##VIDEO ID:FW4QsB21b0k## okay welcome everybody to the Conway select board Monday October 7th meeting call me to order since we have guest I'm going to go ahead and Skip all the way down to unfinished business um to discuss the tax specification hearing welcome gentlemen thank you appreciate all okay so thank you for the handout everybody should have their fiscal year 25 pass classification here in hand out do you guys want to introduce yourselves just for the folks at home yeah yeah absolutely so my name is Stephen Casey I am the ass assessor here in con I'm David burgers and I'm a regional assessor for G St George for elected member of the board of assessors here to L moral support to these guys who have all the number crunching done great hope um you guys just want to kind of go through the process of how classifications are determined and then what the numbers are that we're looking at so so step one in that will be to determine the property tax L step two to determine assess valuations step three culate assess valuations by class step four obtain V certific value certification step five obtaining certification of new GRS and then that brings us to our classification intercepts and then class um you just inform me what the CIP actually stands for um so the valuations by class would be residential commercial industrial and and there your show you all the classes I did have the question for George um last meeting about how the personal property tax went up 75% um he let me know that it's part of the um the water I'm sorry oury Hydro hydr facilities on River um those were revalued this year jumped up and they upgraded their their facilities so that increased the value of that property and that Hydro power property shows up in the personal proper because it's not real estate per se and that's that big jump in value that has allowed us this year at least to probably lower people's Actual taxes because it expanded P that we draw from for a revenue residential property which is the line share of our value tax base increased in value by about 12% this past year but the UN power company um increase was so great that it's offset that and will allow most people's tax bills to go down by on an average property maybe like 8085 a I'm just curious why that's considered why that's tax why that's considered personal property instead of commercial or the real estate is commercial property the equipment that was with the building tures and all the rest and the turbines are worth awful lot more than so it's in our favor this year but obviously can't double dips so next year we've already been there yeah right got it so next step classification um oh well I guess the best place to start with be to go the terminology that this sure so to begin with we have Levy the levy is property tax is to be raised L amount is determined by the budget the total amount the true budget L revenues from other sources like motor vehicle excise Municipal fees and state aid is the amount to be raised from the property transition in Conway the levy to be raised is estimated to be 5,941 394 41 cents in property tax 41 cents this represents a 2.33 increase over last fiscal year 2024 Levy of 58684 25 5 million sorry did I say good T the levy ceiling the levy ceiling is 2.5% of the full value of the Town based on the Conway agregate valuation of one 10,000 sorry 410 milli 845,000 2025 New Growth revenues are at 310,000 M32 and they have been certified by the Department of Revenue and this is an increase from prior this Le year next term we have is Le limit also referred to as the maximum glow this is calculated by adding 2.5% of the previous year's Le limit plus the present FAL year to last year's l exceeding the levy limit requires an override proposition 2 and a half the maximum allowable Levy for each fiscal year is 6,928 663 excess Levy capacity excess Levy capacity is the difference between the levy and the levy Li and that figure is 979 million, 979 5755 n so the levy limit is where prop 2 2.5 comes into play yeah not the levy SE yeah if we needed to ra moreing ly limit is is the yearly maximum that you can raise without an override stealing is just like optimal amount so theoretically over time they Town might grow their their tax levy to the point where it starts bumping up against that ceiling you know you can increase in 2 and a half% plus New Growth but there's still this upper ceiling that you can't see we're happily nowhere near that yeah at present that's the magic $25 figur in here ta can't receive the $25 what does that mean exactly you if you see tax $25 you're in trouble right and so we're yes per got it okay it's another way of thinking about that LE room right 2.5% of your base or $25 per ta R got it so we're nowhere near that right just give you a point of reference from talk two and a half was an that about 40 years ago now how Greenfield tax rate $40 they had to spend the first few years of the prop two and a half cutting back to get to 25 other towns little below 25 and just therefore I have to sort of keep a lid on spending and encourage growth course we see evaluations by class you can see that the vast majority of our valuations is residential most of that is single family duplexes not much else it's a little bit of commercial and Industrial mostly it's a residential tax L right and then the the next part here where it says Shifting the tax burn doesn't matter in our town because we tax the same rate to Residents as we do that's that's what we've done historically in Conway it's a decision you have to make again every year right including tonight the reason we would argue that it doesn't really make lots of sense in Conway is that the the amount of Burden you could shift um away from residences to commercial or industrial property is min because there's so little even commercial or Industrial propert it just doesn't make sense in our Circumstance the bigger towns again Franklin County Greenfield mon VI have over years considered this kind of shi because they have a big Industrial and Commercial tax Bas do that so what we're looking at is uh fiscal year 24 it was $164 cents per $1,000 valuation and um now luckily looking at $14.44 per $1,000 valuation yes even though people might see that they're individual value that house has gone up yes the tax rate is going to drop enough to compensate for that and give them a little extra money in the right and that's all from the the dam mostly yeah I there's been a little bit of grow elsewhere you know two houses have been built some houses been renovated or or expanded that still look like most the power upgrades the ownership keeps changing i l track that stuff right and I did say incorrectly during our last 15c meeting sometimes it looks like smoking ears because the the dollar value for thousand might be lower but that would only be because the valuation of your property would be higher cor but in this case that as you can see on the bottom of page five the average um tax bill calculation is still less yeah this fiscal year than last year Y which is great yeah hopefully people notice yeah um this be is this made available on the website yes yeah I think that would be helpful because honestly I have to say I appreciate this is like the most concise explanation of the text that I've ever seen yeah and it's good to know what you're reading too because I did get confused when I first saw through email and we were looking oh the taxes went down but I was looking at the valuation saying oh yeah that of course valuation Skyrocket so yeah um great for this year next year we'll see yeah right so do we need to make a motion to uh do you have any other questions for these gentlemen other other than that there's emotion back I didn't realize changing the value 61 changes the valuation 618 par the state values every year okay farmland farmland valuation grou okay so can go that doesn't affect 61b 61 is 25% of Marg value okay and doesn't affect Forest because for percentage okay want say on yeah that was kind of my question too is when you talking about con state state forest does that factor in okay I'm St yeah talk on line which is evaluation and we're going to tap the M on on the recap each year Bas evaluation set by the state on the state M which they use a formula that basically values of the residential value the land but there is a limit of how many Parcels they will give you for it so I'm not sure what yours is but what I have now ver is $40,000 buildings just land do we know about say reservoirs we have two large reservoirs in our town that's DC so beer field and not sure yeah MDC has set they have over the years they level and you don't get any more taxes off them you more value off them if you do reevaluation your inre the taxes a little bit most of the time are going to stay steady so whatever you've been getting for the last years you're still getting that doesn't change much and Le she doesn't get okay I didn't I thought wen't getting anything between the two water districts don't yeah that's what okay is it a state old land or water district land water district well one's the water district and one's the city of Northampton DPW that's who it's actually formally under so we were looking into possibly doing a pilot with each of the municipalities all right I um here we are again a little bit different land owned by the municipality and another municipality depending along with B they pay a money they should be paying in tax uh and I know that because I work sh or sh and I'm both uh I can't remember when starts way back land bought before 19 45 50 it's based on and set Val just a matter take look at at how much land you've got you want to okay all right let's do it yeah I've got the question in so I we just bought ourselves into yeah yeah well no I'd already put that question in so it's not that's something we've been trying to figure out for a while so we can certainly take a look at it'll take we'll take research because we have to find out when every partially bought okay [Music] orated now you on your um that will't be a pilot that was a state pilot so I show on page four oh that's considered a state pilot a pilot oh I I think it was considered under State on land because not State on land but the state considers the ti that the communities are paying us you you can send them tax still we will figure out okay because our Treasurer told us we're not getting anything you might not be at the minute but you should be yeah yeah that's the problem okay yeah okay that's I think that'll be a little that be pushing all right yeah I appreciate um you guys putting this together it was very easy to like Eric said very easy to read and understand so I appreciate that great um and then if there are no other questions no okay okay uh I will vote I will make a motion I'm sorry uh in accordance with uh Mass General Law chapter 40 section 56 as amended the percentage of local tax levies which will be borne by each class of real and personal property relative to setting the fiscal year 2025 tax rates and set the residential Factor at 1.0000 with a corresponding CIP shift of 1. pending certification of the town's annnual tax recap by the Massachusetts Department of R second all in favor I nce thank you we need you to sign the la5 online in the gway the chair can do it that's okay okay I don't know if we had set up on the Gateway so she keeper of gate please send me email while I will not remember got that well thank you so much I appreciate it have a good night worries that was the LA all right Lori we're going to move on to new business discussion and vote on request to make the town website Our Town L Luc you can come sit over here now that way I'm not Center he know he knows you might what do we mean by official posting site okay so every town has an official posting location for agendas ours has been the bulletin board out front forever and ever and ever and um I'm not not saying I wouldn't still post to that board out there but as we all know we have the 48 hour walk things have got to be posted 48 business hours ahead not including weekends not including holidays so two business days ahead of time and I've always been on the fence about asking for this but being at the conference kind of brought it all crashing back home why I think about it because a good amount of our boards and committees wait till the very last minute to get me their agendas I've come down on multiple Fridays when I'm not working I've come in from out of town to print post agendas because it's the very last minute I've called Adam Adams come down and posted agendas because they're the very last minute this time I'm at a conference in Southbridge and I'm getting I need this posted today I need this posted today so in this case if it was electronic no matter where I am I have the ability of posting that agenda and when I get back to the office a paper copy can still go on the board for view that way for the people who don't access it let's reduce your carbon footprint yeah well we still need it we we still I mean we still have to have a paper copy available for people to view right um which I have in my office I always because I have to retain them for so many years anyway um but we do have a lot of people that don't have internet so I'm I'm okay with that but to be compliant to be compliant it would be a lot easier if we switch to electronic that way no matter where I am I can make sure they are posted on time you know instead of trying to find Adam so what are our offic like the official locations that we have now it's just just I know I've definitely seen on the bant before this right we post it in multiple locations but that's not a even though we say like this is posted in these different locations we're not obligated those we haven't reg defined those as official places that're right only for the warrant I think that might be in the bylaws warrant sure it's is it yeah the warrant we're just talking it's just town meeting right yeah town meeting and elections those things so yeah it's agendas it's the agendas I mean yeah that's so seems very seems very reason now that we've had the website going for well over is it two two years two years two years yes and knock on wood really haven't have any issues and most committees send it to me as well right and they already have it's already there on the yeah I think that you know they'll send it to you to walk out here and then right they'll give it to me so between the two of us I mean legally or I should say open meeting law states that the town clerk or their designate are the only ones who can actually post agendas so I mean your design um it can be you have aign I don't have a design I don't have a regular design I I I have the me sending emails to Adam going I really can't get back into town would you mind posting this yeah can we just today state that Adam can be the design then I think that makes sense Adam will you be my design well or should we say that the design is the assistant of the Town admin yeah right that would make more sense I mean that covers you in case like you're stuck somewhere you get sick I'm in a dead zone right and ik can't I'm I'm actually on vacation and have no service contingency well it seems like that's the only way that you actually know that you cany because we all know that we can get online and and get something up there but it's not all right so just just sorry question about that do you want them because some of the Committees have been posting their own agendas on the website do you want that to change and that to go through you now I I I think we'd have to okay I think we would have to seated yeah I will I will double check the open meeting laws on the electronic version because there are separate steps and regulations to follow between paper posting and electronic I will double check this week just to to see and I mean if they can keep doing it then yay when they're posting their own agendas they're using you like the system the whole the way that that that our agenda no they don't use the you mean the program right they're not using the plat are they attaching the agenda to the meeting that's what that is how it should be I put it when I get them I put them in the meeting itself the files right and then just pack it and that's what I do when I post a lot of the meetings I Propst for but the reason we use this for the select board is because it justes be automatic shut down more formal but we didn't want to make the Committees have to go through that huge I just wasn't sure if anyone was using that but I think I mean it's either better if we could actually get people to get them to me before the final well I'll make I'll make a motion so we can get on to the second part here um I'll make a motion to make the town website the official posting site second and Adam sorry assistant town administr and I'll also so actually that I think that's up to me yeah let's vote on this so all in favor so that's that yeah do we really need to vote on that I no I don't think so all right state election warrant nothing to vote on because you can't you can't change the ballot right but formalities is the select Board needs to sign the warrs before I have them okay is this a a sign a a space had ass sign it to date and sign okay just date okay is it is there well it looks like you know how you have to print and sign sometimes that's the Rel no it's just because sometimes have larger selectors than we do and that is a Statewide warrant that they sent us so it's not my creation that's someone else's awesome got it all right well thank you Lori thank you no thank you and I will into that more and more all time okay yes yes we will and then I'll talk to R right great thank you guys thank you uh next on new business discussion and vote on raise for Highway salary talk thank you when we're talking High salaries we are specifically talking about CDL commercial driver license uh with us supervisor of the highway department onu we already know we looked into um seeing if we could change the deductibles and the match for that's basically a point of no contention that being said why don't you tell us the issues you've been having the problems we've been having as far as hiring and competition from surrounding towns well in the last three years we've had required two people and because they get their first chat with the insurance um with Mass health or other state funded Insurance programs um it's huge even at 30% which is not unfair by any means um but years ago people used to come to work for pounds not been paid this top P's never been good no been in the last five to8 years private world has been stepping up because less and less okay that that want to do this pretty much any service yeah in the whole service in really bad sh um so my thought was talk about [Music] that all comes down to [Music] negotiation that's that's what I yeah because it's all our known right yeah yeah in other words whatever you get through the schools depends on what the town is that you're living in okay and that's because I I had thought it was based on a negotiation but it's not it's based on what the town provides for their employees so if we were to change it we can't change it for non-union employees we'd have to change it for everybody and we couldn't which is not to achieve what we're looking to achieve so we can't make the benefits more that's order not that there not a whole lot of other benefits out there that we don't already well if you look at what's happened in the last 10 to 12 years we get an increase in Pay but there there only been a few years that uh health insurance hasn't e that all so basically nobody yeah no consider [Music] that it's a cost of living adjustment right yeah but we don't get cost living not right every health insurance we can't give up up yeah health insurance 8% yeah that's wild that's wild that's just so the other issue is with our I know we just raised one to 27 um scenario of what's happening around this I of wait Le looking for somebody I got a call Superintendent to find out what we were P then came out with paper and they were $28 it's like well got the people looking for if they are looking for help you look at weightly which has less road miles than we knew a lot less bu we do so the whole ping the whole winter scene is way different than looking at what we do um we comptiable yeah I don't think that our pay is showing what the you it's got to be $34 less an hour I mean we need to be3 or4 more an hour comp so if we do increase to become more competitive for CDLs how does that affect your budget well for this year because I only I I haven't had a full staff um right now wor $560 into the fisal year8 in a base so I'm if I rate this week hire had four CDL Drivers my budget for CDL dri which is $224,600 MIL if we hired starting today it would be 22481 still less than over yeah we can afford it but can we afford it sustain it yeah next year I mean that's that's your budget now because right what's the overtime right because when an overtime decrease a little bit you had extra workers well most definitely right so you're paying time and a half but that comes out of a different V it over time does well it comes out of wi yeah um so I mean my I I just wonder if you're going to wind up in a situation with other towns you know they asked you what what we're paying then we at least blame we're going to pay 28 so then we say we're going to pay 29 yeah and and I don't I mean it's probably IL legal for towns together and say like this is to have some kind I mean it's like the opposite of price fixing you know it's the the opposite of Monopoly it's like the town saying collectively this is this is what we can all afford well we also don't what their insurance well I assume it's I mean it's got be it's you know like summer 80% um I don't know I did that whole yeah budget and it was a more was for 80 than less there was some towns that down to 505 well in Frontier alone 173 17525 and 265 so and then Frontier itself is 820 but I did do some research with some of I put it out to Stam and ask what their highest paid CDL driving Wass and it's a pretty big range to be honest with you but you know even though we just raised last year we're still the very bottom right at the bottom is that state or is that no just in towns around yeah yeah because you can't go by what they make out something so numb with you though we can't have yeah I don't want to get into like a you know this like this game with the other towns well but the alternative is we don't have anybody working right right and then you're paying more overtime yeah so you're going to have to get into Range four or five years ago I think was five years ago now count of wi was in the same position we at right now they went back then they went $30 they found they were down two people they found them almost immediately within their Town very talented people because if you start looking at what from traveling to a job yeah that factors into the dollar amount um and they've been very happy with how things have work out this for been a couple of our superintendent meeting aome that it was and you're looking to have four CDL drivers on staff or three four four well for for this to move forward I'm willing if we can at least get three so we have three um until budget year he reminded now right now we have three CBL one labor thank you and and the magic thing about having excuse me well you because you can pair them up right and that's us how just send them out to job sites is in pairs they can't go by themselves right so you know and that would free up Ron to be able to do more things in the office he had two teams he could send out does look like we have a lot of choic we're g to get out of this situation we thought we had more options and we don't right the one isn't is not fact we can't we can't move for with it it's just not table at all so so if if we do this assuming those positions do get filled what does that what change does that what impact is on your budget for next year is that can go up like we would be doing all four we'd only be doing three we can evaluate I do have I do have enough in the budget if we hired four right now yeah I would be happy to have three wait until see what town meeting does for because that's going to increase the budget next yes I think that's a good plan yeah I mean to me Winter's almost here we have nobody and if you hire a contractor you might as well just take all that money and just throw it away because the only thing you're going to get out of that is only least if we hire people all the the yes well we're probably looking at your earli of seeing any new employee is November 30 right you just make sure you get them Su before you would hire a four CV driver I will okay yeah I would think if you were going to do this it would be three for fy2 I I do have at the moment I have a part-time for the win full time so that would make my board person but it wouldn't be a permanent position got it I can put that in the vot for any so you're proposing to raise the starting salary to 30 uh 31 31 31 get attention 3 I mean we're talking so we're at 27 301 do it right 2 so when you gave me the figure of 224 and it only increases by 200 what rate were you looking at 32 you need something to get people attention so how would I do this I'll make a motion I'll make a motion to raise the CDL hourly rate for full-time employees up to three employes at $32 an now with all licenses with all licenses I work out a schedule of what you know they don't have lies but Max would 32 got everything okay all in favor I get those ads out there thank you I yeah we'll close tomorrow try something yes oh I'm in the morning not great thank you Ron thank you appreciate been a lot slow thanks me I went over there with the horse trailer yesterday maybe some people yeah I don't think okay so we'll move on to Warrant um I did look over all the warrant substantial in there at all so I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the accounts payable War R 259 in the amount of $869 59 pay payroll warrant 2509 in the amount of $46,800 93461 second one in favor ious okay meetings attended by select board [Music] members [Music] lastek oh no we'll just say last two weeks yeah last two weeks actually yeah okay um and things are off to a good start and the maintenance got done over the summer and yeah except for that the broken the broken furnace Checker Kind Third okay oh there it is sorry did we'll go over yeah oh and I forgot to get Ted last you and I met about yes yeah we metant about the town offices and what we could do with the town offices we don't need them we got some crazy information back we're just in a really bad situation because um there's no infrastructure right we don't have sewer we don't have water system we're on well and septic and the requirements the state has to operate business no matter the size no matter how small it is it has to be equivalent to a nine-bedroom home oh my God which is just crazy so is there any potential selling that building as a single family yes oh yeah there's all kinds of yeah we we were trying to see what commercial right we would love a cafe just to just for some might my charger is not working so okay says I have 37 minutes left okay well light of fire in or anything um I also met with Ron to discuss what we just discussed and believe that's it uh no public comments nobody from the public is on we already did unfinished business back to new business discussion discussion and vote on the parameters of the senior and Veteran tax workof program and the brochure yeah the BR is not done yet because I put it on there I was hoping table brochure yeah table to brochure however there are four decisions I'm hoping that well at least three I'm hoping the board can make tonight um hopefully you got with the the yellow um so it's the different program parameters that the Board needs to decide on eligibility um in terms of age limit the income limit and the asset limit um and then also um the method for choosing everybody who applies so I see find that ver [Music] before it was in my 209 oh from your my email today one I sent you several so the one that says program parameters is when I'm right so um I did look at um pounds I listed them somewhere there's quite a few that I I looked at um and what they've been doing so and it's a little bit all over the board so the age limit for how you want to what age they have to be to apply I'm recommending 65 just because we have so many sers as it is rather than um the income limit is the one that I would actually prefer to have you all think about and maybe vote on at the next meeting or all these you can vote on at the next meeting I should prefer because you know I know it's gonna it's a lot to take in yeah um but you know some Town some towns have it set as very low some towns have it set as a median it you know and so I have sent you electronically the HUD median income and you can see it from very low low and um and kind of get a sense from that of what you think it should be and then of course assets how many how much assets somebody has kind of you know changes your financial circumstance so what are the asset limits that you want um I recommending only because I saw that in several of them but 40 and this is exclusive outside of owning your home and one vehicle so any assets that are above 40,000 for a single person or 55 married um and then the last was the method of choosing them so everybody let's say everybody applies and they come in and I go through them make sure that they need all the eligibility requirements then we put them all into I was going to say a half do it as an online generated thing um and just do it by yeah so those are the things that I think it's probably best if you guys have some time to M's over yes yeah because I mean 93,000 as the median income to Franklin County really high to me yes but I think it's probably okay that like the you know you don't you don't the highest like this is the issue yeah get the out some of the things that I have in your packet there's this full yeah yeah that's okay yeah so there's both the documentation system but then there's also how they do the calculations and I think that might be helpful just to look over to see you know let's say extremely low one person the limit is $23,000 yeah um but for low is 61350 they very low it's 38 350 so you know it'd be good just to have a sense of where you think those limits should be because we'll have to put that on the form yeah um so you have that and then you have just a very rough I need to I need to pretty that but initial application that I actually I think to off dalon um just as what the application would look like um and then I make up brochure I mean we have to make it not overly commers first of all right because that's just going to be a deterrent and in general older people have a lot of Pride and don't want to be asking anybody for handouts so you know we don't like I don't know I think it's a delicate walk of how much yeah we really you know request them to show us that's you know well in all honesty every single one I've seen they have to give their income because that's it's decided so that's kind of begin yeah um and there's no one's verifying St they're just trusting that they're they signed that it's verified yeah I don't know yeah so so meeting great moving along vote to appoint Mary K Costello as the concom representative to community community preservation commit for term ending uh June 30th of 2025 I move toy and I will second all in favor I all another appointment vote to appoint uh Jean Thomas to the Conservation Commission for term ending also in uh June 30th but in 2027 all favor hi hi thank you Jean and Mary yeah awes um moving along discuss and vote to sign letter of support for cultural Council Grant Beth Gish gers sorry gersman um everything that does is awesome I can read it to you real quick if you want okay so the the letter of support um would say dear Beth Conway select board is pleased to show support for your cultural Council Grant application titled What's in our backyards exploring impacts of unwanted plants in our forests Meadows wetlands and backyards and so the I say as you envision it it would be a three-part public Series in late winter 2025 focusing on History impacts and potential management approaches with speakers such as Mike Barry from ncrs formerly of Bay State florry these public T talks would be held in town buildings including the town hall the board looks forward to hearing your progress with this most interesting project and gets its full support from your get rid of my not we second that yes he's gonna sign next to his name so I'll make a motion to sign um the letter is read second favor I I I think the last one is just but but there's also um we're supposed to send some on to the fcts the Tex School negotiations I that oh is the frontier Regional oh there's two right there's the techol think the tech school needs a representative tomorrow night too oh that's right yeah Tech you're right you're right board negotiator um I would do it but I definitely can desate a representative no I mean wasn't not there from this letter but happens if we don't have a negotiator oh and I don't know whether did like did Bill okay all right that's probably fine yeah um I mean their budget generally minimally impact well but there's more than one meeting right so if you wanted to appoint somebody and then there's more notice you can see if you're able to attend course if they're during the day that's be problem yeah meeting at which the chief executive officers or chairs of the select board shall select one of their numberers represent them with the purpose of colle bars oh so that's just a to I guess if one of us is not there then we just don't yeah we don't okay so I'll just let them know no one's available okay got it then we have to change um prior qu here the last the last agenda item on business is vote to appoint Lane Campbell as the select board representative to Union 38 negotiation oh I move to appoint she a great I will second all favor right thank you so just a confirm you're doing both Union 38 and FRS Capital yeah okay thank you okay moving along I have not anticipated 48 hours in ADV ta updates um in order battery you guys can just read it if you want yeah I mean I didn't come in here I did too I yeah we don't need to read it I mean it's yeah um anything you need feedback or information something oh yes I'm sorry there was one thing uh she what do that that oh it was about hiring um special counsel to look into the pilots however I'm going to amend that now because I'm going to get with rrg and find out exactly what's going on um the water districts and other properties owned by other news great been something now be interesting uh select board member comments concerns uh Marching In the prade is really great I think we should make a float next year we have like the you know Lori and Adam and barque and everybody definitely need more candy yeah more candy hey at least we have some yeah oh and the other thing is we need to throw it all the way to the curve yeah Don's big bright was oh in the road people were just kind of dropping it kids yeah oh I was definitely kids um that was a great uh that was a great day we had beautiful weather yeah wonderful and that quickly very surprised it seemed like attendance was good we think attendance was good it looked better than last year last year the you know it was kind of so yeah so that might have sued people but yeah I think I think the weather makes a big difference I've also noticed that like pretty much every small like there are a lot of small towns that are doing like fall festivals that they didn't us to do back in the day and it's not I mean like yeah like I look at old pictures from for much bigger yeah had one yesterday or yeah yeah so I know so maybe we should like talk to those guys and be like you know bring their beard it would be good to have like more vendors though I mean that I'm mention that to me after is that that used to more vendors were now there there were a lot of local vendors we had heart farm and yeah um I believe natural Roots was there too um but it would be nice to have more vendors from surrounding towns yeah there's plenty in shelburn there's plenty in Ashfield um that we should probably reach out and say hey maybe you know next year it' be nice to yeah represent your town in our town it's true I think they get so hit in the fall but I do think this Ashville next weekend yeah well there's a lot of newer people yeah but where were our cider Dums did you did we have I didn't see them we but at least we have FR they don't have FR as oh yeah I heard like they don't have parking and they don't have fried dough I was like don't have fried dough have they lost their I've heard because I know the chair of the um they' lost their some they lost their fried D vend I I was like do they know our fried dough vendor and everyone said so yeah but but it was it was definitely the largest postco turn out that we had how was how parking foro I didn't hear anything though apparently parking was amazing and it's I I think they said it's the first time you charge for parking and they charge well I mean it was no there was a there was a QR code so you could donate you could they made like over it's awesome so and that's scholarship so feel like everyone was very yeah if people know that they'll it is for scholarship money and if we I reluctantly agree to take a merch definitely if we have more I mean because like there was was all last year's merchandise I know what shirts you can PR out yes I do that would have been something too is actually the table the water table thing that have that was sorry I didn't think of that now but maybe next year yeah I think we need hats fesal hats I had a I mean the things you know like V-neck shirts yeah sweat pants who would have thought right magnets I mean all the people like you that I was like no but leave next year cool it was good yeah it was good congratulations oh yes um this we can include this as part of the mail the mail yeah there's all right moving on to mail we have a couple things here um one is congratulations to our chief of police the big Don um and I'll just read what it says here dear Chief Bates please to inform you that the Conway Police Department has been awarded $1,752 for its Municipal Road safety program funding for this project was made possible by the national highway traffic safety administration great that targeted for something um I think this get I think he did say that it could go towards um like The Radars that we have oh okay and those are what 3,000 each so great thank you Don awesome um oh yes oh this is the Natalie got it paark yesk okay so here there's actually three letters I'm sorry so this letter is um was sent by nataline PA's office um to Jonathan Oliver who's the highway administrator of for Mad um it is concerning bardwell's fairy bridge when we they were in here obviously there were a lot of people including us who brought up the um major concern we have with the bridge still being shut down and how it affects so many people including emergency services so I'll just read what letter said says real quick dear administrator goart we write to you today to express our gratitude from mop a preservation project for the bwells fairy bridge and respectfully request that the that every effort be made to expedite the design and construction of this project recently held uh we recently held office hours in town of Conway several residents raised this bridge Clos significant hardship for their families and neighbors the closure closure of the bridge has resulted in significant increases in traffic time to the center of queenfield where the majority of services are located for some this bridge closure closure has turned an 8-minute trip into an over 30 minute trip additional concerns were raised about the delays in public safety response times putting families in danger should they need emergency responders the bridge is design designated as a secondary evacuation route for both the towns of Conway and shelburn in emergency the only other way out of town for residents of Conway is Route 116 in Shel Falls Road for residents of Shel in light of incre inre inly frequent and more intense storms storm events it is imperative that the Commonwealth prioritize this project for completion this region relies heavily on its agricultural roots to fuel the local economy the economic impact of this bridge closure has been felt by local businesses businesses including holy cow farm and Conway John and Jane holy have lost customers and pleasure has cut off access to large deliveries of feed sources from John's brother on the other side of the bridge well that's what we all heard about that's the went from 8 to 30 minutes furthermore the bridge is a critical element of the area is robust outdoor recreation system that the local economy is dependent upon the M Mount Mohawk Trail follows the corter of the historic Native American path along the B River over the usk mountains and along the usk river and crosses the bridge the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation website currently warns visitors to the region portions Clos through all that we understand uh the stantech was recently given the notice to proceed on design however with mot projecting a 2027 bid date the feeling on the ground is that this is years too late we agree the significant impacts on our constituents outlined above necessitate immediate action on this critical infrastructure project signed by Natalie Pa thank you very much and the last letter we got was um from uh hully about regionalizing ambulance services trying to come up with regional um how do you feel for Holly I can totally understand what they're going through replied to there think gentlemen um they have the email as well it doesn't really make sense for us we location and we have South um Franklin County right there at the end of the 116 but uh we do offer our support to all absolutely no announcements next meeting is going to be October 21st anything else anybody know okay I'll make the motion toour second all in favor hi by thank you