##VIDEO ID:4SbvqEGcLMI## uh welcome to the town of Deerfield select board Board of Health sewer Commissioners meeting of September 25 2024 this meeting is being held in person in the main meeting room of the uh Town Hall at 8 Conway Street South Deerfield call the meeting to order at 435 and um public comments suspended for purposes of discussion and we'll resume at the next regular meeting um and discussion sewer rate hearing so who's going to discuss that you want me to give a heads up or do you yeah go ahead yes so it's it's that time of year again we need to set our fy2 sewer rates um so Sarah got in touch about this last week uh there is a requirement to post the meeting to actually the hearing rather for the sewer rates a month in advance uh so our Target date is October 30th for that hearing um I know DPC and Brenda are already in touch and putting together the necessary financial statements Etc so that can be included in the posting and there will be a newspaper posting as well since that's required by Statute and David also uh DPC engineer ALS who usually helps us with our hearing um our sewer rate study each year had offered to come and meet with um the sewer commissioners before the hearing too if we wanted to talk about any items you know we have certain projects we need to deal with you know we have the outflow pipe um to the river we're waiting on srf um funding and then um we have various other projects we need to think about starting to tackle such as old Deerfield and pipes all over town that need to be replaced so maybe we could talk about a plan maybe it doesn't fall into this this sewer rate but he was going to put together a few different options for us you know we do nothing just you you know just growth each year um interest uh or if we tackled a couple of projects right and then we could discuss I know we we put money aside each year into the um Highway Department budget for inii infiltration um infl and infiltration so and then there's also money in engineering that we could couple together with us you know with some funding through a sewer rate increase to do to do some of these projects but um it would need more flushing out from us I think we should do that before our hearing MH so once they have things together we could come back and meet yeah I just want to check the date again did you say October 30 yes uh yep and that's when we have to schedule a hearing vote it we have to vote it on October that would be the hearing date y I think have you posted it yet or do you need to vote from us to we we were going to we were going to get well actually what we were waiting on was uh the financial information from Brenda which she provided today um so now yeah if you want to votee it you could go ahead and what do we need um in terms of lead time for the hearing is it 30 days 30 days so y so okay so it has to be it could be like the 25th but it couldn't be before then well I think you were planning the 30th right we were proposing the the 30th because there's a select board meeting on that date yeah and uh I'm going to be away so oh you are yeah I'm going to be out of the country until November 3rd so so when are you leaving I'm leaving on the um 18th oh yeah and I won't be back until the 3D so so that's cutting it close too because we needed to get these this raid out bills out and in by a specific time too so so when will you be back November November I will be back in town November 3rd oh okay and then you know so I could do it the first week of November or you guys can do it um you know well can you get on well you could I could probably zoom in from France yeah well let's why don't we do that why we set the hearing in the middle of the day here so I can do it at set it and then we could hold our me meetings before you leave with DPC so you're fully aware of what we're doing okay why don't we do that and yeah I mean it's a six hour difference so I mean if it's reasonable if it's 3:00 in the afternoon I don't know when the best time for a public hearing is yeah we'll figure it out for you yeah yeah so um yeah yeah you're going to be later than us or so yeah yeah I'll be if if it's noon here at 6:00 in at in the afternoon in the evening in Paris oh okay right so if we had the hearing at like 3: it would be 9:00 p.m. for you and right I can either do the meeting before dinner or after dinner all right so it's a late dinner over there too right so right yeah they usually eat around 10: they they Americans eat early you know that's they they have the 7:00 seating for the Americans and then the French people come out at 9: yep so yep so that's all right all right so uh do you need a motion from us to set that hearing or just a general discussion great 30th is good okay we'll try to have a Light Select board agenda that night yeah yeah we can because that's a big deal that the hearing is the big deal for sure yep okay all right so I think we got clarification from Denise about who the planning board had appointed okay for and it was Ann Buchanan Weiss um and as I I was saying to Blake I had instead of Rachel in Rachel yeah I think okay and I had originally when we got this I'd volunteered to do it but you know do you want to appoint Rachel instead or is it something she wanted to do she no I don't think she wanted to do it I think that's why they picked somebody else it wasn't at the meeting yeah uh you know just um she's busy y so Denise didn't explain it but that's who they chose well whatever you guys want to do an Buchanan Weiss yeah is she on the fin she's on the planning board she's on the planning board as well okay yeah she was I think she was elected this last term yeah yeah great I think that's what it is but uh he was definely appointed that's what she said to Christopher yeah and they have a meeting on the on the 26th it looks like at 6 right that's what tomorrow right no yeah tomorrow yeah tomorrow so well Blake and I can both go and then if I don't want to do it he says he'll do it that's fine yeah no I'm I was looking I thought it would be interesting but well that's the same with me I I just don't know how the furog works so I figured if I got on one of those positions it would better I have no clue either and so okay I can just go and sit that I don't have a problem I don't have to be on a committee no exactly so and then I uh all right well why don't we appoint me tonight and then if we re decide to appoint Blake and and we can appoint aan and then you know if that changes we'll just make an adjustment mhm so you need a motion I think sotion to to appoint um Tim hilchie to the planning board representative to the for the furog from the select Board second I have that right all those in favor Tor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim Hil I then I make a motion to appoint amby Canan Weiss as the planning board representative to the fur card planning board second of yep all those in favor Trevor mcdel I Blake Gilmore I Tim hch I all right uh let's see the now next thing is the um search it's the initial screening committee so ad hoc screening committee for the Town Administrator position yeah and you had sort of fleshed out what I was thinking but uh at the last meeting we just didn't vote it so um so we had go ahead uh so do do we want to kind of pick members now of who yeah that's what I'd like to do in case we have enough people by October 4 deadline to start actually screening I don't think we want to screen anybody until we have all the ones we're going to start correct so I would my thoughts are Denise Mason um chair of the planning board um and then um Brenda if she Brenda Hill if she has has um capacity and interest mhm um she's always been very valuable um in put uh and since this is an administrative position I definitely I just said no Christopher no Chris no uh Greg right and was thinking since John didn't serve on the most recent one we could bring P back on yeah he usually levelheaded about that stuff um and you know then i' again I'd like to do it myself for the select board but that's okay again so we need uh let's see let me think and then sometime we've also grabbed somebody from the public before too but um well I the question I have is what about the Personnel Board should they have somebody on board that that's a good thought well yeah I was wondering about whether um we should reach out to them there's um it's either that or if we take the three finalists and send them all three of their names to the Personnel Board then they come to us is satu on the Personnel Board I don't think so ronon is and I know and also Eric Ferrell I think and then there are two appointees from Dan Graves I think yeah I do you have the full list there yeah so it's uh Ron is the chair uh Joan Carney Eric Ferell Cassie Jerome is our new employee appointee um David Sharp uh and then T administrator ex officio David would be good yeah I meanon would be good um I'm not sure that it would well I guess it doesn't matter what are your thoughts well I know that Joan Carney has been involved in the businesses with the VA and stuff like that she's got a really good background in that aspect of it so she would probably be a a good candidate to be able to screen um somebody for that position because I think she's actually been in that position before she has served before on on a search committee I don't think we ended up picking them and it really upset her at one time this was a little before my time or just just when I was getting hired but um but that's sometimes the case you know yeah um uh so yeah I mean I don't know if she's willing to serve well I say and so let's pick two so we'll try her and then we'll try somebody else because she does she's got a full plate and I I but I don't know if she would do it or not yeah so I so yeah I'd be happy with I'd be happy with anybody from the Personnel committee um I mean Ron be in the chair maybe we ask her to pick somebody yeah that's a good idea good idea if she wants to do it or doign I'd be per I've never worked Jo before I'd be happy to y get to knowwhere and then okay and that's I mean four four or five people on the initial screening yeah that's really all we need the plan is to evaluate two to three yeah I mean take all of the uh take all of the 10 or 12 or how many yes weed out the ones that are obviously not qualified do an initial screening that's not public correct if there are six candidates that we interview then pick the three strongest yeah or if there happens to be you know I I think three is enough three is enough because those need to be public and they need to be right on camera and those people are all I mean if we if we make it four then every one of those people who might be a TA somewhere else is in the public and right and a lot of times they don't they'd rather not sometimes they step back once it becomes public if they're not really right if they don't yeah so yeah um yeah I think put putting forward three three yeah two to three two to three yeah I I think that is a good number and you know if neither of those work out then we we felt like there was a third candidate or fourth candidate that might have been viable we can either re re uh repost the job or yeah or we can can you put somebody on put one or two people on standby is there is there a mechanism for that I think that uh yeah if the first doesn't accept we can go to the next okay in negotiations cuz that's happened before and then um yeah preliminary SC you want to make you have two candidates forward yes yes right yeah yeah so you have to feel comfortable that of the of the people you put forward they're actually viable right yeah um and if they're not then we just continue to either repost or and the job would stay open until it's filled right I mean that's did we post it that way I don't know if we did we did yeah it has a it has an application deadline but then open till filled yeah you ofos people brought up tonight and then on reaching out to personel yeah um I think John would definitely do it I wanted to ask frienda but I don't think she's in yet um if she's coming for the finance committee I believe so and that's at 6 umit yeah do the next meeting or you could appoint pending acceptance accept yeah why don't we do that do that yeah y yeah cuz I'm John or I think it was rayon or her designate yeah and then Bak I think it's name Bak belik yeah I mean she's got four names so there's a thirst in there yeah yeah yeah oh you got spell good okay good and then um who was the last one Ray Lon no no I got that one uh John petur Brenda Hill oh you then that was it that was the one yeah I mean unless you want to add one more um but I think that's probably enough yeah I'd like to have a select board member on it yeah okay you know so I think it's the most important job we're going to fill and we have to think that the four people we identify as possible candidates we're going to be able to work with but I'm certainly willing to hear other people's opinions well my feeling is is that if we if we trust the people that we've got on this committee to do this then we get we're not tainted by anything from that committee let's just do four yeah all right so I'll make a motion to appoint the names that Trevor just mentioned uh subject to approval by by personnel and the uh nominees okay second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor uh hang on one sec I'm just thinking about that oh let's have some discussion yeah we have a second for discussion so we got one two three four because you had Jo Joan Carney too right well it was rayon or or and she's on there um and I feel with Brenda and John and Denise on there I think that's strong enough to um administratively run that I was concerned should we add another member but I think I'm okay with that and then we'll get a fresh list of I think that I think the three of them have a very strong grasp on what what the town would be looking for and uh be able to give us some really good feedback as to the candidates that they choose so I mean with Denise with Denise has been in business from what I understand as well and Brenda with her background and John at the same thing very strong uh backgrounds and being to has had to hire a lot of important uh y employees over the years yeah okay so I'm good then all right I'm good okay I G to say I I oh I didn't even get to that point I'm still sitting here looking at this yes all right more I Tim HG ey all right all right so um we'll uh one of you can reach out to Ron and just ask who she wants to either if she wants to serve or she wants to nominate somebody from the Personnel Board and then uh how long are they going to wait how are are applications still coming in or the deadline was October 4 it was okay great great thank you I I couldn't remember when we would do that do we know how many we have at this point for applications is there anything off the top of my head about somewhere around eight or n okay good all right that's enough to get started then on the we'll wait till the fourth and then go from there I was just I was just making sure that we weren't getting there was nobody apply no no yeah somebody wants to work with us I I think there was like um the thought that the first few people that applied were possibly you know not real candidates okay you know but uh anyway yeah um okay good well I don't think there's is there anything else Christopher I we had a we had a a heat meeting that Christopher and uh the burough happold representative were at today and they talked about you know their findings so far yeah very interesting I don't know how did you feel about the rest of the meeting yeah I mean you know it's there's like 20 communities who are talking about their different feasibility studies so there's a lot of information in those meetings it's uh yeah it's exciting stuff and they're going to they're going to be doing a lot more Outreach this fall so we'll see buo appled around talking to Burkshire Brewing Treehouse Pelican all the kind of major opportunities in terms of uh you know yeah exactly yep the um I guess just while we got you here uh had a another South County Senior Center Board of oversight meeting on Saturday morning um and then earlier in the week we had a feasibility kind of get Round Table um looking at the different properties that they're looking at trying to narrow it down to two out of sundel and weightly and Deerfield um to look at and the square footage kind of needed the Consultants kind of think we need based on that it seems higher than what people are going to be comfortable with but um those are the facts that are out there so we're just going to you know this is a feasibility study of what what we should have and we'll just hear what it is we don't have to do it but at least we'll have a good grounding of information on what what it would take to fulfill the senior needs for a senior center in the future and looking to the Future to grow whether we have the space for that or not or the appetite to spend the money on that or not is a different different subject but we'll at least have that uh we'll have that option to look at um that'll be completed by the end of the year but we're getting closer to kind of narrowing down those those those sites to look at the other thing that the Buu has been working on is um we've needed to update our mou between the three communities the uh memorandum of understanding that's probably 12 or 15 years old at the moment or maybe 10 it's been a longer than I've been around here and and um it it's had holes in it it needs some updating um and especially this was kind of when we were in that building and everybody was doing us a favor because instead of moth following it we were using the building but um things being all over the place and different now and uh it's time to update that but they're but the group has been looking at doing a Consortium agreement so uh shelburn Buckland has H and I think another Community are are doing a a Consortium and it allows them to um entity to you know to purchase a building they haven't used it but to take over the take over more responsibility of running it more of of like a district but not a district and they have found that beneficial up in Buckland and shelburn I'm not quite sure how that works here um with different people paying different amounts you know I we have to look at the funding of that and then whose responsibility and oversight would it I mean obviously up to each town to kind of go you this is like oh if we if we bought Sunderland or would Sunderland buy it or would the Consortium buy it or right there's a lot of I I really wanted what I wanted to do was talk to you guys about reaching out to Lisa and sending her that agreement and what are the pitfalls what are the things we're missing here I I'm concerned you know a bit about Authority and who would be taking on you know like the Consortium just can't go out because we're a Consortium and we wrote this thing we couldn't just go out and buy a building cuz we have no bond rating we have no money behind us I mean it has to be the towns behind it so right that agreement would have to get a lot thicker and larger hey Jeff hey lean um would have to get a a lot bigger than um it was just a lot more in depth and I it just felt like it was getting a little over my head and I needed to reach out at least so to kind of say what does this mean um well I think that if it ends up up that they they buy the building of the Consortium we're tied to them then oh yeah for sure for sure yeah we'd all have to that's something that's uh and we'd have to think of okay so if we if we remodel this building you know um is it would it be a safer uh thing for or more Equitable if the Consortium does that and and we have all three towns pay the same amount going in or is it divided by population or you know how do we how do we do any of these projects we're going to have to do something somewhere well isn't isn't just about everything we do when we're dealing with these towns is basically depends on population and and that sort of thing it has right now it's 2525 and 50 um and that was really for just operations and then Deerfield took over any we were responsible for anything to do with a building any Capital anything like that that was on us cuz it was our building right and they felt at the time that they were that was beneficial to Deerfield because we would have had to spend $100,000 or something or more to mothball that building at the time this was years ago so they were kind of doing Deerfield a favor by doing that um and and I'm sure it was beneficial at the time somehow but um but now looking at you know where we go in the future you're talking large money I mean to if you're going to do anything from 10 to 12,000 15,000 square F feet you're talking you know that many millions so you know and that's just Pie in the Sky stuff at the moment but you know whatever it is it's a large chunk of money and what is the town um what what are the residents willing to do or what are the other towns willing to do there's a lot to flush out but I don't so the Consortium talk was getting to the point where I wanted to send it to Lisa and say what are we missing here the other the other thing too was um did they actually have a document from those towns yeah yes well yes we do yeah we have documents in all the research that they went through they they worked on it for quite a while once once they came up with this thing and um they haven't exercised any of that Authority they just kind of run their thing together it was it was their their operation agreement so it'd be good to you know share that yeah through Chris and send it to me and Blake I mean of course a Consortium yep you know you're right the the big problem there is the bar in Authority you know Consortium can't commit a town to do anything and I think they'd use language a lot of language as host community so I think that a lot like we're fiduciary right for scams and for here maybe we would take on that responsibility again but we'd have to F there's a lot to figure out maybe there's other communities across the state that do this too regionally but um the other maybe a better mou would be the way to go rather than a Consortium yeah could be so we've been working on that for multiple meetings kind of of flushing out what we wanted to change and and that so I can share that document too the other um one other item was that um the South County Senior Center is in working in conjunction with uh Pioneer Valley um pvta the Transportation Authority and they're doing some um some kind of uh Transportation routes uh like I think on a Tuesday and so we're um our employees are driving one of their Vans uh they've got a grant they're sharing the van and to to do this so there's a there was a policy about alcohol and drug use policy and um I wanted I was going to send that on to you or maybe have Lisa or somebody look at it to make sure like everything was covered because they're Deerfield employees so I wanted to make sure you know it's good for the senior center to have a policy but I wanted to make sure it fit under our umbrella we weren't missing something all of a sudden we're liable um I just wanted to make sure that eyes were dotted do they need a CDL yes no they don't need a CDL so there was a couple of things we went over but I just wanted to make sure that everybody was on board and we weren't signing up for something that was um you know putting us at risk I don't think there is I think we're covered on all that but it was just getting a little bit over like now them having separate policies at the senior center is it really does it fall under deerfields anywh ways and we don't need to do this thing I'm happy having double signatures and all I just I just want to make sure that we were covered and we weren't left liable are you talking about insurances as well it's not uh no and I found out that the insurance is covered by PV pvta okay but that's the other thing I wondered too was that I said I wanted to see an agreement there has to be a memorandum of understanding between pvta and our employees if we're driving their vehicle so there's a lot to flush out there and I just thought whoa we just better make sure we're covered it's a great idea it's a great way to cover people get them to doctors y do some senior Transportation but I just wanted to kind of touch on those things from that meeting and I'll send you over some stuff that if you want to pass on to Lisa or whatever so that's it good all right um anything else we make a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim Hil I thank you thank you