##VIDEO ID:uMM2XN5-DoA## good evening and welcome to the town of Deerfield select board Board of Health sewer Commissioners meeting of January 8th 2025 uh this meeting will be held in hyri fashion of opportunity for both iners attendance and remote participation please note that the option for REM anual participation is being provided this courtesy to the public the meeting hearing will not be suspended or terminated of technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of the public with particular interest and any specific item on this agenda should make plans for in-person versus virtual attendance accordingly the meeting will be held in person in the main meeting room of Deerfield municipal offices in accordance with Mass General Law chapter 38 anyone intending to record the meeting must identify themselves to the clerk provide their name and address for the record so I'll call the meeting to order at 6:00 um this point we have a opportunity for um anybody in attendance either virtually or in person to have a two-minute public comment does anyone want to ask any questions or make any comments seeing No Hands we'll move on to um the first uh item of hearings and appearances with um Cassie Sandell there you go hello good evening hi Cassie hey there hi there how you doing Cassie all right I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person it's okay have an unanticipated day at home today well um so um so I'm hoping you both you all have the memo that I that I submitted concerning the payroll um we'll get you a copy that give me one second okay yeah we're gonna we're going to pull it up I think I asked for it the other day but I didn't actually get a copy but I know I know the topic great I do too I I unfortunately don't have access to my files um uh but I'm I I pretty much know uh the details of the memo but I you know would love it if you could take a look yeah I think Christopher is Christopher Dunn is trying to pull it up for us awesome thanks Christopher so do you want to talk generally about the topic sure yeah so um our election workers our poll workers are a phenomenal group as you know um they we could not execute our elections um we could not check in Folks at town meeting um we could not manage all of the early and person voting hours um without their help um and now with the massive amount of vote by mail ballots um I could not get out the near 5,000 ballots um that we had to get out in 2024 without their help um the majority of our election workers choose to volunteer um but there are some who choose to get paid and um I I firmly believe that we need to pay a fair wage um the wages the the pay now I I believe is is not sufficient do we know what that is at the moment sure sure um so clerks um or check-in folks so the folks that you see that you check in when you choose to vote in person y um the folks that check you in at town meeting and that uh work the early in person hours they are currently getting paid $10 an hour okay um our clerks and wardens who um run the election floor in my absence if I'm in the office um they manage all of the provisional ballots um any issues on the floor keep track of everything that's going on um they currently get paid $13 an hour okay um and our constables get paid $1650 okay um so did you have you um done an evaluation on what it would do to affect your budget or when would this go into effect like when's the next time you need them I mean sure so so good questions um just to give you an idea so we had 19 election workers for the general election okay uh four CH four chose to get paid yep so the majority are volunteers y um during the state elections the state provides early voting funds um and those funds can cover payroll oh good um I also with my budget always um plan um additional dollars because I I never know if there's going to be a debt exclusion question in the fall or down the road that I have to prepare um and elections as you know you know we don't have a choice we need to execute and and fund them so right um I just the the pay seems pretty um pretty necessary yeah and do you think people would um still volunteer and so we we would budget for some or do do you think we would budget and pay everybody um so I absolutely believe there's a a culture of of volunteering I agree and community service in Deerfield that is strong I I don't think that is going to diminish right um with a pay change yeah um I just feel that those few folks that choose pay deserve to get paid you know the value of of the work being done so yeah I was just curious kind of what we thought we needed to budget for that to cover ourselves and um Cassie you did some you did some survey work about what's what's standard practice in other communities yeah across the state yep so so those have changed I actually um would need to do a new survey uh that was from 2023 um Sunderland just next door um they pay their wardens and clerks um $25 an hour and their Checker is 20 yeah so um you know I I feel like and again I don't have my survey in front of me I I apologize I don't have my materials that's okay at home fine um but the majority of the communities that I did survey in 2023 pay at least minimum wage $15 now right um so you know Community I think we can I feel strongly we can manage my budget can manage those dollars yeah and that and I was just kind of trying to get an idea of like how many hours what the total amount would be like what do we budget now how much do we think we need to budget just just as we get into budget season so I could you know think about that during budget season right yeah so um as you know I'm pretty new at budgeting Brenda sure Brenda is a huge help wonderful so I I look at um an election as um you know the entire cost being roughly $4,000 and that includes um everything from postage to potential payroll um you know uh to food for the workers to um you know it's it's extra hours yeah cuz people need to be here extra hours right right I don't have the breakdown like I in front of me but that's that's the gist okay um that I budget for so all right Cassie witness the next time we we would need to address this um when see next next election that this would come into play the the annual I I would I would like this to you know be um you know something that I can Implement for the annual in this right so the the May election correct y okay May 5th and that comes out of this budget right now we will be starting the uh the reviews with the finance committee soon you you present your budget at that time too right oh thank you yes y u good uh we're just getting the print out here sure so you have a recommendation that um you would like to have the the lowest paid people be um raised to $15 per hour and then oh that was actually that's the old one that's the old one I submitted a a second one um okay I don't I don't think we have that Cassie so um okay we might just want to revisit this when you bring your budget up before the finance committee yeah I mean I I sure I certainly am in support of you know reflecting uh you know the importance of the work that these people do and yep um rewarding those who choose to be paid properly um so yeah I was going to suggest that that we maybe handle this in the context of the budgeting process yeah U and then we can review your recommendations um okay because I I appreciate the work that you do to look in and and make sure that Deerfield is current in these kinds of practices it's important yeah Cassie um what we have in front of us is what was your original proposal the new proposal is brings it up a little bit more than what we have in front of us is that what I'm understand it does be yes Blake because I realized that soon we'll be in a new building um and our election floor will be separate um uh not in the same building as my office so while I am um accessible um on the floor um The Warden and Clerk and and every election worker will have um increased responsibilities um if if I'm not right there um to assist so uh I think that that also changes changes the the um you know like I said increased responsibility and and the pay should be commensurate yeah that definitely changes the Dynamics of that being that you're in a separate building right yeah okay so I guess we'll um we'll we'll take this under advisement and um and we'll pursue it in the in the next month or so and we'll certainly be able to have something in place before the the annual election perfect fantastic thank you I I appreciate you listening and um I hope you all have a good evening thank you Cassie Cassie yep all right take care all right so the next um just a reminder to people in the audience we have a 20 minute public comments period at the beginning of the meeting and we don't typically entertain questions in the middle of each item so um I'm sorry that that's the case but uh that's how we run the meeting and Tim I would just quickly mention we have heard from some folks that they're having trouble hearing board members so just if you can remember to speak directly in your mic yep y thank you all right so the next up is Select board reports and announcements do you have anything Trevor uh I just quickly you may be touching on it to his chair I just wanted to thank the First Responders this morning for um for for helping at horrific accident I'm 5 and 10 and I'm just thankful we live in a community with highly skilled highly trained uh well-paid First Responders to be able to um save lives in in a tough situation like that and um I know it's it's it's trauma for the people and it's trauma for our staff and I'm just really grateful we have the kind of professionals we do to take care of people when they're having their worst day yeah exactly um you know we've thanked the the EMS the police and the fire department uh as TR mentioned it was a two-car head-on accident uh and it blocked route five for a good part of the morning commute and um there were several personal injuries that are still being um dealt with and uh you know it's um I just encourage people to you know be mindful in the mornings their kids in cars going to school and uh you know so just um be patient and uh try to pay attention ention I know that the morning glare can be a problem as well so um but again yeah I Echo Trevor's thoughts uh for the families that involved and and um thank the the public safety uh officials that we have they do uh make me feel um assured that when these sorts of situations arise that our residents and our neighbors will be well taken care of uh also in thanking our own Personnel we ought to really thank uh Amerson Northampton I believe they sent ambulances because again there was a direct um transport to Springfield they didn't go to local hospitals they had to go directly there and uh some of the patients have been shipped to Boston already so I think that it was a an effort that was again the entire area has such a uh robust EMS system that uh it that's what made it work and uh so i' thank them as well including our own people that good point actually uh orchestrated the whole thing and did the right thing from from the beginning of the incident very grateful for Chief's you know keeping us up up to date on what's going on too you do a great job um just welcome back to uh to reality everybody feels like I I felt like we've been on vacation for a while holiday holiday it's been you know but it's good to get back to work and uh focus on the town's business so happy to be here tonight anything from you Blake yeah I think that just one of the things that we had brought up the last time about getting uh maybe extending the Sewer Commission the sewer I'm sorry I didn't speak in the Sewer Commission I think that that might be something we can bring up in the next uh within the next couple of meetings that we can have a discussion on that sure happy happy to do that yep um and I don't really have anything um We are continuing to make progress on on the library um and also on the 1888 building um but we'll hear more about that from Christopher Dunn later in the evening um is there anything from the Board of Health um agent Ned zisy is here I see yeah good evening welcome Ned um I can barely hear you guys just so you understand something's going on with the system can you hear me yeah now I can all right can you hear me now yes yes all right okay um I don't have a lot um just a couple things somebody's uh the owner of the BBA Deli building is interested in um possibly reopening getting the place cleaned up so um just just beginning stages so we don't know where that'll lead okay um but he knows he has a lot to do the fire uh fire captain was there to inspect the hoods and Bob the building inspector and again it's going to be a lot of work and a long time it's beginning stages so just giving you the heads up about that so Ned just to be clear we're we we're saying the person who owns the building um wants to reopen the foods make that available to some new business to open a food business there or are you saying BBA Deli is in conversation about trying to reopen no the owner of the building is thinking of opening okay um not the previous owner of the BBA Del or not the previous tenant yeah thank you okay that's what I wanted to clarify it's sure I I just have one question on that that is it that the owner of the building himself is going to do it or is he planning on finding somebody else to go and manage that when I spoke yeah when I spoke to him he was planning on doing it along with his daughter okay all right um but there are somebody else somebody else in town that Bob spoke with today may be interested also but that okay they haven't even made contact yet so it's it's really early yep okay uh the other thing was the walk Three restaurant um I did get issue their permit the food establishment permit they still don't have their liquor um they had their hoods done that the cleaners spent 8 hours cleaning their hoods it was pretty bad I guess y um they're doing a deep clean on the kitchen an industrial cleaning company is coming in as well as the carpeting in the dining room and um they're going to be putting in a couple new mats they have hired a Serve Safe manager um I may have told you that already and they have a a handy man on staff so okay uh think things are getting done there they're cleaning it up I'm going to just kind of follow up regularly with them great get them back in shape that's great that they're taking a proactive uh approach to that that's good yeah they they really want to keep going I don't really think they have anything else yeah to occupy their time so yeah so Ned are they are they thinking about the restaurant itself and opening the entire place up or is it still going to be a takeout setup um well there are several booths in the front that are open um as far as I know it'll just stay like that and possibly take out I'd like to see them do a little bit more but that'll take hiring more people yeah maybe opening the rest of the restaurant I asked them to um in the spring maybe clean up the front a little bit um there's chip paint and the windows aren't clean and it's just nonattractive yeah so okay that's great um the other things I I talked to you about 341 Lower Road the school bus I I gave you an update on that yesterday um the father who lives across the street is going to attempt to move the bus up to his driveway within 30 days so we'll we'll see how that goes they are living there um DCF knows about it and they have no place for the children Untold from an officer that works in the school system are so are they in touch with service net and um other you know entities I don't know I don't I'm not sure about service net um okay but as I said DCF has been out to the bus and took a look inside it's yeah it's just not uh but they have they have nowhere to put the children so the children are happy they're they're doing okay in school I guess so that's where it stands right now now it's not an ideal situation but the father assures us it's temporary okay well we want to you know find ways to help and find find um entities and organizations that can help so um we'll just try to keep keep on that um and then um who road map lot 93-1 the guy with the tent um again we did a inspection up there he has portable toilets a tent with a bed in it uh little camper with all his storage in there and he sleeps in his truck and I've um referred them to a um his niece is actually working to kind of advocating for him so um there's a a raft program that I sent information about to it's through the State and he he's made it clear he doesn't want to go into a shelter so that's probably not going to work um and he's just happy he's been living in his truck for two years he said and nobody's ever said anything to him so yeah um I'm just kind of on on the enforcement side I'm a little weary about what to do next okay well we little unsure we can meet up on that and uh again try to try to get some organizational help um find ways cuz and also I think we need to you know really get some input from Our Town Council just to figure out yes yeah that's a good idea yeah the goal is just to help not you know not to be a harassment but people need to obviously everybody needs to follow the rules and we just want to find a way to help people when they're in need mhm okay I agree yep um otherwise that's really all I have right now just um working with people making everybody's permitted now so great thanks for that work I'll be out inspecting more often now in the restaurants and things I um I just I don't know if we'll have a meeting between now and the time that I'm going to be um uh in Boston but we um I know we have the court date for um the romanoski property and I I was wondering if you might be able to attend that I'm not I'm going to be away in Boston that week I think it's Friday the um 20th maybe 24th I think it's Friday the 24th is the next court date and um uh Val might be on I think she's on as well I don't know if she um knows that for sure there was an email I think that came from the Attorney General's office and I just didn't know if you'd be able to attend or somebody just to see where the update I know they were they were looking for airs across the world actually trying trying to find uh them and then we're going to get an update on you know where they're at so Val do you have any update on that Val uh right so the court date is on the 24th um I can go to that as well as Ned and then I I think that going forward I think Ned and Ned can handle it right right perfect that's great okay sounds good okay so the reason I'm on if if net is all set I just wanted um to find out what what the boards what what do you want me to continue doing I um I feel that net can handle it fine yeah I I think I think we're good so it's always nice to have your advice and backup but I think um you've you've you've set net up very well and and have been a wonderful service to Deerfield and I've been grateful for your friendship and your knowledge so I think we're in pretty good shape is that what okay that's what your thoughts are yeah yeah I think the uh the 24th would probably be my last yeah um time in Deerfield until he until we come up to the recreational camps and then I'll let him know um how how those are done and I'll help him with that but other than that I think that he's handling it fine great he's doing great and thank you for your help yeah that's great Val I thought you were thinking about staying on as an auxiliary type setup I I that in a sense that that's what it would be I mean he's doing the the bulk of the work you need me to to do something else or you you have questions you can certainly email me you'd still be available too if we needed you for other issues correct sure okay great yeah thank you very much thank you for your service too I don't know who did who did the budget but it came through on it came through to Ned and it had hours for um a second Health agent I I guess that would be me I mean I I don't know well we can take a look I don't are you looking at that I I don't know if you have that did that yeah we we took a look at that and I I I don't know if Brenda had just plugged in that number but obviously we're talking about you know what additional hours in FY 226 we might need for you but then also of course there's a shared Health agent service through the public health Excellence Grant so work ing that option as well yeah okay so we're just getting in into the budgets now okay yep great all right okay so that's all I have great thanks thank you so much Valerie appr thanks thanks Ned yeah appreciate it thank you thank you Ned out good night have any questions or need anything I will thank you okay all right so the next up is a bunch of minutes and I'm just going to ask Trevor to run through I'll do I'm going to do a blanket motion I read I've read through all the minutes I don't see um any changes at the moment but I so I'll make a motion to approve these in a row and then somebody wants to separate something out we can or we can just approve them all so I'll make a motion to approve the select board minutes for September 18th 2024 October 2nd 2024 November 13th 2024 uh December 12th uh excuse me December 4th 2024 December 11th 2024 December 18th 2024 at 6: p.m. and December uh excuse me December 18th at 6 p.m. and December 18th 2024 5:00 p.m. which was the uh ad hoc senior housing committee um so we'll take a motion on those to start second second any further discussion nope hearing none all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim hch I and I'll make a motion to approve the executive session minutes for uh December 4th 2024 second um if there's no further discussion all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I oh sorry great Blake hilmore I Tim hch ey thank you all right um next up is um discussion and decision items we have um division of standards agreement for 2025 weights and measures and I'll ask Christopher Dunn to talk about that sure so there are you know municipalities have a couple different options for ensuring that their weights and measures are uh meeting State Standards um for communities like ours that are between 5,000 and 20,000 in population uh we can have the option of Contracting uh with the Commonwealth to undertake um you know the the work needed to ensure that those weights and measures are uh keeping up with standards um and essentially this contract um builds us for what they estimate to be um you know the work they'll have to do in Deerfield um and those you know vendors who are using those weights and measures will pay them and so there will be a remittance back to the the community um at a future date um so there is a you know $5,000 roughly upfront cost um that gets covered down the line for the town of Deerfield so weights and measures this is things like um checking gasoline uh distribution centers and making sure that they're putting out gallon of gas food gas yep be the asphalt pit too as far as weighing trucks and that sort of thing as well correct exactly yeah so all right um so do we need to take action action on this so so yeah just uh you can you can vote for me to to sign if you if that works i' make a motion to approve the agreement for uh for the weights and uh and measure Services um between the Commonwealth Massachusetts standard of um standards and the town of Deerfield Massachusetts and authorize and author oh excuse me and authorize um uh Town um administrator Christopher dun to sign second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim hilchie I okay so the next up is uh going to turn it over to I think Trevor McDaniel it's a sewer abatement issue yeah so um this is an abatement at uh 43 Eastern a um uh under Fred Becka Fred had replaced his house uh over the last few years and there was a mixup between the um he actually had no proper you know no house there for quite a bit of the year and um so the water department didn't get an accurate reading um they had had a higher reading than than it was supposed to be um so that they had corrected their information on the town and Sarah had put through this this um application for sewer abatement since the house wasn't even there and um most of the year and doing doing the abatement so we're just abating it down to the minimum so I would make a um a recommendation a motion to approve the abatement um for calendar year 25-1 bill number 780 um the abatement amount is uh $2,714 leaving the um the minimum usage charge second um everyone understand this any further discussion seems pretty straightforward yeah um hearing none all those in favor CH McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim Hil I okay all right and the next item is Declaration of surplus property in 1888 building um can you talk about the process and why this is necessary Christopher sure so uh for for items of town owned property that are over $10,000 um there's a whole process around auctions or rfps to dispose of that property for items that are under $10,000 uh municipalities in Massachusetts have to adopt written proced procedures to dispose of that property uh and then follow those procedures um so essentially these are items that the value doesn't uh rise to the level where we need to actually go through an auction or issue an RFP these are small items um and in this case it has to do with what's left over in the 1888 building uh which happens to be um a number of items from our senior center uh a former VFW VFW post that was there um I believe Triad had some items in there as well and at this point since we were trying to prepare the building for uh remediation of lead paint and asbest uh we're looking to declare those items Surplus and then go through our written procedures to actually dispose of that property I I'm happy to do that too and I think there's a lot that needs to go but I I wondered if there were has anybody like uh FW you know the clap uh have there was probably some old photos and some stuff that they probably want and they didn't know if there we so certainly there's definitely some some photographs in there there's some items that are pretty clearly um you know something that we wouldn't want to just throw in a dumpster so to speak um I have spoken with Jen rard about senior center items she she apparently went through the building with Kevin Scarboro uh when the building was closed back in 2020 or 2021 and determined that there wasn't anything there that they wanted to save at that point um and then uh I believe we've also reached out to Triad and of course the mosquito district is vacating the build building current their leases up on the 15th um I would just flag you know and Tim's aware of this of course and you know there's a commercial kitchen in there um and so we are um looking at potentially moving the the hood oven and other items out of the building temporarily while that Hazmat mitigation happens um but those items May well require something beyond our under 10,000 um Surplus property policy okay I mean in in individual each item is not worth $10,000 correct in aggregate it might be that there could approach $10,000 but since the town is going to keep these items I don't really think that that's an issue yeah um all the other stuff is uh an old Pepsi dispensing machine yeah um which may have some value a bunch of yeah I mean if you want to chase it perfectly happy we do a quick Google picture and see if anybody has a take you can you can always sell it on eBay that's right you know and picture on Google spend three months to get $2 so so we're to tell you this but I think it would sell pretty quick I do especially if it stocked with beard people like that kind of thing yeah no I mean I I we'll take a look we we're in between you know a a February 15th deadline where things are going to get torn out so we've had this discussion about 16 times over the course of the last two years that there's a bunch of stuff in there that somebody might like yeah nobody does and so by declaring it Surplus we're just going to allow this process to move forward good no that makes sense oh else I do you make a motion yet or no do you need a motion yeah if you can make a motion that would be fantastic make a motion to approve the contents of the 1888 building Surplus property for disposal second any further discussion again I think Tim you told me that uh that there are different uh aspect of the town like the highway department they're going to be going through that to see if there was anything that they can see if there's anything that they can uh they can use as well so I mean I think they but this will start the ball rolling to get them in there and if they want to look for something go ahead right if they if there happens to be like if somebody in the DPW needs a an an old um paper shredder yeah uh you know certainly it would be good to take it over and use it it if if it's usable um and we do intend to to move the kitchen equipment you know that's definitely something that's we may find a home for it um in in another building in the future um and since we have some empty space to store it in I'm proposing that we use the church Sanctuary space next door but um that's the closest place where we could store it at this point um so uh if there's no further discussion all those in favor Chev mcel I Blake Gilmore I Tim hilchie I okay so next we have a a couple of um board related appointments and resignations um and so the first is um satu Zer who had been the planning board um uh representative on the community preservation committee has has tendered her resignation and there's a followup of Ann Buchanan Weiss who's also on the planning board um who is look will be uh looking to replace satu or succeed satu on the community preservation committee so I'll take a motion for acceptance of the resignation first yeah I'll thanks satu for her service and um I'll make a motion to accept her resignation from uh CPC I'll do the same thank you and I'll second it great and yes um thankfully satu is stay staying on the planning board um but yeah it's been a a great uh she's been doing a lot of work on the community projects recently so thank you so much for that and hearing any no further discussion all those in favor of accepting her resignation Trevor McDaniel I Blake Kilmore I Tim hilchie I and next I'll take a motion on confirming yep um um U move to uh confirm an Buchanan Weiss as um the planning board representative to the CPC Board second uh any further discussion uh hearing none all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim Hil I and thank you Ann for uh yeah stepping up volunteering to step into that role um all right so correspondence can you yes I'll speak to the Drytown Beach uh application to the community preservation uh committee uh so trown beach is looking to get 110 ft of new docking uh and they're looking to divide that cost between uh our community preservation committee as well as weight Le uh so the total cost is 32,000 uh their application to rcpc is $16,000 um and they're just asking tonight for a letter of support to be signed by the select board I'd make a motion to approve the request for funding for the uh trown Beach dock um and deerfield's portion of that I think they're doing an amazing job down there Patty is doing great work and everybody that's serving on the boards from all the uh the Two Towns um it's really turning into a great place for our community I'll second that excellent um so if there's no further discussion I will have some uh again this is to replace the dock that has been in disrepair for I can't even tell you how many years so I think the fact that they're now trying to make this uh a little bit more usable not only for the swimming lessons but for this and this is also a safety thing when Tim and I were down looking at it that what they plan to do is is kind of a U-shaped dock because it's really hard to get out there fast in the middle um you know if somebody is in trouble that far out so what they're doing is uh doing kind of a u-shape or an l-shape off the beach or uh so they can they can constantly Patrol um the the lifeguards and they so they can run directly to that spot and jump and get get there a lot faster to so it's a safety thing as well as um just recreational yeah it's a well thought out plan yeah um so I'm excited excited to support it so if there's you have anything else Blake I'm good okay uh all those in favor chairman McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim hilchie I all right um yeah and thanks Patty and Ken for and everybody on the on the committee for all the work you're doing over there it's really bringing back a a resource that had been let go for a while all right um will you take up the uh the zoning variance matter in your report Chris yeah okay next up then is um Town Administrator and assist Town Administrator reports great so uh a few quick updates uh so Stillwater Bridge reconstruction project um so special legislation has been drafted by Town Council to facilitate the article 97 land swap that's necessary to do that project uh I'm going to be meeting with um Elena and kin from the rep senator's offices later this month just to give them some contacts and talk it over so they can file that legislation on behalf of the town uh and try to move it through the process which involves getting two-thirds of each chamber to say yes so it's a it's a they're good at it though they're good at it they do it all the time good at it that's their bread and butter so um we're grateful on the uh you know Outreach side um with Greg's help we've we've scheduled uh mandatory interviews for all the impacted Property Owners uh so we'll be taking care of those this week um and we are submitting uh reimbursement application to chapter 90 for the survey and Appraisal work uh it's apparently eligible given that it is a bridge project um and lastly I just add um we're going to do a a site walk with the executive office of energy and environmental Affairs they're the uh agency that handles the article 97 U you know swap essentially and make sure that the land is appropriate uh so January I believe January 23rd is what we're looking at now so if anyone wants to take a trek down to the river and take take a look at the article 97 land down there you're welcome to join um and shout out to to Julie Caswell from the open space committee for sending me a little map of the best walking routes uh down to the river there so right because you were coming to Boston that Friday Friday okay great thank you y so one thing that you jogged my memory if I could interrupt um this is just a general announcement to the the town um the dry Bridge or the bridge that goes over the railroad tracks at the upper end of North Main Street um I The District Two office is basically completed their design work uh they are in the process of presenting the design to the main office in Boston and they also have to coordinate with the railroad to uh determine that the plans are are proper they're are they're they're hoping that by um the late mid to late end of winter that they're going to be dismantling what's there and getting underway um exciting so that they can get this done exciting you know by the middle of summer I think that's what the the latest word is so I'm I'm sure that that's a good news thing for everyone uh who has to use North Main Street or hasn't been able to use North Main Street to travel uh maybe not so good news for the people who don't are happy that no traffic is coming it's been like a giant culdesac for a while so anyway Sor great news thanks no that's that's good appreciate the update um South County Senior Center just wanted to mention we're going to have a boo meeting I believe next Thursday so the 16th uh and that's going to be one of the final meetings looking at um you know the the draft designs from the consultant um before that that project wraps up and we have some final recommendations from them on the future Senior Center uh 1888 uh Monday night the site plan was approved by the planning board um and just as context uh you know we initially Berkshire Design Group had submitted a site plan that showed one uh access Drive they resubmitted after some comments from our public safety personnel good and uh it got unanimous unanimously approved by uh the planning board with some conditions um from our fire district as well okay um so they'll have to do a I believe it's called a swep path analysis to make sure there's a sufficient turning radius for vehicles Etc and incorporate that if necessary then John weighed in on that too and the kind of where the police will go and yep he would I believe he was good with it so perfect um and then uh we've got some meetings coming up for that project uh on Friday the advisory committee meeting is going to be happening at 10: a.m. um we're going to talk over all of these different um things that are going on and I did want to flag for this body the uh zoning board of appeals meeting on or hearing rather on um also on Thursday the 16th you should have uh before you a copy of a letter of support um so just some context here um the existing 1888 building is over 51 fet in height which is of course goes beyond our ex what our zoning bylaws allow in that District because of that height the addition that has been proposed is Al would also have to be above um the 35 ft height maximum because the elevator needs to be able to reach the second floor right um so very common sense reason uh the the project is Seeking a variance from our zoning bylaws with respect to height and that matter will be taken up by the zoning board of appeals on Thursday the 16th uh this letter just kind of lays out the narrative case for for the variants and uh we're hoping to get it uh signed and before the zoning Board of appeal so they have uh you know some direction from The Sight board on this matter so I would make a to approve the um letter of support requesting the granting of a Varian for the town of Deerfield on the height of the current and remodeled addition for this uh 1888 building second yeah I just want to say that um as as Christopher mentioned the the uh the addition will actually be substantially lower than yeah the existing building and from North Main Street if you looked Direct ly at the building uh the current brick building you wouldn't see the roof line of the new building so and there's the church next door which is also a higher U roof line so it's it's not creating a situation that's um going to be out of context or or aesthetically you know jarring so I think it's a good thing to um to support yep so there's no further discussion all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim hilchie I and then I would just I believe Tim mentioned this earlier but uh we're working with our OPM P3 uh to put out to bid um Hazmat mitigation work on the building so addressing the lead paint and asbest um and you know hopefully February or March so before a general contractor would take up actually uh renovating the building and constructing the addition um senior housing wise I did just want to mention really quick uh we've been working with furog on getting the uh RFP out um so they are going to be we're just finalizing some details of our revised contract with them um to put out an RFP uh for senior housing development and I did also want to mention that thanks to to Greg and uh thank you to Lori quavas the former owner of the site uh the the church has been cleaned out of her personal possession and I believe Chris Miller who was over there this week said that the Rector is other than a few small items pretty much cleared out as well so we'll be able to you know when we have a developer we'll be able to hand it out hand it over um free of personal effects so that'll be nice that's great um and then couple couple other quick updates landfill solar um so we do have um some revised amendments coming down the pipeline uh just as a reminder um you know this is this had kind of stalled for a bit because nexamp had come back and wanted to renegotiate things um Beth Greenberg our consultant managed to kind of smooth things over and make sure that we don't really really need to completely reopen the agreement and um the next step is going to be and it's not clear yet whether it's going to be a planning board decision or a select board decision um but essentially there are two Parcels that are affected by this the landfill solar project and that that the property line dividing them essentially needs to be magied away so um Lisa is going to get back to us on the exact process might be this body might be the planning board um but just a heads up on that and then lastly obviously we're hiring for a number of positions um I did want to mention you know I you know with some some discussion with some folks here in town I've put together some screening groups uh for those different positions because we are going to be having uh preliminary interviews over the next month uh for the town planner position the public work superintendent and the town accountant um so on the town planner screening group Denise Mason Tim hilchie and Lori bronis are going to be helping me out uh Public Works we're going to have Bill hrth Chief purek and Peter lowski and then for the town account position Brenda Hill and Sarah Kimbell are going to be helping me make a decision there to recommend to the select board for ultimate interviews that's great thank you thank you very much feel like we're building a great team here very excited about the future do you have anything Greg uh the only thing I would add well first I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone in Deerfield uh thank you and hope everyone had a wonderful holiday uh it was slow here in the town hall during that time so we we thank you for that and hope that uh your uh family festivities were uh were were wonderful um uh the only thing I would add is uh that we have a just a heads up we have a a public meeting with Treehouse coming up next week the is invited to that so come and learn a little bit more about Tri if you're if you don't know much about them this is your your chance to to learn more about it and we've heard uh some of the issues with around the sound so that'll be discussed as well as far as their their concert series so um you know please join us it's uh next Tuesday uh I think it's 6: to 8 yep uh on the 14th so um great other than that I guess that's it sounds good yeah and it's an opportunity to meet with a business neighbor and and share your thoughts about um the things you like and the things you'd like to see improved um so look forward to hearing uh from a lot of people in the community anything else unanticipated well in that case I'd uh say that our next our next annual meeting uh or next meeting I think is the 22nd of regular meeting of the select board and then um several of us will be attending the Massachusetts Municipal association meeting in um Boston for a couple of days to learn about yes and I just we were talking a little bit about the Maya Rewards program and I think we've kind of nailed down a few places and you were going to maybe get an answer between now and then on how many we had to go to and yeah and I I haven't heard back from our insurance agent just yet um but I've you know put together a list or something four five you know and that's generally easy between all of us right I mean we usually tap out quite quickly we do I'm I'm waiting for some input from you Trevor as to where I'm supposed to be going we can help with that we can help with that for sure you'll enjoy it it's it's good information good to network with everyone and yeah yeah and you learn a lot I mean the the Law changes every year and so one of the one of the sessions we almost always go to is related to changes in State Law related to municipal government y um and they have very good uh legal people there to tell us what we need to be watching out for yep um it's very good and all right so if there's no other business um I'll take entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all those in favor Trevor McDaniel I Blake Gilmore I Tim I thank you every for your attendance yeah see you next time