##VIDEO ID:xRuW_46k42g## [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it is Monday June 16th 2024 I'm going to call to order the free Town Board of selectman meeting please note that this meeting is being recorded and will be available on a Town's YouTube page um so agenda I'm going to roll into a couple of quick items here agenda item number one is approv weekly warrants uh agend uh 29 through 53 so uh everything look good to me so with that I will you have any no objections all right so with that I entertain a motion to approve weekly warrants 29 through 53 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I agenda item number two discussion and vote whether to approve the Open Session minutes from 11:18 2024 and 11:25 2024 uh also read through those and see any issues likewise all right so with that I entertain a motion to approve the Open Session minute for 1118 2024 and 1125 2024 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I so agenda item number three uh presentation from Chief rose on the internship program at the police department so Chief Rose good evening everyone um noticing that uh tonight's meeting is jam-packed there over 30 items here I don't want to bore you to death uh with my do an internship program but uh after speaking to the Town Administrator she uh wanted to take the time and educate the uh the new selectman about this program that's been going on for well over 10 years so um Deb did you happen to pass along the policies and procedures to these uh gentlemen before for the internship yes I don't think so in um there's a lot of detailed information in this packet that I have created for you folks this is for jar thank the same package I to before but um the police department has found well again well over 10 years ago that um college students were looking for an opportunity um to enhance their college experience and look for um internships and the department found that we always like to try to assist a local uh kids with uh some type of program or education and we started off pretty brief and um to comply with the college requirements and normally there was an application and uh some requirement of ours by the college and sometimes the students had to create a final paper just to justify their needs for the uh program so as things developed and we found out that it affected our accreditation standard here at the police dep Department we had to incorporate them embrace them into our Police Department by complying with all the accreditation standards it became more involved Chief abbit at the time created these policies that I'm presenting to you folks here tonight of a student internship program as well as a ridealong program and what that does is again it formalizes these students to come into our uh Department uh gives them complete guidelines on the expectations of the program um the safety factors are all placed within the uh forms that we have created and within the policy they have to comply with a uniform policy they get an ID card they do have restricted access here to the police department but however what they end up doing is providing a service to the police department by completing some functions that are needed plus they get an education at the same time on the operations here at the department so for example they'll have an opportunity to sit with a detective the lieutenant the patrolman the dispatch they will oversee the e911 system they will if possible they have a an opportunity to watch the video surveillance of an officer booking someone through the video surveillance system whatever we can provide to them to educate them in our system it's a two-way street they learn our operations but we're hoping to attract some of these young students to our department we have found here at the department it's been a very successful program I've not heard heard of of one complaintant regarding the program the only complaint that I I take that back the only complaint that I have heard is in our policy we allow only one intern per semester and those semesters are spring summer and the fall we just can't handle three four students here at the department there is a lot of impact here on the personnel there is no cost to the police department no cost to the town um and again we get somewhat of a free service by these kids doing some uh routine work um knowing this is fairly new um to you board members and the Town Administrator um we do have it posted on our uh website so it does attract those uh kids for knowledge if they are interested in a program here at our department and of course we also like to take the time and recognize those individuals through our social media so you'll see that on our Facebook and Twitter and Instagram so uh again I'm here to report that the documentation that I provided you here today again please if you have some time go through it read what we uh provide to the students um the applications all the uh standard forms that they required to sign off on whether it's confidentiality the um the rules that are applied to them while they're working here their uniform that they're required to wear to show that professional image in to the public because you never know when these individuals are going to uh operate within the public setting so I'm not going to tie up any more than that if you have any other questions regarding the student internship program please take the time and reach out to me I'm hoping for your continued support with it um currently we do not have an intern uh lined up for this next semester um you may might know that a one of my family members had applied she had an opportunity to work in the State House so I got bued off so State House Freetown Police Department she chose the uh the wrong one is what you're saying but I was looking to put her to work so um we can call her if you want see if you can change your mind for it yeah no he's like okay good luck the last thing I mention is uh to date we had uh just looking at our past records over 15 documented uh student interns here at the department and those are the ones that we documented there was ones years prior to that that we just again we weren't formalized yet we would just help out the college students to get them their credits for their degree in March on but uh once accreditation kicked in things changed we have to comply with all those standards and stuff but hopefully that was informative it was it was thank you sir um and for the people that are out there you have college students that need that opportunity all you have to do is uh submit an application and we'll take it from there okay thanks Chief very good welcome thank you I appreciate any questions oh you know that comes to mind you have 15 documented interns any of them work here now um Yes actually Lieutenant LC he reminded me he was like one of the first uh students to apply here so I was forgot all about it and matter of fact I didn't even handle it because I was only a patrolman at the time so yeah um but uh matter of fact I'm thinking of another one was Lisa podolski's um daughter she worked here uh and think she had an opportunity for a little bit for an internship program and then she's marched on so yeah the people have come and gone um I always love to hear success stories uh recently we had a town resident that completed an internship program here she's working on towards her uh master's degree she recently reached out to me looking for another internship program not here just people who I know out in the uh in the law enforcement world and of course I pointed her in several directions but um we mainly like to focus on our town residents and town uh you know residents that are going to college but we are we have taken other students that live outside of our community good I I really appreciate it thank you Chief thanks Chief again positive program it's tremendous we love having the kids here and like to keep pushing it Forward absolutely thanks for your time apprciate have a good night thank you chief it's awesome yeah well that's that's amazing so um all right so we'll move on to agenda item number four uh discussion and vote on donation to the food pantry right so obviously um you know there was some talk about um a lot of the good folks that are in here tonight and the need for um you know donations in order to uh help the continued success so um you know we thought that it was a a a good use to the money um to really take money that's been um given to the town on behalf of you know different organizations and whatever and we've got different um so we have this this money that um I really can't think of a better use to um to use it for so um it has all my love and support behind it to uh you know be able to to uh present these fine folks with some uh welld deserved funds yeah so well I agree you know I think about some of the conversations we had over the years regarding Freetown right that in fact some of town members had to go out and pay for their own electricity bills for the town lights that they had in their in their streets right we just had this conversation that after many years we finally just took that money off their books and now we're paying for it again so it feels really good really really good to be able to give back to a community right that supports each other and the fruit Pantry does just that there's some unsung heroes out there in the people that worked walking out those doors are some of those unsung heroes I don't use that word lightly but that's what that is you guys take time out of your daily lives and give back to the people that that need your help and love right or just maybe just a conversation for that day thank you for all that you do it means a lot to us and to the community and you know it takes a lot for us to check the box when it it comes to receiving and giving away and this not only check the box it also makes me proud to be a town resident all right um thank you for the food pantry and and to everybody else yeah very well said so um so obviously would that um I will entertain a motion um to make a donation uh on to well to the Freetown Regional food pantry yes all right I will second it all those in favor yeah sorry I I got caught up right um so um the agenda item number five is recognition uh to the local food pantry volunteers and presentation um but before that I would like to read a little something to you guys um tonight we would like to recognize a local resource that has been instrumental in helping many families throughout our region the Freetown Regional food pantry the Freetown Regional food pantry started in Trill is in the elementary school nearly 5 years ago today they currently serve approximately 175 families per week from 15 different communities this past Thanksgiving the Freetown Regional food pantry donated approximately 200 turkeys to families in need we want to take this opportunity to not only thank the food pantry but more importantly the volunteers who make up the Freetown Regional food pantry without them the food would not be on the shelves of to help those local families on behalf of the board of Selectmen I would like to thank the following volunteers for their time and dedication on local to the local food pantry when I call your name can you please do me a favor and stand up if I butcher your name I truly do apologize barara Quintel oh thank you thank you Jean Andrews thank you Beverly stic thank you Lou McMahon thank you welcome thank you you're welcome Judy chub she could oh she couldn't well thank you Judy Maria holak thank you did he get that right yeah that's awesome I better know how to say that my head all strug with that one thank you J I'm Maria sorry H Paul's not here no Paul had to take his daughter somewhere all right yeah so thank you Paul Paul Flint thank you uh Tony costy thank you Louisa go ahead monal Monte C thank you I appreciate I told you I was gonna hack some names thank you again Karine lonica Pat morotti Pat could tie up at work all right thank you Pat I don't see Chad so uh Craig and Diane cabal you guys are getting loed together thank you yeah thank you everybody oh I'm sorry Ed oh yeah the founding member from the schoolyard days schoolyard days yeah I apologize I'm so sorry do no we do the easy part uh I want to thank the following volunteers who couldn't be here Kevin and Linda tetrol Debbie Dion Paul Ferrero Bob and Sharon Ross Kathy garanta thank you John and Cheryl Goa Peter bores um you know and Peter also does a lot of other things right they do a lot of the trash pickup and different things in there so I I just you know I would like to make a note of that um so I I believe uh Craig you might have had something you would like to say before I anything else thank you sit down I can't stand up like Scott so obviously you you've named all the volunteers but for local businesses in the town who have been extremely instrumental in helping us that I need I really need to give credit for uh the first one would be cape card aggregate they've given us x amount of money unbelievably and they actually donated a skider to us to help us for unloading the trucks when we had nothing we were unloading the stuff by hands big wheels truck sales anything we need as far as our truck being if our truck is down and we have stuff to go get big wheel trucks they'll give us a truck to use they donate money to us so big wheels truck sale is phenomenal to us they they do a lot Preferred Concrete another local business um actually gave us money to help us when we were getting started they paid our insurances for us uh uh when we first started off Excel recycling they pay we initially the first truck that we got we had to do everything by hand so Excel paid to have the hydraulic tailgate put on our truck so to for bringing the pallets up and down I know you said Peter bores um but Peter bores is not only I mean he's there on Sunday mornings helping us load the truck and he is also his other donation is five years worth of trash he's paid for everything he he hauls all the trash away never charges a dime so uh he's real real instrumental the other one is uh Kad Chad kaval everybody knows he's really instrumental in raising money for us Chad actually uh raised money and got us our second truck and donated the second truck to The Pantry uh for getting stuff uh Pat morotti who's on the board here he owns Ocean Spray Seafoods and he's actually donates I'm talking thousands of pounds of uh fresh codfish to the food pantry for the people he has a package for us and everything uh so uh he he's uh very instrumental and does does a lot for us also and uh I I realize that everyone you know sees the basics that go on as far as all these volunteers here who stock the shelves but some of the other things that uh the people don't see is um you don't realize but Stop and Shop you know they'll have it can be 11:00 on a Saturday night and they'll have a truck with two extra pallets of blueberri or chicken or things they'll call me and we got to go get Tony out of bed Lou out of bed go all going to go there just like volunteer firemen go get the truck go to Stop and Shop unload this stuff 11:00 at night Jared you were there too Amazon we drive to Chelsea get ice cream and everything out here 10 below zero unloading ice cream and Frozen Foods Jared was there helping us uh so I mean uh lot you know there's a lot lot that goes on um on with this um I realize that um Everybody may know my name and uh naturally they associate me automatically with the food pantry called Craig but I mean really as far as I'm concerned I'm really only the logistics person these are the key people right here I mean I may help you're getting the distribution in and acquiring all the stuff and as to how big we got but these are the true people of the food pantry not not me I mean they're the they they're the people we have to be thankful for I mean they put in some sometimes 20 hours a week for free uh so and then the other thing I'm proud to say here we are five years into this and every single person here is volunteered their time no one here has got one cent with very unique food pantry no one gets paid at all they actually pay in themselves so every week we have a a raffle they have a thing where we're going to decide we all uh well Kitty or pool whatever you want to call it we all bet we chip in $1 on Mondays and say how many people you think we're going to have and we see who gets closest Tuesday the same thing put another dollar in and but and in all the time we've done this no one takes the winnings no one takes the winnings they use the money for their own Christmas party so it's a good idea it's it's they're they're I I can't say enough they're a fantastic group of people so um uh I don't know what more I can say that's and we appreciate what uh you guys have given to us um and the reason why we need it is because we've expanded so so much further now it's unbelievable so now we get you know not only Amazon here in Fall River we go to Amazon Norwood Amazon Canton mboro Plymouth we're Ocean State Job Lot every Wednesday in Kingston Rhode Island we we partnered up with the veterans association in Fall River because they they're not able to get all the stuff that they need so what they do is they order Surplus we go to the Boston food bank and get it for them and they give it to us and when we have abundance from uh Stop and Shop we give it to the veterans association fall R New Bedford uh so it's it really is quite an operation quite an operation and uh that's that's pretty much the gist of it and uh again I can't thank all of these people enough because they're they're the true heroes here oh thank you honestly it's means a lot thank you guys [Applause] I good question who's the unofficial winner over the years of the potl official doesn't have to be written down anywhere all are just keeping tab I want to make sure you have your opportunity to say to everybody it all right thank you very much thank you thank you it really does um you know ring true what you guys talk about um I don't want to keep circling back but 175 families per week in town is amazing and we keep saying it but you don't hear it enough thank you thank you thank you um you know so so now comes the fun part because um you know we get to um make a presentation to you of the checks um so uh you know so we'll have a check for you from the the town of Freetown but also um you know I I spoke with the owners of Junior's um a local gas station in town um you know they they knew that you filled up your truck right what with talking with Craig one of the things they said is you know what what's the driving force to to really having to keep enough money to keep a float and he said you know there's a lot of different things but one of them is fuel because of what he just talked about right with how far you guys are having to drive to get stuff um where before a lot of it initially was coming from Stop and Shop and Stop and Shop was dropping trailers and now you know um you you're going literally all over the place um so so uh Junior's also made a very sizable donation to you um so I just did want to call them out for that because I you know I'm honored that this is another local business that you know we we just heard it from Craig with his list of all these places it's all local that's helping support local and it makes you feel good about the town you live in so uh you know I just did really want to call out Juniors and say thank you to them that's great yeah um so is a check here for you you can give it to Lou he's the treasurer right so so uh yeah so we'll have Vegas why not can I go to Jersey double nothing right um so yeah so um you know uh next I I want to um you know th this one this one kind of hits me because I I did talk to someone I know um Mark Tisdale and uh you know I was asking him if he could think of any different people that we could reach out to in order to try and get some donations and um Mark is over there he's uh the president of uh free Lake Youth Softball um and on the side of him we have James Taylor Who's one of the board members um and uh I don't want to steal any more Thunder from that I want to let um Mark and Jimmy take it over from here how much thunder coming [Music] first and foremost again my name is Mark Tiel I'm the president of free Lake softball we meet Jimmy tayor uh he's on the board Fire and Rain is that I've seen fire rain that's why I go by JT so we all call him JT uh first of all the big thank you to Craig and and the team here I mean we're not just the pot of our life where we work our jobs and we don't see this part right and I didn't even know how big of an operation is I'm very proud to be living in the town I'm living in right now I'm very proud of this organization thank you very much can we do another round of you guys can clap your thank you very much I this is this is this is awesome uh and I really appreciate it um thank you Jared for reaching out to us for any ideas of uh you asked me if I knew any businesses or groups and being the president of free L softball we were literally having a text chames where thinking about giving back to our communities literally when he reached out to us and I'm like perfect this is ideal um so we're very proud to give you this this check and being in a position where we can do this should I give it to you or to uh give it to Lou he's right right got turn your passp thank you very thank you for everything you guys are doing yes thank you very thanks to the softball and JT didn't say it but he was uh 81 this year for the Mighty Mites yes so you know what you guys are doing is very important um Mark preown we started with the preown side of things for free Lake you softball I was the Lakefield representative uh clearly I'm in your house I know the best leaders are in preown um but we we as an organization we came together as a board GRE the numbers and it's been a beautiful thing we went from0 40 people 40 40 athletes to just under 140 at one point last season right so um it's larger than the game of softball it's given back to the community right so what you guys do um we can't thank you enough for for each and everything that you guys do I work in a career and Mar Works in a career where we do part of our role is to get back to the community local government and state government as well and we value you guys we see you um my staff has been busy with the with the turkey donations and the toy drives right now so we thank you and we recognize all the hard work and dedication that it takes to to make things happen behind the scenes and often time you don't get the acknowledgement that you deserve but we thank you and we see you um so we are truly blessed to be in this position um you're making a difference in so many lives right um we teach our athletes to to learn focus focus and apply what they learn but not only do we teach them to be good athletes and good teammates we teach them to be good good uh members of the community and hopefully one day uh productive members of society um so thank you very much um you guys are all role models and happy holidays thank you thank you does anyone want take any pictures or anything before uh we continue on do you guys want to take pictures we do a pict to take a picture of the whole team here oh my God we'll put it on our our Facebook page we Market it for everybody please use us if you need any marketing for yeah come on up stand in front of here I don't know will you want us maybe we my picture well yeah what they should you know what you guys tuck in and we'll stand behind you okay what I was thinking have sitting and standing table oh get in there guys I've seen it in the post office number across the seen it on people in what do you think this is not by camera you want to get yours no good I'm blind so she did that to make everybody laugh third one's the charm got it thank you thank thank you very much thank you very much thanks thank you gentlemen that was so ni you he'll bring it to me thank you I'm in no rush I can wait got turn the passport for the next 24 hoursa said I'm okay thank you sir now you can get it get okay thank you he's G to give it to you yes oh why thanks again everyone thank you very much I appreciate it thank you I'm sure I'm sure that bill's coming in I'll let you know all right so that was all the fun stuff I know well not so fast number six is pretty fun know I'm always te it was a joke I apologize no she got the door close all right so uh moving on uh agenda item number six discussion and vote on whether to approve the request for the utilizing town roads for the Patriot half marathon on 614 2025 in the Cranberry trifest on 8 24 2025 uh I look through it it looks like everything thing starts at uh Cathedral camp and then kind of circles through and then ends up back there we have all the sign offs um are are you here on behalf of that yes all right you state your name and sure uh anything else besides the name or just name no you can just say your name what organization Smith with Outsider endurance okay so um basically it looks like everything's already been signed off you have everything um in place so um I don't have any oh this is great utilizing our towns right so nice whiny Road first one's where Cathedral Camp 7 A.M start 7 well 7 7:30 1 pm running and then the other one the tri Fest is at Ted Williams Camp um all right so all right let ask you the question is there a a winner that comes back every single Year everyone yeah so um actually it's there there is a little bit of a typo on there it's the Patriot half uh it's a triathlon and aqua bike so it's uh the Half Marathon run does utilize um free toown aush at Rochester roads but it you know it starts everything starts at Cathedral camp for the Patriot half um that one was actually just featured on a um on a a list of ranking all of the U 70.3 half distance triathlons as a top one in the entire country so uh it's a really big deal and this one brings uh not only with the Boston region we have Superior Triathlon endurance Elite uh athletes in the region that absolutely come back um some of some of them were featured in at Kona which is the Iron Man World Championships this year so um there's uh such a high level of athlete that shows up even the average age groupers that that come out there this race can take them anywhere from you know 5 and a half to 7 and a half eight hours so it's an all day um celebration of Fitness for them that uh we actually you know would love to see more town uh celebration of it and invite anybody who wants to come down to Cathedral camp for that one the second one is a um where the one in Freetown uh the Patriot does have athletes um biking in and out from Cathedral Camp around back into Cathedral camp and then running to the finish line so yes there is um both the female and male overall uh Champions are returning for that one cranberry just passes through on the bike that one's centered at Ted Williams Camp uh for that one it's the same type of event a little bit but um that's that's kind of a gist of it I'm open to any questions you want to ask about it it's um it's a phenomenal event that my organization has been running for three years the event itself this is the 19th year um this this um race is a direct competitor with with Iron Man brand which everyone has heard about so uh you know it's kind of fun to be uh a smaller much much smaller company Corporation going up against a multi-million dollar Corporation op a so it's uh yeah you guys are doing a great job 19 years how have your numbers uh have they been steadily going up nice flow well so we're U we we're kind of capped a little bit with parking what we can do in and out of there um you know obviously Co changed a little bit of what um what athletes would do but we we maintain a pretty consistent um number of athletes year-over year it's definitely it's a it's a hidden gym and um you talked about utilizing Lakefield roads and I'm sure that as Lakefield residents you notice year round cycling and running traffic what these races that you know I did not create I just happen to be the new race director for it um you know they I myself spend out hundreds of hours riding these roads uh throughout the year so you guys really have a a special Community here that we're very very lucky to be involved um in in business with and watching the presentation that just happened before us we actually had a food pantry partner for uh years that U no longer can uh the organiz just of age and attrition with the members has gone off so um I wish I would have gotten a chance to talk to them but I'll definitely be reaching out to them because um it's you know organizations like that that we love to to find ways to donate to as well so we're very thankful to be a part of the community and and have the support uh from you know Chief Rose from you guys from um the lot a high portion of athletes are local residents as well and I know some people might get frustrated with a little bit of traffic congestion on race day and you know we're certainly aware of that and we work with local public safety to make sure that it's a safe event for everyone but uh you know just know that it's a very highly concentrated local event with athletes um I myself live not far from here and most of our staff lives in the surrounding communities as well so uh these races are b a big deal to the endurance community and they really show uh they highlight Freetown and Lakeville Middleboro Rochester kushit uh in a in a very good light so you guys should be proud to have the community that you have absolutely we are thank you are appreciate that now do you guys ever Venture into the state forest at all as far as different comp like different events uh we have it's you know I don't know what the perception of what you know you're looking at the entire board uh of the race company so um you know we try to add a little bit I know there have been other companies that have done uh some kind of off-road stuff we we work with mil Stander State Forest for uh an event as well but we're certainly open to just about anything that involves um an endurance minded um out outdoor uh event so we're trying to add more events to make it more of a year round thing try once you add swimming outdoor swimming you kind of limit yourself uh to uh beginning of June to September so that's that's uh but yeah we're certainly looking for trail running and mountain bike type stuff so we're open to yeah I think here in Freetown I think uh we hear the Freetown 50 quite a bit or nimba wiland mountain bike Association sure so uh I'm sure we have contacts if you yeah help you guys connect and uh make it bigger yeah that'd be great those guys do a great job for sure it's uh it's a special group of athletes those guys uh cycling abilities of people that can get on mountain bikes they they make Road cyclists they put them to shame pretty easily just their legs are so so incredibly strong it's it's crazy now have you guys ever utilized the pond for the swimming The Long Pond I know may be so that's where the race is at Cathedral Camp so they swim in and out of there um as far as public access um we don't really have any we don't have any public access um and logistically it's you know having a cathedral Camp having hundreds of athletes that show up I mean this race draws anywhere from 6 to 800 athletes year over year and again with parking that's really kind of our our limit um the funeral home and the concrete place across and all we can't really you know we can't just park Vehicles wherever we want to and we have to keep the road so we're we're really limited to what we can fit on the property at uh at Cathedral Camp so that's that's the biggest logistical challenge I guess not a headache but a challenge for sure so yeah right well maybe something we can do to help help in that we have six months to figure it out and get you go some more parking I think our biggest you know what we really want to do is Inc you know I think it would be great to for people that in the town in the the city or the the town that don't understand what's going on to let them experience what these athletes are doing it's a big mission for me to get involved with um you know more more local organizations like this in the Freetown Lakeville area and um and just show that we're really trying to be a part of the communities that we're not just a um you know some big whatever corporation that comes in and sets up and makes money in the community we we genuinely care about being here and you know we we understand we're lucky to have the opportunity to to run a business here so that's awesome well we appreciate that I mean I guess for us they really I mean this this is obviously going to be is being recorded and there is people who watch it um so maybe there'll be stuff from that we can uh you know we we can post stuff on Facebook and that type of stuff really or our website our Town's website we can try and do some stuff and I'm not saying that it's going to generate you uh you know a couple thousand Spectators but yeah it's not I mean we get a couple there then you know it's a mission accomplished so yeah and it's I I I care a lot about the endurance community and and as a an I hesitate just call myself an A but as somebody who who races longdistance races themselves it makes a big difference and it's um I think that if people you know more people understood what was happening on race day and it wasn't just you know I'm going to be five minutes later to wherever I'm going it's you know there's a real special thing that's happening down there that uh and the endurance Community is cares a lot about giving back to their communities as well so I I truly hope to continue to promote this as we continue to put this race on we have no plans to to move Patriot or Cranberry out of their locations one of my last questions for you any adaptive writers in participating adaptive adaptive riders or runners or anybody um like a veteran or anybody that needs a a prosthetic or a wheelchair any do you have a a wide range of groups or yeah we so we run um for Patriots since it's a longer race we you know anybody who under 18 kind of has to have shown that they can do something uh but we run athletes we have an under 19 under category where we had uh a student actually from uh tab down the street um and then all the way up to mid 80s uh we've got uh par paraplegic athletes uh one of them locally he lives in Plymouth and he actually went to Kona in the world championships as well so uh there's there's a little bit of everything and there's definitely veterans that run we had last year uh not this year but last year we had you know a veteran that ran with the American flag the entire half marathon to you know for fallen friends that he had lost and uh raising money so it's it's a special thing for sure there's a little bit of everything awesome I'm glad to hear everyone deserves a chance to get out there and show everything they got yeah and we make every accommodation we can for any you know if you want to show up and race we're going to find a way for you to do it so that's awesome yeah I lost my wife I can do you have a a schedule sort of of how of when you think the the the bikes will come through we uh we absolutely do and um so the athletes hit the water around 7 uh fastest athletes get onto the bike around 730 uh slowest athletes or uh or not slowest it's just a line of progression we put them in two to three at a time so they get onto the water out of the water around 8:30 uh the bike can take anywhere the faster people will be 2 and a half so uh let's say 9:00 a.m. uh 7:30 to 11:30 roughly give or take I'm just wondering if we had some sort of a preliminary timeline that when we get closer we could put on Facebook to say hey your bike's going to be coming by get out and share them on oh absolutely I've got that broken down because I know they always come through but I never know what time they're coming my my my mother's area but I think if you're you know if that's something you're saying if I heard you correctly like that it's helpful for them to have this and it might help the community to get involved rather than be frustrated to get out and cheer on and be like hey come on and what is it 10 15 minutes I mean they they like you say they do come through progressively but even if you just know that it's going to be this 2hour time frame they're going to be passing your area and you want to get out and share them on we can take um last year's results or last couple of years results and kind of average out those times so we can have our fastest athlete and the last one that's comes out um put a window and give our best estimates is one when for sure I've got I use that on race day I've got a like a a color color coded chart to telling me where every athlete is is you know somebody who's responsible for the safety of people in you know three different towns at the time so um for sure I'd be happy to pass that along just might be helpful if might get people uh okay the big going to come by but 95 starting at 9:15 and I'll head out for a half an hour and she had them on you know yeah for sure I um I I think about this a lot in the offseason I'm sorry to uh keep kind of rambling on here but I um I think about putting up signs further so we start setting up a cathedral camp on Thursdays and I was thinking you know in some of the key intersections that um putting up some sort of signs just another heads up I know that it's posted on the Facebook page and I send out a mailer and everything but there's a million things going on in everyone's lives I think just the more you see it the more um you know people that drive by and see everything starting to go up they okay it's coming this you know soon but you know some of those surrounding bigger intersections they might not realize it so so we do have some Town Billboards um I just don't know if we can put some something like that on it um I mean I guess I would think we can yeah I just didn't want it I didn't want to open my mouth and say we could put something on there you know so is a safety precaution see it's that's what I was thinking is you know yeah bikes are coming and tell them when and because then to the person who lives on the road right if they're trying to leave their house to go to you know the grocery store or come home from the grocery store they know and they understand they can be patient or or plan accordingly and then hopefully they can stay home and get don't Jerry youan so um you know I mean I think anything we can do to publicize it um you know we can try and we'll try and do great I wonder how you guys map it do you like for instance right now we have deck the house right we have a comp a competition in town so that people know where the houses are decorated or even Santa we were able to track Santa around town one if there's a way to uh I don't know if you guys geotag anybody I know that's a bad word on some worlds right is there a way to track the person and then so you can stay on like almost refresh your phone and say hey Here Comes Here Comes selectman zigger right around the corner you know right come we run um we do have live tracking for this event because of the scope of it so we run we put them on um these like RFID type boxes that are put on uh there's five of them on the bike and then four or five on the run as well they're put on stop signs held on by magnets that are you know down low to the ground so they pick up and each athlete has a timing chip that's on their left ankle so as they pass by it tells you the progression of it uh now the the ability to be able to Broad I mean there's a link there's public facing links that we can put for tracking but I don't know how realistic it would be for people that weren't familiar with the sport to understand what was going on in that app as far as you know the last uh sagging athlete we could do it and you know um but I don't you know I only see that technology for this race once a year so I don't I'm not well enough versed in it to say that you know you guys I mean you're welcome to have the link links but I just I don't know if it will do exactly what you want it to do or not I don't know if it show I could ask the timing company I think back to what you're saying and and Debbie said originally I think if we have a roundabout time at least two because then there to your point is they're going they might look at that and get confused by it and we don't want to be offputting although I do think it's a good idea I'll pass it along for sure but um I think if we know roughly times when they think that they're going to be passing by my house then I can be out there and share them on or you know it's going to pass by my parents house and I'm going to go over there and share them on and you know whatever it may be um I think that that would be good yeah I'd be happy to pass that on for sure that's helpful thank you sound like a good time yeah so um all right so I think we're we're good with that yes AB so um with that I entertain a motion to approve the request for the U utilizing town roads for the Patriot half marathon on 64 2025 and the cranberry trifest on E 2425 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I thank you again we do appreciate your time thanks for all the the words on yeah if you have any after the fact please I mean I'm easy to re get in touch with I think you're who I yes so I respond right away so perfect thank you guys we appreciate it thank you all right uh agenda item number seven discussion and vote whether to approve the 2025 renewal cert uh certifications form for um alcoholic beverage uh Control Commission W abcc um I believe that this was just saying that there was this would be like if there was um a nonrenewal and I think everyone was a renewal so um there's really nothing to report um yeah so it's really really that straightforward so um you have any questions no it's like like you said it's pretty boil plate yeah so with that uh I entertain a motion to approve the 2025 renewal certification form from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission the abcc motion made I will second it all those in favor I all agenda item number eight discussion and vote on first right of refusal for a portion of a property parcel ID 24379 d0 on middleb Road in East Freetown on 81 middlebar Road e freet toown um so we did get um we award back from um all the responding parties in town and no one has any any use for it um we believe we have a gentleman here yep uh good evening Mr chairman my name is Robert ner and I'm here as a representative for an Marie and Elton Ashley I'm the contractor on the project and so um I was here to answer any questions if you had questions about the project about the request or anything else I know that the uh Conservation Commission waved their rights uh to the property to take it and I was at the planning board last week they did the same so but I'm here to if you had questions all right no thank you yeah so really that's what where we you know we tend to go to I mean we don't I don't I don't want ever a speak for selecting Lopes but I I don't see any use for us to do anything with it to have the to take the first R of refusal um and then obviously those two others that you just spoke to are really you know in in this case who we would you know reach out to and um thank you by already saying that you know so I I don't see any reason to me with it yeah uh likewise I the properties is there it's it's going to get used looks like you get a looks like a solar that's correct okay and uh my concern is from the road can you see the solar panels or like aesthetically like when I look at Aesthetics can you from the neighbor or driveing by what would I see uh well it's directly behind the Ashley's house and the bog is down lower than the elevation of the roadway I'm not exactly sure what the difference differential in the elevation is and there is a you know it does have a 6 foot uh fence that goes around the solar as well it's usually I mean it's up to the land owner uh I think the Ashley uh are going to do like a black chain link fence that's what they're going to do MH and I did meet with the uh Building Commissioner out there at the site and uh so and we've already been with the Conservation Commission filed our uh and have our D file number and all the other approvals with uh with the Conservation Commission and also with eversource of course you need the interconnection uh permit from the utility company as well all right well it's great it's one of those things right you always hear solar solar Parks right essentially what this is going to be and but you have to look at them like great that you can they generate electricity but not really sexiest thing out there right as far as when it comes to I guess I would say beauty is in the eyes of the people you're right on that but I'm glad there's a plan in place that it will mitigate that and the neighbors are okay with it so that makes me feel much better about yeah I mean I think um we did talk about putting some sort of screening there actually the land owner didn't didn't want to put any screening that was sort of uh uh something we went back and forth with the Building Commissioner on he didn't want to put anything in there for whatever reason he had his reasons he didn't want to put we were going to propose some you know arbori or whatever but he really didn't want it so it's his property and he's got to look at it mostly so we just deferred to his uh you know his preference perfect that's and that's what I want to hear as make sure that the the thing is is the property owner is the the the developer right there and his son lives right next door so I mean and across the street it's commercial property so it's not there isn't it would you'd be a driveby glance over and see it probably that would be the the ones who would be most impacted yeah perfect well I'm glad the conversation it's had beforehand versus after the fact you know when the Neighbors start looking at it they realize what's there and then they now they have to look out their window and their view of the woods is now view a panel possibly shining back at him so I'm glad it's been thought of and and you know even though it's his land I want to make sure he's protected as well from sure absolutely and you know that's part of the permitting process certainly through conservation all the ABS have been notified twice on this project one for the resource delineation part of a project and then the second time for the the actual uh um D file number so there there everybody in the neighborhood has been has been notified for sure anybody would have a a stake as far as a neighbor has been notified and has had an opportunity we and he hasn't heard from anybody on that uh one way you know opposing it or it's excellent yeah yeah I mean all right so um so with that um hearing I I'm assuming you don't have any any no issues all so um with that I entertain a motion to approve the first right of refusal portion for property ID 24379 D- 79-0 81 middlebar Road in East Freetown motion made y sorry the motion should be not to exercise oh I'm sorry not to ex I apologize just so we clear on it yes um so with that I entertain a mo motion not to approve first right of refusal for Port portion of the property parcel ID 243-7912 81 middleb Road motion made I will second all those in favor I I thank you good catch good thank youing thank you sir thank you uh agenda item number nine discussion and vote on whether to approve the 2025 wine and malt beverage liquor license renewals for neon beverage um LLC so neon beverage has everything in signed off accordingly so I don't see any problem with it's just a renewal yep so with that I entertain a motion to approve the 2025 wine and malt beverage liquor license renewal for neon beverage motion made I will second it all those in favor I I Anda item number 10 discussion and vote uh whether to approve the 2025 all alcoholic beverage Li liquor license renwal for k&e Liquors Inc DBA Crossroad Liquors uh same thing looks like everything's in correctly so I I don't have any issue with that good good with that I entertain a motion to approve the 2025 all alcoholic beverage liquor license renewal for KY Liquors Inc DBA Crossroad Liquors motion made I will second all those in favor I I agenda item number 11 um so this is just an ackowledgement for creating uh two emails Health one at Freetown ma.gov and health2 at Freetown ma.gov for Gabriel alme and shayen Rodriguez from the health collaborative um so it's just an acknowledgement so it's just that but uh you know I don't I don't see any issues with that thank you agenda item number 12 discussion in vote uh whether to approve the following policies Motor Vehicle tax refunds uh that's a b other post-employment benefits oped liability and then C one-time revenues um you know once again just like every other one that we basically do uh it's good to get these things in place and uh all all pretty straightforward stuff yeah so this is just cleaning house update update update so with that uh I entertain a motion to approve the following policy policies uh a through C is just read motion made all right we'll second it all those in favor I I agenda item number 13 discussion and vote whether to approve the following winter 2024 d225 snowplow contracts a Ronnie Freights and B John Bernier uh look through it looks like everything's good we good yeah all right so with that I entertain a motion to approve the um following winter 2024 202 five snowplow contracts for uh two parties just listed motion made I will second it all those in favor I I discussion uh agenda item number 14 discussion and vote whether to approve the following Class 2 Motor Vehicles renewal for 2025 basic equipment a basic equipment Inc is basic used cars Truck and Equipment uh B DPF Enterprises and C Christopher J Christopher J cab uh DBA CJ Auto Sales um once again same thing it looks like everything's there so I don't see any issues concerns with that nope no issues here as well all right so with that I attain a motion to approve um the following Class 2 motor vehicle renewals for 2025 a through C is just right motion made I will second all those in favor I agenda item number 15 discussion and vote whether to approve uh the design in Engineering Services scope of work for U Municipal fiber between the town Freetown and comtrak um I look through this and they they seem to do this with a lot of towns like they have a there was a they have a lot this is for the municipal fiber grant that we got to because I tried to put it out to bid but it's hard to put out to bid but you don't know what you're putting out to bid so this kind of gets um gets that scope of it down so it can go out to bed um and that's just step one before I have to go out to bid for it MH okay yeah I mean I don't I didn't see anything wrong with it no you so frankly it's a project that I know excited I'm excited to have um because the fiber is the is the future and the only way to keep us there is by having it in place MH so would that contain a motion to approve the design and Engineering Services scope of work for the municipal fiber between the town of Freetown and comra motion me I will second all those in favor I I agenda item number 16 discussion and vote whether to accept the donation from the Lions Club to the Council on Aging in the amount of $500 support to support the upcoming holiday so you're not going to be a scrooge right Noe I think we're good on this one so so with that I entertain aemotion to accept the donation from the Lions Club uh to the Council on Aging in the amount of 500 $1 to support the upcoming holiday motion made I will second it all those in favor I I thank you again to the Lions Club absolutely that's a very nice for you to make that donation agenda item number 17 discussion and vote whether to approve the ambulance abatements and write offs for November 2024 in the sum of $176,500 58 uh sounds crazy but it always is what it is so there's always large numbers that comes with these yeah uh so with that I entertain a motion to approve the ambulance abatements and writeoffs for November 2024 and the sum of $176,500 58 motion made I will second all those in favor I I agenda item number 18 discussion vote whether to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown in Lake cam for Peg Channel broadcasting effective 111 2025 and 12 3127 2027 now so this is for the portion that they're going to broadcast through cable right and it's funded through cable already right so this is at no cost to the town yeah this is the education Channel okay so they they they film all of the sports and they they put them up on the education channel in free time I have looked and looked and looked I have not found this Channel at all I I I'd watch it you know so and 93 I think yeah asked them like Channel 9 and 93 one is the one is the government Channel which that some point put our meetings on there that's mcam this other one is late cam is all these Sports M so so yeah but it's you know it works for me you yeah no I think it's it's a great service I just can never find it we'll look for it and get because I know we've asked in the past MH all right so with that I intain a motion to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown and Lake cam for Peg Channel broadcasting effective 111 2025 and 1231 2027 motion move I will second it all those in favor I I agenda item number 19 discussion and vote whether to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown and en cam for Peg Channel broadcasting effective 11 2025 and 1231 2027 um so so to Debbie's Point she already just said what it is so um you I don't know that there's anything else really to discuss on it so with that I entertain a motion to approve the agreement between the town Freetown and mcam for Peg Channel broadcasting effective 111 2025 through 1231 2027 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I uh agenda item number 20 discussion vote uh to ratify the signature to falam well and pump proposal for the James White Library emergency wall repair um so the the W stopped working so we had to um you know kind of bypass things and not put it out to procurement and you know signed off on it uh a couple weeks back we got it done so now we need to um actually pay the person yeah yeah no absolutely it was using emergency powers that are bestowed upon us we decided to make this decision to fix the well it's uh money well spent so I uh did you already make the motion oh no no so um so with that I intain a motion to approve the agreement between the town I'm sorry whoops B I'm sorry yeah I I I jumped up one I apologize with that I entertain a motion to ratify the signature on the falam well and pump proposal for the James White Library emergency Well Repair motion made I will second all those in favor I I agenda item number 21 discussion and vote whether to approve the agreement between the town of Freetown and Meridia interactive solutions for voting clickers um for our town meetings um so this is for the 500 clickers that we had approved at town meeting um so uh you know was approved by town and there's really anything else I should add to it yeah we put it out to bid and this was the only ones that quoted this so MH well that makes it tough yeah now the only thing only question I have for this one is we we signed this right does this mean we'll have them ready for our June meeting that was that was what Cher I know that's very hard up in the a when Cheryl was asked she said that they said that we should have him right didn't she say that the RFP went out saying that it was going to be our goal was to do it for June 2025 however if they could not guarantee that that it would the October W is fine but I believe they said they would do it for June fantastic awesome so yeah so with that uh I attain a motion to approve the agreement between Town Freetown and Meridia interactive solutions for voot and clickers uh for Town meetings motion made I will second it all those in favor I I all right uh agenda number 22 discussion vote um on topics to discuss with the Lakeville Board of Select meeting on6 2025 all right this this conversation you know stemmed from having conversations in the past about talking about the the the district school committee uh agreement so Lakeville has a new Town Administrator him and I you know didn't really speak but we emailed and he's like well what topics do they want to speak about I mean the only one that I really know of is the um school committee the district agreement and possibly the audit for the school but I figured I'd put it out here yeah and just in case it was something I I missed at I I don't know that there's anything else that we really do jointly with Lakeville other than our school which a big de well my my two cents is this we we share Lakeville Freetown Lakeville share quite a bit of things right with the largest being the the school district so that's definitely part of the conversation to have with them I also think anything to do with um like for instance we have a bridge that's going to be going down Chase Chase Road do they need to know about it so we a effectively engage in communication with them to the extent that we're we we we're all on the same step right for instance like MOA in a sense to make sure that anything that related between free town lakevi like whether it's the district the pond roads uh construction projects anything that would that both towns would need to be made aware in order to make sure it flows smoothly right if we shut down one of our exits is it going to be an increase in their exits so they can anticipate new traffic pattern or something of course the District agreement is is one of them uh for the school you know I started thinking about things like what if we combine their numbers and our numbers as two towns for insurance purposes will that reduce insurance purposes down the road those are the things that want to start working with and strengthening with the the Lakeville select board just like our finance committees are right now they're talking to each other making sure that they're bouncing ideas we want to do the same thing I think he just want I think he just looking for like agenda agenda items you know what I mean so um I know again we had talked about the school district agreement um so I can certainly put that there um obviously whatever is going to affect them I do try to communicate with them I'm just not sure so I think he's just looking for like what do we put on the agenda right as a joint joint meeting of two Board of Selectmen which is a big deal right to get the Freetown and Lakeville together so there may be other things you want to talk about have to draft the language as such um I mean it can be anything that affects either town I just don't I don't know that there is I was going to say is there a way to put it as a a is there any legal way to put a vague part because you know what's going to happen is right now you're coming up with ideas but then that might spawn into something else and I really I guess is there a way to put it that anything that might effectively uh might might go against both towns right like okay all of a sudden we start thinking about these are two things that will go jointly together one of my things that I've always brought up and I think that they do a good job but I always especially in today's day and age always worry about is Public Safety right and and the school safety and right now we have um you know almost all the schools are in Lakeville on this one campus so one of the things that we've talked about in the past is making sure that there's very clear language between Freetown and Lakeville and how we're responding and how they're calling in people and that might be at the school level and how it it's AFF effectuated I don't know but um you know I just think that the the more bodies that we can get there in a timely manner we're two small towns right Public Safety so that's really my um away from what he just said Public Safety is my only other thing I can think right because it's been talk about putting free town I I mean all that I don't know well part of the discussion right so we're so to to Jared's point to yours as well Debbie we're part under this like umbrella agreement through the state right we're prob like simac and everything else so we have responding agencies that would respond to any situation but to Jared's point I think creating our own M moou between both towns as far as response to the schools because we in theory if if we're if we're taking off from Department to Department we're going to get their first right but it's in Lakeville right so that turns into who's in charge when something happens right and I want to although we have a pretty good clear understanding I want to make sure that's in in writing somewhere so that way it's smooth it's effective we're not those things are probably already determined but I understand say like any anything that impacts the towns jointly um and I can put example you know Public Safety of the schools SRO officers and just kind of move it again aset Pond might uh is a good one aset as well definely uh we both um and the boat ramp is almost kind of um it uh effects and I can just put that there so I can send that over we're trying to do it Zoom so that we can then have our meeting after the joint meeting because we're going to have things that need to be taken care of and this is the next meeting that we have is this joint meeting yeah um so I know that you know might be a good time to start looking at that District agreement to see what you want to our goal is to sort of hash out some uh points and then obviously bring the school committee in on a future conversation absolutely I I think it was beneficial for the towns maybe to each hash out anything that they might want to first and then that we uh we have to have you know meetings with the school committee so so you said via Zoom for the meeting but do we do we try and have them offer for them to come here first and if they say no then have it by zoom and have us here just so that way we have's been working on that with uh her counterpart in Lakeville they wanted to host okay and record and then we had brought you had asked about the zoom option and I haven't gotten any answer on that yet they they're looking to see like what we do we put our meeting do we do our meeting there and then we can go into recess and then come here and do it I don't know if it makes sense I'm just trying to think if cuz sometimes I think being face Toof face with people I prefer versus sitting on a computer I'm just I'm a I'm a better visual person so I would think I'm sorry I don't want to make it harder on you guys because I know your jobs can already be compated I don't know what our agenda looks like yet because it's so early like how many things we might have on that date at the moment it's pretty light yeah okay good yeah no so I mean obviously we can do it do it as light as possible yeah but then you know we can always come back here or whatever I just want to be somewhere where everyone knows and then here's my only other issue is are we going to draw I don't know what they're going to have for tend for capacity do we think we're going to have to worry about that that's the only other issue ask them I don't I don't think so okay yeah no I I mean I think maybe maybe the school committee because they know that this that's going to be one of the issues but other than that um I think if you put Public Safety that might draw in some of the um you know the the Chiefs but I do I do think that the Chiefs the chiefs of police and the fire chiefs have their working orders already I think they're probably well oiled and we just we just need them to tell us so I think they're already probably in yeah and that's I I don't please no I don't want anyone that's listening to take that wrong I just that's one thing that in today's day and age has always concerned me right I'm father two daughters in the school and Carlos several sons in the school right like we you know so it's just it's unfortunate but that's where my head goes to when I want to make sure that we have every you know concrete stuff in me I guess I mean part to that the training of the joint teams is probably the issue right more than they know their they know who's in charge and they know yeah but how do how do we effectuate them to train jointly probably a good conversation to have right I actually agree with that more so yeah absolutely training is always the hardest thing right well it's just a cost cost issue it's very expensive but yeah right if we're going to have two major agencies going at it which would be free toown Lakeville in case of an emergency then I want to make sure that they they understand where what their roles are and in trainings is the majority of that absolutely and if you add anything to the list as well you can throw Sports in there I know some sports leagues are concerned um of differences between Freetown and Lakeville maybe there's a way to kind of make it I don't know uh it's just a discussion I just don't want to mcky too much into it and I do think I mean I I agree with you I guess because it's they're they're very different and how they go to yeah no pun intended how they go to bat versus how we do right right so um I just don't keep it broad yeah that's I'm thinking I really want to I would rather hyperfocus on what we want to accomplish rather than bringing it out but I think this is a good stepping stone right where we can kind of open up our dialogue a little bit more with them and then you know if we have to do this at a future meeting then we that's what we do probably should do it every at least every six months and maybe just alternate location like we go there and then they come here right yeah no just just to have any concerns right well actuallya the the premise of this whole thing is to FaceTime with our counterparts from across the pond right for all TP of purposes to make sure that we're all on the same page and marching to the same beat right which is to the betterment of both communities the best way to do that sometimes it's together right especially since we're so closely related with everything from schools to sports and everything else might as well get their opinion on things as well so I'll do my best to broaden the scope and get it all to um do I so do you want me to call into the vote all the different things that we just discussed uh you can just you know talk about the school district agreement pawns um Public Safety Training and then any other topic that might impact both towns I think that's for me as much as I'm going to be able to do okay all right so um with that I entertain a motion um to discuss uh the following topics with uh the lake F Board of Select meeting at their meeting on6 2025 that would be the district agreement um use of the ponds Public Safety Training and any other topic that might affect both towns motion made I will second it all those in favor I I that's good thank you I was talking about it with you and not actively writing it so then I was nervous that I was going to miss something so thank you so um agenda item number 23 discussion and vote whether to accept the donation um to the Freetown public library in the amount of $300 so that's great yeah absolutely motion made yeah I'll make so with that I entertain a motion to accept the donation uh to the Freetown public library in the amount of $300 motion made I will second all those in favor I I agenda item number 24 discussion and vote on closing the public libraries early on 1224 2024 so um that's yeah they were they had said that they were all set for the last when we were doing all the other buildings but then we had a conversation so they're going to close the James White library on December 24th at 4M they're normally I think over until 7 it's Christmas Eve so the the Board of Trustees has voted for that I'm just following up mhm to to ratify that vote with the board of selectman that that the libraries will be closed at 400 p.m. Town Halls closed at 3 but the libraryies will close at 400m on Christmas Eve day I think that's uh more than fair yeah absolutely so uh with that I entain a motion um to close the public libraries early at 4M on 1224 2024 motion made I will second it all those in favor I I agenda item number 25 discussion uh vote whether to hire a separate Town Council when Our Town Council has a conflict of interest so this is interesting because we have uh a great Town Council but when a great Town Council comes a lot of other people who like to use Town Council um so um you know we we've had issues along the way where it becomes a conflict of interest where they might represent us as well as other say City or town uh and if we have an issue with said city or town then um you know it really puts them in a predicament um as well as us so it really does make sense and um I don't know how you want to add to that Debbie because you you just a they can't they so if I want to sue a town that they represent or even have a negotiation they they're conflicted right because they represent us and the other town and this happens quite frequently because they just they represent a lot of local towns and so it a Situation's arising that isn't yet an at the legal level but I foresee it heading that way so I need this to um go out and do some research and get a a secondary or special counsel for these particular issues and and um this isn't like this issue that's arising is not the first time this has come up so I just need permission to do that and and again I don't want that I don't want them to be in the middle U because they know both Town's Secrets right like they know our inner workings um so it's not to our benefit if if if there is something that's going on with a a another M municipality and then that same municipality wouldn't be able to use them either so then it's interesting so they're going to have to find some you know they're going to have to go get their own call too so it's just the it's just the nature of the Beast by very law they can't you know they can't represent uh both sides so so yeah so um so I mean I don't see a problem with it do we have a list of that my question available I'm going to have to go and do some research on you know it's probably going to be more more spearheaded towards the topic that I'm working on you know that I'm anticipating um obviously in Hansen I worked with a with a municipal law firm uh JP talaman um so they're also a municipal firm that handles a lot of of issues but it's different than KP law which is our current one so I I would say that that's one other one or I can just find somebody that particularly works in the area that I'm I'm anticipating needing them yeah I guess what I lean towards is is you know if you have any you know you know people in the field and you you know you've worked with people so I just want to make sure you know we we've been fortunate with KP law they're good right um we don't we want to make sure that if we hire someone that we hire someone that can really represent us and do us the justice so that way we own our you know us or our residents are having issues money so so yeah work on that that'll probably come before you again like in other words once I hash out some things or if I can't then you might want to interview them and then hire you know what I mean but I just first needed to get this to be able to stop that process yeah and I guess because at this point you you're you're you have ideas that you think you might need them for is if you have someone in mind that might be a little better when it comes to this you know um then maybe that would be where we would lean towards so yep I'll let you know when I like I said this was just this has this is new so hopefully it doesn't go this way but you never know and I don't have I need to know I I I need to make sure I have a plan no absolutely this this is makes makes freet toown proactive in the fact that in the event something does happen in the future we're protected it's in the it's the contract's in the draw we can just pull it out say hey we have to execute this contract for whatever reason it is whatever conflict may come upon us that we make sure we're protected so having someone another Council makes nothing but sense so all right so I appreciate it so with that I intain a motion um to approve hiring a separate um separate Town Council when Our Town Council has a conflict of interest motion made I will second it all those in favor I I now over to useful all right thank you thank you all right Personnel Board item agenda number 26 and 27 are two acknowledgements uh number 26 is acknowledge the resignation of Megan Corgan from the cultural Council effective 1210 2024 thank you Megan for everything you've done with the cultural Council you're welcome back anytime all right and as well as number 27 acknowledge the resonation of Nicole de Morinville as senior clerk effective 1220 2024 again thank you Nicole for everything you've done for the town of free toown um and we wish you the best item agenda 28 discussion and vote where to approve the following appointments can I interrupt you of course yes number a can you just pass over that one and I'm sorry I didn't tell you that no worries absolutely all right discussion number 28 discussion and vote where to approve the following appointments B Frank Ashley III to agricultural commission effective 1217 2024 through 6:30 2025 C ra Rachel Petty as recording clerk for zba conservation and planning effect of 1217 2024 through 6:30 2025 s any concerns or all right I entertain the motion to approve uh the appointments B and C Frank Ashy and Rachel Petty to their appointed positions uh effective both dates of 1217 2024 through 6:30 2025 uh motion made uh turn I second all in favor I I all right item agenda 29 discussion vote whether to approve the following changes of status a Patrick Lee he's moving from active Sergeant to patrolman detective 52 assignment effective 122 2024 through 6:30 2025 B Christopher mados moving from patrolman detective 52 assignment to patrolman 52 assignment effective 129 2024 through 6:30 2025 all right sounds like they're just moving some things around and um getting them in the right positions all right any question concerns no all right thank you Iain the motion to approve the appointments for Patrick lean Chris M as listed as a and b of this agenda item uh motion made uh I second all in favor I I all right SEL I was that's right well I'll take all right so agenda item number 30 uh this is uh update on the move from the town hall Annex uh for the building and Board of Health offices so they they they officially moved out today uh they're at 69 South Main Street I mean they're a little rough around the edges right now so hoping everybody can be a little patient while they get up and running uh but it is done and I'd say it's 90 85% there so over the next few days they should be able to put the office back together and everybody you know there shouldn't be any issues with getting permits or whatever you need so it's exciting it's strange it's very strange to see The Emptiness in the second floor but I'm looking forward to now um renovating those offices and taking a look at what that looks like for the town so that's done um and then of 31 the water issue uh City New Bedford water issue at 23 County Road so the part of the Town County Road in Freetown has water service coming in from the city of New Bedford they have since the early 1900s I believe they pay their water bill to the city of New Bedford and the town of Freetown has had nothing to do with that those lines whether they are the main the laterals going into the houses the town of Freetown has not had anything to do with it the customers buy from New Bedford pay New Bedford and New Bedford as far as I know has serviced it because we have never serviced those lines um now we have a a resident that that has a water break in the road I believe water break in the road and New Bedford um won't fix it and is telling us to fix it and we can't fix it it's not our infrastructure we didn't put it in we don't technically we don't own it so they um they have said that well they're not going to go in you know and they will fix it if we agree to pay for it or be on the hook if the homeowner doesn't pay um and if we agree to take over the line after the repair I I'm not sure what's going on this is very new um since this one happened about a week ago they've sent three more customers to us telling uh that needed shut offs to do repairs they have said that that the Freetown has to shut them off we don't touch their infrastructure we don't own their infrastructure we have never done shut offs on their infrastructure so this is a new phenomenon I'm not sure what is going on we do have a meeting scheduled tomorrow to have some conversation about how to move forward I've been very adamant with them and very direct in that we're not going to touch your infrastructure um I've heard this on on other even within the the town I've heard that they're that they're all of a sudden all hands off on any laterals that they're not touching them even for their residents but that's not on us um so this is is going to become a problem I have a lot of concerns for those 110 customers and they're not anywhere near where our water lines come in from the city of New Bedford so we can't help them like we can't just say Okay tap into freet Town's waterline we'll take over and just abandon that they're not near us we're not close to where their water runs so um I think one of the directives I'm going to have a course with the water and sewer Commissioners which are all over this just but I wanted the selectman to be um apprised of what's going on because this is going to turn into something bigger I think is that we're going to probably try to send out letters to the 110 customers putting them on notice that listen we we're sorry but we can't touch those water lines we don't own them and if you have an issue you're going to have to hire a private contractor and I hate to say that to the the customers the home owners but I think in reality that's where we're at and I just feel um this is totally out of the blue we had no warning um it's it's it's caused for great cause I'm going to just say that and I don't know what I don't know what what the trigger is why this is happening I have a I have an I have a I think my thought process I think I kind of know why they're doing this but I don't know for sure and hopefully we have some meetings moving forward we'll have more information I don't know I know that these people might be here that's having the situation so um I don't know if you want them to if there's anything you want to say sir you the one of you have anything to say you you know you can say um you just have to state your name for the record and that's all and then you know sure sure my name's uh Ian LC I'm the resident at 23 County Road as of tomorrow we will have no usable water um given that there is a leak in the ground um I don't know any of you health professionals by trade in the past no health professionals yes no no no if you I mean you have you know ground Flora runoff so I can't assume that the water's clean even though I have some water pressure in the home so I I cannot use it um I have a four-year-old in the home makes it very frustrating MH um it's been I'm member at the gym down the road so I'm able to take a shower but for my wife and my son they have to go to a friend's house parents house which we're very fortunate to have not everybody has that luxury um you know the big the big thing is new bedford's DPI I which I agree with them being the ones that service those lines I'm quite frustrated that they're trying to put you on the hook um they since the since two weeks toor they haven't contacted me to try and replace uh water not you know provided even though I PID them a bill um I've been very fortunate with the Freetown fire department I've been over there I've filled up you know a couple five gallon jugs just so I have something so I can cook and clean you know around my home use the bathroom um so I've been very fortunate on that regard but as a nurse if I have a patient that says you know I don't have running water in the home that's considered an unsafe discharge MH and I have to get social work and other bodies of people involved um so the fact that new Beford is trying to you know allow this situation to keep going forward in the manner that it is and not stepping up and saying we're going to fix the problem and then figure out where the money's coming from I mean you know where emal's Automotive is on Route 18 M the leak it's going into his property it's right on the breakdown Lane on the other side it's nowhere near my property so if it's not the main it's very shortly thereafter and reading their DPI handbook I'm only responsible from my curb stop to my property which with speaking with chanler uh from the water department who was very nice to give me a history on Freetown Water Department and you know try and make a lot more sense of this as New Bedford DPI failed to do so um like he believes that that is also the case so the fact that hiring a private contractor to get this waterline fixed when it's clearly written I shouldn't be responsible for it is very frustrating so that's why I showed up today to try and you know make my voice heard in the matter and again I understand that it might not be your resp responsibility but just to get this in a public form M um and I'm very happy to hear that you're going to have a meeting with them tomorrow because I mean quite frankly I'm I'm upset I mean I'm not I might not Vis show it right now but I'm quite upset um I work with a lot of people daily and uh quite frankly I've told the story and they're living these are people that are also residents of New Bedford we service a lot of people in Beth area and uh they're they're quite upset I tried to get news outlets on this and I guess I'm not a good enough story for them but uh that's kind of where we're at it's just the fact that especially having a child if it was just me and my wife we'd figure it out but having a child in the home that elevates things a little bit especially when any special needs he's non-verbal he's a student over here at the Freetown Elementary School and uh you know this community has done me a lot of good and I'm upset to see that another Community is trying to bring you know hardship to not only myself but the community that I live inh yeah got where I'm at you're not the only one now there's four more after you this last week and the fact that you mentioned that is even more I mean it kind it kind of brings it to light be like okay so it's not just me nope but I mean it doesn't make it any less frustrated clearly something's going something's changed right without notice is also an issue um it's water it's you know it shouldn't be something you're worried about like you said you've been you know paying your bill if you didn't pay your bill they'd be shutting you off and you know as we would right and and anytime I mean you're going to you know so so it is frustrating so I am glad to hear you know I have spoken with a couple of the people on the water department and they trust me when I tell you they as you I'm sure you're well aware they're you know they're taking this very seriously so um we have Debbie on the side of us over here who Smiles but she can be fierce so in a good way so she'll she'll be in that meeting for us you know being that voice of reason tomorrow which I know doesn't fix your problem today but I know um andan I'm glad that came in to you know kind of speak your peace and and tell us really the frustrations that you're having cuz your point is it's more of a public forum because you're not you know when you're talking to people behind the scenes it's just that it's behind the scenes so um I mean and and I've spoken out and said too if if it were proven to be on my end of things like if I had a well and something broke I'm gonna fix it if it's on my end of the to it would have been done two weeks ago I would have hired a contractor and they would have been out there and finished with it but standing on principle the fact that it wasn't assessed properly and they're just assuming that I'm gonna be liable for you know and like like you offered you know water from the food pantry which I greatly appreciate I'm going to leave that to those that are more in need but when it comes to you know damages like that I might not have that sort of capital just to expend as I'm sure a smaller town might not have either mhm um so yeah again just I'm very frustrated with new Beford I'm not frustrated with Freetown I I think one of the issues with fixing it too is that Bedford has pretty much said if we touch it we own it so it's right it's as soon as we do any work on it we're we're going to assume the liability now for 110 customers in all the lines that go with it and that's sort of the problem and so yeah I'm not sure like I said what triggered this but clearly something did and we need to get to the bottom of it I just find it funny how I can pay them a bill but like if you fix it like if I continue to pay that bill you're not seeing that money no we have never seen the money and that's part of the thing you know we collect money from our customers and then we have the Reserves to do repairs um so I don't know I will keep you um informed as I get more information but I don't know that it's going to change anytime soon in terms of lak Field's position I mean I'm sorry NE bfi's position and Freetown position so unfortunately you're sort of caught in that crosshairs but like I said the numbers are mounting in terms of what's going on and and other other issues are not necessarily broken lines but where they just need the water line shut off to do repairs and then nobody will shut the water off um so there's just basic stuff you know that's going on what what time is this meeting tomorrow Debbie what I'm sorry what time is this meeting with the water Commissioners I I was trying to look in the calendar is it 9:30 I think it's 9:30 yeah so sir I'm sorry this happening to you right it's is this is unacceptable and at different levels um I can guarantee you one thing tomorrow we're going to get more answers right what those answers are we just don't know yet um like like Jared myself I've also saw spoken with the water Commissioners and everything else and I take this very seriously to me water is a basic right it should be a basic right to everybody the fact that this has been two weeks now and we have no answers yet this is not only unacceptable it tends to fire me up all right um but cooler heads prevail let's see what they have to say tomorrow and figure out what the hell is going on and figure that out sorry for cursing but I'm frustrated for you I'm fired up right now trying to hold back myself yeah no I I um thank you com it comes through as you're being very respectful and we appreciate that at the same time I'm I'm I'm poed myself and um as a father um that's just unaccept again as a human it's unacceptable and we'll we we we'll get to the next step and see what that is and it's got to get fixed no matter what I um as I'm sure you can Circle back to we just had a discussion about having separate Council right so we're trying I say we Debbie is trying to get out ahead of it that if we have to get to that point that we have someone else in place right um because that's that's unfortunately what needs to happen right we're trying to to stay one step ahead and that's Debbie now trying to stay one step ahead so you know we'll do whatever I I will promise you we we will do whatever we can within our restrictions that makes sense right to to Debbie's point if we were to out there and fix that now and then we would be spending millions of dollars because they would want us to take over that whole line and we just I wish we did but we don't have it right so I can't I can't offer that up I wish we had that endless pot of money where we would say yeah no no big deal let's replace it all um but unfortunately that's not the case and we have to be fiscally responsible with our money um that we do have so um but just know that you know just Elan lopes' point that this is we we both we all find it pretty unacceptable and hope that you know some resolution can be made for you so and and aside from the fact of taking me out of the equation we're in the winter time now with a leak on a public road I did contact the Department of Transportation giving that it's a state road and I did elevate it and I said listen this it's freezing over this Road's freezing over I've heard a couple cars swerve about there in the middle of the night they're not to see it and it's what 40 45 mph speed limit over there people go faster um that that can be a major accident it's waiting like it it can happen at any point like once that once that temperature gets low enough and that freezes m not good not good it takes up the entire travel end at this point so yeah I will reach out to Mt as well yeah I did they did email me back and they did send it over to I their District Five if you is our district yeah and um they did mention they said to New Bedford how they need to go out and service that may be something for you thank you thank you thank you for your patience yeah hang in there I know I know it's not the answer you want right I I understand any more answers for tomorrow and um we'll put the full weight of our town if we have to as as much as possible Right um because it is a tricky situation and we've had discussion over the years as far as the lines and everything else and what's in them and what what's not in them and who controls them who pays for what um just un unfathomable that we here we are talking about this and no one's taking responsibility for it right so they will someone will all right sir I appreciate your time absolutely thanks for letting us know all right so I think it's good think that's it I just have one more thing I wanted to shout out I wanted to thank uh I wanted to thank Mr uh Robert Weaver and his sister Johanna W Wilson for Lettin I use their lot of land to effectively take down uh uh for South Main Street um which we know came down this week because it you know was condemned and it was a liability to the town it was uninsurable um and it's been condemned for a few years without their assistance which they you know they let us use it for free there was no money exchange and they signed a an agreement to allow us to use it so um without that without that use of that lot it would have been much more expensive much more difficult it would have caused a lot more disruption to traffic and to the town so uh I've personally thanked him I I know we've all thanked him he was out on site but I just wanted to shout out to him because he didn't need to do that um he didn't need to let us use that lot um him U Mr Weaver and his sister so I just wanted to shout that out thank you yeah no that is a good call out I mean what originally was told to be three days was done in less than a day with very little impeding of the traffic so um you know I yeah a little too fast it was a little too fast for me um no you absolutely correct I I think uh using utilizing that lot there was no way it went that smoothly right I'm sure there's little things here and there that occur throughout the day but nothing that they couldn't handle they came with the right equipment as soon as that sh I have the video of the chimney dropping and know you can hear is it dropped right through both floors second floor first floor right into the basement Disturbed whatever was living down there right so great job on everybody that was there right um it went smooth I know residents were concerned about traffic and and impact or floating debris here and there none of that occurred it was pretty smooth the Hazmat folks were out there with their hoses and gear it went as smooth as smooth can go for a such a not last minute cuz we know what was coming but as far with the rain and the weather and everything else they they showed up ready to go and I was very happy to see that and the only other last little call up before I get to signatures I just wanted to take take the time to thank the um Freetown firefighters for driving around with Santa Claus this week oh that's right yeah you know all sorts of positive stuff online and great that's fun when you have little kids I I was loving it I got out of my I was coming to the end of my road I heard him coming so I stopped and I waited for him to wave to him so um you know they Town certainly loves it yeah no and that's thing is you you hear so much positive stuff so I and I know that they hear it but uh I just wanted to drive it more time to say thank you guys because I really do appreciate it so I made the mistake of telling my kids start at 8:00 right so of course you can trct Santa and the in in his free town as well so they kept telling me he's like Dad they're still at the Sona Bay shores why are they still at Sona Bay shores M I was like Budd there's a lot of houses they they have to go slow yeah so I think they got us to around 9:45 10:00 and and we're out there with decorations and kids loved it so thank you fire department and and all the Santa and elves that were out there yeah I guess what we're doing thank you is thank the cultural Council for lights on right that's right the lights as well on that was great and the and the the police for collecting the the so the toys for Tau so there everybody's doing their little part but that's what makes freeone freeone right because everybody does what they can do and it just makes it such a nice community so yeah a lot of a lot of moving Parts a lot of people doing pulling you know making our holidays as as as good as they can possibly be so yeah that's it a happy holidays I'm not going to see you guys probably yeah I was just going to say before we Christmas before we sign off I need to make sure I wish everyone happy holidays because I can't even believe it it's going to be after the new year before we meet again I'm G to get going with that Christmas that Christmas shopping I hear about yeah no kid I'm I'm not going to lie my my big gift from my wife showed up in the mail today and I didn't I was getting very worried about it because they kept saying and it was changing and oh jeez yeah so my my my main gift my wife they gave me a three to five week delivery period yesterday I'll see going fantastic thank you so much home today did you I'm just print it out yeah put it in an envelope yep put it in a huge box make her unwrap it for a picture you know stuff the husbands do ABC form I can sign the toop line up here that we get single copy yeah all right thank you you just for reference the meetings where I'm doing is executive session so just so it's not open to the public okay certainly you Carlos can jump on but it's not open to the public so I just don't want anybody to show up expect to be heard because it's not open to the public that's fine just make sure the residents are up to date as we know any information that they're they need to know so that way what we know you know right away thank you you're welcome sir um thank you did you did you maybe want an email if you email me if you have any updates as soon as I have S an update I definitely email you please just in case I need to get my own Cil involved don't worry you're not Hey sir we we choke but at the end of the day take care of yourself and your family and make sure they you're protected so absolutely you don't mind as well save your hand real quick no absolutely come on down cars yeah nice to meet you meet you nice to meet you we're fighting for you don't worry I'll keep working on nice meet you as well he spoke on the phone as well thank you night y'all stay safe okay thank you going to be but I'll just update that sign above it hopefully Trevor gets better before the holidays with the little guy I hope so it's [Music] he's young enough you can postpone this is you sorry I'm taking the majority of next week yes if it had a tab on it it got signed I'm not expecting anything no it's a it's a light week no one no one wants to work all right so everything else good you good sir yeah I'm I'll just he for agenda 27 okay for the ad commission okay that's one is anything else any questions you need anything further from me no I think we're good right so yeah no I just wanted to make sure you weren't waiting for something else because we we have so the question is since I'm the only one on the ad commission I'm assuming it's going to take three before we can officially do anything did you look at the CH I didn't look it up I didn't I want to say it's I want to say it's three we have to other people so we have to have a minimum of three believe that's what it is we can confir do the board is for five but but three for because you Quorum so you have a quorum yeah right so do you have anyone else that you can recruit into Mission there's a few in town mhm it'll take some talking but mhm if I can get two others on it we should at least have some kind of representation for the future so all I appreciate that I have a few in mind I'll talk to them I know it's been since what 2018 when it was formed MH so we're going on six years and nobody has stepped up yet which is well so thank you well I'm retired now so now I can I have time to you someday someday yeah all right so with that uh I entertain a motion to a journ motion made I will second all those in favor all