##VIDEO ID:BmE2ZQL2hpk## sure all set thank you recording in progress good evening um today is the town of D's Board of selectman regular meeting it is Wednesday November 13th 2024 and is at 6 p.m. this meeting is in person in Via Zoom at Oldtown Hall 1111 Somerset Avenue D Mass this meeting is being recorded the listing of matters of those reasonably anticipated by the chair which may be discussed at the meeting not all items listed May in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law can we please have a call to order Mark Pico present Peter Haron present Nicole Melo present via Zoom hi Nicole hi uh can we all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and I just need you to stay standing a few more seconds after that because we lost some people uh this week that we wanted to be able to I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we lost three residents this week and um we ought to be able to just pay our respect to them by mentioning their name and giving them a moment of silence Donna Foley we lost Thiago rendes and Antonio sor thank you very much first thing on our agenda is Pat hi Pat Hi how are you I'm good how are you seen a lot of you lately I know nothing that it's a bad thing oh you may get S sick and tired of hearing of me you know um we've been trying to have give you an update for quite a while CU I know Mark it was probably in the spring you asked or late summer I don't know anyway but here we are so basically I'm going to give you an update on the surveys that we've been doing and a couple of the projects that the commission has and on the 250th anniversary so I'll start with the survey so we've completed two major updates to the historic property survey in 2021 and 2022 we focused on buildings that were primarily 100 plus years old and mainly in the south end of town um three areas were recommended as eligible for consideration for the national register uh the brick area L which is Center and pine lower Four Corners the main street in Elm Street and the South titon District which is um Pleasant Street in both sides of Main Street and then 15 individual properties were also considered as eligible for listing the funding for this survey was through our CPC and estate Grant from the mass historical Commission then in 2022 to 2023 um we completed another survey which focused on the Mount Home Finishing Company area and Village um and these ALS and homes that were 100 years plus in north titon from this survey we had three area forms um School Street Lincoln Avenue and Mount Hope Finishing Company and this survey was funded totally through the rcpc so in total we've updated the survey forms for 200 plus primary buildings plus out buildings landscape features some monuments and some burial grounds presently um Stacy spies our preservation consultant that we work with is completing a survey on update of 10 properties and a cere a cemetery in West titon and CPC is also Al funding this project um the commission can't thank the CPC and the town's people enough because every one of these projects has to be approved at Town by at a town meeting um for the support in these projects because we wouldn't be doing this without that support um and it should be noted that these surveys are they're just like a snapshot in time there's always more in-depth research that can be done for example the house that I grew up in on Pleasant Street was in the survey for South titon from 2021 2022 um I did more research and presented a 15-minute talk on its past owners and I can still add to that house story so what we're getting is um a beginning of the story so if you want to do more in-depth research or if the owners want to do more in-depth research they have a starting point so the commission had spent much time reviewing and prioritizing the area forms and the consultant recommendations and we asked the mass historical commission to evaluate the area forms for the brick area lower Four Corners South D dayon and the Mount Hope Finishing Company and Village of these the brick area and the Mount Hope Finishing Company and Village were designated as eligible for the national register nomination by the mass Massachusetts historical Commission they also asked for more information on the south dayon historic district including adding more properties and connecting to the existing National register districts that are there the Corum Shipyard on Water Street and the Wares District on Pleasant Street so we asked Stacy spies for proposals for this of course it's going to cost us money and um after reviewing what we had we asked her for the brick area South Titan and Mount Hope and after review we accepted a proposal from Stacy to prepare the nomination form for the Mount Hope Finishing Company and Village for 8,500 pending funding so once again we went to the CPC and they approved the funding for this project and it as you know it's an article on the special town meeting warrant for tomorrow night so in September we had a a successful public meeting with the property owners from the Mount Hope area and at this meeting we discuss the national register of historic places the nomination process and what it means to the area um so I'd like to share some of that with you so that you have the same information so the first question is what is the national register of historic places it's the nation's listing of historic places worthy of preservation it was established in 1966 under the national his historic preservation act and it's administered through the National Park Service and in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts historical commission it encourages preservation but it doesn't guarantee it it um that the properties will be preserved although you have to have historic Integrity to be considered the designation places no constraints on what owners do with their properties using private funding it doesn't impose any additional restrictions on property owners the property owner has no obligation to restore or even maintain their property if it's in a national register District it's encouraged but there's no obligation for it um historic properties that are owned by municipalities and nonprofits are eligible to compete for matching fund grants that support preservation federal tax incentives May apply to incom producing properties as an incentive to encourage capital investment and revitalization in historic buildings and as I said dayon has two national registered districts the Corum Shipyard and the Wares district and these districts were established in 1997 what we're not proposing what the commission is not proposing is a local historic district for the Mount Hope area at this time and I point this out because there is a difference people confuse the national register with the local historic districts local historic districts are the districts that are established by Town bylaw as outlined in Mass general laws chapter 40c with a 2third majority vote there's no interior reviews the architectural exterior features are established by the bylaw that's when you hear people talking about they're not to tell me what color to paint my house those kinds of criteria are set by the bylaw dayon does not have any local historic districts at this time but it does provide the tools that you need for preservation of an area however future conversations with property owners and with Town boards are important to determine the purpose and the feasibility of a local historic district this isn't a decision that is made lightly and time is needed for the proper consideration so that's the difference between your National register and your local historic districts the national register is more honorary it's prestigious um next steps so we're proposing that the Mount Hope finishing area um Finishing Company Finishing Company and Village area be evaluated to be in a national register District tomorrow night we're seeking funding approval for the the preparation of the nomination if the money is approved tomorrow night um the consultant Stacy spies will complete the nomination form and submit it to the mass historical commission then the mass historical commission reviews the form and works with the consultant and with the commission if any changes are needed on the draft then the mass historical commission presents it to the state review board lots of steps here um if the mass historical commission approves it it will be submitted to the National Park Service this process can take quite a while right now it's about two years just for the mass historical commission to complete its review public meetings will be held to keep the property owners informed and when it comes um to the time a majority of the property owners must be in favor of the nomination so future surveys so one thing that we've learned is that the surveys is an ongoing process every day there's another building that turns 100 another area of town that turns 100 another Monument um so we plan to continue documenting our buildings and our history so what else is the commission working on we have an oral history project preserving memories um it's almost ready to go uh so we can get daytonians to talk about their past the history that they remember they're growing up in town events in their lives and also to help preserve the stories of the families and their connections to Dayton's early history because some of our ancestor some of our residents have ancestors from the early days of dayon not me but some people do um we have a historical marker program for historical buildings and that is on hold we're searching for a new vendor to make the markers but hope to continue it in the near future and we're in the process of producing a walking tour brochure for our two national register districts we're also planning a brochure for 2026 on the old Bristol path which went from Plymouth to Bristol Rhode Island and cut through dayon and dayon it's really from the Town Line of uh Taunton along Somerset AV up to Elm Street and would go through Swansea and then to Bristol so we'll highlight those Titan historic landmarks and buildings from early dton now we have an opportunity to work with a student from UMass Dartmouth Samantha sheer is a sociology and anthropology major and is looking for an internship opportunity and um so she and I have been chatting and she has to have it's unpaid internship of 120 hours and last night the commission voted to have Samantha um join us um in January of 2025 so um hopefully she'll be able to help us with some of our many projects um she has talked with her professor and um her professors told her that all the things that we're doing meet the criteria that she would need for an internship so I did chat with and he said just to mention it to you and then we'll work from there so I don't know if there's anything else we need to do no okay I I I I brought up the Pat I said if she may need something for us for confirmation of the work for for class gr so you as as it as the inter internship goes on just let us know okay I can do that um so do you have any questions about the survey uh who knew one that you guys do all this two and I was part of commission for a little while but two the um the fact that we had so many historical places here in Dion yeah very impressive for what you guys do and you're very informative I I don't have any questions now other than I'm going away okay same here likewise you guys are very active commission and we appreciate all you do and um you're definitely giving a lot back to our town so thank you you I just have a brief update for the 250th anniversary do you have anything no thank you that was very thorough oh thank you um I know I've been talking about this the last couple of days a lot so um we do have a committee for the 250th anniversary or the semi semiquincentennial of America which is in 2026 so we're working on providing a celebration to honor Dion's Revolutionary War of Veterans as you know we have a tentative reenactment battle and encampment planned we're planning programs that relating to the Revolutionary War a possible sequel to the 1976 lives and Fortune book um which the commission produced in 1976 with Helen Lane the town historian and it lists the dayon men who served in the Revolutionary War members are working on do documenting the graves indien of all the Revolutionary War veterans um we have over 60 of them and we're just double-checking to make sure that none none of them are forgotten um we're coordinating with the Community Church for two readings of the Declaration of Independence one in July of 2025 and one in August of 2026 the church is also giving a program on Ezra Styles the minister of the church in 1776 and we've reached out to the school schools um to hopefully involve the students in activities um and we're really excited about that connection and we plan to reach out to other Civic groups um as you know we also the 250th anniversary committee also has a article on the town meeting warrant for funding if approved um the town will match any fundraising we do up to $4,000 which is targeted for the reenactment so we are seeking sponsorships and donations we have had two informational tables one in October and one at the Arts Festival in November um lots of positive responses to that you know people you know sat stop by and chat um and they seem interested other people kind of you know like they kind of like walk right by you and don't want to make eye contact but you know they're looking so you know but um it seems to be positive and be well received so as always we appreciate um the support of the board of Selectmen and of the town's people great thank you thank you thank you fantastic no thank you so much you're welcome want to no thank you okay thanks a lot good job job P Mr Vado can you come up here please to the podium what I'm going to say I'm not looking for you to respond till until we're done okay so you don't have to to justify anything you don't have to do anything until we've said what we've had to say and then you'll have an opportunity to speak your mind yes sir um I'm going to be quite honest with you we're not happy with you um you you seem to be thumbing your nose at whatever restrictions we put on you everything no you're going to let us speak first okay um everything from hours of operation to what you carry to uh to doing things on the weekend we're just not going to put up with it anymore your license is in Jeopardy and that's serious because we will stop your license completely um we've had complaints from the neighbors uh they have talked to you you have basically told them you will do what you want and uh that's going to stop so as of tonight I'm going to recommend that to my colleagues that we suspend your license for one week and if you do anything during that one week we will find you $300 for every occurrence that you do uh now Mark has an opinion of his own and I'm going to let him speak to to what he'd like and I'm sure Nicole has her opinion Nicole do you have anything you would like to say no you you pretty much said it all thank you Peter Mark I think seven days is very very um very nice and I would like to see a 30-day suspension uh through December 13th okay uh we will decide on what the suspension will be after you have your chance to speak the floor is yours sir well I don't know what's going on I haven't been working weekends and holidays I mean I've been walking in the back I've been fighting a couple of skunks but when it comes to working I haven't been doing nothing right weekends and before 7 and after 7 okay I haven't been working okay I mean I've been walking around the yard and never but I haven't made no noise I haven't been doing nothing believe me you the only noise you hear from me is stting up my truck and leaving in the morning and that's it what time do you start your truck pardon what time do you start your truck what time do I start it I let it warm up about 10 15 minutes that's it what time do you start it or about 5 10 of7 that's not what we hear yeah uh even you have told us uh on a Saturday you had repairs to do and you were doing it on a Saturday uh that you told me you had to be in Boston by a certain time and therefore you left early that you you don't conduct business in I don't do that early um those are things that you have said to us in the past yes like I said your it's not fair to your neighborhood I've been going by the rules sir uh I don't believe you have oh man so um I wish somebody would take pictures take pictures to go to the 15 I mean to uh 7day or do you want to split down the middle Nicole I'll ask the same questions of you I'd like this we always work with each other so I like to split down the middle okay Nicole yeah I agree okay so we're going to suspend your license for 15 days that means 15 days you don't do anything outside other than the normal maintaining your grounds you're not going to do anything with your junk business uh you can't you can start your truck and and leave but you can't be bringing back junk for two weeks if you do and this is serious it's a $300 fine every time you do something it's not $300 a day if you do something three times there going to be a $300 fine each time that would be $900 you'd have to pay in order to maintain your I say something sir yes you can I want pictures to be taken to prove it okay if there's no pictures somebody's going to be somebody's going to get in trouble uh okay that's your opinion I want pictures to be taken so do you understand that you cannot do anything for 15 days y do you understand the fine if you don't yes okay then that is all we have thank you thank you I'd like to make a motion to suspend Joseph frado's junk deal dealer's license for a period of 15 days um and for any um violations to be fined at $300 a fine um through through the chair if I if I may just uh bring in some information I think I gave uh I gave the chair some incorrect information about about the fine I do apologize for that I was looking under zoning uh when I read further through the uh through the bylaw and it states fines will be um issued from from article8 which is um a $50 a day VI $50 a day okay then we stand corrected it would be a $50 day fine not the $300 fine I'm sorry I misled you that's all I want to change your I'll make that motion as amended with the $50 fine instead of 300 okay motion made is there a second I'll second that motion May and seconded all those in favor I I okay thank you sir Nicole do you want to do the announcements yes that's that's fine okay what have you're ready boards in committees have some vacancy the agricultural commission has four cable um television committee has one c um ceremony commission has um three Commission on disability has two Conservation Commission has one historical commission has one and open space committee has one um the town of D food bank will be held next November 16th located at Town Hall and it is on the lower level um the dton outdoor fire ban through November 15th um dayon fire chief um McGee is prohibiting any outdoor Fires at least until Friday November 15 2024 any outdoor fires will spread and threaten people in property this announcement comes on the heel of another announcement from the m Massachusetts executive office of energy and environmental Affairs they have declared a level two significant drought in the Southeast region um more information can be found at DF fire.com thank you uh this is a time that we have public input we do have two so there's one now and then one be uh later on in the meeting does anybody have anything they want to say right now yes please Alicia Wilson 2043 Somerset AV um I have two things for the board uh first thank you for again protecting the neighborhood I do appreciate your welcome input um in support of that um the other thing is for the msba um to remind everyone about the vote tomorrow that there will be Child Care available provided by champions for anyone who wants to bring their child with them for the town meeting tomorrow night um and also that if anyone is looking for information about the msba the Fe abbility study and the condition of Dees they can always go to the um Dees website and there is a link there to the msba sbc's uh website and it has information there's some FAQs there's a great video that Caitlyn Lima put together um and there's also some other handouts that were provided at the open houses for anybody that wasn't able to attend sure thank you thank you uh just to um is there anybody else who has public input at this time to address the Agriculture Commission uh not yet but I'll let you know okay um it'll be very soon uh Town administrator's report yeah uh thank you very much uh just a few just a few announcements uh again uh just a followup to um to selectman Pico's request that the at the last selectman's meeting regarding the uh the Board of Health and pum I just want to inform the board that we had a conversation with the um with the chair of the Board of Health and uh we decided uh that we're going to put up the uh re repost the position uh for for the Board of Health for the Board of Health agent um we're take uh taking the position generally that it's the Commissioners are doing work that to going above and beyond their volunteer position and it's uh it should be important to have a professional in that position we are still continuing uh to look at the uh the PDM position so I asked the the um the administrative assistant at the Board of Health to give me some information uh on it how it how it operated in the past and you know we'll do um we'll see what happens with uh with the candidates who come in and if we have to do a uh a cost benefit analysis uh in that and we'll uh bring that to the board uh uh secondly uh I was uh very happy and honored to attend the Veterans Day uh ceremonies um it was it was I I enjoyed it my wife enjoyed it and I want to thank the uh the selectman here in dayon uh and also Pat gailes Patrick menes Colonel Bob Perry and uh Ray hog for for putting it together it was it was a really it was a really nice ceremony um speaking of internships uh the highway department a dery school reached out to the highway the department the highway department um is going to be reviewing um an an intern um it is uh the high school student it is a paid position but uh the the course will be reimbursed to the town so that's a that's a good thing give somebody somebody high school student a break uh our annual licenses went out and we're getting a good response uh people are coming back and and uh paying their fees and then again uh we're very we um I think tomorrow I'm going to be signing the uh annual certific certification for the green communities so that's all I have at this time one question about the dery student uh for what position at the uh Department of Highway uh I think is it mechanical is it just assisting hi Tom they will not be operating equipment graet vehicle CDL vehicles uh they can do almost anything from sweeping the floor labor work out the road with the crew okay figuring out the the jobs you know the math behind it and what not great awesome and how long is that for 180 hours 80 hours 180 180 hours okay yeah great thank you uh Nicole do you have anything you want to add this evening um I just want to start by thanking everyone that was involved in the um veterans um events the breakfast as well as the um ceremony on Monday he um Ray Bella Paul Tom Dave um anyone else that I missed um it was both the breakfast was phenomenal as well as um the ceremony and thank you for all their hard work um just real quickly in regards to the health department um as you can see I'm not in I'm not there today because I am at the mhoa conference I'm spending a lot of my time telling everyone that would listen to me that dayon has some open positions um probably going to get a restraining order cuz people are sick of hearing me um but I did take both the positions I posted them on the app that they gave us for the conference there's over 600 people at this conference so I'm really hoping that um we're getting the word out there though I know we we posted it everywhere but it doesn't hurt um so that's all I got okay thank you Mark do you have anything um I have a few things uh first I was lucky to attend one of the msba open houses on October 30th and I think the committee and our superintendent did a fantastic job uh showing residents around and showing residents the condition of the school and uh like our vice chair Lisa Wilson said we do have a website with tons of information so folks can be informed for tomorrow night for that very important vote for feasibility study for our elementary school um I want to also piggyback what everyone else has already said on our Veterans Day ceremony was well attended and um they did everyone did a fantastic job and most importantly thank you to our veterans in town um I want to thank the fire department I know they've been very busy with um brush fires and um getting the word out on um the drought that we're in so um I know they've been working extra hard lately so thank you to our fire department and lastly just a little over a week ago we had our state election uh and I just wanted to kind of give some numbers so we have 6,597 registered voters in town and out of that 4,873 uh voted so that's a 74% voter turnout which is that's great uh pretty amazing so 2,339 voted in person um EV vote by mail on absentee so that's about 48% so uh these are unofficial results but just um some of the races for president Harrison walls got 196 votes in Dion and Trump and Vance got 2,83 Senator and Congress Elizabeth Warren got 1775 votes and John Deon 2, uh 920 for representative in Congress Jake aen Claus he got 2,987 votes uh councelor Joseph 2,29 and Christen Condon 1,833 uh senator in general court Kelly duner 2,55 Joseph pachico 1,848 and James Dupont 184 representative in general court Pat Hadad 1,952 and Justin Thurber 2,626 Clerk of Courts Jennifer Sullivan 2,984 Register of Deeds Barry ameral 3,148 County Commissioner John Mitchell 1,836 Julie rerio 1,718 and Gregory Dello 1,460 for the the school committee the dayon representative Ed Edward fdra Jr 3,317 votes indien in for our questions question one audit the legislature uh I yes votes was 3,129 no votes 1,364 mcast got 3,886 yes votes and 1,619 no votes question three driver unions 1,946 yes votes 2592 NOS question for psychedelics 1,763 yes 2,854 no question five tip workers 1,200 yes 3,470 no for a Deb exclusion question six uh yes votes was 2 157 no votes was 2,221 so that failed question 7 for the um ba debt exclusion 265 yes 23113 no that also failed those are unofficial results but I want to thank our town clerk's office and our election workers and everyone else who works so hard on Election Day to make it a success and of course thank you for our voters for turning out uh during public input the next part I'd like to talk about the debt exclusion a little more but I'm done for now okay thank you thank you um just to remind everybody that there is a town meeting tomorrow night at 7 o'clock at the high school and uh the biggest thing on there will be the um passing or not passing of the uh money for the uh uh Elementary funding uh I also got to thank Tom Ferry uh he did a tremendous job it always goes unnoticed the breakfast went off without a hitch and then to to set up all those chairs for the uh uh veteran ceremony and he he works so hard and thank you Tom thank you now we're moving on to Old business this is a review discussion act it's appointments to the agricultural commission uh sir this will you'll have just a second I'll let you know when you get to to speak your mind okay um so we have some openings uh I believe there are four on the commission uh am I right Ken okay and we have an opportunity to fill those tonight and I don't know where any interviews done prior to this Ken Barber no that I know of okay so uh Susan maderas is not here and she said that she could probably make the next selectman's meeting so we'll just table her for this evening uh Laura Smith Hi how are you thank you so you sure you want to do this no I don't know nobody's twisting your arm is he in charge is he in charge yes all right I'll do it oh okay wow is it his good looks um 60th minut of the year right there that came out today that's why I'm saying that but um okay sir at this time do you have something you want to say about the yes I have to get up there if you don't mind I would appreciate it okay it's John Buffington 2685 Horton Street North Tian Mass I am a member of the a commission still a member of the a commission when these people were nominated none of the people on the a commission were notified um and then um on another note just to I think we should have been notified that these people were going to be part of this um process sure um so that we could sit in on any discussion that was made about um them coming on board okay whether CU we're not looking for people with agendas yeah we're looking for people that are looking for the betterment of the livestock in town sure um and the second part of this is that today yesterday I received in the mail from the Board of Health and I'm assumed that it has to go through the selectman's office before it comes to the citizens of the town I don't know what it is well it was was a barn uh license fee for $25 which was discontinued last year and now it's been reinstated at $15 higher than it was two years ago okay and then in included in that letter was also a a tax notification wanting me or anybody else that has a barn on their property or livestock on their property to fill out this tax information to make sure they can check the records in the office to make sure your taxes was paid that's not our job that's the guys that are taking care of the taxes that's what we pay them for it's not our responsibility to fill that out sure that's all I have I just I was just upset that we weren't approached as the board of as being on that act commission that we weren't approached thank you do you have anything you want to add sir Kenneth arujo 1460 Williams Street D Mass I'm a member of the acting or was the chairman of the ad commission um we've had some issues as far as trying to get some people you were so kind to send me out a tentative list but I haven't got one of the candidates I did not receive information on her so it's been a kind of hectic last 3 weeks since we've been in communication what's going on between what's been going on with my business wrapping up Harvest and doing the fundraiser for the town for the you know the Arts Festival and such so I apologize to anyone for kind of dropping the ball the last couple of weeks but uh again you know I we're here tonight we can listen Y and uh tentatively schedule a meeting sometime the first part of December and interview and go from there okay that works with everyone thank sure thank you uh Laura Smith since you're first um why do you want to be on the agricultural committee sure if you'd like not if you like you have to just the microphones there not hurt for everybody to make fun of you um I did send in my letter last like maybe a couple hours ago because I didn't know about this as well um this was last minute I happened to look at the agenda so something got dropped and I don't why but I apologize that that happened I think we exchanged emails this morning was that with you I sent an email to you this morning yes and Nicole responded uh saying she was going to let Karen know about this uh and Karen sent me the volunteer form okay um so the reason why I want to be on the agricultural commission is because I if you've read my history I've been a farmer all of my life I'm a fifth generation farmer my my grandparents uh Victor and Mary Raposa who own lane Gardens I now own lane Gardens I also operate my parents Farm in rth Oakdale Farms wow uh so I have a a long history and I've known Kenny since I was a little kid um and he's done a lot with for my family as well uh so I have a lot of history in agriculture and my grandparents absolutely loved this town sure as I said I they they in my opinion they grew the best strawberries ever um I used to sell them as a child up all the way up through college um so I want to make sure that dayon is going to stay the agricultural community that I remember growing up I'm on the CDC as the a representative and I'm glad I'm there cuz I feel like I do have that voice uh for agriculture but I don't see a whole lot of Agriculture happening in town I want to make sure that I can protect the uh businesses that are uh here now and hopefully grow even more because we're losing so much Farmland in the state it's crazy sure so I am on another commission to make sure that we keep Massachusetts uh farming as well very nice Mark do you have anything you want to ask I don't but thank thank you Nicole do you have anything you'd like to say um everyone's like a little dot so I can't really see Laura good but Laura are you also involved with Bry in some form yes I'm the vice president of the Board of Trustees okay I was say I I can't see I wasn't sure if it was you but all right thank you you're welcome uh thank you Laura you're welc you can have a seat thanks Mr chair yes sir um I've also been putting some feelers out and I had a response today from Milton Tech s under the sunfarm he is willing to come on so if we could add his name to the list for interviews sure absolutely and I don't know if you want you and I sit down sometime yeah and get this all organized and then we can go from there sure pick a pick a date and I'm wide open okay thank you Joanne Hi how are you I'm good nice to see you again hello what we're doing is saving some time uh so this way you don't have to come before back before the selectman after we conduct an interview we can disapprove it uh at that time that Kenny and I meet if that's acceptable to you uh your names will just come back before the select me you don't have to be here and we and we'll probably approve the names uh Joanne hi my name is it's nice to see you again yes you too thank you why do you want to be on the committee well I've been a farmer for over 50 years um I grew up on a dairy farm as a kid um I started horse riding when I was three um so I'm more of an equestrian farmer I have a um a board in facility I have an equestrian facility in town um which I actually closed 3 years ago to boarding um so I have my own my own horses in my backyard um I'm very passionate about animals and being an advocate and a voice for them um I worked at suffk down racetrack on the weekends and I've advocated for thorough bread Racing for 13 13 14 years now um I worked with an organization called k um out of suffk downs but um when suffk Downs closed kenter went away and um the organization is just based out of California now but I do advocate for uh standard Breads and thorough breads as well um I'm very um very passionate about wanting to be on this committee because I have a lot to bring to the table I have a lot to offer um I have a lot of years experience and um it's a way for me to be able to be involved more in the community um in this town I've been here almost 10 years I came from Westport um and I'm just very nervous can you tell um I would Al I also want to be on this Commission because um I feel that people need to be educated in this right to form Community um and people need to be um educated in in a way that as as the a committee we could um bring resources to people that want to get into farming I'm very um I'm very passionate about people that want to farm if people want to get into farming but they're not sure how you know that we could be available for these people whether it be a phone call or an email or if they have questions that they might want to ask um you know to be able to raise livestock here in town um there are you know people that go into this right to farm situation but really don't have an idea or a clue what they're doing and then they livestock suffer with that so I'm all about it um I don't know whether it is a good idea to you know recommend that people that do want to do farming in town be registered with the Board of Health um I have to be registered I have to have a license um I don't know if it's a way of being able to kind of monitor sure you know um the way that people are farming um but I think that you know we we all probably have a lot to bring to the table whether it be horiculture or agriculture great so all right thank you Mark do you have anything want I don't fantastic thank you so much you're welcome no thank you very much okay thank you you thank you uh so we'll leave it this um Ken when you're ready just give me a call I have one more question sure I have to reapply now I'm already no you're all set sir uh we don't want you to go anywhere I'm not going quiet okay so let's table this issue um until Mr um arujo and I have a chance to talk uh certainly we can do it here or we can uh meet wherever you feel as comfortable and we'll have the SEL do some meetings uh interviews uh with you and uh and we'll get the board put back together I'll give you I'll text you tomorrow sure we'll figure out a day yeah absolutely all right okay very good somebody have a motion to table then uh motion to table the appointments to the agricultural commission I'll second that motion made and seconded all those approving I I and Peter CER is an I thank you guys thanks for coming you and we'll see you uh whenever thank you thanks just on the stable permit I I have horses and I've had a stable permit since we moved to town and I know that tax form is basically for any permit in town y um you need to fill out that form and it basically means that you're current in your taxes the town's not going to issue you a permit unless you're current in your taxes so I believe that's in the board of health authority and they're following the same permit process for any anyone else did the permit for what $15 um well I'm not I'm not sure what their fees are but I know this B permits and stable permits so yeah I'm not sure great thank you thank you okay we're on to new business this is a review discussion act recommendation from Brook Street solar pilot agreement uh so the chairman yes hi how are you good um I have not received an email in response to whether or not grass has accepted the tax payment schedule okay in a pilot agreement that they requested there was a voicemail left uh from Mr HZ for me to call him um I am not going to call him tonight I will do it tomorrow uh when I have somebody with me because I'm sure he wants to talk about the tax payment schedule sure situation is that we have have our tax consultant uh apply the value to the personal [Music] property that is at the site based on the value that he established for all of that personal property he came up with a total tax of $823,000 do the front end loading so forth and so on I followed that to Mr HZ um and asked him to review it and uh he got back and said that his financial team uh didn't agree with it uh it was too high basically uh and the reasoning their reasoning was because they looked at historic data and other sols they have well quite frankly historic data and other solop is not relevant to the way we calculate personal property values the gentleman that we hire as our tax consultant is certified to do this work by it's part of Revenue so it's not a situation of trying to negotiate a deal it's a matter of this is what your personal property is valued at and this is what the taxes are uh so as I said I have a return return his call I will do it tomorrow but tonight because I don't have been writing a response from him saying yes we accept it or no we don't uh I'm asking that the board consider approving the pilot agreement as submitted that means with no changes anywhere so that if he tells me tomorrow and I will request it in writing if he says orally I can go to town meeting tomorrow and say that the uh r has accepted the pilot agreement in its entirety and that I can then ask the voters to approve it so your approval tonight would be conditional on his written approval if I don't get that approval tomorrow then when I get up the time meeting I'm going to request that the vote is TBL this this is the will be the second time that a pilot agreement for this solar farm has been tabled uh the last time it came up I had two pilot agreements I presented the first one it got approved uh when I was going to when I had planned to present the one Brook Street uh they never gave me the final information I needed and I didn't feel I had an accurate inventory so it got tabled so this will be the second time around and um at this point in time all I can do is ask for conditional approval obviously if I get if I get it in writing I can move forward if not it will be tabled and it will sit there until they decide what they want to do I think part of the concern I have is that there is misinformation out there some of these companies who build these things as uh Investments and they quite often change hands they seem to think that by negotiating a pilot agreement they're going to get some kind of a reduction in tax or tax break that isn't how this works it is based on the valuation of the personal property uh so I have no other place to go I I sat uh Mrs Che uh she and I sat with our tax consultant we went over the whole thing I have the spreadsheet we worked through it and this is where we are and so that's what my request is tonight sure Nancy why would they agree to a pilot agreement if their intentions are to to sell it down the road because they pay more taxes now than they will 18 years from now why why would you are correct in that one of the thing what is beneficial is number one that they'll know the taxes for 20 years if they sell whoever buys it is going to look at it and whatever year it's at when they buy it they can still see their tax ta for that year and the taxes for the remaining of the lifetime of the agreement but it also means to them and to other town they don't have to dispute their tax bill for the next 20 years right and I tell them look look at the total the total is what's important the methodology the town uses to assess this meaning front and lo which we've done and I've explained a number of times how we do it that is really what's not important unless they've got somebody that they told oh these taxes are going to be low and all that well if you look at a frontend load of agreement obviously they're not that's not relevant to what we do what they do with their investment who buys who invests in it is not relevant all we want to do is this is the value of a personal property this is what the total taxes will be for the life of the agreement that's what you have to agree to uh we actually years ago we actually had a company that when they got the 20 year 15 or 20 year schedule they reversed it and said this is what we want and Carol and I just locked and sent it back no no it doesn't work that way frontend load means you pay the highest in the beginning right so um this is what we've done um the other thing too is um when that first pilot agreement was presented back in 21 I believe it was the amount the value of the personal property was lower which meant the taxes were lower I do not know how that personal property was Valu was determined I didn't work on that I got those numbers and put them into the agreement but at the time uh I don't even know if I was on the board of assessors I know I got elected in April but I'm not really sure when this whole thing got put together um and my concern is if that was put together by the then Board of assessors and and I'm not trying to lay blame but if that's what they came up with and we have our professional look at this and he says this is the value my feeling is it's possible that value of the personal property what 3 years ago was in underestimated but that's why I say I've got to go with what right a professional says these aren't deals where hey sign for 20 years and we're going to cut your taxes that's not what do this not at all um and I didn't mention that to one of the email it doesn't work that way we try try to come up with a number our best estimate based on information it's a fair tax agreement and I pointed out to him I have never had a Solar Company reject a tax agreement other than the company that sued the town and Superior Court in new Benford and lost and eventually they came back again wanting another another shot at it and we put it together again and they still didn't like the taxes so they'll get build each year based on what we determine is the value of their personal property and the gentan who does this work for us will be involved in that but uh to have them come back and say oh well that's not acceptable right what's based on I know what our position is based on and if you want to talk history and other soles as I just said our history is good I've never had one rejected uh by a solo company I haven't had one rejected by a town meeting vote and I feel we treat them fairly and if if anything ends up at a u uh a tax board tax board questioning anything um not that this could be disputed because once they agree to it they can't go to the appell of tax board for 20 years but if somebody questions it I don't know what other expertise we could possibly possibly bring in we some so okay I think I think the town's position in this $8 [Music] 32,7 is fair it's firm and um I I have I have no solutions to uh Mr HZ other than to say tell me yes or no that's all I need great uh okay I think the board can make a recommendation tonight you want to make a motion Mark I'll make a motion to approve the 20-year pilot agreement with Grasshopper for the solar farm located on Brook Street the total property taxes for the life of the agreement is $823,000 [Music] are the responsibility of the trust that owns the land okay y okay Nicole do you have anything you want to Second it or you want to discuss I seconded oh okay I'm sorry I didn't hear that motion made in seconded all those in favor I I opposed okay Nancy you're all set thank you uh and members of the board uh as soon as I get an answer y um hopefully I'm going to have it before the meeting I will send out an email so you'll know whether or not uh they agre or is going to be TBL tomorrow night sure thing than great thank you thanks thank you uh this is a review discussion act ratify memorandum of understanding for the town accountant I'll make a motion to ratify the memorandum of understanding with the town accountant Serena Amaral motion meeting seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I uh ref ratify memorandum of understanding administrative assistant to the Town Administrator in border of selectman I'll make a motion to ratify the memorandum of understanding between the town of dyon and Leanne M Kerwin I'll second that motion made seed any discussion all those in favor I I ratify memorandum of understanding to the Dion uh permanent firefighters Association local 4332 I'll make a motion to ratify the memorandum understanding can I just comment on that one sure um I just wanted to make the board aware that during the course of reviewing theou today late breaking they noticed that there was a typographical error um so it was just the numbers not matching the words and Nicole I'm sorry that you don't have it in front of you but I can supply that to you um so I did the research ran it by Council talked to everyone involved and was advised that we could put it under housekeeping okay um so we did the research we found out which way it should go so it is there so if you approve I ask that you ratify it with that one edit one addition I mean uh correction sure so we need a motion on the floor with a correction so I'll make a motion to ratify the memor memorandum of understanding for the D permanent firi this Association local 4332 with the amendment in article 1401 under housekeeping as presented I'll second that motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I assign a board of selected member for liaison to the AFS CME local 1701 Dian Highway Department anybody want to do it if not I can do it okay is there a motion on the floor then Mark um are you sure you don't mind doing it I don't mind doing it no okay you want to do it that's fine I'm happy with I I think you do a great job so I'll make a motion to I'm still recovering from mine I feel bad so as long as there's not too much on your plate but um I would make a motion to assign chairman Peter Karen to the local 1701 dayon Highway Department uh por slman liaison I'll second motion May seconded any discussion all those in favor I hi hi hi thank you Peter thank you uh this is a 2024 25 snowplow contract any questions Tom I don't have any questions I've heard it before do you guys have any [Music] concerns was was it this that if you got your paperwork in early you get an extra you get more money an hour is yeah this is this is actually the same as last year okay I just changed the date and the time to for that deadline for that incentive to get the paperwork in early so we've always had the incentive or we've had at least last no last year was the first year okay awesome um it work seemed to work well they were excited about that all but one had their paperwork in oh could nice um we've been monitoring the surrounding towns as usual for the rates um they've been very quiet have they yes and we're still right near the top okay um I did have one vendor that had two trucks back out so now we're down to just one vendor with two trucks at this time wow so what are we going to do move along move so I I I recommend uh that we uh accept this so I can advertise the rates okay and pursue uh some other vendors all right this is two issues this is for the snow contract so we need a motion on the floor I'll make a motion to approve the 2024 2025 snowplow contract as presented I'll second motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I now this is for the snowplow driver's rates this is again a review discussion act it's just to send their contract or B all the these are at will uh casual snow snow drivers yes okay seems very reasonable I have no no questions Nicole do you have anything you want to add no I don't have any questions thank you okay a motion on the floor then please I'll make a motion to approve the pay rate changes for fy2 as presented I'll second that motion meting seconded any discussion all those in favor I I do you do weights and measures Tom no okay uh Jim does right thanks Tom uh I'm not sure who does that I think that's founded out through Jim yeah through Jim but he's responsible for okay this is review discuss and act the contract for the weights and measures you don't know anything about it no just what I read through the contract appears to come from the state so okay it's pretty contract yep okay then is there a motion on the floor to approve a contract I will make a motion to approve the weights and measures contract through the state as presented second that motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I hi okay this is again a review discussion act the Main Street Dage Award of bids um if I may give a little explanation to this to the uh to the Selectmen um these are all associated with the uh with the with the Main Street the first three are part of the bidding that which we had to go back to uh in the town when which we got uh which we got the bids for um I just want to point out you received a an email earlier these um um these projects were was uh supposed to be fall under under um Opera payments um unfortunately we received news today uh that our Opa uh that our Opera request was denied uh uh for the reason why because it it came in um after after after the date uh I just want to uh announce to the board that um we're appealing that decision uh that appeal is is next Tuesday the 19th so I will be there making the case and hopefully make it strong enough case that uh they do fall on the Opera but uh Town accountant um is here but just to point out uh also that these funds are um are already earmarked in article money so we do have the funds uh available for these uh for our contracts okay s do you want to add anything or we're all set okay I have no issues with them uh it's unfortunate but it happens and uh maybe we can appeal it and win on Will We Will We Know on Tuesday or I don't know I'm I hope so okay thank you okay then is there a motion on the floor please these are so all of are the low biders J andr pre-cast L laruso cour and putam pipe are all the low biders yes sir okay yeah I'll make that motion to approve the award of bids um for the Main Street drainage award for J&R pre-cast laruso Corp and putam pipe as presented I'll second that hey motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I this is authors again to review discuss an act authorized contract for Main Street trench paven uh larusa cour 320 South Street cville Tom oh hi so this this is already procured through the assage contract this is just to identify the specific Tage that's needed for the job okay okay I have nothing of concern for the paving can we do another Outreach public Outreach like another um Gil foil article or something so the folks residence now for dates oh of Paving yeah trench Paving that's not what we're talking about trench Paving yeah that's that's while we're digging they're going to know the asshole's right behind it yeah but just know it's coming you know this no this is just a temporary batch that's what this is this is not the overlay okay so that won't will it impact traffic in any way the whole project will impact traffic and that will be public notified in each step yes I I don't think you want a specific just dep patching the whole project each step will be beautiful yes I agree with you as long as as long as we're getting the word out hey Nicole do you have any questions no I don't thank you okay Mark motion I'll make a motion to authorized a contract for Main Street trench Paving for laruso core 320 South Street planville second motion madeen seced any discussion all those in favor I I I all right Tom thank you sir thanks Tom uh correspondents this is a review discuss and act resignation of David Marvel from the historical commission uh Dave is busy as always and is uh stepping down from the historical Commission so does anybody want to make a motion to accept that um resignation I'll make a motion to accept the resignation of Dave Marvel from the historical commission with thanks and appreciation I will second that motion made in seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I thanks Dave thank you Dave always for resigning but thanks for your work yeah approval of the warrants all right I'll make a motion to approve the warrants paid by October 31st 2024 18 a-25 in the amount of 146,50 3.19 18 B-25 in the amount of $248,500 35 warrants paid by November 7th 2024 19 a-25 for $ 32,8 351 19 B-25 in the amount of $49,444 75 19 c-25 in the amount of 3,228 36975 and warrants paid by November 14 2024 28-25 for $13,300 198 in 20 B-25 for 43 $ 32885 I'll second that a motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I uh this is again chance for public input is anybody on the screen that has anything they want to add yes Tom um Mr we're talking we're aware of some grants May available to help us with the Main Street project I I don't know if he needs to support of the board to pursue that or not in this time frame but encourage the bo to support he's interested in looking into it sure we would always support that but thank you thank you thank you thank you both yes the one one that I'm interested in is a bit competitive so okay all right how what's the time on frame on these all over the place Grant application open December 12th far away noes dur the winter okay I believe it opens the awards is March I believe so it all gets finalized fairly quick sure great thank you uh so we wouldn't make a motion tonight but when the time comes up we can give him the authorization to he has the authorization to apply for the grants thank you thank you uh there's no more public input so I have one more if you don't mind you just something sorry no problem so unfortunately the Deb exclusion did fail at our um state election and I saw you know I had some public feedback about us putting it on a future election so I just wanted the public to know my stance on it and it is that I think the board of um Selectmen and um all of the Departments that helped us did a good job getting the out we had a public forum we really wanted to do a mailer um but we got advice from Town Council we couldn't um you know we talked about at multiple meetings we distributed Flyers uh and we put it on an election with 74% vote a turnout we reached as much of the town as we possibly could um there's really no election in the next four years that we'll get as much public turnout so the people have spoken in my mind uh so I would never entertain it just as one individual selectman um but I would like to see on our next agenda not sure how the board feels about it um discussing a hiring freeze I know we're good for this fiscal year however I know there's some hiring in process so I'm not talking about that but any future vacancies that occur um I would hate for folks to hire people on and fiscal 26 is going to be a different picture so I was hoping we could discuss a hiring freeze at our next meeting okay we can certainly put it on the agenda thank you uh I have a I agree with you the we gave them a a chance and it was turned down um you don't keep having votes to get the one that you want right uh they've spoken and uh so be it we just have to do our due diligence to uh to come up with a balanced budget next year absolutely okay um we have to go into executive session so I need a motion on the floor and then a roll call wait I think we have oh approval minutes I'm sorry uh yes minutes approval of the board of selectman's regular meeting minutes for October 23rd 2024 I'll make a motion to approve the board of Select in regular meeting minutes of October 23rd um 2024 okay motion made second and seconded all those in favor I I I um again we have to go into executive session does somebody want to make the motion I'll make a motion to go in executive session under Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21 1 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body in the chair so declares police Union and under Massachusetts general laws 30A section 21 A7 to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or Federal grant and aid requirements approve of the board of selectman executive session meeting minutes of October 23rd 2024 okay uh second Nicole uh motion made and seconded all those in favor I I Nicole you want to go into executive session yes Mark yes and Peter C is yes thank you