##VIDEO ID:5Ku8rtsvWwg## [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good evening everybody it is Monday November 4th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. and I'll call to order the free toown board of selectum meeting uh tonight we will be going into executive session and then coming back into open session we will be going into executive session for the following two reasons first Master Law chapter 30A section 21 A5 to investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to consider the filing of criminal complaints sorry I don't know why I got so loud there uh and two Master Jal Law chapter 38 section 21 A6 you consider the purchase exchange lease of value of real um of real estate if the chair so declares then I do that an open uh meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body so with that I'll entertain a motion to go into executive session motion made second all in favor i i s yes Selman Zager yes slman Matthews yes we also want to mention the meeting is being recorded and we'll be on our YouTube channel yes thank you the meeting will be is being recorded and will be available on our YouTube channel uh thank you we are now back from executive session and Open Session I'm going to move on to agenda item three this is open session minutes from 10:7 2024 and 10:21 2024 20 2024 um I'll entertain a motion to approve those Open Session minutes a motion made second all in favor I I item four uh discussion of vote whether to accept the holiday donation from the Lions Club to the Council on Aging and the amount of $500 anybody have any issues with accepting this donation no it's very nice of them thank you very much liance Club so with that I'll entertain a motion to accept the holiday donation from the Lions Club to the Council on Aging in the amount of $500 motion me second all in favor I I all right gentlemen five we have four new policies um they are a is the town of Freetown Board of Stockman public input policy bill paying and uh Bill b is bill paying and payroll uh General invoice payment process policy C fraud and internal controls anti fraud policy and D volunteer policy and application I took a look at them it's all seem pretty standard nothing crazy any issues with those NOP exact what they are updating what we have now and making sure they're more streamlined easy to access Perfect all right so with that I'll intend a motion to approve um policies a through D listed in the agenda motion made second all in favor I I okay J item six this is uh for the band sand use for the summer 2025 concert series uh so 617 71 717 729 812 and 826 all 202 5 I think that uh this first year was was a success right I think I heard a lot of positive feedback on it yeah any questions or concerns no let's carry this on all right they did a good job Police Department everyone truck team everyone doing everything the way it should to to make it flow so absolutely let's keep it going the good old days is when the sun doesn't set at 4:00 uh okay so with that I'll entertain a motion uh to authorize exclusive use of the band stand for the summer 2025 concert series on June 16th July 1st July 15th July 29th August 12th and August 26th of 2025 a motion M second all in favor I I I right J item seven this is um discussion of vote whether to approve the deck the house holiday decorating contest and allow um contest winners to receive a prize yeah I don't think I I don't think that we can really do a prize I think we we we could do like um alwn sign and then recognition like on Facebook you know these are the the winners because you know we where are we going to get a prize from True um I guess you know give him a shirt something yeah maybe yeah I participated in shirt maybe we can get that if you guys want to use some of the um selectman tax abatement for uh okay yeah no that that's that's fine just a public recognition is probably all you're looking for there yeah way it's a good idea I like it so the prize would be the lawn I immedately thought that like I'm just like there's no way I'm even going to like I'm I'm not even going to enter this cuz I I just made me feel bad about my lack of decorating I do at my house but you know maybe this maybe yeah maybe this is what will uh give me the motivation to do it any other questions or concerns no well my question is can I enter am I authorized to enter you know I want to make sure my neighbors get the full experience I think I I I have no issues I don't see any conflict of interest there you share it's a public vote and then the town hall has a vote right I think right well I I don't know the details but she was was she going to put it on Facebook and get yeah submit one photo of your decorated residence by completing or emailing yeah no videos gu put it on Facebook y yep what's what's the time frame yeah it's just fun right it's just going to be a fun thing December 17th was the deadline December 17th yeah that's when the judging happens right so it's yeah got okay Noy Neighbors so with that I will entertain a motion to approve deck the house holiday decorating contest and allow contest winers to receive recognition from the town yeah perfect motion made a second all in favor I I I I would just tell her that before she sends that anything out if she does it that she makes sure because it's you know it does say in here a prize yeah yeah I just I I after I thought about it I'm like we really can't I mean we would would be using tax dollars yeah to give the prize and I I think that's it unless someone donates I don't know well it seems like more wor than it's worth so so but I think it'll be fun e e either way yeah absolutely I think just the recognition and maybe like a lawn sign that's um first place winner maybe we can get some trophies claque or something yeah there we go all right Jenna item eight uh discussion whether to approve the use of the VFW as a venue for Paint and Sip event on uh in November or December in 2024 I think this is awesome idea um I've never done one of these but I hear good things my wife loves them yeah my my parents have been I think my wife went on one as well any questions or concerns no no no this is great absolutely okay so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve use of the VFW as a venue for Paint and Sip event in November or December of 2024 motion mid second all in favor I I and do we have really the right to tell the VFW to they have to make their own decision right Ren they are um they are very gracious to the town they they let us use their facility quite frequently for many things so um it's really a thank you to them I know they let us you know we do the Christmas party there yeah our veterans agent meets clients there lots of times um so they do make their facility available to us very gracious all right great okay so agenda item 9 and then we're going to get to the reason why we have you folks here we're getting there we're get close uh this is number nine discussion of vote whether to approve the community program director to host a comedy night at the VFW in January or February 2025 um with the food truck this sounds also like an awesome idea I heard the selectman have to participate a two-minute dialogue I guys up for it that's one of my I saw that on meeting J somewhere that sounds great though I think this will be fun all right so without a motion to approve the community dor uh Community program director to host a comedy night at the VFW in January February 2025 with a food truck a motion made second all in favor I I okay 10 discussion of vote on the implementation and use of body cameras for the free toown police department and we have the chief here all right Chief so what are all the the boots on the ground say that's my question or off the rip well if we can uh go back a little bit uh approximately three years ago the town negotiated with the uh CBA the of the the police Union and this was a negotiated item um came to an agreement you know with the U the bargaining unit and um with the stipulation that the bargaining units wanted to have some implementation of the design of the uh of the policy so going forward it's it's an agreed upon item that we can push forward as when we are ready to prepare to do so so currently the grant was offered in the early spring of this year which I applied for I was able to uh propose and write a grant that uh would support 25 of our sworn officers on the the department with body warn cameras um we are waiting for the announcement from for for the grant we're expecting it this month um I like to think that the department in the town has a good shot of getting this grant approved the body War cameras are starting to become a standard um electronic device used by area departments I think if anything we're probably on the minority end of not having them uh I think a lot of departments are being pushed in that direction just to show transparen uh of the department and U the protection not only over the department personnel but the town as a whole that we're showing the type of work that we're doing out there in the street so currently I'm still in a holding pattern uh with that we I have started communicating a little bit and with a draft policy with the Union so we can start uh talking and negotiating over those issues outlined in the policy um but really the true um direction of this program is going to rely on the support of the the the grant funding um if we get awarded the grant we'll be able to make that next leap towards it um until then I wish I could have a more positive response whether or not we can have this program up and running until I get that announcement what is what is the cost of it to buy if we didn't have the grant if the grant wasn't awarded to us so there's multiple levels of expense regarding this um the cost of uh the body warn cameras so you have the individual uh camera for each officer you have multiple different uh mounting devices that the camera attaches to because sometimes the camera could be uh mounted to a a heavyduty jacket it has a magnet mount for that thickness of that jacket then there's also another magnet Mount that you can use underneath the Shure there's another Mount that you use for Molly gear the tactical gear that we wear out there in the street and then finally the uh officers that uh uh might not be wearing any of that type of gear might have it like on their belt like a a detective or an administrative officer so the uh there's that there's other uh servers there's um all the devices docking stations it's it's it's quite a bit when I applied for the grant of course I apply to use as much of that funding that's available to us to support um all those uh equipment needs and software needs and servers and all that stuff uh at the end of the day I applied for enough equipment um and support for this program that reaches over $200,000 now that's on the extreme of things um if we wanted to be more reserved in some of the equipment um it could be less but um off the cuff I'm just trying to think like just for a mounting device it's usually I ranged between $1 and $150 just for one mounting device wow um the camera alone I want to say it was like $700 per camera but then there's other features that you can get or not get depending on what type of level of access you want to have but then you're dealing with the maintenance the storage the Ser the server alone which is a 16 tbte server for the system costs1 13,00 ,000 um with this grant it only gave you the opportunity to be able to store the data on an in-house server you couldn't rely on cloud storage for this grant so knowing that I also applied for a backup server for that main server to be used in case of it going or crashing or going down why again why not take a the U full advantage of this Grant if you know applicable to bring those that equipment inh the way I saw after completing the grant if we get award this grant we should be set for at least a minimum of five years going forward where we would have to consider if we want to extend the body1 camera that the town will have to make that investment in that leap if we maybe we could stay with that same type of system and reuse some of the gear that goes along with it that might like reduce some of the cost but it's hard to say at this point in time no I was just curious you know my my curiosity was getting me as to how much money this stuff was costing yeah I think the initial setup for this system is minimal compared to long-term um sites on how it's going to affect the department so getting the equipment having the company train the department in the use of that equipment uh setting up all the software train training the department and administration Personnel of maintaining the system redacting um video when required by public records request all these issues creates work and responsibility within the department so what does that mean I'm going to have to have people being able to do these functions within the department and that might create it will create more work within the agency that needs to be completed um is it possible that we might need an additional Personnel maybe um I know some agencies they hire specific civilians to Monitor and maintain these type of systems I would probably look to work that within our department but I only mentioned that that again there's more work and responsibility that comes with that system and it has to be maintained MH me but the other side of the coin is you know if we get in some kind of lawsuit and you know that's a piece of evidence that that mitigates a huge expense because you know I'm I'm very confident that our officers are you know doing what the right thing right and I personally I watch a lot of this like chess cam footage like on YouTube and stuff and it's like I think it's really important like is it it you know it takes away any kind of um you know he said he he he said she said just it it makes sense to me I I feel like if I was it's easy for me to say this cuz I'm not a police officer if I was I feel like I'd want to wear one just to cover myself you know and that's kind of what we're hearing right is that the officers want it so a majority of the of of the officers on the department want to have the system they can see the advantage of that level of protection if those officers are good doing a good job and they're doing what they're supposed to be doing it's only going to show an account for what they're dealing with out in the street and um they're going to see some of the behaviors that you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it well that's what the body cameras are all about right right and I would even go a step further once you put people on notice that you're being audio and video recorded it changes the whole tone right changes people's behavior yeah okay so that even benefits all the Personnel in the department right if it you know it could mitigate uh yeah or diffuse the situation just by it being there that makes sense to me that's why people have the smile your on camera signs in front of their businesses and stuff right I I think this is why it's become a a norm within law enforcement because the you know the proof is in the video right before we're relying on officers testimonies in their reports and whatever evidence that they could provide maybe a picture could support that officer's report but even to this day the Integrity of officers are constantly being challenged MH they're saying that we're not being truthful or we're not that's not the right light of frame when they wrote that report were embellishing well let me tell you that cameras are the way to go to thwart some of those uh contradictory issues from attorneys yep all right so I mean I I think I know where I understand on this um yeah I got a couple questions one chief chief accreditation wise right I know you're heavily involved in the accreditation process here for Freetown MH does this change that is that add more check boxes to the accreditation process will that be a check boox to check in the future or there is an accreditation standard that uh has Direction about body warn cameras and I'm already on top of that believe it or not so um drafting the policy and having those um accreditation guidelines in place um I've already reviewed that it's all reasonable it's pretty sensible it's the standard practice of professional departments what they're doing out there and it's not unreasonable for us to be able to Main and make that standard so I'm honestly I'm not even overly concerned about that we're going to meet that standard plus some MH all right and then the next question is it goes back to my original question regarding how the men women are feeling about this right over the last few years there's been quite a bit big change from the last time the union was negotiated three years ago new Chief new lieutenant five new super advisory sergeants and all their additional officers and support of those folks that moved up in the chain um I understand the Union contract says they're a go from three years ago but how are they feeling about it because as you know um like any any hiring we do across the board we make sure they're part of the team right team comes first versus anything else so how's the team feel about having the body camera right Union aside like I know the Union's going to they're going to be they're going to follow the letter of the law and follow the union agreement but can this have the potential of creating that animosity in in in the or not animosity I hate to say animosity more that that unease feeling at work right I I how's the how how are they feeling about it I am not seeing um any resistance within the department on this and matter of fact I am working closely with the union members because I want this to work smoothly and the discussion that we're having and and the concern I don't you know of course I'm relaying this from this side of things I don't want to speak on behalf of of the union and the union member that's here present here tonight but that's why I said whoever wanted answer it I think but looking from the men and women of the department they know that this is a change that's going to impact the department so the design of the and and their input regarding the policy of course is going to be beneficial not only for the town as a whole but for the union members as well but one of the concerns going forward is they you know being trained and being able to use that equipment properly I would think that they're worried about being how it's going to affect them in a disciplinary fashion okay so I think it's understandable any anybody here would think it would be reasonable to think that there's going to be a time period to learn how to get adjusted by using these cameras I've seen departments make a timeline of okay let's take let's make sure that the guys and G have the ability to use this properly in a 6 to 8 month span without being critically disciplined on did they they forgot to turn it on they didn't put it in the docking station properly they ran out of battery power out on the street all these minor things need to be adjusted and directed as they learn how to use this system that seems reasonable I agree with that that doesn't excuse bad behavior doesn't say that nobody can be disciplined over that 6 to8 month span if they do something horrendously wrong yeah but the operation and the use of that equipment needs to have time for them to be adjusted without severe persecution of using the system that makes sense MH yeah do do we get a sign that says free town as an inuse body cam City like we like for instance we have freet town is a Purple Heart town right right is there a sign we put it somewhere saying you're being recorded at all times or just a learning curb well M yeah they'll see it on your chest I know but I just make sure the folks listening at home they understand what's what what their constitutional rights are and everything else cuz I'm sure it'll come up within this within this grant one of the requirements was to spell out a specific timeline and once this grant is awarded and when this body camera system can be implemented there's a number of steps that need to go forward obviously I just talked about you know the the the policy and being uh drafted and worked on with the the CBA and getting it approved but there's also a notification process what does that mean we going to notify the community by um different types of Medias letting them know that our community does have body one cameras we're going to be notifying the neighboring police law enforcement agencies that the Freetown Police department is just started a body War camera program we'll be notifying the court system we'll be notifying the District Attorney's office our our other departments that we work side by side with whether it's the highway department or or the fire department all these folks will be notified it's very important that everybody knows that we have this camera system even within the draft policy that we have started working on within the policy it outlines that whenever we interact with the public we are notifying them letting them know they're being audio and video recorded there is no hiding this m we you in the public you're in the public that's the way it goes we can be video recorded law enforcements so can't the public it's the public but we are enhancing that notification by letting them know that we are audio and video recording you so but we are taking all those steps going forward to make this work smoothly and to um benefit the town and the apartment going forward M sense absolutely sounds like I'm crossing some tees and dotting some eyes while we're doing it so fantastic yeah yeah I think it's it's it's going to be a great tool um I'm hoping um yeah I'm just hoping this grant goes forward uh we've gotten a lot of support talk talk to our local uh politicians from um state representative and um the senator uh gave us letters of support um I'm just again keeping my fingers crossed and I'd like to give you guys that good news that uh we can go forward with this program do you know when the ground will be announced it's sometime this month okay so you know we'll probably get it like November 30th I don't know I mean I'd like to get it sooner you know I can march on and work work with it all right right thank you Chief so I'm ready to call vote you so and it's just the vote is just here to support to move forward with the body um the body cameras right there is a vote on the agenda I mean I think that you you as police Commissioners want to vote that that's how you want to move forward yeah okay because you can always turn down the grant if if if you didn't want to move forward you could if we were awarded the grant you could decline the grant um so this is that conversation yes that you want move forward I I do have one question though what about public records request and how are you going to handle that so dealing with records requests is two different portions when you're dealing with records requests from law enforcement it's pretty easy we don't have to do any redaction there we can get it out to the district attorney's office the court system or even other local law enforcement for investigative purposes however when you're dealing with public records requests we have to follow the same guidelin is any type of public records request for a uh written document So currently there's a number of us that have been trained in you know public records request we would follow those same guidelines um is my intention that um I'm going to have a supervisor in charge of the it uh of the body War cameras but I will also be relying on the uh police secretary to assist in the uh those public records requests and redactions so what does that mean those people including myself will have to be trained in the use of the software system that has the ability to do these redactions these type of Records requests they vary all over the place on what type of Records they're requesting so some weeks it's minimal other weeks depending on the type of incident could we could be flooded with more of those requests I won't know for sure to see how much of an impact that's going to have on us until we start dealing with some of those records requests but the plan I got to have a plan in place to be able to deal with it and um and to be able to comply and support those records requests I don't want to drag it on forever but I know that we've in the past at Town Hall received some records requests that were I'm going to say ridiculous in nature based on the size of them you know and some of them are because they're trying to gain our business so they come in and ask for things that you know and so we can charge them money so I almost wonder if there's something we can do because it's someone who say they're they're doing it with the wrong intent right they they Don't Like Chief Rose so they're trying to get the information anything they can get about Chief Rose and they keep going after the information for that one individual we have to give it to them but it's going to take us 10 hours to compile it well that's a cost to the town and to the community because I Don't Like Chief Rose obviously I do but you know what I'm saying that it's so then we we've gone to these people these individuals and said we we can provide you this information but it's going to this and I almost wonder if we can do something like that when it comes to this we currently have been doing something similar to this uh with our paper records request sometimes the request will ask for uh I want the past 10 years of reports at a certain location well that could be very exous in gathering all that material so um what Melanie does is she'll provide you know she'll make an estimate on how much time that will take and then actually send a notice to the individual on that records request this is how much it's going to cost you for these for this records request then they will return and acknowledge that they want those record requests at that expense and then that process won't start until that payment is made and received by the town so when we do do have these record requests that are very EXT tenuous there is a a a process in place to charge the request or um a cost of what it's going to take for that records request to comply with I foresee that going forward with the body warn cameras too so if you can imagine dealing with an incident and there's three officers on scene and they're there for 90 minutes you're dealing with three officers three body cameras three 90minut videos okay and in compliance with the records request and the exemptions under the records law it has to be scrutinized because if there's an exemption in there it either has to be scrutinized and edited so it's not in in in uh not in compliance with the request I guess if that makes sense yeah so that's really where I was going with it right I start thinking about all these things that you started off by saying right and how it was going to take time to go through this and then it's just it's just that and it's the way of the world and people you know they can do things for the wrong reasons or what they feel is the right reason and it maybe it is but yeah I just don't want to see it cost the town right that much money over some one individual you know really trying to do something I think once once the body camera system is up and running and then we start dealing with some of these issues I'll have a better idea of what type of expense it's cost in the department MH and we may have to adjust I mean that's but um I think getting the program up and running seeing how it's running see what type of adjustments need to be made to make it you know functional and ease within the department and then um take it from there and that way I can report back to you just just to let you know it's running smoothly or I'm having issues with records requests or whatever might be happening but we got to start somewhere absolutely we got to start somewhere thank you all right so um so with that so I'll a motion um to move forward with the implementation of uh body cameras for the free toown police department a motion made second all in favor I I thank you all right and thenk you agenda item 11 um this is discussion of vote on adding GPS to town Vehicles so looks like we have two I first we could talk about I guess what departments are we talking about here so we're not talking about police and fire because that we have not negotiated that into the CPAs so we're talking about the highway vehicle the um and then the other department COA building Board of Health uh that was a pretty Animal control officer and the water department are the vehicles so I mean there are more Vehicles than you think yeah no I think it makes sense was it 13 vehicles um just C curious out of the police vehicles and and they don't have GPS I know they well they have radios in in the fire trucks there's no tracking on those at all well other than like normal I'm not say tracking I hate to say tracking but there's no way of knowing where your vehicles are as far as the with the equipment you have in there now well no we do have the equipment and it's available for us to activate okay she's not activated that's correct so if you imagine all our cars um most of sorry not all most of our cars have a computer system in there with a um a modem in uh phone access and that's where the GP will be generated from so I guess the cost from the police department is being able to activate a software program and uh whatever the cost for every car to be used in that type of system for that GPS tracking right versus another ENT you know for let's say the highway department they don't even have the equipment in there you'd have to purchase all the equipment and install all the equipment and then go forward with that type of some type of software system and then going forward that way we're in a better situation to to activate it but the cost is every single car yeah and um yeah and and the system in in itself yeah iting like OnStar right most Vehicles these days when you get a new vehicle they get they have like OnStar already built in you just got to activated or you get the first three months free if you get excess radio whatever it is yeah so um so I guess okay so it's how like the two options we have I got this for uh that we have in front of us here on in the packet is geot tab which is on the bid uh the state bid list and they can offer devices for so it's $20.50 per month per vehicle that includes installation cost there's no installation cost um this includes the Wi-Fi fees for Verizon Wireless so must come with like its own Sim card type thing um and then training on how to set up um reports Diagnostics and setup of Auto notifications so you probably set like Geo fences yeah and it will also keep like what Fleet Maintenance it'll tell you actually like if your fuel pump is going it will tell you and things like that I have something similar in my car actually um that Verizon tricked me into buying but it's a whole different story um and then uh so the other option is V how do you how do you pronounce this one what do you think v n YX say Binks May Binks Binks I don't know make it up so this one it's $75 but we have to self-install it uh it comes with AT&T or T-Mobile mobile C for one year and there's no training um personally I feel more comfortable with the geot tab I I think just the like it seems like a more installation y well I can tell you that the uh Mass state police they use geotab okay that's good to know it's on the state bid L yeah yeah so and then like I just like if it's how how long that $202.50 per month per vehicle yeah um how like is that for a certain amount of like what's the time frame on that is that for forever but like doesn't go up I don't know well this these prices were last um August of 2023 when you had asked or I was asked by someone to look into it yeah and I believe he came to a meeting virtually and gave us a presentation no no we didn't do that he might have done it with you but I know I definitely did a demo because I never saw anything I know we discussed it so I'm sure you'll sign a agreement for a certain period of time and then it'll increase I'm sure $20 it doesn't seem like I that doesn't seem like a astronomical amount of money money to be for especially if it like also provides some kind of Diagnostics I think you know one of the things that we've been focusing on uh has been security and safety right of of our employees over the last three four six months putting cameras we've been we've been we put Security in the town hall we're putting Security in a couple like in some other buildings right now um and this is one more layer you know we send these people out on inspections I don't have any idea IDE of where they're going I don't I mean I believe generally there clerks know where they're going but not always they can be out and then get a call hey I'm going to go to another inspection and they go and you know we have been lucky we thank God nothing's ever happened but I think that it's just more and more there if we you know an inspector doesn't show back up where is he I have no idea we can we can look so there is a definitely a piece of this is that is a security and a safety a safety perimeter for the staff yeah and also like I think like it's kind of similar to the body cam situation where where you know it just we like if one of our trucks or cars is is Accused being in an accident right or hidden or something of that nature like you know we can either prove oursel innocent or there's no there's no confusion of what's going on right we either know the person was there or they were not there that's my mind goes towards is do we get like a discount for like let's say you get like home insurance right like Home Security cameras and you're activated I was thinking of it too because there's some insurance companies you can put you can plug in improve your safe driving habits and if you do that then you get a discount so would it offset the cost of I have avoided cameras but what but who do we use and have we reached out to them saying hey if we get GPS on our vehicles that does that give us a you know bundle discount 5% off per per our policy which then pays this pays for itself after a couple years so it's asking definitely worth looking into I think regardless I think I'm I'm in favor of moving forward with this anyways and yes Chuck so it looks like you have uh what how many cars you have six six vehicles I didn't think it was put it on the bigger trucks yeah more local you know the smaller Vehicles the vehicles we use every day M we find that it's beneficial and it's a wonderful and maybe we can put them on more trucks as we go along absolutely yeah that makes sense to me um we yeah yeah and I mean I guess any other do you have any concerns with this or no no I I like the idea of knowing where our vehicles are at all times not at all times but as needed in case of emergencies or something like that I to be completely honest I'm like it's amazing that this isn't like my wife knows where I am at all time I mean I can tell you how fast my daughter drove to get here what you know everything and so yeah she has a gpsm me okay yeah let me ask a question the system it's not in my court yet yeah this is saving data it's logging it's logging data right yeah how is it save it from day one or does it roll over after how long does it save for that's a good question I don't quite remember but I know you can go back I can find out it does like it does carry the information and hold it and it's done I believe it was done on their servers we didn't have to do it on ours like in the cloud so it's probably a 30-day Chief as do you have any concerns that potentially like say you're on the rescue even Chief Rose let's say fast forward five years from now we all get them for police and fire right think so I guess something to think about any concerns that a potenti pii of where that vehicle might be or might go on a call right especially if it's a medical emergency or something like that I I feel like I'm in a little different circumstance probably than the other two departments because the majority of the time I have multiple people in that vehicle right from an accountability standpoint and yeah somebody's always a supervisor in that vehicle to some degree whether it's a senior firefighter or lieutenant or captain or whatever so that's and your vehicles are just going to the incident and then back generally too right it's not like you're like you know I don't somebody's less likely to be La better goofing off yeah you guys Big Shiny red truck kind of sticks out D yeah all right yeah you good I'm good I'm good with it yeah okay so I think uh 11 so I'll entertain a motion to add GPS's to town Vehicles motion made second all in favor all right and so that's the first one and then second I'll vote on the the geotab right geotab does seem like it's the and it's the the 13 vehicles that were identified in your list yeah so you know like Chuck you said something about the dump truck was it the F4 was those 50 there's two at 450s those are trucks that we use every day M I think it would make more sense to put it in one of those trucks and put it in say the catch bacing truck hasn't seen the light a day three months yeah yeah there's other cities and towns they put GPS units in all their trucks MH they track them plowing snow so they know Js on my stre on this certain town that have every all subcontractors have GPS [Music] units which makes that you probably add an app to any phone I'm sure yeah so it looks like sorry Trev it doesn't look like we might not have it into some of those Vehicles already based on the 13 number right cuz I'm I'm just looking going Bas thing based off our listing and you know the the international wasn't included so there's some you know there's some some vehicles that weren't included right I know the device I have right like you just plug it into your ob2 right and that's how it gets a Diagnostics and that's how and so it's like it's a so you can actually move it from truck to truck right car to car you can't these now no this one they had told me that it goes very deep under under the dashboard so you just couldn't unplug it if you wanted to really yeah he said it was way up in there they come and install it interesting I we can do a little further digging if you want yeah cuz it it would be convenient if you could just you know switch it around but that might take that might kind of if someone's trying to hide where they're doing oh it just wasn't working so maybe maybe there's a reason why it's not easily disabled so that might make sense why I think about it yeah we just got to make sure that we don't whatever we put in doesn't I know there's a few newer Vehicles here that probably under warranty so we make sure we don't avoid any uh warrant anything like that putting them in so some some further research to look into yeah all right so how about that so I'll a motion that we um install the geot tab on the 13 Vehicles identified which include the highway surveyor six vehicles um the Board of Health vehicle building department vehicle COA vehicle two vehicles uh water department vehicle and the ACO vehicle um install them uh as long as they don't violate any kind of uh warranty motion motion me second all in favor you can clean that motion up until [Music] all word Smith that please okay all right so then we go with the general item 11 J M12 discussion involed whether declare the highways Department 2011 Ford two uh F250 as Surplus and what to do this vehicle I'm having Deja V I thought afternoon um Paul sadic was looking to have this vehicle for the water department that just came up this afternoon okay if Paul want would have been nice to know before we decommissioned the truck and took the plates off of it and everything yeah I don't know what the rhyme the reason is for wanting the truck okay we've used use the truck yeah to death yeah um I would like them to re look at the truck before they really decide whether they want it or not okay um so maybe we can postpone this yeah that's totally good with me let's have Paul go and look at it or the next meeting and we'll push that one have him go through it because I've had a couple other organizations looking at the truck and it's like we're putting it up for auction for a reason yeah we should be putting it up for an auction for reason um again I was Paul hit me up today and I guess he and Bob P interested in it because I guess they claim they have another hire coming on with the water department needing a vehicle okay yeah let them see it maybe maybe once they see it in person they'll change their their tune I would think they would okay I'll have a conversation with them because we we should be having the the truck from the building department facilities because we we're been waiting for a new truck for a year I don't know when that's you're probably going to wait another year before you see that truck was that a 6.2 gas little bit better shape it's the truck that we're getting rid of yeah the truck 6.2 yeah V 140,000 miles on it it runs okay it's just the body is completely gone on it yeah but it's um trck for what it's yeah all right all right well in a similar situation so J am 13 this is so you're going to do you want to just say that we go oh say yeah pass it we're passed on that one should I do a motion to just pass on just pass on okay we good yeah all right so J 13 discussion um what to do with the former Animal control officer 2010 for expedition that was declared Surplus uh last meeting or uh at 1021 2024 so I know we kind of wanted to put meet around the language of what to do with this I'm just going to put it up on Mini bin right I think so um as is it's not really worth much I found out today that it does not have an inspection sticker on it there is no inspection sticker on it why I don't know um I said I tried to get into it but Lis has left the vehicle in I got and she has the keys for it it's all loed up so I couldn't even get into the vehicle so uh she's supposed to be coming by tomorrow with the keys we can re-evaluate the condition interior exterior um maybe find out why there isn't an inspection sticker on it but for all intensive purposes it should go on munici bid get what you can for it and call it a day yeah she yeah she told me there was body rot this was the this was a prior fire fire chiefs fire chief I mean so it's been it's seen it's it's usefulness that was uh it owes the town nothing yeah three vehicles ago that it's the engine is was on and now it's not on but it's got some issues so the Bol probably just burned out okay so Surplus thing in here all sorry mut bid yep yes do you have a starting bid or you want usually we just kind of figure it out if they're okay with that okay yeah that can be at your discretion $2500 I was going to say2 all I'll just I'll just put that I'll put that the all right so I'll a motion to uh list the former acos 2010 for Expedition on mun bid um with a minimum bid of $2,500 I'm actually saying even less all right $2,000 $2,000 motion made second all in favor I I the last ones they bid them up yeah mm they bid them up the the Camry and the Jeep they they bid more than we put them on for so we got we got I think we got fair for them or maybe a little more than fair yeah perfect okay CH 14 discussion of vote whether to host annual holiday party on 1212 2024 en close the town hall transfer station Highway Department Council on Aging and libraries at 12:30 p.m. for the staff to attend the party anyone to be a grinch uh okay no it's always a good time all right so with that all a motion to host the annual holiday party on 1212 2024 and close it down hall Transportation Highway Department councel on aging and libraries at 12:30 for the staff to attend the party motion M second all in favor I I okay second page um agenda item 15 discussion of vote whether authorize the town Administration office staff to issue Freetown ma.gov email addresses for new employees Andor boards committee members as needed I have no issues with this no I think I think it's kind of a that this coming fromont of the board every time seems to kind of be unnecessary step this is kind of slowing down the onboarding process M con and I think it was brought up and we'll just have we'll just acknowledge it done way does does the town Administration office have any issues with us uh streamlining this no and we'll we'll just bring them in and let you guys acknowledge them once they're done okay so with that I'll intend a motion to authorize um T adment office to issue Freetown ma.gov email addresses for new employees and board committee members as needed and going forward at uh at open meetings we will um announce those motion made second all in favor I all right so now we have um whether or not not to have Town Administrator sign all change orders and document as needed for the Fire Station 3 renovation addition project yeah I mean the main contract's been executed but we had come up with we were looking at doing um possibly re-roofing the existing building which we have talked about it's in the budget to do it but it needed a change order and it's short turnaround time so this is one of another things just trying to be more efficient rather waiting every two weeks or 3 weeks if we have the time I certainly always bring everything before the board CU I prefer not to sign things if I don't have to but this just gives me the authority in case something comes up there's a lot of moving Parts there as well right now any any issues with this no this this is this is yeah we should have had this in place years ago all right so with that on a motion to authorize the Town Administrator to sign all change orders and other documents as needed for the free to uh for the fire station number three uh Fire Station 3 renovation addition project motion made second all in favor all all J item 17 discussion of vote awarding the paving and Milling of Dean Street and W cudworth a project and it's PJ keing right they came is the lowest bit y okay $88,200 yeah which is pretty significally lower oh one was really close but some are way higher yeah it's amazing to see the fluctuation in in these beds the big difference is PJ keing has their own plant pcket asphalt has their own plant the other ones don't so they're going to the Kings and buying the material so cutting out the middle man here they're at a severe disadvantage because King's going to make their money everybody's going to make their money so that's why the bids are a little wacky interesting that makes that's the underlying reason for the most part yeah all right um so with that a motion to award the paving Milling for Dean Street and W cworth a project to PJ keing company a motion made second all in favor I I and then we have a contract so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the contract between the town of Freetown and PJ key for Paving a Milling of Dean stre and W cworth app project motion made second all in favor I I okay perfect agenda 19 this is uh to vote a warning Demolition and as asbest REM uh remediation for four South Main Street mhm looks like this one also had some yeah crazy crazy bids all over the place I noticed that where was it uh from 80 to 160,000 yeah that like makes me a little nervous like that's a very logical reason of why those bids are all over the place I don't know what it is for this the liability yeah because whoever is going to get that job off a wind blows the wrong way they're in a world of crap yeah I agree like but the price they're expensive they're all expensive but like the the the discrepancy from so Castello dismantling is at 83,000 right yeah C the low bid was um sorry S&R Corp right SNR Corp is at 79,80 but they go all the way up to 58,000 yeah it's like double A lot of times people will bid on a job hoping they don't get it yeah that's I don't want to do it price but if they get it you're going to pay yeah that's kind of the it's kind of like Harry said that's the price you bid on a job you don't want and if you get it hooray because you're going to clean house but other than that you don't really want that job yeah I got you and I vetted them I mean they they I called them just to make sure they understood the bid they understood what involved and they were pretty knowledgeable they have a whole demolition Department I mean that made us they good out right and uh yeah what's up shame on me for not knowing this I guess well not shame on me but is it going to be additional cost is that part of that bid is it going to cover it's going to be a an expense to have police officers there while all this is happening right in the bid I put in there that they needed to expect to have three detail officers on onsite to direct traffic and that's included in that's included in the bid now if they need more they might come back for a change order but three should be more than sufficient to direct traffic there I did speak to him he thought he can do this in a two-day time frame and I had said in the bid that I wanted it to be done when school was not in in operation so he's he was thinking maybe Thanksgiving he could do this Thanksgiving because school won't be operating mhm so he seemed to know what he was doing and um um just on the other thing you know you'll see this that that Mr Weaver and Miss Wilson has given us permission or at least has verbally given us permission to use the lot next door which helps a lot in terms of not having everything out in the street cuz they have to have a decontamination tent set up and that was going to have to be it still might have to be in the street but then you have a lot you know working from the street so that would push things out more so um I'll be happy when this project is over I'm not going to lie yeah me too okay well so SNR mhm all right so with that I'll entertain a motion to award the demolition obsess W I can't say itest R wow I can't say anything remediation yeah remediation I already said it one time I can't say the second time for four uh South Main Street B to uh to SNR Court motion made second all in favor I I remediation remediation it's like one of those words when you try to read it I just can't say it when I try to read it okay J itm 20 this is just to authorize Deb to uh for the sign the documents so without a motion to authorize Town Administrator to sign off on all documents associated with the Demolition and it best this uh remediation for for South Main Street a motion made second all in favor I I mediation I don't know why it's been a long day folks M okay get item 21 it's just the healthcare rates which we don't have a lot of control over here nothing we can do about them they've gone up crazy crazy amounts 20% wow MH um a lot of it has to do with the reform of Medicare where the Medicare itself is having much larger deductibles so for the supplemental plan which is what we pay for it has to pick up all of those lodger deductibles from the so the government is just passing the expense down to the to the retirees basically and because we pay for the retirees Insurance it comes through to the town so the government's passing expenses to the government yeah it's kind of so okay all right well unfortunately nothing we do about it so with that I want a motion to approve the retiree uh health insurance insurance rates for 2025 a motion made second all in favor I I um and then there's a disclosure form from Deb I don't know if I saw this one yeah what one is this one I know you mentioned was my daughter has applied for minutes clerk okay all right yeah so Deb's daughter applied for a job of the town for the records Clerk okay any questions or concerns no thank you for disclosing this thank you so that a motion oh never mind so just acknowledging it perfect uh AG item 23 discussion of vote whether to approve access license agreement for temporary use of two South Main Street for demo of four South Main Street and his two is that Weaver's lot that's Weaver and yeah and his sister Johanna Wilson okay yep all right that's uh that' be great if we can do that so any questions or concerns no that's all that's great all right no so without motion to approve the access license agreement for temporary use of two South ban Street for demo of four South ban Street motion made second all in favor I I um J M 24 this is to authorize Town Administrator approve and execute all documents associated with the public health nurses vaccine programs yeah uh Lori had talked to me about she's going to have a nurse come in to administer I think RSV vaccine um and I I was expecting the paperwork we haven't received it yet but I you know we I've signed that in the past so it's just to facilitate our vaccine programs yep I remember those yeah questions or concerns no it's good program let's keep it rolling all right so with that turn a motion to authorize the Town Administrator to approve and execute all documents associated with the public health nurses vaccine program motion made second all in favor I I I all right i'lli it over to personel all right are you are you here for APPA are you here to no okay he already here he's sticking around for the party somebody told me there was going to be snacks me too I heard that same thing dinner yet so all right so Personnel Board it agenda 25 acknowledge the resignation of Brianna Brew effective 1014 24 uh thank you Brienne for your six plus years of service to the town of Freetown um item agenda 26 uh there's one I will recuse myself from F I'll back to you Mr chairman but for the discussion and vote in whether to approve the following appointments a Janine litz to cultural Council effect of 11:15 2024 through 11:15 2027 B Sarah Dudley to cultural Council effect of 1214 2024 through 1214 2027 C Don model the cultural Council effective 1018 2024 through 1018 2027 John remides to cultural Council effective 115 2024 through 115 2027 e Kathleen tal L talit the Council of Aging board effective 115 2024 through 630 2026 F I will Ru recuse myself but it is for Carlos Lopes to the commission disabilities effective 1122 through 1124 sorry 1121 2024 through 1121 2025 and G Jose H Korea as signal operator part-time effective 114 2024 through 6:30 2025 for the purpose of this vote I entertain the motion of app of approving the following appointments a through e um and G motion made I'll second it all in favor I I and I'll just take care that one right now real quick so I'll a motion to um approve the appointment of caros alop to Commission on disabilities effective 1121 2024 through 1121 2025 motion made second all in favor I I back to you Pros all right uh I think it's back to Todd M yeah so I just wanted to go over I know you've given me authority to spend the Opera money yep so Federal Opera money we had uh about $240,000 left it has to be committed by the end of this year um and that's why I was Chuck he has asked he had given me I had asked all departments to submit things that they would want to spend oper money on and I've gone through the folder he had put in there for a front-end loader which we had also talked about in budget season when I had said what what do you anticipate your big expenses over the next few years for equipment he said the front-end loader um we've had discussions about right now it needs some work it's going to cost some money um it's about $220,000 for a new Lo load to trading in the existing loader so at after going through my folder of oper requests I think we've covered most of them we've been able to get the Departments their requests other than this loader and the water department had asked for a mini excavator however they don't really they don't have someone to operate the excavator right now um and those were the last two requests I had so I'm just wanted to run it by the board in terms of my thought was to purchase that loader for $220,000 and that will just about Wipe Out the remaining upper money the um you're saying we would we would trade in the existing one they have yeah it's a 210 loader um which is not that old for a loader but I was talking to Chuck he's like it just needs work he's it just it it does it needs work and it I I think it needs about $50,000 worth of work oh well yeah then it doesn't make sense cuz I thought for some reason in my head I thought we had talked about possibly sending the loader over to the transfer station because he was saying it's like a lot light lighter Duty right what they did in the past with their old could I think it they have a l they just they got the back hole cuz if you remember Chuck got a back hole yeah oh that's what it was that's what it was town meeting so the backo went over to them and they have a they do have a loader But Chuck said their loader is probably in better shape than his even though it's older but I think it's you know how it is the older stuff that's why I said we had a 76 that we were using and I'm like your a it's just is it made the way the is made yeah so then it's if it needs work and stuff you just trade and get rid of it to let it you know Let it Go on so yeah know so I think it makes sense to me I don't any thoughts well my only concern with wiping out the Opera funds right you say you had $220,000 that pretty much caps it up right so but we have to spend we use it or lose it right I'm just thinking like how many other projects are out there that we could use it for that's that's all I'm thinking back of my head is that when we have to use by in two months I have to have it I have to have it obligated by the end of the year like this OT won't be coming in in two months but I can get a contract and a purchase order signed um so the projects you know we've been we've been doing all kinds of smaller things but I I have to do procurement and I have to get it under contract so it had to be something I'd have to do right away if there's another a thought for it yeah I mean we're going to need it right so let's take the money while it's quote unquote free and do it with something that we know we need rather than us thinking about oh well we could do this cuz it would be nice it's going to be an immediate not an immediate need in the near future need right that could affect us that we're now having to go to town and ask them for money well if it break what I'm concerned about like if it if it breaks it's you know it's apparently on its last leg like longer we wait we wait till it breaks then we're in then we're really in a prch and a lot of the work that Chuck's been doing is going to have to wait so I think we get ahead of this problem yeah and I think he said right now we has put tires on them for $10,000 that's what tires cost on those machines so um that's crazy also not surprising but yeah I mean when I first time I find out how much a fire truck cost it would blew my mind ambulances ambulance last the pumper is what $611,000 and we haven't gotten it yet I I'm I've been getting pictures though my and my salesman is telling me probably we're going to have a Christmas present so all right fingers crossed Santa's got a new ride coming up close that project out yeah and I think that I was I'm I'm still working so I'm talking to you about Federal Opera Bristol County coer I ended up putting in for that a reimbursement for that pumper because I was they were turning down my projects and I'm like I'm running out of time there and they have preliminarily approved that project so that'll be a 500 I think $55,000 will be getting reimbursed for that pumper that's awesome that's great so that'll go back into our sort of our free cash too because it's been spent on some level all right but for the front load I don't think you need to vote to you I don't really need to vote you've already given me the vote but I it was a big dollar figure so I wanted to run it by the board before sense before I said okay you know no I understand I've been working on Opera Chuck's going to be upset he left he just him and I have been talking wanted to have details and um and he's him and Eric have been saying like look if you're not if I'm not getting one I'm going to send it out and get all this work done yeah and I I'm like well I really don't want to do that I really I was kind of waiting till the last minute with the oper and we're there though yeah the last minute I need to facilitate this stuff and just another just so you know too I mean um I invested the Opera money I think about a year ago or maybe two years so there's $45,000 that we got an interest wow in that account that's awesome that we were able to spend and do projects with as well that's great and and then I I know obviously this is something else I don't want to drag on but we look at the price difference in the short amount of time of pricing increase on the ambulance right so the same thing's going to end up happening with this stuff right the chances are the it's 220 Grand now we wait and then we say well now we need to spend 60 Grand or we can buy one well now it's 300 Grand you know and it's just it's got we may have about 20 grand left so if you do have small projects that you want give me a call and I'll get them rolling and um I I um I know I can spend it I I put in for you know how we voted to get the clickers every time we put that out to bid it's come out more than the money that we had so lann's just put it out for procurement again we're going to take Opera money to to just whatever the Del there are little things that I am still doing with it but this was a big ticket item yeah Mak s all right are we ready to sign J we have a meeting tomorrow morning yeah you I I probably should huh okay do you want do you want to meet her after that yeah what time would that well that meeting is at 9: it probably be wrapped up by 10: I would think yeah 10: station if you want kin I can just run over here minut [Applause] if we're done earlier I'll just text you and let you know so going to be over there at 9: and we'll just top one sounds [Music] great wow well done much better than me I think I've said it and typed it about 100 times remediation I couldn't spell remediation so Harry that pper was ordered in August the first time I said it right and then every time after that I got worse and worse well then once you get in your own head like that's the worst part right like you get in your own head think you're going to screw up uh I actually I called this morning I'm looking for for is your ta the vacc new part or International part and like you Haven send you pictures in a couple weeks he like well they have me that's a good thing that means they're getting close to final production Co good I'm excited I did also talk to the senator and he did say your money for your um fire should be coming so that is still moving I couldn't remember if it was 60 or 65,000 told me it was 65 but um so that's ex I saw him somewhere in the last few weeks yeah we had the COA lunch don't know I don't that's dep fire Services manages that hand I believe probably and and that's probably one for Carlos I'll take one probably and that's what I when I when I said he's you know with the grant for the engineering of the fire station that was that so I handled one through them it's just we'll have to move it pretty quickly Jose I'm sure you guys will be all done all right so with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion made second all in favor I I