##VIDEO ID:HpIqmA-NU6Y## chair you have 6 o' okay 6:00 so we can bring this uh meeting to order uh first I have to make a note that this is being recorded uh by area 58 um if you would join me to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you and the first things on our agenda are appointments of uh Carrie sers uh did call she's on her way she is stuck on a train so hopefully she will be I'll just wait till she gets here but Josh Curtis is here and uh this is uh an interview for the town government study committee and so just um we were talking a minute ago but um the town this is a a committee that we uh the board of selectman is is setting up as kind of an advisory committee to um consider uh basically all of our town operations in in terms of how the government works uh right now everyone knows we we have a town meeting form of government that um has a lot of elect officials um and so it hasn't been really looked at in I don't think it's ever been looked at ever since 1734 frankly when we were first Incorporated so we're pretty much uh stuck in the history there maybe it still should be that way but we wanted to put together a group of folks that were interested so do you want to tell us about your interest and uh why you you think you'd like to do this work yeah absolutely so my name is Josh Curtis um we moved here five years ago from Hawaii after I retired from the service I was Airborne infantry um served in Iraq and Afghanistan res received the Purple Heart in Bron star Valor after separating from the military we purchased a beautiful home in Halifax 5 years ago and we just fell in love with the town I mean it has such a great Community I mean the the school's like the heartbeat of the community everyone's so involved um the agricultural part is beautiful and I just want to find a way that I can help based on my history to just improve it some way you know based on my values um I I think that I can do a great job okay um really um this is a uh committee that will probably not be able to come up with an answer quickly I don't know how long it's going to take but we certainly wouldn't be able to get something that would be like done in a couple of weeks so it'll involve some work it'll involve some kind of a commitment and are you able to do that yeah absolutely all right okay um oh no well first off Josh I want to thank you for your service I read through your resume it's very impressive so thank you thank you very much um as far as collaborating with folks uh are you okay let's say you you get into the thick of things with an idea and a lot of times in committee work you have people that have different very different ideas how are you with kind of working through those differences to come to an agreement so based on my history I actually worked with a three our general doing joint visits Bureau and we helped foreign armies actually improve their operations and we'd help them create a vision and a philosophy and then create a whole new culture that would actually accelerate their performance within their actual government operations well that's fantastic yeah i' just like to say that I think you know what Jonathan said is this won't be quick or easy I think it's valuable work and I just would ask and that all committee members yourself and others whoever is you know nominated go into things with an open mind you know no preconceived notions kind of an open box hearing other people appreciating what they're coming from and kind of maybe collaborate towards a common goal for the group and I hope that that's something that you can come to the table with or all committee members can uh no preconceived notions or agendas and that's is that something that sounds like could be for you yes absolutely yeah it's important yes absolutely okay um good so um we have um one one more interview to do tonight um and then we can make a decision on this uh I don't you know we we originally set this as a as a I think a five member group it doesn't have to be five because if we think we have six good people we should use six that was my that was my question I mean the candes it's our committee we can do anything we want the candidates look all look fantastic for different reasons so I'd be open to something like that depending on you know how Miss sellers presents okay um you're welcome to stay uh we're just going to move on on our agenda if if you like to stay and see works okay good welcome all right thanks Josh so um we have candy scheduled for 610 so I'm going to keep to that but I see that we do have Mr uh mcer here you want to come on up front maybe sure why don't you have a seat yeah please have a seat y so uh this is kind of a followup to the uh dog issue uh and I think the board had some questions about um uh your your plan on how to handle the dog if you weren't there and also on the fence if I'm not mistaken is that right yeah I think I know Tom you had you had questions for Mr mcer yeah just you know what the the notice that you sent as a followup to our um meeting was kind of just short and quick are there any detailed plans and anything you've done or planned to do um as a result of the conversation that we had month month or two ago uh yeah so we're going to start training with the dog uh hopefully the first week of November is when I'll be able to start I tried to be able to start before then but unfortunately my schedule just won't allow that right now I'm playing on the first week November start training dog more in the meantime I've taken over uh any of muzzle training with the dog so far that's worked out really well seems to really get in the hand of it so any time we're off the property he's obviously wearing the muzzle um on the property he stays in the backyard if he's not wearing the muzzle backyard is surrounded by a six foot fence do you have the same dog walker as you had before Miss chassis is is that her name yes is she still she's a singular person who walked the dog off the property yes and where will you be training the dog in November um so the same J that I use my initially got the dog um the her name is Michelle GIS I believe that she works at from okay any other any quickly any other incidents or anything with any other dogs with the dog no so I think the board is particularly concerned because it seems like that dog uh really very aggressive with other animals perhaps and we are uh concerned for Public Safety we just don't want these things to happen at all and certainly if we can prevent it in the future that's why we're we're trying to make sure that all of the uh measures that you're going to take will uh make sure that this just doesn't happen again so that's what we're really mostly concerned about okay um any other questions from the board any other comments suggestions no and the dog's been registered to get a license for the dog too yeah he is licensed okay and just just to be clear on this that Miss chassis the The Walker if she's not available to walk the dog does not leave the property without either you or her at the moment is that correct okay thank you for coming in uh we appreciate it sorry we had to um you know bother you with the police department and everything but we really we take as we have to take these uh Public Safety things very seriously where we don't want to uh have any any problems in the neighborhoods of all and certainly not with animals so we're we're very very um sensitive to that and that's why we're we're making sure that that doesn't the right way okay okay thanks again thank you thanks for coming all right great is that Miss sers in the back hi come on up front please sincere apologies no thank you for making the effort that's wonderful so um you are here for uh at our government study committee so let me just explain to you a little bit about what that's all about um this is a committee that the board is is establishing as an advisory committee uh to the board really uh and the goal is to uh evaluate the current operations of the government our government the town government um so some of the ideas that have come up in the past are uh moving certain uh um Town officials from elected officials to appointed officials how that would if that's a good idea how that would be done um everything is on the table uh we've been a um open town meeting since 1734 and that hasn't changed and maybe it shouldn't change but you're welcome to look at that and make suggestions and and uh things like that we don't expect this to be a real quick um process uh we really think that this is something that takes some study and some work uh and uh some folks that are uh uh interested in it would have kind of be in it for the long haul not 100 years but you know for long enough to try to bring it to a conclusion and to come up with some reasonable suggestions that's what we're after um how do you feel about all of that I'm glad to here we take a little time because I think the questions that you're asking are going to take some study and real talk okay do do you want to tell us about yourself and why you're interested in this uh um or uh this committee yeah absolutely um I am a resident ofx now for only about five years um I grew up in the Whitman and Hansen area but um dream to live here you're a social climber I am a social climber for sure finally made it from the out house to the penous I'm a big advocate for Halifax so I love the town I love how small it is every sort of you know is very involved and Care obviously cares deeply and that can come across in a lot of different ways um I work in the city I work in Cambridge for a biotech company I've been working in biotech for about 20 20 years so um over the course of my career I I am actually assistant to the CEO um so I'm pretty good at like Ging consens pretty good I I'm also the manager of corporate Communications and I think Communications is definitely something that uh would be of an asset on this particular committee being able to not only speak um confidently and listen but also be able to kind of explain the thinking behind things I noticed that you know at Town meetings sometimes you can get a little heated and just being able to take a step back and take a breath and be able to really calmly explain your um your thinking and the reasoning behind decisions I think is going to be important and that's something I think I could bring to the table ultimately if if we make changes which I assume there'll be some suggestion to do that it'll be something that will be um have to be at least voted on at at at at the annual at one of our town meetings um and so that will always requires um like a thoughtful presentation and that type of thing so we have to think about it in that in terms of that it's not like you know we're going to just write it down on a piece of paper and say well this is how it's going to happen it's all got to be voted by the citizens and so they sometimes need to be U very detailed explanations as to why you want to make changes and some people have very strong opinions um about the way things are or should be so you know we really have to be logical in everything we do on that yeah I I feel like I'm new enough in the town that I I'm not entrenched in one particular area that's good but I've been here long enough to deeply about how this goes and I want to spend the rest of my life hopefully long life here and um I just I don't know I'm just at an age my children are grown and I want to do something for my community and I just thought this would be a good way for me to serve okay um questions from the board uh Carrie again your resume is very impressive um I love that you have the the private sector experience um but I know going in and out of Boston is T I have a wife that commutes in and out of Boston too so probably on the same train you were on today um time commitment going to be an issue at all or are you going to be able to cover up time for this because as John said it's it's going to be a little bit of a commitment here yeah for sure so it's a very fair question um I do work a lot but I work in the city Tuesday Wednesday Thursday so it sort of is as much a fact finding mission for me tonight or is this for you like I'm not sure if it's going to be you know Wednesdays at 4:00 that's probably going to take me out of the running sure if it's a Monday or or Friday or even a Tuesday Tuesday or Thursday I have some flexibility there's one day a week I don't have any flexibility okay generally speaking the committee itself will decide when it's going to meet and how often so um and one of us we haven't decided yet will be the chairman of that committee to help keep things moving so you know if it if it works for the committee to meet uh every third Friday every third Thursday or whatever at six o'clock that's that's what they'll do and then there there'll probably be some stuff that needs to be done in between but yeah yeah but that's kind of the commitment part of it on that so Tom yeah just the same thing I asked Josh earlier and the same thing I asked the other three candidates last week I think it's not so much a question just a comment I think it's veryimportant this is valuable valuable work and it's a time commitment and I think the single biggest factor is like you mentioned not going in entrenched going in with an open mind uh not predisposed to any you know predetermined Notions of what you think should happen but rather listening to the other committee members bringing ideas to the table collaborating with each other coming to some sort of common ground or Communication in middle cuz very few things are black and white and I think it's the most important thing is to respect others and part of that is going in dry with a clean blank white sleep is that something that you're comfortable with and able absolutely I'm a very big proponent of agility of thought I think it's really easy to have an idea and stick with it but it takes some some real patience intelligence and flexibility to be able to listen and rethink your own stance I don't really think that so much as like pivoting or flip-flopping is much is like you learn more and you learn better and that's going to form your opinion so first and foremost if you're serving the town if you to be open hearing folks and I'm a good listener thank you excellent okay um any more questions for us um I don't think so just the size of the committee was five I'm sorry the size of the committee oh um Up For Debate maybe we can do whatever we want it's our committee as always we got have cast thousands if we want just one person or whatever we want to do uh I will say that we have uh we have five excellent candidates and I would not be adverse to making all five of them uh members of the committee and one of us is the chairman personally that's how I I I think it's shaping up to be an All-Star team I mean honestly with with her private sector stuff with Josh's military background we have we have Jim that's involved with our finance committee we have Sandy that that has been here for a long time and we have Mary that is a fantastic F energetic person that attacks you know whatever's in front of her so I I think it's literally an All-Star team there I go with all five yeah and I have with those sentiments and I also think that if people are willing to put the time in and volunteer for the better of the Town who are we to decide who should and shouldn't be involved so I think the commitment the involvement the level of enthusiasm is something from all five that we've seen and I have no problem uh recommending all five okay um so do you want to take it up now in terms of a vote you feel comfortable doing that you're welcome to you're welcome to stay and actually Jim sitting behind you is one of our candidates and Joshua sitting behind him is another one so you got three out of the five are all right M bro here so um all right so um well uh I'll be glad to make the motion that we appoint um did you want to do open terms I yes I think what before I think it be open this what appoint Joshua Curtis Mary graines Sandy Nolan Carrie sers and Walters to the town government study committee it's an open term so it doesn't have an ending date until they they finish their work I'll second that okay any discussion all those in favor say I opposed so thank you want to thank all of you folks very much for this now what what has to happen I know you folks haven't been involved before um you have to go see the town clerk you can't do it tonight because she's not there no she's not yet but what I'll do is I'll send you a letter just saying that you've been appointed and then may call the clerk's office and just see if there someone's going to be there to um sway you in so that will be over the next couple days you probably won't get the letter to like next week okay and we uh now need to decide who's going to be the uh chairman of that committee because it'll be one of us and that person will be responsible for setting up the first meeting and we'll do that with uh the assistance of Cody and whatever Town Council anything that's needed to do to do the work all right so um I I I'm it was it was my idea I'm willing to do it I also think though it wouldn't be a bad idea for either Tom or John to to be the chairman so uh I talked to Tom a few minutes ago and I don't know what you feel John so um I'm I'm whatever the the Board needs you know whatever the Board needs obviously you're the most uh senior we'll say of the so get that old man no you've you've been around the block a couple times so I mean I think your I think your knowledge and expertise is is V is vital but I mean I also think you I like the idea of having somebody that's maybe a fresh set of eyes so I whatever the board wants to do I I feel comfortable with a fresh set of eyes I think Tom might be that fresh set of eyes um sure if he's interested I think might be yeah I mean I would like I told you before I would defer to each of you um based on seniority and and knowledge based on what we've done um I'm still the new guy only five months in I do have some ideas that are you know fresh as you mentioned but I I certainly respectfully defer to each of you either of you if that was something that you were interested all right so I'll make a motion that we uh asked Tom uh to be the chairman for the government study committee I'll second that okay any discussion uh I do want to point out I think I think what our group pair these five individuals um the um I like the diversity uh that we have here we've got very educated um Highly Educated highly intelligent people but they come from different and so I mean we got Sandy who is that anchor from the town uh Mary grain again she's been in town for 25 years or something like that and then uh Jim who is uh fantastic on the finance committee and has been great on the zbaa and then Joshua and uh krie who bring a lot of um new uh enthusiasm and ideas and I think it's great so it's fantastic so okay all those in favor of my motion say I I opposed unanimous want to thank you guys very much for your interest uh Tom or Co Cody will get in touch with you shortly to uh set up that first meeting um and you know we're looking forward to what you guys can do and and you need to talk to John Shay I'll go get air there you go excellent all right than you guys so I'm a little behind uh but I got uh candy niffin up next uh the um Community preserv uh presentation on community preservation act right I should wear my glasses I can't read not g take a lot of time I just wanted wanted to um actually there's three members of our committee here tonight but I am speaking because I'm chairman but they should jump in if freely if I forget anything but basically I just want to introduce us because we're a ballot support um committee we are registered we after this was voted to go on to to the ballot the CPA was voted to go on to the ballot we actually there nine of us on the committee and we all felt I think initially uh and still we're fighting this battle but so many people don't even know what CPA is and it stands for Community preservation act and it was enacted in 2000 uh it's an assessment that the town people pay the taxpayers pay but also there's a state um matching matching Grant funds that the state provides on a fluctuating basis it's it's not always the same percentage but for 24 years we feel Halifax has left this money on the table while all the other towns around us the entire cape and many right now it's 109 uh 196 towns in the state that have adopted this around here it's Hala East bridgew Avon and Brockton who have not they're the only times that have and East Bridgewater also has it on its ballot this year but the way it works is the funds that we raise 10% have to go into parks and open or recreation in open space 10% into affordable housing and 10% into historical preservation doesn't affect our tax rate it's not in our taxes our tax bill doesn't change um but what we've tried to do we we really have tried I would say 70% 75% probably of our work has been to try and get information out um we've posted on Facebook we have a website which is what we're primarily referring people to now because everything we've done is on that website and everything we will do is on that website um and it's help me out it's um wwwx M hope.org um what what we believe we've done presentations we're doing another presentation at the mobile home park we're doing we're hoping to do a Public Presentation an evening presentation before the end of October um we've put newspaper we put letters in the editor to the letters to the editor in the newspaper uh and we're just trying to get the word out on how valuable this is we have on our on our website we have and we've posted them on Facebook Community profiles where we've actually taken communities that are CPA communities around here we we on the profile we tell you how much they brought in from the local level how much from State Grant the state matching funds and then what they've done with this money and I think it's amazing what people have done and unfortunately everything here comes out of the Town budget one piece of pie really and one pie and so things are getting kicked down the road one of the things that we keep bringing up is the um blacksmith shop we have such a great historical complex there but we can't go in the blacksmith shop because it's structurally unsound I don't know where we're going to get the money to address that but the CPA fund would be a would be a source of funding for that kind of work we have a great playground if if we want to add a piece of equipment if we want to replace a piece of equipment the CPA fund is is a source of that kind of funding um affordable housing unfortunately it is a little bit getting confused with the um MBTA zoning issue but it really is not in any way involved with that um and it's not necess it's not doesn't have to be a bad thing some towns have used CPA money to hire housing managers who really study the needs of the community and bring back recommendations um as long as we've lived here which is over 40 well over 40 years we um have heard people say my kids can't afford to live in H I raised them here but they can't live here it's too expensive um the CPA has some of the towns have established rental assistance programs um they've established um reu re reusing buildings and just slight somewhat refurbishing them and turning them into Apartments I I believe it's North Andover um renovated a nursing an abandoned nursing home into 29 housing units that are affordable housing um and one of the things that we that this act does is it has abatements people uh seniors moderate earning the moderate income are do not have to pay this assessment um lowincome families do not have to pay this assessment um so so they we the ACT takes into account the fact that there are there's definitely a need for housing this gives us some opportunity of different ways to approach it um and I think I I the other thing is we don't have to spend any of this money in any given year we have to allocate 10% to housing of all the money we get in we have to allocate 10% haveit to housing 10% to Recreation and open space and 10% to historical preservation the other 70% we can spend on any of those three are any in any of those three areas um we can also wait until we have something on that we need to do and let the money just accumulate interest and it will grow continue to grow we as a committee have all sorts of projects that have been put aside so I don't know how much of it is going to be left to grow in the initial years but certainly you know as we address different issues uh will be able to save money some towns have established and this is a little Progressive but some towns have established housing trusts and conservation trusts where they take some of the money each year and they put it in a Housing Trust Fund and or they put it in a conservation trust fund and the Conservation Commission um or the Housing Trust the that's run by a group that's of Trustees of it's own but they uh but it's a town group and they the town can put money in this so that into a fund that they have control over and don't have to go back to town meeting to buy a piece of land that comes a available if we're looking for a piece of land for example for housing or for open space um because we know that the becomes available and if we don't act quickly we lose the opportunity so sometimes I've done that um there's no obligation to establish those but there's so many opportunities that we have if we have funding right now we don't have any money to to do address any of these things we just keep kicking the can down the road so um the nine members of our committee are all longterm heax residents we all raised our kids here we all they all all our kids attend attended or still attend the halat schools uh soil um we've all been on boards we've all volunteered for the community in various different ways and we all really care about the town so I'm just letting you know who we are we I think you know who we are because we've been out here but um we're very sincere about this we hope the community will get informed there's a lot of opportunity that we're trying to provide to inform the community we've had numerous questions we have an email address that we established the very first thing and we've gotten quite a few questions and we've answered all of them and we've posted our answers both on our website and on Facebook so people can see what the questions are and hopefully learn from our answers so I I I have a folder that I'm going to leave that you probably don't all need but give it to a friend uh we have a brochure we have um a couple of Flyers that we've established and we're not done um so thank you for your time we would very much appreciate the select and support in in the CPA um the board of Select did put the article on the town meeting warrant last May and we have run with it so um we would really appreciate your support and thank you for your time thanks for for that presentation so um I think thank you I think there is uh there's a we hear a lot about um we want to keep this a small town we don't want big development we don't want this we don't want that there's there's a lot of talk about that going on right now um but one of the ways that you can do that is when space when land becomes available we can buy it if we wanted to do that and you can take the the the development on uh Route 58 that land was vacant for years up for sale for years if the town thought it should be open space and made into nothing or just left or made into a park or done whatever the CPA funds would have been very helpful to do that so in in my view um I think uh this is sort of like you know putting money aside for your retirement account or your bank account or your your you know I'm going to buy a new house account or buy a new car account or whatever it is um to for those particular purposes so I I personally think it's a great idea I voted in favor of it when we had it last spring um and I and I I think it's I think it's something that will in the long run definitely benefit the town that's my view so yeah I think you guys know where I stand on this one um I mean the instigator Poss yeah one of the instigators right um one of the one of the battlecries for a lot of folks here in Halifax is we want to preserve Halifax we want to keep Halifax the special place that it is in my opinion one of the best tools this town can have is the CPA that is exactly what this program is designed to do is to look at our little communities that we have and set something up to keep them as they are right so folks should really think long and hard about this one um but to me it's a no-brainer uh it's set up for exactly what the majority of our town wants and for us to not take part would be a swing and a miss in my opinion yeah so um you know I I did attend one of your meetings at the Triad um right I did I did ask a question I'm not sure I've heard the answer to quite yet um about whether we can cap the housing bucket or not I think one of the main things you're finding or I'm finding or I'm hearing from people uh along with the confusion with the MBTA zoning law getting lumped in with the housing and the CPA um is just the general thought of this is just one more thing and while I don't think it's just one more thing on the tax cuz I do see the benefits the work that you've put in the benefit it can provide you're kind of juxtaposed with the school budget cuts and the school buses getting cut to preserve the history well a lot of people are thinking about the current and now so I think that's one of your big battles as you're facing what people are feeling now vers if if money was not an object the CPA is a no-brainer because what you can do with it is is precious and you can't get back those historical things once they're gone one of the big concerns I'm hearing though as I've mentioned before is the housing thing I think if if we could get an answer as to whether you could cap that 10% bucket and make it mandatory spending that would be helpful I don't know if that's possible or not and other words if you're collecting 100,000 a year and 10,000 has to go into the housing bucket can we CA that at 20 or 30,000 to spend it on Veterans to spend it on rent rental assistance rather than put aside to buy multi you know multiple part pieces of property because the housing is the thing that people don't want in my opinion so I think it would be beneficial to pass the CPA but to limit the 10 % housing thing cuz everything else I think is a no-brainer the 10% housing bucket I think would be beneficial to be capped I don't know if that's even possible through the state through the rules and that's kind of what I was asking last time as well I candy you got it you want me to take it what what go ahead well I I don't think it's possible Tom I've kicked the tires with the state I don't think it is and I understand what you're saying too where you say housing and and the fur goes up on some folks' neck here sure um I think it might be a little shortsighted though because let's say there's a program that we we as a town want to do we've we've limited oursel to no hey we have to spend it at this amount you know what I'm saying so if there's a program down the road that we're like oh shoot we would really have liked to have done this we've we've painted ourselves into a corner if we if we establish that and I'll remind you too Tom that everything we decide to do has to be voted on at town meeting you know so if it's something that the town folks don't want to do we're not we're not going to do it yeah no I can appreciate that and I don't I'm not looking to argue I just think that if you can pass the CPA and get 90% of the things you're looking for and give 10% of the back to the people who have concerns at the expense of passing the CPA maybe it's some Middle Ground will be appropriate if possible in other words if the blacksmith shop and the trails and the open space and the tennis courts are Nob brainers and the concern is the housing portion of things maybe a cap if possible and again if it's not no problem but if you can assist the veterans and get rental assistance and do things like that that alleviate the concerns for the big project that people do have fears about if you get 90% of what you're looking for done sure I would be in favor of that as a slam dunk sure because the rest of it makes a lot of sense to me I think that's the one concern people have and uh I think it's the biggest obstacle can can I ask a question um so the uh the way this system works is the there there's a a CPA committee was established is that established by election or by appointment or byw it's a bylaw that what would happen is um if it's T then the bylaw selectman would have to develop the bylaw and the state has excellent resources for that and the bylaw would establish the um committee yeah that receives the that that really researches it and decides what to recommend and then when they finish each year looking at the applications they then put an article on the town meeting warrant to recommend to the town that they vote these project projects um and then it has to be passed so the reason I asked that question is just to address Tom's concern because it seems to me that um that composition of that committee uh that could be one of the not necessarily qualification but an issue that you would whoever's on the board that make appointments would ask those people on that committee so what do you think about this is this something that you'd be interested in and if the board and that person you know that committee agrees to it would pretty much have done what you wanted it's just not uh not not going around whatever the law is I'm not sure on it but it seems to me that that's one way of managing it um you know we could whoever's interviewing the members of the CPA committee because you can't do anything until the CPA committee makes a recommendation right is that I understand but there are some specifics to the CPA Committee in terms of representation clant has to there has to be someone representing a planning board conservation uh housing housing parks and Parks there's five that are required and Recreation and then four members up to four members at large um but if I could just I I agree with John in our in the research we've done it doesn't look like there's any flexibility to cap any of the three but the thing that would concern me about capping it at 20 or 30,000 is you can't do much with that um and I think not to interrupt but I think that would be the point of the people who don't would not be in favor of the CPA that would be the sort of control that they would like to see in place with this one portion of it that's what I'm trying to say yeah a good uh it's not just what you buy but it's what you a lot of towns have leveraged the money uh there's so many grants out there for housing different kinds of housing refurbishing house just so many grants and so many of them are state and federal and they require matching funds um we can use CPA funding as matching funds um I think I I correct I I don't know I think there's no argument that housing is an issue that we have we need more housing um How We Do It CPA gives us a lot of control in in how we choose to do it um and so I'm not sure that capping it is a solution there may be another solution but I think people need to remember that this was established to to to encourage towns to take care of things that they can't do in their regular budget and to give them a way to do it without raising taxes without um overrides without having to go for an override uh because we're in an emergency situation at that point and things are going to cost more but I think that um the fact that we have control that we have to put yes we have to put I'm going to tell you that in I'm almost certain that we can't cap it but we're still investigating that um but we can't spend it without town meeting approval we can't there's no committee that administers this fund except the voters from Halifax and so if something we don't want like a three story whatever is being recommended they don't have to accept that so can I just jump in here if that being the case and I I think the chair mentioned this if all the money has to be approved at town meeting then how do we act quickly on a piece of property that just goes up for sale that's what I was explaining in the Housing Trust and the conservation trust fund is these are like we go to town meeting and now we're we have to appropriate 10% 10% 10% but we can take some of that money that's in let's just say housing and we can put it in a separate account as a Housing Trust which then becomes available to whoever we put in charge of that it it's a separate Board of Trustees it's not so money could be spent without the town voting on them that that money could be but the town is voting to give it to them and give them the right to do that so if the town says no no no we don't want we want to keep total control we don't establish a Housing Trust Fund that's just one option or conservation is another so if a if the town establishes a conservation trust just as an example to switch it from housing sure uh can the town take it back to the next town meeting or is that an ongoing process once it's in trust is it stay trust they they they they don't ever have to do that but is it is it are there are they revocable funds where they could be transferred back out of the trust back in the town control for open meeting approval or once they're in the trust do they stay in the trust I will find that out because I can't really give you a definite answer but I can say that the town let's they don't have to appropriate all that money they can take a portion of that 10% that's in there and let's just say um I think Norwell puts $90,000 a year into a conservation fund or there's few towns that do this and they don't like what's happening whatever they don't they don't um they don't have to put any more money in it's very possible that they can get take it out I don't know that for sure I don't think it's as as firm as the three buckets that we have to put the money in but it's a good question and I think we'll find I will find that out because just as a last thing I just want to make it pretty clear that I appreciate the effort and time everyone's put in and on its own I think it's a terrific idea and should be passed I'm just presenting some of the obstacles that I'm hearing sure and trying to work around them for some people who are just viewing this as one more thing one more obligation one more drain in my wallet and trying to find solutions to find Hey listen this is not as presented there are ways around it I think one of the main things you're seeing besides the housing thing becoming the main issue in town is the control that some people feel they're being stripped of so I think that once money is out of the commission or out of the bucket the bucket 10% bucket and into a trust I think that's one step closer from it being out of our pockets and in somebody else's control more government more oversight more things and I think that's the biggest problem not just in Halifax but in a lot of places that you're feeling and I think that's a big obstacle that you're facing again though on its own the CPA should have been passed 25 years ago a lot of money was left on the table we're late to it maybe better late than never but I think some people are just looking at their bottom line saying Hey listen it's one more thing I have no control of it somebody else will be spending my money on things that I wouldn't necessarily vote for and I think it's one more thing out of their control that's I I I I promise this was the last thing I'm done and I'll be done that's a very um important point and that's why as a community we don't have to establish a Housing Trust Fund or a conservation trust fund that's an option that some communities not all have taken advantage of um so I think I want to make sure that I didn't create a any confusion there that's just another yeah no I don't think you did I just think it's a it's a thing that's out there so if I'm if I'm opposed to the CPA which I'm not opposed to the CPA if I was opposed and I was saying Hey listen all of a sudden somebody else is going to put the board together to establish a Housing Trust what does that look like that's one step away further step away from control of things I have concerns about and that's a good point because the committee has to be established and I think that's just I mean it's all ahead of all that and the rest of what I was going to say that's important is we have to realize that a lot of what we can do with CPA is something that's going to have to be done at some point a lot of it not all of it but a lot of it whether it's a liability issue I personally think the tennis courts are a liability issue because of the shap they in if we have to go to the town for an override that affects our tax rate that affects their affects their tax bill if we can do a lot of this through CPA it's it's the average homeowner in how tax according to our latest figures as of today um would be assessed $88 a year 40 $44 in to payments and I'd rather do that than have my taxes just continue to go up they're also permanent when when you go for an override that becomes part of your new tax rate so so this is a a better we see this as a better way to fund what we think is going to have to be funded in the long run anyway um but I appreciate your comments and I H I appreciate you bringing up those questions because we don't have answers to a couple of them and we will work to get them thank well there's also some always the complaint is the state can always change their mind which they can but right now there's a matching fund of some extent so whatever we put in we get a certain amount yeah last year was 21% matching right so next year could be zero or 50 who knows but at least they keep it going lowest it's been was 17 had a year with 17 and a year with 19 and the expectations are that now that the housing market is picking up because that's the source of funding is from the registry of De uh whatever happens you know the payments that's a big source of of the state funding it all goes into the CPA uh and also we went through covid and I mean if we had done this 24 years ago the match was 100% but hindsight 2020 even at 21% where can you get that kind of return on your money right now and there and just and I don't want to keep going here guys I know but but there's never a perfect time to to do CPA we're going to have great years we're going to have lean years um my my take is you the town just has to decide whether they want to do it or not and there's going to be times when it's really easy and times when it's a little difficult but I still think it's a program that we need to to maintain through the good times and the bad and we establish a relationship with the people at the state we can call and ask questions and we can send them questions and um it's a great resource and that's really what we're trying to do and spend our time doing is just getting the answers to questions that people have and putting it out there and letting people know what it is well you've done a lot of work Wonderful effort silver it's a lot of work but a what do you want us to do you want us to well I we're not I'm not going to ask you to take a position right now in front of us but we would love a vote of support from the board of Selectmen and pretty much any other committee that would like to support this CP program um I'll take that step and I'll I'll make a motion the board of selectman supports the um the CPA you tonight um I am going to just because of my involvement in the committee John I think I will abstain that's okay just just so there's no uh thoughts of impropriety or anything I'm stain okay um all those in favor say I any chance we could postpone this uh till two weeks from now just for some foresight but Ian Still Still before the election correct all right so let me withdraw my motion it's a procedural thing there so again this is not a lot of support for it I just want to make sure that I have all the questions I need answered prior to doing so that's great so why don't we put this on the agenda for whatever our next meeting dat is I don't know what it is October something okay Fant great work thank you thank you for your efforts thanks for your time thank you guys all right uh so we are a little bit behind but we have uh the Police Department chief sorry about that um if uh let's see Walter um Walter pet second second time I hear you in R um so I just wanted to uh uh thank everyone for uh put on the agenda I'm I'd like to bring forward Mr Walter better known as Sunny Peterson for the board to consider appointing as a special police officer um Mr Peterson is retired from the P Police Department uh and he wants to serve and continue to serve in the law forment capacity he worked for Plymouth from 2015 to 2024 before that he was employed as a COR officer for the state from 2006 2015 he graduated from Boston English high school and currently lives in pum we conducted a comprehensive background check on him as we always do on all our employees and I think he be a great addition to our team right now so I would have recommend that once the board you know concludes their interview with with Med that they would appoint him as a special okay um so do you want to just tell us a little bit about yourself so we know who we're talking with sure as um Chief said I uh work for the P police I was a patrolman for 9 years I just recently retired in July um what looked great financially I I missed the job I loved the community policing I loved dealing with the people in the community I love responding to calls for service and helping people when I could um and I'd love to do it again I I checked around there's three or four local towns I do allow their specialist to do Patrol ships um cifax was my first choice and hopefully my my only choice I need I'd just love to get back on the road being a police officer again being Patrol right and questions from the board uh no I I kind of have the standard question that I ask all all our um potentials is conflict resolution do you have a style um you know you approach a scene there's there's escalating conflict would you have a style of calization or what what's your approach my my favorite way I I like to deal with people I treat them like people I talk to them like people like I'm a person not a police officer coming talking down to a resident um friendliness um politeness kill them with kindness works 99% of the time there's always going to be that 1% that it won't work on but um I think the way I talk to people I talk to them as a person but and I relate to what situation they're going through um 99% of the time they've all been through the same situation and uh I make them feel like I understand them and I'm not there to judge them not there to control them I'm there to help them as a person thanks Tom I don't have much thank you for your interest oh thank you very good thank you um all right so uh I uh any board want make any discussions anything so we have strong recommendation from the chief uh the uh this candidate seems like a wonderful uh addition to our our police force and so I would uh move that we appoint Walter uh Peterson as a special police officer for the term ending June 30th 20125 they all they all end at the same time second second any discussion no all those in favor say I I opposed congratulations thank you very much for your interest look forward to seeing you very thank you sir thank you uh Chief while you're here um do you want to talk to us about uh littering yeah so um and trespass one of your previous meetings uh there was some discussion on considering adopting some some bylaw changes for the town regards to what trespassing and I think living I think uh source of it was was the the uh Beach once yeah um so so uh I uh talked to Cody I I explained to him that sometimes we create too many laws we already have strong laws in the books state laws uh that are enforcable that have uh you know severe penalties for littering for trespassing uh you know trespassing after notice is arrestable not presence um you know if we have an issue one of the officers issues at the beach and somebody doesn't want to leave he can be placed under arrest or she can be placed under arrest um as far as as the lettering you know there's a state law you know in place right now that we can issue citations for for littering from a motor vehicle if somebody litters in in in our presence and they refuse to pick up to pick up the uh the litter this uh $5,500 fine that it can be it can be imposed on them um so I think you know it's it's obviously the board's decision if they want to uh you know add bylaws you know to to bylaws but I at this point I would think it will just be Reinventing the wheel because then we got to address the issues on how to collect those monies that's one of the issues that we we've had with some of our previous bylaws they were just not you know written correctly and and they don't have a u a mechanism for us to collect these fines you know we had the problem with the with the U the the dog licensing you know I I found out that we had we had never brought anybody to court to collect leg fees uh and so I reach out to the court and I'm like you know he goes well you know we'll collect them we'll we'll have the hearings you know but no no one's ever asked to have hearings so we're telling people that if you don't license your dog you're going to get fine and then we don't follow through with it so there you know there's no Hammer to it so it it just goes know just doesn't there's no enforcement so um I mean I can I can you know email you guys the uh the chapters and sections um so trespassing after no is 26620 I mean it's like said arable not presence it mean the the highest baly is is in in conservation 30 days in the house of correction um so I mean there's a lot of teeth to to that same thing with with trespassing on private property with a M vehicle you know we'll tell a lot of the resident sites and discussions with the with the the M as uh ice cre shop cuz they were having people Park the vehicles there and then walk to the beach it wasn't posted just post post that that violat will be tore away and you know and if if worst case we can we know uh if they're there and they're trping it's a $500 fine you know again obviously has to happen our presence it can't happen past um so I think there's there's plenty of um of teeth in in in these laws I I know that that the pock commissions at a yesterday there was some some stuff discussed to try to you know set up a plan of attack for next year in advance so we have people in place uh things in place to to address those issues so hopefully get those residents some relief U for for next year because uh we all know that this this year was kind of a mess MH well I brought up the uh these two things so the trespass part I was uh somebody suggested to me that maybe uh there are too many um allterrain vehicles or motorbikes frankly I don't know uh but out on like the the Y property or something like that I don't know if that's true or not um so so that so that problem is is again some of the some of the Youth of of you know enjoying open space I should say obviously it's it's in private property um we that property is posted uh and and it's it's a it's one of those uh balancing Acts that that you know we kind of know that what's happening but we kind of like allow it to happen because you know if you start to come down on some of these kids they'll you know they'll be damaged cause potential damage to the water to the water department stuff there you know other other things so it's kind of you know there's violations there you know we have we have things in in our in our tool boox that we can address it um but again disc plays you know a big part in some of these things yeah well I think enforcement of any of this stuff is a problem anyway um but it I didn't realize that that was already posted property so it uh that kind of solves that problem on the on the littering part of it uh something similar um I didn't realize that there are state laws that have to do with littering um and I don't know maybe uh one of the things we could do is ask the parks department to post uh signs that specifically tell you don't leave your trash on the ground right I mean that kind of thing I I assume that's where most of this is coming from and I agree and the the uh again the fine line that we you know we so we have we have the we have the TR so I I don't I mean it could happen you know like there always you know 99% of the time people will you know abide by the laws and there's always that 1% I could see where where somebody you know in front of the officer grabs a you know bag of of of cans or whatever dumps them on the ground and I refuses to pick them up it could happen right at that point you know we can address it um you know the stuff that's happening is that the living is is Left Behind because the Overflow garbage barrels and stuff like that so it's difficult for for us to enforce it that way um you know because again it hasn't happened in our present we have to see it um so that's kind of technical well I think um so again the whole idea of even putting a bylaw in place would have been uh really to uh emphasize the point I think most people follow the law I mean you know even if they don't like it they'll follow what they're supposed to do and if they see a sign that say don't Litter they're they're going to be more careful than if they don't see one so I think that's help and I thought the bylaw uh on on littering might be something along those lines too but if you're telling us I I can for you the the the the M laws and you and the town can kind of you know have our legal people look at it and then you know tell us something that's more you know for us yeah uh because I mean obviously like one of the sections of the law is that you know if uh if we if we have reports of somebody dumping the more than 7 7 cubic feet of trash okay not only can we can we find them over $5,000 but if it's they use a vehicle while do it we can confiscate that Vehicle Impound that vehicle um you know again that's for that's for the cas is like we actually had cases where a neighbor would call on on somebody else you know backing up their car to what what they think is is you know abandoned property and and dump in you know their uh their household garbage um so we've had we actually charge somebody you know because obviously they leave their household garbage and it has their address in you know they're smart too smart smart criminals so so yeah so I mean I could I could for you that stuff and you got touch I think I think that would be helpful and and again I agree with you we make sometimes we make too many laws uh and it it it becomes difficult to even um address them we I mean I I I don't presume us to appoint Mr uh Peterson to stand you know guard looking for trash every place that that would be stupid so but I do think you know I do think it sometimes it if we can um just just just make the public statement whether and not not through here really but through signage probably that says you know if you litter it's it's it's a potential penalties and so on so forth most people will follow that I mean it's just not I mean most people aren't aren't showing up to throw trash on the beach they just happen to you know like you say the trash I think they should take the darn trash cans out of there it should be carry in carry out yeah I think that they changed that towards the end of the season the committee changed their mind and now was at the parks meeting yesterday they discussed about removing the barels they didn't make a full decision yet our suggestion was to them though not to do it in the middle of the season you already have oh yeah there they're expec there the people are just going to throw it there no matter what but if they start off next year and there's nothing down there then they can adopt the policy to carry carry and I and I I mean you go to any state park or federal or national park that's the way it is and you know you just don't you don't you don't look for a trash can which prevents raccoons Bears mice all that other problems and it looks much nicer so well if you could send us that material and then um um I suppose at some point maybe we'll just make a a recommendation to the parks department to get some signage up I know they were supposed to do that last year and for whatever reason they didn't get around to it uh but maybe we can uh work on that over the winter a little bit and some of these problems will hopefully um just not pester you folks and us as much as they have been anything from the no just uh well Ted you're at the meeting the other night did they talk about an attendant at all have they had any luck with any sort of attendant the police department really is pushing for that attendant to be down because not for enforcement set of eyes set of eyes and if there is any issues just get on the full correct call the police department um down there um so yes yeah it sounds like you have the tools in your in your bag with the laws but it's just a question of putting eyes on it right we can't put someone down there operational for uh 60 nowal on on a weekend yeah no that's crazy yep okay Tom any more comments questions okay chief thank you very much excellent thanks Ted all right so uh I think I've caught up sort of I think we're on schedule Let's uh you want to go to the top and just do the warrants and so on get that card I move to approve a uh airm approval of the following warrant and commitment vendor warrant number 25 for $45,600 75 ambulance commitments from 9 to 202 4 through 98 2024 for $848 1922 second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous I move to approve of the following warrants payroll warrant number 26 for $459,450 45 vendor warrant number 27 for $61,500 unanimous um and so let me skip down to G approval of uh selectman meeting uh minutes has everybody reviewed them are we ready to move on those all right uh can I have a motion to approve the uh August 13th regular session meetings so moved any uh do we have a second second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous how about August 26th so moved we second second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous and August 27th so move second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous okay now green us of town green we have a request from the uh beautification committee to uh approve uh the kickoff event for the fall cleanup week which will be from October 5th 2024 to October 13th uh we will pass out litter busting supplies from 9 to 12 if people come 88 to 4 there will be sign up for pizza and raffle uh I think what they want is um October 5th yep time to set up at 8:45 start at 9: end at 1 um I guess um okay and there room there just I guess no one else is using the town green at that all right um so I'll make a motion to approve the use of the Town green second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos Jas uh signature form so for Council and aging um I have okay the uh Council on Aging uh is requesting that Barbara Curtis uh have signature Authority uh when the uh director uh Darlene Reagan is absent uh I'll make that motion do we have a second second any discussion all those in favor say I opposed that's unanimous here is the signature that that that that all right um updates on things um Cod is not here uh I don't think there's any update on the mvta that's uh The Next Step will be October 5th the right day 10 is it the 10th I'm sorry what oh no it's that Thursday whatever that Thursday is the 10th let me check let's check make sure I go misting things uh October the 10th uh we'll have a uh there'll be a public hearing on the uh MBTA um uh housing U proposals um I don't think anything else needs to be done before that um Town Administrator update out together yeah okay just a quick question on the NBTA uh on the 10th do we know if representative latra will be in attendance that night herself um not positive uh I am expecting to have a dis talk talk with her this week so I'll try and find out I I uh we've asked her to we've asked them to um so starting a couple months ago we we've had these weekly meetings with o old colony planning Council Miss lra's office Senator Brady's office um and the other State Rep doesn't you know the seats vacing um and they have been involved in the discussions about the MBTA and all of that and and I've emphasized to them over and over and over and over again that uh we do have a lot of um questions about about this law and that the best source of those answers comes from the state representatives so I'm hoping I'm hopeful they will agreed I think it would be productive if either or both could have I think so yeah and we've asked them to I last I heard they were so I we'll keep checking on that um that's it correspond nothing else all right uh motion to adjourn so move any discuss uh second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous good night