sidewalks uh we have some large areas Turnpike road we already have a half a million dollarss from complete streets to to do a new sidewalk between B rer Road and morav um that because there's a bridge construction required there it's a very costly project of about just over $1 million so um we would be looking to fund part of that balance with this additional money or the remaining uh the needs parkerville roadway that is a federal funding project that we received $350,000 um but also to go to town line would need some additional funds so uh and then Main Street Main Street is come up a lot re has come up I think going back a few years um of you know pavement needs but also looking at ways to do more traffic calming and have some um improvements from uh by adding sidewalks so we would look to also potentially whether phasing it at least start with a a pro a design to see how we could improve Main Street um from school Street to Gren street so this list obviously you know six almost $7 million we can't spend all of that but we would go through this list and publish that that list um this typically January okay any questions about Road roadway and sidewalk construction if not how about a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 7 to 12 town meeting as presented second okay we have a motion in second all in favor I I it's unanimous thank you article 8 is the McCarthy Middle School recreational area uh the site of the for of tennis courts behind the police station it's a request for $975,000 from free cash um this uh this is the conceptual design um for the project you can see the police station is to the top the McCarthy School area is to the right you may recall this was previously brought to town meeting and it was tabled uh and we've come back the super intendent has formed a study committee uh and the final version of this plan uh will go through the study committee uh and the school committee prior to town meeting but in essence this is a concept to the left are two tennis courts to the middle is two uh street hockey courts and then to the right is a basketball court um and also the issue with the tennis courts as you call so could line those for for pickle ball if that's uh to occur there also would be a pedestrian walkway um that would go from the McCarthy School up to the police station parking area and and Christine has noted that Public Works is if you look at the top there by the parking area of the police station they may be able to add a few more parking spaces at the police station do expand that uh as well um so when this is done basically with the work that's just being completed now over at the high school with the new tennis courts the basketball courts and pickle ball courts and this here at McCarthy we really will have addressed the outdoor recreational needs um in the community by replicating facilities that had been longstanding obviously the high school courts are replication of what had been there we as I mentioned in earli meeting we moved over the street hockey courts over here to McCarthy which actually is two things better t t will be played by middle school students and also we have a lot of support through the Police Athletic League um by the police station so that may make it more accommodating there as well uh for improvement so again this would um would allow for um those outdoor recreational uses and also with the concerns that we keep hearing about pickle ball the pickle ball primarily be at the high school which again there's no residential impact uh at its location over there and then and then here um if it's over in the school grounds if it were to create a concern um then you know it's it's it's able to be monitored and concerned for example you know I think I think they're the best locations that we could identify in the community for pickle ball um so that that's the concept um and if this is approved again work would would be um would be designed over the winter months and hopefully out to bid uh next spring and summer okay any questions about article 8 with the pickle ball courts in town are we looking at like sound absorption well we're not the high school because there's no residential impact at the high school um and and even at McCarthy there may not be a need either because generally you don't use you're not allowed to use a school courts when schools are in session um so if it were to become an issue uh at the police station you know we we would look at that issue of either eliminating the pickle ball courts or looking at some sound absorption or um or some efforts at at the police station itself because they would really be the only true abutter the problem we've seen in other communities wouldn't hear it across the street I don't think you'd hear it across the street that at that distance cuz we've just not seen any successful route on sound absorption that has been un that's been accepted in in communities where they object to pickle ball and we've seen it in Newton we've seen it on some Cape communities we just haven't found the Panacea that solves the pickle ball noise issue um so again that's all the more reason that if we're ever going to accommodate pick ball that it be at the school complex sites okay any other questions I have a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 8 of fall town meeting as presented second fa a motion in a second all in favor okay thank you article nine is a um replacement of the sewer Force main on Progress Avenue this is $125,000 request and this would be funded from the sewer Enterprise fund retained earnings which is basically their undesignated cash because you may recall they're a separate account and Christine is going to just provide a summary of this project hi so progress a um we have many Force Mains across town this is one of our newer Force Mains a lot of our Force Mains were installed in the 1980s um they really should have a lifespan of 50 to 70 years we do have some deterioration of some of our infrastructure um and we are embarking on um preventative measures to do inspections progress AV is one location where we've unfortunately had two uh emergency repairs just this past year one this July and one January and here's a picture of the pipe as you see it's uh very ductal iron um very thin uh the deterioration is either my guess is it could be external to the soil the soil could be acidic um it could also be um potentially from something inside the pipe uh but anyway way we had two two forc main repairs um and with those repairs we're looking at and both repairs were in relatively close locations just from the The Pump Station shown on progress AV um what we we had previously test pitted further up towards Bill rer Road and we believe there's there's a good or better pipe something in this section like I said I don't know what is causing the Force main to deteriorate at a at a quicker rate but we're proposing is to replace 800 ft of of Main and this would hopefully prevent us from having any future or any near-term um or more longer term too uh breaks we looked at doing this externally potentially looking at putting out to bid um you're talking probably a few hundred, by putting out to bid uh it was actually our superintendent Dan Bel as he came in um and he said he thinks that we could do this in-house this force mean is relatively shallow uh so you know we when we have deeper Force meain that's where you have more um different you know different size Tren different trench boxes is a l lot more difficult excavation this this is relatively you know really shouldn't be any groundwater issues we have a um we have a corridor where we don't have to do bypass so this is really a great project for us to be able to do something in in uh in house and with that we will have significant savings and which is why we're estimating $150,000 as opposed to potentially a few hundred, um sorry the 125 125 sorry1 $125,000 um and with that we are proposing to replace it with HTP just so that there's no further deterioration if that is uh part of the factor um and so part of that $125,000 is for purchase of trench box purchase of plates just to make sure we have the right equipment and also purchase of that fuse it does have to be htpe fuse pipe similar to what you see with the gas company does um and we're proposing to do this all in house um that's it okay any questions about article nine you got the Manpower Christine to pull that off without anything else suffering sure so we talked about this I think this is a great project for us because like said down 5 to 6 feet and we would probably start this in the winter so um you know earlier on dece so right after town meeting we probably start this so we do feel confident that this is a good uh project for us anything um deeper or you know more in in depth we probably would Outsource this but they think this is a good project for us so yes we we'll have the resources great thank you anything else okay we'll take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 9 to fall town meeting as presented second favor a motion in a second all in favor I okay unanimous thank you article 10 article 10 is 650 $50,000 from sewer Enterprise fund retain earnings to address in sewer infiltration and inflow so this is another sewer uh sewer system Improvement project previously at town meeting was appropriated to design this project um so now we're at a point where this project has been designed as part of the um in recent assessments uh about 12% of the area we have found uh you know looking for sources of infiltration or inflow as part of that process in 2023 uh because we have a newer system a lot of the leakage is found at manholes not necessarily in the pipelines so Weston and Samson had recommended 200 locations across town that we could line it's a pretty substantial project we do if we find some you know here and there one or two will will um hire that hire the resources to line just those couple manholes but with 200 manol this really is a much larger project so the request the estimate um that fund needed is $650,000 uh in this work again this this is something that can happen in the winter um lining I mean as long as long as it's not really below Subzero you know extreme cold conditions or dur increment weather but this is something too that can occur um relatively quickly and potentially go into the spring and this is just one of the efforts among our many efforts to try to address the you know inflow infiltration and try to regain some of the capacity that we need okay any questions on article 10 okay take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 10 10 sorry excuse me to fall town meeting as presented second give a motion in a second all in favor thank you you done 11 we'll go over to article 12 article 12 is 75,000 from free cash for a treaty and invasive species inventory and management plan so the um tree committee has been talking about this for quite some time we have tried to apply for various grants um and really this is something that's becoming very much needed other communities neighboring communities too have have began this process or have um committed to this process and have it funded so really you know we have a tree canopy that is declining um it is kind of an alarming number but 1% a year um and and if you he pictured a lot of you know there's various um reasons why we have a decline in can canopy climate change and people you know um want to remove trees in the property on town properties uh you know we we do try to look to make sure we don't remove canopy unless there's an Public Safety concern the tree is dead we have a lot of our tree trees that are um being uh choked by invasive species so they're really on a lot of our properties and in the right of way uh we need to do some invasive species management a lot of people ask me call DPW asking for advice on their property or even what we do on Municipal Lots do we have a policy or written gu or written um written you policy or guidelines we do not we you know we've looked at different um we've talked about it at tree committee we've looked at different methods but really what we need to do is do an inventory uh inventory plan and um the town of Westford recently did one so we did look at that as a a model so proposing $75,000 with that $75,000 we would be able to do probably 20 plus miles of roadway to have the inventory and recommendations and then also I'd like to Target some properties potentially War this is Warren pole pictured could be coolest farm and with that try to have some type of outline of to give guidance um to the community and to you know and to to DPW on how to manage invasive species because it is part of you know how we protect the canopy okay any questions on article 12 Mo I'll make a motion to recommend article 12 to fall town meeting as presented second okay we have a motion and a second all in favor I thank you Article 13 is $50,000 from the golf course Enterprise fund retained earnings to extend the property line netting and polls located on the first hole at the chelon Country Club so uh this is pictured here is the first toll at the country Country Club and just on the right side of this picture there's a house I can't see it's right past those trees on Park Place um and the country club they had received some emails that balls were going over this fence um and hitting their hitting their house um and you under there are other incidents in or um case law in the state where you know we have to that is I guess we're trespassing um actually manager Cohen and I were on site to meet with the um the Sterling management the company and first person at the hole happens to hit it and it goes over the netting so we uh have witnessed it and so really The Proposal we looked at various opportunities could you realign the tea could you do some pruning of the trees on the left really what we need to do is extend the netting so the netting as you see here you be putting poles onto the existing poles and extending the netting up about 25 ft and that's in the amount of and and there is an estimate so we that you know $50,000 is the estimated cost so it's how high now I have to check how high it is now basically it's just below the tree canopy so it would go above I mean it's probably 10 ft above the current tree canopy so it would go another 25 ft I think those poles probably are 20 25 probably 35 ft I'd say okay thank you any other questions arle 13 okay I'll have a motion I'll make a motion to recommend Article 13 to fall town meeting as presented second motion and second all in favor unanimous thank you 14 article 14 is a request for regarding the self BR School partial roof replacement schematic design we're seeking $100,000 from free cash um to fund this project this um this one again we worked on with the superintendent of schools public works myself and our facilities uh managers and this would replace basically 3/4 of the roof that's 26 years old and the solar panels that were installed 10 years ago have to would have to be removed and reset um even though this is again an msba project that's will fund at least 50% of the project uh even though it's called accelerated repair it really cannot happen until the summer of 2026 um so if it's approved now we'll do the design work and then and then bid it um because you obviously want to be doing this project when the kids are in school and just the state doesn't have the funding or the schedule to do it uh sooner than that um So Christine anything to add on that sure this is just a picture we do an annual update um of our of all of our roof inventory assessment um of all the roofs in all Town school buildings and so this was flagged as a roof that needed replacement through that report um and just yes so we do have solar panels on the on these roofs um so that will be part of the project to remove and reset uh we currently estim this is based on the estimate provided in the report but part of this study will validate that estimate or verify it um we're currently estimating about $1.2 million um and I think that's I guess the panels yeah have about 10 years remaining life so one of the analysis that we will do is potentially look at replacing them and that could be costly but I think it's worth just going through analysis to to to see because it' be great to put new panels on a new roof um but also might I guess we want to look at that analysis during the study and one of the reason we we may receive word from the mspa that we've been formally accepted they've been out and done a site visit they've given us all the indications and the reason that we we're doing this now is when they do send that letter that says you're in you have 120 days to appropriate the funds for the project well we don't want to be calling a special town meeting in Fe February you know for this purpose so again the expectations that we're going to be in um if we're not in then you know we can always go back at a future town meeting and and resend the project but but basically that's why we're doing it now even though the construction won't take place till summer of 26 okay any other questions um so in the 1.2 million Christine um that is reusing the existing solar panels yes that's remove and reset it's hard to find what that exact dollar figures I had estimated $2 to $300,000 but that's it's really off a rough numbers so we are that's part that would be part of this assessment to validate that cost and I'm glad to hear that you're going to look at possibly replacing them uh I was having a discussion with somebody recently that's in this is in that field they suggested to me that even since 2014 in the past 10 years there's been an acceleration of technology so to speak such that today's panels are that much more efficient and efficient so um so thank you for looking at that well there's also like a significant cost to just removing them as part of the roof cost so if you're going to remove them and you might as well replace them at the same time new new is the way to go new one news the best but so we want to do we'll do that full analysis the life cycle cost and it it might be a little extra but it's a little extra it probably is worth it because in 10 years you'd be replacing it on a relatively new roof and um and damaging potentially damaging it yeah okay any other questions comments make a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 14 to fall town meeting as presented second have a motion in a second all in favor okay unanimous and then Article 15 is to transfer the balance of the free cash which is $560,000 uh into the St General stabilization fund as we mentioned earlier our balance right now is 15 3 38 million um it's roughly 99.4% of our budget and again if we put this funding in we'll you know we'll be closer to 10% but not above our policy of free cash okay any questions about Article 15 I'll make a motion to recommend Article 15 to fall town meeting as presented second motion and a second all in favor that's unanimous thank you all right then we go 17 oh article 17 is a um Community preservation recision of a of a fund that was voted back in 2019 5 years ago for a facade program was $100,000 the program got delayed by covid and then and then even once we've got past covid now there doesn't there hasn't been any interest in utilizing this fund so the community reservation committee uh is requesting that town meeting resend this appropriation which we then put it back into its undesignated fund balance any questions about article 17 I'll make a motion to recommend article 17 to fall town meeting as presented second we have a motion in a second all in favor unanimous then we skip over to 19 Article 19 is a request from the CHC water district for an easement um at the Parker school the high school school and the McCarthy school and basically the the reason for this easement request is it all has to do with the treatment system and peos and everything else and in order to do this they really need to get the water from the Smith Street Wells over to Crooked Spring Road to the treatment plant um and so if this is not granted it's going to cost them a whole lot more money to go around uh as opposed to easements through the school projects um so again because this a school committee property this plan has been presented to the school committee um they are to make their vote of approval um prior to town meeting because you know we can't transfer without their approval consent but everything I'm understand to date is the school committee has no concerns and they're scheduled to uh you know bless this at their meeting before this town meeting okay any questions on Article 19 I'll make a motion to recommend Article 19 to fall town meeting as presented second fa a motion and a second all in favor that's unanimous article TW article 20 is a request um to transfer Parcels uh to from the cons to the Conservation Commission most of them are tax title Parcels with the exception of the Warren pole property um which which was recently acquired um so again you're familiar with Warren pole the the preservation restriction is now in the hands of our Town Council and then will be submitted to the state for approval uh the other ones are are properties that the town through the finance director treasure collector has has acquired over the years by tax possession for example this one by the country club I said there's the country club main parcel um this is these two Parcels right here you can see by the green or hopefully you can see by the green they're all wet one's 23 Acres was acquired back in 2003 this one right here um and again it has a nominal assess value of 229 and the one below which is 3.95 acres has an assess value of $23,700 that was acquired um back in '95 with the purchase of the golf course but it's it's completely wet um the next one is over here off of um off of Beaver Brook um and you can see the development you know this is Hunt Road this is the property there you know the mobile home park uh but basically you have these two Parcels um the first one the 10 the 45-2 uh was acquired in 2010 uh it's 3.48 acres and then the one adjacent to it is uh 1.15 Acres acquired at the same time again these tend to be basically orphan Parcels from subdivision development that aren't developable and then what happens is they stop paying the taxes on it and then the collector takes it for non-payment of taxes so basically it has no developable or value to the community and so we throw it into conservation for for protection and then the last one is this one here off off of uh his 495 uh here's here's the coolest uh over here there's also the coolest parcel over here this is a22 Acres acquired back in 2011 from from spirro ruas so those you know the Egg farm so this property again was orphaned because it has no developable value and so again it's just easier and simply just convey it to the Conservation Commission for its wet purpose and it adds their inventory of conservation lands but obviously nothing is going to change or happen with it uh and it's of no value for private sale either so those are the parcels any questions on article 20 I'll make a motion to recommend article 20 to fall town meeting as presented second I have a motion in second all in favor it's unanimous and article 21 article 21 you very familiar with as of earlier this evening this is Park Road Street acceptance um I don't think we need to go through this again um but uh basically it's it's um it's trying to put it on our inventory uh and again there's no takings or or any uh other um adverse impacts from the this actual Street acceptance procedure okay any questions about Parkers Road take a motion I'll make a motion to recommend article 21 to fall town meeting as presented second there a motion in the second all in favor okay very good thank you all right on to to manager reports thank you um just briefly um let get to it okay first item under my report is the to publicly and formally publicly notify the select board that speaking of town meeting the zoning article that was adopted at the spring annual town meeting pertaining to the MBTA Community zoning overlay District bylaw amendment was approved by the Attorney General's office on August 5th as you can see Pro the notice to the um to the town clerk uh a notice was posted by the clerk and did notify the board by email that day I apologize for not formally presenting it to the board at a at a meeting uh in the last month um but that has been approved where more importantly where we're going now is we are working with Town Council to modify the development agreement so that we can submit for our mbta's communities compliance uh by the December 31st deadline and that's moving now I don't my words to the to the community development director were let's not wait till the last minute let's let's get this in so that way if any issues were to arise we have time to respond to them but um right now that document um has been reviewed by Council and and I believe it's being sent to um traml Crow uh and then we'll come back to you the select board because you're the holder of the uh restriction Paul yes there's other places in this letter from the state that talk about the town should consult with Town Council about future amendments y we like I haven't seen this on the planning board agenda at all is that it's been shared with the planning board um I don't know what their intent is or what their plans are but when this came in this was sent to the planning board as well but I don't I don't have an update in terms of what their what their plans are uh and Council has this as well but I I don't know what their um what the what their intention is at this point in time I maybe it will come at Springtown meeting um but I don't know it okay okay I mean it may be worth just you know maybe Evan or somebody reminding them that this's here um okay okay next on my report is um I'm want to report on the electricity Supply contract with to the town's facilities meaning the town buildings um as the board may recall that the town's electricity procurement is separate from our Municipal aggregation plan for residents in small businesses uh we our three-year contract expires this December 10th since the spring Christopher Haley who's the sustainability director and I have been monitoring the energy Market with our consultant um and the good news is is it looks like the best conditions of are here but we're also out of time um and meaning we have to in order to have an effective transfer of the contract and so forth so a week ago we move forward with a four-year electricity Supply contract with with constellation new energy and and then in keeping with the town's policies this is a 100% green renewable electricity Supply um you remember we had those discussions with the energy commission okay um and the good news is this sort of the good news everything being relative the rate on this is 12 just over 12 cents per kilowatt hour um which unfortunately it's a 37% increase over our current electricity Supply rate um but those rates are you know were coming out of the the pandemic and so we weren't seeing that anytime in the future what we didn't know is if there would be an economic slowdown um and that was why we hesitated in the spring because sometimes we've renewed the electricity contract a year ahead of time we now saw the FED cut rates and no indication that the mar and we're running out of time we we move forward the good news is is the 12 and 12 just over 12 cents is actually a better rate than our aggregation Supply rate of 14.8 cents per kilowatt hour um or even the green residential rate of 17.8 cents but even if you look at National Grids current base def or the default electricity rates for this current period we're in right now they're at 16 cents per kilowatt hour and for the commercial customers it's over 14.8 cents so it's a good rate you know being with the market um and so we move forward the other thing as I noted at the last paragraph is our natural gas contract expires next July um we I expect we'll be back within the next several weeks with that contract the problem with no you know if if you've probably read it recently in the news the problem we have some of the highest utility costs in the country because we're at the end of the natural gas pipeline um and so that creates the spikes in the you know issues of Summer with consumption when it's when you have the air conditioning needs it also creates the winter spikes when you have the cold snaps uh and also the issues if you have the LNG issues particularly with International crisis and so forth um we know there's a little bit of instability in the International Community right now particularly in the Middle East which Maybe why we come sooner than later um and you know so right now natural gas prices we see the market for like four or five years in terms of historic how it is even though natural Supply um quantities are down compared to where they were a few months ago the rates and and again you're going out for three and four years but the projections are in the market um so we will um we'll be coming forth I anticipate in the short time the reason I come forth and not do it formal hand is when you go to the market you got to lock in within three hours and we've we've we discussed this previous at the board so we we we do that when we look if there's anything happening the other thing that helped us was there wasn't any hurricanes this summer so you didn't have the disruption you know in the US production in terms of the refineries and the off and the plants and so forth so as you can tell I'm I'm we'll we'll move on this like I said within a few weeks um as as we're just watching for any kind of senses of volatility and so forth but even with that you're going to see a similar thing to the electricity prices it's going to be a new contract but it's obviously going to be an elevated cost just because of the the market realities today Paul what's what's the difference between what you're doing here and what we vote on what we voted on you mean what what we voted on what we voted about uh on the aggregate aggregate supply rate and gave you authority to go negotiate a contract is this part of that or yeah this this is this has been the standard practice we've had with the town is and that's why I'm here this evening is we we come for the you know for your consent and knowledge but the problem is I have to I have to e initial the approvals to the board so it's basically a notification but your consent to do it in other words right you know but so and that's why I'm telling you now about the natural gas is going to be the same thing so it's all it's all in part of the utility Commodities um authorization and the board historically has allowed me to trigger with the understanding that I come back and notify the board of of of the market decisions right and so when the the vote that we took was um basically to say for the aggregate the default is going to be the basic program right and so when does that have to come up for vote again so now you're operating under that right and then when we when we go back out for aggregation again okay so probation is the trigger point that'll be the trigger point and then happen again perhaps as early as this spring of 25 because we again that was only that was a very short contract yeah um and I and I and then and I am touching base with Barre and the energy committee and I know they're going to want to revisit that once again and that was why I did the 100% green with this with this contract because we had that discussion was like yeah the town can do it but we weren't going to place that burden on the residents okay and then the last thing under my report is the double pole report from National grid for um September I unfortunately doesn't the printing isn't as good but basically the column to the to the left on the bottom here about the Open tickets and sorry it didn't print as well as as you know when you when I see it on my computer but September 4th the one to the left is September 4th and the one in the middle column is O August 5th so the the status is is still 61 open double poles but again as I indicated the progress that's moving is is who's who's holding us up the good news is Is We I remember last month they talked about Verizon having a bunch that now has dropped from they dropped from 11 to 7 and Comcast has now risen because they're the last person on that poll so the good news is is barring unforeseen weather conditions you when we get the report in a couple weeks for September I believe you'll see that number drop down um and and again the whole point is and what national gri rep points is they only have eight so that means you know there's there's only seven of those eight that that they feel are the balls in their Court to move one's being contested uh but the bottom line is they're moving um and the whole key is is to monitor the progress not only in terms of the number of polls but who's holding them and right now the good news is the biggest holder of a third of those is Comcast um so again once they clear out you'll see that number drop uh considerably um so again I'll keep you updated as we move along in this see where it comes and then we obviously as a town right now we only have two in our court and um we're working with fire and and DPW to make sure that we're not holding anything up um one one may have been a street light uh and then another one they have been firewire so that concludes my report for this evening okay um we have uh one set of uh U meeting minutes from September 9th and I did notice a an error another one on somebody's name corre corrected error yeah yeah Christina Bruce with a K so we changed the C to a k but neglected to take page three select board licensing fees Christina Bruce so we need to do a little minor edit on the wrong page call it says oh right there yeah see under select Board license misspelled oh okay anything else so that needs to be amended yes I'll make a motion motion I'll make a motion to approve the select board regular meeting minutes of September 9th 2024 as amended second give you a motion in a second all in favor I I unanimous and just just um couple notes about um the releasability of executive session minutes um minutes for release are August 5th 2024 segment 3 minutes not for release of July 22nd 2024 August 5th 2024 segments 1 and two and August 19th 2022 okay we to the aison report so would anything um just that the finance committee will be hearing the remaining warrant article presentations this Thursday and we'll be doing their recommendation votes on Thursday as well that's it okay um since we have so much time I have a couple of things um since our last meeting we've had two ribbon cuting the first one the Dan on Beaver Brook in Central Square which uh um provides Spirit of apparel that means it's branded with Chums stuff so go buy all your Chums apparel at the Den on baver Brook and we also had a ribbon cutting at um Skyline Nail Bar which is on chord Street they specialize in doing nails but they do other stuff to make you look better too um a reminder that uh you probably have gotten the invitation to the ncog annual meeting on October 16th which will be at tsoro Old Town Hall if you're able to go uh they ask that you RSVP so they can plan accordingly um and they're uh schedu scheduled to have like a a little panel discussion about regionalization um options and initiatives during that meeting um on Saturday I went to an eagle court of honor for Noah Peterson our our no our newest Eagle Scout in chumford so congratulation to Noah and last is kind of a public service announcement last week I was in in L for a meeting meeting that was at 7:00 p.m. and thinking that the they stopped uh ticketing on the street at 6:00 p.m. I parked on the street and guess what I came out and I had a ticket on my car and uh so I appealed it fortunately I won my appeal but legally I probably should not have won it because they have changed the rule for on street parking in LEL they ticket now up till 8:00 oh so if you're driving if you're going to L for a late meeting keep that in mind that is a good good to know yeah so like I said fortunately they did agree to wave M since this is a fairly new um initiative on their part and it still says on the low City website that if you get if you come to LEL after 6 p.m. you're in luck because your parking is free when it actually is really not so there you go all right and so I we'll take a another motion I'll make a motion to adjourn second okay we have a motion in a second on favor thank you e e e e for