##VIDEO ID:ojA6jpl-wZw## [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] evening everybody it is Monday December 2nd 2024 at 6:01 p.m. I'll call to order the free time Bard select meeting um this meeting will be recorded will be available on our YouTube page um tonight's meeting is going to be on Zoom as well so I'm going to read the governor's order related to um Zoom meetings so this meeting will be available for inperson attendance and on zoom on March 29th 2023 Governor Healey signed into law ch 2 of the acts of 2023 which among other things extends the expiration of the provisions pertaining to open meeting law to March 31st 2025 specifically this extension allows public bodies to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the public body physically present at a med location and provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings this meeting of the Freetown board select me will be conducted in person uh as well as via remote participation to the greatest extent possible specific information and thank you uh General guidelines for remote precipitation wow by members of the plug body can be found in the town Freetown website Freetown m.gov for this meeting members of the public body who wish to listen to the meeting May do so in the following manner downloading zoom and entering the meeting ID below calling the number listed below and entering the meeting ID listed below or by going to the link and entering the meeting ID listed below although in person attendance is available for this meeting uh every effort will be made to to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means in the event that we are unable to do so despite best efforts we will post on the town's website and YouTube channel an audio or video recording or transcript this other uh or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting okay that's the first bit of reading I have to do and now I'm going to read the public notice to open the hearing November 21st 2024 public notice town of Freetown the free toown board of Selectmen in conjunction with the board of assessors will conduct a public hearing relative to selections of a residential factor that will be that will determine the percentage of tax burden to be borne by each class of property for fiscal year 2025 the hearing will be conducted at the police station community room 15 Memorial Drive East Freetown Massachusetts 02717 on Monday December 2nd 2024 6 p.m. this meeting will also be available virtually um meeting information listed below meeting information and further agenda information will be posted poed on or before the close of business on November 24th 2024 free time board select meeting with uh tror Matthews Jared zagger and Carlos Lopes so with that um the public hearing is open do you guys have to call back to we will resume our meeting that tonight okay all right you have to roll call that because we're on Zoom um yeah sure Zoom okay Jeff yes Paul yes all right thanks for reminding me so I totally forgot that luckely no votes yet all right so do we have the updated um just hand it to you did she hand it to me I wasn't paying attention sorry I was too busy trying to read8 and a half by 11 it is more or less the same as what she would have gotten over the weekend it it has fewer lines so the text is bigger okay perfect we appreciate that yes yeah I was I was witing pretty hard but um I just have to line it up no Mike is it less lines that's what the the governor or the government gave us to choose from oh no the government would have given us more lines far more lines um you could you could really get one of these sheets that has probably close to a thousand lines yeah no thanks yeah so the current if we did nothing right the current one we're at is that one 1.57 um so no the uh no that's okay the 1.57 if you go down to the line uh the next highlighted line below that that's the 1.625 Y that is the shift that we adopted last year okay so what the other highlights are 1.625 is the current current shift the 1.57 that represents uh the shift that would produce the same residential tax rate that we have this year the 1043 mhm uh the line the third highlighted line down uh which is 1.645 that produces as close to the same commercial tax rate as you could get uh right now we're at 1030 uh excuse me 20 32 and that's 20 35 and then the one difference between the sheet you get over the weekend and the one that you have copied now is there's a fourth highlighted line uh 1.69 five that's a result of a discussion we had during the assessor meeting this afternoon so okay um the top three are are like I said the ones you get over the weekend so 1.625 is the current shift 1.57 produces the same residential tax rate 1.645 produces the same commercial tax rate um and then you have the sheet that has the benchmarks or highlights or whatever on it the bullet points um and that has a few extra ones this year because there are some skews in this table that don't normally happen in the the chart with all the different options um so just to run down the bullet points quickly uh the top few were the same as they've been every year 2001 was when stop and shops Tiff began 2004 was when stop sh and Shop began operating 2015 Amazon's Tiff was approved um I'll skip over a couple of lines because we won't quite need those so fiscal 24 the year that ended for us on June 30th that was the last year that Stop and Shop had a tiff Stop and Shop was on what we call an old Tiff which meant that for the duration of their Tiff agreement their personal property was completely and totally exempt it didn't matter what their real estate percentage was when their Tiff ends their personal property becomes taxable that's talked about in some of the the paragraphs at the bottom um you compare that with Amazon is on what's called a new Tiff the personal property matches the real estate so when the real estates at 50% the personal property is at 50% uh so with Stop and Shop at first we were describing there like a little bit of a windfall because they were suddenly paying taxes this year on a bunch of stuff they weren't paying taxes on before mhm uh during our meeting this afternoon one of our members isn't here but she had mentioned that it shouldn't be looked at as much as a windfall as Stop and Shop didn't have to pay those taxes for 20 years and now they're simply paying what they were supposed to be paying more or less all along yeah um so in 2025 fiscal year 25 uh aside from the fact that Stop and Shop is off their Tiff entirely now Amazon's Tiff also o went from 75% down to 50% so they are paying at a higher rate than they have been the last few years um and it does mention this is stop and Shop's first year for personal property but this is also the first year that folks are going to begin paying toward the Bristol Plymouth School construction project so there's a little bit of an overlap um I think we're in the last year of paying for the police station or second to last year it's near it's 29 will be the last year I thought it was a little bit 5,000 a year that so there's a little bit of an overlap where the police St it might have been the school I was thinking the police station hasn't fallen off yet one or two of our own School construction projects have fallen off but we're picking up the Bristol Plymouth project so where we saved from our own School VPS taking um but a couple of years the police station will fall off there'll be some savings there um when we get to the paragraph that are at the bottom of the sheet um there's just some calculations so for example um Stop and Shop their real estate value increased by about $2.4 million that's a combination of them losing the last one% of their Tiff and also just General market changes because the market is still going up um but their personal property represented growth of $15.1 million because that's all stuff we were never getting before uh Amazon had a change again from 25 uh from 75% to 50% so U the change there Market Value Plus what we're picking up from the the Tiff rate change was just about a $9.7 million increase um then we have a few other large businesses like Copart and Al gonin gas that has the the large gas transmission lines mhm but the huge growth with Stop and Shop and with uh Amazon that's why we're saying the chart is a little bit skewed when it tells you what the uh average commercial Bill might increase you have to keep in mind that those larger businesses are pulling that higher so you know we ran a few numbers during our meeting this afternoon just to try and see like we used Grandpa's place in a Sonet and profile Tavern in East town as our examples yep grandpa I don't I didn't bring that sheet with me but Grandpa's the bill was going to go up something like maybe $600 or $700 or and that was combined real estate and personal property okay profile Tavern was going to go up around 1,500 or 1,800 that was combined real estate personal property and they had taken out a permit for something during the year so there was some added growth um compare that with Stop and Shop that's in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of what's going to go up those larger businesses are pulling that average higher the typical small business in town is going to see an increase but they're not going to see I mean there are lines on this chart where it says the average bill could go up $2,000 mhm the smaller businesses are not going to see the $2,000 increase that's all those many many many smaller increases being sucked Higher by Massive increases of larger business MH um so the assessors wanted to point that out to to make it not look quite as shocking um because it's shocking when you see the large thank you sure that's why we discussed that bottom grade area that 1. 6950 shift yep so that that b so that one in this one the residential go up on average no residential goes down go down bill bill the bill goes up yes so the average bill goes up around $82 in that scenario for residential it says that the average commercial bill goes up around 1,700 but that's skewed so the commercial would be going up most commercial would be going up in the hundreds mhm or less not in the thousands um it's it's just an odd year where that's happening and um probably if the Bristol Plymouth project was not there then at that shift the residents would probably actually be saving a little bit of money yeah the when this is calculated and you say that it's going to go up the average residential in that case you know $82 right is that based on what's the value that there would be causing that to the value of a home yep so up at the top of the sheet right under the heading there's the two numbers the average single family home value that's still kind of small the average single value uh single family home value is 53157 um oh there we are I'm sorry cuz my sheet the way I have yeah oh yeah what was last year's mic you know I'm sorry what was last year's uh uh rate you remember um it was closer to 500 even it's right somewhere around there um commercial was a little bit bigger of a jump that was in the 600s last year and it's now the averages u a little over 700,000 so over the past few years the town watched the tax rate go down although everyone's assessments continue to go up because the valuations of their properties are higher yeah we finally realizing revenue from Stop and Shop and Amazon and it would be nice for that for the residents to recognize that and see a modest increase in their tax bill as opposed to continually increasing by greater amounts you know so that's why we really discussed this um 1. 1695 you know one of the other things I think we should need to consider is that if the town plans any expansion as far as new buildings and so forth given the the residential people of break right now is going to help maybe convince them that we do need a building here we do need a building there you know that that was one of my thoughts absolutely mik there some significance to getting to 1.65 as well um yes and um Melissa is on the zoom now and may be able to speak to this a little bit more intelligently than I can but [Music] um there was and this was Karen had explained this to me long ago there is some breaking point at 1.65 where if your shift drops below that the state is hesitant to let you go back above it unless there are certain basically benchmarks that occur with growth or or revenue or whatever for the last couple of years we've been at a point where they're allowing us to go as much as 1.75 um I don't know exactly what the Benchmark is that causes you to get cut off so there is some benefit to considering going to at least the 1.65 while you can to lock you in at that point um but that's that's strictly up to you just there like there were a number of years where we could not have gone that high because we weren't hitting whatever that Benchmark was gotcha we obviously rely heavy on income from these businesses we've highlighted right I guess what do we see for surrounding areas as far as commercial tax rate are we going to scare away some of these big businesses that can obviously stop in shops of the world that can go to other areas and get a tiff for say the next 20 years that it really makes it favorable for them to say see you later free toown and then puts us in a much bigger you know I understand what we want to do I want to help our residents first and foremost right we're all residents up here we're all paying our taxes as well as you so um you know I want to help them but I also don't want to scare away business right and I and I know I can say that that's everyone here but um it it's a little bit hard to compare because some of the towns around us have a single tax rate uh which we don't we split between residents and Commercial mhm if we had a single tax rate the commercial tax rate would drop considerably the residential rate would go up because right now we split and the split would go away MH um any business that was going to come in that was going to meet standards of development and how many jobs they would create could still get a tiff now so if another large company came in and said hey we want a tiff we we want to develop here they can still do that and they'd still get the same types of benefits that stop and shop and Amazon had gotten before um some of what may keep larger businesses away is we're starting to run out of larger areas of land that are available to them mhm um as far as the ones that we have now uh at least in a couple of cases it's possible that they're too big to actually leave us because they won't find something comparable somewhere else I I think no matter what we do like companies are going to be play the Tiff game they're going to go from Community to community and it's a part of their oh sure it's by Design right and I not much we can do about that I know yeah I guess I know you're saying like is it are we are we being like crazy with you know increasing I feel like the range we're given is pretty minimal it's pretty tight right like in the big scheme of things where I'm sure oh it's a valid point and at the end of the day if I keep using Stop and Shop because they're the biggest one on this list right so that's why I'm picking on Stop and Shop if Stop and Shop walks away they still owe the value of the property in taxes right so a good portion of that still there we lose the additional money for the value of all the property on the inside but they still owe the the tax burden for the property itself right so if Stop and Shop were to up and leave next year sometime uh if they moved the personal property out we would lose that MH um what we also benefit from with Stop and Shop is a condition of their Tiff was that they were required to register every vehicle the company owned in this town so that we would get the excise taxes W they're no longer bound by that because the Tiff is ended W so I didn't even know I I didn't hear about that yeah um so we get a few I want to say a few hundred, excise taxes from them every year um so if they moved again that's something that would lose because they would register the the trucks and corporate cars and whatever else anywhere else that they went but the land and the building would still be there there would still be real estate tax revenue to come from that um whereas predominantly that's where most of dollars that we generate are coming from right so so the good news is The Bu the buildings are there they're established these businesses that you've highlighted here are there so a lot of those tax dollars aren't going away that we really have to worry about taking that huge of a hit overnight so to speak right so because I mean it's a it's a concern for me the real concern is the residents you know that's right why we're here is the residents but um you know it's just another thing that I think of when I look at this so no I mean it is a fair concern Somerset went through that um when they lost power plants and um in fact if I remember correctly in their case they were not um they were not going to the full Levy amount the power plants were making up a lot of their budget when the power plants closed the residents saw huge increases in because that wasn't there anymore yeah um I mean it it any one of those larger businesses if they left we'd start to see a ripple effect from that and you know if two of them left we' we'd be tough but um we're fortunate right now that we're in a place that they're here and they don't seem to be going anywhere and and um it's a good thing right now yeah U but you're right I mean it's good to be mindful of the fact of what would happen if they left what would change mhm thank you Mike do you see um over the summertime we we heard about property and Long Pond going up through through this sky right um one we understand the numbers are correct correct just a little early in different ways right do we expect that in Freetown whether it's to Bay shores or Long Pond um so not in the same way okay uh generally speaking Residential Properties in town the average increase was around 5% in value um so as Jeff mentioned before the values go up the tax rates will come down Waterfront always goes up a little bit more because Waterfront sells a little bit more uh where Lakeville saw an issue if I understood that issue correctly was we come out with our new values at this time of year somehow Lakeville ended up in their system with new values in the summer MH those new values took the old tax rate they they hadn't gone through this process we're going through right now so they took potential 2025 values at 2024 tax rates which meant the tax rate didn't come down and they just saw massive increases all at once um whether that was computer error or operator error it was an error and we will not see that problem here people's bills will go up but they will go up like they would normally expect them to they would they will not um I I recall we got actually got a couple of calls from people that lived on the pond that wanted to know what was going on um people who lived in Lakeville I said well first of all we can't really tell you what's going on but um a big shock there was one fellow who got a zoning determination in Freetown that a lot was buildable that changed the value of the lot so his bill went up uh quite a bit M but he also owned property in Lakeville so he got two really big bills off jeez that's tough um and thankfully Lakeville was able to resolve their issue and and there were other details we learned here that brought the value back down at least somewhat so uh he got a reprieve from that but double sticker shock we we don't want to have that no no that's what I was getting to you know it's one thing if residents know it's coming it's another if it's they open up their envelope and it's like wo 120% increase where's this coming from right I don't want that far residence or even sitting board members right because you know water property is right there so thank you that eases my mind all right is there is there a a particular so I guess sessor board recommendation which I know doesn't if I remember doesn't um doesn't recommend that they give us we don't have a formal recommendation it's not a formal recommend I I was thinking to that earlier on I'm like they're not going to give us any recommendations they're going to give us the num you're making it you're making it hard for us they say that this is you know I think that youve encouragement encourage we'll encourage you to the 1. 695 okay yeah B based on our meeting that we had today yep okay what what um you folks have any strong opinions here no because I I mean I'm some I was saying all right as long as we end up somewhere between 1.645 and 1.6 N5 I wouldn't want to go less than that or obviously more than that funny you say that CU 1.67 was the one I was looking at just I was just running some numbers when you look at um Amazon's increase at 10 million the tax on the 10 million right now would be $201,000 so if you went up to the 1.67 that's like a 56 cents per thousand increase it's about a $6,000 increase to Amazon if you went up to the um 1.69 five that increase will be about $8,700 so and that's only on that $10 million increase of course that's their actual bill is double that and that's still only 50% of the value but that might help you kind of put it in perspective like for me like a $6,000 increase I think my Amazon I I cover that expense I was I joke with my wife that they have a street named after they have a Nile that's named after my address there so I think that's the case in most hous yes especially at the Christmas season but but that's a really good example of when we say the averages are skewed yeah right uh mom and pop variety stores Maybe going to go up 50 bucks Amazon's going to go up 7,000 yeah right right but their bill is 200 thou their bill on just the 50% increase so their bill is actually much more than 400,000 and that's still only 50% so their real tax bills $800,000 but you would also have to yeah you would have to well that's that's just a free tax so so what you're seeing is 50% of the 40% that's here yeah yeah yeah yeah the number I gave you was just on the 10 million you got to remember Amazon probably in this between Lake M and Freetown makes the 400,000 in probably a day or two easily in an hour or two this think my house alone was probably Mak half shoing yeah so I mean we've all sat up here talking about how we proved the point right of how much money to them versus right to us you know when we we talk about what you know the average employee for town or Freetown and certainly us three big dogs up here and all the money we're making you know um uh you know all joking aside it makes me that thank you Debbie that puts it into perspective a lot more for me I love numbers and that helps solidify the numbers so I'm okay with going at that 1.6 N5 okay Carlos any no I'm okay with it um it's it's a a big win for the residents and businesses in town um and like Paul said he's right you know down the road there are going to be talks of more buildings and things like that as we continue to grow and this is a good way to let the people know hey we can do this responsibly in the right way right so um P sh you know I think like right now we're in a position where we can give them a break I like that kind of point and so when we go to ask you know for we have to building a new town hall or something of that nature like you know hopefully they are understanding I don't know if it will [Music] be okay they don't raise taxes so now do I have to close the public hearing before we vote I think so I would are you done colle are we are we done anything else to talk about no yes I'm just is there anyone on zo I know Melissa's on Zoom I don't know if there's anything to add are you there meliss was no yeah right behind us too here everywhere in 3D oh jeez oh hi everybody hi oh there we go all right sorry I couldn't be there but clearly we are well represented by the three people that are there and I I don't really have much to add um the discussion has been would have been the same if I was there so thank good perfect thank you all right um so you you'll close the hearing first and then remember when you go to vote I give the same little Spiel every every year you have an awful lot of numbers that make sense and mean something on this chart and then you have that column called residential factor that really means nothing to anybody but that's what you're voting on okay thank you I was that was going to be my question so somebody in a cubicle in Boston knows what that M number is exactly and you to Mike so but is that actually is voting on this actually on the agenda you yeah good it's I guess it's up here but yeah it's above it right tax to be born by each class of property the selection of the residential Factory that's that odd number okay it's just like above the bordering part that's fine though I can it doesn't matter okay just want to make sure right okay so without so a motion to close the public hearing motion made second all in favor i i s Lopes yes selectman Zer yes selectman Matthews yes all right so then agenda item one is conjunction with the board of assessors relative um to selection of the residential factor to determine the percentage of the tax burden to be born by each class of property so that I will entertain a motion uh to utilize the residential factor is that the right terminology yes residential factor of 8087 motion made second all in favor I I selectman Lopes yes selectman zagger yes selectman Matthews yes we could right okay and then agenda item two I we not ready to talk about that one yet this is discussion properties that are being split into two lots yeah that was a little bit of a surprise that is going to require I can give you in 30 seconds or less um obviously folks came out in force to the town meeting in June and voted no on apartments related to the train station yep uh the state in August pretty much went haha and uh changed a lot of things Statewide and took away the ability of towns to have any say in that one of those things was they removed virtually all restrictions on in-law apartments so while we have voted no on train related Apartments it is far easier for people to add in-law apartments to their houses now and the town can no longer restrict things like renting them out or whatever so they're getting the apartment ments they wanted by basically doing a runaround the process that normally play out the other thing they did is they addressed common ownership and um again the the 30 second recap of that 1976 a law was passed um basically towns were learning through the zoning process and they were learning I will pick on where most of us are at uh towns across the state learn from places like Aon at Bay shores that 100 by hundred lots are not really deal when you try to cram a house and a septic system and a well all in that small of an area so as towns uh were increasing their minimum lot sizes there were conflicts and the state tried to resolve that by saying okay uh within five years if you have not checkerboarded these if you have not put them in different ownership or what have you they are merging for zoning purposes and that's how we end up with people that have one house has a 10,000 squ foot lot the house next to them has a 20,000 squ foot lot because the Lots basically merged and you couldn't build separ I have one right yeah so as part of this same sweeping uh apartment related change the state did away with common ownership and said now if your lot has 75 ft of Frontage and 10,000 squ foot of area uh then you can build on it if you want to um provided that you can again fit everything in that one sort of square uh what the result of that is going to be and we won't really have a better picture of this for another six months at least is people now have property that's worth more than it used to be because they can do more with it than they used to be able to do um we are trying to find a way to both be fair with that because I will pick on Trevor since he identified himself Trevor Has a potential to cash out that Jared does not have because Jared has one lot and Trevor Has Two um so we are trying to find the fair way to recognize that with say Trevor's assessment which will go up in some fashion um but without being devastating yeah there are people that bought these Lots years ago because they wanted to have 20,000 Square ft they didn't want a house 50 feet away from them um so we are looking at what are the proper remedies so that if you have 20,000 ft and that's what you want and you want to be walked in at that what step can you do to basically give up your right to develop it so that your bill does not go crazy MH um what's going to happen with somebody who has two lots that isn't sure what they want to do yet and then um people who know for a fact that they want to develop that other lot U so things like getting a zoning determination is generally an idea to us that if you've gone and gotten a zoning determination you have some notion that you probably want to do something mhm um and uh when we get a better handle on that we're going to have to notify people and say Hey you know by the way the law changed and you have options you didn't used to have but with options come comes value yeah um and if you because it could be it could increase the tax base right pretty oh pretty significantly um it can and and it will be a little bit of a shock maybe at first because um land is valued there are two main categories for land basically you have developable and non-developable mhm but within developable you have different values of land and I won't bore you with all the crazy details of it but [Music] um there's your Standard Building lot and then there's another category subcategory for if you have enough land and Frontage that you could create a second lot but you've not actually done that mhm um it's a way to recognize that again your land is a little bit more valuable than your neighbor's land that's where a lot of people are going to end up falling yeah they're going to end up falling in this subcategory that says you may not want to but you can and if you don't do something to make sure that you can't you can um and then of course we we don't want people to be shocked by that so we want to say Hey you know this is um we ran some very preliminary numbers and going that route uh people might see a couple of hundred dollar increases in what they pay in taxes because they're going to have that or someone like Trevor you mean versus someone yeah sell that um so next year when the selectman ask for $ 5200 instead of50 yeah exactly $5,000 but um yeah so like Jared you or or I we're not going to see that change yeah um Trevor might somebody else at that table who got a zoning determination is definitely going to um yeah up if I rip it up does [Laughter] that um but I keep a copy just in case I want to come back yeah but it's important like that's going to affect um one of the standards that the law relies on is was your property depicted on a plan not did you just cut land out what had it actually been approved at one point by the planning board mhm So asonet based Shores in 1960 that was approved does over 300 10,000 ft Lots yep those are all in one fashion another in play you know we would look at things too like have you built your house across two lots if you have then you're obviously not going to break them up unless you're going to tear your house down and start all over again so we're going to look at something like that and say you probably no you're not going to be separating those um but it's not just a sonate Bay shores right Heaven Heights started out as summer houses those are all plan approved Lots um that subdivision is older than a son at bores some of them actually don't meet the 75 foot requirement if you try to separate the Lots up um Hemlock point the Simpson Lane area so I can pick on everybody equally because that started out as 10,000 square foot Lots on the Simpson lane side and Kane Lane and Nelson Lane um people who just have random Lots across town somebody on bulock road for whatever reason there could have been a plan that said you have a 75 by 500t piece of land that that's suddenly a viable building lot now um it it's going to bring about some changes but we're not going to know until we've done some research exactly what that's going to look like and the st's got to provide some kind of assistance and this right they threw this at us right I mean yeah they don't seem to be in the mood to do that um I feel like this was I'm sure on the one hand there were people in the state house who thought we're helping somebody and I'm sure there are other people who thought all these towns are voting against what we want so we're just going to do it anyway yeah and then personally it benefits me I think you know just because I'm but I could totally understand that like there's there's uh some serious repercussions of this kind of change right that's what happens you make legislation at 2 o'clock in the morning yeah and pass it so it's you're right I think it was a little bit rushed but it's the cars were dealt right yeah so uh but you know there will be steps that people can tell like if somebody has two side by side laws and they really don't want them um individually developed we can give them advice on these are steps you can take to to basically formally combine them so that you can and in some cases that's happened already there are people who previous owners TV just looked like a checkered flag for a second some transition um there are some people now who are finding like previous owners of the property actually did do plans and actually intentionally combine the Lots that's the most recent plan so we look at that as okay that's what you have now you can't go back to the other plan yep um Mike do you have a way of knowing who has these lots and who doesn't so that you can notify them specifically um we will in about six months so we did during Co maybe a little bit less than six during Co we did a partial by paral review of every property we had in town to look at um that's when the town hall was shut down and it was it was quiet yeah um to be able to say okay is what people have actually correct M and we found a few things where like somebody might have a 10,000 foot lot but for some reason it had been put in the computer that they had a 9,000 foot lot so surprised we found the other thousand square F feet y um and sometimes in Reverse sometimes they had 1100 and we found out they only had a thousand whatever basically kind of have to repeat that process now to start at the first one and go one by one and say okay 10,000 10,000 10,000 not a big deal oh this is a 20,000 square foot lot what's the story with it what is yeah and again some neighborhoods that's easily identified we know we're going to find that in a sonate Bay shores and Heaven Heights and Hemlock point and meal Lane and all these other um all these other subdivisions it's going to be the places like in the middle of town where lots have just existed forever yeah that we're going to have to do a little bit more digging yeah um but then at the end of that we'll you know we'll send out notes that say this is what's happened and this is kind of what you can expect and please please don't angrily come at us because it's not our fault but there'll be ways for them to mitigate it yes yeah if they um we don't want to penalize people who have have no intention of ever Dev develop the land yeah yeah you know so and I think it's fair that if you do have you should you should pay a premium for that opportunity I mean that that makes to me like I'd be feel comfortable paying a premium just to give me that flexibility someday you know definitely don't want it you you charge him for my one yes them but I just think that's fair right I got you know I think it's right and and there's some things that uh come into um there are other factors besides simply the size and the frontage and all that um we have some of the older subdivisions where the roads were never actually developed so there's a subdivision called um Tatum that you would never know was there because they built the houses along North Main Street and they built the houses along Pleasant Street and running in between Pleasant Street and uh North Main Street is an old dirt road called doctor's Lane MH the Lots on doctor's Lane never got developed um they just stuck with what was there so yeah so um while there may be some added value to the fact that those Lots now have viability the road is not there they can't just walk out and start building a house on the lot so there's going to be consider that's again sort of the stuff we have to look at there's going to be consideration to you can build but you can build if there's a road and there's no Road Road and that's not cheap so a lot of people aren't going to build out a road to get their one now someone might buy the build that road it depends if you had five or six of these lots and you were going to cash out it might be worth it to drive building a road but um all right well that was I think that was very informative I appreciate sure ation any other specific questions on this before we move on it's good information yeah thank you guys yeah um we going to close on oh yeah close yeah well actually motional before you ad I got stuff for you to sign so if you want to just go to quietly to a table in the back we can then we can yeah but we have to be on on tape because of the uh open meeting law um we do yeah so let's sign this stuff and then all right all right so what what am I doing here you can when they're ready to adour they can well thank you folks I appreciate it sure thank you yes all right now moving on to agenda item three uh discussion of vote weather uh for the call for the 2025 annual local election to be held on 47 20125 we have Cheryl Char to clerk here thank you I feel like I just ended an election and we're already starting a new one I saw I had to read this twice I was like wait yeah Jump Right In back in front of you again as normal procedures to call for the election just putting everyone on notice that what positions are available uh when the election's going to take place um and that nomination Pap will be available the day to get back to New Year's break which will be Thursday January 2nd starting at 9:00 a.m. so all the positions are listed there for you if you want to go through them and then we can just yeah I I can just me to just say right now yeah so um FYI oh sorry I hate so just as an FYI um the board of registrars have not met yet we were trying to meet before tonight's meeting with you um just in regards to a recommendation um and a discussion uh based on uh vote by mail so that I will come before the board again at a later time after we meet with the board of registrars for a discussion on that see if it's worth it or not so vote by mail you've heard me say this for a couple of years now it is mandatory the state gives us some flexibility where we can opt out yeah U with the public hearing roll call vote um we've got some numbers and it's just uh making elections easier and more accessible with not costing a tremendous not adding a tremendous cost to the town yeah so in bir into your department um and and if I remember correctly the last time we could do this we did right so uh so last calendar year um 2023 we opted out the board voted to opt out of vote by mail because absentee with cause was still available um this year just to make it ease and less confusion because the state was notifying all the all the voters with those mandatory postcards it would be too much of a confusion to let the voters know that hey you can vote by mail for these elections but not for this one so as just an um an easier understanding measure we just did it across the board on the town stve without having to mail out those applications because we piggybacked on the state absolutely okay yep all right so I'll read out the open position okay so these are the following open positions so we have one selectman and Personnel Board member threee term one assessor three-year term one Board of Health member three-year term one Cemetary commissioner member threeyear term uh three finance committee members threeyear terms two Library trustees threee terms one planning board member 5-year term one Water and Sewer commissioner three-year term one Regional School District committee Freetown three-year term and one Regional School District committee Lakeville 3 y charm correct I didn't miss anything right nope okay all right um so yeah so it's April 7th 2025 anything else we need to talk about before we vote nope I did um forward you a proposed motion document if you want to read that off and take a vote and then we'll be good all right so I'll a motion that the board of selectman adopt the public notice to call for the April 7th 2025 annual election Town election and direct the town clerk to have said uh notice duly advertised and posted in accordance with the bylaws of the town of Freetown and the laws of the Comm of Massachusetts and does that suffice so I have a motion motion made second all in favor I I selectman Lopes yes selan zeger yes selan Matthews yes all right do we want to let them close motion yeah pleas to adjourn our assessor meeting second all in favor I all Paul yes je yes all right thanks guys thank you guys Cheryl thank you Cheryl you're good I think you're good thank you U just the next one's the clickers I don't know if you're interested in that I I'll stay as long as I can I do have to make it to planville I'll make this real quick for you all right so next we have awarding the requests for quotes for the uh voting clickers and we have I guess we have one quote back yeah and it's never the one that you like but yeah so it's so we did reach out to um all the companies and somewh to make um some bids somewh so we that's what we have right now this is the trend where a lot of the cities and towns the communities are going to so I can understand why they're tremendously um overloaded they do make an appearance at all of our conferences our mtown clerks and our New England conferences so it is um it is a trend an increasing Trend and this like so um ridia right that's the company um y but they I've seen them in action yeah I've seen them in action um pretty pretty standard across the board okay no concerns I guess really no concerns um my piece of it's going to be the customer service end of it that's so the reason why I put this Forth Just so you know the last time we put it out to bid the bids came in higher than the article money that we had so we couldn't we couldn't award the bid but we had some oper money left that has to be obligated by the end of the year and I thought well let's get this done because I know it was a wish of the board to have these clickers and that way I can supplement the article money with Opera money perfect and that's why I asked lean uh to rebid it and do do the leg work for this so that that was the timing of it no other reason except if we want to get it done we need to do it now to get the funding to obligate it with Opa funds perfect and so the bid we got is for $19,995 and all right yeah I mean obviously you you've seen seen them in action and know that it seems like it's a good company so that because that's the only I worry about is us spending 20 grand I actually went to another town another Town's town meeting and our Town Council was there so it was pretty funny what you doing here they're all they they basically cover every town specific so yeah and we have $166,000 in article money and we can supplement that with the $4,000 proper money perfect awesome okay so with that I'll a motion to award the um bid for the voting clickers to Meridia a motion made uh before I vote uh we vote Yes on this does this mean we're going to get him for the next election next town election Tom meeting will they be in on time that was in the RFQ right I Haven well I I don't see that right now um so okay so if that's then I'm second that motion then awesome it's it's a pretty quick if I may interject it's a pretty quick turnaround um it's just how busy they are obviously when you implement something like that it's going to require Hardware assistance it's going to require um IT personnel training um so the hardware itself is pretty readily available unless you're doing something specific where um you know you're customizing them the hardware is going to be available it's just a matter of scheduling they only have X amount of staff and x amount of training that they can send out and as you know the springtime is is busy May and June are extremely busy for towns and massachusett so see that and we we expect 500 clickers so there could be instances where we have a really crazy meeting that we don't have enough just but good I think that's what you might have put on the original that we thought was was a a fair number to get us yeah I haven't seen any I haven't seen a meeting any larger than that but we all know in the history it can happen yeah and in some and in some instances when we are expecting or it's a Hot Topic um there are opportunities and availability to rent additional clickers I know um I reached out to other some neighboring communities who also said they could let us borrow theirs MH um we just have to be certain to make sure that they don't get mixed up yeah but if they're from the same company you know our town clerk network is really good about sharing and caring and they'll help us out if uh there happens to be a hot button subject really borrowing better than renting all right I don't just to clarify didn't want to say that the um we did ask for it to be available for the June 2025 date which is to be determined but we did note that if it was not doable uh we're open to initiating this at our October 2025 town meeting if necessary but we did stress to do june okay okay all right so I think I got the motion I got a second so all in favor I I I selan Lopes yes San Zer yes S Matthews yes all right thank Cheryl appreciate it welcome thank you have a safe ride okay so J item five this is discussion of vote weather approve the 2025 seasonal population increase estimate form required by the abcc and it looks like the number here is 9,236 people with 30 seasonal people correct sounds right to me to me okay I think it's said a snowbirds if they're seasonal in New England yeah someone yeah the seasonal must be at only here in the summer right correct okay uh so with that I will entertain a motion to approve the 2025 seasonal population increase estimate form required by abcc motion made second all in favor I I selan Lopes yes selan Zar yes San Matthews yes right we're going to skip agenda item six because we're missing some submissions for uh renewal certificates uh J item s discussion of vote whether to approve the following 2025 all alcohol beverage liquor license renewals uh a is M andh uh Junior's Inc and B is Circle K any questions or concerns no no got all their paperwork in all right so with that on a motion to approve uh A and B from the list for the 2025 all alcohol beverage liquor license renewal motion made second all in favor I slman Lopes yes slman zeger yes slman Matthews yes get item eight this is the 2025 wine and malt beverage liquor license so a is &h Grandpa's ink m b is Mason Road food Mark Corp any questions or concerns on those no no all right so with that I'll a motion to approve A and B for the 2025 wine and malt beverage liquor license renewals motion made second all in favor all right all right Selman Lopes yes Selman Zer yes San Matthews yes okay J itm nine this is for the 20125 all alcohol liquor to be drunk on premise license renewals and a is carsley Inc aka the ledge B is independent Harbor C is profile Rock uh Inc SL the profile Tavern and D is Freetown Memorial post 6643 for the VFW any questions or concerns on these no okay so with that I a motion to approve the 2025 all alcohol liquor license for uh to be drunk on premises license rals for a through d motion made second all in favor I I Selman Lopes yes Selman Zer yes Selman Matthews yes right J item 10 this is for 2025 entertainment license renewals a we have profile Rock Inc profile Tavern B we have free time Memorial post 6643 VFW and C we have independent Harbor question concerns about that no no so with that I'll a motion to approve the 2025 entertainment license for a through C motion made second all in favor I I I selectman Lopes yes selectman zegger yes SEL Matthews yes item 11 I haven't missed anything yet right nope okay uh this is for the annual renewal license for um Freetown uh Memorial post 6643 VFW for jukebox and automatic device license any questions or concerns on that no answer that I a motion to approve annual license renewal for the uh VFW for the Jukebox and automatic device license motion m i second all favor I I selectman Lopes yes selectman zeger yes Selman Matthews yes okay J item 12 this is for Class 2 motor vehicle license renewals for 2025 so a we have chopperhead Industries Inc DBA chopperhead Custom Cycles B Mark H Bullock DBA chlea Auto Sales C samman Corp DBA s man Auto Sales D Armen M Clermont uh DBA clermont's Auto Sales e Dean Markle marel DBA Miller's Auto Sales and uh F coparts of Connecticut DBA Copart any question concerns at all these no no okay so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the class 2 motor vehicle license for uh 20125 for a through F motion made second all in favor I I selectman Lopes yes selectman zeger yes selectman Matthews yes j i 13 this is class three motor vehicle license renewals for 2025 we have Miller uh Millis Industries DBA piging pole for a b is Donald F mza Mendoza uh junr DBA DM Auto Enterprises questions or concerns no no right I'll in a motion to approve the class 3 motor vehicle license renewals for A and B from the agenda a motion made all in favor I Selman Zar yes Selman Lopes yes Selman Matthews yes J 14 this is for uh the motor vehicle graveyard license for um for Pick and poll any question concerns on that no all right so that intend a motion to approve the motor vehicle graveyard license for Millis Industries Inc DBA pick and P motion made second all in favor n sorry selectman Lopes yes selectman Zer yes Selman Matthew is yes it's funny because like most times you remember over here most the times you remembered I forgot yeah and I was like and then the one time that that whole succession there was like very automated so I don't blame you for we okay uh gen item 15 this is some snowplow applications for winter 2024 and 2025 uh a is zussy Brothers LLC B is SM automotive and C is Barry Emerald any questions or concerns with those no happy to see him coming in yeah all inre everything's good I knew it wouldn't be on J if it wasn't but just asking maybe so maybe maybe Wednesday or Thursday it'll be put to use I know you never know oh well all right so with that um I'll enter a motion to approve the snow app uh snow plow applications for winter 2024 2025 with from for a through C on the agenda a motion made second all in favor I I fman Lopes yes fman Zer yesman Matthews yes all right J item 16 discussion of vote what to do with the town buildings for the December holidays slash events okay Christmas is on I don't think you did for the Senator's party no not the Senators but the town the employees party they did vote at the last meeting so Len did a survey for sort of departments um what they were hoping to get for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve MH um all over the place I'm not going to say that they're not I I think that the majority of the day can be worked I can see letting the staff out a couple of hours early on Christmas Eve for those people that have to travel or um have stuff to do at home have kids to get ready maybe 2:00 but any sooner than that I I just I just don't see it they can always use their personal time yep off um you know when we close the town hall they don't use their personal time off they just get paid for that time regardless y so I struggle a little bit with this because they they get you know a fair benefit package with days off yep so um you want this this is what this is what just showed me so each department you know I mean I would in new years's I don't think there should be any concessions I think New Year's everybody should just work their regular hours for New Year's Eve yeah I mean I'm okay with that definitely Christmas I'm thinking to your point is maybe if we closed even a couple hours early I mean because do people people myself included I you know I have a family party that starts earlier in the day so I right use your personal time I use I and to your point is yes I have to use my personal time so so that's why I'm thinking that if we said okay you know say 2:00 that gives them a couple hours early I don't know what I mean even 3:00 I mean I think Highway Works 7 to 3 generally and you know there's always that you know there's that unfairness when the town hall closes early and they get paid those hours and they don't have to use their PTO but police and fire don't get that Highway doesn't get that do you know what I mean so I'm always careful I have to well it's a very valid point like you you have to take that into consideration and it is it is valid right it's valid to those departments who say I got to work Christmas Eve because I'm and some of them Christmas right right so so I always have to try to balance it I I won't be working Christmas Eve but I will use my PTO which is what it's there for right my vacation or my personal days whatever I have so I'm I struggle with um and some of it is you know like the Li if there's only there's only one person on they they can't go home so but I think they've said they've worked they worked it out on they've worked their own situation out so they don't they're not asking for any concessions yeah I saw that so I mean you really don't need to do anything then well I mean I think their departments kind of asked and and we Lan asked and and presented to you I like I said it's a struggle for me um because I know I won't be there I'm taking that day off um and I'm okay with some departments closing if there's no staff I'm okay with that because people will understand on Christmas Eve if a department is closed because there's no staff and they'll come back on another day so yeah so I mean I'm looking at even what you know COA said that you know they'll close early but their employees will take their time you know to get paid so yeah I don't know because the what it closed at five right what up four four I'm sorry I meant to say four everything it Clos at four Highway Clos there done at three you know what I mean like I said my issue is this sort of inconsistency be if the town hall gets the extra hour and they just get it paid and they don't have to use their PTO it and that happens like when I call a snow day right police and fire still working Highway still working and it's part of it I explained to them is the nature of the job we all have different jobs um I mean I don't get to work a 24-hour shift two 24-hour shifts and have the rest of the week off either right you know there's inherent things in our jobs um but I do try to be fair and be cognitive of that fact um that we you know so I don't have a I don't necessarily have a recommendation maybe close the town hall at 3:00 on that day Highway works till three um I I think that b on the points you brought up I think that's a valid recommendation 3 p.m. so just close an hour early what do you think Carlos loopes yeah it's a great conversation you guys are having and it's I agree with it it's like I'm I'm in the middle of all of it right like it's a busy time of year we defin have to be cognizant of all the unions and all the different contracts we have and we're also our Personnel are also matter and are important to us right some may may may be new they don't have time off um those are things I think about during the holidays new job new responsibilities right um closing a little bit early I'd be I'd be okay with even looking at these coming in they're only asking for an hour or two off to begin with right except for the counil of agent but they have something else to do that day so yeah uh what you say 3 o' yeah I think that's fair I think that gets most people that's just for the for Christmas Eve Christmas Eve yeah I agree I have kids do people still do Christmas uh New Year's I'll be in better and I will ask this to be fair Highway will not get the benefit of an hour because they work till three yeah can we let them go it to I was just going to say I'm glad you said that because I was just going to say that they should be getting something now the problem is is it's a steamroll effect you know police and fire that would you know but to your point it's kind of inherent in what they do right that that's they understand so it's a little bit different no disrespect gentlemen and ladies but um yes I think that we should let Highway off at two and everyone else off at three okay um that's fine me so all answer the motion well what about transfer station I'm sorry three with them too because they work till four yeah all right yeah so they yeah okay yeah never mind I apologize thank you I apologize okay so I'll entertain in the highway um on Christmas Eve leaves uh day ends at 3 two two two sorry and transfer station and Town Hall will close at three and Council on agent and Council on agent close three libraries are all set right Li are all set yeah I'm sure they work in their own motion made second all in favor I Selman Lopes yes Selman Zar yes San Matthews yes all right and then J 17 this is whether or not to close accounts on Aging at noon on December 19th 2024 for annual holiday part party for older residents at the VFW sounds good to me sounds fun I think Senator rodrix is putting this party on for them and they have asked them to serve so they they need to CL the COA to go through this okay yeah no issues so with that I'll a motion to close the council aging at 12 pm. on 1219 2024 for the annual holiday party for old the residents at the BFW Mo second in favor I I I slman Lopes yes slman Zar yes slman Matthews yes all right J item 18 um this is acknowledge disclosure form from De uh Debbie Petty Town Administrator so there's uh is there there's two disclosures there are y so one of them um is related to to her brother was her nephew sorry nephew sorry Adam Penny's class three motor vehicle license that we did yeah so he has he owns a u a place they got a class 3 motor vehicle license okay that's fine and then the second disclosure form is related to a um is Deb's daughter no I think we already did that one that no no maybe no yeah no we did the other one is her daughter is the recording clerk yeah daughter is uh apply for a job as a reporting clerk uh so just kind of that you know the appearance of a conflict of interest could be there she's disclosing it um and also there's a budget you know part of the budget is prepared by Debbie related to that so I think the the remedy there is that um you know Lan will pair that part of the budget I don't see any issues with it anyone have questions or concerns and the chairs of each committee or Board sign off on that payroll anyway perfect yeah yep yeah no issues here okay so that's just say and so I guess I covered kind of 18 and 19 I covered 18 I talked about 18 and 19 but I think we have to vote yeah it's a little different because 18 was acknowledging the disclosure but the other one you have to vote because you're okay the finance y so 19 is just discussing okay so um with that all a motion to um to quote that de Debbie Petty's financial interest in employing a family member will not be a major Financial impact disclosure form or accept that for yeah motion made second all in favor I I San Lopes yes selan Zer yes look Matthew is yes all right agenda item 20 discussion and vote on replacement of well at James White Library so you know we just leased this property question well has failed um I meant to call them and ask them if they had water now that we've got a little bit of rain but we had uh of course Carl uh went out there he had a company come out and look at the well it's a shallow well and it's run dry so we need to drill a well um the cost is about $99,000 to drill the well and we're trying to get the the pump might be $4 or $5,000 so it's A1 15,000 expense we will take it out of our um building Improvement um fund but I just I you know I wanted to make sure we're looking at fossum who is who call they work with kalal laot on different things when we've needed them they've helped us because this is like an emergency because we don't have water now at the library the one library that does have running water no longer has running water I I consider it an emergency for procurement purposes and I'm not putting it out to bid um they have said that they can come in uh about 3 weeks and that was a couple weeks ago so we're expecting them to come but I obviously wanted to make sure that you were aware of what was going on and that um you're okay with us to move forward to replace the well yeah any questions or concerns yeah no no I'm all for replace the well my concern is so my question is I should say is um we just leased this building when was this study conducted before or after the lease was signed it just happened just I I know the well just happened but there was any indications be prior to signing the lease that this well was not functioning properly not that I'm aware of I mean don't forget we just replac the septic system I know that's why I'm asking the questions like we need a library that's that's not the question we support the library that's not the question I'm just making sure that we didn't sign it and with knowing that there was something wrong right no we specifically didn't sign the lease until the septic was redone you know and they the trustees the owners of the building paid at least for half of that septic repair um so no I was not aware of anything to do with well or water issues nobody has ever um told me Carl hadn't mentioned anything Nicole hadn't mentioned anything I think this is just because of that drought possibly um and it is a shallow well so um so there was like no study done just call had when they ran out of water he called and he investigated and the gentleman came out and said yeah you needed a well okay cost of doing business yes so yeah so all right so with that I a motion to um replace the well at the James White Library motion made second all in favor I I selan Lopes yes Selman Zager yes San Matthews yes that that suffices I don't need to get into any more specificity there no like I said it's an emergency so I'm not going to worry about procurement and I'll get the the best company I can out there it's the the quickest company is really what I'm looking at okay j9 21 discussion of vote whether to approve the agreement for weights and measur services beginning on 1 [Music] 2025 and I forget it's just the state contract right yeah MH is that what it is yeah the Ste actually the division of weight and measures comes out and does our testing for us yeah um they had some new ones that they didn't have on the list before that they've added so it's going to be 9,782 for them to do that service and it this is passed on to correct we passed this on right so it's kind of net either low impact or maybe a I forget what it is but we don't lose money on it do we we haven't I mean was that much we used to we yeah we used to um pay them 4,000 a year and we just we just paid the budg and then last year I think we put something at meeting where we could collect the fees so we it's a pass through pass through okay some I mean I think we've had one person who didn't pay so there are those situations but um I think that's just a just a timing miscommunication thing I think we will collect the money it still wasn't $4,000 so we're still much better than we were right we're passing it through to the to the users of the weights and measures so okay all right so without any questions and concerns we good so that l a motion to approve the agreement for weights of measurement Services beginning 111 2025 motion me second all favor I I slman Lopes yes slman Zer yesman Matthews yes all right J item 22 discussion of vote whether approve the following policies so policy a is uh disposition of surplus equipment policy so I just have one I was just looking at this and one of the things that has come up other than I mean I'm I'm okay but one of the things I want to say is sometimes we have stuff that we want to donate and this does not give us that opportunity so I don't know if you want me to take it back and kind of tweak it a little bit Yeah I think that does come up a lot and and I'm not talk maybe I can change the dollar figure for that I for instance we have the stove that came out of the COA which is a big commercial siiz stove and we've moved it into the highway barn and it's just sitting there and I actually would like to donate that to uh 501c3 yeah um we were going to put it in the the fire station but then it became too expensive because of the hood system that you would need to put in there like it's like a restaurant stove so like the like the VFW who's so good to the town and partners with us and lets us use the I haven't asked them I'm just saying but I can't we don't have a vehicle to do that so I I know when we talked to the attorney um town councel he said under 10,000 the board can do what they want but this policy once weact doesn't cover it so I just want to I'm I'm sorry for the late disclosure but I wanted to you did that that makes sense to me so we're going to keep just hold on this one yeah yeah read that in there yeah and then so B is cash and cash investment yeah um and then C is cash and cash so sorry B is cash and cash Investments Investments and C is cash and cash Investments tailings and these are fine nothing crazy in these I think these are kind of already in place just not maybe written yeah any questions or concerns on these no no this is just cleaning clean the house y you know and these can be changed by you at any time so it's kind of I'm just trying to get Baseline policies in in effect so that you have somewhere to start from no I totally it's a it's a good thing to do and sometimes just writing these things down realize there a hole in the policy like you just realized right like you know okay so with that I a motion uh to approve the policies a b and c from the agenda motion made second all in favor I I San Lopes yes Selman Zer yes selan Matthews yes agenda M23 discussion vote to declare the 1987 John Deere 644d loader as Ser plus and used as trade for a new load of purchase and this was this is the one that's currently at the transfer station yes yep and we were able to we we had just enough I think Opera funding so win-win awesome any questions or concerns on this this is great no I'm happy to see this so that a motion to approve or to do motion to declare the 1987 John Deere 644d loader Surplus and use it as trade in for the new loader purchase motion made second all favor I I selan Lopes yes selan Zar yes selectman Matthews yes all right 24 this is a change order from Unicon Inc for Town Hall window replacements amount of $6,150 yes and this is to accommodate lead paint which we didn't put in the RFP when we put it out to bid so there was a little bit of different um procedures that needed to take place so this is um I I think it's reasonable for what what the job entailed so makes sense to me questions and concerns no right and windows are in and we know that the windows are in and it went I I I'm so afraid to even say it but it wents so seamlessly and they look good they look good I and and people are happy I didn't even know is it quieter inside it's quieter it's warmer it's unbelievable um and it's unbelievable time too D3 windows in that building there so two screens are ripped that we will get replaced and I think two windows came in the wrong size but other than that they worked they had like eight or nine people there it was a well oiled machine Friday Saturday and Sunday and really a big big shout out to Carl who who babysat all weekend there um I stopped in but he was there all weekend I'm not sure if Tim also came in was there as well Saturday but uh yeah it's uh you know you always you know these things have to happen but you always concerned about what's going to go wrong in an old building like that yeah yeah and I I don't know just like non yeah yeah things just just sitting great when you try to put them you know but that's hey that's great at work so the windows open and closed opened my window you know we didn't have that before the window cut your arms off if you opened them they would slam so yeah great the company did what they said they were going to do no issues we had Cheryl in here before talking about the fact that once they took her curtains down and she was backed up to the windows before they were replaced how cold she was getting so yeah that's when you know how bad the windows were the curtain table they would the windows cuz they don't close would blow the papers right off my desk if it was a windy day you know the real question is if you go around town hall a lot of these windows have those little drapings in between the windows to stop the draft mhm yeah right are they still there oh they they're moving out to the doorways now they all thrown in a pile on my floor right now all right so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the change order from Unicon in for the town hall winner replacement to the amount of $6,150 motion made second all in favor i i s Lopes yesman Zer yes like my Matthew is yes j25 this is to award bid for digitalization of Building Department Records project it looks like the low bid is inception Technologies Inc at $ 32,39 which is substantially lower than everybody else and we get this funding at the last to meeting do this project and it's going to coincide with the moving of the office so we're going to send the files out from the town hall now move the rack to the new location and then have them delivered back to the new location so they actually going to be moving our files for us which is a win-win yeah fantastic yeah definitely a win-win all right that's amazing any questions or concerns no so looks like we're going to go with Inception Technologies uh so without a motion to award the digitalization of Building Department Records to Inception Technologies Inc motion made second all in favor I I selectman Lopes yes selectman Zar yes selectman Matthews yes all right J 26 this is whether um to approve and sign the quote from inception Technologies so the quote it's at 32,000 $399 and that's still valid right yep okay so that I'll entertain a motion to approve and sign the quote for Inception Technologies and for digitalization of Building Department Records project motion made second all in favor i i s Lopes yes Selman Zar yes San Matthews yes all right uh J item 27 this is discussion of vote whether accept a donation from the Freetown senior Club to the Council on Aging am of $150 anyone have an issue with accepting $150 from the Freetown senior Club you don't think I'd like to hear about it if you do all right now thank you very much senior Club absolutely we appreciate that M uh so with that I a motion to accept the donation from the Freetown senior Club to the counts on Aging in the amount of $150 motion made second all in favor all this last one is just you had voted to close the town hall on 126 we don't need to oh nice so so just you know a vote leave the Town Hall open normal hours yep perfect so with that on a motion to uh keep the Town Hall open with regular hours on December 6 2024 motion me second all in favor hi and we talked about Lan already sent off stuff to the employees right have the employees been made aware that we are going to keep Town Hall open on Friday I don't think we ever told them we were close them we we told them we last Friday but we'll send out an email tomorrow but we had only mentioned the the first Friday um to them because we got noticed that they thought they could do it in one weekend I was skeptical they did it very good thank you all right Selman loopes ah it's a long one uh personel board it agenda 29 acknowledge the raise of nation of Matthew BS from singal operator effective 1124 2024 thank you Matthew um happy holidays all right me uh discussion and vote on whether to issue certificate of division for Super Bowl champions um yeah I think it's kind of an easy thing to do superl Champs super absolutely right U we'll have to figure out when right we can yeah between the the players and families and coaches and the team moms I don't I think it it'll exceed our 90% capacity in this building so something to think about when we do plan it down the road yeah yeah so we we're going to have to figure that out and I guess maybe we can reach out to them and see what they think for the amount of people that because then that does add some complexity to it all right yeah I mean maybe we can you know I don't know if we have to have them all come in right maybe we could send a representative with signed certificates for them yeah they they do have a banquet coming up uh sometime December maybe if we get in on time we can present them there or give it to them they can hand them off there yeah yeah the options are available yeah that's actually that's a good call I would think rather than trying to figure out where we can because then that would mean we have to probably go to one of the schools and and um do that so yeah one of us could go and to so yeah I like that yeah work so I don't know is there I mean I guess I can I can say that we can um issue them and then we'll have details to follow as get like the language on the certificate and yeah all all people's names like that's kind of a lot right okay yeah we can figure out what uh you know to get all their names and stuff um so all right so um with that I entertain a motion to uh issue certificates of division 4 Super Bowl champions make that motion second all those in favor I I selectman Lopes yes selectman Zar yes selectman Matthews yes I know I have an email with the names of the um kids is there one of you that you want me to work with the language on what's going to be on the certificate um yeah I mean it can be want okay you want to me I mean is that's up to you um yeah U yeah yeah I'll I'll handle it so it falls into my my perview so I'll okay I'll send you a draft okay thank you and then agenda item number 31 discussion and vote whether to add lights to the telephone poles on Long Pond near uh the football field uh so this is an interesting one is you know there's not many houses or anything on that road um um and then so there's not a lot of light um we do have a lot of sports activities that happen there so um you know one of the things that you know you what's the reason to have these lights is really safety MH um so you know I do I think that we should light the place up like a landing strip no but I can see if you know anyone who knows that road knows that it does take about a 90° Bend to the right when you go in um so that's kind of a dangerous in you know a dangerous curve right there where there's no light right now um and then before that you have parking for all the um Fields is off to the left hand side and then the fields are to the right hand side you kind of come over a hill so I guess if I was wanting to do this and Associate the cost the cost is minimal right um 7 600 bucks right 600 bucks to install them but then it's um hold on I'm sorry was it I got to get to the amount that's 17 a month is yeah there we go $17 a month so if I was okay with doing this I really would say that I wouldn't want more than two lights and I would say that the two lights would really be um one at the beginning part where you kind of transition into where people could be Crossing mhm um so you have that safety and then one at the corner where it does take a 90 Dee Corner um but I I don't want to get us into the point of lighting the whole place up and then everyone coming to us every resident coming to us that says I want a street light and then you know this isn't much money but it can add up in a hurry if we start giving out them to every single every single person that comes in looking for them MH so it was something that was brought before us and I thought it was a reasonable thing to talk about you know as a board and um you know weigh it out because it is a little bit different of an area where you don't have a lot of light from the housing right where no light pollution yeah there's no yeah exactly so so the road can be very dark right um so so it's really more of a I look at this as more of a safety issue I agree to their credit too the football league they've they've added you know spotlights cameras and everything else um it's just not adequate enough for the safety portion of it right I I think the the higher poles and everything else especially like you said crossing the street gosh I can't I can't even tell how many near misses from the kids just running from four different practices across the street into the dark area this was just illuminated and you're right that bend is uh mhm it's interesting to say the least so yeah yeah makes sense to me I know there's houses back there one on the right right there's then if you go back by it there's a few here there's like four yeah beyond beyond the beach and then there's some houses up in the front side yeah see I knew that I knew the ones up in the front but they there's water front properties on that back side there so all of them Waterfront actually take that back yeah a couple waterfront properties yeah so so you know those people that's kind of their roadway into their house and whatever so I mean there's something to be said about the average residents and I don't want to get it to the point of I'm trying to light up the beach area and whatever it's I just think that on but there kid yeah it's dark and I I'm there kids at safety I mean is this for the football players not necessarily in that's the thing that's why I hesitate to say well if if it's just strictly football related then we need to go after them for I say after them have them involved in the cost of it all the corner This Is My Idea based on what was brought to me as to how I feel that safety wise we should really go after this if we're going to put lighting there I don't want to put five or six lights to light up the field for football that's not what this is about to me it's where would we put lights and if I you know traveled that road a lot where does it make sense to put lights for safety more so than to light up those fields to light up the roadway corner where the poles right you're going to put this light are on the right hand side they're all there yeah they're on this side so that's why I'm saying like one here and then one up over here so when you start getting because it's before the parking where people are crossing over it's not a road that we're going to be able to put a true crosswalk in and do all that stuff that we can do in other places so I just think that for safety if we're going to put them somewhere that's it and and listen if the board tells me that they don't want them at all or only want one I'm okay with it or if tell me you want more than two I might try and argue that but I mean I think start with two and then if we have need to revisit it plus or minus you know take it from there yeah I I mean I I I just I am also cogn of the the fact of is Debbie hears and sees us and says well you know it's I'm on a corner at my house and I'm well I'm going to tell you I'm thinking what what I think where am I getting the money from so I can't do too many because I don't have a fund for this right I don't have a resource to pull the money out of I'll take it out of facilities but you can't say I want six of them CU I don't have that that kind of money available yeah well have to wait till a to meeting or a vote you know what I mean but I can so then I would say that why don't we do this pending getting the resources because I don't want you trying to pull it from a hat that you know so it's it's a a valid point I mean if I have some APPA money left I certainly can do that I but I think this that loader really pushed me with and then of course we just did the clickers mhm I think that's just pretty much cleaned up Opera there may be some interest that we're earning on the money that's sitting in the bank that when it hits my um balance sheet that I have a couple of grand so then I could put in these two at least and then go from there but in like if you want more than that I'm just going to say like that's a that's something that we're going to have to figure out the funding for I think that's I think that that's being reasonable based on safety of the first light being more mindful of the fact of people crossing back and forth but between the two areas and the second one being that it's a sharper corner right you know when it's crazy down there at night yeah exactly so that's why I I mean I just it was brought to me and i' I see both sides of it and I don't want to you know so I had asked Luan about this and there there hasn't been a a hard ask of people coming to us asking for street lights CU that's you know it's it is a real concern to me that you all of a sudden we have to be fiscal responsible right and we all of a sudden say okay we'll do it here and then we're going to have other people come saying I want it and then you know yeah you start of them we own the street lights which means we also have to repair them and maintain them so it's so different towns it's different but we do own our own so that that adds it but I but I mean safety is Paramount and you know and there's just kids around like I I think this exactly it's not like yeah this it makes sense to me to have street lights here yeah MH and I think going forward I mean one of the things that I wanted to do was to get power down to that beach um because of the expense of it it needs to go out to bid and we didn't do that but it may be something that we're looking to fund at a future town meeting and we can add some lighting in then too because I we would like to have utilize the beach more for events but there's no power so in order to try to be as Fair as we can be with having events on both ends of the town this is one of the the places that we talk about but because of the power it limits us so I think going forward you we we would definitely be looking at doing something over there for power and then you could do more lighting at that time so I I guess here's my thing is do we just hold this vote until we bring it to I think you could vote for the two and I can I think that I I can probably get that out of oper or get that out of facili budget I just know more than that is going to start to be like so but you're you're Comfort because that's I don't comfortable with the two and I think it makes the most sense and give it alleviates maybe the critical needs and then from there I think we'd be looking at a bigger project anyways to try to bring power and more lighting down there and I mean I guess at this point we don't safety reasons too because we get you know you'll be vandalized if you don't put lights up yeah right well that's the thing right like so long term you're train your line of thinking is correct we're thinking about improving that area take a little little bite out of it and there eventually it will be done right uh the ultimate goal is to make that place more inviting to the residents at for activities because you're right it's can't always be at the the band stand or at the baseball parks and yeah Spread spread out love yeah totally agree I agree all right so um get I guess we'll go with the two so with that I will entertain a motion to add um two lights to the telephone poll um on Long P Road near the football fields one being at the beginning and then one being on the 90 degree corner I'll make that motion second all those in favor I I Selman Lopes yes Selman Zar yes my Matthews yes all right we'll sign based on what the voting did tonight was I can imagine we are going to have a lot to sign we have um I just have something on the old business we had talked about putting um the AC O's vehicle on muusa bid 2000 in head for an Expedition which Lan has done we're not we haven't gotten any bids we put it on for 200,000 so they recommend that we lower the price to 800 we don't have to sell it if we don't get a bid high enough but that was the vehicle that had like holes in the floorboards and whatnot so we're just looking for a permission from the board to reduce the um price yeah you vote for that I would vote it you know just to yeah so I'll entertain a motion to reduce the um price of the is it Expedition yeah 2010 4edition uh on M M bid to $800 motion M second all in favor I is it red seles yes s yes yes yes do this policy there's only one signable copy on each one right okay just want to sure this is this one just by itself one more meeting and then it's Christmas I can't even I know Christmas it's December you guys decorating the house getting ready for the town competition I started to yesterday I have an outdoor Christmas tree this year that's exciting if you guys go by Simpson Lane you look up towards my house the lights are started they have started you got to be ready see ifet already we started driving do you know the date we started driving around this night 14th for the decoration yeah 14th the that's a no Saturday Saturday we actually drove through your neighborhood last night looking at um decorations oh nice but it's always something my family and I have last night was stringing up the lights that were out re ref Feathering things throughout the on another note I just want to let you know that Kylie is doing a sip a Paint and Sip at the VFW event for the town tiets are free but there's something going on on Facebook people saying they bought tickets and they can't go and they're trying to resell them so everybody needs to know the event was free so if you have extra tickets and you can't go you just need to return them to the community program director but for everybody listening there is no tickets for sale they were free do not buy tickets contact the community program director for any someone trying to SC I think it might be a scam I I I think it's a scam I don't know um we've trying to curtail it on Facebook in the office today but if anybody's listening maybe it will be helpful um yeah yeah right we can't even give a have a free event and offer it to the residents of Freetown without trying to make a buck off on that you can't make the stuff up I I repeat that same you want to buy this free ticket I have to sale can't be the price Kylie oh so yeah there was a blood drive recently and I guess Ky Kylie man you know organized that and Lan saying that they filled all their appointments so that's cool that's awesome yeah yeah they Big Supply for blood these days and lights on is Sunday down at the stand I have other plans unfortunately because I usually like to go there so I'm going to go and I will also everyone listening make sure if you can bring a gift it'll be there fill in the trunk of the police car usually oh okay maybe I can send you something they also they also have something uh out here that you can bring the gifts to so gift than for and you know that the employees Christmas party is the 12th at the BFW so the s you're all invited thank you good call we having food it's Italian right I think it is I checked Lynette is in charge this year Lan does not have to do it love that she's crying look at her she is crying a little bit I told her she could do two next year think so snowfl contract she's like on that note I don't like where this is going let's Dodge this bullet someone just got a bad signature by me it wasn't very clear one I was just thinking the same thing to myself signature there's nothing to good about any of my signatures all the disclosures so that she can work okay this is just you mees it's fin warming up in here but it was freezing wasn't it it was 66 degrees on the that's investment poli's working on all those policies he's really doing a good job he loves it he loves policies he's a very big policy and procedure guy was a good fit it was a good fit everybody just me just hold that one get one was also as well this is the digitization this one just you we good all right so with that one second oh sorry all done there we go all right with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion made second all in favor I I yes yes