##VIDEO ID:qHRCjHHtZxs## [Music] it is now 5:30 I will call the select board meeting for October 7th to order if you can please join me in the publics I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic one na under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you the first thing uh we will do is we will call the hearing to order as a separate item of the agenda so we will start at 5:31 the gravel permit hearing continuation date so we are opening this hearing just to set the date there will be no public comment um um and yeah so that's where we're at so December I did reach out both attorneys did respond that they are available for December 5th okay so it'll be December 5th at 5:30 p.m. and they felt there was enough time to get the studies together too I dealt with the attorneys because I the only reason I had it I contacted the attorney because he had to leave early uh I believe uh the gentleman from Sherman and Frederick said he was able to have time to be that would be enough time to create those studies okay and actually I think he had even mentioned if he got them done earlier could he submit them earlier for the peer review and okay so I think some probably is going to beew very easy to do maybe one or two may not be now just a follow-up question to that Chris so once they um hand in the studies to us we still don't have that account set up for how much the peer review is going to cost for so we would still have to do that on December 5th yes okay and attorney Costa did forward the list of people who do peer reviews so um I'm going to I'm starting to contact them to see what their hourly fee would be in order to be able to do it there was one of them if I remember correctly that he was unsure about the particulate matter right he didn't have um someone to peer review that right but when he when he sent it he said one of them may do particulate oh yeah you're right they might do both yes um basically he was looking at air pollution for example particulate matter so okay so that date still works for the boards yes yes it does so I will now entertain a motion to continue the public hearing for the trony ab special permit application to December 5th 2024 at 5:31 p.m. I will make a motion to continue the Gravel Pit permit hearing for trony Avenue until December 5th 2024 and at 5:3 1 p.m. 5:30 p.m. so excuse me I'll second the motion any further discussion can I just add to that motion to be held here at 10 West State Street thank you yes you want us to repeat it again okay all right all in favor I I he so next will be uh citizen participation I didn't receive anything all right Chris and what do you have for us today uh I have a couple du frame rentals uh first one is for October 13 2024 arriving 12:00 noon departing 5:00 p.m. uh liquor no number of people is 30 it's a family gathering and they are requesting the Taylor Street Side Pavilion number one and the second one is for October 18th 2024 arriving 300 p.m. departing 8:30 p.m. uh liquor no maximum number of people is 200 plus it's a movie in the park and they are requesting the parking lot area the open field the wooded areas on either side of the open field and the gazebo all right for correspondence you did file for the joint uh housing Grant with yes and then I think when we had first talked about the bridge inspection is that something that Dave will come and talk to us when needed when the bridge if there's major concern if there's major concerns on this one right anything else for us Chris before we go to in front of you I put in front of you a charge for the Town Administrator sech committee yes we never really discussed their charge um so I just wanted to go through and see if you agree with what is written here if you want to change anything before I submit it to the uh protim there and it got posted last week right Chris uh no we haven't posted it yet because we were going to go through the inter the final job description and add and then we were going to also do the interim Town Administrator position but do you have a is that charge okay or or yeah I think it sounds good I think it's good is there anything else you ask the Dave number four says conduct reference checks on finist and select finist we just after we select them when do we do the reference checks that way it would speed up the process once they come to you we've already done the background checks now it's just that they're both the finalist at that point that's all I'm saying yes we got to check checks on the finalist and select the finalist right because if say we have someone who the committee feels is a finalist but all of a sudden if the reference checks don't fall don't pass then that name probably would not be forwarded to the board at that point in time if you want I can make four and then make select finalist number five and number five number six yeah you just SE that that is that way you want it instead yeah I think this separate the two of them okay so select the finalist first then conduct the reference text are the opposite cuz like you're saying we they would be a final right well right CU they're the same so we're going to choose their they're going to choose the finalist and at that point we just going to we'll do background tcks in the finest that they were chosen right and the other thing that I just want to mention to the board was we have our annual uh ms4 General permit for the sewer system uh this was actually due September 30th um usually the board signs off on it after you've had a chance to read it so what I would like to do is put this on the board agenda for October 21st for Signature of this report this annual report that gets submitted to U EPA we that the one that was sent to us at 11:55 today it was about that toight yeah storm water yes okay those sign it prior to the town meeting yeah and the last item was I had sent forward a letter received from the division of local Services um explaining that uh when Governor Healey signed chapter 206 of the act of 2024 uh we are going to be paid a additional funds for uh veterans blind surviving spouses and Veterans motor vehicle excise exemption reimbursement for FY 24 and basically they're indicating that as it was a FY 24 Revenue that uh it can be used for determination of our free cash certification for uh this upcoming fiscal year so they reimbursing you for veterans we're going to get more money than what yeah under this act we're getting more money than what we were entitled to under y old act and it goes back to the veterans the veterans will get it but we also get the reimbursement so it's additional Revenue that we get so we can turn around and include it in as part of our state aid Revenue you're yes I did notice that another pack was on here but I don't think we have it on our agenda right that one there is backup documentation when we discuss the town meeting [Music] War all right so we will move into new business and information so number one is to accept departmental reports unless you have something else Chris sorry no I will make a motion to accept the departmental reports I'll second motion and any further discussion chis do we know why the greater is out of service right now uh there was a pump on it went it is back in service now okay uh but the main pump for it went um he had to find someone number one who could fix it and then uh get the part in so that has been done so now it is back up and running anything else say that okay Dave anything no all in favor by by all right next is number two approve and sign maintenance warrants okay I will make a motion that the town of Grandy authorized for payment payroll warrant for fiscal year 25 warrant number 20 dated 92724 in the amount of 462,000 $28 23 secondly motion any further disc it's okay any further discussion no discussion and um as always I will abstain from the teacher and the selectman salaries so all in favor i i p I vote out of necessity for the selection Sal together yeah thank you I will make a motion town of gramy authorized for payment maintenance warrant number 21 fiscal year 2025 dated 92724 in the amount of 377,000 $229 73 second the motion any further discussion no discussion all in favor I I will make another motion town of gramy authorized for payment bills payable warrant fiscal year 2025 warrant number 22 dated 104 2024 in the amount of $482,000 41188 I'll second the motion any further discussion no discussion Chris I just had a question is there a reason why we moved away from LEF frano for the water testing and we're Now using another company yes we weren't getting the service that we were requiring okay well what we found happening was that they would promise to come and do something they wouldn't show up they wouldn't show up we had to keep hounding them to get certain things done okay so we decided to move to a new company away from lean Police makes sense thank you all in favor uh by thank you and I will make another motion that the town of gramy authorized for payment warrant number 22s School bills payable warrant fiscal year 20251 22s in the amount of 59,4 $54 78 dated 10424 I'll secondly motion any further discussion discussion all in favor I that's [Music] okay that's is to approve any minutes see that I have Kathy no minutes today I think one of the ones we tabled is June 17th right February 2 okay you're all done I'm just add all right next is to review and discuss special town meeting warrant for October 21st [Music] 2024 I to that was in our stuff from last week I also is it in the new business okay thank you okay are you you ready y uh article one has to deal with the uh Paving of the library um back in the annual town meeting we had put aside $70,000 as the projected cost to pay the new library parking lot at 297 East State Street however when the bid price came in uh we were short um so we are I'm looking to transfer $20,000 from the article that was approved for Cemetery Paving and the reason we have money available there is we had originally planned on having the cemetery paid by an outside firm the projected cost was $162,700 however David and his crew were able to do it for a price of $ 53,8 129 so we now have a a leftover balance of $18,000 so instead of trying to raise an appropriate I'm just reallocating the excess funds to this project um and we will be looking at doing the paving in the springtime once the uh batch points open up again so Chris you had mentioned 20,000 but it says 15,000 15 here are we doing 15 or 20 I have 20 on mine oh we have 15 on ours no do we have a it's 20 it's 20,000 okay it is 20,000 now who is going to be presenting this article we share them again yeah probably we can share we have six of them so each do two each do two all right pick your two I guess I'll take one you'll do one sure you want to just do one and two sure and then we could just go down the line yep uh article two is to um article two is to uh approve Master under Law chapter 59 9 UM section 5K that relates back to the senior work off program and uh in order for us to be able to allow seniors to uh participate in that type of a program we have to accept this section of the law and I gave you a copy of 595k out of your packet so you can go through and familiarize yourself with it okay then article three is chapter 59 section 5n and that one has to deal with veterans being able to do the same thing as seniors um I gave you a copy of five in also and the maximum amount that they can uh reduce their taxes by is $1,500 per progam and that's for both right and seniors do you want three and four Glenn or five and six I'll do five and six okay okay I always thinking we said the same person do two and three kind of go together yeah they do so are we changing who's presenting what no my mind one and two crystal is three and four I believe or yeah I think Glennon was just saying that two and three are very similar so it make sense sense to have the same person present those okay one's for veterans one's for break up one one and four and yeah you want to do that so I can do two and three if you want to do one and four okay so I'll do one and four chis Dave will do do two and three and Glen will do five and six okay uh article four has to do with uh seeking approval to pay some prior year bills that weren't submitted in a timely basis to be included in FY 24 warrants um that's what it is and where are we taking this out of uh probably stabilization fund it would just be the general stabilization fund right yes so Chris I just had a question for article one as I was thinking about how much money's left over does that account get closed out and then the money rolls over to free cash afterwards the Project's been concluded yes unless we want to use it as a funding source for an article at the next annual town meeting okay we could do that too okay uh Article Five is a for supplemental budgetary Authority for the uh fire and ambulance budgets um in your backet there I have a letter from Chief O'Neal uh explaining how he came up with the numbers you needed and I asked Chief O'Neil to be here in case you had any questions regarding his uh determination right there Crystal there you go Chief you be able to speak to this at at the town meeting yes sir okay uh Chief O'Neal so I know we had talked about um when you came to the meeting the last time not to kind of slow the bleed as you put it in here two Basics but now we're saying one paramedic and a basic um yes but um the injured on duty firefighter paramedic is going to come back before in January no um hopefully November 1st or before that okay um and then and our one of our firefighter EMTs just obtained her paramedic so she will be able to perform paramedic duties by November 1st um so it could go back to the original um where two Basics could help okay because we're going to have because yeah so now we'll have instead of four Medics that were sustaining the department we'll have six which will make a big difference of redundancy and it would also help on the perum line to have the premiums cover less um okay and if I remember correctly it was the pum one that wasn't allocated uh not for the extra shifts of so it's about a 100 hours they've been covering since July which hope I'm hoping that goes down October is looking promising for that to be down and when you say 100 hours is that by weekly or weekly uh by the month by the month by the month Chief just a quick question yeah in your calculations did you plan for the increase in pay for the employee going from basic to medic no I did not okay could it she was in a long process right but I'm just asking so will this be enough money to get you through to the end of the fiscal year or do you need to increase that a little bit more I would need to increase it a little bit to be safe I would like to increase it a little bit more okay so I'll have to figure out what that amount is then yeah I would if you can get me that within okay yep all right I I'm I'm just I'm just concerned that we want to take one bite of the apple right exactly we don't want to be back with a half eaten Apple saying we need more of the Apple yes I will uh okay get that by tomorrow morning what her pay rate would be okay and then uh did you plan for like the holidays and all that with the additional employees and things like that cuz you're talking two Basics right two additional Basics are you hiring or no no I just went with what we have now to the end of the year I didn't put two additional Basics so end of the year meaning July 1 Y and I assume that fiscal year 26 I would budget those two EMT Basics into that budget as I'm looking at the EMS overtime is that supposed to be 32,000 yes okay well that's why I put it in for yes okay I just want to make sure the com just came at two Z Instead at three [Music] Okay so we've got fulltime EMS overtime okay yes and the wages for fulltime thank you once the provisional so the provisional will go away right now we have a provisional to help some offset the overtime that will Position will go away as soon as the injured on duty firefighter comes back so I plan it out to January just to be safe just in case something happened but it again looks like November 1st or before that will happen Okay so what you're asking for the additional Revenue that that's going to count to January 1st for the person that's currently out what you saying yes because that's so if that person comes back November 1st those extra funds I guess we wouldn't anticipate to suspend no no but with having to bump that new medic up those funds would be used for that something to look at B Chris as well so but that's going to be tough cuz we don't know when that person may come back or may not come back so we're dissipating it yeah again yes so the total is the 216 right yes at this point in time okay it's 100,000 Plus in I just want to make sure that if we this amount is increased to to cover the difference in the positions and then the town uh votes on it and then this person comes back November 1st well there's money in this budget now that accounts for two months that doesn't need to be there so I want to make sure that money is not spent on other things that the town is is spending them giving them money based on the information that's being given at that time mhm that Mak sense yeah any questions Dave no so we're not hiring any new Basics or anything no and we'll look at it again in fiscal year the next F year 26 yes it might be helpful too to have that as part of the handout as an explanation because this is going to raise a lot of questions I'm short town meeting um so just a little explanation beforehand as well so people can read a little bit of it and then you know that way when the questions start coming G okay so do you mean you want the letter from in this like both together I I think any the information that Chief is presenting I think um I can get a that the voters could have beforehand yeah the voters the town U people uh Town residents could think be beneficial before this comes up gives him a chance to kind of read a little bit about the information and why the additional funds are being asked for I can do that and send it to Chris and then forward the war good thank you for coming in thank you thank you Chief all right in article six we already went through yeah that's just uh the adopting the new uh Animal Control by law so and what we're planning on doing is having all these documents uh supporting the Articles up on the website along with the warrant and things of that nature so people can go online to the town website and be able to see all us instead of trying to absorb it all in one 15 minutes before the meeting starts it'll be helpful to then the information that Chief Pro provides is on the website as well yes all right so we are moving on to approve and sign architect contract for West Street Building uh Madam chair I don't know if you maybe want to address Mr Randall Rand you can come on up as board knows um the gry firefighters Association uh uh had the dedication on uh the 7th of last month for the 9911 Memorial and Mrs duin spoke eloquently I might add so on behalf of the fire uh Fighters Association Mrs D I would like to present you with a letter of our thanks thank you very much very pretty it's us that we thank you thank you very much you guys did a great job it was a beautiful ceremony it's still in progress thank you sir all right so approve and sign architect contract for West Street Building yes that was our nice thick packet Chris thank you yes it was all right so um did we have the lawyer look over this yes the Town Council okay yes so no suggestions nothing we're good to go he made a couple that I just Incorporated uh one was when we were talking about going to court the mentioned Court in Massachusetts he wanted to be serving Hampshire County because he doesn't want to have to go to Boston for any type of legal proceedings you rather have be done in Hampshire County okay fa the price that was quoted to us was within budget of what we had planned for designer fees uh the the issue is as we are looking at now the project probably being completed now in December of 2025 due to the fact of the delays that we had encountered at the beginning of the project when we didn't get a set of bids for the first round of the OPM we had to wait for the tank to to come out because we didn't want to keep going forward and spending money if when the pank came out there was leakage that we were going to have to deal with so that was a two-month delay the OPM we had to advertise like I said two times that delayed it probably another four to six weeks to get that going and right now everything is seems to be moving right along and hopefully like I said the project will be completed by December of 2025 so with that in mind I know it's kind of a separate issue from here how long do we have the town Annex June 30th of 2025 so from June to December we would have to move or relocate unless she's or see if she's willing to give a six-month extension on the lease yes [Music] yes why would we ask you know two things either ask for a year extension or six months extension with the option for another 6 months because we know that construction delays and things like that are going to happen we've already seen it happen but she wants to sell right she doesn't want anything to do with the building anymore part of the problem yeah part of the problem is is I think she wants to be done with a building by the end of 2025 no matter what uh I believe her lease with the goet speed that lease for that building expires December of 25 so she'd probably only get rant us a six-month extension Glenn to be honest with you I understand but that there's no reason we we can ask but um I don't think that it'll be a six-month with a six-month option for another six months uh just from talking with her about her plans for the building and moving forward you I think she wants I think she wants to divest herself of some of the real estate and but would it be would it be um beneficial for the town to just buy the building from her and then sell it later after we have everything or she ask or is it something that we can't afford I would say no okay chief yeah yeah we did have I was part of the subcommittee interviewing the um Architects or the designers and we told them we may run into an issue like this so we kind of put them on notice that we may have to move the offices and tell specifically which offices we need to get the by December and they think they could work around that so I think that 6 month hopefully would be enough and like I said as we know the pressure is coming we can say look got to get these people over here yeah focus on these three rooms first and then correct [Music] okay I me technically you can move in there now if they want to yes so but I but I wouldn't because part of the project is just just removal yeah but but point of making it comes down so we can if need be we have to move out of the annx building we have the option to move in there yes so the OPM oversees the designer correct or okay that's why I was just making sure I have the no that's right the it's it's us the town of grany yeah then it's the OPM then it's the designer and then it's all the contractors and subcontractors okay which the designer and the OPM secured for US based up like we will put out another bid packet okay for contractors and subcontractors for the various disciples that we need to have be done in there and even in that contract we're moving it along a little faster because normally you when you get to 30% of design phase you stop and you look at what you're putting in for the equipment we're going to bypass that and go to 60% so that we not delaying even more to try and do this we're trying to get it as fast tracked as fast as we can so we can get it out the bid ideally it would be nice to get it out to bid uh no later probably than Jan January or February because at that point uh the contractors are sitting home it's winter they don't have much on their plate if we can get in front of that bell curve we can probably get better prices than if we're in there in the mix when everybody's out there bidding for projects [Music] RFQ is uh request for quote or was a request for qualifications [Music] and when the bid went out we had received three responses and the subcommittee for the uh West Street Building committee did interview all three of the uh respondents and uh ranked them accordingly and then I started negotiating with the highest ranked firm which was edn and as I said their price came in within budget uh the contract was fairly easy to negotiate with them and uh Town Council has reviewed it and has no issues and then the other ones that you have attached here were the other people that you spoke with right no they are the what happens is is as part of the bid process those are subcontractors he will use engineering firms and things of that nature so he has to provide what their hourly rates are just in case there's something else that we're going to require that wasn't part of the bid packet so we know what the hourly rate would be if that work has to be done those are basically subcontractors under the designer contract bless you [Music] yes a lot of legal ease in there I know I don't have any questions besides what I've already asked yeah I mean Town council's looked it over no questions regards with concerns yeah one of one of my concerns would be uh equipment so um being with the school department in chicke we've had a couple of projects that have been delayed by months because equipment was supposed to arrive and hasn't arrived so I think that's something that we really need to stay in front of once they are in place um things need to be like ordered and shipped immediately if we can get them because that will delay the project CH big comment was electrical switching which is like the components we did have a conversation with them and asked about possibly once we know what the building needs if the town can put it out ourselves with order it to get it coming faster while we're waiting for everything else to progress once we get the okay to go right and uh the OPM in the design great yeah also hbac equipment is another one that we had a lot of problems with delays so right so with that if there's no questions I'll entertain a motion I will make a motion to accept the designer Services agreement for the town of gramby for the new municipal office project renovation at the Old West Street School I'll second the motion any further discussion all in favor I you want to sign first then we'll pass it down the line sure yeah so I think we're signing right thank you oh it's last you should have a little tab on it yeah yeah but it's page [Music] all right so next is to discuss the interim Town Administrator Town Administrator job description and add so she's got a copy of each in here you got one too though right yeah thank you okay [Music] yeah for the job posting um all the stuff that we want to change were changed with the range and everything and then all of them are to go to Cathy and I thought we had talked about a rolling submission but we did set November 1st because I have November 1st and then I have a rolling submission yes so if we don't get anyone by November 1st then it becomes a rolling submission or how would that work November 1st is the original deadline however if you are in the process of still going through and trying to do it you'll continue to accept them okay okay I would continue to accept them until the uh search committee has finalized their charge and then it is in front of the board of Select at that point but would you change anything on the ad though or on the post thing yeah no but I think I think we need a stop date which we have November that's that's it so they can are you saying that so the versus the IND dat that they start their process before as are coming in start interviewing people no November 1st would be the date that we would hand all the applications received to the search committee right so that's that's the cut off the there's no there's no after that that's it well if there's no good candidates by no by November 1st a lot a lot of the ads are now out there saying open until filled okay for applications that that's the that's the issue that you're running into because there's not a lot of qualified people out there and actually we're going to be bumping up against a few other towns that are out there looking for applications I just got an add in from for Tisbury they're looking for a Town Administrator Hadley is looking for a Town Administrator um there's a lot of them out there lot of towns out there looking for administrators at this point in time well I would think if if November 1st comes and it and we don't have suitable uh person to consider at that point then we just repost the position I I I just want to keep on going and going and going because at what point do we stop and say okay we got to make a decision here well I think what Chris is saying so we could do till accepted through November first and then put like something after it that says or until filled like we want the application by November 1st and that's when the search committee is going to start reviewing them but if we don't get good applicants we're not closing the posting we're keeping it open until I I get that when if you have a large company and you're looking to fill a spot and you have people doing that people can do that job until someone else comes in but we don't yeah but kind of we don't at this point in time but my concern is that okay so no November 1st is the cut off date y so what if you get applications on November 5th and 6 seven do you turn it over to the search committee and say okay review these two right why have a date has should be the cut off date and if at that time everything is reviewed and we see that no one meets the requirements and okay then we go back out forward again I think what Chris was trying to do was save on time because if you keep it open then if they're still applying and you didn't find anyone that was qualified in the first round well now you still still have the application in front of you to review and send to the search committee so I think it was just saving time that way but I also hear what you're saying to you're setting a deadline You're Expecting the committee who's a big group of 12 13 people to come together to review all this you don't want to keep adding dates onto it and to Chris's point there are other talents that are looking so we got to set a date this is it so if you have people that are interested in it we could start our process and hire someone to get them through so um do you guys just want to leave November 1st there and then like you said if you don't get applicat by them we repost it that's what I like to I think so makes sense it gives us a F line and people that are blank orist they know that there's a there's a closed date M um for accep applications so then we can move forward with that at that time other towns are looking at it they I'll go here I'll go here I'll go here I'll go here so which you know it's all right that that's what people do which is fine but in this part we're looking to fill the position with the most qualified person in the quickest time okay I'm okay with that sot leave it as November 1 and the next thing I well we move on the other one are we looking at both them just one them at the time do you want to Chris are we all set with the posting so everything that was changed is good and we'll keep it November 1st and um I think you said you were going to run the ad two times in each paper so the MMA website the town website Worcester Telegram Boston Globe and Berkshire Eagle then we'll run them two times each so is it a post every week is that what you mean by two times each or they a couple weeks offset from each other because we're already well I'd like to see if we can get it in for the 12th okay and then the 26th okay that's look is in plenty of time to answer the ad by November 1st so was there any other uh places you guys of for the posting think that's but we brainstormed last time yeah you had indeed on the list too no because it's even if they're not qualified you pay 75 per so we omitted that I do I do remember that thank you yep so Yesa now we're on the next one okay is the int so the rate is set at well not set but is being considered $75 an hour if you take the $75 an hour that exceeds what we're going to pay someone for a full-time position I think we're going to pay some in part time it should be within the the range that we're posting the uh or advertising the full-time usion than so let's do so what would you suggest for a Rin because $75 an hour puts at 156 for the year okay so what would you propose to um offer them and Chris was that the going rate is that why you put the 75 that came from Eric oh Eric wives yes oh yeah well that's a going rate that we're not going to find anybody for well that's why I'm wondering if that is the going rate it's not that's not the going rate mean and Chris you did um find out that we do have to post an intro yes okay because even for the 12 weeks at the uh at the price of 75 at 20 hours a week it's like $30,000 and that for 12 weeks same part of same in our budget what would be in the Town Administrator salary L that you could transfer to a contracted Services line but that doesn't cover it right it's already more than the rate is already more than what's being paid now oh yes that's 100 % you're 100% correct whatever whatever's left not going to cover that you're 100% correct and I guess I also think like Chris you spent a lot of time here how are we going to get an interim Town Administrator in here to do the same job for 20 hours you're not that's what I'm saying so we're going to we're not going to have people in here to do your job for the other 20 so why aren't we posting it for a full time inim again this in company you this is from Eric right the only thing I can Divine from Eric's conversation and what he sent yeah there was probably somebody out there who he contacted and said I do it for $75 an hour 20 hours a week but he didn't say exactly what he would be doing just guiding the ship that's all he'd be doing and I think someone that we'll probably end up with is someone that was a town administrator or town manager that has retired that says hey I'll go work for 20 hour a week I'm not working 40 hours a week that's why I retired do full so mhm I mean I think $60 an hour is fair it puts us right in the middle of our salary range yeah and that's more than what I'm making right now it's kind of close couple dollars more now but you still got you guys still only want to post it for 20 hours I don't think it we're a part-time board guys no I understand that but I think it's difficult to find someone that's going to come in for 40 hours a week yeah U what if we say 20 to 40 so that way if they're willing to work more than 20 no I'm fine with that okay um and maybe you get some that comes in part-time and they'll be you know someone that would consider to be full-time you want to allow the the interim to apply for the fulltime I I think you I I wouldn't if we're going to say from 20 to 40 hours a week I'd say yes because someone's going to say hey I I'll come in a you know it's almost like a trial basis for them that's one to work yeah cuz the 12 weeks would be the three months I mean I don't know if the board would even um say consider it but because I know the board would and I don't know if Mr Martin even open to it but I I brought this up some time ago and you kind of made to mention Crystal as far as he does it for 40 hours a week now how we going to find someone that can do that kind of work so um I would ask the board if they would consider again I don't know if Mr Martin even available to do so but ask him to stay on as the interim person for um um to we hire someone fulltime or to that time period of 12 weeks but it's just very confident that that ASMR is able to do a lot of the things um that it can do in 20 weeks and I'm also confident that he'll probably work more than 20 hours a week but build 20 hours weekly because that's what he does now I know that for a fact so um again let s TR consider in this depart I be open to it um retire is retirement well not that I also don't want to hurt like he has till October 31st right and then anything after that you have to be you're maxed out at a certain amount right or is that yeah that's up to him but that's up to him if he wants to make that decision and I do say that also with the understanding that his last day is October 31st this is going to be there till October 14th gives us two weeks to put someone in place which just need very difficult yeah so if anything um you consider keeping on till the till we actually have an in that those this next three weeks are going to go by quick yeah yes and we have a town meeting in between also so um I I will consider that we did you know bring it up and discussion um again it's not really up to us it would be great if you could are you saying we can't make him stay I think I think I'm pretty much saying we can't make him stay I don't think we can chain him to the wall so but those are just some of the things that I I'm thinking of because I want to make sure we're doing our best to you know protect the town because it is a it's a big void and uh I know we have Cathy here as well but uh it's only so long that one person can keep on doing the thing that need to be done at the same time we're in position looking for an account so right all right so for this ad we'll change it to 20 to 40 hours per week at a 60 hour $60 an hour rate and so now it comes down to Chris how are we going to pay for this so you said the Town Administrator budget it's close to that Well here here's my thing too with that is that uh the 20 well it's it's an interum position so we don't have to give the benefits right as far as Retirement if it's just a it's just it's a it's a start date and a finish date for an interum position it's part-time do we have will they pay into retirement we have to offer insurance we have you know because we're saying this isn't a permanent job behind you as a as a temp pretty much yes sure are um a temp is considered 90 days or less though right excuse me for interrupting well 12 weeks 12 weeks is about 90 days is about 90 days right so we can't let it go past the 90 days yeah all right let me ask this question if I agree to be the interm inclement weather do I get to not come in work from home or do whatever I don't have a problem with that I mean I know you do s home now but you don't get paid for as long as it's a sunset Clause of 12 weeks up to 20 hours a week at my current pay which is already in the budget I suppose right that's the current pay yes definitely bud what does it mean by sun sunset Class 12 weeks 12 weeks 12 weeks okay is I I just we but do we have to post it or no because you're already RTA and we're asking you to fill it as interim so we don't have to post it now okay this think that makes some most sense for us yes but I I am also worried about Chris too CU you did want to take you're okay with this because you did want to take this Chris again to help the town again it's to help the town because I'm going to tell you right now you bring in an interum and they're only going to do the basics Kathy can't take on any more work and I also like the thought processes that um when we do hire a full-time um Town Administrator we have the person that's right now toing the child that can intertwine with them at that point in time too cuz I think that's important because it's almost like having the handoff from one person to another and agreed you can't really if that is in a level at this position I think that's so important because if not I think so many things will get missed and you'll find out later on when you don't want to find out they ever missed sure so that's case would have to draw off a contract or something with Mr Martin I feel bad now you're not going to be able to say October 31st is coming soon I'm not going to be able to say that now 90 days later they'll be light at the end of the tunnel sorry well was a good transition to retirement you cut back a little bit and then we'll leave oh okay so we've got no more than 20 hours for 12 weeks no more at your hourly rate or your current rate do we need a motion Chris for that we do I will make a motion to accept Chris Martin as our interim appoint appoint to appoint Chris Martin as our interim Town Administrator for a period of 12 weeks commencing November one November 1st 24 for no more than 20 hours a week as rate sorry at his current rate at his current rate yes no put that all together and you have to sign paper right contract so we're entering a negotiation for that contract or would you sign that exactly what he said we can't contract put something together that states what with the agreement between us and then is I'll second the motion any further discussion no further discussion all in favor welcome back Chris so Dad um I know we've had a little wait for it but I feel like this is just the perfect time to talk about the town account position if the board if doesn't mind if I skip out of turn for a minute not at all okay so um and I don't even know if Mr Martin's going to be willing to this because Glenn already got him for the Town Administrator but I was going to yes that um Mr that the board allow Mr Martin to stay on as the town and count um he knows a job the first gentleman that we had wanted to give uh or could only give us five years the first three years it takes three years to get certified as a town accountant and then he would only give us two years after that so I feel like that's not a lot of time and um as far as the town goes for the amount of time that we're going to put in for training purposes and such and I think it would only make sense to have Mr Martin as our town accountant until we can fill the position and he when I spoke with him he was willing to stay on part-time but now that you added the Town Administrator I'm not sure how this is going to go right now so he enjoys doing the money and not having to deal with the other stuff now gotam for the Town Administrator in term position well he's a CPA he's a town accountant no I'm not a CPA no CPA okay no I'm not a CPA okay never set I guess I guess my part here is that again you have to look at someone to do another 10 to 20 hours for well probably 10 hours at least for the competition it gets him back up to 30 hours and you know Mr Martin's willing to do something like that I don't have an issue with that but also I know that one of the candidates that we had I think was a good candidate I think he he he's an accountant he worked for uh several different firms uh he's handled large budgets um and I guess you know we just 5 years a long time and that's not to say doesn't stay longer than 5 years I mean I'm not looking at that we could hire someone that could leave in 6 months or a year there's no there's no telling how long an employe is going to stay sure leave whenever they want to leave um but I I do want the board to consider if you have an opportunity can hire someone in that position instead of you will instead of kicking a can down the road yeah mhm because what happens in 3 months we don't have anybody still they had an opportunity where if Mr Martin is still here in the capacity of the ining Town Administrator someone you know with whoever that comes in has a town account can ask questions he's here he's very knowledgeable in that area so so we would look to fill that position by I would like I would look to fill it I mean that's that's just where I am right now U you know Mr Martin's open they you know that part of it I would I would consider it uh but I just think if if the town feels we have someone that is a uh capable of doing that job that position and then I would say that we look at moving forward if board feels that no that's not the person I think they're capable of doing that position to the point that we want I'd say fine then consider other consider other options I do think it would be very difficult to try and have two interims and then still continue to look for somebody to fill that position down the road I guess what I was thinking was um if Martin Mr Martin was willing to do it could stay on his town account even after the interim so which would be it would only take him 6 to 10 hours a week whereas the new person's going to take at least 20 because they don't know the um system they don't know the software they don't know how to work any of that so even if Mr Martin stayed on as our interim Town Administrator that's his job for the 20 hours so then we would have to pay him separate to train the accountant to use the um system because he's giving us 20 hours as the Town Administrator so the we'd still be paying him anyways to train the other one to use the human system I don't think that's fair to put two duties on him and only pay him for one he's an employee yes I understand that but if you look at the Town Administrator that's not his duty his duty is not Town accountant those jobs have to be separated but if if he has the knowledge to give someone and I'm I don't think that's outside US asking a town employee to do that but he's already so we're already going to be 20 hours down from the interim from a Town Administrator to an interim Town Administrator is what I'm saying so the 20 hours that he is giving us he's going to be putting in a lot of time just trying to keep everything as status quo so then we're going to ask them to take away from those 20 hours to train someone which some people take longer to train than others I just don't I think it's unfair for not only the staff here but it's I think it's also unfair for the town and for Mr Martin to ask him to do that in 20 hours a week I don't know those are my thoughts I think it's going to pull him in many directions within the the little bit of town that time that we have him here for that if if the person that um who isn't us a licensed accountant the Gally interview Quark James Quark yes he's not again if he's not we don't feels capable of not say capable but if he's not what we're looking for to hire doesn't meet our requirements then I'm okay would say let's look at something different but again if it's someone that meets the requirements that we need and we feel that that person is able to to uh work in that position yeah that's so you have to consider you know well I think he's capable of it absolutely like you're saying he's definitely qualified but he's going to need training and I just don't know if Mr Martin has the time to do that training I guess I wouldn't be I wouldn't be against paying Mr Martin additional to train someone I'm just saying at what point do we stop yeah you know some we got to hire somebody you know if Mr Mar wants to stay on for a short period of time uh and help and help with that that's fine get I go back to it it's an important position it helps with the transition from one person to another person um but again I me we haven't even asked him if he wants to do any of this besides inter Town Administrator so I don't know if he's open to it I I I still consider it but also like I said I just want to make sure that we're sitting having a conversation a year from now still count but again then I look at as far as as a budget piece if we're excuse me if we're saying that Mr Martin can do the count Town accountant position in 6 to 10 hours then it makes a lot more sense to have him do it than pay someone for 20 hours a week right I would agree with that and pay for Mr Maron train as well well but it goes back to kicking but it goes back to at what stage are we at what do we want to accomplish now yeah do we want to accomplish having someone here and that we you know again Mr Martin could be doing this for five years down the road do you know could be doing it for six months I don't know it's same it's the same thing with any employee you hire you don't know when you know much time how much time they going to be here they may decide to do something different but again if we're looking as far as you're saying 6 to 10 hours and from a financial standpoint I would say well that makes sense to have someone here six to 10 hours and paying for that rate versus paying someone for2 hours do the same job just makes sense if you're saving half the amount of money to do that but at some point when do we to say do we say that mror you have a I guess what I'm saying at some point is that I'd have to have a um an agreement with this tomorrow after the 12 weeks up with the um inter Town Administrator that he will to stay on for x amount of time there's some there's some type of commitment because if I say if there's not it's hard for me to move forward with the pieces that down the count I as the account yes that's why I get worried that we're just kind of delaying what's going to happen but if you have a conversation with Mr Martin say so i' like to do that and yes I I will commit you know another year or two with you or longer as the as doing that part time and I'm good with that I don't have a problem with that because I know there's someone that's going to be there down the road 5 10 [Laughter] years I would say at least a year I think that's fair for us to feel comfortable with that then ask for year and if we fill a position in the meantime we could he could then move on if he chose or ask for a solid year I want a solid year solid year and I think if if we're get to where the last three months when he de I would ask for at least a 3mon window because it's time to hire somebody because all we're doing right now is putting our in and knowing Mr Mar I don't think he would do this just based on the conversation we just had with him why he's doing what he's doing it's for the town it's not about him um and I know that just for conversations that I've had with him so it's we we need to make sure to protect the town that at some point there's a handoff to another position another person I agree with that so in the meantime we continue to take applicants look for applicants or do we just go with Mr Martin for nine more months after into that year and then try to put an accountant in place so that well it goes back to original if we're saying that we don't have someone that we feel able to do the job right now that's different again but someone that's going to work five 6 to 10 hours you said pistol versus some that's going to work 20 hours and I'm sure lot of this shoot it uh show lot of this town account stuff he can do for home I know he does a lot of it now so might be they got stupid go off of what you were just saying too Glenn if we're if Mr Martin's going to give us a year then we're going to be facing the same thing in a year so we have to look at the applicants now do we find that any of the applicants that we have can do the job we know that they are all are going to need training so if we're back here in a year do we start the training now when we have Mr Martin available to help train because in a year from now is he going to want to do the training maybe not but he might be willing to do it now so that's the other piece that you were discussing too I think I think our responsibility is to make sure we don't set the town up for failure agree yes but we also have to consider that he is trying to retire so we can't well that's right again this this is up to him skip at this point in time we're are looking at what we feel is best for the town that's what we're looking at as as the board um some of those equations has Mr Martin as part of it so if he's willing to say he wants to do that that's things that we can look at and we kind to come together but if he says that can I can stick around for 6 months I mean that might be for us to say if again if we feel that we have someone that is able to do the job now to hire someone great and we have someone that can train for six months I don't have a problem you know paying Mr Martin to train someone absolutely not because I think it's important job as the account or Town Administrator either or to make sure they have a proper handoff again whatever you feel is best for the town again I have to say it that way okay yes would it be nice to continue yes it would however if you feel you want to go with Mr Quirk that's fine with me also but if you look at the jobs his work history he wasn't in any fund accounting type of positions and this is what this is this is more like for a hospital they have certain grants that they get they spend out of those buckets of money we don't have a big pot that we take handfuls of we have multiple pots I'm I'm going to go back to when I was young you'd have the envelope for rent you have the envelope for utilities you have the envelope for groceries and whatever else you had after that was spending money it's the same idea only on a larger basis when you get to this level you can only take out of each pot you can't co-mingle and then say at the end of the year well well I've got this much left so I'll talk a little bit here a little bit here little no you can't you have to follow the rules and rigs all the way through now can anybody learn it yeah give them enough time yes they can learn it but if I am just going to be the Town Administrator once I'm done training I don't do any accounting and it's up to him to do it you know it can't be that I'm going to be there to answer his questions for a year year and a half if it's 3 months 6 months to get his feet wet to show them the the software the show them the human system yeah Chris how long would you how long would you stay in a town count what with say 10 hours a week as crystal says I love numbers I am a numbers person you've seen you know how many times do crystal ask me about a payment to a vendor I said give me the dollar amount and I know it off the top of my head by the dollar amount I'm a numbers person so 5 10 years is a good number could be could be again I'm looking at my own age Factor you know I'm going to be 70 given 10 years that's age 80 you know you know and I say this and again I speaking to the board is that our responsibility is to sit in town mhm to make the best uh decision that we feel with the information that we have at hand like I said either way like I said if we're looking to bring someone to hire somebody else at 20 hours a week but we know that Mr Mark can do it in 6 to 10 hours a week I I struggle with that with that math someone you know twice as much to do a job that we common sense but Mr Martin has the ability the knowledge and the experience is why something like that takes him six to 10 hours a week versus someone else that takes a make 20 hours week and with that said I mean three three years down the road I'm sure the person that came in at 20 hours a week is not going to want to cut their hours down to 10 hours no correct uh but either way that's going to happen you know and and I guess you know we could um prolong this a little bit longer um and maybe we have a right candidate that comes along that's only a need to do it 10 hours a week or 15 hours a week you know it meets that more of that time frame maybe we you know at some point Mr Martin says okay you know really I'm right had enough I'm done maybe we find someone else at the town of account for a city or town that now wants a parttime piece as well again if it's someone if the saying that takes six to 10 hours a week from a person experience and understands um how it works as far as um the counting piece for for a town or a municipality and that's again I don't see how we can pay someone $20 a week three year two years down the road after now they're they're qualified do we have does that job need you know uh 20 hours and you would still hold the office hours for the department heads too I just think it's somehow too Qui if we enter into something like this there's got to be some type of agreement as far as time I know what as the INR uh town uh administrator we have a window you know there 90 days here have to work with no oh miss Mar says what I can do a year or I can do 16 months or something they feels say I I can stay on till it's time it does give us additional time to find someone might know the system then yeah certified that we get I guess we get exact what we're looking for instead of bringing someone in and training them and then sending them to the you know to be qualified and go from there do you look at someone that's already qualified for it I would be willing for a time frame to give you to June 30th of 2026 [Music] EXC that's and gives us to early a year and nine months when he think about it from his official dat and then knowing that un that's for a more unforeseen reason the board can look at uh you know December 202 to start looking at bring this someone a board and then we always we can always have this tomorrow be part of the G transition period as well if if DB or we just wait three months or something like that and I think it's important to have some type of transition period we you know we could you know we can get to that point I think first of all you got to agree on them yeah that that seems what this board wants to do for the town well I agree we have to do what's best for the town and if Mr Martin is willing to step up to the plate for that until we can fill that position I am open to it Chris would it be this same contract it is now with you to account I don't have a contract to account I thought it was we just give we just paid an extra fee for it actually I think it's written Inside My Town Administrator contract that I perform Services of the Town account okay so we need a separate agreement for that like you were saying because it' be separating them all right so does the board need time to think about it given what Mr Martin has just told us or do you guys want to make a motion to enter into agreement for the town accountant until June 30th 2026 with Mr Martin I'm fine with that that that's that's very reasonable as far as what T for committed yeah it's a long time do we have a motion I will make a motion to allow Mr Martin to act as our town accountant through June 30th of 2026 we're entering into agreement right enter into an agreement with Chris Martin until June 30th of 2026 for the town accountant position we have to put something together because it's going to be a contracted employee employe so that's proba contracted I'll State everything in there the hours the wage yeah and I think we can say six to 10 hours I think we need to say yeah certainly or just miss his hours we can talk about that after we need some but we're just entering an agreement right yes which was the motion right okay you want just do that one more time please so clear I will make a motion to enter into agreement with Chris Martin for the town accountant position for a period from now until June or excuse me a period from November 1st 2024 to June 30th 2026 I'll second the motion any further discussion no discussion all in favor I I oh hang on had some discussion oh yes discussion before we move forward with both of these is that we have Town Council say yes you can do that we're fine with that that's fine then we'll there okay okay that case I I I found council is right here so I know he but he's going to read the agreements too that we make right so go weigh in after the agreement I I I'll meet with the in candidate sure be able to come to some sort of understanding okay all right sorry we would not to order uh we have discussion in the personal about board evaluation instrument did everyone get a chance to review that any um anything you guys want to add to it that was the one that they dug up from years ago right Cathy yes this is from I would assume that if you having uh change during to a personel board we okay I I guess I would think too that we'd have each department had we had the chief the fire chief the police chief um Dave droser I think those should their evaluation should reflect the position that that individual holds in their Department I think this something like this might be good for us to do evaluations on the people that we oversee um fire CH the Poli Chief the Town Administrator um how Department superintendent the Town Administrator does the department heads he does the evaluation for the department heads we just do the Town Administrator which we have that performance valuation because we couldn't find this one so this is really for the department head to use for their and for the TA to use for the department heads I see what you're saying to have it specific to the duties of that job like a police officer should have you know something that specifies as for their performance what they're doing yeah so this one just looks like they set goals for themselves and then midyear progress the department had will of over did they meet their go goal are they ahead of schedule on schedule behind schedule their initials yeah and then comments for that goal okay which is that I assume okay correct so these are fromong nonunion contracts contracts any any valuation that be approved by the person they all person but the Union's got to see if if we're going start evaluate they need to be notified have to agree to it I think I think leave here are General generally enough to speak as far as uh department heads but again we speak it too I'm sorry we could tweak it a little bit too I was going to say we make it a little more specific to their their job description so then each department head would have their own performance performance review if we make it specific for the duties of that job or can we just put something in there that says you know are they doing all that's expected of them or something like that in their duties because that's outlined in their cont contct so we don't have to really restate their contract just have to have the Town Administrator sign off on how they're are doing as as far as their duties go I guess I looked at like some of that where it says accomplish yeah not accomplish put that yeah or ahead of schedule on schedule behind schedule you have yeah yeah so every year you would have to come up with new goals know I think we have put that you're looking at Job performance evaluation we should have a certain criteria for each part where they can be rated on that and then you can put in comments after the fact you know which is what I liked about the one that we did yeah yeah so but that was specific for administrator so we would work with the Town Administrator come up with one for each department head yeah it could be the same for all of them they're little different but yeah just TW them according to what they're doing in their respective Fields so really we would only have Police Chief Fire Chief Highway superintendent Maintenance Building Commissioner Building Commissioner um the lieutenant the chief would do right and I think that's it those are all and Kathy Town administrative assistant but that would fall under the TA as well so yeah oh and COA director okay so do we then look at each individual contract and then tailor one towards that job or look at the job description that is uh on file for each of those positions okay use this as a boiler plate and then until yeah so do we want to tackle one at a time instead of doing all of them at once or do you or maybe you tackle two you get your suggestions I tackle to I put my suggestions or well again I think we should I think they should be very similar because these are all leadership positions so you know this does the employee meet fully with his responsibilities and duties you know you either have yes or no or you know maybe um Superior satisfactory unsatisfactory something like that being in great at that person at that level those are some of the questions that I would think would going on at that level as far as and then we be examples I don't think we need 30 different things I mean we could probably have maybe 12 different categories and and then just list the duties that are specific for that leadership role is what you're asking to make it specific for it so like you said the overall question have they um or um do they meet I don't know what I'm saying right now about that let me he about do they meet the duties or have they done everything that's expected of them and then have a list of what they were supposed to do and then rate them yeah okay like I said we can I mean we don't have to create for real those ones out that we can pull from and kind of take what that is and good questions so are we taking the one that we already had for the Town Administrator just tweaking it for each individual one that one was pretty standard too and the duties that it was looking at in the um expectations I think yeah was good okay so do you guys want to put that on the um well next next meeting is the um special town meeting so we'll put it on for the following meeting after that November November 7th 4th 4th thank you so Kathy can share the one that we made for the um ta position uh to the board members if you don't mind Cathy and then is there a specific one that you guys want to add the duties for the police chief fire chief COA director and Highway superintendent so that we're all not doing all five of them separately and we can just we do them together so bring everything here and just do it during the meeting we can even have a separate meeting so we can sit down talk about it and put things together ideas yeah and so we have six Chris right one two three four five six one good yes yeah we got please Chief Fire Chief COA director how superintendent maintenance supervisor and building it's in all the contracts now evaluation right it says that they'll be evaluated twice a year so I would suggest that we put all that together the time you'll probably be the interim Town Administrator we have something on the file before he leaves for all the department heads for the new person come in and once we've made them um he can share them up to the department heads okay all right so next one on the agenda it's the DCR announcement the Commonwealth of Massachusetts acting through its Department of Conservation and Recreation has under consideration the acquisition of two abing Parcels of land under separate ownerships one parcel is 15 Acres DCR file number p- 001071 and the other is 14 acres DCR file number p-001 076 both located off of Rich path just wanted to make a note that Roy was going to be here tonight for VCR but unfortunately the he he's not make it any he apologizes thank you so this is very similar to the other one we had a little while back in which they're asking let me just get the ti yeah it's too late she's done talking yeah it is in here I had um I had a coffee at bed and know I my Cofe know there's one Pap that and one do you want me to read the whole letter or just uh give a synopsis of it so I just said that there was two Parcels available both like located off of brige path the properties are current are currently undeveloped in our unmanaged forest the proposed use for the properties will be protected for open space and Recreation as part of the Hoy range state park tached is a locust map marked exit exhibit a which shows the properties in which DCR is interested so we have the applicable regulations required the disclosure of the Commonwealth's reasons for the proposed land acquisition out of public hearing held in the city or town in which such real property is located to comply with this requirement we ask that the board announce that the Commonwealth is considering this acquisition for the above stated purposes at its next regularly scheduled meeting and the board does not need to take any formal action on its part so please document the announcement in the board's meeting minutes and reply to this email by copying and pasting the statement in the box below filled out appropriately in a reply email to me so it says I actually that's for you Dave you the clear and then the backrounds for me yeah uh David leonti certify that on losing the date already oh October 7th 2024 it was announced at public meeting of the select board that the department of convers conservation and Recreation is considering the acquisition of two Parcels of land located in Grandy as shown on the attached Locust map marked as exhibit a for conservation and or Recreation purpose purposes [Applause] do you want him to sign the paper here so you would sign that your name yeah on the back side too all right so the applicable regulations require that 120 days prior to a purchase an agency must notify certain public officials of its proposed action the notification is for informational purposes only should DCR decide to pursue this acquisition it may be necessary to complete the track transaction less than the 120-day notice period so we therefore ask that you agree to wave the 120-day notice period and indicate your waiver by cutting and facing the statement in the box below and a reply email to um the gentleman from mass.gov so if you guys are okay with it um the 120-day waiver statement would say pursuant 301 CMR 51.7 1B i crystal dufrain chair hereby acknowledged that on October 7th 2024 the gramy select board hereby agreed to wave the 120-day notice period as required by said section regarding to two Parcels of land located in gry on the attached Locus map marked as exhibit a for conservation and or Recreation purposes in which the department of conservation and Recreation is considering acquiring an interest right here and the exhibit right there should put in this package for us so this is one so this is the one I just signed there I have any problem okay so just a motion to wave the 12 120 day waiver statement I will make a motion to wave the 120 day waiver statement I'll second the motion and then also to give me authorization to sign it I will make a motion that chair Crystal dofr has authorization to sign I'll second that any further discussion all in favor I hi yep thank you second page and then Chris you would just uh copy and paste it or do you just send them the letter it says to copy and paste it into an email to them or do you just send him the letter I'm going to send those two right there we didn't even have to send she's going to send the documents all right next one approve and sign Grammy Warren of 2024 state election 115 2024 I'm Massachusetts William Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth gramby Warren for 2024 state election to the conses of the town of Grandy and the county of Hampshire greetings in the name of the Commonwealth you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of set Town who are qualified to vote in elections to vote at the gry junior high school at 385 East State Street in said toown for precincts 1 2 and 2A one2 and 2A Precinct numbers 385 State Street polling location East State Street excuse me polling location on Tuesday the 5th day of November 2024 from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the following purpose to cast their votes in state election for the candidates for the following offices electors of presidents and vice president for these United States Senator and Congress for this Commonwealth representative in Congress First District counselor eth District senator in general court first hamon Hampshire and Worcester District representative in general court third Hampshire District precinct 1 and 2A representative in general court second Hamshire District pre Precinct 2 Clerk of Courts Hampshire County Register of Deeds Hampshire District register of probate to fill a vacancy Hampshire County Regional school committee Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School District question question one law proposed by initiative petition do you approve a law summarized Below on which no vote was taken by the senate or the House of Representatives before May 2024 summary this proposed law would specify that the state auditor has the authority to audit the legislature a yes vote would specify that the state auditor has the authority to audit the legislature a no vote would make no change in the law relative to State Auditors Authority question two law proposed by initiative petition do you have do you approve of a law summarized Below on which no vote was taken by the senate or the House of Representatives before May 2024 summary this proposed law would eliminate the requirement that a student pass the Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system tests otherwise noted or other Statewide or district-wide Assessments in mathematics science and technology and in English in order to receive a high school diploma instead in order for a student to receive a high school diploma the proposed law would require the student to complete coursework certified by the students District as demonstrating Mastery of the competencies contained in the State academic standards and Mathematics science and technology and English as well as any additional areas determined by the board of Elementary secondary education a yes vote would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system mcass in order to graduate high school but still require students to complete coursework that meets State Standards a no vote would make no change in the law relative to the requirement that a student pass the mcast in order to graduate high school question three law proposed by initiative petition do approve a law summarized Below on which no vote was taken by the senate or the House of Representatives before May 1 2024 summary the proposed law will provide transportation network drivers with the right to inform unions to collectively bargain with Transportation Network companies which are companies that use a digital Network to connect Riders to drivers for pre-arranged transportation to create negotiated recommendations concerning wages benefits and terms and conditions of work drivers would not be required to engage in any Union activity companies would be allowed to form multiple company associations to represent them when negotiating with driver organizations the state would supervise the labor activities permitted by the proposed law and would have responsibility for approving or disapproving the negotiated recommendations the proposed law would Define certain activities by a company or driver organized organization to be unfair work practices the proposed law would establish a hearing process for the state employment Relations Board to follow when a company or driver organization is charged with an unfair work practice the proposed law would permit the board to take action including awarding compensation to adversely affected drivers if it found that an unfair work practice had been committed the proposed law would provide for an appeal of board of a board decision to the state appeals court the proposed law also would establish a procedure for determining which drivers are active drivers meaning that they completed more than the median number of rides in the previous six months the proposed law would establish procedures for the board to determine that a driver organization has signed authorizations from at least 5% of active drivers entitling the driver organization to a list of active drivers to designate a driver organization as the exclusive bargaining representative for all drivers based on signed authorization from at least 25% of active drivers to resolve disputes over over exclusive bargaining status including through elections and to desertify a driver organization from exclusive bargaining status a driver organization that has been designated the exclusive bargaining representative would have the exclusive right to represent the drivers and to receive voluntary membership due dedu du's deductions once the board determined that a driver organization was the exclusive bargaining representative for all drivers the companies would be required to bargain with that driver organization concerning wages benefits and terms and conditions of work once the driver organization and companies reached agreement on wages benefits and the terms conditions of work that agreement would be voted upon by all drivers who have who has completed at least 100 trips the previous quarter if approved by a majority of votes cast the recommendations would be submitted to the state Secretary of Labor for approval and if approved would be effective for three years the proposed law would establish procedures for the mediation and arbitration if the driver organization and companies failed to reach agreement within a certain period of time an arbitrator would consider factors set forth in the proposed law including whether the wages of drivers would be enough so that drivers would not need to rely upon any public benefits the proposed law also sets out procedures for the Secretary of Labor's review and approval of recommendations negotiated by a driver organization and the companies and for excuse me the proposed law also sets out procedures for the Secretary of Labor's review and approval of recommendations negotiated by a driver organization and the companies's and for a judicial review of the secretary's decision the proposed law states that neither its provisions and agreement nor determination by the secretary would be able to lessen labor standards established by an agreement nor a determination by the secretary would be able to lessen labor standards established by other laws if there were any conflict between the proposed law and existing Massachusetts Labor Relations law the proposed law would pre Prevail the board would make rules and regulations as appropriate to effectuate the proposed law the proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid the other parts would stay in effect a yes vote would provide transportation network drivers the option to inform unions to collectively bargain with Transportation Network companies regarding wages benefits and terms and conditions of World a no vote would make no change in the law relative to the ability of Transportation network drivers to form unions question four would you than all right question four law proposed by initiative petition do you approve of a law rise Below on which no vote was taken by the senate or the House of Representatives before May 1st 2024 summary this proposed law would allow persons age 21 and older to grow possess and use certain natural psychedelic substances in certain circumstances the Psychedelic substances allowed would be two substances found in mushrooms oh boy pizlo cybin and pisan psilocybin and psos psilocin psilos and these and the three substances found in plants dimethyl triamine mescaline and IO Jin we're going to go with those eyeball gains these substances could be purchased at an approved location for use under the supervision of a licens facilitator this proposed law would otherwise prohibit any retail sale of natural psychedelic substances this proposed law would also provide for the regulation and taxation of these psychedelic substances this proposed law would license and regulate facilities offering supervised use of these psychedelic substances and provide for the taxation of proceeds from those facilities sales of psychedelic substances it would also allow persons age 21 and older to grow these psychedelic substances in a 12T X 12T area at their home and use these psychedelic substances at their home this proposed law would authorize persons aged 21 or older to possess up to one gram of cybin or 1 gr of picin 1 gr of dimethyl tryptamine 18 G of musculin and 30 G of ien Iain I don't know all right personal use amount in addition to whatever they might grow at their home and to give away up to the personal use amount to a person age 21 or over this proposed law would create a natural psychedelic substances Commission of five members appointed by the governor attorney general and treasure which would administer the law governing the use and distribution of these psychedelic subst es the commission would adopt regulations governing licensing qualifications security recordkeeping Education and Training health and safety requirements testing and age verification this proposed law would also create a natural psychedelic substance Advisory Board of 20 members appointed by the governor attorney general and Treasurer which would study and make recommendations to the commission on the regulation and taxation of these psychedelic substances this proposed law would allow cities and towns to reasonably restrict the time place and manner of the operation of licensed facilities offering psychedelic substances but cities and towns could not ban those facilities or their provision of these substances the proceeds of sales of Psych psychedelic substances at license facilities would be subject to the state sales tax in additional excise tax of 15% in addition a city or town could impose a separate tax of up to 2% Revenue received from the additional State excise tax licens application fees and civil penalties for violations of this proposed law would be deposited in a natural psychedelic substances regulation fund and would be used subject to appropriation for administration of this proposed law using the Psychedelic substances as permitted by this proposed law could not be a basis to deny a person medical care or public assistance impose discipline by a professional licensing board or enter adverse orders in child custody cases after clear and convincing evidence that the activities created an unreasonable danger to the safety of a minor child this proposed law would not affect existing laws regarding the operation of Motor Vehicles while Under the Influence or the ability of employers to enforce workplace policies restricting the consumption of these psychedelic substances by employees this proposed law would allow Property Owners to prohibit the use display growing processing or sale of these psychedelic substances on their premises state and local governments could continue to restrict The Possession and use of these psychedelic substances in public buildings or at schools this proposed law would take effect on December 15th 2024 a yes vote would allow persons over age 21 to use certain natural psychedelic substances under licensed supervision and to grow and possess limited quantities of those substances in their home and would create a commission to regulate those substances a no vote would make no change in the law regarding natural psychedelic substances question five law propos of initiative petition do you approve of a law summarized Below on which no vote was taken by the senate or the House of repr Representatives before May 1st 2024 summary the proposed law would gradually increase the minimum hourly wage an employer must pay a tipped worker over the course of 5 years on the following schedule to 64% of the state minimum wage on January 1st 2025 to 73% of the state minimum wage on January 1st 2026 to 82% of the state minimum wage of January 1st 2027 to 91% of the state minimum wage on January 1st 2028 and to 100% of the state minimum wage on January 1st 2029 the proposed law would require employers to continue to pay tipped workers the difference between the state minimum wage and the total amount tipped a total amount sorry a tipped worker receives in hourly wages plus tips through the end of 2028 the proposed law would would also permit employers to calculate this difference over the entire weekly or bi-weekly payroll period the requirement to pay the difference would seize when the required hourly wage for tipped workers would become 100% of the state minimum wage on January 1st 2029 under the proposed law If an employer pays its workers an hourly wage that is at least the state minimum wage the employer would be permitted to administer a tip pool that combines all the tips given by customers to tip workers in distributes them among all the workers including non- tipped workers a yes vote would increase the minimum hourly wage an employer must pay a tipped worker to the full State minimum wage implemented over 5 years at which point the employers could pull all the tips and distribute them to all non-management workers a no vote would make no change in the law governing tip pooling or the minimum wage for tipped workers here of fail not to make this warrant with your doings there on at the time and place of said voting given under our hands in the 7th day of October 2024 so that was our motion right it was a long one so do we have a second I'll second the motion any further discussion no discussion all in favor I thank you for reading no B when Glen and I put the paper over saw the unknown I read it all this afternoon too know I saw it last night I was like that's going to be a long winded one there's two copies [Music] so Chris I just noticed do we have to um we had Exhibit C on the designer did we have to make a motion for you to sign this on behalf of the select board no Exhibit C ass signed by the owner okay y thank you all right so do we have any pressing issues from test um the only thing I have is Open Spaces meeting this Thursday just to go over um our public session that we had at Dino Fest and green communities we are going to file um is Piner Valley Planning Commission helping us with I got to get it back to that person okay uh the only other thing is is for the forge Pond yes I want to have see if uh Dave Leonard can come in and give a update in person yes that would be good but they still haven't opened the other one right correct we're not he anticipated in the summer he was going to yeah soon days know tomorrow's going to be chaotic in town they're Paving the 202 rotary uh they they told us two days they decided to try to put it down till one being tomorrow so there will be road closures there's going to be um delays okay I Shar it on our web page shared it on Facebook I updated again today on Facebook just uh just so know tomorrow is going to be cha and the resource officer did share it with all the students too to let them know to plan accordingly on their way into school yeah so did it's supposed to be an all day project like 75 kind of thing but you know probably started a little early and they want to get that done tomorrow as far as this corner they're still waiting for light structures and all kinds of stuff this may not do much until spring be okay thank you thank you y and Chris were you able to reach out to the other committees and Boards about having a joint meeting when would you want to have these me waiting till after the special to meeting right yeah so I'm just trying to figure out thank you do you want to have them all or do you want to have break them up so many per meeting want a meeting do we need all the board members from every board or just at least a representative you just have a representative which is fine but and if other if other people from their board want to be part of it that's fine too so I think what we were looking at was we're trying to come up with plans for the town but we're not the only ones that have um ideas of what needs to happen in town so someone from the planning board someone someone from the Board of Health someone from give me a minute conservation um school committee school committee do we want to do them separate like Chris is saying because if we get us all in a room there's going to you got to have a clear agenda otherwise it can spiral real fast so but that's that's the point of having it that you have input you can have an agenda but you want to have input from each board just it's more it's more a an informational y meeting to give people thoughts and suggestions as where you know moving the town forward do you have a date in mind for that meeting because we're already at November 4th motion excuse me you want to do it as a separate meeting all by itself I think it needs to be a separate meeting I would think you so we're looking at November but we would have to do do you guys want to do before than Thanksgiving because then we're getting into December which is tree lighting and then our COA lunch in I we can do it beforehand yes yes maybe like the Thursday before Thanksgiving or something like that 21st or Wednesday or something to it doesn't going to be you know we can sent the meeting we can you know tell people it starts at 5:30 start at 6:00 inste at 8 it's a 2our window we're not not staying till 9 10:00 at night you can set now we're expecting like a um an overview of what's happening with each committee right and then what they like what what else are we asking them I I think it gives us a chance I think to provide information back to to the residents for each committee as to what their maybe their goals are what they see for the future some of the plans they want to work on so if that involves other committees working together or other boards working together has an option to kind of start talking about that so goals for each committee and uh needs of the Town moving forward that's within their purview yeah discussion so what time do you want this meeting to start I think 6 o'clock we do 6:00 to 8 and that's so people know it will start time the end time and yeah we'll end at 8:00 and be done okay and we said November 21st right 21 yeah if more than you know their committee committee or board members want to show up and they they have a COR and they they have to call their meeting to order that's so probably have the chair set up then in the room yeah just to play it safe yeah cuz there may be some residents who may want to just come to and to and I think we just post as such because it's going to have to be posted that in case they they do have two or three people from each committee show of that's well just with us alone well us would be a meeting yeah but I think we'd have to just set it up for each one at that time of the meeting they can declare whether or not they're actually going to meet they can not meet and as a committee or a board because they don't well L people didn't show up so they wouldn't be meeting as such okay do something like that because if they come because you have you have to send it out beforehand because if if if they enough show up and they they have lot people there yeah they have to there got to be notification of the meeting more there's Town Council looking at me f what's this guy talking about yes so we would either ask for a representative from that board or that committee or if they do come like you're saying if they do decide to come all of them then they would have to post their meeting as such okay well we have they didn't want to do that in an abundance of caution too because if unknowns to each other a four of them do show up and they go outside of the of the lanes of privates and participation now that would be considered a meeting right so I think they're better off just setting it up as a meeting and if they don't have a forum then they can say we're not going to proceed as a meeting because we don't have a forum but they have individuals that can speak out that can represent Bo of the committee okay um and then for 114 meeting is there any because we're not going to add anything to the town meeting obviously the special town meeting besides that one document that we have to sign for the storm water um so is there anything new that you guys want to discuss on November 4th I want to talk about um The Parks and Recreation Department and moving forward with that just I've heard from different people in town I think we need some better accountability for our parks that we have right now and I don't know if that means that we have a paid employee down the road or something like that but I think it's open I think it's something we should start talking about and discussing um because I know our fiscal budgets are coming up you know within the next several months so Market into if it's something we think and maybe get some input from U you know Town residents as well you as part of what they see because if if if if they're willing to maybe support a position that someone there's a responsibility that someone has that responsibility and they're being paid for there a responsibility but also accountability I think it's something that we've need for a while the parents run most of it in the town it does I mean it sometimes again you lose that accountability and responsibility piece because people move on or you know they're not involved anymore with it so um I think it's something at least start talking about and discussing and maybe you know for L people from the community a separate Department called Recreation is that what he's looking I think that's what he's I I just think it's something to discuss I don't know if if if it's feasible to do something like that but I like Le have a discussion and start kind of talking about it I know we had um Mr petus came in here talking to us about it at one point yeah and how important it was but we didn't have it in the budget at that time and we didn't have space for them but the new West Street building we were hoping um that we would have more room but yes it is a position that would have to be funded I think that would be separate than what we have now because maintenance takes care of everything in town all our town buildings so it'd be looking for someone to run the programs for it could be senior after hour programs it could be arts and crafts it could be summer programs it could right I just I want a a responsible person for for for parks that we have I mean you know we we talk about what we have and and that so you talking maintenance I guess because I I thought you were talking more on Recreation talking both both sides of it there just's got to be someone accountable for everything that takes place in the Parks well we do have Jeremy at that right he's parks and but jerem's I think what he's looking for instead of having a Parks oversight committee okay that we can't get volunteers you actually have a town Department that runs programs overseas the rentals overseas you know fees maintenance there's a lot of you know mowing weed whacking whatever we had before but but the issue is going to come is at some point um you're probably going to have to expand mhy well ye in that department if you're going to expect them to do ground maintenance and equipment maintenance yeah because because the problem becomes is Jeremy reports to the Town Administrator if you create this other person who feels that they can tell him what he needs to do in the Parks he's going to have an issue with that because you can only work for one moreall I was going to say you can't be answering to both because then you're being pulled in yes par if he had some for the parks department or something like that they would answer to the Town Administrator too but I'm just saying you know I'm just saying but we we run we run into problems where that person will say you need to take care of this now when that's not really their Authority they can put the request Town administrators for to tell yeah I need can take care of this tomorrow okay so but I think they both could fall under that the Town Administrator and work together work together yeah operation it's got to be we J we have a department right now that has the equipment and and we we purchased equipment expensive equipment U for that I don't see you having a hold Department to take care of that uh we can can continue to build to the part we have now if additional equipment or Personnel is needed with that but I also think someone that's responsible for things that are taking place in the Parks the upkeep we're making sure that things are being done when they're supposed to be done um you know to to that part I think there's there's just no accountability for it right now I think the problem is the town buildings you know take precedence as they should so when it's the busy season and we get a lot of rain and the Grass Grows that's when we get the most complaints because you can't keep up with both so maybe if you have someone that can help during a busy season is that kind of what you're thinking accountability of making sure that the field is ready for the for the t-ball game or whatever and I think it's someone way I look organize the progs I look at someone in that position as being active as you know they could have a variety wear a variety different hats if if you will as far as that position I'm just like you know like I said we we have we have a community now that no one wants to volunteer Beyond it and I think it's a responsibility to kind of look at that we need to take some type of ownership for the parks I I don't disagree with it but we also have to make sure that they don't feel that they can be the Lone Wolf out there they do have to report to somebody well they do they would report to that just second they have we have a supervisor we did have a recre a Parks director before Park Rec director who reported to the Recreation Commission we ended up eliminating the position because the person wasn't keeping the their bosses in the loop of what was going on they were out there doing whatever they wanted to do and didn't go by what some of the other people wanted to do that were higher like the board you know start start up the summer youth program start this program do this program do that program okay plus what we had under that thing we had for instance Mr Peters running a ski trip okay well no everything has to be done by that person then okay oh he did the ski trip out of the school so that was his old personal thing not necessarily I think that was part of the parks M creation I thought he just did that his own no no because the town through the parks and recreation department paid for like bus uh things of that nature tickets the reason I'm looking at Kathy she was on the parks and recommission back then well we don't have to come up with a decision toight is good it's opening opening up the discussion and and having some input from from residents would be helpful as well it's I said it's a conversation it's a starting point to move to get it started how much would it cost and so forth and what are we looking for them to do yeah I think if this is the time to really start thinking about it because we know in several months we'll be talking about budgets and things like that so if we need to talk about putting another position in there you have to look at that so with that I do have a question about Charter days do we have any movement on Charter days we're already in October I did see something on Facebook well I did post that get I appreciate that I know that the people that were on it last year the five of the three of the five do not wish to do it so it's just again it's just it's and I hate to say it it's just the interest but there was a woman that I go contact uh that spoke at a couple meetings ago U that's woman that kind of Taken on under some of the things that she does so we'll see how far was Susan nightly right yes so we'll see how far that can go out uh volunteer people that she can have she seems very interested in doing I just think it's something that has a time and I say time and effort to do it it does take a lot and you know that's people are seeing it or understanding it and and I know I said to you Crystal many times is that Tal's very grateful because the amount of work that he did with it and I think when people look at it it's a lot for someone to take it's overwhelming it is it is but we do like you said we need volunteers and right now we I think we only have two that we appointed right Kathy to the committee oh more well one of them resigned right I remember see see there was like eight there is eight on the commit I believe so I'll send you the list I was going to say I think I just looked at the ones that we approved for appointment and I didn't see eight on the list but I could be I remember it as five on some of people that on last year there's three that said they don't want to do it anymore they' done five me there was um there was wife yeah um another one um there was there was um got Bachelor um and Nicholas um Robinson Robinson yeah I I think there was were you sp on it were you sp on it I SP iing right just I don't I don't have really time to do it but I'll be just the the cond if you will from the board mrty he was one and he said he he can't do it anymore either so he's one he res me a few weeks ago said I'm just not going to have the time to do it it's too much of a commitment so I can with the people that you have if we want to call a meeting I can at least get them started Glen if you want me to and tell them what they can do to move it along and then hopefully they'll get more people and I'm still willing to help up and set up for that first day of the fair I just don't want to be there the whole weekend so I'd be willing to get them set up and organized but not the point person in charge for the weekend schedule I I'll call you this weekend Happ we'll schedule a meeting um cuz I know we have all the information that Crystal had and let if we got a I'm have to have a select board meeting for Crystal and myself oh that's right because if we're both there but right so wait we can call Select for meeting and the only thing we can put on the agenda could be the Char tday and Dave wants to show up with for well doesn't have to be here yeah we can do it that way too okay so by sounds good all right so um if there's nothing else um we will now go into executive session under Mass General law 38- 21.5 to investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to consider the filing of criminal complaints we will only return to regular session to adjourn the meeting roll call vote du frin I lebante I seon I thank you