##VIDEO ID:Og5E5xEdAJE## all right it is 5 o'l and we are going to open the select board meeting for um September 10th our agenda this evening we have um public comment the tax Aid committee approval of the minutes from August 13 2024 um Brian Flynn is going to come in and I believe and discuss the signment policy you're going to call the special town meeting for November 18th 2024 we have appointments for the npic design from the economic development committee a tax abatement for David Simmons on the property located at 100 Simmons way the arpa relo reallocation proposal designation of the union building designer Services evaluation and selection committee that's a good one got some and the town administrator's report and any topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair um so we'll open it up to public comment for anything that is not specifically in the agenda this evening is there anyone here that care to speak to that being none we will move on so next on is the tax Aid committee so this is a committee that we had set up in order to um allow generous folks in town to be able to um contribute to a you just missed public comment do you have anything in particular you wanted to speak to no good all right pure excitement yeah um so there is a a law in Massachusetts that allow the town to set up a a tax me mechanism to collect donations to be distributed for the elderly or other people in need I believe so the committee is being set up for that to set up the rules and Rags or and um execute that process that's right and we've had we had a really quick and eager response from five people which is fantastic and so that was it was a five member committee I believe we were established three resident appointments under the statute so it it um it allows the board to appoint three residents we appointed the treasurer and the chairman of the board of assessors so we just need to make the the Board needs to consider appointments of the three residents okay so we have five folks here we have Nicole Roth who actually is here we didn't know if you're going to be able to make it but you did um Erica Flynn Lori Brook um Sandra Monroe and an finina an finina an finina that's an finina right was Nicole Tully I thought was did she just inquire about the commitment for or the timing of it or yes she's decided not to okay all right want to make sure you didn't miss anybody I just saw her name so yeah all right anybody so let me ask this question I does the committee have charge do they know the scope of what they were the committee's charge is simply to come together to create rules and regulations on how the funds collected will be um and set forth kind of a criteria on how they'll be distributed that's just basically what the statute um how the statute defines the committee so is a committee that would they're not simply just creating rules and legs but once they've established the rules and legs we'll continue to run the process so a kitty that it will be ongoing not just would be a time frame that's right they will create the rules and rags and criteria and then be responsible to make decisions on Distributing the funds okay and all of their work is going to be under Section 3D correct yeah have you guys seen section 3D no okay so let's we do so um Madam chair I'm going to move that we appoint an finina Nicole Roth Erica Flynn Lori Brooks can only appoint three of them there are three oh what is this um candidates I I wish all right so we're going to so there's three on here so these as okay this the statute only allows us to yeah unable to attend Nicole actually is here okay so we have a decision here to make right we have five candidates in three spots yes correct so perhaps each one of you could introduce yourself and maybe express your interest we'll start we'll go in order in which they're written here for no other Nicole well Nicole Ro um I have been all out with what I do as was a CRI nurse for 40 years I recently retired a few years ago I'm an animal behaviorist and I'm also on the um ASPCA anti-erosive Behavior team um I'm on the Medical Reserve so I do a lot of volunteer work for the needy and Miss Unfortunate animals and people I'm stor advocate for um senior citizens I have 40 years of working with people that can't afford their meds and they can't afford to stay in their homes veterans were that even a place to go when they committed to service and dist so I really am compelled to do what I can to help these people I was set IX I would donate all that money all these people so I just interest in devel helping programs of finding ways to help people that really need the help so that's where all right I can create all kinds of ideas right excellent thank you um Erica in a nutshell yeah um so most you know me done a couple different things in town still doing some Town um but this is actually something I actually brought up during a presentation a while back not quite the same but similar so that's why I was very interested in being part of it um I do have a question that I'm wondering if someone can answer um I saw that in the announcement that people can make um payments as far as their tax payments but what about someone like me where my mortgage and taxes go through it's one payment I don't make taxes directly to the town it's handled by my I I don't know at all and probably Jason can explain this but there is the opportunity to do it through your excise tax okay okay right you can also just write a check to the town and walk it in say this is one one extra dollar for the elderly 3D yeah fund okay yeah I just I didn't know if that that was an option but um as far as what I do I'm financial analyst for software companies so I've done Finance for 20 OD years in accounting that so that may come in handy know yeah that's it all right cool Lori Brooks hi uh I'm a lifelong resident of dunable just wanted to help out other residents of D I've worked for the government for 38 years now budget finances procurement Logistics cool thank you right Sandra Moro is not here and our former um moderator jeez wow yes thank you yes hello andina um moved to town and built our house in in 1996 had a very great pleasure to be Town moderator for probably 10 years or so which was enjoy Also served on the planning board or a series of terms as well which is also um fabulous for me to do I am a lawyer I've been a lawyer since 1989 I still practicing law um I work in the house for a financial services company um and developing goals is basically what I do every day hopefully I be suited for the committee's work awesome great thank you little snapshots of yeah people yeah I don't particularly have any questions no I think it's um it's it's great to have volunteers first and foremost because sometimes we struggle with that a little bit and because it's a it's a new starting sort of committee and organization I think it would probably benefit us for those that you know it's only three but if we had an alternate because someone may say hey you know what I'm my work schedule ramped up and I can't fulfill all of it I know we've done that on some other groups especially like the um Rehabilitation group for swallow and things like like that just to have yeah you know it's like someone you can call in from The Dugout helps every now and then um because I know schedules are busy especially with the fall and school and life and all that stuff so I don't have a lot of preference and way that I just like having people volunteer so that's that's an interesting idea I mean this person obviously wouldn't have voting power but I think every you know with the backgrounds we have in front of us I think more opportunity to share and sort of be in touch with different segments of the community is pretty pretty important here um I think it would benefit the group in general so um I think everybody is fully qualified and the interest is obviously genuine among everybody um for No Other Well real reason I guess if I had to find a way to navigate through this I like the fact that we have three new people that are not currently on boards in town and I think that's great and Erica you're in a lot of stuff so we know you we know you're motivated we know you're involved in the town and you're volunteer is it's it's highly noticeable um so if we were able to create the alternate I would probably put you in that position and have the other three be on the board it's just really nice to get new new folks in and um if that's a a bad way to go about this in making a decision please let me know question yeah Joan um is there a a job description for this position we just talked about that a minute ago charge we did before you came in they're basically they're going to be establishing the rules and regulations and the criteria in order to um execute the section 3D in the law that allows this tax to go forward and then being the ones responsible for the the distribution of it how much how much money do we get this account at this point it's it just started so it's not a lot I think the last I checked it was 250 bucks well I'm just yeah like you guys said it's it's wonderful that so many people have have come out and are interested in this job so that's great yeah it's it's uh you know not all the not all the Committees have uh you know stirred up that kind of interest but this is a you know I think this is a good yeah people jumped on this one yeah good something good to the T and and you folks that have asked the one here have given the fact that we just spoke about this this this is not a shortterm appointment this is an ongoing you know there'll be meeting minutes and you're going to have to make decisions and vote and you're going to have to regular have regular meetings it really becomes you know um an ongoing routine rather than a once and done like some of these other boards and committees that once they reach a decision that the committee or that group disbands that's not what this is this is ongoing that will um require all of those public meeting notices and all rest that stuff yes so I would like to make just two comments um the first is is that I have no objection you have three other people that have a lot more experience and financially and legally and all that so I have no objection you picking the people with the best qualifications I I just want you to know that front because it's a hard decision and also if you're trying to make a decision in front of all of us at the moment I would think you would want to give it a little more thought as how it would benefit the town and let us know what you just in job after you've had a chance mull it over a little bit because I find for the moment decisions without discussion usually um the best ones moving forward unfortunately as a board we have to have all these discussions in public forum it does make it very difficult yeah that's I saying and point taken and very much appreciated too and I I do understand that and you know I'm as I said my decision- making may be flawed maybe not but um I think every one of you would be great honestly you all I mean don't diminish your experience you know all the financial people lawyers well you need you kind of need a a rounded board you need a lot of different angles you know you've worked with elderly and critical care and you understand that you your role may be very good at actually deciding who is greatest need so who knows I sort of echo sorry just to jump in but Leah said we I know we know Erica you know is we all join on committees and it's nice to have folks that are new and that's okay with Erica as like an alternate I think that's fine because I'm still on the land ending shortly so who knows and maybe so I think it's I kind of just e nice way to it I I just want to say I don't want to be a stick in the mud on this but the statute doesn't allow for an alter for an alter okay I drive sticking sorry well there cly wanted to point it out these will be posted meetings there certainly nothing from stopping anyone from attending yeah and providing in Joan So does the statute also say that you have to have a thre member yes committee and not four it's a five member committee with three resident appointments the treasure collector is on it and then the chair of the board of assessors is also on it did they get appointed in this or are they automatically those appointments were made at the last oh that's right so is that what you we thinking that Howell we're going to I I don't have particular a strong particular strong I think um this Erica does bring um some corporate skills into the process which is I'm coming from that background so I'm biased towards it but that's just my thought on that um they're all long-term Town residents yeah I think I think I me you know Nicole an and Lori and then um you know because I you know Erica like you said it's sort of it's good to have some other participation in town and I think that's something that Erica has joined us in a lot of stuff recently so she knows how valuable that is and important it is to the town so not the we good with that or we can take another needing to think about it if my feelings are not going to be hurt yeah no no yeah I mean I think it's it's it's G to be you know an important group that's going to you know lift off and then it'll be sort of interesting the trajectory it takes um and folks may find like I said that are busy along the way and you we have others that are interested so well we can go with this and can all see how it goes and if someone wants to drop off we know we've got people waiting and and I just wanted to be care excuse me I just wanted to be careful that when you you know you a lot of times people sign up for things and then after they get into it they go oh my God I didn't know it was this you know it's like school committee candidates they want to run for school committee and then they realize there are all these subcommittees and all these meetings and all this email it's it's and then they go oh my God what I get into so this is not like the building committee or they'll mix you yeah there's no this this is an ongoing thing and they are public meetings and you know there may be times where you got to get up or the chair of that group will need to get up and speak at town meeting on a particular you got to be you know this it's this is not insignificant in in terms of its work but I don't think it's going to be it's certainly not going to be like with this grou not at all I don't mean toer that it's that um that initially there'll be some but it is you know it's there's there's a there's a time commitment that's involved in the thing Jo um take it from me you're not a member of the committee you can still go to and have your sit so it's great to see so many people interested and as I say you know I hope even if you don't you you can't they can't select everybody but uh you know whoever is um odd man now I hope you'll still go the ks and keep everybody in line keep every sometimes that's the best way that's what we're going to do right everyone's good with that I mean again okay so our our motion here will be to appoint Ann Farina Nicole Roth and Lori Brooks to the um taxation a committee for a turn that expires on June 30th 2025 20 I just trying to look for that why is it 2025 and not 2024 because because I'm sorry yeah what am I think all right I like living in the past my first dra at 202 I don't before you take a vote on that just clarification the entire Committee disbands in June of 2021 like well it just you'll be reappoint got be reappointed reint right that's true for all other all it's not just specific to this group and if someone wants to opt out that's you can opt out anytime you want but that's certainly the time to do that and say you know what this doesn't work fine I one Powerball I'm out of here I'll second that motion all right any further discussion all in favor I I thank you well thank you all honestly this is you know it's a luxury to have volunteers it really is all right could we get a copy of the statute y we'll email to we'll email you the materials um help you get started yeah great cool thank you all right um we have one set of minutes from August 13th is there a motion to approve I move that we appoint the meeting minutes from our August 13th meeting point to approve we can approve this what I did yeah okay I will second the approval of the meeting those in favor I I I um next on the agenda was for a time slot for Brian Flynn he does not appear to be I I didn't realize he was on the agenda I don't know where he is and he's not answering so he has a whole presentation so I do not want to speak for him okay all right well we'll jump ahead then um the next thing we have is to call the town meeting for November 18th 2024 um the 18th yes I I get a little fuzzy when we start getting close to a major holiday yep yeah we looked at that did we look at that already well Jason and I looked at that oh we did talk about it I talked with the chair about it so we the 11th is a the 11th is a hall they do it on the 12th on a Tuesday I was we would I we were just thinking keep it on a Monday because people are in the routine of having it on a Monday so that was the and then the election is the week before yeah so it just it was just a tough yeah well and then Thanksgiving is a week a half it's a week and a l this year it's on the 28th I don't know guys I guess that's funny what would you like to do I'm I take it either way I'm just looking at typically when we've done these although we have a presidential election in the mix and a holiday on the 11th right well that week is free and then we could be on the talk no I'm if if my comrade colleagues on the board are okay with it I'm okay with it too I think I would keep it as is so it's sort of breaks the weeks up breaks the weeks up a little bit so we have presidential election you have Veterans Day you have a meeting Thanksgiving in the background there too and hope people are able to attend and we'll get the word out and get that ball rolling so can I say one thing this motion it should be November 18th and the warrant CL should close on 20 October 21 2024 not 23 all right so move to open the warrant for the special town meeting scheduled for Monday November 18th at 700 p.m. I will second that um on on 7 p.m. this motion not doesn't read correctly so we want to open the warrant I got that was saying that at 7 pm on Wednesday September 11th what's that okay it's the opening of the warrant okay so we're going to open the warrant on Wednesday September 11th of 2024 4 and to close the town meeting warrant on Monday October 21 2024 and not 202 so I'm looking at the P too at 4 pm so special time meeting Monday November 18th warrant opens tomorrow and closes October 21st at 4M correct second any further discussion on that we I just want to say you have a very very rough draft of the warrant with some um with some substantive articles on there it has not been reviewed by Town Council so the language will undoubtedly change but the warrant the subject matter of the Articles um will likely stay the same unless there's um unless the board wants to see changes on that got so just let me know okay doesn't not decision does not need to be made tonight no not on not on the article so all those in favor I I I all right thank you good um next up we have appointments with the npic designate from the economic development committee a little explanation on that yes so um so the design from the economic development committee on the master plan implementation committee resigned so they need to replace um on it was Kate MCN who was on soy umate M MCN and so Kathy um generously stepped up to the fight great okay anybody care to make that motion yes just want to read through this for a second all right move to I move to appoint um Kathy Snee SN SN to the master plan apportation committee as a representative of the economic development committee for a term to expire June 30th 2025 second further discussion all those in favor I okay all right number eight the tax batment for David Simmons on the property located at 100 Simmons way this one's just little um this was an an error basically that were corrected that's correct yeah so not a Lotter other contacts to it yeah there was an overpayment of taxes on property that the town actually owns and this is to reimburse Mr Simmons that that's correct all right can you um what yeah what's I mean for the benefit of the people that are here okay so um I think in 2018 the town accepted a donation of land on uh 108 of 108 Pleasant Street which is now 100 Simmons Street and um also entered into a life estate agreement on 114 Pleasant on the same um so the town took possession of the property in I think the latter half of fiscal year 2019 so the last two months of fiscal year 2019 the town on the property however the town never stopped assessing real estate taxes to the former owner of the property right since 2019 a fiscal year 2019 and the former owner has paid the property taxes on this property that the town owns since then so um so this is essentially to make right make this right and um based on the assessors um recommendation in calculation we owe the former owner of the property $1,926 72 and so um the recommendation my recommendation is to um and we we sought out guidance from the state on how to handle this because usually abatements are done on an annual basement on an annual basis so this is based on the state's recommendation that the select board request that the board of assessors Abate this amount um and then we reate the funds okay so let me ask this question going to Abate this amount over some period of time how's how's this guy going to get us Mone lumsum check y he is y and how are we going to handle that in our budget 20 grand a lot of money to account it sure is so fortunately the town has funded its overlay annually and so last year we um in f24 we funded it at $30,000 this year we funded at $30,000 and there's a BAL there is a balance in our overlay too so we are able to um we are able to pay them B um from the overlay which is for those who don't know our overlay is to fund property tax abatements that's why we fund our overlay and so it's an appropriate use of the funds and the funds are there to issue the the abatement how much was that $1,926 72 thank you just an unfortunate error and that's what the purpose of that line is in the budget that's what it's designed for and and going forward we have this administrative process yes it was just solved I I think at the time it was just there was confusion with the fact that there were two parcels and there was there was an understanding that the life State agreement covered both um Parcels rather than just the parcel that the house is on I think that's what that's yeah what caus it and he's given that check is he beginning at a199 or is he on his own with that no he's I I don't believe it's a reimbursement so it's it's an overcharge no and I mean not to forget he generously donated property which is this property is where our water tank is located just for um Clarity sake and um and the life estate agreement also um the town will possess that property and um so very very generous um from the the owner and um given the fact that um on top of that he's been paying taxes on property that he donated to the town it's just a fair it's an issue of fairness you know so the taxes that he's paying is it just on the property that the well is on or is there another piece that a house is on and not no no so the water it's the water tank and he has been paying taxes on that property that was donated to the town okay there's a there's a a life estate agreement that the town has entered with him on the property where his house is located there two laws in the life estate agreement stipulates that he is responsible to pay taxes on that par that yes yes thank you yep anything else we good no kind of an unusual circumstance pict to you just just a minor public comment I think that this reimbursement might well be accompanied with a letter maybe not abusively apologizing but with some amount of apology and acknowledging that the town was at fault and he did question this along the way and was told know I'm sorry he he questioned the what he he questioned this along the way he didn't just come in to pay it because he didn't think he owed it he question it he would was told oh yes you do owe taxes on this piece that you have given away um and he questioned it again I think when he saw that there's going to be a cell tower there generating a great deal of income from the town and he came back in again and I think that's what got the ball rolling um so I just I would just suggested a letter might accompany that check that that is that's when I learned of it is when he came in with the advertisement for the the RFP we issued for the cell tower and um and in the in the advertisement it's said town right water tank or to on Town property yeah and so he came in with the app and um and talked to me about the situation and so that that was maybe a month month or so ago maybe a little more longer and um so at that time that kind of did get the ball wrong for me to look into it a little deeper and working with chge collector's office and the assessor's office we did discover that this was an error Yeah Yeah well yeah you we take theep steps that correct it and acknowledge that was a mistake and you make sure we reimburse Mr Simmons and I don't disagree the letter just saying we made a mistake and we apologize for the inconvenience I it's probably a good good practice so yeah here Point thanks sir so I move to request the board of assessors Grant a real estate abatement in the amount of 9,926 72 to the pro uh to the property located or for the property located at 100 cim Street due to an inadvertent clerical error caused by the land use code not being charged to exempt changed here changed to exempt and therefore erroneously generating real estate tax bills in David Simmons's name after the town had taken ownership of the property I'll second that all right any further discussion none those in favor I I glad to get that resolved well we were lucky that we have that money in that overlay account because that is yes yes a big deal okay next up um arpo reallocation proposal shifting some funds around to take care of some [Music] issues so we have the board has previously allocated fund ARA funds for certain purposes um and some of those projects have remaining balances in them and they've been completed so this is just taking the balances of some of those projects and reallocating them reallocating the money for new purposes um new projects so the balance um the available I'll call it the available balance at the moment is $1,966 188 based on projects coming in under what was allocated the last chart here is the proposed reallocation 2,000 for General it I'm a little concerned about the it budget so I'd like to hold back 2000 ARA just to make sure we are sufficiently funded um the town clerk approached me and asked for some funds to bind some vital records that are that haven't been done in quite some time and kind of loosen folders and books then I'll protect it and organized um they're not secure so she'd like to be able to do that I um proposed allocating some money for the newsletter to mail and to print for the remainder of this year um I think we've discussed this in the past the air handling unit for town hall for the upstairs office space it's not working and it's 20 uh 20 20ish years old 20ish years old and it's just failing I received the quote to to repair it and there was 24 $2500 which at this point I just don't think it makes sense to invest any more funds in it so this is this $9,800 I'm hoping we'll cover the replacement of that um I had a company out today looking at it and then um the fire department needs to upgrade its fire Reporting System the the reporting system they're using now is essentially going away and um they're upgrading it to a new software system um I talked to the fire chief about this um it's more expensive the upgrades like $6,500 six to 65 we expect this will offset some of the cost um and so he's hoping that we can rather than fingers crossed on the budget which the budget may be able to absorb this but using oura for this one time upgrade yeah we have the money available I think it makes sense just to that's any assistance that the new is a patriot right yeah is this going to align with their systems and everything so that's one of the reasons we're doing it is because the expectation is all of the departments in the um region in the region are going to the same to upgrading to the same system okay yeah any buying power you know if all yeah potentially potentially they're they're trying to leverage that yeah just yeah you're already thinking of it no no the CH this is the CH the Chiefs are kind of working collaboratively yeah so potentially okay yeah great no I have no problem with this this is we got to use the funds here so let's they need to be all the funds need to be designated by the end of this year and then spent by yes fisal year the next FIS year okay I move to reallocate a total of 19,99 of previously approved Opa allocation as listed below I'm going to ratchet through those select board newsletter 2554 Opera reporting in compliance 9,520 it upgrade $620 election ballot Dropbox 355 88 Town Hall Electrical 6873 uh fire electrical 48 7787 Fire h3ac 350 um government services remote laptops 22369 police vest vests $1,622 police cruiser 71309 salt shed roof $135 for a total of 9,966 18 this is how reality next on on that's on this is on that back sheet General it $2,000 Vital Records 1,000 news letter 2100 fire reporting system upgrade 5,000 toah Hall air handling unit 98661 18 total 9 9668 I will second that proposed reallocation all right any further discussion all in favor I I I very good thank you okay the designation of the union building designer Services evaluation and selection committee another committee yeah so as part of the um designer selection procedures that the board adopted in July um is as a requirement to kind of go forward with the designer selection process for the union building as part of that procedure which is essentially a state requirement and this was based on a a state um template this is for the exterior yes at this point cor only that's right so what the procedure requires is that the approving body which is the select board designate an individual or group of individuals to conduct the search um and make recommendations to back to the select board um and so the the idea is to have the union building rehab committee perform that task and then make recommendations back to the to the select board to make the final decision yeah makes that makes complete sense absolutely as part of that report back will it involve that you know the top two finalists in in like coming to the a town coming to a meeting here to say this is what this is how I would investigate this design just trying to understand like just think it would be great to have them on camera so other people can interact with it and and watch it at some point cuz know those well it's simply for the painting of the outside it's not right but some that's going to be like redoing some of the woodworking right on the sashes that are well they have to be per the standards for because of the historical overlay yeah I just you know for 100k of CPA funds it guess i' like the idea of it being viable yeah so what the selection committee will do is they will evaluate the proposals that we received hopefully we got a good number of them and then they'll make a recommendation on the top 30 say yeah and then present it to the select board and then frankly the select board can then go through its own process to make a selection of those top three top two whatever it may be and if part of that process you wanted to invite them in to present then that would be a completely reasonable and appropriate thing to do if you if that's you what you you know kind of want to setle up as your own process yeah because I could imagine that an exterior group may have some interior interests as well in some of that industry maybe you know better R just think there's any connection there I mean depending upon the type of company it is but you know somebody like Fox painting might bid this right because it's this is just for the architecture this isn't for the for the construction we're just at the point where we're hiring an architect to come in and essentially do two things one create construction documents that we can bid and second to create bid specs that we can bid so basically put the bid package together so that we can then go out to market for our contractor to come in and actually do there may be some linkage there interior exterior I don't know I'm just we're not anywhere near interior though no but he's saying that may be some in terms of hiring the exterior contractor there may be some connection to that particular vent to work on the interior of the billing that's all it's just it's just a thought process that you could yeah there I hear you we're just not there no I get that I mean I I I I read this earlier and I didn't no let's just you we get the ball roll so move to designate the members of the union building Rehabilitation committee as the designer Services evaluation and selection committee to conduct the design of elction process for the restoration of the Union School building and do we want to qualify that as to say the Union School building exterior sure yes good idea second second with that addition of exterior absolutely any further discussion got a question from the audience is what is the status of the uh of the request for proposal or whatever whatever is you're looking for there has it has that g out yet oh yeah no that's on the street it's been advertised it's in it's been in the um uh not goods and services Central register thank you so it's it's it's out there um I've received I would say a lot of interest some firms on this so I'm encouraged by the amount of emails I've received um asking for the RFQ so I think that's a good sign um and proposal I do on the 20 on the 25th all in favor hi hi right very good good and that's all we got um I don't have anything else does anybody have anything else no um do you want to go through your report a little bit couple things on here if you want me to um wasn't there something on the agenda signs he's not here he's he's not here so he's there's no discussion at this point I mean he'll probably come back because know Erica says he's done he's done a lot of research but um he's welcome to do that absolutely yeah I'll reach out to him and see if he wants to come to a to AE Mee yeah I mean we have gotten some comments about this whole sign process thing let's listen to what uh Mr FN has to say ask to come back in yeah I me we we may need to uh to do some administrative work to clarify some things because I've gotten some negative feedback about it to that okay it might need some might need some work yeah F so you just go Mr chy uh Mr Cheney yeah with regard to the sign uh not bylaw but policy policy adopted by the B L um where did the language come from was that from Bron primarily which was one thing that I had heard or was it how was it together and how what does it actually cover U I assume covers Town property but I wonder if the thing could be explained briefly and finally I noticed there still are a couple of political signs on the MUD district property which I assume is still owned by the town but I may be wrong here it is owned by the town but it is um part of the lease agreement it's it's owned by the town but not controlled by the town because we have a 99e lease so the the sign policy is only relative to property under the jurisdiction of the select board that's what the sign policy that's where the sign policy regulates and it's it's pretty simple it it doesn't allow any private signs on public property and it allows Town signs meaning like treats signs road signs Etc or signs for Town sponsored or town organized events so um property controlled by let's say the Cemetary Commissioners uh the Conservation Commission of the Town Forest committee is not included no okay so uh the property there as as the as the right away isn't included be honest it's a ro commission so but if it's ultimately like supervis isn't the right word but overseen by the select board then it's it is public property so for instance the common the common like you couldn't put a town hall yeah and it's sort of like you know we we don't have someone 24/7 monitoring town-owned land that would be irresponsible budget management so then you know like you know that's you know have at it but if there's a you know if there's a a Dr Pepper for selectman sign there then you know like if if it's on Town own land it's it's against that that policy but I think there has to be some common sense expectation about how it's enforced because we don't have 247 monitor of town-owned land in town um the analogy of you're on the highway and you go 66 and the speed limit 65 you're technically breaking the law breaking the policy but you don't always get caught um first of all um I assume that various towns many towns have dealt with this and have uh bylaws or policies or we want approach it uh that have already been thoroughly checked out with the SJC case law and all that sort stuff um with regard to the town um uh again apparently um property not under the direct control of the board of Select may not be covered by this policy correct um which would IND that I guess maybe the boards that do control that land need to adopt a similar policy at their [Music] meetings meetings um in the past I have taken down signs um at the uh Cemetery because I'm the know people who signs up there are lots there are tombs on the bank and nobody had checked with the Cummings family descendants to see whether their ancestors who were in the revolution uh approved of the sign on the corner of West Street and Main Street um and nobody spoke to me wanted to put the signs back up maybe they realized they were little off basee but to and the Conservation Commission will I'm sure proceed with the appropriate action here so that the town in my view doesn't wind up every now and then looking like a used car loock I'm all for people putting up signs on their lawns if they want there was a time um 40 50 years ago when anybody put up a sign and lose 10 votes for every vote they got but that's that's the best it's not long the case so people want to put their signs L on their own property guess speaking of individual boards making their own decision um do we should they be shifting off the policy we have in front of us now that we've approve it's up to that individual board I'm just thinking big picture here does every you know the conservation Comm has their land you know per se in the town forest and becomes very you can put signs here but not here right you know again like it's just my reading is that you're saying no signs thank you and that's what we would do with the exception of course of signs that relate to the use of the property um you know announcing the name of the property pointing out trails and so on and so yeah which I think is included in your so my my view and I'm chairman of both those committees uh is that we would simply copy what you have done and therefore be consistent yeah consisten issue that is the uh signs that pop up here and there advertising G cleaning in one thing another and I take those down see yeah I mean the language of our policy has been vetted by Town Council and it is from language that several other towns use SOC and it's pretty simple pretty clear consistency is the key like I I just I worry about all of a sudden there's a little gray in the you know one group and it's like a this you know creates uncertainty so John um the only problem that I see is that uh you know we do have events in this town that are not sponsored by the town well the in which case you can be granted permission by the select board to the the provisions in the policy for that right is that so jingle Fest and well so jingle I mean so jinglefest receives local grant money to run MH okay concert on the common same thing so many many of these local events community events are sponsored are actually sponsored by the town they're not they may not be organized by the town or town staff but they are sponsored by the town financially through mostly the cultural Council so and I I think it's true to the policy to allow s s relative strictly related to events that are funded through the culture Council and direct department and others department but I was concerned about these other yeah but there but you may be right there there may be some events that happen that are organized by um you know independent nonprofits in town that can't put their signment any longer yeah yeah there perhaps your point about using a little discretion in common sense delicate term right something that's obviously in public interest and is nonprofit and so forth and so on most of these outfits are as Jason say um somehow are connected to the town anyway right um and I I think it would be probably advisable for the h commission to be brought rather DIY discussions about roads that are laid out and those that aren't and the fact that my property goes to the center of West Street only 98% of the the value was gone because of public usage in fact they cut the tree down I got right for the D Tree they been right to cut it down that gets a little exra teror [Music] and the certainly be in the yes yeah absolutely thanks you're welcome I think the topic will probably come up again Mr the I I I I'm you know I know you and I have talked about this I I I do and the fact that Alan is here tonight with a similar discussion but I've heard from other people have said to me that their first amendment rights are being violated and how dare we do that and just I mean I've I've heard a lot of story I think that what we do need to do excuse me I think what we do need to do is to take another look at this thing after we talk to Mr Flynn take another look at this thing we may need to make some modifications to it I would I'm going to tell you that in in my narrow-minded opinion all right I think that after we're finished reworking or revisiting this thing that we hold a public hearing because uh the the the you know and and and the discussion that I've been at the donut shop and kingbo has been that you know we've cut off discussion of this thing and mandated this be done uh you know the this board hasn't run that way we not since I've been around with it we've always looked at these things and you know in a very Collective way and I'm I'm going to suggest that we we listen to Mr Flynn incorporate some of what Allan says we take a look at this and and in my mind I'd like to hold a public hearing on it so that we don't have folks in the town saying that you know we've just shut them off we you know that's that was you know this thing got started by by trying to control all these signs all over the place and you know last week or the last meeting you know this contract to sign thing came up we can't find at least I I haven't been we have I can't find where there's any language any point that says you get you can't have that sign for the Steel Coating guy or whatever and we can't we haven't found that right I think it's the the language isn't in there specifically that says it's a again the the rules it I think the language says this is what is allow okay yeah it used to be and I haven't looked at the sign bylaw recently but uh back in 47 was that in 47 or was that 46 I don't really remember deal with the sale of use of the property and when you get to political signs of course you do get into First Amendment issues when it's a person's property my guess is that um there's probably an SJC decision out there somewhere that deals with the issue of putting political signs on public property when when regulating private property it's a whole different B acts than regulating signs on public property controlled by this exactly it's a whole different it's a whole different situ people you know uh people find on both the left and the right amazing things in the Constitution uh that aren't there meaning the US Constitution um hav taught it for 40 years you know I'm surprised and amazed at what people are claim to be their constitutional rights oh I'm with you believe me I've heard it all I I heard it all all right I think we're going to um probably stop it here we've had enough discussion on this which [Music] is last question Jon the ACLU uh did a a fact sheet specifically for the state of Massachusetts and they said that um you can Outlaw signs on uh public property as long as you outlaw all signs on the public property you cannot say you can put your sign up but you can't okay that's uh that's basically I'll see if I can find it and I'll send it to you but yeah and that may be where this is headed that's what I'm saying it can't be content based yeah but it has to be an an outright ban and that's what in my view the board did it so no private signs on public property period it's no there's no debate you know so okay to be continu I have a I I have a distaste over all these slow down dustable signs I I I just well those are on private properties I get it I'll make a motion to going slow second to that second all in favor I all all right thanks folks thanks folks thank you Ann and Nicole for sticking off of the meeting good night night thank you yes yes we will get you do you think are they [Laughter] we'll send we'll send kind of organiz to go around [Music] [Laughter] Che I knew I'll let you know they don't all right