##VIDEO ID:8m9M1pLhfMM## uh first uh order of business is to go into executive session for um we will uh pursu into general laws chapter 308 section 21 we'll discuss the Town Council contract pursuant to general laws chapter 3A section 2182 Town accountant pursuant to general laws chapter 3A section 2182 um and then both cases to conduct strategy sessions with regards to uh negotiations and also address the executive s session minutes from August 13th so I will make that motion we have a second I'll second uh Tom yes John yes I vote Yes we'll come back at uh by 6:00 we yeah we have to right classification 6:00 X o' right we have um before we uh before we pick it up I just have to make an announcement that um the uh meeting hold on guys sorry yep we're opening the meeting thank you but the meeting will be recorded by area 58 if you would join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the unit United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with Liberty Justice for thank you first thing on our first appointment tonight is the tax classification public hearing uh principal cessor is going to come up and um give us an introduction at the same time I think Cody will have a PowerPoint on the TV screen over here just give me one moment I hope it works it'll work great if you want if you want to start before he has that up you can or if you need [Laughter] that okay yes where's M oh right here thank you St not sure that me oh yeah do you come you do thank you that's fine [Applause] [Music] guess I should S I open the public he meeting public hearing CU it is a public hearing yep it's okay I'll just walk it sh I can't I'll go check de you stay there I think you went to the library every oh is that where is okay you say good night here we go you in the [Music] building I may I speak without going up the microphone he said if we have trouble just give them a call okay I think it's work we're good hey we got it just needed to call okay so this is um a um public hearing um so I will move that we open the public hearing for tax classification do we have a second second um any discussion all those in favor say I I I oppos show is yours could you keep voice up and talk right into that right and put it right there there you go or if you want does this one is it on is hop top it like that just no it's not [Music] working okay now it's on can you hear me now go see if it works all right okay all right you the show so the purpose of this hearing is to vote to maintain a single tax rate or shift a portion of the tax levy from the residential class to the commercial industrial personal property classes there are five property classes residential open space commercial industrial and personal property the town of Halifax has under 10% commercial industrial and personal property therefore a split rate is not recommended by the board of assessors real estate and personal property total value 1 billion 443 mil 435,000 which is up from last year 4.2% these are the top five taxpayers in Halifax uh the estimated tax rate will be $14.27 the average single family assessment is up 4.1% at $511,000 that tax bill would be $7,295 44 uh the aage condo condominium assessment is up .1% their tax bill has gone down 84 3% at that tax rate uh this would be the shift if you decided to split the tax rate uh residential would be 14 if we did the one the factor of one it would be 1427 if you did 1.2 would be 13.99 but commercial industrial personal property would be 1712 if we did the 1.3 you can see it would be 1386 for residential 1855 for commercial industrial personal property 1.4 1372 commercial industrial personal property 1998 and then the maximum that Mass General law allows us to shift is 1.5 and that would be 1358 for residential and 20 41 for commercial industrial and personal property town of Halifax has always taxed property equitably with a single tax rate there are pros and cons of a split rate state law allows for a shift as a levy burden up to 50% to commercial industrial and personal property a residential factor of one represents a single rate the pros offers residential property owners tax relief the cons are higher commercial taxes inhibits commercial growth higher commercial taxes can reduce commercial values by increasing their expenses the result of reduced reduced commercial value in turn increases the residential Levy percentage it's allowed by law but is it fair and Equitable the board of assessors have also recommended to not adopt the following open space discount this is for land that is not developed excluding chapter land permanent conservation restricted land and income producing Parcels the town is not protected by lean and there is not a penalty for change of use Halifax does not have Parcels that are considered open space there's a residential exemption but cities and towns such as bille Nantucket Cambridge Boston with high second home populations andoor res Resort communities benefit from this exemption this exemption is for owners of a occupied Residential Properties and shifts the tax burden on non-residence owners and multi-unit owners there we only have 68 second homes in Halifax there's another small commercial exemption communities that have adopted the exemption have a much higher percentage of commercial properties Halifax has 5.15% commercial the property owner receives the exemption and is not required to pass the discount along to the business owner that may be leasing from them Halifax has already adopted the exemption for personal property business valued at $3,000 or less the board of assessors are recommending that the bo of Selectmen vote no to the above exemptions and in favor of the factor one which would mean the residential and commercial industrial personal properties are taxed at the same rate for fiscal 25 and then just to let you know that the excess Levy capacity for the current year is 13,745 41 and that's it okay um any questions from the board first no no any comments questions from anyone out in the heing okay um so uh yes ma'am are you see this information prior to this evening have we yes we had the summary yeah well obviously Cody has yeah okay that was really fast for those of us who hav read it absor it understand it right this is an annual event uh every year we have to uh the board is asked to uh make the decisions we're going to now make on the tax rate uh whether and not the tax rate but whether to split the tax rate essentially and also on these three other um potential exemptions so every year we have to vote on so circumstances haven't changed in 38 years that I've doing this so don't think it's no nothing different probably never will yeah at least at this point okay uh so uh if that being said there's no other comments or questions I I'll move that we close the public hearing uh do we have a second second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos okay the hearing's closed now we need to vote um so I will move that we follow the uh a board of assessors recommendation and use a factor of one meaning that uh the residential and Commercial and Industrial all the tax rate will be Remain the will all be the same at $14.27 I'll second that okay any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous uh and then on the um um there are three uh issues here so the first exemption uh I will vote that I will move that we um oh not thank you that's helpful I I'll move that we not adopt an open space discount a second I'll second that any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos unanimous I secondly I'll move not to adopt a residential exe exemption I'll second that any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous and finally uh I will move that we not adopt a small commercial exemption I will second that any discussion all those in favor say I I I oppos it's unanimous so all of the um recommendations of the board of assessors have been followed and uh We've made our decision for the year thank you for your your thank you assessors presentation at all thank you okay um now move on to the rest of our agenda and it is a little bit behind so we have Mary King hi you want to come on up um is this for the the farm at ravenbrook yes yeah okay um do you want to um just you're on TV first of all is a nice opportunity for you to advertise so if you want to just tell a little bit about what you're trying to do and then we can uh uh uh deal with the uh request for a uh one- day liquor licenses correct one day liquor license to serve as come on right up to the mic y one day liquor license to serve at Raven Brook okay and you're going to do what serve alcohol from Brewery know that but but I was what I was really trying to get you to tell us is what your event is about oh well it's just a nice partnership K we went to their farmers markets and they had this idea for this fall to have this event in the fall with fenders and stuff like that so they asked us we want to do part of that okay sounds fun and hope we go forward to like application for oh that's this is for previously approved event that we went through last yes yes all right uh so this will be um at the farm at Raven Brook on Wood Street okay okay and the dates would be September 27th 28th October 11 12 13 18 19 25 26 November 1st to November 2nd and it will be um the uh business organization is Upland ale company DBA Brewery 44 correct all right very good um any discussion from the board what are you planning on serving guys is it beer wine heart alcohol what do we have beer just beerer wine okay awesome okay uh I'll move that we uh approve the one-day liquor uh licenses as uh requested second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous can't try out thank you good luck all right um so we have um 620 it's not quite 620 yet so do you want to do the warrants and stuff while we give this another five minutes I move to a firm approval of the following following warrant in commitment vendor warrant number 20 uh for $417 78 ambulance commitments August 26 2024 through 91 2024 for $45,881 46 second um any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous okay I move to approve of the following warrant in commitments School warrant number 21 for $45,881 payroll warrant number 22 for $449,000 22391 vendor warrant number 23 for $767 3847 a withholding warrant number24 for $15,557.71 9 for $ 5,160 second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous um we SP a couple minutes we do wait we have three minutes all right how about this signature form oh yeah let's see so this is you've signed a few of these this is just if the department head um delegates to a non- department head to sign on their behalf if they're out for payroll um so this is the case with the Municipal School building committee um and Sue Johnson is designated alternate all right so uh Municipal and school building right okay so um Susan Johnson would be the designated one uh I'll make a motion that we approve the U signature Authority as requested I'll second that any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed that's that um open speci want um yeah I guess they for that all right so got of just a motion to open just a motion to open the W close close on November 4th yeah November 4th okay all right so uh we do have a special town meeting planned uh and we uh will be dealing mostly with zoning things but we need to open the warrant so I would move that uh tonight we open the uh special town meeting warrant uh with the special town meeting being uh December 16th 2024 and the warrant to close as of November 4th 2024 second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed okay that's unanimous now it's got to be 20 it's got to let me check those watch here oh we got two more minutes keep going um we had on our agenda discussion of um the uh Town Council appointment um and I and the town accountant and I think we're going to I'm recommend we pass over those tonight we don't plan to make any changes as things stand right now we thought we might have had a uh a town accountant uh um candidate but that um just hasn't come to come to fruition so that hasn't [Applause] what what yes you said that hasn't what you thought you had a town fruition fruition sorry okay question yes um subject before I was trying to raise my hand Amy troop 10 Hillside a kind of curious um why we're doing a special town meeting during the holidays again when people have holiday parties chorus concerts plays they have to go shopping um we're changing the zoning bylaws and voting on a very contentious issue and I think that we should be having it not during the holidays because it's really unfair to the people because again it's Hanukkah Christmas Festivus for the rest of us you know this is really not okay because we bought houses in this town with certain zoning bylaws that protect our houses and our condos and putting it during the Christmas season is not fair to not one of us so why is it in December again I mean you know that you remov me from the zoning bylaw room Review Committee because I'm against NBTA housing so you obviously have a push for it so you want to tell the town why you're trying to push MBTA housing on US during the holidays is that our Christmas present I think at our last meeting we discussed this and we pointed out that um the uh MB MBTA uh zoning issue is one of the drivers for a special town meeting we have to have a uh a vote we have to at least propose to the town and let the town have the opportunity to vote before December 31st when uh the zoning uh was uh worked out uh including uh um through through State uh through a state consultant we presented that in I think May to uh the the the state Authority that would um essentially have to approve the bylaw anyway and asked them to tell give us preliminary approval it took them 94 days to get back to us they did uh that was by our last meeting um and so count counting the amount of time necessary to uh have the planning board hold a public hearing uh we really run into either the very end of dece November or the beginning of December and it was our judgment that the uh 16th was the most accommodating day that we could come up with and what is today today today is uh September what 10th yeah I don't know so you so we could I know that at the last meeting one of the dates that you put up on the board was November 5th which is completely insane since everybody knows that's the presidential election and the gym would be upheld anyways but I'm pretty sure that was one of the dates that you had at the meeting November 5th which is just like not even thinking well I remember because I was here but regardless you you should be putting it not during the holiday season and again this is not a tyrany we should be saying no because your residents don't want cities we already don't have enough water and the senior overlay District already has somebody appointed that shouldn't be there and pushing it right through so thank you very much for all the hard work you're doing for the residents thank you all right it's 20 after uh we have a u scheduled appointment with tab mcer up on his dog plant for nuisance dog I don't see Mr mcer in the audience um and we haven't heard from him one way the other have we have not we've reached out to him several times we asked him to provide a written plan with more documentation after your last meeting uh we also asked him to be in attendance tonight and um any acknowledgement of the receipt of the meeting tonight or anything like that we told him last week we we talked to him so he knows to get a more definitive plan um and give it to you guys by the end of wedes did but we never got it email it to piggyback on what Tom said he knew about the meeting it's not a case of him not receiving message spoke with um he spoke with her in our office yeah okay so um we have uh we have um some um recourse you I uh we do so I did speak with councel uh regarding this and in his opinion um the lack of response um does allow for the board to um basically seek a criminal complaint um if they fail to comply with the hearing Authority which would be you guys as the board selectman um it's punishable first offense by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than 60 days and then second offense is a fine of not more than $1,000 or uh 90 days of jail and then also um if they're found to be in violation the board could um ask that the animal control officer um issue a 7-Day notice to seize the dog does uh Council also recommend that we uh advise him of these things first or yes so it would be uh a recommendation to notify him within 7 Days um of the potential seizure of the of the animal okay um what's the board's question I mean I don't I don't really have an appetite to find him 500 see jail time I just had an appetite for him to comply with the original request which was to to take to take the offenses Ser the multiple offenses seriously and documented as such and um you know I don't know if there's a second chance and final chance here before we want to go down that road but uh I think clearly there's some sort of lack of communication in terms of the seriousness of what happened um and his willingness to take responsibility for it so um I'm open to suggestion I don't know if that means we have to act on one of those two things that Cody just referenced but I I would recommend that we uh prepare a letter uh to Mr mcer that we have it served on him at by the police department and in that letter indicate that the board is is considering finding you in violation of their order uh in two regards one because he hasn't done the the report that we asked him to do and two he didn't show up today um and then that uh you know we will give him essentially one more chance we schedule another hearing maybe our next meeting uh and advise him in that letter of all these potential uh courses of action that that could be pursed that'd be my recommendation that's a good recommendation okay Tom I'm good with that okay so um I don't think we need a motion nope I'll prepare the letter and have it delivered to him this week all right and so we'll put down the agenda for 10:24 I'm sorry 9:24 yes September 24 yeah next meeting okay so um new business we have town government study committee possible appointments I see everybody here and I'm just going to go down the line as they're on my list and that would start with Mrs Nolan so uh do you want to come on up just for a minute and um we can have an opportunity to just to talk about this uh she's I think she's new to Tom she bring a tremendous amount of of knowledge and I am thrilled that you're willing to take on this job um I I just want to say though that the um the way I see this uh advisory commit it's an advisory committee to the board who would eventually either adopt the recommendations or not or partially or however and then make recommendations to to meeting but it uh it it's kind of a long process I believe because it's going to require um that committee to do a thorough study of how we run our operation now and what the options are to uh hopefully improve it and I I mean I know you're you're certainly a hardworking person as as all the candidates are I don't think that's a question here but do I do want to make sure that I ask each of you to uh it it it do you is it understandable to you that it would be it is not something that's going to happen like we'll be resolving it in a month right I think it's probably going to take at least a good part of a year to work our way through because we don't want to do something halfway right this is a big deal so any comments you might have about it how often do you expect to meet uh it' be up to the board itself up to that committee um I would thinkk I mean just using the zoning bylaw one we were meeting once a month but if we needed to do more than that or less whatever it would take it probably be I mean the committee itself would have to decide how to um handle it maybe divide things up you know somebody looks on this issue somebody looks on that issue I mean but that would be the um that would be to me that would be a process that the committee itself would have to agree on and figure out how to do do do it so I feel that I have a lot of um varied experience in town hall I started as the secretary to the zoning and planning um worked with the building inspector at at some point um I have worked for Board of Health before I came went into the accountants office I spent 15 years as the town accountant um so I have a lot of Municipal knowledge not just of um the way municipalities run but the way the town of Halifax runs I'm absolutely willing to be in it for a year or whatever it takes um and if I can be helpful that's what I'd like to do fantastic um anybody on the board have any questions comments yeah I just uh I don't know if it's a question or a comment I just I think it's important for something like this and I wasn't here I'm fairly new and I wasn't here when the zoning bylaw committee was formed um and I know that's you know nearing its conclusion um I think it's important to go in with an open mind and I I trust that you would be able to do that uh with no preconceived notions of what you'd like to see and have an open mind whether it's a versus b or somewhere in the middle um I think that's important for all of you not just not just you but going in with an open mind and hearing other people's opinions and finding common ground and maybe some gray area that's appropriate I think that's just a board well served I think I can do that right no I'm excited that you threw your name in in the ring um yeah and to Echo what Tom says I'm looking at the list of candidates here I'm excited because it's folks from different viewpoints you know I think some of the best committees don't always agree on everything so as long as everybody in the committee realizes that it's a group effort you know and that everybody uh works together and doesn't draw lines in the sand and that kind of stuff I think the the idea of everybody from a different vantage point it has me excited that it will be a well thought out uh committee great all right great thank you very much you yeah um Mary um same comments uh that you know this is uh I see this as a big effort as a what we're trying to do is consider uh reorganizing how government works in Halifax and it's not something that we can make a decision on quickly and I think it has to be a decision that's made thoughtfully looking at whatever potential pitfalls there might be also so we want to be really careful about it mhm honestly my thing I was coming here more to ask you guys questions about what your intentions are because I'm not 100% sure this is the right thing for me I've been interested and I'm trying and I but I find sometimes I have to know if my you know if I really want to be in this for the Long Haul and if I really want to put up with the you know it'll be frustrating I can tell i' I've done stuff before so I guess I was looking at the outline you're looking at like 2 years is there a reason it's going to take that long it it it could be 6 months it could be a year uh really the question is um how fast that committee can can come to uh its recommendation and again it's not something we want to do overnight no I don't mean that I just mean that I there's there tends to be a lot of like lag time and I feel like the town does a lot of things that take a really long time if we could be more efficient that's just what my job is now I went back to the corporate world my job is about efficiency productivity and getting things done without the Heming the Haring in 9 hours of discussion before something it's decided so I get that there is a very I know that this is really important and I think there's a lot of things to look at but I looking at two years of this I could never commit to that I'm just saying that I could see if it's going to take start to finish a year but two years to look at something like this where in a year some people may not be here we might have new somebody else we might have a new town accountant everything could change and we might have to start over I don't that's one of my big concerns um have anybody else been appointed yet or is this the first time no this is the first time okay this is never we've never had as far as I know we've never had a committee like this before or had this intensive study of it and no I didn't know if you've already spoken to other people that were interested yet or if this is the first time so so far there are just three citizens at large uh there's the fourth who couldn't make it tonight and she's scheduled for next our next meeting okay um I guess one of the things is do we have will we would the group have an outline from either Town Council or from Cody about how far outside the box we can or do we have to do something very much within a municipal Circle or squar that we have to stay in so we're really not going to be able to change that much so we've um um Cody and I have had uh discussions with current Town Council who actually uh is uh very experienced in type of thing he's done this in other towns Charters or whatever um and he's the one who recommended to us that we establish a uh a committee of the board advising the board of Select and he also um would we would the way we envision this uh one the the chairman of this committee is going to be some member of the board of Select and that's for a couple of reasons one because that'll keep it moving and two it'll keep some advised as to what's going on so we don't end up in different directions and three because the sele have access to certain resources that maybe an independent committee wouldn't have okay one of those resources is Town Council okay so we can arrange to do that um at whatever maybe in the very beginning even would have uh Town Council give us a little primer on you know this is what uh this is what this type of work can do and what you can't do okay um I think as far as that speaking with Town Council um I mean we we have an open slate here we can rework the town I you know we can't obviously make it a kingdom or something but we can follow certain procedures some of the stuff that um that that you suggested in the past like uh whether or not certain positions ought to be appointed as opposed to elected all my next question well all of that kind of thing but they've all been voted down before so if we sit down and decide that we want to have five Selectmen we want to have all the the vot elected officials be appointed and it's already been voted down are we going to just be spinning our Wheels to set something all up that we go to town meeting and everyone says nope we already said this we we're not allowed to vote on it again well you know town meeting can do anything at once right so we can't guarantee that however uh in our experience is that if if uh a wellth thought out plan is well considered and I think you know Town meetings and part of that well thought out plan would be dealing like for example making we talked about making uh I'm just going to take one the clerk as a appointed position um if if if if the committee examines that and talks with the clerk looks at options does all of that kind of thing and comes up with a recommendation whether yes or no um most of the time town meeting does consider it right they consider it well and I I agree with that can I can I just piggy back too Mary I know um the the the last time at town meeting that was a a Citizens petition right for the for the article I do Echo what John says where if you present to the public look at this is a this is research we've done for a year this is this is well thought out this is you know we've kicked the tires it's not a citizen coming forward with something this is you know a member um you know Selectmen uh F we've had you know folks all around so I feel like if you present to them we're not just flying by the seat of our pants this is a wellth thought out article I think you you might have more more of a shot and we're also talking about not just making one change we're talking about viie the entire structure they may be only making one change but at least we've reviewed the entire structure to say okay this is how we think Halifax would run most efficiently but what I'm saying is I know in the past if you've brought something up to be voted at town meeting you're not allowed to do it another time that this would not fall under any of that that's a different that would you which uh only the only exceptions to that I think it's a zoning change or something two years there like one or two period one or two things that like a zoning change that can't be brought up until a to you know a a later anything else that's already been brought up once can always be brought up again maybe not in that town meeting necessarily but certainly again in another later time okay um okay are you going to wait till after a new town accountant is appointed to start this because I feel like it'll be very hard to start with if someone's going to come in in the middle and as far as Financial WEA I did watch some of the interviews for the other candidate and I know that he didn't take the position but I'm like if someone comes in with different ideas or different things is it going to change what we do as a committee Midway I know Sand's currently the acting Town accountant so could she also be is she not no oh okay so okay I thought you were sorry Sandy just retired okay well I knew she reti but I thought she was staying on to help bring in the next person the um the uh Town accountant wouldn't be part of the committee at least in our vision the vision is for as Citizens at large and a the chairman being the board of selectman with non voting member being the Town Administrator um and then um Consulting the Town Council that would be the committee and if that committee says you know we we need more resources one way or another then you know that comes back to the board and the board decides yes or no to do that so if you think the accountant should be involved certainly do we don't have anybody right now in line and it's been kind of a long process because Sand's got big big shoes and we've had a hard time filling them okay what else do you have so you it's okay I hope you consider Mary I really do um you're you're passionate about the town there's no doubt about it you bring up good ideas you're well thought out um you attack things with energy I mean fundraisers I've I've done that you're you're involved with you set a goal and you you don't stop till you hit a goal so I really do hope that you consider coming on the committee when are you considering St St in the committee or having the first meeting or when do you so we um we talked about um we want to interview everybody first so we'll probably make the and the other thing is we will just keep the application process open up until our next meeting okay and at that point then we'll make our decision and appointing everybody and whoever is lucky enough on the board here to end up being a chairman will call meeting you know shortly right there afterwards to get it moving okay and then to set the agenda and the same thing the committee itself it it if they like to meet every Monday that's fine if they want to meet every third Thursday I mean whatever whatever works for the committee it's up to them okay I just hope it's a it's more of a condensed only because I know what the other committees we've had they they're so long drawn out I know the bylaw committee whatever started out with so many people and you can't meet and I hope it's just the idea of like this is super important and it needs to be done in a very efficient manner I don't mind like committing to a time period but I'm not committing to 2 years for any and that's one that's one of the reasons I hope you consider this committee because I feel like you will help condense things so thank you okay thank you Mr Walters gentlemen you must have some thoughts about this otherwise you wouldn't just a couple just a few just a couple um I think just personally uh everything that that has been me mentioned in the uh financial management report that was issued April of 2024 is everything we should be addressing inside of this committee and it covers a a a wide spread of items but I also look at it as a huge opportunity for the town to look at everything it's doing uh long-standing processes what people are doing how they're doing it and just creating something that's like super efficient responsive and accountable to the to the residents because that's really the purpose of the town government is to ensure that the people who are here getting the services that they they need that they should be getting on a regular basis and then that and any issues that come up are handled as expeditiously as possible and as transparent as possible for the people involved in the town and I you know whatever it is it going to take a year I don't know uh there's a number of things I think we need to make sure we're addressing when we're doing the committee work which is public input how are we going to get we we need to have public uh meetings talk to the people out in the town send out surveys through whatever fashion we want to send out surveys look for input and feedback from them and incorporate that into the work that we're doing because the only way it's going to get across and get done at town meeting is by having that public input and it being added into the work that the that the committee is doing you really got this thought through I love it that's fantastic I've worked with Jim on the zoning bylaw committee for the last year he's a tiger he's just and Aces a smart does a great job uh and has uh the Mary graan opinion that we don't monkey around we don't have committee meetings just to have committee meetings we get them done and move on do only bylaw committee meets every month for about an hour we get a lot done yeah we get a lot done in that time uh any questions same same thing with Mary I Echo what John says you you set your sights on things and you you look to get stuff done so I'm I would love to have you on the committee absolutely yeah I just appreciate all three of you coming in in the even considering it's volunteer work it's hard work but it's important work and uh I think it's you know I think it's great to have public interest and people continuing to do the work of all of us thank you okay um so we will um just um just make an announcement that we are still accepting applications we do have one other candidate that is expected to come in at our next meeting but at our next meeting we will uh make uh our we'll make a we intend to make appointments yeah who is the other candidate um Kelly something uh Carrie sers thank you yeah and just as a note anyone uh submitting an application we need to do so by the 18th they can't do it on the 24th we don't on the okay so by let me just make that clear for the Audience by October no September 18 September 18 September 18th will have to be submitted we'll have uh closed all the applications so if anyone else is interested U that that would be the time to do it but we have three excellent candidates so far uh and we'll wait and see what the fourth one brings thank you guys all right fantastic fantastic thank you for your interest it's wonderful um ambulance did we ever do this ambulance we haven't yet we have this one okay here it is all right so sure you want to do it or you want me do uh August 2024 ambulance abatements uh for 84592 87 second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous um the suicide Prevention Day uh yes so we received a request from uh let's see that's the one so it's national uh Suicide Prevention month um so we received a request um from the Plymouth County Suicide Prevention Coalition that the board declare um September Suicide Prevention month in Halifax and also September 10th which is today designated as Suicide Prevention Day what does that mean uh so you would sign the proclamation here um and just formally recognize it uh and it it's a show of uh support to the um the national the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention and the Plymouth County Suicide Prevention Coalition um this aligns with your policies of kind of the national recognition uh we could like the town hall up um it would align with that because it is a nationally recognized month um okay any yeah I'd be honored to to be part of this I've had friends actually today um post and express um how important today is to them because they've actually had attempts to take their own lives so um I I would be wholeheartedly behind a motion to light the town hall uh the colors I believe are a purple and a blue in honor of uh Suicide Prevention month I think it's a great cause and I really hope that we get behind it Tom any question no I Echo those thoughts okay do you want to make a motion as sure I'd love to uh make a motion to uh Proclaim September 2024 as a National Suicide Prevention month here in Halifax as well as uh today September 10th 2024 as Suicide Prevention Day in the town of Halifax okay any uh do I have a second second discussion all those in favor say I iose man us okay good uh all right uh flow um and so uh so this is an updated host Community agreement so um Massachusetts General law requires one of two things with uh every marijuana dispensary retailer that you have in a community you either need the host Community agreement um or you need a waiver from the board um of a host Community agreement we have existing host Community agreements in place with um flower and so as well as other dispensary um elevated routs uh as part of the annual renewal process these dispensaries have to submit their uh current host Community agreements to the Cannabis Control Commission which is the state agency that regulates the marijuana industry uh and they review those um agreements for um make sure they're consistent with the existing regulations when flower and so went to um submit their existing host Community agreement it bounced back but the um agreement is no longer consistent with current regulations primarily for the fact of that 3% impact fee so um when it first was adopted the towns you you could adopt a 3% impact fee um that the the dispensaries were to PID the towns uh and that's what our host Community agreements had um the regulations have since changed you know we so the dispensary would flower and soul would be on the hook to pay that 3% impact fee through the date of this new agreement which would be today um and then going forward they would that's no longer in there because that's um part of the new regulations that's not required so um in speaking with Council we are recommending that we the board vote to approve the template U model this is right from the Cannabis Control Commission and the reason for that is is we know the state will approve it the last thing we want to do is hold up these businesses um if they don't get their renewals in time it would prevent them from remaining open which is something we don't want to do um so it's effectively the same agreement uh with removing that 3% impact fee we would still get the 3% local tax that the state collects uh but going forward for flow and soil we would not get the 3% impact fee just so we know uh do you have an idea of how much money we collected in the last year or so under that part of it um between the two dispensaries for the last fiscal year was around $185,000 okay so that'll be money that we won't be getting it correct but we don't have any sale we have choice now unfortunately not the regulations regulations have changed um and the state is requiring us to change this so um council's reviewed this it's pretty it's a boiler plate agreement and then the only other thing if you do vote would be to allow me to sign on your behalf because it's one signature but we still to be clear do expect to collect that revenue or that 3% impact tax up until through today we are operating under that we feel as though um the the legislation and the regulations that change that 3% are not retroactively applied to host Comm the agreements that were signed prior to that uh date and um that is that that's what we're confident in that's what council's confident in um you know there's an existing court case with the city of havil uh where this exact matter is being brought up um the superior court has ruled that um it is not retroactively applied meaning that that amount is due so we have let um our dispensaries know that we we still anticipate that they need to pay that um so this is just for power and soul is the other one I don't know the name of it elevated root elevated Roots we're following the same process with them so it just hasn't come up yet yep so when if if they get a denial letter from the Cannabis Control Commission the board will take that up at that point but you know we we are um we're confident in our contracts and our agreements and we are waiting to be told otherwise so in this case we were told by the state that there was an issue so we're going to wait um if that comes up with elevator boots and if so we'll address it with them as well all right um other comments or questions from the board so you want us to uh move to approve the modelhot community agreement and with flower and so with flower and so and authorize you to sign for us right correct so I will make that motion second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed uh um oh what are select my goals I thought we did this last oh well we reviewed the previous year goals but you didn't vote to adopt new goals so uh we did go through I received your feedback on those goals uh since then I went through I removed some of the items that we've accomplished and also just updated several of the items to um continue to to keep up with um and then I would ask that if the board agrees and everything looks good that you adopt these for the 2024 2025 okay any discussion from uh questions comments no I read them they make sense okay no I'm fine thank you that on that all right um so we'll take a motion to approve the um updated board uh 2024 25 Board of Select I will make a motion to update the 2024 2025 Board of Selectmen goals you have a second second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous all right that brings us to the zoning issu right that's all that's left yes let me just yeah I'll put the map up there oh okay put the map up all right so um at the uh upcoming town meeting the zoning um zoning bylaw revieww committee uh has uh completed its work and uh again we did this in a year we just started last August and got it done now um and it we'll be making we're making two recommendations one is a uh a revision uh and updating to the current um zoning bylaw um it's very detailed obviously you folks have you guys have it in your packets there um and we've made changes most of the changes uh include things such as um reorganize sections we we combined some definitions to some sort of tech um almost U typographical type of things like that um we also uh added into the um into the zoning proposed proposed adding into the uh zoning bylaw a uh section on uh accessory dwelling units which um is uh taken basically from change in the state law that took place I think like two months ago yeah month and a half ago yeah which now allows them as a matter of right so we we asked Council to come up with a with a bylaw that does that and did um we made some changes to the uh site plan review um bylaw and most of that a lot of that had to do with some of the issues raised by uh the MBTA zoning they they looked at our our planning board uh uh site plan review aspect and said it needs to be updated which we did uh and we added in a a section on blighted properties um which gives the town a little bit more ability to uh deal with properties that have been um become an eyesore become uh dangerous that type of thing there's a few in town that we've been working on in HUD ways uh but this byog is us a little more a teeth to it um I think that pretty much the highlights of the zoning bylaw change Jim you is that am I getting that pretty close yeah no that's that's right so that's one propos that's one proposal the other one is the MBTA um zoning uh bylaw uh issue housing issue and I and I um I am the chairman of that committee uh however this is uh something that I I want to write I wanted to uh say uh as a presentation to the board and to the public as to what we're doing with the MBTA so we are going to propose a u a byw which we think will comply with the MBTA but um before I get to that I just want to have a statement here so the MBTA housing law is an example of what is wrong with Massachusetts state government this law is a heavy-handed uninspired ill-considered one-size fits-all supposed solution to what has become a cause celeb among State politicians the statute which runs a mere three paragraphs and which passed almost unanimously through the legislature arbitrarily targets communities that are near train stations with a mandate to change local zoning regardless of what the community itself in its wisdom or wants or needs to back up this callous imperious dictate from the state are significant penalties including the loss of potential funding for projects that would actually benefit the citizenry such as grants for infrastructure oh and by the way this fund source which state politicians so graciously Grant to to local communities is comprised of money collected from the citizens through taxation the grants being comprised of money which the citizens have paid to the state in taxes is then quote granted by the benevolence of the state back to the persons who paid the tax in the first place withholding from communities who communities who do not Bend to the MBTA housing mandate has become a weapon of choice to secure the compliance moreover the state uh Massachusetts State Attorney General has weighed in and in a high-handed manner declared the law quote mandatory so now instead of using the State Attorney General's office resources to chase real criminals she will and has sued what she has decided our Scofflaw communities otherwise her constituents to be clear the MBTA housing law was created by our state representativ and Senators approved by our former governor and is being vigorously prosecuted by our attorney general all of these persons are elected by us the citizens and voters if the citizens are unhappy with the law then we should let those persons who are responsible for creating the law enforcing the law and able to change or abandon the law no anyone who is unhappy with this law is best served by directing their opinions to the place where it can make a difference and accomplish change in that case it would be reasonable and wise to contact our state representative Senator governor and attorney general and ask them to change or abandon this law they have the power to do so if they wish now the board of Selectmen in my view has the responsibility to make decisions and recommendations which are in the best interest of Halifax and its residents regardless of whether we like or approve of any state law or requirement to do this work correctly and effectively the board should and indeed we have thoroughly examined the issue at hand which is how best to cope with the MBTA housing law about one year ago the board appointed an ad hoc committee to review our zoning bylaws to make recommendations for any change or update and in particular to examine how best to address the MBTA housing law this committee has considered the views of town residents the opinions of knowledgeable professionals and reviewed the state requir using the guiding principle of what is in the best interest of Halifax and its residents the committee is making its considered recommendation which will be the establishment of an overlay multif family District as commanded by the law which but which in Practical effects does not change much of anything that is already present in town and for the most part confirms existing fact to be in compliance with the NBTA housing law the town must before the end of this year vote to establish a zoning overlay District which allows as of right the building of multif family dwellings in an area substantially within 1 half mile radius of the train station what the law does not require though is the actual building of anything simply establishing a Zone within the geographic area around the train station which allows as of right multif family dwellings will satisfy the law this zoning bylaw Review Committee with the very capable assistance of Town Council Rick huum and a state authorized consultant who specializes in MBTA housing compliance have developed a proposed bylaw which we are confident will meet the state's compliance command and what's more the proposed zoning change will for the most part confirm what already exists let me explain the MBTA housing law does not and I emphasize does not require any new building it only insists that we designate an area around the train station which provides for multif family development as it turns out without before realizing this to be so Halifax is already in principle in compliance if we draw a circle and direct your attention to the map up uh up there that's on the um the TV screen the circle being the orange circle so if we draw a circle with a half mile radius using the train station which is that red dot that Cody's putting on there um the train station as a center a large portion of the area inside the circle is already supporting multif family development Twin Lakes Condominiums is by definition a multif family development what we are proposing then is to place an overlay Zone on this area and you can see it in the white outline identifying Twin Lakes development property and certain abing property to more precisely describe what is already in place since the law does not require that anything new actually be built and since Halifax already has an area supporting a multif family development putting the proposed zoning change in place resolves any issue about compliance with the state decree I liken what we are proposing to giving a Fresh coat of paint to an existing wall nothing of substance changes except what it is being called in this case Twin Lakes and certain abing property will officially now be a multif family District which it already is and has been for over 30 years is this the result that the state legislature governor and attorney general intended does this solution address any supposed political issues who knows and frankly I don't think we should care we're told that compliance is mandatory and so we can simply follow exactly what the law requires the board of Selectmen has an obligation to present to town meeting its options regarding the MBTA housing law that we are doing whether town meeting agrees or not to implement this plan is totally within the right and power of town meeting however I highly recommend a positive vote implementing this zoning change the proposed zoning overlay district and bylaw puts our town in compliance with the MBTA housing law what's more we are already supporting multif family housing which covers most of the area to which the overlay district will apply whether one agrees with the MBTA housing law or not refusing to adopt a proposed bylaw is shortsighted All Things Considered so if you look at the map there uh the white outline is the overlay District um I think it's the purple is Twin ranks is that right um these four Parcels are likees one 2 3 4 and then there's this fifth parcel which is the former Halifax Garden company which is that kind of weird you know parcel here so as you can see there are certain small areas that are not part of Twin Lakes uh and also the area around our garden company which has frankly very little uh buildable area in it anyway um so if there were to be additional buildings somebody developer bought one of two of these smaller lots and decided to put them in it would be within within the same district the same area as what's already there which is Twin Lakes and frankly there's not a lot of room there to build too many uh additional multif family units and the bylaw uh the proposed bylaw would um um kind of restrict uh the uh type of building that could go in there that would be more or less in conformance which already at Twin Lakes so that's what we're proposing uh that's what we'll be on the town meeting more in December questions from the board um I don't want to I don't first off the state has okayed this plan correct they have we uh sent it to the the exact same people that will ultimately decide well the attorney general has to decide too but there's what's it called the Housing Authority uh executive office of Housing and liable communities has a team reviews these for the initial compliance and then also once you if your town votes it um it's the same team that's the team that John mentioned earlier we sent and it took them 90 plus days to review they sent us back some feedback we've adjusted the things that's very small minor things one of them is the mapping thing bringing it to the center of the um the roadways and we've made those adjustments and with that that we don't foresee any issues um getting it passed yeah they've already told us everything's good except I think it was five five things and three of which were like um just we want you to draw your map a certain way which we did or will and I don't I don't want to speak for the zoning byar Review Committee but I believe your your charge was as a committee was to try to come up with a plan that has Us in compliance but has as little effect as possible on the town of Halifax is that safe to say or I say our charge really was to review the whole circumstance and to make whatever recommendation we thought would be um the best in interest of the Town um and I I can tell you for a fact that the uh zoning BW committee was um not uh enthusiastic about having to even consider the MBTA plan but once we brought in uh a the consultant who uh is he's that's what he does he specializes in going around the different communities and and figuring out how they can comply with this believe it or not there's such a job now uh and he's a state authorized person and when we told him you know this is what's in Halifax where you know what can we work with and we finally focused on that area around it which is next to the train station um and realize that that would um when he did his he did some calculations with uh the amount of potential area there again not we don't have to build anything so if there buildings are already on there that's fine uh and so with all the calculations he did he he's the one who helped us come up with the uh with the uh overlay District um and that the zoning bylaw committee is saying at this point you know what why why should we fight with the state about this if we don't have to sure we're going to we're going to agree with them to do what they told us to do even though we don't like it but it's not we don't we think the impact is is very probably no impact but if anything very insignificant and that and that would be the best of of Both Worlds for me if we could somehow stay in compliance but have minimal change to our town and I will admit I have to go through this even more but um ideally that's the ideal situation and I I hope that we can somehow get to that okay anything I you know again I would volunteer committee thank you all for your time and effort and you know thought into this uh you know I think it's one thing to do the research and get everything in line I think one thing that's important as we've seen with other towns is it now goes in front of everybody else the people at town meeting and um they can take your work and time into consideration But ultimately it you know falls on the town so uh I thank you for you know getting chairing the board and getting it getting it to where we are and preparing the work uh which I know is arduous but a lot of work it's for sure but I think it's important to now know that it's everyone else's hands we've done what we can do to be ready for it and now in December it gets there and let the chips fall with in it's up to the town the town absolutely for whatever reason decides they just don't want to agree with us that that's that perfectly fine we'll deal with the consequences but we don't have to so yes I have a few questions what were the other four things that the state needed changed with your proposed NBTA bylaw I'm I didn't hear that say that again what were the other four items that the state wanted you to change so the site plan review process were concerned about that it wasn't consistent with state law they were uh the map that we submitted What specifically with the site plan uh they didn't give specifics they asked that our Council review it and how would you know what to change if they didn't give you any specifics that's why they asked our legal council to review it and ensure consistency with state law the second thing uh the second was the map that we submitted only brought the overlay to the edge of the RightWay they like to see it in the middle of the RightWay so a very um nitpicking item uh let's see let me pull up the letter that's the one that you already said right so that we have three more right yeah's see one of them was access uh one of the parcels that we initially included uh they claimed did not have direct access without going through another parcel so they and it's if you look it's that bottom left parel um that they're stating may not have direct access so they ask that we just look at that and um either remove it or provide um proof that there is direct access to it so we're updating the map so that parcel actually will not be included um in the in the final submission to town meeting uh let's see and then they just also requested that um the the Our Town bylaw map obviously needs to be updated as part of town meeting so that would need to be submitted with the bylaw change and and then there was just a discrepancy we had it was a clerical error in the um you have to submit a compliance model so it's like an Excel sheet we put all the numbers in there was a one number in there that didn't match with the draft bylaw um we it one said 5,000 ft and one said 10 so it was just a matter of not conforming so we made the two conform okay I I would like to point out that it so s of um important to know that Rockport has a huge lawsuit that everybody in the um entire State can join and um Milton suing because it's the Attorney General is using our money against us which is a legal it's called tyrany like this is why we need to stand up and not say yes to the kid who's asking for the cookie jar because it's extremely important I like your idea of the fact and I'm actually surprised that that um you thought of this idea but what would happen if it goes in front of the planning board they're trying to take away all of those items that will allow us to decide if you read the entire law then you would understand that the planning board is taken out they that does not have to be within a half mile District district anymore of the MBTA zoning and it has changed multiple times since since Inception this is the danger of this like stretch code right so stretch code is an overlay on the building code that makes everything green okay but if when you're on the front lines with this you're seeing a major problem with people because when it first got adopted it made it seem like okay we'll just do a hers test on the front door find out all about the actual ventilation loss okay but what that actually means in the field is that if you're renovating a house as an example and you're getting a haris test on the house they're like oh well you have air coming out between Windows and Doors so we need you to tighten that up and then we need you to add a vent okay and that vent is now electric and you're just venting where it already would have gone out and it's an issue and it's like really tied up a lot of houses then on July 1st 2024 it made it that the stretch code made it that so it's an Ever Changing law which is why I'm saying it's a very scary thing that we need to heed okay so on July 1st 2024 now those hers tests have dropped from a 53 to a 42 so now what is happening and I don't know if you've heard about this yet they're going into people's houses and if you do a 30% renovation or a new house there is no more oil heat there is no more gas heat they tell you to take it out they tell you to take out your gas stove these are not false things these are really happening out on the streets some of your neighbors have actually gone through uh Mass Save to get um the heat pumps mini split systems and they were told that they need to take out their oil tank in order to do um any of those things so the point here is is that when we are listening to the state with these different things and this is what I've been trying to point out they Chang the law so complying with number one somebody who's telling somebody that lives in the United States of America that they must do something number one is against the Constitution number two one of the lawsuit items is that they're pressing down against Massachusetts state law a 50% majority on zoning bylaw changes that's really against all the people so we need to start standing against this instead of complying with because when are they going to come in and be like Oh I'm sorry but now this is a change and we're going to do this and we're going to do that and I will remind everybody again that the grants that we will be able to get are not anything over that that that's going to even matter towards a new school that's like what 80 million in Marshfield a couple years ago can you even imagine what it would do to us if we start adding 750 units because I like the idea that this wouldn't happen but this is this is exactly where we have corporate people trying to buy that land right now and it will ruin that whole area we were not going to have enough room for all the traffic that would go there so I like the idea of what you have here to block it and but it's not going to because they're going to come in here and they're going to circumvent the planning board they're going to circumvent the conservation just like the senior overlay district is and we're not going to have any power over stopping it we're not going to have enough room we don't have enough water we have water bands right now that make it so that everybody can't even have their Gardens watered or wash their cars how are we going to add these projects so these these are just some of the reasons but there are ways that we can combat it and there are multiple towns and tons of attorneys working at that and I think that that Avenue should be looked at because nobody bought in Halifax to become a city and nobody lives in this state that should be going against the Declaration of the independence and Constitution on how we actually were here remember we left Britain to get away from tyrany and we're supposed to not listen to government they're supposed to be working for us so this is like the first clue in the fact that we need to stop this because and and I will add look at Aurora Colorado look at Chicago all of their buildings that have these apartments with the um common entrances are being raided by illegal aliens and if you haven't seen it please look it up these are all reasons that we need to say no and start joining in with the lawsuits against it okay thank you any other comments All right so uh I would uh move that we um um uh I the word where recommend submit thank you submit the uh proposed zoning bylaw changes and the MBTA zoning bylaw changes to the planning board so that they can hold a public hearing so that we can keep the process going I'll second that any discussion all those in favor say I I I post it's unanimous okay um the state consultant that came around is hired by a state the state and it's a bureaucracy that they get paid to push MBTA housing so just remember that okay um let's see so whole business we already did the MBP any change in your reports um no not really um we I think I previously mentioned we hired a conservation agent so um oh we didn't know did we actually have them hired yet uh maybe not so um have Bridgewater made the hire I should say it's not our employee it's Bridgewater's employee but they included Us in the process um she will be starting the first week of October uh we haven't worked out schedules and stuff yet but the idea is to split it 50/50 so 20 hours a week here 20 hours a week in Bridgewater so that'll be very good obviously the town and count recruitment is still ongoing uh we're going to start another round of um pushing that out and recruiting um and hopefully getting uh some qualified applicants in and um just continuing status quo looking at different training opportunities for our boards and committees sharing that information with them um and preparing for the special time meeting okay nothing else to come before the board I will take a motion to adjourn second I'll make that motion sorry second long any discussion all those in favor say I oppos uh next uh it's unanimous our next meeting is the 24th yes very good thanks all thank you [Music]