okay so it's 5:30 we'll open the meeting uh just point out that the uh select meeting will be uh uh recorded by area 58 first item on our agenda is a uh uh executive session and and I will make a motion that we go into executive session uh pursuant to general laws 38 section 21 to discuss a town assistant Town accountant uh in so far as uh to conduct strategy sessions and preparations for negotiation with non-union personnel and also uh Morris Brothers to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and I do declare that those discussions in public session would hurt our um ability to uh manage the case I'll second that motion right we have any discussion uh Tom yes John yes I vote Yes we'll go into recess and come right back out public session um if you would join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance I I pled aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you sorry guys all right uh let's see so first thing on our agenda uh well we have a six o'clock appointment with the um where we are here soning bylaw committee update so Frank's I saw somebody Frank's here oh Jerry's here okay good so um I can uh I just want to just make it clear what we're doing um almost a year ago uh the selectman appointed uh or kind of revised re re rein instituted the zoning bylaw Review Committee uh with a charge to uh review the zoning bylaw taking into account all kinds of uh all of the issues but including the uh potential for the MBTA zoning issue that we do need to address by the end of the year uh we were supposed to have a uh a recommendation by February for May's town meeting and frankly the the job was just too big to get that done I want to compliment the committee though uh and they have worked very hard on this including the Building Commissioner and and the Town Administrator to uh go through the entire bylaw uh and make uh various recommendations and so on we're not entirely done yet we have probably at our next meeting uh which I think is in August um we'll be able to uh uh uh finalize uh a a a recommended uh um zoning change for the or zoning bylaw change for the MBTA issue I think that's the only thing we're that we're un not done yet right yeah we have to make a small a few small adjustments right and there's a few there were a few things um the board has a uh an executive summary um and it it's again this is a this was a big very big job again I need to compliment the committee uh including uh the building inspector and town councel and everybody did a fantastic job um it's it's hard for me to um to summarize it other than to say in in kind of like very bold uh or very general uh that we did some reorganization uh in terms of consolidating some definitions and so on um we um did some uh organization in terms of the uh uh the way uh things were outlined alphabetically uh in certain places um we had the the various changes made to which committee is going to handle that again it's a very detailed thing the board has uh the red line copy of the zoning bylaw um our our hope is that um by our next meeting um our NE not this board's meeting but but the next zoning committee's meeting that we'll also have finalized as a recommendation for the MBTA part of it uh we'll then ask this board to uh adopt the zoning changes and and get the process moving so in order for us to move this process ahead uh we need to get at the uh um zoning before the planning board um and we're just about ready to do that so that they can hold their hearings and everything it's our expectation that we'll have a special town meeting in the spring I mean in the uh before the end of the year and uh this will be part of that so I don't know if anybody on the board has any comments or questions um it's again it's a kind of a detailed uh change has been we've went through every single part of this bylaw John is there uh any sort of chance of I don't want to say a presentation but yes um you know that we can kind of go over it with the public and explain rationale or anything like that how how deep are we going to get into this again we're going to have we we will we will do that we do have to have a uh a presentation um we want to pres present the whole thing at once I know the hot issues in it are uh MBTA the MBTA part of it so that'll be a big focus and again that bylaw is just about done we're using a model bylaw and we have had it as you know we had it uh sent to the the uh State uh Authority uh and they sent back some some some recommended changes which we're either implementing or or or trying to uh explain outside of that um we should be done by that next meeting so then after that once this board accepts it because it's this is just a subcommittee of this board uh then we move ahead with uh presentations and so on okay we also have been working with um Old Colony planning Council um representative lanatra and Senator Brady so next steps John mentioned would be a um zoning bylaw rebuke committee meets uh first week of August I believe it is have uh the final edits back to this board on August your August 13th meeting meeting for your kind of formal uh blessing on it and then work with the planning board to have meetings with them public hearings as required to get on the town meeting um warrant and then we're also working with old County Planning Council and um representative vatra and and Senator Brady to do a public for so um you know the the impact that their involvement isn't necessarily with the local zoning stuff but the NBTA zoning in particular because this is something that's coming down from the state so um they've they've taken on hands- on approach here in Halifax as well so we will have them available so residents can you know ask questions of them and how this came to be um and then we also will look to do one or two more public workshops where we'll do um you know maybe an overview presentation to the public just to try to a lot of lot of changes in here most of them are just cleaning things up but there are some changes of substance so we want to make sure everyone understands that and get the information out and education um out to everyone as much as in advance of time meeting that as we can so that's that's the plan going forward great so it's taken us about a year here uh but we have uh I think we made a lot of progress um and uh you know we want to make sure that uh this can be um because it is such a big it'll be a big big change only because it's so big itself the Z bylaw that we we have to have all those public hearings and so everybody knows what's going on awesome could you uh have the meeting minutes posted online yeah we're working on that that should be done by the what the meeting minutes or those only byw committees oh sure MH and and the executive summary that you guys have uh yeah I don't see why not it's just again it just identifies um B section changes so without without looking at the bylaw you can't understand whether it's talk okay uh any other comments or questions that's really just a uh unless Jerry or Frank were both on the uh committee have anything to add no I you've explained it very well yeah I mean it's it's been it's it's a it was a big job a very big job but then this committee's just outstanding good outstanding okay um I got almost 615 we got one more we got one minute or so you want to do some of these Mars I move to airm approval of the following commitments and warrants payroll warrant number 126 for $2,647 54 School warrant number 127 for 1,292 7256 vendor warrant number 128 for $31,250 125 payroll warrant number four for $287,808 vendor warrant number five for 25467 3.31 a withholding warrant number six for $133 ambulance commitments July 1 2024 through July 7 2024 for $354 4190 ambulance commitments 78 2024 through 714 2024 for $ 47,5 6820 second um any discussion um all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous um I move to approve of the following warrant vendor warrant number 7 for $1 177,178 all right any discussion all all those in favor say I oppos against unanimous um okay I think it's about 6:15 so we have uh an appointment with um the library trustees who's here and uh you want us to uh Appo because you had some resignations you want us to appoint Tina Palmer and Holly Dy who were both here um as Library trustees right um they will have to run for election in May all right so so this is an appointment from now until the election in May all right um do you want to tell us what your interests are wanted oh um so I've been in Halifax for 15 years um when I was in college I worked for six years for the Lal library and then I went and got my um Business Degree so when the position opened up I just felt like it was a good time to get into the community and help out with the library I love the homes Public Library so that was why I was interested all right Tina you've been involved in a bunch of stuff well I've been involved in library since I a b but um was a trustee um at age 10 I started volunteering at the library at age 14 I this Gass called me and said on my birthday and said you're 14 you can go get a a waiver for it so you can the next day I started with the library I work there till I graduated from college and and then I went away for 10 years came back and and brought my kids up here at the library excellent okay good um that's two two fantastic resumes right there agreed it's worthwhile working thank you for volunteering yeah yeah awesome so the only thing is you'll have to get signatures and run in the spring but um I don't imagine you'll have too much trouble with that so is that something you both want to do think so I think so okay great great well welcome it's good okay um so uh I guess I'll do we'll do one at one at a time I suppose just make our record clear so I'll move that we um appoint uh Tina Palmer to an open seat on the board of Library trustees um is it technically have an expiration date Pam yeah it's on May 17th 2025 all right good all right okay so do I have a second I second do we have any discussion all those in favor say I hi it's you NS also move that we appoint Holly Dylan as a uh to fill an open seat on the board of Library trust trustees with an expiration date of May 17 2025 second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed congratulations thank you guys thank you question oh oh yeah so there's there's two seats open um one expires at a certain time are they being appointed to certain SE seats now or they're just going to be appointed until May and then in April they decide which seats they're going to run for I think they have they'll have to draw papers for seat they want right now they're just being appointed to theill just until May right but but in in May I don't know which one is longer than the other one but that that's up to you guys whatever you want could both apply for the same one I suppose but I don't think that's a good idea but that's right yeah awesome thank you I had a quick question so if we've been sworn into another committee do we still y I'm going to have him sign the card and then I'll cont guys tomorrow down get so you can't vote until you see the clerk and get swed but you can still go to meetings of course okay very good well thank you thank you for the library trustees and everyone for coming and all that thanks than all right uh so we still have a few more minutes uh's not here got anyway H Eva is not here yet for the 6:30 or 6:30 is not here yet all right yeah so uh let's see we have um we did all the warrants uh skip over the minutes skip over the minutes okay so we'll skip over the minutes government study committee so this was um we've spoken about this a few times um and at theet the last meeting in June the board had requested that uh I prepare a charge a draft committee charge for the government study committee so uh in your packets was a draft charge this was based off of some research from other communities that have done uh similar studies and also um with the advice of council included um his email on the packet as well and this is really just for a starting point of kicking off the conversation and then whatever the board's pleasure is we can make those amendments um to the charge and and move forward so uh this was um I started this discussion myself I think um as as we can tell from the zoning bylaws and some of the other bylaws I think that it's time for the town of Halifax to study itself and decide what direction it wants to head in uh we've had um in the past some discussion about expanding the board of Selectmen turning certain positions into uh appointed positions as opposed to elected positions all of that I think should be done in in the context of a of a of of one study so that we don't do things peac me and make more conflicts than we already have so that's why I recommend we do this we did Cody and I have a discussion with um uh Paul dures uh who's one of our legal councel who has vast experience in this particular type of uh governmental issue like whether the uh changing the form of government or anything like that and he recommended uh which I think is a way to do it that the board of selectman appoint a commit to to do the study it'll be just like the zoning bylaw committee it will be a committee that will uh make a recommendation and then uh move ahead from move ahead from there one way or another the only thing I would um change in the U in the charge here um would be uh to make all of the uh uh members um all the six members uh other than the one from the board of Selectmen um appoint appointed not not from a position but just an appointed member so in this charge it says one representative from the finance committee first of all that's a bit of a problem we think because of the way the finance committee is not supposed to be on anything other committees so I don't I don't think so but I also think we this is a huge job uh I'm not going to try to downplay it at all whoever gets involved in this really has to be somebody who is in for a long call and willing to do an awful lot of work so I would rather uh see that the three of us uh maybe come up with three people each or something like that that we might think might be appropriate for something like this um I think the the qualities I would look for would be uh someone with um uh with experience in town government already but not a current official of any sort uh and someone who uh is also very thoughtful uh in terms of how they go about things I mean I have some folks in my mind already that I've seen work in the past and do a wonderful job and and I'm not sure if they're interested because I haven't talked to about it but I would uh I would I would do it that way so that would be my suggestion to it um I do think um that the uh one member of the board of Selectmen it can be whoever is most interested in it should be on that committee as the chairman for two reasons one is because by making one of the members of the board of selectman on that committee we have we better access as a selectman to resources sometimes you know than somebody who or just a committee who would be getting together and then the second thing is um I think by appointing a selectman as a chairman it'll it'll get the ball rolling and keep the ball rolling better than just trying to get people together and say okay now what do you want to do next just just keep the focus on it my recommendations so your suggesting one chair Board of Selectmen and four members at large to consist of the five member voting party yes plus Town Council and Town Administrator as members of the committee non voting capacitor yeah and that's um that's more or less how the Zone bylaw committee has been working and it's worked fantastic like like I said we have Town Council uh involved in in helping us go through all the detail the committee itself uh makes its recommendations and of course Cody's our basically support for the whole thing so and the idea John nobody currently in an office just so that there's no uh you know you of any sort of impropriety or anything like that exactly because I think I think all of the offices are going to be under consideration for uh the um ultimate structure of the government whatever that might be uh and so I wouldn't want anyone uh to be compromised at all uh in that in that what I'd be looking for would be an objective thoughtful um uh future yeah whether whether this board agrees with it when they get to it that's different or whether it gets through T beating that's different also sure but at least take a crack at it yeah yeah that's how that's how that's how I Envision It Anyway do we want to um put this on the next meeting and let us try and think of some folks is that all we want to do I would do it transparently and maybe post something online saying we're accepting Talent ping forms I think you want to give everyone a fair shot you know at it okay so if the board approves the charge we can get something posted this week have a deadline of the end of August you know give give everyone a month to submit Talent P forms and then um we could have them in in a September meeting have everyone in and then would it be incumbent upon a receipt of a talent Bank form to be on the committee for consideration or could be members not having submitted the form also be considered by the nominating committee I would say you'd likely want to follow a process and have everyone submit a form so absent a talent Bank form that just like we do with all the boards and committees that's how we've historically done it if you're interested to submit you know a form showing your interest I mean it's up to the board but I would just say you wouldn't want to fall you wouldn't want to be any different in this process than you are with all your other for so if you have somebody in mind that you think might be a a good candidate then talk to them and and first find if they're interested and they sure are interested then they throwing out a tal bank for pretty easy just just check off a box and put your name on it's not much to good so um all right anything else talk about no the charge looks good so I I would um so I made the change that one change yep so membership now says the government study committee shall consist of seven members five of which shall be voting members one representative from the board of Selectmen four other members at large can we change that the one Board of Selectmen who will be the chair I have that wording it afterwards um four other members at large appointed by the board of selectman Town Administrator and Town Council the board of selectman Representative Shall Serve as chair of the committee okay that's good and we will put this on the meeting for September the 1st September meeting to consider talban forms and we'll have plan have anyone who submitted one we'll plan to have them in before the board okay great what is the whole reason that you want to change and what kind of things are you thinking about I don't necessarily want to change I want to study it so right now we have uh a form of government that's been in effect since 1773 for and uh if you look at the uh bylaws sometimes there's inconsistency some of the bylaws are way outdated uh some of the positions maybe need to be rethought um I'm not sure everyone that's currently elected should be elected but I think that's what this committee should be looking now uh okay uh let's see it is not quite 6:30 so we can talk about Al hinst as a special police officer yes so officer HK served the town for many years as a police officer um he retired on July 14th we plan to have him in to recognize his service um at your August 13th meeting uh he was unavailable to attend tonight's meeting but the chief shav's requested that he be appointed as a special officer so if there um anything comes up to utilize him between now and then he's able to do so okay um I would move that we appoint uh Al HST as a special police office second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous all right uh we still have time for the memorandum of agreement with the um assistant Town accountant uh yes so this one is as you all know our town accountant uh retired June 30th uh we do have an accounting consultant who is assisting us but that person is only in the office a couple hours a week uh with that our assistant Town accountant has taken on a lot of the responsibility um in the office as far as responding to department heads um to handling all of payroll so with that uh I presented the board with a proposed memorandum of agreement for just a temporary uh increase in compensation while we're without a town account in the office um and it would automatically be repealed upon the hiring or if anything changes the board wants to repeal that okay any discussion from the board no I think it makes a lot of sense I think also um okay uh so I would move that we um approve the uh memorandum of agreement with uh Lindsay Martinelli as assistant Town Council as described second any discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed that's unanimous y um okay I know you're here for 6:30 so I'm try to make sure I can get you right on schedule um do the ARA discussion you can move on to the ARA discussion for some oh okay yeah that's a good idea uh so the board had previously allocated $463,500 to um fund Halifax's portion of air conditioning at Silver Lake it was initially proposed to uh install air conditioning at both the high school and middle school um they have gone out to bid on that project and that has come in in um over budget by $262,900 and that's actually only going to do half of the AC at the middle school um simultaneously there was another project which was going to provide a rooftop unit hbac unit on the high school cafeteria um Halifax's portion of that was $100,100 and that was um funded through a town meeting uh article at the uh spring 2023 town meeting and that that has come in at a deficit uh so what Silver Lake has requested is that we move some of the arpa money that was initially approved to the other project for the rooftop unit um it's still within the HVAC and we've already spoken to the county and they have no concerns with it but because technically you are moving it from one project to another it does require the board's authorization so um the new figures would be the um AC project for the Middle School only would be 410,000 $523 79 would be Halifax's portion and then the um new cost for the rooftop unit at the high school would be $152,900 1100 is previously appropriated the town meeting and $529 21 would be that Aro funding being transferred from um the project that was already approved to this other project so no no uh net increase it's just a change from one project to another at the Gold HVAC U but because it was a very specific scope that the board approved initially we wanted to bring it back to get the board's approval uh plinton has already approved the change in Kingston I believe it's before the board tomorrow or must might have been yesterday so tell me uh it's 52 85621 correct uh that will be transferred from what from the previously approved 463,000 4 $ 63380 of arpa funding that the board has already approved for Silver Lake okay but it was specific to a a project have AC for the middle school and high school they're now only doing half of the middle school with that project okay and this is going to be transferred to to a high school uh cafeteria rooftop unit um of which we already appropriated 100,100 at town meeting on our ation fund okay I just want to make sure the motion is correct okay any discussion can I just ask Cody what is it just because the rising cost from when we when we did the bid to to what we have now um you know I do we have the kind of inside on I don't have the full answer I really I they they worked with their um host doter initially to get an estimate of what the project would cost I don't I don't know if there was a miscommunication um of why you know initially it was initially it was 1.5 million to do both schools um and now they're only able to do half of the middle school with that and and part of it certainly rising cost maybe some miscommunication just seems like a crazy jump for 1.5 for both to now half of one school for 1.5 and when do they anticipate doing the remaining half uh so they just they just procured this they did a proposal uh and they just got the proposals in but they can't sign a contract because technically they don't have the funding in place so now they are waiting for us to us and the other communities to reallocate the F funding and then they're able to sign a contract um we have made it known to them that they need to have a contract in place by like the end of August because this is um money from the county ARA funding and if we do not have this committed by September 30th we lose this we don't want to lose any money you know from the county so um all the three of us communities have advised them that if we do not have something by the end of August we plan to bring it back to each of our individual boards and recommend real you know we we have other things that we could absolutely spend it on um so but but we're pretty confident and we've been assured by the school administration that they will get able to do it okay so again this is a motion to transfer arpa money been previously uh designated to the air conditioning at the middle school and high school and high school and now it would be transferred to cafeteria rooftop unit at the high school yep so $529 sense will be transferred I just want to make it make sure our record is clear all right any other discussion no all right so let me let me make that motion the transfer um $528 21 956 950 oh it says 8 on this 856 it says 8 856 check you tell you it is 5256 eight or nine it's eight sorry eight all right so $52,800 say I I I opposed okay that's humous should we did that clearly okay so we're on test we a little bit late but we're here to see uh Eva so Eva EV has been interning for the town uh she's been doing a phenomenal job one of the things that we've identified is transparency with the community trying to get as much information out there as possible so among other things Eva has put together a newsletter monthly newsletter we published it online uh we have paper copies available it was included in your packet and she has some other initiatives she's working on so we wanted to bring her in have her give an overview of what she's worked on and um what she's kind of sees forthcoming is are you here is she here just for the summer uh she's going to be here through yeah the next couple months next couple months oh did you graduate from college high school no I'm still in high school I'm going into senior year to where senior year she's going to be a r Rising senior okay High School a rising senior okay sure tell us what you are going to do um so in the recent issue I wrote like an interview with Sandy after she retired and I've been doing the book of the month with the library with Jean and I've just been trying to cover like some stories from different departments so like if anyone has any input if they wanted to like email me or something like with any story that they want to see I'd be done and then I have the meeting like times there so I need to get those organized and Department closures and stuff so wants to send those in as well yeah I I saw your newsletter it's fantastic very very very professional very very nicely done so we need U we do need this uh it's good to have somebody we used to have three uh newspaper reporters here all the time and now we have none now we have none so uh it's good that someone like you was involved in uh you know just getting the word out as to what's going on it's it's it's very important so yeah we are trying to do a video soon like a news broadcast I don't know when that's going to be happening I wanted to get kids involved like from the schools so like people pay a little bit more attention you know what I mean like if their kids are in it so that was just an idea that I had but I don't know when we're going to start that very nice no I've uh I've had the pleasure of knowing Eva since she was 5 years old uh and very bright very great kid uh Eva it's fantastic um anything we can do to help you make this happen um uh any you know providing of information soliciting ideas you know anything to to help this keep going because your first one was a was a home run so yeah whatever we can do to help let us know very well done are you looking to study journalism or or print media As you move forward yeah very nice yeah it's solid one of the great ideas that Eva had was um a business Spotlight so why don't you tell them about the business Spotlight oh yeah so I've made a post on Facebook on the small business groups and I have I think like 11 responses 11 or 12 so like I'm filled up for the next year I wanted to highlight some that's great and I've been telling people like your your going to be in June of 2025 are they still going to be in business I and so we also are going to work with area 58 and as part of that small business Spotlight you know it's important to um to support our local economy and our local businesses amen so as part of that is um with the we'll do part of it in the newsletter but then we're also going to have you sit down with the business owners and um do a quick you know tour if it's a business that can do a tour of their location and then not only is it a tool for us to you know use for economic development but then you know the business owners are getting something out of it too where they can use the tool to kind of advertise their business video so definitely something to look forward to we're hoping to start that um in August or September well fantastic wonderful thank you for all your efforts that's fantastic don't forget us when you're running the world there kid remember where you started all right excellent all right um so thank you again that's this is extraordinarily well done it's very nicely done so good for work keep up the good work all right uh we'll go on to um organizational chart and Reporting structure yes so we've talked about this in a few meetings now um I we took the feedback from SEL from cel in select on Pratt uh at the last meeting um particularly there was a concern with the section 1.5 um which me pull it up here so I have this correct uh 1.5 dealt with the absence of the Town Administrator so I did receive feedback from both of them uh on their concerns and just you know making sure that the the full board were involved in any decisions I um met with Council to see you know if they had a recommendation on here so I have provided some draft language here and 1.5 says for the purpose of this policy should the Town Administrator become incapacitated or unable to perform the duties of the position the board of Cy will meet as soon as feasible to appoint an acting Town Administrator or take any other actions relative there to um you know Council recommended this I think it addressed the concerns as much as possible if if you guys have alternative language that you'd like to see um we can certainly do it this is kind of the the best we could put forward that we felt addressed all the concerns but again if there's other options can certainly make those okay I'm happy with it I makes sense to me yeah I'm good yeah makes sense to me now okay uh so uh we need to adopt the policy right if you would vote to adopt the policy uh since I suggested it I'll make the motion that we adopt the organizational reporting structure policy um dated July 23rd so tonight's I second any discussion all those in favor say I I oos janous good all right signature Authority yes so this has been the last couple meetings this is typical um if a department is going to have somebody else sign off on their payroll uh in the department head's absence the board has historically signed off approving that so uh the first one we have a few of them here the first is from the Board of Health uh and in his absence he is requesting that Ed Bailey our Building Commissioner be the one to be able to sign off on payroll uh the next one is the highway department Steve Hayward he's requesting that Kathy Garland who is his uh who is the administrative assistant in that department be the on to do it and then we have in the zoning and planning department uh Ed Bailey historically is or is the department head he's requesting that Bob Valerie the health agent be the one to do that and then the same thing for the building department um if he's unavailable that fob valer be the one to sign off do we need to make a a motion for this or just sign off on uh you've historically uh moved to approve it and signed it all right so that the four right there simply for the purposes of the payroll correct yep yeah all right so I'm going to start with uh Board of Health so department heads Rob uh Robert Valerie and he is uh authorizing Ed Bailey uh to uh sign the uh payroll uh so I'll make that motion I'll second any discussion no all those in favor say iOS uh second one is the highway department uh Sten Hayward is the department head in he designating Kathleen Garland to uh sign payroll so I move that we approve that y all right any discussion all those in favor say I I third one is zoning and planning so that department heads at Bailey he is designating Robert Valerie to uh sign the payroll in his absence so move to approve that second any discussion all those in favor say hi hi and the last one is the building department and the department heads Ed Bailey and he is uh uh authorizing Bob Valerie to uh sign payroll so I will move it we approve that second any discussion all those in favor say I I okay all unanimous okay so we did that uh ambulance abatements oh okay um to papers here all right so uh I will move that we uh Abate uh as per the request of the fire department uh batement for June 2024 $138,800 that's you know this is the original so you that back uh no that's fine we don't need it as long as the right okay next up uh liaison assignments so just uh we do this anually to see so obviously we have a selectman pratt who is now on the board so deciding you know which assignments uh he will take there's obviously some that were filled by the previous selectman um but it's also just a discussion to make sure that everyone still wants their existing assignments so if you want to make any changes so on and so forth yeah list all right well Tom what would you like to go so the welcome to Tom the big ones um we not in a bargaining year but um selectman Nella did serve um as the highway and Cemetery and the mixed unit contracts um delegate so you know you can look to have Mr Pratt do that or again you guys can switch up but those that's kind of the first big one that needs to be addressed so um really these are um kind of an internal thing just a amongst ourselves if there's an issue comes up with uh whatever these departments that's the point person so to speak um so if so I'm looking at the one here I don't see know it's at the bottom so this is for the Union contract so if we have any sort of negotiations okay yeah it would be negotiations with the Union it would be myself and the select design and potentially councel um so what do you think Tom you want that I signed up to help Hope be what you need all right so we'll have Tom B on Cemetery oh wait a minute Highway Cemetery and mixed unit all right and uh Plymouth County Advisory Board alternate um let's see and so start at the top Animal Control offic I mean do we really need a liaison for the animal so no you don't need one for that um you know Cemetery Cemetery we have Steve Hayward is the cemetery um superintendent um Emergency Management I mean you have the police chief I mean the fire chief who serves is the director technically and then your police chief is default assistant director y um you know the highway department you have Steve Hayward and then for bargaining you already have you know Mr Pratt now um an alternate for the NBTA Advisory Board I mean that's that's up to you guys I don't know how how often Mr cink um I just got I just got a letter from them saying that uh because I was the chairman um you represent your community ex official a member of the MBTA Advisory board or I can designate somebody so I guess they designated you last time I guess yeah I think you did I think you threw me in front of that train is what I think you did keep that job and I'll be the alternate um want to switch them out I don't care yeah either way what what do you want to do I would like at least if I'm going to take it I would like at least a backup you know yeah um I mean if you don't want it I'll take it and you can be the alternate you want that where you're involved with a lot of the MBTA stuff right now I think it makes sense to have you do it okay not that I'm pushing it on you but just makes more sense all right so I'll be the MBTA advis I'll be the alternate how's that that's perfect all right uh Plymouth County uh Advisory Board alternate we need somebody to do that so that's a um County The Advisory Board meets I don't know a couple of times a year they they basically oversee the County government County budget and that kind they don't even know over see it I think they just make recommendations for it um I don't know they usually have have a dinner so if you're interested Tom you can have that sounds like Tom absolutely all right let's put Tomy that one you can be the uh the alternative if you like or you can be the original either one it's all right with me and then Traffic Safety Committee um is that ongoing yeah it is ongoing they me periodically as issues come up um right now the police chief fire chief uh and a few others are on it um but someone from the board being on it wouldn't be a bad idea anybody interested yes yes yes you want to do it you can put me on there it's fine you do it sure okay good so we got Tom on that too uh the only thing is a whistleblower statute I don't know we needed leaz on for that we had whistle blower would likely come in through my office if not they could reach out to labor Council I don't I don't know if you need to I don't think so we can it's internal policy update the policy just put it out where to contact in case of whistle I mean I think that's all confidential stuff anyway and it has to be handled in a certain way that's yeah okay so that covers that right yeah all right next up so we did that okay uh appointment election workers um so um I guess I can just go down the list here right I suppose that's what we're going to do yep you can go through the list there were the two that we're going to remove yeah I'll just um so that we're we're GNA take off the list Frank Johnson and Michael Wallace um so I'll just go down the list and make these uh this motion and somebody can second it so uh election workers uh to be appointed Kathleen Miller Judith wall Richard roach Arthur vote Rob Robert Dy Katherine roach Janice Hayward Diane Phillips William Russell Jill McGee an hodj darthy lamro hope mcgyver Linda saviano Pamela aducci Robert niin Elizabeth McAn Elizabeth sieri and Barbara Jenkins Ram Ramsey second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed that's unanimous all right so that brings us to old BS um MBT action plan we like I said we got the feedback back from the State we're making those adjustments as requested we'll be presenting that to the zoning by our Review Committee on August 6th I believe it is um and then hopefully have that back for the for selectman and then continue in that process U Morse Brothers I think selectman so um this is the update on on Mor it's kind of a complicated issue in a way uh so we were made aware recently that uh Morse Brothers had started uh or was engaged in uh Trucking uh what we think is sand gravel or some such thing uh off of their property uh over the last week or so couple of weeks I guess um once we were made aware of it uh we uh discussed with Council uh what to do um and the result of that is that the board has issued a uh letter to um Morse Brothers uh constituting a cease and deess or a cease and desist order uh and an assessment of a fine for multiple violations of the Town h of Halifax soil removal bylaw um the letter uh went out on uh July 18th um I suppose I could read the letter I suppose May well okay so this is what we told them uh it's written to Brendan McAn uh vice president uh this letter constitutes a cease and desist order and assessment of f for multiple violations of the town of Halifax soil removal bylaw in regard to the recent Earth removal activities in parenthesis the recent Earth removal and parenthesis of Morse Brothers Inc in parentheses Morse Brothers as it's property at its property located at 250 lingan Street Halifax Massachusetts and parentheses the property multiple truck loads of Earth have recently been observed leaving the property in addition you stated in an email message to to Town Administrator Cody Hadad dated July 12th at approximately 2,500 cubic yards of material resulting from the prior screening of sand was being removed from the property notwithstanding your assertation in the July 12th 2024 email message the recent Earth removal was not authorized by the soil removal permit because Morse Brothers had already removed almost all of the earth authorized by the soil removal permit by letter dated May 3rd 2024 attorney Rosenberg stated that 1998 yards of sandar had been removed from the property during the period of February 12th 20 24 to April 5th 2024 uh also paragraph Roman numeral 3.1 of the soil removal permit States quote the total amount of soil SL sand REM removal authorized by this permit is 20,000 uh plus or minus cubic yards end quote the soil removal bylaw defines quote removal as as quote the excavation of the earth as well as taking Earth off of the property the recent Earth removal was performed without a permit pursuant to the soil removal bylaw and constitutes multiple violations of the soil removal bylaw uh section 144-20 of the soil removal bylaw States the penalties shall be in accordance with Mass general laws chapter 40 section 21d and quote a person firm or Corporation violating any provisions of this chapter shall be fined $20 for each offence each cubic yard removed shall constitute a separate offense section 144-20 a1b of the soil removal bylaw states that a permit shall not be required for quote excavation not in excess of 1,000 cubic yards incidental to customary agricultural maintenance and construction as Allowed by law on land in agricultural use end quote the board of selectman hereby orders Morris Brothers to cease and assist its Earth removal activities at the property in violation of the soil removal bylaw also the board of selectman hereby assesses a fine of 30, ,500 cubic yards time $20 against Morris Brothers for the recent removal which was performed without a permit persuant to the soil removal bylaw and constitutes multiple violations of the soil removal bylaw uh attached please find written notice of violation pursuant to Mass General laws chapter 40 section 21d thank you for your attention and that was sent by the board of San uh we've been advised by Council that we should not discuss this any further in Open session in so far as there is pending and like to be additional litigation uh as a result of that but as a status that's what we've done thank you Mr shair okay um Town Administrator update uh as far as Staffing and operations we're still recruiting for our accounting position our conservation agent administrative assistant in the conservation department um our interm accountant and our assistant Town accountant are working to close out uh the previous fiscal year um and we are hoping to get free cash certified sometime in October this year so we don't want to go as uh as long as we did last year um finance committee has a meeting scheduled with School administration on August 12th I believe it is um to to start discussing the process that we followed last year and get a head start on the uh process for FY 26 so that's something we look forward to and you know we're working on closing out uh several grants that we had for the prior fiscal year and goes in get reimbursement um and that's pretty much a pretty status quo online permitting is going great um it's been very very minimal hiccups uh that's been going very well and our um implementation or uh working on our new Financial system is also working well um getting that process so we're we're hoping to go live sometime early next calendar year with that okay um just a quick Pub um uh 20th annual summer smash softball tournament you're going to notice a lot of people in Halifax the 2nd third and fourth of August oh it's the largest town softball tournament in Eastern Massachusetts so just a heads up uh all your local businesses get ready you're not going to be there are you I will be we we turn over 108 fields in 48 hours it's by the end of the weekend I can't tie my shoes anymore so it's a lot of fun but just so the residents are aware the school lot will be very full um we we're kind of the crown jewel of town softball tournament so so August 2nd 3rd and 4th that's been going on for at least 20 20 years this is the 20th officially 20th year what time is they'll have a couple games Friday night and then all day Saturday and all day Sunday like Friday night Friday night I think first games might be 4:30 4:30 5:00 they'll play a couple before it gets too dark and then um and then we're all systems go all weekend so as you would say hope for good weather yes it's either going to be the hottest day of the year or we're going to get seven Ines of rain it's never in between so sounds right y okay uh anything else for the board so we have a motion to adjourn second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous our next meeting is August 13th August 13th very good thank you everyone