##VIDEO ID:rOOgruhU6KY## good evening and welcome to the September 10th 24 meeting of the Town Council at 6m our regular meeting I'll call the meeting to order and ask that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Ali to the 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 then at this time I'd ask that we take a moment of silence to reflect on all the events going on throughout the world and at home and with tomorrow being September 11th to reflect on that as well thank you in accordance with Mass General law this meeting is being recorded by elcat and if there's anyone else in the audience if you can identify yourself seeing none uh public comments Ralph um so I asked Jeanie if she would put me on tonight under public comments instead of counsel comments um this is more coming from me on a personal level and not a counselor um so at this time I'd like you to hand those along um those go that way um so it was brought to my attention it was brought to my attention um a while ago that not everyone in the town the community um Town Hall U staff knew that I owned a landscaping business that had been deemed to be pre-existing nonconforming and so at this time I'd like to read into the record um a determination that I received back on April 2nd 2009 from the building department uh Danielle e helier was the Building Commissioner at the time it says Mr Ralph page PO Box 175 e long metal Mass 01028 this is in regards to page Landscaping Dear Mr Paige I reviewed your letter dated December 27th 2008 requesting continuance of a legal business that has been in existence prior to the 1962 zoning change considering that this business was started prior to the en act prior to the enactment of our Zone bylaws and has continued to operate affords you the right to operate as page Landscaping at 137 P Road location uh if you have any questions or concerns regarding my determination please contact me at 525 5400 uh Daniel e helier The Building Commissioner um you may ask well why are you reading this into the record so by reading this into the record this is preserved for ever now this will become part of our minutes um a copy of this um I had assumed would have been kept in my file somewhere wasn't able to be located um I kept a copy of it but now I've presented a copy to jeie um I presented a copy of each of you so that going forwards if somehow it disappears in 10 years and I'm still operating a business we have some to go back to look at to say oh wait a minute yes this was done um this was accurate and that brings me to the next Point um and that has to do with the town and the digitizing of town records it is so important going forwards that if we get the opportunity get a grant or anything to digitize our records that we consider doing as many as we possibly can um um once they're digitized and kept on file then there's no chance and again when I say losing when you keep a personal file like this I believe 30 years ago the town had a flood in the basement and tons of records were lost um those are lost forever at least if we're able to digitize them I'm hoping that there's not a huge crash in any computers or the cloud but for the most most part they're kept uh indefinitely and um like I said God forbid any natural disaster or anything like that if all our files are lost I mean between wedding records and death certificates and all I mean it's crucial and so I would just urge as a citizen the council whenever they have a chance to do some digitizing to do it I appreciate your time thank you thank you off uh under public comment is there anyone else in the audience that would wish to make a comment before the council seeing no one online or in the audience we will move on to council comments counselors with a comment just like say I had missed the meeting uh last month but I did want to thank um Don Macky on his service I not only got to see Don as a Town Council and as a planning board member but I uh did um his course we did um interviews of different candidates and things and I did that for a semester my senior year um I think Tom said it really well when I watched some meeting back uh he is a conversationalist he is one of the best conversationalists and there were so many um really great conversations that we had and he was an important part of my senior year which was probably my easily my favorite year um in high school um Aron um so I just want to congratulate him on his retirement um and all the service that he did in the community and how much he uh impacted uh you know my interest in continuing on and being interested in government so great thank you we will move on to the town manager report good evening um uh so uh welcome back uh School uh is open it's fun that we had a special meeting of the school committee joint meeting tonight uh this is how I'm going to open the managers report apparently uh the the obviously the the new school year kicked off but uh kicked off with a sort of a collaborative effort um from multiple departments these are sort of my favorite things that happened when uh we had uh the Police Department fire department school department DPW uh Fontaine Brothers um uh all working together to make sure that the transition obviously with the construction at the high school that everybody was safe both buses and cars dropping off and pedestrians and cyclists and um so I just want to thank everybody involved um everything went off without a hitch we had um officers there um it seemed like there were no major issues reported so uh I just want to uh well welcome back everyone and I'm glad everything uh went off well um I also um just to keep you guys updated on everything that's going on um and the public because we post the manager report tomorrow uh I think Deb waits till tomorrow just so I don't mess anything up too bad um so she can change it uh but uh that we get weekly reports from our uh owner project manager um it's really kind of a detail of what's gone on the last week so we get them weekly uh I'll end up giving them to you with every report um so that you can sort of stay up to date and ask any questions s and um sort of we'll just keep it keep it rolling as long as that's okay with you um we got of our uh the fiber of the Home Project is really uh starting to to to move a bunch uh most of the design is done we are uh we're in the the process now with the utility companies which uh gets a tad cumbersome as you can imagine uh we have to put an application in every poll that we want to attach to some 3,800 poles um and then 3,500 with Verizon that weren't joint owned and so um it's it's a lengthy process again it was part of the whole first phase here with the design and the applications that are are being done by uh whip City Fibers team um but we're really starting to sort of see the ball starting to move here um in order to get to this next phase where we find out how much it's actually going to cost to build out the system and what's our best crack at rolling this out whether that's phased um which is most likely uh to start generating some Revenue so that we can pay for the next phase so um we'll have this will start to become clear towards the end of this month here um certainly uh at the beginning of October that design will be done and we'll have a full estimate of what this is going to cost so within the next month or so we'll have uh some answers to our questions and some really big disc decisions to make on how we want to move forward so um that's that's that's this is getting really exciting um uh congratulations to our uh new elcat director Jamie Rook yeah you did a good job embarrassing Don the other night so we can embarrass her tonight um obviously Jamie's been serving uh as assistant director for quite some time here so uh she's we met uh shortly after uh we figured out you know Don had picked a date and and so we met shortly after and and uh I wrote this sentence down and I'm just going to read it because uh her Talent is really only matched by her desire um so as hard as it and sad as it was to say goodbye to Don uh it's going to be equally exciting to see where Jamie takes elcap from here um so congrats uh Jamie I'm really looking forward to working with you as well um I think we're going to see some fun things out of elcat moving forward um the police Union recently voted to ratify uh the agreement of their new contract to become effective July 1st 2024 um we only had uh I think four meetings um and we were able to successfully negotiate a contract um satisfactory to both parties um this agreement will run through June 30th 2027 uh we're working on finalizing the language and that will sort of come back uh in front of you again um but I just want to say thanks to um everyone involved uh it was uh f for for collaborative and Swift uh bargaining sessions which I'm sure if you read the news that doesn't always happen so um thanks to everybody um Board of uh Westcom board of directors met jointly with uh Westcom operations committee on Friday uh to discuss their annual assessment outlined by the district agreement um and so start discussion on the FY 26 budget uh which has to move a little more briskly than uh us the the budget has to be into uh into the state 911 by uh mid January in order to get all the funding and grants and all that stuff in for the state budget so uh we uh I we didn't it was kind of a marathon of a meeting uh it went about three hours so I don't really have much of an update on the building we didn't really get to that uh but we are moving along there's been uh an issue or two nothing outside of what you wouldn't expect on an 18 million full renovation building project um some things were found when some things were removed and um so nothing crazy uh we are watching the clock on the electrical switch gear as well which is pretty much every project right now that seems to be the biggest lead time is electrical equipment um so um I I'll Continue to update that uh on the building project um uh we're under contract with VHB to complete the uh feasibility study for the extension of the rail trail which I know everybody's excited about uh from Maple Street to Westwood um so we we I just signed that contract at the end of last week uh we expect in the next couple weeks to have survey out there and uh sort of some some early early work and again thanks to mass Trails for uh uh for the funding in order to sort of complete this phase of the project and and again it seems like I know everybody knows the process now but we're getting these estimates together for a reason so that we can sort of plan on how to do the construction which is going to be uh you know a significant investment um Centertown District committee hosted Andre Laro at Brew practitioners on August 29th uh to talk about 40R smart growth development um Andre volunteered his time uh and gave an informative presentation uh recorded by elcat by the way uh there's a link on the manager's report um but it's on the YouTube channel um the next uh steering committee public engagement will be October 21st 6 to 8 and did you pick a location right here uh in the big room at uh the Council on Aging um I also want a special thanks to Rebecca ly the deputy Town manager for securing Andre um he volunteered his time she did all the leg work to get him here um I think for everyone that was there it was very informative uh it sort of shed some light on some some issues that people uh had heard or thought about 40R that uh you know weren't true and or were were different from what we've heard already so um I thought he did a great job and thank you for securing that again uh check that out on YouTube if if you have time um so uh pursuant to recently enacted affordable homes act uh I asked the town attorney Jesse Belcher Timmy to do some research um on the obligations imposed upon the town um there's a memorandum here um attached to the manager's report I'm happy to read into the record if you want um if not it'll be posted with it online but um the town staff has already begun uh sort of crafting Andor brainstorming on how to create this bylaw uh for the ACT becomes effective February 2nd 2025 which uh you know based on our bylaw process uh we got a leave three months for that so we I mean realistically have to have a bylaw wrapped up before Thanksgiving at at the latest um so we we've already got going on that um I don't know if you um if you want me to read that memo into the record if you don't think it's necessary um um so upcoming events I I forgot to write it down again Ed will uh Deb will edit that in uh the September 11th ceremony um at the fire department tomorrow night 8 o'clock Paul um that's quite all right just setting a reminder uh it's it's it's it's really a uh sort of a I don't know the adjective to use but it it's a beautiful ceremony the the fire department does a great job um obviously a somber topic but um very very nicely done um if you haven't been I recommend that you go tomorrow night um again it's a it's a it's a nice ceremony um cew with the town manager uh October 2nd uh 10:30 at the COA uh the rotary rotary clubs doing celebrate El again uh center field October 12th 11 to4 uh third annual October Fest uh October 19th 12 to4 at brown farm um and uh again the Centertown District uh did I change the date on that no the 21st is it the 21st the time is off okay thank you uh the 21st from 6: to 8 here at the at the COA all right that's it thank you if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them none we will move on to Communications correspondence and announcements and our first one is the September 3rd 2024 State primary okay so uh my report usually starts with numbers um and you've got all the numbers for the prein the uh the official results and I'm starting off with um our numbers for early inperson voting so there is a week in a Saturday dated by the state based on our population for early inperson voting and we were open Saturday 9 to4 and then the following week or 9 to five then the following week eight to 100 voters walk in so not a great turnout and to set up early in person voting it's almost like you're setting up a mini election poll like every day get there early get the ballots there lock up the ballots at night uh we stay for to make sure all the ballots that were um cast that day have been recorded into our voter registration system so it's not a great turnout it wasn't there was only one contested race over three parties ballots um however when you look at 100 voters that show up over six days the votee by mail numbers again are increasing so over 2,800 2900 people requested vote by mail ballots for this election and you hear me talk about the postcard applications it started coming from the state in January so anybody that checked off all elections automatically would get a vote by mail kit set sent to them in the mail so there was requested over 2900 that we had to send out we got 1,400 back so that's quite a lot um when you look at the actual number of Voters which was 1,891 almost 14% 1,400 of those are vote by mail ballots in the 100 early voters so that means 400 people came through the door all day through the polls so vote by mail increase is the turnout it's a lot of work we handle those ballots many times during that time um but it does it does increase turnout but the early in person voters seem to decrease it was a good election again I'm praising my assistant Jackie Sullivan my staff my election workers the schools the custodians the library for letting us use their um conference room for early in person voting I'm so grateful for that and it was almost like a dry run for November what are we gonna do in November we're gonna have two weeks and two Saturdays of early in person voting we're probably gonna have twice the amount of vote by mail every time there's an election and you did not request a vote by mail from the previous one you'll get another postcard from the state where people will just request them online they can do on online we have to check a portal every day for that or they can just do a paper ballot um application for that so um we're already waiting for the ballots for November October 19 we start our first day of really in person voting um however we are we have to send out 2900 so that's a lot of work so as soon as we get those ballots I'm G just keep going to November so um I don't know if you have any questions about that but what are you doing your free time come cl cl the council we're going to have liquor license renewals coming up by the end of the month so it's a busy time we knew 2024 was going to be heavy election year so we're we're almost done three down one to go she has to ban me from her office if she you can fit in my office great thank you for the update Janie the next item was as Tom mentioned just a reminder that tomorrow is the September 11th candl light vigil at the fire department I do have a couple other additional announcements as well um also tomorrow night slightly before the candlelight vigil the Lions Club is holding their Distinguished Citizen of the Year award for Paul federi who used to be and still is quite active in town but was a former counselor and select member um and that's held at Mario's Cafe at 6 o' if anyone's interested in attending that uh the islative update that we had mentioned at a previous council meeting I had worked with the our three legislators and they were unable to attend our meeting since September but they will be here on October 8th so if you have any questions or anything you'd like to bring up with them you can send that off to them in advance and then the legal update executive session since Anna wasn't going to be able to make it tonight we'll do that on the 24th all right moving on public hearings we have none so orders of the day licensing matters our first item is to discuss fera Incorporated doing business as tooro Mexican restaurant at 621 North Main Street so IID asked for this to be on the agenda Genie had brought to my attention that there were a few outstanding issues with the lcy um to my knowledge the few is issues and correct me if I'm wrong if I'm missing any that they had changed their doing business as name which requires both the council and abcc approval and also would require planning board to amend their special permit um they also put up new signage without the permit from the planning department and then amending the special permit for outdoor dining since the special legislation that the state had enacted had previously expired on April of 2024 um given those issues I thought it was relevant for the council to discuss that in our path forward especially considering other license actions that we've taken recently and I thought it was appropriate that we apply a fair and consistent pattern everyone so Connor they are here from the restaurant right if there's if you want to come forward and speak to any of those issues hear you soot could you come forward to the table they heard you and if you could just state your name and address for the record as well um so my name is Elder Martinez I'm just a translator for Mr Lis poo um just that's biggest issue for why some of the permits haven't been done lately just the language barrier um but we are working with that I was just with Jenny yesterday trying to get the um DBA done and we're working today with the signage the permit um we're just missing a couple of things uh the other issue you said the or what was I thing third part so there was the the change in the doing business as name because it previously was toito yeah that's the DV we worked on yesterday then there was the the new signage to correspond with that name which also requires approval from the planning department yeah so we didn't he didn't think we needed a um a renew the permit for that but we are working on that and one more thing after that and then the special permit for the outdoor dining oh the patio yes yes yes so we are also working on that um I think just issued with the Department yeah and stuff like that but we are working on that and we do apologize for you know holding up to so now you know trying to get things done but it's just lot it's just language barrier that's it all right so Mr Le is also telling me that right now we're just waiting also for an engineer send list the plans um I guess yall need some plan the patios planning board will need plans right yeah yeah so that would have to get submitted to the planning board and the planning department for that okay so we are with just for that um Alex is working with them on that too okay yeah but other than that I mean we do apologize for that he is sorry you know just a lot of things but um it's just language to right now the two questions that I would have and then I'll ask if there's any other counselors that have questions one would be do you have like an estimated timeline on when you're hoping to get all of those things done like submitting the um should be done that before next month okay yeah um I don't know how long the dbaa takes you know to go through we just sent that in yesterday um so I'm reviewing it um there was one document missing but I was able to get that from the Secretary of State's website it doesn't require public hearing change of DBA it doesn't require AB butos notifications so if it's an order that can go on the um your next agenda they also have to change the DBA with the planning board though I believe right the special permit includes the DBA name yeah so it's planning made before us next what doesn't matter they've got I don't even think they're ready to submit to planning though to on they miss for the next meeting for sure yeah so once you would approve the change of DBA for the abcc it still goes to the abcc but that's I think my compared to the deck right situation sure so um I have a question if this hadn't been called to your attention in the last week that you have um overlooked these important things and taken steps on your own to um assume you didn't need to do anything with the DBA and you put up new signage and you've known for several months that you couldn't use the deck until you asked must with the planning board if that hadn't been called out to you um would you have taken the action on your own to take care of all that sorry um so I believe Lis Palo he's uh he's been taking action um not too long ago uh he had someone helping him he supposedly did the DBA you know in try everything started um so that's why he didn't when it came to his knowledge and all that it's becoming an issue that's when he started you know trying to get into it that's why he asked me for help translate you know but he know about it for a while I just thought they were working on them that's it first I want to say I appreciate the fact that your your willingness to be a translator um for the owners but uh it's important for the owners to understand that you're being given a license to serve food and serve alcohol and those are two licenses that this town takes very seriously uh as somebody as Connor mentioned a few minutes ago over the past several months we have taken away a license from an establishment because they didn't comply previous to that we issued discipline to another establishment because they sold um uh alcohol to underage and a third uh lensey had to go before the abcc for the same uh Venture um so I'm here as the chair of the licensing committee to tell you that you have three strikes against you right now you didn't file paperwork for DBA you've already got a new sign up and the issue of the deck has been outstanding for several several months you're operating that deck illegally that's sign that signage is up there illegally because it hasn't gotten the proper approval from the various departments and um I'd like to make a recommendation that until all of this paperwork is approved through the various steps and the abcc that um the owners be prohibited from using the deck going forward until the matter is settled and that the uh issue would the signage which is up there illegally be covered um and consistent with um our uh regulations I would ask that we alert the uh police chief that his officers actively enforce that these measures um are being adhered to is that a motion I made a it was a long one I'll second so further discussion yeah um so if I may ask our town clerk um did was a permit applied for during the covid extension for outdoor dining so that they could use the outdoor deck no And Ralph's talking about is through the town manager there was a temporary um guidance put through by the state that you could use outdoor dying on a temporary basis you wouldn't have to fulfill all the criteria of the regular code and you would have to apply for that they didn't apply for that and then that temporary advisory expired April 1 so anybody with temporary outdoor dining had to go for permanent alteration of premises for permanent dining and the ABCs actually made it easier for the local licensing authority to approve that but they hadn't done that and I've been in constant communication with the lawyer representing the owners and currently with the planning board if I remember right right there was the deck was not supposed to be used for outdoor dining correct knew that that was from the former operator of the former restaurant it was supposed to be a smoking deck and that carried through it evolved into a dining deck and they probably could have done it temporary had they gone through the proper channels during covid to do the temporary dining outside and that was done so people could be furart when they dined um be in open air so so currently they're not supposed to be using that deck right I think there was an issue with the extension of the deck that there wasn't a permit was taken yeah but I don't believe it's the it's that's not these owners right it's previous owner that portion was taken care of but from what I understood is yeah none of it got properly addressed by plan front of us they well came in front of the planning board they understood that they weren't supposed to use the deck no um so I just want to verify that and make sure that you understand that that outside deck is not supposed to be used for outdoor dining all right um You Don't Mind y absolutely we also said sign has to be covered well that that was my recommendation it has to be voted on oh okay okay but see okay has the deck been used like up until like the last couple of days or into like yesterday as you know has this continued to be a in use up until today yes yes one additional question um I know that there were multiple Torito restaurants across the state more out east than out and western Mass did those also change their name as well or is there a different change of ownership [Music] company so I guess it just legal issues um I guess there's no Toritos in a different state and they're just I guess was like taking their names so I guess there was like a case about that gu they lost it so we had to change the names to what it is now but there's no new owner or anything like that so then all of the ones that are owned by the same company in Massachusetts are changing all of their names collectively oh we don't know that we don't know that um we're just he's just there for the Islam I don't want just m okay so the motion again was toit the use of the deck and to cover the signage until all of the um until they're in compliance with the with the planning department and any other building department that buil that deck has to be inspected uh until they're in compliance with all departments which is the same threshold that we hold all of our other licenses too so we can't make an exception now because the sign is up or the owner misunderstood that you know what he could or could not do is there a second second second is there any further discussion it's pretty reasonable and targeted to the current given the nature of that I'll ask for a roll call vote Jim uh yes Kathy yes Marilyn yes I'm a yes Ralph yes I'm a yes thank you so until further notice until all of those things are complied with the sign has to be covered and there's no outdoor dining permitted all right understand apolog about that thank you for coming thank you right other licensing matter I can just interject jie or Tom I don't know who no who who will follow up but to let Chief Williams know to have his officers um you know enforce that particularly the deck they need a few days to get the sign covered obviously but um definitely no use of that deck okay other licensing matters we have approval of a one day elector license for a high school reunion is there a motion I make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license for the Masonic temple 43 Chestnut Street for a high school reunion on September 21 2024 from 5: to 10 p.m. motion's been made in seconded is there any further discussion saying none all those in favor please say I I I any opposed we also have another Funday liquor license for a birthday party yes there a motion I'm make a motion to approve a one-day license for the desonic temple 43 Chestnut Street for a birthday party on September 28th 2024 from 4M to 10m I will second motion motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I any opposed great we will move on to financial matters the approval oftion there a motion for the acceptance I make a motion to approve donations made to the library and Council on Aging totaling 9,692 35 as presented per Massachusetts General Law chapter 44 section 53a I'll second it motion made in seconding the one further discussion point I would add is just thank you those individuals or organizations that contributed there was quite a lengthy list for all of those amounts that added up so thank you to all of them any other discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I any opposed great we have C approval of minutes is there a motion to approve our August 13th minutes I make a motion to approve the August 13 2024 Open Session minutes second motions been made and seconded is there any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I any opposed abstaining because I not great thank you and then old business we have the hazard mitigation plan for a required second reading good evening everyone um good evening Mimi Kaplan from P Valle planning uh our contracted consultant that helped us with this whole project did all the works Paul I'm another Committee Member but there was there was a lot of discussion but before I forget because we were supposed to do it last time um if everybody could just sign uh we have an agenda and that's everybody in the room I guess I need signatures from everybody so if everybody could just sign this as we as I get the projector set up um I would appreciate it that because that's got that's part of the it's part of the official record also have out of the slides if anybody wants I have one already I would love to thank you it all anybody else M yeah I forgot which pen I had in my hand don't laugh thank you Chris what was that supposed to do PC set okay how long you going to let him suffer we had it running beforehand can call Bill back sabotaged by the school committee did you press the world button what button World button we need is one one injury in lawsuit I could barely turn on my [Laughter] computer the rescue she said H she said to hit HDMI but there is no HDMI button there a PC button so maybe that's what it's doing Mo if it works no your benefit I will say you did have it working earlier did I didn't even let my computer go to sleep because I didn't want that to mess it up well that's the problem now your computer's tired our Point yeah line how was it the watch button press the watch button there's no button for watch so it's just not wrong got this don't have to still pay you the Powerpoint I have it on my laptop but that's not gonna help right not perpectly and on a flash it's back on Rebecca a lot Mone we can get up in the corner many people does it take yeah there's a joke there's a joke [Laughter] in oh spinning oh boy I do it on my cell phone again yeah turn it off and turn it back on yes you want to join the zoom and share your screen what's that and share your screen screen can you put it up there oh it would be up here I can do that and there's handout let's just do that yeah thanks for coming early and send it up I hate when things don't work a couple minutes did literally working I saw him he was all excited I don't know played Sor send the invitation Qui that invitation okay okay nursing can't all go smooth Paul what's that can't all go smoke get it part of the hazard medic very haard something's on fire I can put it out well there's always that that projector were to burst in yeah work is loading what's loading my email I sent it yeah I got it shouldn't have leave I heard that I didn't I was just getting my list back after being okay can you mute yourself or turn now your panelist so should be able toen see his computer how do I do that on the bottom here screen yeah there's a little green I think everybody has it print out at home it's nice go perfect look at this here we go he best get a round of applause all right should I start then everybody see it all right um all right so thank you for having me tonight um as Chief mors said said Mimi Kaplan senior planner at planer Valley Planning Commission so I've been working with the town since I think May of 2023 on this plan um and this is the second of two required public meetings um just to give you an overview of the plan which has um been completed draft plan um and to get any comment from you or from the public and um and then submit it to MIMA we will be just about done um so next slide uh so thank you to the hazard mitigation plan committee everybody you see listed here um they came to all the committee meetings I think I I said this last time we had 100 100% attendance every time um they provided data and information for the plan assisted with stakeholder engagement um identified and prioritized mitigation actions for the plan and reviewed and commented on the draft plan uh next slide uh so FEMA defines Hazard mitigation as any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people in property from natural hazards and so some examples of mitigation actions would be things like limiting development in high-risk areas like flood planes for example uh retrofitting structures to protect them from hazards such as floods high winds earthquakes uh drainage and flood control projects and then education and Outreach like fire safety education next slide so there are sorry you know I think I need a water going around drying here it's in the air all hope this will be better uh so there are a number of benefits of Hazard mitigation so having an approved plan makes the town eligible to apply for funding from FEMA for the next five years um mitigation helps communities prevent future future losses and save monies on save money on disasters so FEMA has done some kind of studies and uh that show that every $1 spent on mitigation can save $6 on future disaster losses um makes communities more resilient to Natural hazards and the impacts of climate change um incre increases awareness of Hazard and risks through education and Outreach um and in the case of any extreme disasters um lives next slide uh so the com the components or contents of the hazard mitigation plan um are basically what are listed here so the uh first chapter just explains the whole planning process um this is all it's a very uh FEMA requires it exactly way so um then um the next chapter is community profile explains the town's demographics infrastructure natural resource Etc uh next chapter Hazard information and risk assessments so going through uh explaining uh every natural Hazard that could influence impact uh the town and assessing how much of a risk each of those hazards is um mitigation capability assessment so that's where uh the plan explains what are the capabilities the town currently has for mitigating hazards and I'll explain these a little bit more in the next few slides um and then mitigation strategies that's kind of the hard of the pl so um all of the mitigation actions that um the town could potentially do in the next five years to reduce the risk of all of the natural hazards that we will talk about um and then finally plan implementation and maintenance so hopefully this plan won't just sit on a shelf there uh that the town the committee will make sure that some of these actions are implemented and that the plan is maintained so that's the hazard mitigation plan in a nutshell um so the timeline and process um there were five committee meetings I think we met from May through September of 23 we had the first public meeting in October um I completed the draft plan and there was a review period this summer took me a little longer than I planned to complete the draft plan just we're very busy at pvpc and a little bit underst staffed but um so the second public meeting is right now um I'll be revising the plan based on any comments tonight and then submit the plan to MIMA and FEMA normally they have uh they require some revisions they're usually very minor and they don't take very long um but it can take them a long time to review the plans so hopefully it won't take more than a few months then once FEMA approves the plan the Town Council adopts the plan and then the plan is official for the next 5 years um and you can apply for funding from FEMA so this is the natural Hazard risk analysis the committee um updated this from the previous plan so went through every um natural Hazard listed here that could affect East Long Meadow and determined what the location of occurrences meaning how big of an area of the Town um could it affect small medium large um um and based on previous events as well as any available data projections for climate change impacts Etc determined what the probability of the natural Hazard occurring in the next year would be from very low up to very high um and there is a methodology in the plan that explains how they kind of came up with these um and then determine the impact of the natural hazard from limited up to minor uh or critical or catastrophic and then based on all those assigned a number to each hazard from one being um the highest risk to five being the lowest risk so um they determined that severe snow and ice storm severe thunderstorm and high winds would be the highest risk to the town followed by flooding hurricanes extreme temperatures um and then um tornado sorry and then Wildfire brush fire earthquake damn failure and drought uh the lowest and again this is just looking ahead for like the next five years so you know it's possible that in 10 20 years things change you know these the frequency might change the severity might change but you know we we don't we don't know exactly what's going to happen um next slide y um so the existing mitigation capabilities I was talking about these are examples um and these are all uh written in the plan and B table um things such as zoning ordinances bylaws building code existing plans that address Hazard mitigation like the Emergency Management plan the osrp that open space and Recreation plan um the resilient master plan um having a culvert prioritization plan uh nfip enrollment is National flood insurance program um there's only eight policies currently in town um having a burn permit requirement a cooling and heating Center for extreme temperatures and or power outages um Tree Management to reduce power outages from Limbs and trees falling on power lines um fire safety education for children's and seniors um an emergency communication red so that's not everything but those are a lot of the important ones town has a lot of existing capabilities uh so the actions the mitigation actions fall into four main categories first one being local plans and regulations so any types of regulations policies Etc that um would reduce uh the impact of Hazards on land and buildings uh structure and infrastructure so any projects that either improve existing infrastructure or build new infrastructure that could reduce the impact of Hazard like replacing a culvert or a bridge um natural systems protection those are actions that preserve or restore the functions of natural systems in order to reduce damage or loss so that could be like open space preservation uh so that land could absorb FL flood waters storm water um for example um and then education and awareness programs uh programs to educate and engage the public about hazards and mitigation actions and any opportunities so that the public is aware of what's available in terms of say like heating cooling centers um and also just knowing what the risks are and what they can do themselves to mitigate risk so those are the categories and then um so I I didn't include every single ation action you can always look in the plan if you want to see all of them these were all the High um and medium priority mitigation actions so seeking funding for culbert Replacements and implementing those that's always a high one every every municipality um installing emergency generators at the high school hosting online and also sending out information about extreme weather preparations uh Town residents um increasing enrollment in code red as well as the School emergency alert system uh improving drainage for mosquito control and increasing education about mosquito born illnesses uh enacting regulatory updates that would include low impact development and green infrastructure strategies that would that would help to mitigate flooding and then um becoming a firewise community which is a program where in the town assesses its Wildfire risk and then makes an action plans that right think that right y just just to reduce risk from fire um and then also along with that maintaining um the existing trail system that's in an area of concern of the town for wildfires as these can act as fire breaks so that's um that's it for the presentation part um and if there's any comments or questions about the plan about the planning process about natural hazards or climate change impacts in general see the time chair of course um I'm just curious as far as uh the concern for wildfires considering East s meow is pretty much a swamp do we really fall into so are there any areas that yes there's show concern um give it to George Kingston he uh he he was the ones who commented on the first public meeting so myself Deputy beer met with DCR represent our DCR representative in the area it's the area between Kibby Road hamon Road um Stonehill burnwood and then the Pleasant Street or the Porter Road area that Kibby or um Campbell yeah exactly that Campbell property back there in the power lines um heavily wooded um hasn't been forested in years um and I think it's about 300 acres I think George calculated it out and Mike with Mike Ray's help I think it was just shy of 300 acres and he told us there was about 170 homes that border it all the way around um so yes it's it's it's damp back there in several spots and I grew up I grew up in town I know the area pretty well um we've had one significant brush fire back there probably in the late 1990s um which was by Hoovers was it was pretty extensive just to get in there with equipment and stuff um our operations haven't changed much per that but we because we don't have a lot of areas in town we we don't really prepare for that but our neighboring communities hamen werham long metal they all have because they all have a lot more um Wilderness they have the equipment that we we mutually Aid with them on a regular basis for other stuff so we are confident we can get in there and do what we need to do um but again if we get to a point where there's severe drought in the future um we may have more issues one lightning storm can go strike it um or something like we had back in the late 1990s um it was kids it was poor kids they were charged um they were out there playing in the woods and decided to have some fun um we we we don't have a real issue with that in town right now and we're going to hope it stays that way um but um it is an area of concern I don't see it turning into what you see in the um in California and Oregon and you know Utah area um those are just devastating and we don't have we don't have that kind of issue um but well I do know the area you're talking about extremely well the Beavers got in there about 10 years ago so at least the lowlands under the power lines it literally standing water now yeah but there was and there are areas like if you walk into the from brown farm you can go a decent way and there's no stand there's no water yeah that's we went in that way to the power line and um it's from the BR yeah and it's there's a lot of Duff on the ground that the um DCR guys you know you know that's where the fire is going to run um and and you get a few dried pine trees it just makes it explosive and windy day so I mean again it's you talk about you know maybe getting a Boy Scout Troop out there to maintain the trail as an e Eagle project um become a firewise community which involves going out and meeting with the neighbors telling them you know your your shed you need to clear clear around your shed with leaves and you know brush and you know you don't have mulch you don't have real mulch in front of your house you have Stones um things like that because any any little Sparks that drop in them is is what's going to start it up so we go have my business stone stone Ralph Stone Stone's only once every five to seven [Laughter] years who own a landscaping business I didn't know I'm assuming we've got install emergency generators at the high school yeah the new high school if I remember right will have uh the generator diesel yep doesn't run off of solar no how are we doing with enrollment and code School emergency alert is that a I think code Red's Cod Red's over 5,000 I think the number last time I looked yeah it's it's we're doing pretty good I think we're we're good because we don't send a lot of test messages out which tends to have people unenroll um you know in the the town departments that do use it they don't they don't send it out early voting starts tomorrow Saturday October 19th yeah yeah I mean you always you always hear the towns that just send out everything out we you know storm updates Bruce is really good about making sure they send something out about parking and you know you know the important stuff with that and you know I think it's I think we're heading in the right direction I gonna say it feels like sometimes yeah it's used so widely like that year we had the October snowstorm and a tornado and then there's other years where fortunately like we don't really have any Emergen situation I mean you think about it before that tornado hit in the area how many times any of us saw a tornado in the area I mean early 90s maybe when it came through Bradley Down by Bradley Airport yeah right um but so historically we're not an area for tornadoes but now every year we get a couple tornado watches and you know fortunately they're not like the one 2011 and then what five months later we get that snow I worked that night that was that was not a fun night that was you were probably too that was not a fun night um it was dangerous actually very dangerous out y ums I know we replaced the one on Porter Road I believe there's one on Elm Street that replacing are going to um how how in depth is our list and what do we need so the list was was that the MVP Grant I wish Bruce was here um we have all the Cs listed and assessed and now we'll just have to I mean it they're not they just fixed the one by Franconia that they could do in housee but the the next one on the list was Spade art and it was on the um yes Capital plan but we don't have enough money in the storm water Enterprise fund yet to do the project um but that's the next one on the list I mean it's a pretty in-depth list I don't know how many CS are in town I are Le Street like everything else the the deterioration seems to be faster than um you know most of these covers are very old at this point and we're really just now starting to pay attention uh through all this grant stuff um so yeah there is quite a less nothing in imminent danger of course uh or else that would be on the top of the list um Spade Arden is is uh damaged a little bit there's three three tubes one of them's blocked and um there's a sewer pipe right underneath that we're worried about so that's why that one got sort of popped up to the top of the list but yeah there's a whole there's a whole we have it all inventoried now obviously uh Mike Ray's got it all them all and like the inspection reports are all if you click on them you can get all the other information but yeah um that was through an MVP Grant with hamen maybe four years ago yeah I had a lot of other towns with that by the way oh see not not that many times I've worked with and I'm doing a lot of these plans have done a c prioritization plan so Bruce has applied I think it was at least four or five years in a row for generators for the town hall through the hazard the brick program with FEMA and he gets to the next level he gets a call from our Massachusetts liaison and he gets to the next level and says oh you're looking good you're looking good then he gets the we're sorry d a super competitive process and it's usually not as nice as that but um yeah I mean he's he's yeah I know he's been applying and trying yeah it's and it's just it gets frustrating it really does I'm on the same boat with other stuff but he Bruce has done it he tried um yeah so hopefully you know when the high school comes in it's already got one we don't need to right need to worry about that for that but well plus the police station we just upgraded there that one is gonna so yep sure there's gonna be more there's never going to stop the list so well I mean it's hard to think about it but the fire stations generator I know the police stations was much older but the fire station generator is is uh almost 30 years old now in two years it'll be 30 years old Bon park right around that right it's 25 years old um and quite frankly they're not building them like they used to no um just ask the guy to services our generator every year yeah um he maintains it he's changed the radiator a couple times and but yeah and if you want to order one it's a long time to get a new but we'll keep it ticking any other questions nice job that was easy than you so much all right thank you thank you very much thanks Paul thank you m all right thank youate it get the sign in sheet box yeah I think he got I got it yeah I got it perfect thank you everybody for that all right new business uh the first item is discussion of no parking signs on street and norn street so this was a continuation at our last meeting we had discussed um Melwood and took action on that but the conditions of approval for the planning board's decision for the new high school they had also listed both Susan Street and nordon street so follow up on that to be on our agenda to discuss if we wanted to take any action or was was that decision on the by the planning board based on when the new school is up and running or currently now are people like they were doing on Melwood parking there to wait for kids to get so if if I may sure yeah this is a sort of a less of an issue at this particular moment all right think it's less of an issue so I misspoke today that we have no parking areas now from Susan to the end of Norton and from Susan to the end of Barry because both of those streets dead end and so people Park and walk over the hill to watch the game there is no site access on that side of them you cannot get that's why we had to go through that whole exercise to get kids to the high school up on Maple Street we had the the police details that's sort of what I referenced at the beginning um there you cannot get into that site un unless that gate at nordon is open and that's only open by Fontaine and then closed so and and and I don't remember specifically but I don't think too many people in that neighborhood were complaining about parking right now or or in the past obviously somebody did at some point or else those two little stubs wouldn't be no parking areas um so that one wasn't one that we needed to hit the gas pedal on nor do we still um and and again um to be sort of use the same process I I'll certainly if you want send letters to the to the people on that street before we start telling them they can't park in front of their own house if it's even a problem right I mean we did that for Melwood I think we should do that for for anyone else because what's proposed if I may um focus is on you know traffic before school and after school right and um if they're not and if it's not happening there if there's no access do we need that specifically yeah so the whole conversation I guess I I when I when I see the traffic sort of rules and regs recommendation and the planning board decision It ultimately has to come to you anyway so no action was really taken in that back area because that wasn't issue um I don't know why um I can't recall the whole conversation at planning board and if they were worried about the proposed site nordon is going to have three accessible parking spaces and that's it and I think they're probably wondering or worried that when the site is complete right people will pull down there and be like geez I can't park here and then they'll just throw and park and walk in which is that could happen but that's not for two and half years three years um so I I don't know how far we want to take the recommendation from the planning board and I don't mean to use that word except I think if they want a no parking area in their decision it still needs your vote um because you're in charge of rules and regs so it sort of needs you to take that recommendation and and take action if you see fit um I don't think this is an issue personally and it certainly isn't well that fence construction fence is up because nobody can get anywhere anyway right so through the chair I I would be up to table this at this time uh one they can't get in there it's partitioned off so so even if someone was to park on the street they're they're parking there but they're not going to the high school and I would like to see us wait until such time that the high school opens and see if there's actually an issue there I think with the new driveways and all and the new traffic pattern um I I think this is going to be a moot point and until we see something I would I would suggest to table it um I mean I'm looking at the back streets there on Melwood was a little bit different you're coming out onto a main road right um at best I mean you've got to back up 20 cars in order to even get to um um Marshall Marshall thank you um and even at that Marshall's really not a main road it's not like Maple Street um that would be my suggestion but again I tend to agree I think we don't really know what the future is going to look like until the construction is all over and if there is actually going to be a problem and even if there is a problem it we may need a different recommendation and solution for that exactly than what might be proposed for us exactly doesn't appear to be an existing problem with those neighbors so I mean unless that suddenly changes then yeah I think it I think it makes abundant sense to just keep it as is and the Melwood situation I think is a little unique you know we're not in the habit of you know limiting parking on tons of streets in this town it's usually for a very specific reason it seems like so if we're all in agreement we can take the matter under advisement and reconsider it in the future if it becomes a problem that's great next matter was discussion of the solicitation bylaws so I had a resident reach out back on August 14th um mostly in relation to solar solicitation seems to be in certain neighborhoods throughout Town more prevalent that people get knocked on doors all the time from different companies trying to solicit their business and he was wondering if there was anything that the town could do prexisting bylaws or regulations and he had also done some additional research and pointed out like long Meadows bylaw on that as an example as well so I looked at what we had on the books we had chapter 393 sitters we also had chapter 342 Hawkers and peders long Meadows was much more significant in scope and detail and exceptions and all sorts of stuff on that um Tom had also provided to me um some additional contexts too from our town legal council as well and that gives me a little pause about considering changes in the sense of making it more restrictive um or trying to be more crafty about it in the sense that a lot of communities potentially including ours with any of those sorts of bylaws both the US Supreme Court but also the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that a lot of these different things are unconstitutional in terms of preventing people from soliciting because it's a violation of their free speech rights so I doesn't mean we can't examine if there's things that we can or should change but I don't know how crafty and creative we ought to get on that matter I do understand that it is an annoyance yeah but I don't know how much of an annoyance and in terms of violating people's rights this came up at a town meeting years ago I don't know the actual specific scope of it but quite simply it had to do with soliciting and when it got to the point that girl scouts couldn't sell Girl Scout ended action at all so you know I don't know what that would resti I me depending what we do how far does it go right so I was just gonna say it's definitely I can understand an issue for like older folks that you know clearly from this email this constituent you know um it happens you know and but most people usually can just chew them away and I've had them come to my door I mean they're pretty like once you say no not interested you know they may come back somebody else might come back in a few weeks but like you're not going to get like this harassment my concern with this Long Meadow bylaw that they have I mean there's certain even restrictions on like political speech and and that type of thing and I I think we should be really careful about if we were to consider anything like this you know people have a right to you know go door too for political reasons for selling product obviously there should be some reasonable restrictions but I don't think it is in frankly the government's interest in just restricting or putting on more rules and regulations that Frank I don't think are a huge problem unless there's this massive problem with solicitations that I'm not aware of I knocked on a lot of doors signatures and and it was really a very positive experience as soon as they knew why I was there you know one of the things it's not being allowed to you know drop literature and I mean that's a popular thing that all types of political campaigns or issue campaigns do you know somebody might not be at home so I just I understand sometimes people find it an annoyance but you know people can just simply you know decline it respectfully um and you know we should be able to run by those rules unofficially as a as a society and as the town what out of curiosity what does the enforcement look like in what's the penalty uh on our current ones or on like long Meadows long either or like um I think ours practical not more than $50 I think it said and though I can't remember how much more there's might have but yeah I mean I think that's the the big elephant in the room too is Rule changes we come up with as police it yeah right and enforcement is when court cases happen you know that well so bad plus he Hing differently the only thing I would consider is there's an issue out there more for you know for seniors people going door to door and some type of scam related type of but I haven't seen or really heard of anything in terms of people soliciting and trying like you know scam of hey I got a a load of wood chips like guess Ralph going around scamming people that I can give you a deal right now that type of thing but I haven't really yeah the driveway Stu your neighbors having a driveway and I've got extra asphalt that's where like public service announcements could come in handy and I know like there's been seniors that have been or people that have Reed calls that are bogus calls or trying to sell you something or um you know so I think it's important that making sure people have those awareness that hey there could be these scammers w So currently or by law if you're going door too you're supposed to receive a badge or something with have people been doing that have they been registering not to my knowledge so so we already have a by law on the books that people are breaking and we're not enforcing to enlarge it or anything you're just going to be writing stuff on paper and if we don't enforce what have we're not going to enforce something else that we do um and I think maybe part of that is just knowledge to them that they probably don't realize that they need a permit or a badge to do it and so they just go up and knock on doors I can't wait till this conversation I get to have for the next person that knocks on my door no but again I don't I don't mean to it's there if I'm an officer maybe I don't even know that this bylaw is on the books right so maybe maybe we maybe we I can check in on the house to house piece of it um I think Jesse was opining we had received a bunch of complaints about panhandling um yeah which is sort of in the same bucket no pun intended um so these guys didn't have Hawkers and Peddler's licensed right okay but again the the First Amendment it's the Amendment and they they're on a public they're actually they're not even our thought was they weren't even on the public way but even if they were it's hard to enforce um sort of unconstitutional um but if you're talking about going on private property door too and we have a process for that that's not being followed um surely that we can look into that because I don't think that's infringing on anybody's right um to up and down the street when we have a process that prohibits it without we don't prohibit it we just have a process that you have to follow that that seems reasonable um maybe that's something we can chat about that's that seems reasonable totally I'll I'll talk with Mark Andor Steve about that and it may be something that we don't need to take action on it now but knowing that we have to do the bylaw review starting in January we could reconsider those two sections to see if there's remaining relevancy or if they need to be modified or they need to go or they need to go if if we're going to get ourselves into trouble trying to enforce them okay great yep the next was the MGM 5e look back study um I didn't have anything in particular on that just more as an agenda item in case anyone had any particular questions or comments or thoughts on it the thing that essentially sued it up at the end of it was the last two paragraphs that essentially said that there basically was no determination of impact they could find to surrounding communities including ours any so the only comment I would make on it is um During the fiveyear period had what two and a half years of covid so it's truly not a fiveyear look back I mean the casino was pretty much closed down and stuff so um although I know you know by the rules and all they had to um but ultimately I don't think our Town's affected um yeah and even if even if it was five bustling years of it I don't think we would be affected um I haven't seen anything I don't know through the town if there's been any increase I hav no in in traffic but slight um uptick in traffic on North Main but we only know that because that was in the Baseline study right um there is I think if it's mentioned in there that there is a traffic study still ongoing um there was for instance we sort of had to have the conversation to get one of our grants which was the the feasibility study for the sidewalk and Maple and Westwood and we had to explain that most people going from Esau Meadow to the casino are going down Maple to Commerce and I don't think they had any data in the original traffic plan on Maple Andor Converse is that correct nothing on Commerce so I think they're trying to piece some more information together but even the traffic increase on North Main which got us a bunch of our M grant money this time was 1% one and a half percent I mean that's from you know some of that's from everybody having to drive their own car because of Co not taking the bus because of C so um you know who who knows where the data is going to go or where it comes from but I think the overarching point is it didn't have the impact that they thought it was G which is overall a good thing because it there's not a lot of consequences that we're trying to mitigate the money excuse me and then our last agenda item was the executive session Minute review so this is our biannual review of any outstanding executive session minutes that had previously been retained and whether any of those retained ones should released upon request from anyone public so there's the recommendation before you if there's a motion to approve unless there's any questions make a motion to approve the recommendations as submitted to us second motion's been made and seconded is there any further discussion I just had a quick question when something is um forever sort of cataloged away what's the sort of maybe the determination of that like is it just because subject area attorney that attorney exactly forever and at some point if someone resped it then they could appeal to it at that point you take a different look at it but uh yeah our attorney basically said he recommends that any other discussion say all those in favor please say I I I any opposed great action items for next meeting if you had any questions for our legislators for October 8th wanted to along and then we have our next meeting on September 24th and we'll also hold the executive session at that time thank you sir legislative who or is Jake going to be here and it should be Jake it should be Angelo pelo and Brian do you want them to send those through me any questions that council members might sure if you want to send them to genie that's fine I got up for year we may want a special meeting on this do the email with their on it that thank you all right if there's no other discussion we can entertain a motion to agend I just want to say when we're done I want to say something personally so don't leave okay okay motion to adjourn second motion's been made in seconded is there any further discussion all those in favor please say I I opposed great we are returned at three