okay good evening everyone welcome to the East Long meow Town council meeting of June 25th 2024 I would ask that we stand for the pledge of allegiance 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 thank you at this time I would ask that uh we take a moment of silence to reflect on all that's uh happening both near and far thank you um in accordance with Mass General law I have to announce that we are audio and video recording this meeting by L and I would ask if anyone in the audience is audio or video recording seeing no one in the audience I'm assuming no um moving on um public comments um there's no one in the audience Don is there anyone online that would like to make a public comment I don't see anybody who wants to make a public comment okay we'll move on Council comments Council any uh any comments Conor I just wanted to say thanks to Matt for the last two years that he served and wish him well thank you thank you thank you for your service um and with that I would also uh like to reach out and say uh welcome aboard to Jim um he was the uh other nominee and recipient so um I believe at our July meeting we will have them right over here so welcome aboard Jim um Town manager report good evening good evening good evening um happy summer um uh so school's out and uh Fontaine Brothers wasted no time getting onto the uh uh the campus of the high school uh to start their enabling work um I was actually just talking to Don before the meeting I apparently the the clearing in the back the tree removal is quite substantial I haven't been around back yet I'm sure you've seen the workout front um so um I think a lot of their schedule and timeline and stuff is on the website so um if you're planning a trip to the high school make sure you uh wherever you're headed is open Andor not under construction uh but that all that stuff the schedule and stuff is all on the website um and we'll have a uh 60% submission to the uh Mass School building authority for uh Late July is the V like the 25th or the 26th um so I guess I'll uh Echo some Council comments um congratulations to uh councelor OA uh on being re re reelected um and Jim um and and uh Sarah trulio also for um being reelected to school committee um and I'll take a minute to uh to uh wish a fond farewell to Matt as well um really appreciate everything you brought to the council uh uh and my first year um so um I won't use the you want me to use it you want me to yes so he brought a certain Jessa to the um to the to the Town Council and uh obviously best of luck with everything I'm sure we'll see around I'll be hounding you for some border committee at some point that's right um but best of luck thank you um Public Library uh had their kickoff some are reading kickoff Extravaganza uh we missed because we were here La two Tuesdays ago on the 11th um obviously very well attended uh prizes uh face painting magic uh all sorts of you know um so thanks to the Library St staff um uh if they're ever having an event they're they they already have a reputation they know how to throw a party so um feel free to get over to the library um Pineo started this week um uh I've had Donna really excited uh they are uh packed to the gills it's one of the um uh one one of the more popular camps around um and and they always do a great job up there um there they the pool is also open to the public and and it's quite lovely up there I don't know if anybody's been up there in a while but um the the hidden Jewel at the edge of town I've I've been calling it um might be time to check out pinol if you haven't been up there in a bit um we we our uh HR Director search is underway we had uh interviews last week uh three excellent candidates three excellent interviews uh so much so where we're almost forced to do a second round of interviews um so which is not a terrible thing other than uh you know everyone having to deal with the interim HR Director um but uh Mariola uh has obviously been and Megan have been doing a great job we also Mary Muzzy who's the HR generalist uh resigned a couple weeks ago so that department of four is now down to two uh so um they're obviously very capable and and uh doing a great job but have a little patience with with with your HR questions uh until we get this position filled um I think I've mentioned before it was announced official last week we received a mass Trails grant for feasibility study for extending the rail trail north of Maple Street all the way to Westwood uh which is actually uh pretty well traversed right now uh through the uh but it's you know obviously not finished it's on dirt uh just the the rail bed that people are walking on but um so thanks to the DPW for putting that together uh Bruce and Mark Burman um so we're working with VHB on that uh we we should have something uh this fall to uh hopefully turn into another Grant opportunity for construction um so we've got uh the beginning of the fiscal year obviously there's a lot of um board committee commission including Council uh where where um where um what am I trying to say uh yeah the the everybody's terms have sort of run out at the end of the year here so uh I think we did 25 or 30 appointments or reappointments um I have the list of four here that I was asking uh uh if if it was your pleasure to sort of wave that portion of the charter that uh gives you the 45 days to sort of look at certain reappointments to certain bodies and those appointments are Russell Denver for planning board uh his experience well all four really their experience speaks for themselves right um Katie jobbins uh Board of Health Marilyn gini Board of assessors and Nancy oconor for the board of Library trustees um again all four of them have Stellar records and we're thrilled that they are still excited to be part of their respective boards um I also want to I have kind of a humanitarian update that I I need to to share that didn't make it to print um last Friday night um during the weather um an independent living facility in aguan was struck by lightning and caught fire um it quickly became a uh sort of an evacuation event um and Isa Meadow provided some mutual Aid Long Meadow West Springfield Westfield it it became a a regional uh thing but the the ownership group uh of that Quail Run facility in Agawam also owns boerd here in isau Meadow so uh they they at that evening uh they got them to a nearby Hotel uh for sort of a temporary uh fix and then brought them all to uh Bluebird on starting on Sunday um so I just want to take a moment to uh just recognize some folks that facilit facilitated this process all you know volunteers uh you know Chief uh Morisette and Chris beer obviously weren't on duty they were there all weekend um we had a one of our van drivers from COA Jeff Chapel drove one of our vans to agam and was bringing um residents to the hotels the first night um Aaron cobbler uh carlen Renard Joe Baker and Jerry Raider uh reader from uh Co Council on Aging um the health department Tammy was was there most of the weekend and some of our C members Phil Chapman and enan Johnston um doing everything from uh you basically whatever they could do to care for these folks when they came over to to um Bluebird a lot of the rooms that they had available were not clean uh these these people were scrubbing toilets and washing floors to to to to make the space habitable um so um there was also some help from long medal shelter team Andy Frasier and Donna and Craig goodro um like I said Paul Morisette Chris beer uh agam fire chief Allan soroy uh mayor uh Johnson of Agawam uh Senator vus was on scene on Sunday with us as we as we talked to their sort of corporate office to get this plan together a little bit better and Pat carnavali and Don Brantley from Mima director and deputy director of Mima um you know like I said I we all have jobs to do uh but when things happen and you and you recognize the character of the people in this community uh and and surrounding communities to to help their fellow human beings um I just wanted to make take a moment to recognize all those people who who gave up a large chunk of their weekend to help out others so uh thanks to all them um and I just again that's the that that kind of thing makes me happy to be part of of an organization and a community like this good question were you there oh I don't live there no no no no not yet was at were I was at Bluebird on Sunday we had a uh sort of a well that then you deserve our pay oh wow well I again I I yeah I I spent a couple hours there but it was small in comparison to what um what these volunteers did team but yes thank you we we we all do what we can to especially in a situation like that one it was there was an extra 48 people from that facility brought over to blueberg wow um it was it was uh pretty chaotic and without the help of our volunteers and it would have been a lot worse I I can't imagine that they had 48 rooms available no they must put people in different places there was right there was some doubling up and um you know uh our response uh was a little bit better than the original response from the ownership group uh we were bringing Cs and air mattresses and sheets and uh helping people get their stuff out of there I mean this is a this isn't an assisted living facility this is independent so everybody has their they got cats and dogs and they're they're they're they're they're in their own space and they didn't have their own stuff or they just there's a fire they grabbed what they could and you know everybody tried their best to to to make the situation better for them at this point after our meeting on Sunday there's a been a a huge uh swell in and support and everyone's got a bed everyone's got a room uh safe bed um you know our our our our on duty uh firemen and women uh were were there quite a few times because of medical calls and and you know the stress of the situation itself um was so anyway um I just want to again say thanks to everybody and and thanks to everyone in agam who who who I'm sure I forgot a bunch of people in aan but um you know it it was a it was a regional effort and it was is uh very well um done yeah um will they these folks be displaced for a fair amount of time so uh original sort of estimate on on the building being back up and running uh six months time long so I would assume they'll be if not placed in Bluebird if that works sort of geog geographically for for families um but um yeah it a it was a lot of the building was damaged and they're trying their best to get portions of it that they can back open to get people back in their space but it's just it was a it's a tough situation and again I think our volunteers that that sort of helped make the situation a little bit better so and Ralph for answering his phone three times because I on behalf of the council I will extend our appreciation to everyone including yourself and I'd also like to mention that it was greatly appreciated that you reached out and kept me informed at all times uh what was happening what was going on um because as you know occasionally something happens we get phone calls and when we're left in the dark it's like ah um so for keeping me uh appraised and um didn't mind answering the phone at all so thank you much appreciated thank you um I guess I'll finish with our upcoming event everybody's favorite time of year in eastan Meadow uh 4th of July uh the carnival uh 30th uh starts June 30th through the 4th I can't remember did they do it the fourth last year yes okay just there's like a four hour window after the parade yeah 12 to 4 or something okay um cop with the town manager here uh July 2nd uh 10:30 um the fireworks uh obviously the night of the Third uh at the high school we'll see where they're at next year but this year they're at the high school um and then the parade obviously the fourth at 10 um and that's uh that's it for tonight I'll try to try to get some of that into my report the this piece that was left off so that when it gets posted um that that piece of it's in there sort of the update of Y thanks um so at this time I would ask the board's thoughts on waving the 45 day period for the reappointments of the fours would someone like to make a motion to wave the 45 day period I don't want to make the motion but I'm thinking when the motion's made maybe State the names of the appointees and boards just for the record motions just making it more head Conor I move to wave the council's remaining video veto period for the appointments of Ren for planning board Dr cther jins for Board of Health Marilyn gadini for Board of assessors and Nancy oconor for the board of libraries trustees second have a motion made in seconded any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I any opposed been thank you dly authorized to be reappointed Deb thanks you too we like when we get that paperwork out of rolling into our yeah right into your okay uh Communications correspondence and announcements um so I'm not sure how many members have received it um but a citizen had uh sent in some correspondents um a citizen who lives on Pleasant Street with regards to some traffic issues and concerns um I didn't bring it up at the last meeting because I wanted to confirm um but I went back through my emails and our police department has been working uh with her um and the situation to take a look at it and see what can be done um Tom did you have any other input um no not I mean not at this time I know that there that that that well I just want to make sure people understand that when we get correspondence it may not be the the council itself that responds but we make sure that the correct location is is given to the email and that someone responds uh appropriately we get a lot of um complaints about speed and and dangerousness of pleasant which is why the sidewalks going in y this summer um I think they got bumped off a little but that should be started uh shortly into the new fiscal year so uh that was one of the reasons why that that street was picked for for sidewalk yeah it's I mean you know you you've driven on Pleasant Street it's not even safe to drive let alone try to walk on very similar to peas Road yes do not walk on PE do not walk on PE um okay number seven is public hearings we have none um number eight uh orders of the day licensing matters uh do we have a motion for the approval of a liquor license for brew practitioners we do I move to approve a one-day liquor license for brew practitioners for a festival at the Masonic temple 43 Chestnut Street on June 29th 2024 from 10:00 a.m. I will second that having a motion made and seconded is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed that motion passes um 8B uh financial matters um is there a motion to approve $49,000 trans from it non-salary line to salary line items sure I move to approve $49,000 transfer from Information Technology non salary line items to salary line items as following the organization code transfer from 01552 till we get to the others to the object code 5241 for the account name repairs Vehicles the amount of $ 17238 and object code 5243 repairs telephones $33,000 5248 repairs computer equipment $10,000 5310 professional tech software 24287 62 5341 communication telephone $1,000 5343 communication Wireless $55,000 total $49,000 those transferring to organization code 011 551 to object code 5113 department head salary $ 53759 5110 fulltime salary $ 37,1 11121 51201 temporary position $653 60 for a total of $49,000 second thank you Anna okay um we have a motion made and seconded further discussion um I have further discussion before before everyone jumps in and I would like to um ask the town manager for an explanation um $49,000 is a lot of money to be off on a salary budget one week from the end of the year um I've got a couple concerns um I think for an amount this much um easily we should have been notified after the third quarter I know Kim has been pulling reports quarterly I know we received some I know we've asked how does everything look and we've been told everything looks good everything's in order and to come up $49,000 short and that that that that's very difficult especially on salary because I'm assuming these people have continued to be paid which means that that account's probably in the red right now um so I'm gonna turn it over real quick just so that we can have an explanation on it so uh yes so the amounts are uh obviously the department head um Ryan was was given a bump for the fiber project uh for additional duties the regrade amount or excuse me the 37,000 amount um was twofold there were three positions that got regraded following the signing of the contracts for the Upsy because we had an employee that was out of the Union that because the negotiations got created into the union and sort of the the playing field needed to be leveled uh based on that person's salary but about $20,000 of that $37,000 it was just an honest mistake it was not budgeted correctly so the number for uh 5110 was off when we started last year um and yes uh this process itself uh has been uh switched so this can't happen anymore uh We've combined this new uh transfer form with our new Personnel action form the paf form which requires any uh step Rays uh any sort of action form for any Personnel involving pay there's more they've added Kim has added more um boxes to check so to speak as in has this been budgeted does it require a transfer does that need Town manager signature or does that need right so you can't even that out huh and who fills out the PF for whoever is making the change so the department head in this case for their employee or or me for a department head right and so if the money's not budgeted uh either it gets transferred from the transfer or we have to move money from non-salary to salary which would come to so point being the the the department head uh and the temporary one happened earlier in the year like in July so it's not like I I didn't know about it I did um but I was not aware that we were off this far from the original budget number um and again the it budget is not even close to over that's why there's enough money to transfer into that account so there was a mistake made on the original budget number as well as uh Personnel changes that should have been documented all year that weren't and that's I'll eat that one questions Kathy so following um what you just uh explained um I want to just touch base on the rationale that it was part of the backup material which again um explain that but you'll see where I'm going with this um Kim describes it as this is a combination of an insufficient beginning budget estimate for salaries in the department regrades for Ryan's staff and a mid in increase for him as well and then she explains that new paf having said that and um you know we're at the point where it we're we're in the 11th hour and we have to uh financially can't end end the fiscal year in the red especially when there's reserves in other line items so at this point we don't have the uh luxury of doing anything I imagine but approving it but um I want to go back to the financial oversight committee process uh that um I sat on with with John and and Ralph as ex official and of course you were there and it was one of the more um Pleasant yes besides Pleasant I'm looking for we had so much constructive information that it made our the whole process easy to get through but um here's my conundrum when we look at the uh budget proposed budget for it for next year it comes in at oh 1, 489,000 an increase of 21 92% but the details say col is for at 2.55% which I'm certain is a bargon for issue um steps non-union Merit 124,000 for of the three-year antiv virus understandable Microsoft Office a Microsoft license and open open gov license um training five K phones um stiping all software has been moved to it reducing by 30 this is in that very finite um printing that I'm struggling even with cheaters on but then it says add $2,833 for salary regrades at $2,765 in stiens so that all made sense to us in April when we approved it but this definition tonight says salary regrades stiens increases I don't think you can have it both ways I'm confused now I hear you say there was an innocent under budgeting for the salary items I also hear you say um there's this a whole bunch of money in other accounts that gave you the freedom to transfer which um gives me more concern than I had when I walked in here tonight that that 1,489 603 is as accurate as we assumed it was and I would like to propose that in the New fisal Year we pulled together the folks that sat on that committee who are available and we review that budget because I the explanation resides in two places How can there be a second year of salary regrades if you just went through it in this fiscal year um well uh that's a good question okay um we can and so I'm not here to battle it tonight I'm just saying I think that number now I don't have confidence in okay and I would like to say during the summer that at least John and and Ralph and myself um sit with you at some point and just sure go through those numbers to make sure that it's as close as possible especially so that we don't um underestimate the salary impact and if all these other line items un salary are um I don't I don't solvent yeah so much so that he'll be turning back money then maybe those are over yeah I just I'm just about the whole thing okay so the salary budget salary worksheet now resides in finance okay for everyone across the board all the contracts that were signed all the ones that will get signed everything is done through Finance now so that um we don't we don't have people doing different equations for different things it's just all runs through the salary worksheet for finance so I'm assuming that explanation was based on the regrades that had already occurred and that we knew that obviously that the pay was going to be more based on we've already done the regrades and that was a salary item just explaining why the salary had jumped up but I would like to confirm that and I do think it's a good idea to um just give it another quick look second opinion on it just another look yep no that's no no problem there Marilyn thank you um much of what my esteemed colleagues have said so I'm not gonna repeat it esteemed Stevie anyway um my concern um addresses more specifically um the communication between the town manager's office and the Town Council you know we're now being asked to make a decision about appropriation you know we this is all a surprise everything from from Ryan's increase to the regrades to the the deficit spending that was going on for a while and clearly it's deficit spending because you don't have the money in the salary account until we transfer and and yes it's it's pretty simple to address what's being um asked of us this evening the money's in the budget just transferred but the impact is incredible because you're you're funding more money into positions that all you know for all intents and purposes are appropriate but we don't know that because we didn't hear anything so when you hear it in the 11th Hour it does raise some feelings of Suspicion truthfully because why didn't we know this I mean it's quite simply it's your decision as a town manager to be involved in these changes however we're going to be asked to appropriate them and we didn't know anything about it so I think that's one area where we have to concentrate on I that's my opinion that you know there are months there not months there are weeks that go by that we don't hear anything about anything and you assume that everything is going according to plan but this is something that we probably should have at least had knowledge of not that we were going change it but that's that was a concern that I had um in terms of the regrades when did they do you know when they took place uh well I guess we signed the contracts what in September is so yeah it was before the first of the year because after the first of the year we changed all our process so a long time ago yeah yeah and that's why I said I'll I'll eat that because it was my decision and I put it forward and I we we knew and again and uh always picturing that at come the end of the year we were going to square everything up um so I apologize for not well and and I'm not trying to scold anybody it's just that's fine you know when I read through the documentation and and you know God bless Jeanie she was looking to make sure she had all the information for the council thinking that we might have some questions and and the response was I would would just have them approve the budget appropriation transfer as presented simple as that and it doesn't work that way because the buck stops here so I got it off my chest thanks for listening I you know I'm not looking for you know to create any other issues but you know salary Chang a mistake y so just out of curiosity obviously you have a reserve Fund in case items pop up um I guess it's a practical question could the reserve fund have been used to fund this $49,000 uh not at this time well I because there's not enough money in that's part of my no no no of course like from from as we look at this now so somebody needs a re regrade in August that money in order to do to even process the paperwork needs a transfer because it wasn't budgeted for and that either has to come from Reserve or Town Council and that can't get processed until you vote so again we've we've we've changed the process so that this won't happen again uh I got to take the licks for letting it happen in the first two quarters and now it just can't because our process doesn't allow it so my point was more more and again I haven't spoken to any bers um but I would like to see that if something like this happens in a regrade and a salary item needs additional money that that be brought back to the council for it instead of um you just being able to do it out of the reserve fund okay um and the reason being is more transparency Okay and like I said I don't think any of us really has an issue um especially based on your decision whether someone wants a raise or needs a raise or is appropriate to get one for us to fund it I don't think there's ever been an issue with that and I don't think there would be um but again it's nice to know and I think in that situation I think that would be a good idea again I haven't talked to anyone so my opinion no that's that's what we're trying to do and again y um I do like the new form it makes a lot more sense um it makes sure that everything and right um like I said I you know what there's areas that we've all known need a little bit of improvement and I guess I guess we just found one well yeah and this was yeah again this is my uh my mistake the first part of this year to sort of make these decisions and not make them uh make you allware one quick one final comment just so that you know um where my thinking was going after I got past how come we didn't know any of this stuff I looked at the 25 roughly $25,000 that was coming from a specific budget and I'm thinking whoa you know what budget is this and why does it have $25,000 extra until I looked at the budget and so how large the budget was and so it made sense that it's reasonable that 25,000 might still be sitting there not not used so you know we were not we I was spinning my wheels jeie I called jeie got some information cuz just wanted to understand what kind of decision we were making tonight so I hope this was all helpful that's all yeah no I I think uh I I appreciate it everything's always helpful I just curious question as it relates to the contract for department heads are they on the same cycle like you review them all at pretty much the same time unless you hire a ccle now they are now okay so when you painstakingly so when you this new HR person y let's say they start I'm going to just say August 15 y that will that be the contract date for August 15 or will you kind of prate it so it goes July to July or whatever you have it would be August because but it would end in June yeah so that uh the policy would be consistent okay you just have to get them into the cycle got it okay and similarly or comparatively like in April hire the policy would read you have to work a full year before you get to that July one Merit if BL no no no Cola yeah you don't get Co in two two months basically so we're we're still tweaking the policy and okay um with HR to figure out but yes July one is our favorite day and we're trying to get everything this trying to get to July 1 um Conor John Matt any additional questions thoughts concerns hit the nail on the head with that I think it would be a good idea to maybe open things up and take a so I'd be more than willing to C part of that okay we'll make that happen so we've had a motion uh made seconded um definitely further discussion uh hearing no no additional further discussion all in favor say i i i any opposed wait till the next one no okay um moving on to financial matters B2 the approval of 8,431 transfer is there a motion uh I make a motion to approve an 8,431 transfer from 0914 25310 health insurance professional technical software 201522 5308 Human Resources professional technology consultant second motion made and seconded further discussion um this was just that um it was paid out of the wrong account correct putting it back into that account so um yeah this was and no shortfall or anything it just no but it o caught another mistake which was we moved every single software line item to it except for the one in in the health insurance so now we realize and we'll get that out of there too for pass Dar it I'm moving for uh any other discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed none opposed okay moving on approval a minutes is there a motion to approve the minutes for June 11th I make a motion to approve the June 11th 2024 for Open Session second uh motion made and seconded any discussion none all those in favor please say I I any oppose I abstain and one abstention okay um next up is 8D old business Town manager performance evaluation okay so it's that time of year July 1 is always a great time um end of June is always a difficult time um evaluations are um to be done in Open Session per Master General law um job performance needs to be done in open session so with that being said um I circulated to each counselor a performance evaluation uh worksheet so that it would help us go through evaluation I would like to read in to the record the categories that we are using to um to look at our town manager performance uh number one is uh individual characteristics number two is professional skills and Status number three is relations with elected members of the governing body number four is a policy execution number five is reporting number six is Citizens Relations number seven is Staffing uh number eight is supervision uh number nine is fiscal management and number 10 is community um and then there's a space at the back for any additional comments so I've asked each counselor to grade on a scale of 1 to 10 category um I would like to point a performance evaluation committee um I would ask that the council uh allow myself Kathy Hill and if Conor OA would uh be on it to analyze evaluations come up with a grade look at the contract and make a recommendation going forwards for salary um if everyone is okay with that okay okay so we have our um subcommittee which we'll get together um so with that I would like to do a little bit of evaluation here um it's hard to think back over the entire year because in one hand it seems like it he just started yesterday yeah um every time I go into your office it feels like the first time I've seen you sitting in there um the year went by EX extremely fast um a lot of good things happened this year and um I'd just like to touch on a few of them um I mean I'd like to start with uh the goals that we had set for you and the fact that you have been either working to achieve them or have achieved them um I mean 382 North Main Street uh we're moving along into the final phases of it uh that's a project that had been on going for 25 years basically um the Municipal Light plant um having a contract signed and moving forwards with looking at the highspeed internet again um major accomplishments um I like the fact that you analyzed Heritage Park um that was high on the agenda to be done and um like you said to us it it doesn't make sense to start that project when we're about to start a major construction project right in front of it and there's no way for the trucks to be in Heritage Park the trucks to be in the road um I mean it it's hard to put something on hold but you analyzed the situation and came up with what I think is the right decision um and it says a lot and this goes for all the residents out there that wonder why we put a road in and dig it up a week later um in this situation that's not happen um which is fantastic um I like the fact that um as far as within the town um as I talked to the employees um the morale is excellent um and you've kept it that way I mean I think with the past Town manager Mary MCN uh she helped increase the morale in town and you've just kept it going um I have not heard uh any negatives going through town um and again I talk to a lot of people and you know that um which is which says a lot for you and your character and um that is something that uh I do take into account um but with that being said I've got a couple areas of concern um I know for one my time management is absolutely horrible and although I've seen you get a lot better with your time management I think there's still some areas of improvement uh that could be done um things that start to concern me is when we approve money for whether it be capital projects um through the CPC and then there's a lengthy delay before anything even gets started um I think part of that's municipal government but part of it is who we got through the hard part we got the money okay when I get a chance I'll get to it um and I would just like to see some of that um and one of the things I'm talking about which I've already talked to you about um the brown farm under CPC um well as of now I don't know because it's been two days or three since I've talked to you but there was no rfps or anything created to even look at uh the cost of the demoing um that was something I want to say back in January that the funding was approved um so again the that's one of the areas that I think uh improvements needed um we I also asked um for a capital plan to be at least started or thought about with regards to municipal buildings um and I think the council as a whole would like direction as far as you know we feel comfortable that Town Hall's taken care of we know that there's issues whether it be fire department police department uh DPW facilities uh other schools and we'd like some guidance as far as you know grouping that together and moving it forward so that so that as a council we can actually start looking and planning um I mean those were a few issues I'm going to open it up to my fellow counselors Marilyn um just a quick comment um when the charter was created when we were going through our government change I read over more than once the responsibilities of the Town manager then we changed our bylaws and you you go through General bylaws and everything in there most of it comes to you and I I often felt my goodness this person has to walk on water how can one person possibly I mean this that's what went through my head what how can one person possibly be responsible for all of this the good news is it doesn't all happen at once so that's that's helpful but you know I'm so impressed with who what we have as department heads you know colleagues within the system that really function by themselves they really really do and so you know maybe there's the time management was the only thing that I was really focusing in on and you you admitted it yourself and yourself about about and I think it's just trying to be all things to all people and you're good at that you know so I'm just you know I'm this isn't a lecture it's just you know I accept what you're I I know what you're dealing with it's very hard and you know maybe there's a way somehow some way to you know share the share the the load with someone else perhaps um you know if something's really egregious know maybe somehow we can help you in some way but um I recognized a long time ago that that's it's it's difficult to meet to cross all the teas and doble the eyes so that's all I have to say um as um an aside on time management um I think it's also um a process that you grow into you know until you're overwhelmed with 95 things that need to be addressed in in this week let's say and figure out okay it forces you to prioritize on the Fly and then sometimes you get into a situation where what you thought was a priority you were able to quit get it done and in the meantime something else is percolating and becomes it bumps two other things off your priority list uh having been in that situation in a you know a management situation like that um I do think it and you can't get better at it until you see where you're struggling with it you know what I'm saying you have to like go through the fire first and then be reflective and the fact that you've already pointed that out to me is uh speaks for itself you write well I like to think that your middle school English teacher had something that all were you teach that's scary you you um present wealth and you're right very well which is important because um besides um a report such as your reports to us um people people when they read things pick up on that if if an individual doesn't quite have a real capacity with the written word it it comes out and we've all seen it I mean you can see it just in um pick up a a newspaper and you can tell um a reporter who really has a capacity with the written word and others who it's manageable and it's okay but you you you excel in in that regard Conor sure I have a few um overall I think Tom is a wonderful town man and has been a good asset to the town I think his commitment to his hometown shows in the amount of effort and thought that he puts into the work onily basis um coupled with a whole bunch of other team members of course but I think this year's budget process was our best attempt yet as a town which was definitely exciting and I'm also excited that moving forward we're starting to do some more forecasting which should help make some of these decisions easier and more timely similarly the one thing that I picked up on was time management um definitely a few things that kind of come in at the last possible second but I think you recognize that and I think now that you're building up your own bench of people around you delegation will become easier over the next year but definitely overall there's been a lot of projects in flight and even more to come but I think you're well suited to continue and stay on top of all of them and again you've curated a good team around you and I'm looking forward to see what we hold in store for the next year thank you John when I was thinking about this I felt like there was one word that kind of described I think the last year well was if I felt like stability you know like I this has been my first year in the Town Council so I've been able to see kind of a lot more be involved a lot more even more than being on planning and whatnot and I felt like things were generally quite stable in our town government it felt like things were getting more streamlined um I thought you know we have somebody that can communicate well both to us would probably have no problem talking to any of us oneon-one has good relationships with all of I mean we have dozens of folks on different boards um the morale seems to be increasing and then also the component of engaging with the citizens and you know we have a lot of citizens that are here for coffee with the town manager I've had the pleasure yet to stop in but um I know they're quite popular um so I think that's really important because you not only have good morale at the Town Hall level but having good morale in the community when people know that things are moving the trains are running on time and things are happening so I think that was the the word that I kind of kept um coming back to when looking at a lot of these um different um areas to rate um I will just Echo I think think I saw the time management as well and I think the one kind of going to um in in that consideration you know the concern of I I I'm a bad terrible time management I'm probably the worst one in this room and the I've always found like if if it gets too bad you know then things kind of conspire really quickly because like in this area of um you know disasters or unexpected things can really happen whether that's natural like what we saw a few days ago or could be something else um so if you're not been doing well maybe with that time management in the LA in weeks leading up to that and then everything sort of all happen once it risks um you know disaster of some sorts so but I think overall I think that was kind of my um the word I kept coming back to that I think best sem year I think things were stable there was a lot that happened it didn't feel like it because it did feel it went by really fast um but you know getting uh the vote on the new high school getting a new town hall streamline I love the word streamlining um because everybody should be kind of operating in that type of way so I look forward to um you know where we need to go as a community with Public Safety or with some of our other schools or things um and hopefully those will get developed more um in the next year any uh uh yeah I mean I just sort of like kind of echo everybody's comments and uh I uh suppose you know I kind of expected this year to be sort of like a learning year for you Tom because like you know I to step into a role like Town manager like I professionally in a warehouse I manage about a hundred people a day just packing boxes and I know how much you just get people coming up to you about like can't tie their shoes or whatever's going on I'm sure so you're in you have this overarching plan we give you and then I'm sure we we only know half of what's actually happening between the citizen you know the residents employees all of that um so I sort of expected just taking sort of the Helm of an organization that large I expected there to be a bit of a learning curve along with the size of the municipal Municipal budgets in general um I thought the budget process was super really smooth compared to you know I was in the financial oversight committee the year before and it was a little bit a little bit bumpier not that you know but uh um other than that I mean my main sort of I guess criticism um would be and I you know I never the time management occurred to me for half a second I was like I I not even gonna I don't I don't know how his daily workflow goes I don't know I can't you know judge I'm just those uh TM reports coming in a little you know before the meeting I'd be the same uh would be just kind of like more regular communication with you and the council between meetings and not like like oh if someone texts you and like you'll respond I have no doubt about that but just like more regular updates and that might be like a function of only meeting once a month as opposed to twice a month but um that would be kind of my main I guess quibbler like just you know going forward if something happens just like a email just an email update not even like a phone call but yeah otherwise I think it you know I think you've done a really good job and you'll a good town manager so great town manager  okay so with that I'm just going to make a couple closing comments and I'm going to Echo what Matt said um being that this is the first time first year being a town manager um I think overall you've done a a fantastic job and I just want to re reiterate that even though um it sounds like hey here's all these you know negatives coming out of my mouth um I look at it as a whole and being on both the charter uh original committee and the Review Committee I realize how much we put on the town manager and I mean it was everything pretty much hey just give it to the town manager let them figure it out and and I do realize that and I know how difficult it is and uh you've done a fantastic job and I just I can't say that enough like I said I'm uh I'm very happy um and one other thing that I've noticed um the subcommittees um um I just want to give some Kudos I know you took that as a priority to try over the year to get to at least one or a couple of whether it be the planning board or um bylaw yeah all all the different subcommittees and even if you weren't there the whole meeting you stepped in how you doing is there anything going on what's Happening um and that was huge um I mean I had been on some subcommittees for years and never seen a town manager and before that the board of Selectmen will I mean you never saw them unless you went to their meeting so so to reach out to reach out to the different committees was was wonderful and uh I I think that just needs a little bit of H extra on it and um with that being said is there anything else anyone would like to add um if not then if we have all the evaluations I'll collect those for the end of the meeting or you can get it to meally streamline do I have a choice okay so yes you can um and then what I'll do is I'll reach out to the committee members and see what's available and uh and we'll go through them and this is not an easy process and I think you're aware of that and uh it's not easy for you it's not easy for us so no and I'm I'm aware and and again I think all of this and I'm taking notes because I know it was my first year and there were things that I could have done better and I want to do better and so I'm GNA as I'm looking through all the things on this list well I'll be taking notes of that too and I did one did make me laugh the uh mental and physical stamina appropriate for the position some days don't have yes and some days no uh but no I I I agree it uh I know it's difficult um but again not that you're not going to but as honest as possible because it's only going to make me better so appreciate okay thank you um on to our next item number e new business we have a proposed Amendment to the traffic rules and regulations adding no parking on both sides of Melwood Al from Maple Street to sefo um I will uh I will make this motion because there needs to be a small adjustment to what's written um I make a motion to approve the proposed amendment to traffic rules and regulations adding no parking on both sides of mwood a from Maple Street to seavo have um 6: to 8 a.m. and 1 to 3 3 p.m. and also to um change the map which is exhibit a exhibit a um to correspond with this change yes well it says there's a map somewhere I'm looking it's in the basement having a motion someone that would like to Second at Conor for discussion seconded for discussion and would you like to start the discussion sure I have two things um one I guess they're both sort of procedural I was a little confused because even though it's traffic rules and regulations it's listed under our bylaws under chapter 580 so does that not need to be public hearing because we're making a bylaw change so if I may division two legs is not part of the division one bylaws anymore and that's like a like a category thing over here um as far as as far as I understand um so so the division one is bylaws and then they're all all of our bylaws are listed under their General and Zoning including the fee schedule you just created and then division two is rules and Rags which are not bylaws that do not require the bylaw process as I understand it and I could be off but um so they just follow like the same numbering scheme but they're not actually well to go further the council rules are under there so I think that's the defined line is that division too that's how I UND that's how I understood the way ecode separated it all out was that the bylaws were division one and everything else was in division two and that's the way it was meant um the traffic rules and Rags were meant to be the same as you know the council rules and regs that would not require a public hearing for it um to my knowledge they've never required a public hearing to adjust the traffic rules and Rags um they usually require um a recommendation from the police department and I'm assuming we have a recommendation from the police department this change not necessarily um this is more of a uh this was a planning wasn't it so let me let me just well I'll back it up because I did end up talking discussion Tom discussion yeah so I I did talk to Mark um and I did talk to officer Healey who's the school re resource officer who's always at the high school and um I believe Lieutenant Manning as well this this issue was brought up for during the site plan approval of the new high school and I don't think it's as much of a problem in the morning although I added the morning hours for discussion uh but right around up time like like one to when school get out 150ish somewhere in there everybody Parks uh on Melwood up to and including the radius onto Maple Street on both sides because if you get in the Horseshoe you cannot go left on Maple Street at 150 impossible so people stay on the other side so that they can just pull out and go right towards Long Meadow um so it was brought up um I think one of the one of the planning board members brought it up uh as a condition of approval which I think as we've talked about before that's not really in their millu uh and I I want to say I don't remember who it was doesn't matter um but it brought up an interesting point because the the the whole layout is now changed so the the the new entrance to the high school will be directly across from Melwood and yes they've tried to change the traffic pattern and in theory like we all love so much it looks like it's going to work well and people will be able to get out the difference is going to be that that traffic light is not going to be there anymore so if you get out of your car and press the button and wait for the green light then you can go left but people do that that light is gone and it's going the rapid flash Beacon so there's not going to be anything for traffic to Aid traffic trying to take a left there um so I think the traffic is going to get worse and during construction in particular it's going to get I I don't know where people are going to park but if they find that during this phasing that there's nowhere to park they're that's the first place they're going to go is to park on Melwood and just leave their car and you know you can park on streets in eastan meow wherever you want as long as it doesn't stay no Park um so there was some there was some thought um and I have to have further conversations with with the the fire department but there was some thought that with those cars there would be very difficult for a for a fire engine to make that turn um so I mean at the very least parking even if it's allowed shouldn't be anywhere near the intersection of a street right we don't DPW doesn't allow driveways to dump out near an intersection you can't park if you're parking at an intersection typically you're parked at a stop sign which you can't do because then everybody else has to go around you so I think at minimum we should we should probably look at you know even if it's a few hundred feet away from Maple we shouldn't allow people I mean sight distance we you could go on and on with the dangers of parking at the corner of a street especially a main road like Maple Street but I I I have a feeling that not just to satisfy the planning board's recommendation um if it was that uh for no parking there I think there's going to be uh the the the situation is going to arise from all the new parking especially during construction uh the new traffic patterns uh I think I think the problem's only going to get worse but uh when I talked to Chief today you know it wasn't anything that anybody was like it was a you know super glaring concern so I think maybe we uh we kind of keep an eye on it um and I don't know what anybody else thinks but I mean I think it's a good practice not to let anybody park anywhere near an intersection 100 feet at least um so that you can get around that vehicle and then get back into your lane before somebody else comes flying around the corner taking a left while you're you're outside of your lane um so that that's why it's on here uh we don't need we don't need to make a decision by any means tonight we can have a further conversation I can have um you know police and the school resource officer and the school and the police the safety officer here too um to chat about it I just wanted to bring it up I didn't my my my other part-time job is making sure Nothing Stops the schedule here of the new High School uh we already are aggressive uh it already uh is uh very expensive project and now time is money and we the town of Isam Meadow shouldn't be putting ourselves in a position to stop the process in any way shape or form so this was mostly just to have a conversation to see if this is something that um that warrants the look for sure anything further John um I actually think it's a pretty good idea quite frankly I don't know if we should do 6 to 8 am because I don't know if it actually builds up that much from what I remember um but I think it makes perfect sense because I think it comes down to not only um safety but a quality of life issue for the residents that live there and I think it's um a perfectly reasonable thing that folks can accommodate I mean we have buses we have other Transportation options that students can take um so not everyone necessarily needs to be perhaps picked up individually um especially with all this kind of commotion that's going on so I I'd be inclined to support it tonight but if the rest of my colleagues I'm inclined to support it tonight as well um I would also say that um it's going to be a learning curve uh when that first bell rings in late August uh for everybody and um School administration as well as the site managers for construction will absolutely have their hands full the first few probably the first month until you people are retrained if you will so what I would like to see is that there's an additional presence of police there to they're going to need to to just Aid in the the traffic flow but to you know it's a learning curve even if they they're on foot and they say to folks you can't do this anymore because I don't as much as people know a new school is coming and they can see the beginning stages of it they don't realize yet that the the new entrance is going to line up exactly with the mouth of Melwood and it could change a couple of times between here and opening day as construction needs to move around a little bit and you know that beautiful front lawn with all the nice trees unfortunately had to be sacrificed because that's going to be the temporary holding pattern for uh parking for staff um while we while things go but toward the end that'll shift as well so I if if there was a a a sentiment that I would like Chief Williams to be aware of is that you know know earmark that in the back of your mind that it I wouldn't leave it up to the safety the uh school resource officer he's going to have his hands full on yeah it's true with um just helping Administration to because the kids who drive cars are going to be in that same predicament oh where am I going to put my car um I think additional um patrol has to happen for the first 60 days until things settle down so I just want to point out real quick that under this section under the traffic rules and rs what we're changing uh it clearly states that this section does not apply to a vehicle during the time that the person who is uh using the vehicle is rendering a service to a household or business establishment or during the time that the vehicle is being used for pickup or delivery to a household so like an Amazon truck stopping X truck they're not in a No Parking Zone where they're going to get ticketed same with a landscape or an electrician something on that idea this is someone that pulls up and parks on the side of the road has no business at the house or whatever but more than likely is waiting for or dropping someone off for over at the high school um so there are preventative measures there so that you know the landscaper not being ticketed because he's working at someone's house yep no and I think sorry and that's sort of why the the time thing went in there because I you know people have parties and family over and if you park in the street we don't want people getting ticketed on a Saturday afternoon at right four in the afternoon like you can park on the street like on from seavoy to Maple just not not during this time when everybody's trying to get out of the school right and I'm assuming if this has passed that signage would be uh posted and not just by a ticket I would have I don't even actually know that I don't regulat regulatorily speaking I don't think you can ticket if it's not posted correct yeah Conor um overall I'm not opposed to the idea the only thing I would suggest is that we get the input of the people that actually live on that street so that we don't end up in a situation like the council did a couple years go was R all Lane and that kind of exploded and backfired because so far we're just taking the opinion of people that may have participated in the high school process with their concerns but not the people that actually live there and have to deal with it folks from that area at the planning board site review I know there was neighbors or S but were there anybody was there people from not necessarily on Milwood at least not uh vocal enough where I remember it was it was Susan and uh Lori uh the everybody behind the neighborhoods behind um which coincidentally all those streets are no parking anytime um you know because everybody just parks there and walks into the school when they're when they're when there's a game in the back right they would just park on the side of the road and and run in and I think at some point the neighborhood was like why why is it a parking lot over here the those deadend streets and you run up the hill and there the soccer field right so um yeah I mean I I think they they they they another conversation or two is probably prudent um and I don't know that we have to rush since school's not starting until late August how do we get people that live there's opinion on it well I think I could probably a letter that says hey let us know what you think yeah well I think I can we can probably go back through the minutes in the video and find out what the actual conversation was during the planning meeting okay you know what I mean um just to remember the exact comment and and what everybody if anybody weighed in um like I said I only I really only remember um the residents um to the rear but um but I think we could probably easily through the assessor's office find out that houses there or whatever and whether it be the Town Council sending a letter are saying uh we're considering doing no parking between these hours we'd like to know your concerns you have until yeah 6 pm tonight to I think at minimum the you know no parking here to Corner sign has to be there at some point better you can't you can't park at a stop sign you just can't um so um again Wheels in Motion uh I think I can try to grab some more information and then maybe the meeting in July we we have another quick conversation about it okay that works for me so we've had a motion already made and seconded and we're in further discussion um so I would accept um a motion to table this until our July meeting I move to table the matter until our July meeting second a motion made in second did any other discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed I think in practice it sounds like a good idea but I think that's wonderful to actually reach out to the residents to say hey I know you live there yeah what are your thoughts and concerns on this yeah no parking here to corner and then everybody parks in front of everyone's driveway on the right I mean this is how it's going to go no that's a good suggestion um action items then um going forwards for the next um so the next meeting will take place in July it will be the first meeting of the new fiscal year which is a reorganization meeting um under our rules basically um myself as president and Maryland being uh two years are not eligible without a super majority vote but what I'd like is um anyone that's interested to think about it consider it and at our July meeting we will have the reorganization uh and like I said we will follow our rules and regulations with regards to appointing the next president and vice president um other action items um public hearing for the the schedule M yes um so the fee schedule will be on so you don't have to read it Matt nice DOD H um we will be holding a public hearing for the fee schedule on that um we also have a a couple agenda items that are already popping up uh with regards to the ground mounted solar uh bylaw a couple additional changes um and we also have to to uh consider setting goals for the town manager for year two um so that would be something I would ask everyone to start thinking about um write down a couple goals couple thoughts and I think that should be on our next meeting to start at least a general process of discussion of them um did they miss anything there will be a few motions um to close out 24 we have to do all that by the 15th so okay and we'll have that all together she's already started once the numbers become final that would be to pay prior year bills and stuff no for like trans transfer and um close it all out so the yeah but but I just assume that as of June 30th fiscal year is closed no matter where you're at and then you have to okay yeah there'll be some some just some adjustments housekeeping yeah that's all any other thoughts with that once again Connor congratulations on re-election uh Jim congratulations and Matt thank you so much um But please understand that uh you will be asked to be onites so don't go too far is there anything else anyone wants to include then I would entertain a motion to adjourn I move we adjourn second second motion made and seconded all those in favor please say I I I any opposed we are adjourned