##VIDEO ID:W74RBCQILb8## [Music] it is Monday October 21st 2024 at 6 pm and I'll call to order the free toown Bard select meeting um this meeting will be recorded and will be available on the town's YouTube page um all right we'll jump right into agenda item one this is discussion of vote whether approved but not release executive session minutes from October 7th 2024 any questions concerns about this no that I'll a motion to approve but not release the executive session minutes from 107 2024 motion made second all in favor I I item two this is the Open Session minutes from uh September 23rd 2024 any questions or concerns on those no no that I'll entertain a motion to approve the Open Session minutes from uh from 923 2024 motion made second all in favor I I I okay agend three uh this is whether or not to vote or approve the mo MOA between the town of Freetown and the public employees union local 272 Lona clerical library for successor uh collective bargaining agreement effective 71 2024 through 630 2027 I think the only change since the time we've discussed this is that um the originally had uniforms in there and then um they agreed they didn't want the uniforms and then so we actually uh tighten up the language about the dress code a little bit um in in exchange for um not having any uniforms so that is different than than the discussion we've had about this um but other than that it's the same agreement that we spoke of in the executive session when we discussed it um pretty much concentrated on the wage table and making sure it was more uniform than it had been no pun intended government so um where the where the gaps are sort of all consistent and every you know a lot more things you know some positions would jump 10% the first year and other positions would be a half a percent so we kind of uh tried to do a uniform approach and get it so that we could hire you know hiring wage is a step one so um you've seen that those numbers have not changed since what what you saw in executive session um and I think that's really it for the for the clerical okay great any questions no no I was I was in this one all right all right so with that with that I will entertain a motion to approve the mo MOA between the town freet toown and the public uh employees union local 272 Iona clerical library for successor bargaining agreement uh effective 71 2024 through 630 2027 motion me second all in favor I I all right so same thing but now we have the mo MOA town of Freetown and uh the dispatchers so local 272 dispatchers and that's uh the same I don't think there was any changes from that what was discussed when we were negotiating in executive session basically the same thing I worked on their wage charts um trying to make it more uniform we did add a uh night differential which is something new to this to this to the dispatch Union but we had discussed that in in executive session um keeping in same with other dispatch units around the area we added the a 3% differential for uh second shift and 6% for the third shift so um in addition to their adjustment in their wage chart other than that there really wasn't many changes to their um agreement okay but nothing new since we so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the mo MOA between Town Freetown and public employees union local 272 Lona dispatchers for successive uh CBA effective 71 2024 through 630 2027 motion me a second all in favor I I just like to say thank you I know a lot it's a lot of hard work was into these and so it's greatly appreciated I know a lot of people are involved so thank you everybody yes I'll that thank you okay uh gen item five this is discussion and vote declare 2010 Ford Expedition at Surplus and what to do with the vehicle I think this is reported the animal control offic vehicle which was the fire department's vehicle um okay that's I was wondering what I was like which vehicles what for Expedition yeah but that makes sense so it has a hole in the floor um perfect I don't even know how she get a sticker the be you but just get a hole in the floor other than that it's just really it's a it's just all old I don't know if we want to try to send it over to Kenny to do some work on it before we put on munici bid but it doesn't have any value to the town in terms of another department or anything I my my vote would be no send it as is it's not going to gain I don't think that much value by having him try to work on something if it's full in the floor God only knows what's around it right so I feel like we'll be opening up a can of worm so we're probably just better off letting it go right send it there and get out of it what we can right this thing has a value of $870 to about 26 retail in a pristine condition uh this reminds me more of Fred Flintstone's vehicle than do a town vehicle so you know what if she loses her Town phone through the through the crack in the car uh making light of it of course but yeah it just seems more more money to fix than it is to just put up a new yeah yeah yeah so de you probably know and I think we discuss this under chapter 30b section 15 if it's valued at less than $10,000 it could be disposed of based upon you know written procedures of of the governmental body so you could decide how to dispose of it and uh given this condition and I can send this to you if you want we we recommend a a limited bill of sale that goes with it essentially an agreement that uh specif I that the vehicle is not in uh you know is sold as is with no guarantee warranty or certification as to its usability for any purpose could I could in theory we donate to a charity the same Clause so whatever we decide you yeah you have control over this if it's worth less than $110,000 so you know the the statute requires if it's worth more than that you have you have to sell it through a competitive process an auction or municip that's what that's what that's used for for something of this low value uh a lot of times we we we see these vehicles kind of pass down the down the food chain so to speak or use for for whatever purpose but we always recommend and I do this a lot with with with fire vehicles especially there there are some collectors will buy old fire trucks but we want to make sure that it's clear that th those vehicles or or police vehicles are are are not being certified for use so that if say another some private entity has a you know private security force or private use that we're not certifying that it's usable for anything you're not you're not a c dealer yeah so if they wanted to donate it to another charitable organization they could do that even if it has value as long as it's less than $10,000 that the statute is very clear that that that's that's the threshold and below that it's written written procedures which are not not fully defined we have procedures that we've developed that are more extensive but for something like this I would I would take a determination by the board translated into your minutes to be the the procedures to dictate the disposition of this look at that because we have been working on procedures and so we might have some new new yeah if you want to if you want to ask me I I have I have some procedures that we we've developed in the past that I think are are really useful been developing some so you've been developing a lot of policies yeah I think you've looked at them I think so but I don't you know I don't know where we are yeah I I I don't remember but those are just my thoughts we like stay busy so so I guess you know I don't have a problem with donating it my only problem is is if is it safe right so if we're going to donate it to someone I don't feel comfortable of giving it to well there's some body shops out there that kind of work hand and glove with the organizations to help fix up Vehicles even cars for kids you get 500 bucks out it did come up there is a there is an organization I don't know what it is that but it did somebody did come into our office today and ask a charitable organization had approach them and said what do you you doing with the vehicle um and and how could they go about getting the vehicle so maybe we just declare this as Surplus and I can and then we'll worry about what to do yeah absolutely and then and then write in get some language around what that you remind me tomorrow I can send you like I said I have I have a standard bill of sale that I like to use and then uh uh we could talk further about the the Surplus procedures because we we've worked on several of those but the bill of sale I mean it's something that any of you guys want to sell a car the same kind of thing that I would recommend because you you're you're not unless you're in that business you don't want to be taking responsibility you know as you said if there's if there's a defect to it it may have some value for them for scrap or they may choose to have it fixed up but you don't want to be responsible for that you're you're you're you're selling it as is and of course you know if there's a real concern that you're going to sell to someone who's then going to use it that's going to be danger the liability wouldn't transfer to you you just to decide from a policy perspective if that's what you want to do yeah Fair review our new policies too I know we've been working on them okay so so our vote now will just be to declare Sur all everyone ready to go absolutely okay so that so I'll understand a motion to declare the 2010 for Expedition uh Surplus motion mid I second all in favor I all right and then moving on to agenda item six discussion of vote to repurpose the preown police department vehicle uh to the Animal control officer so this was a surplus V able that um the chief uh was was a detective dodged Durango that was been replaced this year um knowing that the Animal control officer has needed a vehicle for some time now um so I had approached him and he he said this would be a vehicle that would work um so this would be now go from the police department and they have made all of the um changes to the vehicle so it's appropriate for the Animal control officer um taking the lights and changing the color of the lights and things like that so that it will it will work well for um leas of use it's it's a newer and in better condition than what she's been driving and there's no holes on the floor I don't know sometimes those peacocks were wild in Freetown and those lights might come in handy sometimes if you have a you have a hole in the floor the animals will escape so um yeah the police have uh taking care of that and made it okay usable and I just told her today to have talk to Chuck about getting the seal on the side like the other vehicles so they all kind of look uniform that makes sense that works Fant by by law they would not be able to carry the blue lights yeah on a nonp police vehicle anywh that makes sense yes any other questions or concerns no great idea of re appropriating some equipment we have yeah agreed all right so with that all intend a motion to repurpose the free toown police department detective vehicle to the Animal control officer motion made second all in favor I I okay great 10 item seven this is discussion vote whether to approve exclusive access to the band stand for the Freetown cultural Council for the annual tree lighting festivities on December 8th 2024 what what day the week is that just had to show people at home Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday yeah we decorate all weekend that's fun all right I'm I'm not going to be the one to here all I ask we get a quick instruction how to turn the lights and off the lights before the event and after the event just so that we're not calling anybody at last second okay works out but a refresher would come in handy you can do like me who shove the power off to everything in the middle of the music that would not be re I hit I hit the breaker yeah well as as everyone knows we we expanded the sidewalks and then there was some trenching issues that we want to cut in some wire so we had to rewire everything which meant the breaker stayed in place and some things got changed around to be more efficient well we're not electricians we're not there every single day and you tend to forget after something you haven't touched in so long yep there was some lights in music might have been turned off momentarily that's quickly turned back on whoops yeah Happ my house okay so with that so all a motion to approve exclusive access to the band standand for the preown cult uh cultural Council for the annual tree lighting festivities on 128 2024 motion made second all in favor all right all great okay gen item eight discussion to vote whether approve the road opening permit request uh from early contractor's Inc for 12 Gray Oak Drive and Holly Circle for Comcast work I we believe it's already been done it's not done called us today cuz I he said I was going to do it on the 17th and I told him well it would have to go before the board and he told me he going to do it anyways but then he called has SEC his secretary called us today and asked if we had approved it yet so they didn't move ahead on it so yeah well he said it was an emergency somebody didn't have phone so I was like whatever you know what I mean do what you got to do yeah it's but this isn't the first time that was it I don't want to pass it's usually s that yeah they just it and then ask for ask for forgiveness everything an emergency all right but no problem with that you got to do you got do anyone questions concerns no no okay all right so with that I want a motion to approve the road opening permit request from early contractor's Inc for 19 Great Oak Drive and Holly Circle for Comcast work motion made second all in favor I I all right agenda item nine discussion of vote whether approve this spending plan from the Council on Aging director for the formula grant and the amount of $24,400 think we have here somewhere do I no I don't I think I have my pet I don't have my computer with anybody thank all right so Tuesday a lunch that makes sense so food 375 bucks a week supplies $25 a week and the chef 10 hours $25 an hour for prepping and cooking so that's 250 the Tuesday lunch program is a huge yeah that sounds I mean that seems to make a lot of sense they have a waiting list yeah we we were talking about earlier on right and the success that you guys have in trying to keep it like within your your kitchen right you only have so much you can pull out of your kitchen and stuff so it's like it's it's amazing it's a great thing it's sad it's great it's everything in between so you know I think a lot of the people like to come together there and and this is grant funding you know it's not it's not budget funding it's it's to it's not even a money we got last year it's FY 23 money okay is still in that has asked me several [Laughter] times like it off the book is what I'd like to do and part of that's gonna fund the alternate and yeah the other um up to about thousand I I did not account for how much we were going to meet AR the ultimate band driver I accounted for um vation time and not so much sick time and a few of our Drive our drivers have had some SI time so I didn't calculate that correctly so we've been using him a lot more than I thought gotcha well the good news is we have him to years right he's wonderful every single time asked it's one of those things if if you never hear about it it it comes up as as a shock it's like what do you mean we're adding more of this or that as far as employment and drivers but when you go out there you startop talking to everybody the common theme is or common conversation goes back to counil of Aging how well it's been running and how how supportive the community is getting around it things like this just make sense spend every dollar you can off this Grant and continuing forward so um the residents appreciate it so that's kudos to you good job all right so I think no issues here so that all in a motion to approve the spending plan for the council and aging director for the formula grant of $224,400 motion made second all in favor I great okay J item 10 we're going to review the special town meeting warrant articles um so is there anything how should we do this so I think that I mean you guys have seen them all you recommended them all at the last meeting I guess the only issue now would be the um the vote to pass over Article 15 because we don't have we didn't have uh a report from fincom because they don't have a yeah other than that unless there's other changing recommendations or anything there's nothing that I'm aware of I just that has changed or the only other thing is should now that I'm thinking I meant to look at this earlier today is the clerical Union because there's the uniforms are coming off the amount needed for that first year cost it should be decreased by $1,900 okay so can we make that change should we make it on the floor or make it here well you can't yeah no you can't it the warrant is set so we make a motion so you'd have to make a motion and you could you can tell Michael um will when it's presented to present it with the revised number he might just do that when he reads it out I won tell him yeah I think that's the easy easy enough way to do it so those are the only two changes I I see from the time that you've seen this and recommended these articles was that decrease in the union because of the um uniforms coming off of the uh clal Union so Deb that's article three I don't know I'm sorry uh funding for Union contracts for clerical Union article three and what would the we $1,900 less than there ask me to do some math here on this now 15 I believe is Article 15 the human resource software so that one will come um will pass over so that's really all the changes other than that where unless somebody has something that there no so do I have to open so should I open just I think Mark said we should do that no you can't open you the the warrant set okay so and that that goes to the next item on your agenda we're we're no longer opening closing or revising the warrant this has to do with motions that would be recomend for Action at town meeting because we can't we can't touch the warrant okay so Mark to answer you it would be 41,7 3874 okay so then you would just have to have a a a motion to approve uh article to recommend article three at the dollar amount of $1,738 74 and uh and then the Town Administrator would recommend that number to the moderator and hopefully the moderator would then present it if if not you would just make a motion from the floor to uh amend the dollar amount to the $41,000 so I I can make that motion here right yes might need to read that number so um and okay so I'll entertain a motion that um to recommend the dollar value of 41,000 73874 uh for article 3 right motion me second all in favor all right all thank you do they have to make a motion to pass over 15 if if the intent is uh to get to make that recommendation because but any one of them could make that motion yeah so when we show up you could just simply make that motion yeah but I think if you're acting on behalf of the board the board should vote because if if anybody says what did the board yeah okay we make them we do it now but then one of us will have to do it on FL exactly usually when I tell Mike he just pass he does that too well that's what I was going to say he he if you if you as a board tell him to pass over he'll usually say that the board's recommenda pass over and then it just happens and it's TK and approval by the by town meeting yeah so y I'll I'll a motion uh to pass over Article 15 special town meeting motion me second all in favor I I all right great that's everything for items 10 and 11 right just for future cuz I know we we were talking about this um 11 discussions and vote whether to open review remove finalize and close the warrant we can't do we really can't do that here here that would have been before the warrant was we word it when we doing yeah and we just had a conversation about that I mean it just it it it's just a wording issue in the future I think 10 and 11 can just be be uh uh combined into you know uh consideration and vote on recommendations on on town meeting War articles that makes a lot of sense good okay so with that we move on agenda item 12 discussion of vote whether to approve the Consulting agreement between the town of Freetown and sper Technologies effective 111 2024 through 1031 20125 it's the contract for the um IT services IT services for police department and Department any questions or concerns no they've all been happy with their service Services keep it going you buy nice stuff you got to maintain it it's very true all right so with that allend a motion to approve the Consol agreement to the town of fre toown and Spiner technology effective 11124 through 10:31 2025 motion m favor I I I all right agenda item 13 discussion and vote whether approve a Freetown do Freetown ma.gov email address for the interim Harbor Master that make sense to me issues with that uh just one question I remember this is coming up I think I'm pretty sure we voted I looked for previous meeting minutes but I believe we voted on this then we on other Town employees to so that if we got a new town employee it was Al almost automatic they would get one we wouldn't have to ask go back and forth to get an email address didn't we vote on that you wanted to approve them as they came so we put on several here and there as they came they and it was similar language I wanted to make sure we weren't just circling back to the same thing right and I'm not sure like is he an employee or or should we have like a general he's appointed but it should be Harbor Master after I made that right so it's not I don't want anything specific it's generic just like Town Administrator and like perf you know it wouldn't be his name but it is all I think we we may have discussed this in uh the law public records law training that it's always recommended that there be an official email so that individuals not using their personal email addresses correct exactly and also I want it transferable so absolutely well there should be continuity so that all the records remain under a single it should never go to an individual y y um I don't know K do you want to change that in the future do you want us no no if we have it as if we could appoint people as they come I'm just thinking of all if you look at how many employees you've hired or they've retired over the years right it's a lot of back and forth just in a way to streamline things do we I don't have a problem talking about it but if in the future if it's a standard policy that hey any new employee here's your email address if he belongs to a a generic employee and that makes sense if you leave that person's access is terminated right right so when we do the Personnel bylaws I think that's probably where we'll tighten that up or okay yeah we can on that yeah and I guess what we could do is just try and identify if there's anything else like this that there might be some other department or something that doesn't currently have an email and it's probably not now we probably have mostly covered but say we didn't have it for this department maybe create one so that way we don't have to worry about it and then we can start having it in place so we don't have to worry about Mark continuing to use the same emails corre you know he's you know originally we had to pay for every single email address so it was important that you were aware now that we have our own email server it's not the same we we have we have access to that's where that conversation stem from since we are able to create our own you know where really we're going back as hey this is how we used to do it type of mentality which again it works it gives us great knowledge but we can change that put them on as acknowledgements kind of like we do with some other things just so you're aware yeah that Mak sense and like you said addressing it through the Personnel policy just so it becomes a policy because correct I personally I like the standardization and and the the continuity talk just having it continue and and essentially transfer to whoever takes over the position so the address doesn't belong to the individual it belongs to the position yeah that makes sense I still believe the individual should have an email address as well for certain positions but definitely there are we put that in as an like you know making sure we're not just tail your comes up and my name will come up modify right right yeah we can change except when they start going to your personal email address yeah somehow they get personal email I'm like not sure how that happened but this is my personal email well that's the purpose of it is to make sure that it stays within the public domain that we as needed in that was an aside yeah I know I know I don't know how it happened it's just in case anybody home was listening to all right so sounds good so yeah I think we we'll tighten that up later on right that makes sense to me though all right so without that motion to approve a Freetown ma.gov email address for the inter room har Master motion me second all in favor I I all right we're going to pass over agenda item 14 uh there's some additional work to be done around that um this is for the signs uh change order for the for the windows for the town hall M I'll come back in Future agenda J item 15 um this is discussion of vote whether uh sign the change order for railings at the Freetown Elementary School this is the the new door that we put in and the handicap ramp originally we had spec it with one railing it needs two railings um so there's an additional railing now and it's quite a long ramp so it's a long railing the change order okay is that a code requirement it is a code requirement yeah so not much of choice a code exactly we we put in the second door to you know really alleviate a lot of the elections and to of course allow more exits and more folks with Ada needs to come inanda kind of kind stuck with it yeah yeah okay so no no no that was fine I just I'm on it I was putting a line under that under so with that all a motion to sign the change order for railings at preown elementary school no motion made second all in favor I I okay um CH item 16 discussion and vote whether ratify Chairman's signature on drinking water Asset Management plan Grant contract this is a contract with environmental Partners to do um I've been working on this for a while um asset management of the water department it's through the through the water department it's they're going to go out and locate all of the water infrastructure that we currently have I I got a grant from majority of the um the work there is some employee match and then there is some Financial match that we're going to use offer fund to match with we we approved this at town meeting if you remember to um because we had to allocate 100% of the funds from the water department you know as part of the requirements um and then this contract environmental Partners has been designated by the state as one of the uh firms that can do this work for them under the um infrastructure the water uh I think it's water act so this is just the contract to get that going okay mhm makes sense to me any questions or concerns no okay so with that I'll entertain a motion to ratify chairman s on drinking water Asset Management plan Grant contract motion made second all in favor I so I think that is it for me and I'll will take it over to Personnel all right thank you Mr chairman all right Personnel Board item agenda 17 discussion and vote on who to appoint to the Council of Aging board all right some of the toughest decisions are appointing boards but I've said it once and I'll say it again we we trust our boards of committees around town to help us guide us and what the decisions we make as select that said we've received four letters three from individuals and one from the Council of agent board all right um and all three letters were written well written um showcasing the level of commitment they have to the town on current committees and boards and what they will do for this board if those so elected by uh this committee or this board should say Council of Aging uh recommended uh Miss talit Kathy talit as our their next board member um I'm through my word I I take the opinion of the boards Committees of our town to make help make our decisions um but that doesn't mean it's what the board of Selectmen would like to do so the other two individuals interested are Jeff Amil and Wayne Jay um probably Ser with them at the current board or currently still do so open for discussion um steps I'll take the council agent's recommendation thing yeah yeah know and I I appreciate everyone's you know willingness to to serve and you know we talk about it all the time how hard it is to get individuals to to join and you know be a part of the town and be proactive and so but to your point is I mean I have to they're going to be working with people and I you know I trust their decision making so right um you know I know all three individuals on on that on that table and I sered with actually both of them on other committees so I know the character that all three of them and there wasn't a bad choice in these in these three decisions I could just imagine the excruciating efforts at the board the Council of AG went through to make a decision and does not take away from the other two individuals that that not make it on continue doing what you're doing you've been recognized is just at this point I think uh Kathy has is the uh board's recommendation and yes argue that all right Iain the motion to yeah just I mean nothing about I mean in in injunction to this we we discussing that possibly I'm got to go back and look and see how this um committee the the board is set up Council on Aging because maybe we were talking about possibly adding an alternate to that board and then and then you know another person could be added as an alternate so you may see that come back once I figure out how it's been set up whether it's a or whether it's just a rules and rs and what the charge was of that that group so I could amend it accordingly so it may be um we may be able to you know get an alternate in addition to this Talbert nobody remembers ever being in this situation like we had three excellent candidates had to make a decision based on the person that had this the longest and that is that's a good problem problem but we did not antip getting the caliber of yeah interest that we get that's a good thing I read all three letters and there were all of them I wanted to vote for every one of them had my vote after another so it of the alternat you know I think sometimes with boards and stuff and you know people not being able to be there and other commitments and things and sometimes having that alternate is nice so I think that if we can I think we should yeah I'll work on that yeah no thank you I I know add it to you pile so all right probably one of the hardest decisions for tonight um just is uh the motion to appoint uh Miss Kathy tet to the Council of agent board I'll make that motion I will second all in favor I I all right on to the pars of commissioner all right so thank you agenda item number 18 discussion and vote whether to cleare the shed at the Town Beach's Surplus and what to do with the shed so um the shed has been there it really serves of no use to the town anymore and unfortunately has fallen victim to vandalization a couple of times and things going on within it we try to lock it up and do different things and people still trying to gain access and that becomes a safety issue for the people who are trying to enter it as well as anyone that might be walking around it or whatever so um clearly something needs to be done with it um I don't know that there's really any value to the shed so you know I think we probably just have the highway department break down and move on from it I mean transfer station yeah maybe Town bonfire at the end of the season the same thing I would do it my house is the fire department want to do aise know I think we bring it back to the town level I I think so right yeah that's not a bad idea but yeah no so I mean I just think yeah just rip it down get it over to the train transfer station you know call it a day I mean I guess the only question is do we have electricity into it no all right perfect we don't have to worry about anything with that so everyone agree with that yes may all right so with that I entertain a motion to declare um the shed at the town beach as Surplus and to um tear it down and dispose of it at the transfer station make that motion second all those in favor I I I all right thank you signatures so signatures and then we're going to close right over my are you going to recess or are you going to uh adjourn not you're not you're not coming back not coming back okay you don't adjourn then I have take notes if that whole meaning yeah this is this is evolved since I've been on the board that's kind of what where we landed that's that's absolutely fine so you're res you're not recessing so while she's getting signatures yeah because it always ends up being like a screaming match over one talking at the end of town meeting for us to our make sure take that before we leave saying yeah so I just wanted to update the board um I I I know you're probably all familiar but the pods the COA pods arrived last week awesome and they have been um installed uh hopefully today they finished up the installation of the pods um the elevation which was the most important thing is spot on right on the money thank you Debbie and I want to say thank you to the highway department because they have been incredibly working incredibly long hours and doing a lot over there to get this thing um where it needed to go so Chuck and all of his guys can't think of enough they worked a lot of hours over there working on that also I wanted to just say the haror master met um met with me last week with some some residents and he actually I think took them out on his boat over the weekend to try to resolve misss that we're having from the interim H Master uh B is is uh I want to say thank you to him for going above and beyond as well those are the two things we got going on right nowbody awesome above and beyond that was so stay tuned for our pods no I was I was over there myself and uh when they were finally joining them together those pods look um it's it's going to serve a great use once they're up and running and kicking around functionable yeah and then pck back off of Chuck's endorsement he not only did the highway pods and all that work he also helped out with the movie night for the season but cut all the grasses and maintain the park so that people can enjoy the facility um with the proper length and everything else and I'm sure baseball appreciates it as well so he's been burning the candle at both ends so congrats to that whole crew DPW awesome everybody right think we're good to go so with that I'm going to a motion to a motion made second all in favor I I I [Music]