##VIDEO ID:IPZbm5hP-VA## e e e good evening damis and Welcome to our November 19th select board meeting and would you all join me in the pledge please I pledge allei to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all thank you it seems like my microphone has turned up high tonight can we have approval of the minutes of November 7th motion to approve second any discussion all in favor I I thank you un opposed can we have a motion to approve the minute of the workshop session of November 7th motion to approve the minutes of the workshop session on November 7th 20124 is there a second second discussion hearing none all in favor I I oppose none thank you the board will hear from and vote to approve two candidates for appointment to the human rights and inclusion committee and a candidate for appointment to the historic district commission first Mr Rodney if we could hear from somebody on the human rights to discuss present the um candidates through you Mr chair I believe our chair Paul Pollock is here to present wonderful welcome Paul thank you Mr chairman um we have two candidates to present uh first one is Isaiah young who is here um and if you'd like to speak with Isaiah he can tell you a little bit about s but I'll tell you something that I've known about him for years he's just an outstanding young man who graduated from danas High School I Believe In N 1923 no 2023 2023 and during his time at the high school he was on a a variety of committees that dealt with problems that youngsters might be having in high school he can he can um amplify that a little bit but when I I talk to him personally um other members of our committee have known him over the years years um through his activities with the school Etc and some of the programs that we run throughout the town he has an energy level that I never had and he's excited you just forgot pardon me you just forgot you had it there's that too but he he is is totally energetic um I ask him and I ask all candidates if they feel they can make the commitment because once you get on a committee or or you're elected to an office as you guys know there's more to within you probably see when you first get on the on the committee and he knows what it's about he's been with us he's willing to make the commitment 12 months of the year if we need and I couldn't recommend him more now if you'd like Mr Young to come he should go up introduce himself with the microphone and tell us anything you want to tell us hello I'm Isaiah young I'm 20 um I graduated in 2023 as he mentioned um I in high school I was involved in a lot of different aspects of our community and I think uh the youngsters in our nation and communities deal with a really particular set of challenges that you guys have insight to but have not like lived and experience and so I'm really passionate about addressing and targeting those issues okay thank you very much board members do you want to vote on each one individually or the two together two together is fine two together so we need to hear about the young lady thank you the everybody's young the young lady is Sarah Goodell o Brian and she is uh has children in the school system I'm just going to give it to you off the top of my head she graduate I believe with a ma a bachelor's degree from University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth Boston College master's degree and is presently working for her PhD at Enda College where she is presently employed and teaches there teaches some courses prior to moving to over to endicot she had been um in education at the elementary level she had was a principal for two or three years in the ipswitch system then she moved uh over to another situation I think it was private and she's uh presently at like I said at Endicott I had a long conversation with her about two things what she was interested in and I believe she centers around education and those that are either bullied or have issues or might have some learning disabilities and those type of things so that challenged children and I thought that she would be an excellent addition to our committee because just off the top of my head and uh uh Dr joyo might be able to correct me I'm not sure we have actually anybody on our committee right now that is actually teaching we may at one time have had that but I don't know if there's anyone actually teaching in a public school setting or a college or university setting at this particular point but anyway I couldn't have been more impressed when I asked her the hard question about time she was very committed to the fact that she could make it work and she was willing to spend the time other than that I was totally impressed with her when I talked to her and I I that's why I wanted to move her name forward thank you Paul David any questions for Paul on the candidates nothing I think that they're both Splendid candidates and I'm especially thrilled that Isaiah is making the commitment I've come to know him and uh while he's the Jewel of the town of danvas thank you thank you Mike uh no the resumes look great uh the young lad over here that's awesome that you're participating thank you no all set thank you Moren um I like the energy that they both bring um I do like Isaiah's um internship that you did with the damis Dei Department um I think that's really good um what's the what's the ajtp center um my senior year during the summer I interned with University's racial Justice te policy Center which looks at Tech and racial Justice uh policy and examining through the the scope of Technology okay and um Sarah looks um very impressive too um but that's that's about it that's G uh thank you Mr chairman um I know Isaiah I've known Isaiah for a long time uh so I'm really glad that uh he's going to be be joining this committee um if confirm uh I do not know Sarah but looking at the resume and Paul I don't think there's currently a member of the HRC that's a teacher uh I think education is the way to go um and as I was reflecting as to what to say to these two candidates I juggle down a few notes and just wanted to really uh thank you Isaiah and thank you Sarah uh who probably watching for your desire to serve uh your willingness to step up uh makes a difference and your work will have lasting impact in our community uh remember and we've talked about this before uh serving especially an organization like the HRC uh it's a journey it's not a destination uh there's never a lack of work uh it's it work that's going to continue um you know I I remember we had a Veterans Day celebration and today it just happened that I'm wearing my lapel pen which is the staish and uh retired lieutenant Kate spoke of that during the last Veterans Day celebration and the importance of service and she said something to the effect of just like the story of the staish no matter how small your act of service may seem it matters to the one you help you make all of the difference every small gesture has a power to change lives so what you're doing matters and I just want to thank you for your service and this is just a beginning thank you thank you what's the will of the board I move that we approve the two appointments second discussion hearing none all in favor I oppose none thank you Hosea thank you Paul good luck next we have an appointment to the historic district commission Christopher Forest somebody here to speak to that or is Christopher here I'm actually right here too oh great please yep introduce yourself for the folks at home sure well oh boy that's scary now so first my name is Christopher Forest I have been a Danvers resident since 2004 I believe I'm trying to think yeah 2004 I currently live in the historical district commission area I've actually lived there since 2004 I've actually come to work with the committee several times to do modifications on our own home so I've learned a lot about the historic district commission about their rules regulations what to do the right way to do it but also their important task of keeping the historical Integrity of a neighborhood in our town that not only is significant to Massachusetts but actually the entire country so being a member of the neighborhood it didn't take me long to realize like sort of how important that is my wife actually grew up in the neighborhood she's been a danvers's resident all her life has never left that neighborhood so she's instilled on me sort of the interest in the history of it um besides that I am a social SCI teacher I've actually taught social studies it seems like forever it's 30 years currently I'm a Civics teacher for 8th grade middle school students one of the things that we ask them to do is sort of get involved civically with our town that's the town of NAIC so part of me feels like if I'm asking students to be civically involved it's sort of my duty and my responsibility if I have the option to do it to be involved as well I do have a love of History I've been a member of different historical organizations over the years I did help found one of those Minute Man reenactor units in my town when I was in my 20s so I really love history as you can see I've actually written a couple books on history too so thoroughly enthralled with history love the fact that I live in an important section of not only of our town but of our state and of our country and would be honored to be a member of that board and on that note if you have any questions I am happy to thank before we go to the members up here Mr Henry this commission falls under your purview do you have any comment thank you questions Morin I no I just um I love that you're a history teacher thank you and um all your volunteer opportunities that you've given to the town and we would be honored to have you well thank you very much d uh thank you very much and just like I I could read the same thing again thank you for your service um every little counts so thank you thank you Michael uh you seem like the perfect fit all the everything in place there unless you're a big Storyteller no that's awesome thank you for coming on board thank you very much David thank you Dan Michael said it I'm very excited because you're excited thank you your will must serve what's the will of the board I'm Mo that we approve the appointment second discussion hearing none all in favor I oppos None thank you very much for coming tonight appreciate it and good luck thank you I think you'd be wonderful a public hearing will be held under chapter 140 section 181 of the general laws on the application of Noland entertainment LLC DBA catch Mania and Lou own a 100 Independence Way for a Koda license which are coin operated Amusement devices to Opera facility to include 40 Co coin operated Amusement devices at that location somebody here to speak to that yep please introduce yourself for the folks at home M uh hello everyone uh dear chairman and board members and everyone um my name is Yan Liu and I'm the owner of Noland entertainment LLC operating under the TR name c Mania it's my pleasure to present our business plan we are preparing to open a family entertainment center an arcade store at The lipy Tree Mall uh is conven is conveniently located next to the AMC theater this coming uh January our store will focus on price winning machines including clone machine uh czer machine uh gacha machine and more we aim to provide a fan and engaging entertainment experience through interactive arcade games offering a wide variety of price such as animal plushes tce uh anyy mini mini figures keychains and car models um our target audience includes families young adults and couples uh catch Mania will also serve as a social space where people can come together to share the ex excitement of real world interactions all games are designed to be easy to play Ure ensuring a userfriendly and enjoyable experience for all customers the store's opening operating hours will align with the mall schedule opening from noon until closing on weekdays and from 10:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekend we plan to have two full-time and three part-time employees is to manage the store's operation I have extensive experience working with the Sean group the owner of lipy Tree Mall for several years I have successfully operated an ice cream store at Burlington Mall and managed uh vending machines across the New England area the most rewarding aspect of this uh Ventures has been hearing positive feedbacks from satisfied customers and I'm com and I'm committed to ensure cat Mania becomes a well-loved destination as well uh thank you for your time and consideration I look forward to the opportunity to bring catch Mania to life and to contribute to the community's entertainment offerings thank you Adam clerk all the paperwork in order it is thank you so thank you for your presentation I can tell that you enthused about what you want to undertake so first we'll ask question Moren um is it the pet store is that where next to uh yeah it's um it's not pet store not pet the old the one that's closed it's near there yes the there's a am theater and the nail store between the nail store and the Hallmark oh that's right so it's going with Hallmark stores next to Hall next to it okay oh nice and when you said uh 12 to closing what time is closing during the week is is it nine eight oh eight okay mhm no it sounds good um is there something across the way to some kind of videos or games across um uh oh you mean the yeah there there's another store it's called Uh W yeah oh yeah my grand different yeah this will be exciting good we have a employee to serve so yeah oh excited for you good thank you very much thank you d uh thank you I don't really have any question I once the clerk says that all the papers are in order uh I I don't know much about the actual business model so good luck to kashmina thank you very much Michael um I think of a arcade place and I think of everybody being my age that wants to play um so you think you can capture the young people to to go in and do business yeah yeah yeah you sound like you have the background in it you obviously you've done some work to yeah yeah I have some retail background yeah good okay well congratulations I hope I hope you make a ton of money thank you David thank you Mr chairman good luck sounds very interesting I'm a little too warm thank you but I'll try it this is a public hearing anyone in the public have any questions comments hearing none can I have a motion to close a public hearing motion to close public hearing is there a second second all in favor I I what's the will of the board motion approve as presented second any discussion hearing none all in favor I I oppose none good luck to you thank you very thank you very thank [Applause] you the chair will provide an update on the procedural process for the selection of a recruitment firm to assist in the town manager search so basically we're Guided by Statue Mass general laws chapter 30b and that requires that our town chief procurement officer send out the request for proposals for recruitment firms unlike a straight bid the request for proposals allows us to award based on both price and non-price factors a detailed request including scope and Grading criteria was advertised for this RFP damis used several examples as guides from towns that had gone through a similar search recently the evaluation criteria was used to measure response and reasonable proposals this included minimum criteria as well as more comparative criteria this comparative criteria must be measured and graded as highly advantageous advant V agous non advv and unacceptable the committee was charged with reviewing the proposals we receive six and scoring them based on the evaluation criteria non price the three individuals myself Mike Bean Rodney Conley reviewed all proposals by ourself graded them according to I just said said and then we totaled up our score was and pick the top three scorers for a personal interview after the interviews the committee ranked the finalist before proceeding to reviewing the pricing from there after picking the winning bid the CPO Chief procurement office will send out a contract um with the approval of this board the um procurement officer is Judy Smith we would like the select board to endorse the committee's selection Al most of the information is still confidential until the contract is finished also as this is a process Guided by state law and overseen by the office of the Inspector General the excuse me the the committee chosen to review the RFP must issue the award deviation from That Could That Could allow an unsuccessful bidder to challenge the results so the company that we had won the highest score from our review and also one that we all agreed to is community Paradigm Associates and that's the committee that I would like this uh group to Endor so that Judy can send out a contract what was it again D community community it's right here okay Paradigm Bernie Lynch is the principal and where where is where they out of um they're local local okay yeah any other questions David no questions thank you Mike you were involved any comments uh no it was ironic how it went because of what we learned at the but yeah was good good uh good experience yeah good experience I have a question yes as a learning tool um so we had six apply you narrowed it down to three and you graded the three um how were the grades from yourself what Rodney and Mike was it compar actually they were all highly ADV advantaged they always scored the highest so now had to look at the negatives what was it that they didn't present that we expected um what their time frame is MH how they will approach the process how they will work with this board and with the community and the level of their materials that they'll send out to candidates to promote the town of Damas and the positives of Damas so after look judging all those criterias we came up with this firm okay and just one last question do we check references on those people too we did okay yeah all right good okay they're all professionals yep okay that's D any questions yeah they um does this organization have they help other surrounding communities in the past that was one of the criteria that one they do a lot of Municipal work not just businesses okay and two that they had a certain number of placements in Massachusetts and this for firm did does that that's their focus okay perfect thank you any other questions no no so if I may just have um uh we not need a vote but I just want to make sure everybody's in favor of this company David yes okay Mike yes obviously you picked them yes okay yeah if the three of you are comfortable un comfortable yes thank you uh Rodney would ask Judy to send out that contract ASAP well do Mr chairman thank you the town manager will report to the board on various items of Interest Rodney uh thank you through you Mr chairman um some a last minute update um as you're aware brush fires continue throughout the greater region um our crews here in Danver specifically have been called out for Mutual Aid consistently in Middleton near our water treatment plant and other neighboring areas um earlier this evening the town was made aware of a proposal for several communities to jointly issue a declaration of emergency um we're still Gathering details and working through what the specifics of that would be but after Consulting with the town's Fire Chief and others we do plan to join um I do have limited information at this time but if a declar excuse me if a declaration were to occur we'll obviously provide information to the board as well share it with the community and on social media but again we just got that about an hour and a half ago so I wanted to make sure the board was aware and we'll have more information to come on that also in your packet you have the draft goals for FY 26 that's just the preliminary draft uh what I would ask is if any board members have um items they'd like to address to email me directly and then we'll put it on the agenda for a full public discussion uh two weeks from now um as usual it's most of the goals are static annual goals are long-term planning goals but there are three specific um for the fiscal 26 budget so again if you want to take look at those and then we'll put it on the agenda for formal discussion at our next meeting uh tax classification the hearing is currently scheduled for December 3rd um this will be one uh mik where you'll get it a full week in advance for the classification hearing so full report and presentation um also as is customary we'll reach out to the board again we would not be able to hold a quorum uh meeting but one onone if any board member wants to come in and review the document with our uh Chief assessor John Lael and myself we always make ourselves available for that and then we'll have the public hearing on December 3rd and other than that again on behalf of the Town staff we wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving thank you any questions for the town manager uh yeah so the the state of emergency and I mean you we don't have the details but big picture what does that inails uh does that give us does the state give us more resources or it it elevates the level of concern um yes it does allow for greater coordination with local state and federal agencies and should um potential funding open up on a state and federal level it would uh make us available for that as well okay and once we declare that does the state have to approve it or they are the criterias to for the approval uh they don't need to approve our local Declaration of emergency but in order to declare a full Statewide that would have to come from the governor's office correct yeah thank you good thank you uh the board will consider the consent Calendar please motion please to approve motion to approve the consent calendar is there a second second discussion hearing none all in favor I I thank you at this time new public business anyone in the audience with new public business please go to the microphone introduce yourself good evening Lauren Steve's Hood Terrace um I have two things I want to address the first one um I know there was a meeting in September for the town manager Review Committee and also the workshop that you guys had last meeting um and there was I guess an amendment being considered um where you feel that that The Residency requirement for the new town manager should be eliminated um I believe there might be an intention to put a warrant article in front of town meeting in a special meeting in February um I just I I really highly disagree with this decision um so if I may we have a committee Town manager Review Committee that is gathering information they're going to make a recommendation to us with the work they do they're the folks you need to to speak to our Workshop the other day was just give the the committee chair our thoughts and maybe some Direction but it's not for us to make that decision so the select board has no intention of putting a warrant article in front of town meeting only after that committee submits the work to us then we'll put together a article for town meeting maybe in may not February okay so this would be null and void since you intend to hire a town manager under those premises come April it's still the town manager act said they shall live in town okay and until we change that that's the case okay well then that point of order Mr chairman uh I'm not sure if we've decided when when we putting that on the war and article if it's going to be February or may it won't be February I just said that it may be May if the work is done if they're not done then we'll ask town meeting for an extension so it's not fav because we think they will not be done with the work cor that okay so that means that the hiring of the new town manager will be under the the Hospice of the current Town manager act correct because that's not the impression that I had I was under the impression that we were hoping to have that done for the special town meeting in February yeah hoping is one thing but real real reality is another that committee is not ready to make a decision yet okay and they're working at their Pace not our Pace if if the warant article is going to be it select men War an article I mean we we they recommending to us so if they don't make the recommendation we have the authority to that's why I'm asking that's why I'm asking this question at that point in time after we get their report we'll make that decision okay because it was it was my it's it was just my understanding that you guys are allowed to do separate we don't need the authority from them to do it it's you guys are able to do that so that's why I was asking the question or you know we have the authority to write up a warrant article to go to town meeting but it was decided to have a subcommittee review it thoroughly and not just for us to pick one piece of it okie dokie um okay so moving on um my second concern concern was I know we had the police chief here at the last meeting and I know there was discussion about him coming um in front of the board every 3 months with an update um I I would strongly suggest a liaison to select board meetings maybe once a month um it's evident we're still having major issues um I don't know if anyone's aware of the 20 plus juveniles that were banging and kicking indoors this weekend at people's residences and threatening them uh I saw footage of trespassing and vandalizing of property this weekend kids riding their bikes in the mall just last night um it's obvious that there is still an issue so I think once a month should be a more likely scenario for what's going on um and I know last meeting we talked about the Criminal Justice Reform Act which was signed into office last 2018 I guess I have questions on it I don't know if Mike can speak to this or if these are questions for the chief um just some of the laws the first one is that it decriminalizes um disturbing lawful assembly and disorderly conduct offenses for students under 18 when they're at school but in tandem with that the school administration is responsible for enforcing the school discipline not the SRO if there are dedicated SRO that's how the law is written so if the SRO are not to enforce penalties or discipline I guess the next question comes of what what's the school doing what's the administration doing are we doing in-house suspensions are we doing at home suspensions are the parents being notified because it seems like the sro's hands are tied when it comes to ons school property issues um and then the next part of the new not a new law it's not new but um says youth can no longer be found delinquent for violations of local ordinances and the First Defense of a misdemeanor for which the punishment is a fine Andor incarceration for no more than 6 months I'm interpreting this to mean that the kids can no longer be considered delinquent for breaking local laws the first misdemeanor offense which carries a fine will no longer lead to a delinquency charge is is this accurate am I interpreting that law correctly um none of us here are lawyers so just to tell you we requested that the da come before us um either with the chief or separately to answer questions about the new laws so we have a better understanding okay um I don't know I I guess I guess my questions are for them then because I I guess kids kids might get have the way I've read that law is that's basically that the first offense is nothing happens they the the the courts have the authority to also divert them it's it seems like it's a a get out of jail free card in their first infraction but they shouldn't be allowed to pass go a second third time and and clearly something is I don't know something needs to change because just this past weekend we had two or three incidents more so I think having a leaz on here from the police department once a month would it's something I would just suggest thank you anyone else new business Kevin thank you uh Kevin bar 34 popular Street uh open meeting law seems to be my favorite my favorite subject lately so I I'll keep the ball rolling um through you Mr chairman I know I uh Mr colney was not here when I when I spoke uh last on this subject so I'll I'll say it again while he's here that my uh my complaints have nothing to do with his his selection uh he seems like a a fine and logical choice for the board for the board to make and this is uh my concerns are about process uh and especially as the board has a really really important decision in front of it which is selecting a new permanent Town manager or five years as the case may be uh if we're supposed to do things in the open I just want to make sure that we uh do them in the open so I well if I may Kevin you may um we're hiring a res recruitment firm who will ask for resumés from people throughout the country hopefully those people would be vetted by the recruitment firm and brought to a subcommittee to interview in private those folks have the right to secrecy because they're still working somewhere in a preliminary screening in a preliminary screening then working with that committee the recruit recruiter will bring forth two or three names for this board to interview in public yep that that all the process that all sounds fine and then your deliberation about who to choose is will also be public right so if if if Mike thinks it's candidate a and you think it's candidate B and D thinks is candidate C you're going to have that discussion about the merits of which one and which to choose in public at that meeting correct okay that that sounds fine so um you know I I do thank you for responding to the previous complaint you you did address Bullet by Bullet what I uh what I wrote which I uh I do appreciate it's the only way I could do it Al ignore you and I can't do that I'm sure I'm sure you wished for a moment that you could sir not at all um yeah I you did approve approve minutes from that executive session and they're part of the public record now which I appreciate I I do want to note if if I would quibble with those minutes a little bit um I think the minutes are lacking in in detail and substance and of the discussion um and I think that that was noted by the Office of the Attorney General uh when Keith Lucy filed filed a complaint it wasn't a part of his complaint but they they did include in a footnote to to their response uh although not a part of the complaint we note with concern the lack of detail in the minutes so I just uh your decisions were there but some some discussions some deliberation uh like I said I I think Mr Conley's a fine Choice that's not the issue but maybe other candidates were proposed maybe one of you thought 15% was too little and he deserves 30 uh I think uh I think we should have um seen that seen that part of the discussion thank you thank you anyone else okay just a comment on last week's new public business Bill Bates brought up the subject of detours and not having two-way traffic or at least traffic alternating um part of the problem is a lack of details available for that those projects and I put it to you pop in Locust Street if we were queuing up cars to go down Locust Street imagine the backup into the square and the confusion that we would have with cars queuing into the square and other traffic not being going through so there's a reason for detours now we'll go to correspondence a new business and if I may with the Indulgence of the board I have a series of emails that were sent to me um over the last few weeks from Keith Lucy Keith Lucy gmail.com the the first three were of the same nature the last one that was sent was on October 15th and it says just resign you are a complete embarrassment then on October 19th there were two emails that were follow-ups one at 8:00 and one at 10:48 resign or everything that your son James has ever done will be plasted all over town so apparently Mr Reed was the designated plasterer with his comments last week and those two of those emailed that same night these are public record as Kevin would mention and fully if anybody wants to read them they are available with a public records request thank you anybody else have correspondence I say something um I just I just want to say um thank you to the firefighters you know for what's doing that's mean the smell right I mean we can smell it here at this meeting it's um dangerous um you know I I do believe that uh there there's certain drives for the firefighters that people can drop off you know some Gatorades or Waters or um breakfast bars anything that that we can do to help the firefighters in our community and the surrounding communities would be great um I too Mr chairman through you and uh through the um Town manager um I'd like to see the police chief come more often um I'd like an update once a month um because it's it's still out of control and uh I think coming back in January is too long you know um I'd like to see Rob thank you for coming I'd like to see more as I mention all the time I like to see more police presence um I do see some Cruisers I think was it yesterday about 10 of three um CVS the female police officer I don't know who she is but she was sitting there and she was looking around which was good it'd be nice to maybe have her get out can bring it up to Jamie and walk around the town but these kids see her um and then there was another police car at the same time down at the fire station you know um it'd be nice to see like we talk about having them Patrol and let's you know these kids are out of control and uh we need to do this but I really would like the chief to come um every every month and give us an update thank you anything else under new business for closing comments you all set um I just want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving you know spend the time with your family um we've got a lot of work ahead of us Rodney seems to be doing a great job I thought we had to I had my notes ready for the uh goals the budget goals and everything like that but um you know I just want to say uh spend the time with your family and friends and uh enjoy this time and thank you for everybody that's you know in the community that's participating we'll get there right we'll get there we you know we're going to take care of this trouble this this Cloud that's been over Damas lately and uh we'll see some nice bright Sunshine soon thank you thank you Mike uh yes please uh I'd like to address um Lauren if you don't mind um yeah um so uh I think some of the things that are happening is that Chris and the assault that took place has uh forced us to uh back the lens off and see what's really going on so um we do have to uh see what the laws that have been changed um and what they're doing to us uh because I don't see how they serve a purpose when they handcuff the police um as far as the police I think that uh a couple of officers were upset when I made a comment about the Goa uh my intention is not to put anybody down but um I'm a worker and I'm all about work one of my bosses is sitting over there from many years ago and so when I go by and see a perfectly good day that a cruiser sitting there with the windows up and the officer doesn't get out and walk around the center of town to me that doesn't look good it's okay take a walk around that's working uh but my intention wasn't to say that somebody was lying uh that's what one officer said to me he thought I was lying when I said Goa it's no I don't think anybody's lying but people's work ethics are different so it's up to the chief to motivate the people to get out there so we don't have uh bikes riding down the center of the street people getting hurt uh another situation where a handicapp person like Chris gets injured again when we have the U facilities and the people here um but again I have to say it again that uh fully staffed is minimally staffed and that's a reality we have to face we need uh few more people that work on that department and we need the people that are working there to work and we need the chief to motivate them and it's not not trying to be upsetting to anybody it's just a reality I work every day we're all working um and I think it's a problem that we can fix I don't think it's a hard thing to grasp but the laws do need to be changed because they work against us right now thank you thank you David thank you Mr chairman um addressing Lauren's concern which is just a is a shared concern a year or two ago there was a great deal of controversy in town about the hockey locker room and um repeated uh newspaper not notices uh especially that patch um the danvas patch if anybody watches that every other day was a an article uh commenting upon plastic sex toys or something something like that over and over and over again um Eric crane uh was and I believe is still on our school board aamus was or I don't think he still is on the school board they are both lawyers and as people have heard before I've been a lawyer yes if there's a lawyer in the room I up 20 years ago but I've been a lawyer for 56 years I've tried to be attentive number one throughout my years of being here to pay attention to the legal service that has been given to the town and what the town has to pay for it um I happen to have watched very carefully um the town lawyer who works with worked with Steve baa for 10 11 years um uh David Deluga and I know him only through his work for the town I have found his work and the billing of his firm to be eminently fair correct and accurate or I would have said something when it came down to that hockey locker room stuff there was outrage there was outrage against the superintendent and against the school committee for not doing more and I reviewed all of the documentation that was part of the record in that case that included opinions from the town councel to the school committee as to what they could or could not do by way of disclosing names identities and other things that the public cried for and had a very normal need and want to know like me I want to know who are those kids who are those parents how could this happen and wasn't anybody watching but I must tell you it's discouraging to know all of the legal advice that was given to that school committee from what I can tell was absolutely accurate from what I could tell it restricted the the school committee from doing and saying things that you and I would want to have said and done and I was discouraged by the as Mike just said there has to be changes now when it comes to the uh current activity especially with uh juveniles and people under the certain age it's mindboggling and when in say what does the law say I would just tell you that if someone asked me what the law was saying I'd take a piece of paper and I put one law at the top and print it out or cut and paste and then I would go and try to read the opinions of the state appeals court and the state supreme court as to what they have said by way of interpreting those laws that's where I'd go to try to get a sense of what exactly does the law say and what kind of constraints are put on the police and I was a prosecutor I was a Defender um I've been over the hill and back and um it isn't easy and the constraints that the police have to work on because once the once the police offend one parent and one child then the child jumps on that police officer but doesn't read the statutes and the cases to know the constraint so I'm just saying that I sympathize with you greatly I've lived here a long time anytime anybody is abused in any way in this town reflects upon me I have have had a history of being somewhat abused person in my life so I hear you I wish there were a simpler answer I do watch the police and I try to stay in touch with with our chief who I have I've known all the Chiefs from the time I was 7 years and I'm 82 from S I have known every single police chief in this town and um I have been very critical through some of the years of some of the Chiefs and I think that our current chief does a superb job and it's fire and police are ordinarily in most communities and ours the hardest groups of our labor people to deal with because they have tough jobs especially the police and they get criticism from every side and I'll finally add my own footnote that as I was listening to the discussions in the last couple of meetings and people have sent me uh emails telling me to um telling me to resign well I'm not going to I'm too old to resign um and the other thing they said do you see what they said on social media about you yesterday and I said wait a minute my mother told me about 25 years ago never to hang around a Cess poool and if I'm around a Cess poool have a safety cord so I don't fall in because it's not very tasty no I don't know what anyone said on me in Social because I consider it to be a social Cesspool which is abused in danvas as it is abused in many other communities who attempt to have a forum where people can have legitimate discussion of what's going on what's good bad and different and how we can make things better so um that being said as I'm sitting and listening to everything here's what's going through my head being a parent is probably the most difficult and important job in the entire world being a police officer is probably one of the most important and difficult jobs in any Community including ours being a school principal teacher guidance counselor or safety officer is dealing with the most important and difficult job in our town and school system and being a municipal officer trying to watch the budget of this town for the last 50 years we can never give the parents everything they want for their children in this world parents can never ask for enough for their children to try to protect them from what is going on so I'm saying I don't see it being an easy job for anybody but uh whenever our police are attack I really feel bad and when parents are attack I really feel bad and there is no way that our problem with the youngsters is going to be solved without everybody working together and not name calling or blaming anyone group for it and I'm thinking finally in my head well they caught one youngster I don't know who it is and everybody say well why don't you just bring that mother and father before the board and and embarrass them publicly what if the mother happens to be a single parent what if she has a special needs child with autism who's three years old who she has to get care for and she's working two jobs so assuming things for me is never very of course I was trained as a lawyer to look at the evidence and so when I unless I can see the evidence I try to be very careful about making judgments finally to say thank you for people who take oh yeah Lauren is the one who stop the traffic and let me walk across the street tonight without getting killed thank you there was no police officer watching those people going right through the crosswalk Rob um so I just wanted to say that and I do I truly love this town and it hurts me when I see stuff that is like no win no win no win finally people ask me never mind did I always want to be a judge no I just wanted to not be locked up in the Damas state hospital I'll take anything for a job but um the uh the things that are going on well I think I've said enough and thank you for listening and for the safety walk Lauren to get me a CL thank you David D that's a tough act to follow thanks David um to you Mr chair uh to the town manager the the the closure of the road uh because I know Mr bit had talked about it and there was also a business um do people get notified that the road is going to be close ahead of time if construction is working things done on your street there's some notice sent but not to everybody just people that are impacted on for that street right okay is that how through you Mr chairman we can provide a more formal response to B bat's question uh from the last meeting but generally speaking we try to post it on social media that they'll be working the area over say a two or 3 week period but in order to precisely dictate that again between the contractor Town staff weather conditions detail work uh it's fluid it it could be fluid it could be S of post saying yes we'll be closed from 9:00 to 2: tomorrow morning and then that morning it's like oh just kidding it's tomorrow it's the next day or it's going till 5: it's just so we try to give you a general um idea of when that work would happen but again like I said we'll provide a more formal response detailing how some of that decision making happens because I I think we we could do we could probably do as a town a better job with signage uh I mean when I go to other communities and the RO is going to be closed sometimes it's stated like a day or sometimes even a week before cuz I think unless it's an emergency we know we're going to be working on a specific Road on a specific day and it would be better to have the signage even if we change it by an hour or two I was just curious probably something to to look cuz I don't see enough signs in town when the roads are going to be closed and I think that would be helpful for the residents and the businesses as well um other than that I just want to thank again um the people who have volunteered to serve and as I said before if you are at the Veterans Day celebration and you got your staish whenever it gets harder whenever you feel like quitting put it on and use it as a reminder of the importance of service so thank you thank you D thank you thank you um an update to the board on last Thursday on the 14th I attended the resilient Damas Workshop up at the community college to hear about the Casper plan implementation updates and opportunities for 2025 there are six areas of focus in that report energy buildings Public Health natural resources transportation and land use and solid waste and a vast uh Rodney that we get an update on these goals strategies and actions from the uh responsible staff um over the next uh four or five months so that we're aware of what's going on um Jeff Ellie is working on the energy Rob de buildings Brian Barry Public Health Renee Hunter natural resources Aaron Henry transportation and land use and Eric and I can't remember her last name Rodney dado D denado is working on solid waste and refu so we'll hear updates from those folks over the next uh 6 months or so um with that is there any other business to come before the board please if you see a vet thank the vet for their service and good night anas for