##VIDEO ID:Yl89fVz7vYk## it is good evening everyone um welcome to the October 15 2024 meeting of the Hatfield select board I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order and as usual I'm going to open the meeting by reading our public participation policy the Hatfield select board welcomes everyone to its meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield all regular and special meetings of the boards and Committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall conform to the open meeting law executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate during meetings of the select board an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the hfield select board so just a couple I have a couple of announcements um first uh we are very very pleased to announce um that the select board has hired a new Town Administrator um we have um hired Andrew LaVine um I'm not sure some people probably watch the interviews um and he will be starting on November 12th so there'll be about a month and a half overlap with Marlene which will be great um you know Andrew was among four finalists as people know um we have negotiated um and finalized a contract um so we're really really happy about that I've had the opportunity to talk to Andrew a number of times over the last couple of weeks and um really is just a great choice um sharp sharp guy um Pleasant it's just going to be really great so he's currently the chief of staff to the mayor of the City of Newberry Port um he has extensive experience in finance and government um his educational um you know qualifications were really impressive um including the Kennedy School at Harvard so I'm very excited to welcome Andrew and his family to the area um he does have a a young child so he's very much looking forward to um getting settled in in western Mass so very um happy about that excited about that and um I just really want to thank the um search committee and the other three finalists because we had you know really really solid choices so um that's that uh I just want to mention too was some coverage in the newspaper but I I thought it was worth mentioning that we did have a ceremony recognizing um uh the not quite the conclusion of the route five and 10 project but we are getting there the end is in sight secretary how under secretary stba we had Senator cumerford representative sabadosa um who's the gentleman from Mass Works uh John way John way um and go the rural um director rural Regional rural director um we're all here and it was really it was a nice opportunity to talk to them about Hatfield thank them for of course the sizable investment in that project um and a chance to thank the residents and we had a lot of residents come to the ceremony and and they certainly deserved our thanks and recognition because they've been through a lot um so it was a nice it was a nice and I just want to thank marleene and and Karen for the work on organ oring it because it was very well organized set up beautifully so thank you very much for doing that welcome yeah Ed did you have anything yes I mean we were thankful for the $3.8 million that they provided us so yeah there's that it was nice to give them a big thank you yeah okay for me uh homecomings this weekend uh all those all the classes at Smith Academy have floats they will be there little contest with their floats and they'll have a parade around town starting around 8:30 quarter 9 so hope you can make it and then afterwards homecoming all the classes will be selling food and fundraising with the events so it's always a good time to go on October as far as October it's a smoke detector month so check your smoke detectors change your batteries uh make sure everything's in working order and for next month November will be uh Veterans Day ceremonies here at Town Hall November 11th 11th 11 11th it was called the war to end all wars so there'll be a ceremony at 11 o'clock it's a it's not a long ceremony but it's a good ceremony and then on November 9th the legion will have a dinner dance so if you're interested you can contact uh the legion members for that so those are my announcements great announcements I just want to add that for thank for homecoming they do usually have fire trucks in the parade and sometimes um you know I've heard from people who wonder what's going on around town because I hear a lot of sirens so if you hear a lot of sirens that time of morning Saturday morning Don't Panic it's a it's a celebration so did you have anything I do not okay okay so we'll just go ahead and move right into the agenda um we have the cons consent agenda here um which is minutes of some meetings I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda and list them all out I don't I think is that how we're supposed to do it now no I think if you you just say the consent agenda rate because yeah the motion is to approve all of the meeting minutes referenced there unless you'd like to take something out of order you have questions about it okay I'll make a motion that we approve the consent agenda for all the meeting minutes I just do have one question on select for meeting minutes October 1st 2024 page 2 topic 6 um it's one two three four five six six lines down it's just a wordage instead of AI r e d it should be e r r d I believe the this is the October one meeting minutes cor okay okay I do have them in what p is that yeah page two did you catch that Karen okay it's really just a spelling correction so are you with that with that change or with that correction we can with that correction I am fine okay so uh motion made and you seconded I'll second it motion made and seconded any further discussion no all those in favor I I um our first order of posted business will be with the board of assessors so we'll have to wait for them to come in our second topic is with our Treasurer Tammy who is here so we can go ahead and take that up tamy these require the board to vote does okay we have all the pages lots of pages presentation is for the bond anticipation note renewal particularly for the wastewater treatment plant but also includes um the fire pumper mini truck and now the new money for the Main Street Culvert that we have added into this B renewal I'm just curious on the mini pumper right I thought that was under something else but it was it was included in this ban and now they decided to leave it in this because they anticipate hopefully when this renews the next time that rates will then drop again and then we will lock it in and probably at that time we'll probably have borrowed um the rest for the rest of the money was water treatment plant at that point as well okay and we'll have to look at yeah increasing that and just for people at home ban stands for Bond anticipation note right so okay I have no problem with this but I need a motion I'll make a motion to approve the bond anticipation not second a motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I thank you Tammy I just know there's like 20 signatures there's gonna there's we we're gonna take a minute here to do all this they get anything for that oh okay Clerk of the select board is that'll be Elena that's Elena Elena's yeah so okay wait I got to make sure I get all these here oh no signature I think they did it as Greg last time Greg as Clerk of the board of the select board you'll need all three signatures so I need all three there's there's one here for all three of us and then there's one that just says Clerk of the select board it doesn't say that is that the second page it's the yes it's the second page so you have the vote of the select board that should have all of yours the vote of the select board would have all of ours Y and then the next one just says Clerk of the select board that one has to be signed by her yes by Elena yeah okay and then there should okay and then this one is for all of us I just want to make sure I get them right and then Ed and Greg will know as they go through to when they see mine the IRS form will be signed by me okay I just remember these ban anticipation notes require a lot of signatures they [Music] do okay are you comfortable with us moving on to another item while we sign okay Tammy thank you very much assessors come on up we just skipped ahead of you a little little bit um so we are joined tonight um by the board of assessors um and the clerk to the board of Assessors for our annual tax classification hearing um which you are again recommending a tax factor of one which means one tax rate for both commercial and residential properties so go ahead the floor is yours so the assessor recommendations are and then you'll just take a vote on on each the first is the board of assessors recommends that a factor of one be adopted for FY 25 this will keep a single tax rate for all classes of property in Hatfield uh shift from open space to residential class the board of assessors recommends that no open space discount be granted for fy2 the board of assessors recommends that no residential exemption be granted for fy2 and the board of assessors recommends that no small commercial exemption be granted for FY 25 so you need separate Mo motions and votes on all of those yes okay so I will take separate motions on all of those we have to do them each individually [Music] one okay I'll make a just want to read it the way it is I would say I make a motion that we adopt a factor of one right right how about I'll make a motion that we adopt a factor of one for FY um 25 keeping a single taxx rate for all classes of property in happfield as recommended by the board of assessors second a motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I I recommend um that we um do not um have an open space discount for fy2 as recommended by the board of assessors second a motion made in second any further discussion no I recommended that we do not have a res residential exception for fy2 as recommended by the board of assessors motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I and I recommend that we do not have a no that we adopt no small commercial exemption for fy2 as recommended by the board of assessors second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I did I forget one no that's for Elena okay that's and that's all that's it and then I'll just give you this y'all all sign at the bottom take that we can sign that now yep I attend this in another community and you wouldn't believe what it's like not believe so just where it at the bottom where it says signatures Y and then we'll upload it to Gateway okay oh oh is that the only one it looks like you missed one I think so we'll have to double check it again okay yeah you have to sign this too Greg's getting backed up over here I want to thank the select board for taking us this early in the season this is one first times we've been this early I was thinking it was ear jny for all the hard work I was thinking it's usually November right yes well that's good yeah that's really good is Tammy still here Tammy do you want to just run through this it looks looks good but just in case we missed anything and you haven't voted yet right you didn't vote that yet the ban I thought we voted the ban oh maybe you did did they oh they did okay blue right by me you want to take it's right there just make sure we got everything and then Jenny this is all said okay great thank you very much appreciate it thank you everybody thank you see you next year um okay moving right along um Jerry is here from the Council on Aging regarding a proposed senior home modification program um that could be done through Community preservation so we have been in the process over the past year and a half um working with Becky Bosch from the Pioneer Valley ping commission to become age and dementia friendly and we formed a age friendly working group and through that is where we also decided to work on this home modification uh Loan program um as of July 23rd of this year we did get certified from AARP uh to become agent for the town to be agent demens friendly so along with this um we worked with uh with Becky on this home modification loan program Who's Becky Becky BOS from the valley planning oh okay just for people at home they're not gonna know okay so she is the uh principal planner at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission so this home modific ation um Loan program was modeled by a program that is currently in Long Meadow and this program is to help seniors that are 60 and over and those that are under 60 with a disability to be able to do modifications to their home whether it be to put up a ramp um to widen uh doorways uh adding a roof any type modifications that would help the seniors to be able to age in place which is so important and having to leave to go into another facility and with the way things are going with housing there really isn't much out there so it's always been our philosophy that that's the best thing for people to do is to be able to age in place um I know a lot of people that have been doing this I know you've been doing the same thing with your uh mother-in-law and I just feel though this is going to be a a great program to help them um it would be up to $5,000 that they could apply for for this uh Grant so and then so the where it is the funding is through our C our own CPA fund so you're going to apply to CPR to have like a certain amount of money each year yes there' be about $75,000 for one year and then uh with your support then we would send this application over to CPA okay for approval and then it's a grant not a loan so they don't have it doesn't have to be paid back that's correct that's correct okay and what's the review process for M selecting to make sure that we're we're picking the right projects so if it goes through if the CPA approves this it would then be approved by the town meeting by the annual town meeting and then after that uh we would publicize this um in our newsletter uh through Faceook Facebook through the town website so that people can file the application uh the requirements are all listed in the application what they have to do the applications would then come to the senior center to me I would review them and then I would also be reviewing these applications with the COA board and then once those are approved then they would we would go through the process of course the funds is subject to town meeting authorization no I understand about that that part of it I just meant the actual Grant funds who who oversees the dispersing of those like what what applications you pick it's the COA yes it's the COA so I would be we would be approving it and then any of the money that has to go to the resident I would be submitting a warrant to have it be paid but it's the responsibility of the resident to get their quotes they're supposed to have and to have all the work done okay we're just going to be and then you get some type of account accounting for the money spent okay so I I just want to I'm I'm reading there's two separate programs in here right one is CPA funds for the five grand yeah so the process is the town has to approve the CPA funds and then there's a application process that you run the residents through to see if they qualify whatever those guidelines are and on the second program here it's about a loan program for the homeowner where the money is not is paid back only after the property sells so that so we're I'm just talking this what I received here right page one is a CPA and page two is a another program by the Valley Community Development for home modification loan program so all these programs are in addition that the homeowner could get because we're only so if say the project is $20,000 or $30,000 they can apply to one of these other entities to get additional funding but we would only be supplying them with the $5,000 okay I just wanted to make sure I understand the various programs that are in here so we were and CPA for the five grand right if they qualify and then in addition to that there is other programs if they're interested B that too they could augment right they could augment um the fund the $5,000 funding if their project was more costly than that and 5,000 most them if the grand it's not payable they don't have to pay it back but the loan programs are would be just right on on the home should it transfer right okay well I mean I think that's and if I got this right you're looking for uh CPA funds of 75 grand per year to fund the program well we're looking at it for the first year to be able to do this to see how it goes you know right the 75,000 we discussed today would be reduced by 15,600 because initially um see was looking at funding for uh staff services and after Consulting with Jerry she doesn't feel that'll be necessary so the $75,000 it would be 60,000 that we would be asking so to we get for 12 applications at $5,000 okay and there' be like a Grant application deadline and yeah it's not like a rolling no yeah no and you could have something I guess on your website or something the COA to Y to give people information all the information about it it'll be in our website and Facebook and in our newsletter this this could be very beneficial to those you know we don't know how this is going to go so just looking at it for the first year um I'm hoping that we would get you know 12 applications and would it also be based on need financial need yes yes it's uh based on Hood okay qualifications right okay all the criteria has been reviewed by okay several people uh and also what she's asking for is the select board to support the CPA application yeah that's all that's all we're doing at this point is just so then it goes to CPA that's a whole different process okay go a town meeting yes yes I think it's worth the shot yeah so do you we don't need to do we need to vote that support uh it it certainly wouldn't hurt um okay I would just yeah maybe a vote to submit the letter of support I will make a motion that we submit a letter of support um for a CPA application for the Council on Aging home modification program as described by Jerry second motion made in second any further discussion in favor by Judy could we ask you to put your computer on [Music] mute okay thank you we just had some feedback from your um microphone thank you we're g to put it back on mute great thank you motion any further discussion no all those in favor I thanks Jerry it's very forward thinking I also wanted to just mention that on Thursday we are doing a flu in covid clinic downstairs we have about 80 people that are coming wow and also to go along with um Ed um on November 7th we're also having a veterans breakfast downstairs too so if anybody is interested they can just give us a call very good I I mentioned before the meeting when the cameras weren weren't rolling but I do want to say well we went to the POA event and it was fantastic really fun night so you're doing great things thank you we appreciate you thank you thank you thank you Jerry okay next is the housing authority to discuss vacancies did you want to come up and we are joined um online by Judy shell who is member of the Housing Authority um excuse me Tammy has one more form needs to be sorry you can stay there we just need to sign something I I knew we'd forget something that's why I I said check it there was a lot Christopher for your information so current currently as of right now Housing Authority does not have a quorum at this meeting yeah okay seems to be a trend thank you Tammy thank you thanks okay Chris go ahead well marleene just informed me we don't have a quorum of our board um but we weren't were we going to do an appointment well weren't prepared to do that and so please I don't need to speak out of turn but yeah no I'm not prepared to make an appointment I um I would like to actually have an executive ass uh executive session um in the near future about the housing authority and some of the behaviors that I have learned about on the Housing Authority that I am very troubled by okay so I think that this um this Board needs some work and some attention and I am prepared to dedicate a lot of attention to it because I'm not happy with what I'm hearing I'm not happy either so um maybe we should set up an executive assess executive session um in maybe one of our coming meetings um and try to have um you know Judy and Alex there and we can discuss things Judy I'm happy to have you weigh in on this who's not present Alex I'm sorry Alex is not present oh so we we can't take any action tonight but I have concerns about um this committee so I think you probably heard what I said that I would like to I think that they need to be addressed in executive session so what's the what's the issue um the the issue is some behaviors that I have learned about on this committee that have created an atmosphere of bullying and toxicity so I that's what I would like to um address but I have to um do that in executive session um unless the person decides they want to do it in Open Session which would be fine with me um so we will have to send out a notice about that executive session for a future meeting when is our next meeting Marlene is it November November 4th November 4th which is a Monday night we can't do it on a Tuesday because that is election night um November 5th so um maybe we'll send something out for November 4th okay uh we're in a I think we need to talk about the situation in terms of that it's getting a little dire um I'm aware yeah yep we aren't posted for our regular meeting which would have been tomorrow our chair is not posted we're also coming up on our six Monon end of our six Monon trial with Northampton if we don't renew that they may choose not to continue with us which puts 48 people yes in a problem so the the people of Kon are my top priority I want to make sure that this Housing Authority is functioning and it's functioning in a healthy and professional manner which it has not been okay um and so so I am happy to have this discussion yeah but the nature of the discussion warrants an executive session so when does the um agreement with Northampton expire I believe it's November 1st November 1 so are you suggesting we do an executive session prior to that I think that might be good okay well I we'll have to look at some dates and see and and we'll have to coordinate with both Judy and Alex to make sure that they can be present as well because I I I need everybody there for this discussion I thought we had agreed that we were going to continue with Northampton we haven't voted that Judy oh we haven't voted on it okay so we just need to vote on it at our next meeting so I mean there the couple of options you could schedule a meeting and vote on it ahead of time and then we could do the executive session right I'm not the chair okay I can't post to okay well I have had some conversations with the chair I will reach out to the chair again and ask if how he wants to what what he wants to do for timing and then we'll see if we if we need to do the executive session ahead of November 1st I'm willing to try to make that happen Okay and otherwise you could convene a meeting you could do the agreement that agreement has nothing to do with what I want to talk about in this executive session oh okay um okay all right y I guess Judy we have to ask Cara from Northampton to get us scheduled because we're we should have had an agenda I mean I don't know what happened to Alex he does need to be reminded and I'm sure that you know I know that he was planning on attending I'm not sure quite what happened but I will give Alex a call tomorrow I'm putting it on my calendar right now okay um but I think it's the consensus that we had discussed that we would like to proceed with Northampton and that is nothing to do with you but it has to do with us right exactly and that is just a formality to actually take the vote so you could in theory put together a quick Zoom meeting and make the decision and then we could have our executive session on November 4th I will talk to Alex tomorrow and see what he prefers doing well we have our regular meeting coming up so why can't we just do it then because Judy it's not posted There Is No Agenda where what what was the date of the next meeting tomorrow be tomorrow it would be tomorrow and it wasn't are you kidding me okay that's what I it's so frustrating here it just our chair job I I I have talked to the chair and I have confidence in his abilities good um so I will but I will speak to Alex about getting a meeting what he wants to do if he wants to try to do the executive session first or just do a quick meeting for for you for you to take up the um Housing Authority contract okay yep all right and then we'll communicate with you what our next steps are all right all set we are all set Judy thanks for hopping on byebye okay next is Bob here for this discussion oh um I um I yeah I thought he was normally I would expect he would be here yeah oh so wait a minute so Ed sign Ed you signed them oh you sign those did you know your clerk to the select board some some boards when they organize they have a clerk oh and that is not an appointment just reorganize it's a big promotion Ed maybe you get a little more money maybe you do get a little more money jeez maybe like 50 cents or something yeah um all right so I mean should we hold off on the discussion with Bob Bob is usually present when he's on the agenda he could have a call or something oh he could have he could have so why don't we Circle back to that and if he doesn't come we can take it up but if he he does usually try to appear for these things that's fair yeah okay just see if there's anything from him no nothing from him okay okay she's not coming in officially to the meeting no she's not that's D was two more minutes later that's a bit of a disappointment um but okay so we're we're gonna skip over topic five and we're gonna you're right on time we're um ready for you I I'm I just want to say that um our next agenda item is a presentation of the draft comprehensive action plan from the comprehensive comprehensive plan committee um and I'm I'm very excited about this this is a phenomenal document um I just want to say it's a phenomenal document I I it clearly represents a lot of work and time and thought and um so great job should for this great job in case anybody wants to I bet it was fun yeah yeah you know we really don't actually it's really there's just a lot of really good stuff here so much good stuff yeah so are we using a projector yes okay oh okay this gives me flashbacks to budget season oh she [Music] cute is there a different screen oh hold on one second to do something like that yeah mirror yeah maybe it's this aha there we go so we are doing a prey today which is different than a slid show Mostly because it we can share our awesome poster that was one of the deliverables that we that came from the um comprehensive plan committee and that we hope to we have some budget left to print and put these you know hopefully one in this room and other places around town in the town hall as a visual reminder of the constant reminder yeah constant reminder the action of what we hope to and plan to accomplish in between now and 2040 so if you want to start sure sure so um do you want to just introduce yourself I know most people know you but it might be nice um yeah I Stephanie slish I'm chair of the planning board and also is a part of the comprehensive plan committee Christopher Smith part of the comprehensive plan and Mickey Sanderson are the co-chairs of the comprehensive plan committee um so it seems like like this came together in a really quick quick amount of time but it actually was over two years uh we started in December of 2022 and uh it was a a funding for for the plan came through the municipal vulnerability preparedness action Grant fund the MVP action Grant and focused primarily on CL resiliency that's nothing new for the town to think about and Ponder um but now we have a more concrete plan bolstered by a lot of um outstanding professionals from the community as well as the Commonwealth who came and you know visited with us more more on that later um and this is the third plan in Hatfield's history and hopefully this is an actionable plan for the next 20 years to take us to to well 18 years maybe 2040 yes um I'd like to read the vision statement first instead of on the second page if that's okay I don't know if you have that slide ready um h no I'm not gonna be able to get there right now but go ahead you can read the vision and we can get there um the vision statement very important um the many conversations among Hatfield residents involved in start to to finish of this plan and the ideas and thoughts contributed by many others along the way have given rise to a Clear Vision articulated and approved by the members of the Hatfield 2040 comprehensive planning committee it reads as follows Hatfield aspires to preserve its rural charm strong Community bonds and exceptional quality of life while embracing sustainable growth and inclusive practices to ensure a vibrant and resilient future for all I love that paragraph and that was really a collaborative effort like we we took time as a committee to like you know mush and mash everybody's thoughts and ideas and great adjectives in that in that paragraph too um this vision is grounded in holding close all that residents treasure most about place and Community while also tending to the key elements that will reduce vulnerability and increase strength for all who call this place along the Connecticut River home achieving this vision is Guided by the 33 goals within this plan so talk yeah so the objectives um there are seven objectives in this plan so it mostly talks about um if around the themes of getting a better sense of the con Connecticut River flows will impact Hatfield as climate changes to promote better understanding across Hatfield about uh climate change impacts which is related to the municipal vulnerability preparedness action Grant um it's really focused on climate and sustainability and resiliency so that's why this particular comprehensive plan um has those couple has those objectives we wanted to engage with certain sectors in town especially seniors and farmers and and students which we did a a great job I think doing that we wanted to create a form for a dialogue about how to how to best adapt to the proposed future um using words and Graphics to show major ideas and priorities which you can see through um the poster and other uh opportunities that we had for engagement advancing Dialogue on how to Advanced adaptation and mitigation within different Arenas and then prioritize actions with estimated timelines and recommended resources so that we can immediately take next steps which is what we'll focus on later uh tonight so we targeted specifically farmers and seniors and youth we had two focus groups for Farmers including one-on-one interviews with farmers in town that and uh Farm survey for seniors we had focus group conversations on the greatest assets and challenges and a survey was mailed to every resident over 60 we also for youth we surveyed Smith Academy students and brought curriculum into to the schools and then we had a virt as a committee we had a virtual Gathering and an inperson event at black Birch we had over 50 attendees at that and then we had a townwide survey with around 200 responses so there were many different ways for folks to get engaged and get their opinions heard um and we feel pretty confident with the results that you know it takes those those into account and our good reflection of everyone that of the community of Hatfield and the commission the Pion Valley Planning Commission actually um praised the town and thought that the feedback was very very strong and the engagement and and the engagement was um even though the numbers might seem low um comparatively to other communities and and ours we actually did very well I'm curious how many um survey responses there were uh over with the townwide one that was virtual that was we had over 200 responses oh that's good yeah yeah um and for the ones that were over 60 the mailing that was pretty high too I don't have the number on that was High We performed well so great kudos to the community for taking that seriously yeah um this is just some a quick Snapshot from the survey that what folks in town what they valued most in in the rankings um and then if they were in charge the question the other question that I highlighted here was if you were in charge of the town's budget how would you rank your budget priorities and so you can see um the things that were top of mine for the survey respondents and we have all of that as attached an appendix to the master plan if you want to dive into all of those some really good visuals yeah so U we mentioned a team of Consultants that helped with this and so we listed them all here they all played a different part in supporting the plan but really helped us get expertise where you know us as community members may not have had so around like looking at Connecticut River flows and other aspects um it was very helpful in making this as robust as plan for us and then also among the Consultants we also had a really Stellar committee as we mentioned these are the list the listing of the members of the committee and then we also want to have special thanks down in the corner to those who were helpful in providing content for the plan as well um we had 11 volunteers representing towns and boards and then three at large Town members and we I really want to thank everyone for the time commitment and then the all the ideas that they brought because it was it was uh it was a lot of work over the last couple years once a month two or three hours yep yep so now Mickey all right now it's my turn again all right so um vision statement yeah yeah I read the vision statement there's our nice paragraph um demographics it's not going to be a surprise uh that the older population is growing and our under under 18 population is uh steady and declining slightly um also again I'll refer to the visuals in the plan it's got a really nice bar graph chart uh in there on on from the last 10 years um climate change risks here we go this is a nice little cross-section I'm G to jump to here you can see um the yeah just take a minute to orient yourself to that map um town hall is probably the best place to start and you can see where the levy is and the Connecticut River and uh the green line shows what the current and outdated fima Maps say they're from the 70s by the way those mappings yeah the keep they keep town hall and the fire station out of flood water um the updated maps with new flow rates line in the yellow puts flood waters lapping the doors of the town hall and the basement underwater it puts the fire station under two feet of water the red line shows uh what would could be possible with climate change continuing at a similar rate to what a flood and what a flood event could look like which fills the basement with water and about four feet of water in the fire station and what would be the projected if you're projecting based on current changes yeah I think the most important statistic that jumped out to us all the time and was repeated by W and Cen was that um what was once considered a 500-year flood plane is now essentially our 100-year flood plane and the new FEMA maps are very much going to um support that data which is the yellow line in this which is the yellow line yeah so I'm just curious what because you you mentioned that if we're sort of going at the same rate we'd get to the red line and what is do you have a projected year it it took into account knowing that we were looking at 2040 so I think it was within that within those range yeah but you know you're that's a a little over a hundred years from 1936 yeah and you'd be swimming in this room in 36 um a very important part of the the climate change uh you know John peas was representing the the a board um where there was a lot of work uh done by uh the ad committee as well in conjunction with us in terms of of you know and and we got some great coverage in The Gazette this summer with some awful uh flooding events Etc so um it's not going to be a surprise that probably the first what you say like the first five six meetings was about climate change um it's where we started and kind of how we ended up yeah cing commit spent quite a bit of time on that we did justifi well there there's some significant events yeah yeah it put it to the Forefront and then not to even mention what happened you know down south with Helen in an area in Nasheville that never ever ever thought that they would be inundated with the flood waters so yeah I was keeping that in the back of our minds in like not it was you know heavy couple meetings and thinking about how keeping this in the back of our minds when we do this plan so being the other takeaway was that us being thoughtful about continued development and investment in the flood plane which is really here in downtown um and thinking about that especially as a town um and then also been you know top of Mind yep yeah whenever we talk about this all the time yeah y exactly and then the other takeway other things that we learned is that the river is Flowing faster than it has been um which and then that the the Dyke is not sufficient for stopping flood waters anymore if with this yellow line it would be at the the height of the Dy or cresting coming over um so there's there was conversation about what it would cost to extend that and the co it basically the cost was not going to be worth that we should be putting the money towards flood proofing some of the existing or some of our existing infrastructure um so yeah a lot of this really has to do as the consultant said is that we're losing flood plane water uh but from development is so it's not able to spread out so what's really happening in what was we've seen the 36 and 84 was backing up the Connecticut River backing up through the river and and coming in and cutting us off over to the Sewer plane so you're really you know in this situation and I don't can see here but our our Public Safety is in Jeopardy our our whole operation town hall and so on so but in earlier study essentially said and uh you got to move this stuff you got to get out of here okay I mean Ed you were on the elementary school and you thought that was going to be pretty safe when you guys thought about the height of where that would be and if you look at the these studies because of the change that's now going to be affected where your first floor of your elementary school is going to go under am I missing the elementary school on there this crosssection doesn't that yeah but so we don't have that there's other on yeah there are other cross-sections that are also in the plan that you can see page plan yeah y I mean again that's but it's we a big part of a plan is to identify these things and then and then prioritizing what the action is uh I'm going to probably say that in a half a dozen times during this next 10 or 15 minutes but action you know all that two years of work doesn't mean this just GA gathers dust somewhere it's really imperative that a a solid committee be formed and and some of these things are tackled the answer some of these are really tough you know not everyone's going to have strong opinions on them and so they'll be tough challenges for for the town um to make those decisions and going forward I like the way it's set up with sort of the it's an actual to-do list um but it also says who should do it which is you know and there was select board on lot a lot of those lists um and I was like okay that's good we've got some work to do but DPW showed up a lot too yeah DPW shows up a lot um I like point out too getting back to the elementary school we did try to move it up to the high school because of the flood plane the town was opposed to that so that's why it was built higher with a cup right because the town was resisant to moving it up there so this is the other problem that we have is convincing the town that this is going to be underwater at some time because when we propose moving up higher there's always resistance change is hard and so that's you have to make sure we bring the community along in the journey in the of this so I think this is a really good foundation for just that yeah if if if um you know if we could have as many residents as possible really really take a a look through this I think it would um I think for me one of the things I'll just add quick was the crosssection as we were looking at different parts of the town was that the projection of a another 100 year flood or whatever was halfway up on the door front door of the sewer plan you know I just totally under you know and which has a whole different set of right and we're putting a lot of effort into that and so the I think if I recall right the the idea was to put a big burm around that and that's a potential strategy right yeah this just something that came up that wasn't quite unknown until we dove into this but we are actually the second time in the Commonwealth second town to have a chapter dedicated to farming in the master plan and um you can see there 25% of the total land in Hatfield is currently cultivated as crop land or pasture uh 35% is in the 100-year flood plane uh down significantly in the last 50 years 36 active Farms um under 50 and then two Farms over 500 and we shared this with other neighbor like nonprofits and land trusts who really excited about seeing um a farming chapter and being um something that other communities could look to going forward with their comprehensive plans so we were excited to have that I'm just going to interrupt for one second Bob we did we we we skipped over your item because we figured you'd show up so get comfy uh key themes um yeah making room for the river uh definitely one of the seven key themes uh each one of these is bulleted um I don't have to read the bullet points you can kind of like it's Common Sense Common Sense reduce flood you know whether they barriers some of those water walls that you've seen on TV the last couple of weeks in like the Tampa area uh plan of resiliency historic and cultural resources yeah and then in these are just taken snapshots from the plan but then under each of these bullets there are potential recommended actions in there so like this is just the top level stuff yeah um you know and and this is it it really is driven home by actually looking at the actual damage last summer from the floods because it was you know if you really I I went out to see it it was yeah we went on a tour one of our meetings we went on a tour around it and and had the worded and current consultant there to talk to us about it was about it uh next uh number two would be the thriving local economy um we now have a a sewer line which is what would you say 95% there 96 93 93 and a half almost there uh so that that's been in a top of people's minds obviously and I think that um and we have some really really strong commercial businesses and and local people who are doing the good the good work on five and 10 um obviously the the supporting the Farms um the uh interestingly the town's New England characteristics that came up a lot in the surveys uh people are very proud of the way the town looks um you know as you're driving by driving through whether you're up at Brad street or going through the the the fields up north um economic Vitality uh transportation we identified we're a little weak in that one uh we don't have a lot of you know we have a decent amount of senior citizens who probably could uh although we do have the bus uh the Council of agent bus but um we should probably look into that more and and for our younger families we have younger families who are from a lot of cities and they come here and and they don't necessarily want to back the Prius up and drive to school um or drive everywhere uh so um potential for renewable and alternative energy production and um temporary commercial issues in town center with popup oh that's an idea that's one of the ideas and actions um mobile commercial offerings or popup stores or popup events we could probably be a little more welcoming and literally send invitations out for these people to come and you know during our concerts maybe there should be three three you know popup vendors artists music uh jewelry makers whatever we just had the the event at the Pavilion that would be some which I had to miss which I'm sorry I had to miss it but um yeah some of the other ideas in the action plan related to some of these bullet points are like um exploring opport uh promote the leasing of town-owned conservation land to small and beginning Farmers good um other suggestions include like looking at a holistic diagnostic review of our zoning bylaws in in our map to reduce spot zoning and making sure that zoning meets our state laws um look at our current industrial zoning inventory a lot of it is in Wetland area so it can't actually ever really be developed fully and so like we looking at that um continuing to fund the planning board staff position and consider increased support um and looking at traffic data to assess speeds looking at speed looking at a comprehensive look at our speed limits in town those types of things because a lot of in some Town some streets haven't had them looked at since the 70s and we know that car volume is much different than the 70s we did um what was his name the transportation guy he did set up we we do have actually now in five locations in town we have now real up-to-date data on um not only traffic count but but cars small trucks box trucks 18 wheelers um so was that a do function yep so we have updated numbers from that and that's all in an appendix in the plan as well in the appendix uh what else um oh um Heth you this one mention yeah I we did that that one okay we're on to three health and wellness this is kind of common say stuff you know increasing passive and active wreck in handfield so like ideas for like non-motorized boats to use like mil River was an example expanding the sidewalks yeah um you know the open space committee we've been involved um trying to get access to the river um for the town for boat launch kaying fishing we've had a bunch of things kind of not happen at the in the last moment um but that's still a very active that the open space committee is working on and that would be great for the town and ensure older adults and halfeld can AG in place that's tied into a couple other different things like the Adu bylaw yeah that we that we need now update but uh and also like looking at our zoning bylaws to allow for things for like um allowing for small congregate home homes or things like that for for opportunities for older folks and also folks that are just looking for more affordable options in town as well which is a good segue to affordable homes and vibrant neighborhoods this was a big focus of the conversation um yeah uh this one was probably one of the more exciting couple of meetings and we this is one of our breakout groups too um it was good energy people talking about you know how to make the town even better and more walkable and more friendly and housing stock um you know where where could we put some things uh that would be appropriate um and uh really really focus on quality of life increasing density will also protecting our natural Open Spaces was a big conversation and Bal the balance around a balance the balance and we don't forget we had Farmers we had we had a very good representative group uh smattering of the town and it was a very good discourse there was mutual respect and yeah we kind of do need more of this and uh and and there is there is a way to get it done I think um so this is I I love this part of it this is this is where we grow as a community is by um you know welcoming more homes of all types yeah um and Stephanie and I have been having conversations about this for years truthfully um and I was really happy to see the information in here about chapter 40b um because you know that's something I've been talking about and I think people don't really believe it's true but it is true um how vulnerable we are if we don't chart our own course corre um to having more affordable um and low income units we are open to other people make you know sort of yeah so chapter 40b we have two or 3% between two and 3% public affordable housing currently currently and the state requires 10% so what that means is to your point is like if a developer wanted to come in and put public housing somewhere and and it met our zoning bylaws we can't say no right and they would buypass going through the planning board and they would be able to put it up so and be we need to be more proactive and we do proactive and strategic yes um and open welcoming to it yes exactly yeah and I thought was something in the committee that I think um everyone was aware and like knows that we I mean just the crazy cost of housing in the last five to 10 years is like people are aware that we need more affordable housing however that is defined um but especially how the state defines it too so right and just to sort of Chim in on that Sean Robertson's idea I was on that committee and so or sub is a community within a community so in other words as we did develop affordable housing and so on it would include both elderly and small and young families too so it could all be uh rather than be separate we talked about treeh house andon Deacon communities and Treehouse what they've done primarily in East Hampton as a fantastic model we don't need to revent the wheel we just have to find a Partners to make it happen you know I've had the opportunity to travel to some different parts of the country and you see it happening in other places where there is just sort of these neighborhoods and there's you know um Community buildings and there's sidewalks and there's playgrounds and there's it's it's it would be so nice so right and yeah best practice is not to just like plop affordable housing in this island by itself best practice is to have an integrated mixed uh mixed income approach because that is best out comes for to have Diversified neighborhoods is is better for everyone so that's something that we're definitely thinking about as well but that goal that 10% goal we need to make progress is a priority yeah it is we we would agree and it's also difficult um because it's difficult as a municipality or as a city or Community to to work on this because you need to involve private businesses developers a lot of the um and then you have the ones that do affordable housing they're nonprofits and then that affects tax you know lack of tax revenue so there's all of these things at play it's not just like let's just build affordable housing it takes it's takes a long-term strategic approach but we need to start now in order for us to get there yeah so yep yep oh is the right one I don't know should be natural resources but if that if not then we'll do this one then we'll do that one okay uh yeah there are five components here um promote capacity and local governance ensuring the town's departments are appropriately staffed and equipped um an example would be Town departments have the human resources necessary whether that's staff or training or appropriate pay Etc to meet the current and projective service demands of the community right Bob um number two manage Town infrastructure efficiently um our capital Improvement activities could continue to be strengthened local roads Bridges water supplies and resources maximize the use of the town's existing facilities to promote Financial resilience uh suggestions include inventory and develop an integrated use and reuse plan for Town and properties to promote their highest and best use um and get more residents involved in town as one way to do more with less number four explore the Strategic expansion of the community's Wastewater infrastructure uh uh support hat Hatfields Farmers uh more actively um to make sure they stay and prosper uh there are three visions here conserve Farmland uh everybody's on board with that um protect our drinking water supply I think we've done a pretty decent job but going forward um there would be uh where I oh evaluate the drinking water supply vul abilities especially as affs to climate change um and review Provisions in the zoning bylaw on the drinking water supply protection and update where more controlling guidance are needed to ensure the continued Integrity of the resources and last support sustainable forestry practices to ensure healthy forest ecosystems and prevent erosion yeah so on this particular one I mean there's been a lot of work done um investment made in protecting the drinking Supply over the last couple of decades and even beyond that um so I I feel like we've done a pretty good job with that and then the sustainable forestry um has happened in the past and is getting started again so it's nice when you can actually see some of these that were actually um you know this isn't news to us and there's some work already being done yeah and the conserving farmlands piece you didn't uh notice you didn't mention that we actually haven't done a great job at conserving our farmland and again it's you know private it's privately owned so like how can the town help facilitate some of that so um one of the things is to develop an internal procedure for the town regarding right of first refusal for chapter 61a so we're like if there's an opportunity that comes we are ready and we have like all of our ducks in a row to approach that if that's needed appraisal then quickly looking at yeah and then looking at um mapping out where it would be strategic for the town to say yes to some of those Parcels instead of just you know having a more strategic approach as opposed to should we do this should we not looking at a map and being like this is going to be the priority area that we try to preserve um the state is embarking on uh they're they're hoping to preserve 50% of the currently C cultivated lands um by 2050 and so if we also want to try to take that approach that would be trying to conserve 857 Acres about 35 Acres a year until 2050 if we also wanted to try and match the scope um of what the state is recommending that we try to do balanced with looking for the space for those homes right so and that's something else Stephanie and I have talked about that there's so much of our really good Farmland is undevelopable anyway unless you bring in a bunch of Phill and have or have a lot of money but yes well but nobody would want to do that from a Farmland perspective or probably the cost of development perspective but um you know there there does have to be some balance right of yeah when we did the mapping and we had the community input became readily apparent that you don't want to affect like the quilt pieces right you don't want to affect the big swats of contigous Farmland right you want to keep that intact that's actually historically important also um because Hatfield and Hadley similarly have uh historic farmlands you know literally quite literally the they were drawn out with the passage of an oxen and so you know these strips are are are you know 350 400 years old uh in their layouts um I could go down the historical path a little bit but I won't um and yeah uh but we we could engage quity farms in in a little bit more than we have in the past as a town and that goes to the support aspect but it also goes into long-term sustainability uh of the of the land all right together as a community I think this is the last one is it step I think so I think it is yep all right uh six items under here ensure that Hatfield keeps its schools retaining full enroll of local students and attracting new school choice students some suggestions include support a thirdparty study that provides a complete understanding of existing costs needs of the longterm and strategies toward a more sustainable School District in Hatfield and I believe if I saw the gazetta article that just popped up is that the school the school committee did you know making changes that that will help including the sixth grade going up to to Smith Academy um so action is is being had but we could do more um celebrate local agriculture some suggestes include organize and or promote local educational events and workshops on topics including Farm succession planning soil Health pollinator Health regenerative farming practices and AGR forestry uh undertake a pride and Hatfield grown program that starts locally perhaps drawing on the New England food Vision whereby 50% of food comes from local sources by 2060 number three ensure that all public buildings parks and sidewalks meet American with Disabilities Act standards number four create a community- based social Center and improve Communications across the town that one had a lot of of positive action in our meetings as well that got people kind of Juiced up a little bit you know um we don't have that yeah like a community center that would serve every everyone everybody uh create a community Hub where there's information sharing where folks are interacting and creating a space of community that's in connection that's really talk about communication uh we don't really have a clearing house one calendar that's everybody uh and we talked about a town website as well yeah like the Council on Aging newsletter is great like example and if there's a way you could replicate it for townwide stuff that would be that's just an example of something I would love to you know an informational sign too but you know there's there's not one location that you know you have to drive by to get in or out of town There's you know we'd really have to probably have multiple um like digital signs or something and that might not look and then the last two improve and adapt the transportation infrastructure and services to support an aging population while also meeting the needs of diverse young demographic um suggest includeed under undertake a complete streets plan to create connections for walking and biking and to Wi designation as a complete streets community so that Hatfield can qualify for State funds that's like a lwh hanging free item exactly there's a couple of these that you know their money is there um identifying just the criteria we would have to meet to get the funds and it goes to the next thing I'm going to talk about which is um cultural uh the Massachusetts cultural Council they're they're like this here but we have to we have to create um we have to create a district and we have to identify what what the Cultural District is and it only had four components if I believe the library the a school the town Hall and something else we kind of have it but we just have to like Define it a little bit more and then and then you know make a plan and then there there's a lot of money uh available through that through that resource um oh explore alternatives to access the regional shared use path Network as well as feasibility of the regional Bike Share program and then lastly is uh enhanced support for Hatfield's historical and cultural assets I mentioned the cultural Council and um continue the support of Hatfield celebration committee to plan and coordinate funding and volunteers to support the development of this committee into a collaborative nonprofit to support Community programming I mean kind of by accident that committee was formed for the 350th and it then it got a little traction we have to make sure that doesn't like dwindle or go away it actually should be really really bolstered and supported it's a really important Committee in town we done yeah all right next steps well you saw our lovely poster uh we do have money left we going to uh print out um a good size map poster for specifically for Town Hall but maybe in a couple other places like maybe the schools um and yeah I mentioned the the the the plan on the Shelf earlier that we can't let happen and we recommend the select board create an action committee where we can keep this document alive with a good pulse and hold committees accountable to follow through on the vision of the plan and uh the last bit is in Mass the pl planning board is the authority to officially adopt a new master or comprehensive plan we are presenting this to the planning board at their meeting next meeting in November that's fabulous can I just ask one question because I I I love um you know that you engage particular seniors and you included youth um and so you know and and again this is something Stephanie and I have talked about but you know there was a statistic years ago that I'm sure probably still holds true um that people who live in Hatfield have lived here longer than any other community in the Commonwealth so that came out of a census um I think when I was on the board the first time um and I'm not sure if we're still the longest but we're probably in the top top five and I always thought that was so great and it was a bragging point it is because it means there's no reason to leave here but it also means it's hard for people to come in because no one leaves so houses don't sell often as Mickey well knows um so I'm curious about the discussions around I don't think necessarily attracting young families is the issue because I think plenty of people want to come here but that how do we actually make that happen I mean I know that's the housing piece um but again it also gets back to the you know services that young families and and amenities that young families would like here so exactly it's and creating you know a welcoming Community you know sometimes when you have that statistic of people who have been here the longest and a long you know might not there might be a perception that we're not as welcoming maybe to new families and communities so I think there's a lot a lot of these things like I think as we check them off will help impact that it's not just like a one it's a big thing and Within These seven kind of subgroups here um certainly identifying and I think we've kind of said that through the process of this last 20 minutes or so is that to take action sooner than later on at least the affordable homes and vibrant neighborhoods component is I think if if anybody if there's a a Grassroots effort that has some energy and focus um that that kind of to me is ahead of the natural resources component um yeah I don't know how you feel about and we're not trying to you know I think there's plenty of communities that would have to go through enough of a an image shift to actually make young families and young people want to move here I don't think we have we have that people want to come here they do you that was an accurate statement in the profession that I'm in um it is a well-known fact that if Hatfield had we say it all the time um if Hatfield had 20 houses on the market they would all sell in they would all sell exactly yep and I think the balance is we passed last at last town meeting was open space development bylaw which is kind of the the thing that I really hope we can help put push forward and have someone utilize is when it's the only way you're able to develop densely in Hatfield you currently need around one acre and 200 feet of Frontage with open space development bylaw you don't need that um you can have small Lots really as you want as long but that you can in order to develop you need to preserve 50% of the developable land and you can build on the other 50% and that's the only way we can currently buy our zoning bylaws to develop densely and smaller Lots means more affordable homes I mean um and so we're hoping that that's also you know preserving natural resources and also creating smaller more affordable homes um that like family like ranches and capes and like family H the only way I've been was able to afford to buy in Hatfield is a house on a house on a lot that would not be allowed to be built right now yeah I that's that goes again and a and a and a modest sized home right it's just it's it's but it's perfect for your family it's a nice house and and to to your point too about people you know the longevity of the community people members who who stay here and giving the the steps are really important housing steps are really important the first house a second house a third house your retirement house they typically all have different square footages and different square feet and different amenities um we follow off drastically in some of those steps um so to create those different types of housing it doesn't mean we are looking to just add new members to the community it's a great mix of of helping the younger families who want to stay right the slish family and then then also um you know helping helping that family that that that wants to move to the valley because they've heard great things about the valley that's a real thing um and they're coming from Tennessee because they want to live in Massachusetts and they're looking for you know strong communities who are run very well in the in the black and um and are careing communities and Hatfield is definitely one of them so we we are overall had a great um I think a great experience being on this committee um it was very engaging a lot of different perspectives but it was also interesting that we did aign on a lot of the same things which was I think helpful as well getting to a a good solid plan that we all were excited about so any other questions or comments no I mean there are families in town that would love to downsize but they don't want to leave town so if there was smaller housing units in town that they could move to they they would free up those family homes right that's the cycle that's exactly right yeah yes anything Greg oh that was great I I I was I participated in some of the events you had and I learned a lot I couldn't go to black Birch one I hated to best one that was really that was a really good I forget I think I was out of town or something but so yeah we we need help though we need uh you know this is an important thing stage but the next thing is more important the action yeah Y and so yeah that's something that you know the thing we asked from you all is to help us with putting together an action or implementation committee to help Usher through these um and how get the community together in those boards committees together to prioritize um within the Committees what they would like to move forward with I know that conversation and the planning board you know we're having some of that some of them are like things we can pass and work on and get done within a year some of them are like three to five year long projects so and some are longer and some are yes a lot are longer yeah I mean I do Andrew mention Andrew LaVine that who will be the New Town Administrator um you know read this cover to cover mentioned in his um you know so that's that's nice that he's um you know because I think that position would be instrumental and and I believe he's dealt with heal and grants so he has familiar he's familiar it'll be great to have his expertise but as far as this action committee do you did you decide you know what backgrounds you'd like to bring together or the committee members or how you want to develop it or somewhat similar to the group that created the plan we wanted to give the option for those who are on the plan to continue on to some sort of action or implementation committee and then find you know recruit other members probably similar size which was 11 to 15 people um so you'll come to us maybe with a proposal on the the makeup of that and getting it started Well yeah if you want something formal absolutely but I guess what we're saying is the makeup would would be the same construction of of the plan the committee that made the report it worked it worked very well um especially having you know representation from basically the B the the major committees and the priorities that those committees had had you know been working on like I mentioned the canoe launch that the open space committee has been working on for a while yeah and like the DPW is represented on the committee um so having someone on there I think would be important to your point and then we would probably want someone from the select board at least um also which would be a little bit different makeup um then that goes to the communication piece um you know sometimes it's easy for a town small or big or large to you know not know what the other hand is is is doing and one of the best things is that you know one of the exclamations of the meetings were like oh wow I didn't know you guys were working on that um or that was a we had that kind of same thought about you know some future expansion I it's there was a lot of symbiotic kind of coming together and then learning about the different committees um and that was that was really great and this kind of this kind of action committee would also in in effect be that cohesive body that would keep things tighter um communication better uh because yeah I know you all have like department head meetings and things but like me on the planning board or you on open Spa like none of those committees really Comm have a formal way of connecting and talking and so there's a lot of overlap like like even like the cemetery commission and the historical commission uh a lot of overlap there and we had actually been working didn't even know we were working on the same thing until we met uh yeah so that would be communication yeah knowing what knowing what the other committees are up to yeah great thank you for all your work thank you it was a great great presentation thank you for the time investment and thought investment step off one minute Jack you want to take a break Ed or you going to be just be a minute hear me we'll take a quick break you want to take a e e e e e okay great we're back we're going to backtrack to topic five um Chief lity is here um to ask us to consider the approval of a new rate of pay for full-time firefighter EMT correct so the request is going in and I want to start by mentioning that with the increase for the hourly pay there would be no increase to the overall budget I'm not looking for any additional funding from the town in any way um it would be a move of money from what is currently the overnight or ambulance on call line within the ambulance budget and moving it to the ambulance full-time line position um as you saw in my letter uh there are only two in town EMTs that are qualified anymore um that actually live in town and nobody else was taking the overnight on call and due to some other issues that we've brought up in the past of Medics not able to work with fire Fighters and things like that it has dwindled the ability to cover those overnights um and I don't see that changing anytime in the in the near future with our current Staffing that we have um so with that being said is I we had posted a job back in May to replace an individual who left in February um the applicant pool was about a quarter of what we had gotten in the past or third of what we had gotten in the past when we have advertised and the individual decline the job essentially because of the schedule that we offer and the hourly pay it was not worth it for that individual to make the change from their current job um I reached out to some of the other local agencies um fire departments and EMS specific agencies and essentially we're just we're not competitive enough to draw people in um I'll be honest a lot of our staff the schedule is the biggest thing that most people have asked about um I just don't have the ability to move to a 24-hour schedule even with the current Staffing uh it would leave too many other openings because of moving that move that around um what I can say is I can't guarantee and Northampton fire just did this they advertised they were willing to do laterals and a lot of things and it's just there's there is a shortage of EMTs and paramics in our area um so there's just not a lot of votes Nationwide yeah it really is Nationwide but we are definitely feeling it in western Mass I feel um and so this isn't out of the norm it's you know people are trying different things to get people in um and this is just a way to do it within the budget is to try to increase the hourly pay um the full-timers are expected to do their fire and EMS duties as well as some other administrative duties um they do data collection and things like that um help me with some stuff with the website and Facebook and so forth and then you know the daily truck checks and things like that so it's not just responding to calls it's also doing some other activities they help me do inspections especially if we go out to a large property and things so they are they're busy a fair chunk of the at least the day portion of the shift for sure um so they're currently our one full-timer is on 316s in a week and that's what the other person would be on as well um and they stay pretty busy for definitely that day portion of the shift with just tasks that need to get done um so this this pay rate increase that I'm requesting would just make us so we are more competitive um to try to attract somebody else we've had that other one of the other full-time positions vacant since February and it's put a strain we've had a lot of shifts that have gone unfilled um just because there's nobody there that individual would ultimately take another three 16 hour shifts um so would fill in a lot of our gaps that we've been having now for the last uh seven months eight months so just how are we on doing for calls like on a monthly are we still on a increasing trajectory yes yeah we're uh I think if we didn't run the numbers before I came here tonight but we're still hovering right around I think our average is still hovering at about 34 35 a month on the EMS side and fire is I think 11 or 12 is the average so just averaging just over one call a day yeah I think in the end when you when I break it down when I've done it in like I said I haven't done this in a few weeks I think Total EMS was actually 1.63 was the average per day and how many do you have any idea of what we're missing at this point uh I think to date as of the morning I think it was 119 last year last year was calar year 73 for the calendar year yes so last year we missed a total of 73 and this year we've already missed 119 correct okay and then I know you said you could do it within your budget this year but I'm assuming it would trigger a budget increase for you next year nope I don't I don't expect the overnight on call program to be reinstituted unless we gather a significant amount of in town or local EMTs that will pick them up a lot of our staff is well outside the the realm to be able to pick up the the overnight unless they want to stay in the station um but they're generally not inclined to to pick up the shift so most of our overnights are uncovered completely from 11p to 7A we don't have anybody available to go so that money would be coming from that current line and I would leave about almost a third of it would remain there so if somebody does want to stay they'll still get the $2.88 an hour to be on call for that time period Well I understand what's going on and I understand what you're asking my my only my objection to this is that we just had the two and a half override where the voters voted against giving raises to the fire staff so I feel that we would be going against the the voter's wishes by by doing this just a few months after it got voted down I mean I I I get it that you know that we we need to have people Staffing I really do but that's what the voters wanted so it's it's it's kind of I'm kind of stuck in the middle on that one I think it's like I think they the the flip side is they turn down or an increase to their tax bill to give the firefighters an EMTs a pay raise and this would not be doing that this is currently within the budget so it's not not costing any additional funding and if we don't get anybody it doesn't affect anything except yeah currently Nicole as our one full-timer she would see as increase in her pay but if I can't find anybody to fill the position it doesn't now you only have three full-time staff correct there's only two of us that are full-time right now okay so we're funded for four and only two of them are filled all right but I mean originally we had funded for four right correct and so you've been having trouble we so we've never been able to get a complete analysis of the data with four full times because we haven't had four full times correct and and you're saying what what of the reason is because of one reason is the money situation correct and you're staying within your budget and it's not like we haven't done this before I did look back I mean I think we did this for police or yeah we've had to do this in in other departments we've had to do it in the DPW so I see your point I see your point because this if you're telling me that this not only wouldn't trigger a budget increase in this year but NE but also not next year no um then to your point it wouldn't trigger needing more money um which is what we did ask so Town's people approved the budget you have corre and if you can do that within this budget and you're giving us assurance that you're not going to say well because we gave this pay increase we've got this huge increase in our request for FY 26 um you're right there has been precedent set set in other department I do understand where Greg's coming but this isn't requesting an override for more tax money out of the we're staying within the budget you're staying within your your realm and we're not asking the voters for extra money like we would in in an override and for some Assurance is that even if we were to all of a sudden get a lot of people that were able to do an overnight on call schedule with the same as what we've been doing the the roughly 10,000 which it'll be a little bit less than that in the big picture I still would have that ability next year it would just go into the budget as a increase to the ambulance line which is coming from ambulance Revenue our current ambulance budget is only sitting at about 120 wait are you saying you are ask for a if we if I had to it would change the ambulance budget but it is still within the ambulance Revenue that we currently make so it would cost more but it would come out of ambulance correct not ambulance budget this year I think is 24,99 or $922 last year's Revenue that ultimately covered that budget was $1 17,6 I think $82 so are you able to cover any of the other stuff with for DM firefighters of what was budgeted that's where we're still running into vacancies that it the shifts are definitely available for people to take but they're not working with their those individual the pums full-time jobs when the shifts come up so Nicole Works a rotating schedule and because almost all of our other prum employees also work a rotating schedule in their full-time job sometimes it works and we do fill the day shifts or we fill those other openings but there are a lot of that just because of where the other employees schedules line up with her schedule we end up with nobody working how often is it happening that we're ending up with nobody working right now we're going pretty consistently three to four days a week we're having at least one position open if not the entire shift open days during the day or during the night Saturday Sunday days and then the eve shifts for the week I'm here Monday through Friday unless I'm happy to be off for a day but so what happens on those days if a call comes in tonight is an evening or Saturday or Sunday what what typically happens so if the if there's if we're staffed with one that one individual will go to the call if it happens to be an EMT basic our policy is is that when we call dis patch in the morning it's tone both fire and Ems for the medical call because a firefighter can work with a basic and we hope to get a firefighter and then we just do the trans transport if it's necessary with our own ambulance if we end up needing an intercept we might have to have a paramedic get on the truck and how often is that working I mean we've missed a lot more calls already than last year we have missed a lot more and some of it ends up being is that we have a paramedic on shift and there's another EMT in town to be able to cover it so then the medic will still go to the call they will start patient care but then an ambulance has to come in and provide the transport because they can't transport with a firefighter and a paramedic a paramedic can't transport with a firefighter but an EMT can pay that I still will never understand that is there is there do you know if there's any work on that changing that policy back to the way it was because it's definitely been brought up I know that there are a couple of Services we actually wrote letters uh myself and the director of lboro wrote letters and expressed how this affects really western Mass this be a legislative yes it be a change to the actual CMR 170 that or our ambulance services are governed under they would have to change it you know that's a great you know just thinking about like we had an goby here at um that's something to talk to Ann GOI about so an GOI is the state's rural director rural I forget what her official title is she was a Senator so she absolutely knows um she was a rep and a senator and she was here Friday that is something I can't imagine she hasn't heard from other communities but something that we should be talking to her about about the best way for us collectively as small departments with whoever else is affected by this to to band together and try to get some legislation going to change that one piece because that would significantly alter it it would certainly help without a doubt I I can't say that it's going to fix fix the problem 100% here because of our current makeup so there's other changes it's such a rural it's a it's a particular it's particularly difficult for Rural communities right so and it's really for the paramedics and that that's the other side is it how many how many small communitybased kind of like us are paramedic level services and have paramedics working but don't have that other half of the shift guaranteed to be filled and that makes a little bit of a difference I mean I've I have had a couple of our paramedics when they realize that they don't have a partner they request to be removed from the shift because they know that they can't go and do a transport so they just request to come off of the shift right because they're like if I know that if they know if there's nobody else in town why bother it might as well just be mutual Aid and then let them take the call because they know that they can't well would you be will we maybe if I asked to set up a meeting with an because I'd be willing to sit down with you and an to to go through this with her I would love if this could go back to what we had been doing for the last couple of years coordinated she stopped in here yeah she did so if you I don't have her contact I think I have her actually I think I have rural Affairs director of rural Affairs rural development of rural Affairs it is rural Affairs I know for the last few years when we were working under the waiver because of covid that until this was removed the ability to transport at all levels with a firefighter on the truck or a first responder I shouldn't just say firefighter but in our case it would be our firefighter was saving us an additional 40 to 47 Mutual Aid calls a year by being able to have a firefighter Drive that ambulance for our paramedics this seems like a simple solution and was a great trial trying it out and it worked like a lot of other things like another other things is like giving EMTs EMS people more more more judgment more judgment to say no you don't need to ride in the ambulance today you know something like that you know little things when I when I've asked folks about it the only answer I get is they're concerned that as the lone EMS provider on the ambulance is the paramedic all the responsibility is on you for those High Acuity calls and my only real answer back to them is if I'm the only paramedic on the truck and even if I have two to three Basics working with me all the responsibility and the liability is still on me and my license because I am the highest level in the truck so it doesn't really change the responsibility for the paramedic because they're still on the hook if something goes wrong or goes bad well and that's isn't that a responsibility you accept when you get into this field I mean it's and every everybody understands that and you know that you take some of that onus when you as the higher level you go and but that's the only real rebuttal that I can get from a lot of folks when I talk to people at oems and I talk to other people that are involved with why didn't they change this with the last change order within 170 and it's just well it's too much responsibility for one individual it's still on me no matter what happens because I'm right I'm the paramedic on that ambulance so it's still my responsibility so no matter what happens if you do you have an's contact information because I don't even mind reaching out to her and asking to set something up just a I mean unless you want to do it I don't mind doing that either but I'm I'm I mean I I've known an for years and um and I know our provide our our paramedics for Hatfield none of them care like they're not worried about that they would be transported a fire minim the waiver of covid across the entire Commonwealth of bad calls or bad outcomes because you didn't have a second EMT on the truck I mean it was minuscule over the three three and Asos not having a response from the community correct yeah yeah hope you call for another ambulance you and you so to regarding the meeting with an I mean I'm perfectly happy to do it and but if you think that it's better for you three you two to meet with an because you also have a lot more knowledge of all of this than I do so I I don't care who but I think somebody needs to initiate this first conversation with an to see if it's on her radar screen to explain to her what a paino this is for a community like Hatfield and then you know maybe she'd want to come to a meeting to talk about it maybe there's potential legislation that's going to be filed I have no idea but so I'm willing to do it but obviously you yeah I'm willing to do it as well I just to the issue more we can't do it together because then it would be a posted meeting which we could also do but um yeah so I think that's we'll sit down Greg we'll talk to her yeah we know I think it's a we could get that I think it's a really good thing to run by her that's I think specifically why that position was created so that rural communities can have that one person that you can go to for some of these things that we run into that larger communities don't okay so that's fine that's beside the point this pay increase I mean you know I mean we we have done this in other departments again I see your point but it doesn't it doesn't go against if it doesn't go against that are you do you feel it doesn't go against it if he's doing it within his budget I mean it's not triggering an extra budgetary expense and if you're telling me with 100% assurance that you're not going to say oh well because we did this this is why my budget request is higher next year um because I'm not feeling like the next year's budget is going to have much room no the only thing to make sure that we clarify my budget request could be higher but it would be funded from ambulance Revenue so it wouldn't be a taxation right it's not tax because the more calls we cover the more Revenue we make which just means that there is money to be able to fund and we're not this is not an exorbitant pay increase either it's bringing it more in line I do have one more question and that is and and again so maybe we want to make the decision about the pay increase because my my question is is about you know we talk about these Staffing levels and we talk about the size of our community and all of this stuff but 1.6 calls a day is is not a lot I mean it's a lot we we want to cover it we we want to make sure it's covered I'm just curious locally can you point to another town that has say this that same about you know let's say one and a half calls a day or between one and two calls a day who is Staffing at this level or trying to go to 24 hours not that I can think of within the area the only other one that even comes close but they're not it's still not the same would be somebody like maybe Granville they're not 247 they do run their own ambulance it is a BLS ambulance and then Southwick or Westfield intercept them um I think but I still don't even think their call volume is even close to where ours is but they're not trying to go to that's what I'm saying like it just I just want to make sure that we're having the coverage we should have for the volume that we have I mean I know that it's a crapshoot because you don't know what shift where the calls are going to come in but um one thing I could say is I mean the volume's not going to go down I mean we are still projecting to be between 50 and 55 calls EMS calls ahead of last year and we're still projecting to be 25 fire calls ahead of last year we're very likely going to hit 500 EMS calls this year so the numbers are going to continue to go up yes of course Marlene Bob do your comment about if there were were to be an increase in your budget it would come from ambulance revenues correct but you know obviously the revenues have to be there and I'm just thinking about how you're saying the calls are down so when Hatfield does not respond to a call we're not collecting anything right right okay just just wanted to make sure that so as as fire as fire calls what what could you explain to me I'm trying to get an understanding of what type of calls you respond to and I think the town likes to know what what calls besides an actual fire that the fire department does have to respond to sure so smoke alarm activations carbon oxide alarm activations um motor vehicle accidents power lines down um fuel spills so Hazmat type of incidents um severe weather power you know trees runs down things like that blocking roads usually were the ones that get called because they're people are unsure if you know wires are directly involved but we always still get the call we go out and determine you know what what is the hazard and then whether or not we have to stay there and we're waiting um gas leaks natural gas leaks on route five um well thankfully those don't happen very often so the many emergencies I mean how many structure fires have we had this year uh this year active fires none what we call box alarm so report a smoke in a building I think is four that you could have got there and it was not something serious functioning or something along those L malfunction light fixture that you know the ballast smok so it puts smoke in the building right so okay and some of these calls are like the the 11 fire calls a month roughly are also happening at the same time or they are the same incident as an ambulance call no those would be totally separate we don't we don't count if the if the well yes motor vehicle accident I was going to say wouldn't an accident about 12 so so that's two that would be two incidences one for each side yes because they both got tone and even like a box alarm the ambulance would go to a box alarm correct that would be two incidences also that would be yeah I would say that for the year to the bottom of that like but you're still required to go I mean you have to send them one way or another so there still has to be people to respond they're still being counted as separate departments even though they're not correct separate calls in numbers for incident numbers yeah there's still the fire department going but if they're taking the ambulance it's an ambulance incident not a fire incident but a fire truck would go too so fire trucks don't go to Medical calls unless it's a motor vehicle accident but ambulance goes to fire calls if it's a box alarm it would yes structure fire box alarm motor vehicle accident so it's still track fire call ambulance call correct because both both agencies because I guess I look at it is still two sep right because we have people that are not EMS that just respond on the fires side so ultimately there was a request for a fire truck and there was a request for an ambulance and every time we get tone for that that's how I calculate them is that because we have to send Crews to those calls so I have to put two people on that truck and should have three people on the fire truck so when you say you're you're how many calls ahead of last year 50 at the end of October we were 5050 ahead on and 25 ahead of last year's on the fire side so but some of those could have been but that would have been the same as every year there's always going to be carry over one way or another that's how it's been counted all the years yeah right right okay I don't when a when the fire department is toned to help cross staff the ambulance when it there's a basic working I don't count that as a fire response because they are really just going to assist the ambulance to try to get them so we can provide that transport right so really not counting that unless it's a cardiac arrest because that absolutely needs more people that's not just to staff the ambulance we need people to move that patient okay and you need extra hands so that would count as a fire call and a medical call at that same time okay oh I never thought about that before yeah yeah okay well I I don't know you know we have to take a a vote on um his request this is just for the basic position I see yes full-time firefighter basic I will make a motion that we increase the um hourly rate as Bob requested um in an effort to attract and retain um to the shifts that already exist since sors as long as it's within the budget yes long as you're staying within the budget and I think we got to be competitive we're we're still short two full times so and I I want to be clear that it will not trigger an increase in your budget request next year I I mean from taxation okay okay then I'll that it won't do I can't guarantee that I won't need additional funding in the ambulance because things go up service contracts things like that but they are funded from ambulance revenue and not from taxation second I'm sorry I didn't hear that I did okay a motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I keep trying there you go keep trying let me know have that meeting yeah I would like to do that I I really would the more I think about it the more I think I'd like to in in that yeah I think you should be the one involved in that I mean I'm like I say I'm happy to do it um just because I don't mind doing that stuff but um and you an is an is terrific there's a bunch of regulations I like to she really is terrific and I I you know I I wish I could be there I guess we could have it as a posted select board meeting to meet with her but do it without me you can do star yeah we'll start off okay yeah she she might even be willing to like come to a meeting at some point or whatever and it might just be a matter of getting um I just can't believe that like the mass Chiefs aren't doing something why why not so being honest when you look across the state um the the amount of people that this that part of the regulation effects of not being able to have a paramedic and a firefighter with no EMT stat status on that truck is pretty minimal across the Commonwealth so it's a there's very few if you were to look at the 351 communities in Massachusetts I would venture to say and I don't have this perfect I'd venture to say that you're probably talking maybe four to six that this actually affects because either the service is a full BLS service so they don't have paramedics and they're always getting an intercept from an outside agency or they are a full paramedic service with two people on every single shift specifically Staffing that ambulance yeah so it is it is very very few across the Commonwealth and they the ones that have the majority of the vote and the rulings on what we do out here probably a few on the cape and then the rest are out here yeah effects well let's give it a shot thank you very much I appreciate it thanks okay appointments and resignations we have Lucas punsa um to appoint as an election worker make a motion to appoint Lucas pona as a election worker he's a student election worker student election work I was gonna say this is a I thought Lucas was a student it's like isn't he very young um so is that something we do what does what does that what does that I I don't remember ever in my tenure having a student election worker I believe this is something new um I mean it's a official application yes it is working as a checker evening I mean I love it I think it's great yeah yeah okay okay sorry was there a motion I made a motion did you make a second I'll second it now yeah motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I think when I say new um that this is something new that is being promoted you know by the by the state the Secretary of State oh I love it I think it's great okay and then we have the appointment of Michael Bartlett to the um zoning board of appeals it would be great Ed I'll make a to appoint Michael Bartlett to the zoning board of appeals second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I that one is just for my signature okay um the appointment of Michael Cahill um to the capital planning Capital Improvement planning committee I'll make a motion to appoint Mike kill to the capital improving planning committee second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I that's great because we operated um with missing one last year um and then we have um an a resignation to accept from Michael antos Michael antos is um resigning um from the Conservation Commission I'll make a motion to accept Michael anas's resignation with regret he served on that committee for many the Conservation Commission and with you know gratitude for his service as well did you second that I'll second it a motion made and second any further discussion no just make sure we send them a letter thank you absolutely all those in favor I okay DPW report so is Phil not obviously he's oh Phil's that's right Phil is away okay um so I'm you have um yeah I have two versions here one should be for the signatures that was I have t oh I'm sorry I did not add a tab signature T are these exactly the did I get two different okay so that's fine okay okay so that um contract is for ever J Prescott do we have an idea of when they're going to get started I have not received time is running out no it is running out and I know they just went before the engineer appear before the Conservation Commission okay I believe that was last week how' that go uh my understanding is it it went well I don't believe there were any okay issues or concerns anything that would hold up getting started this year or getting it done this year we had approved this already prior right what's that uh the contract contract uh you uh sent the notice of award this is the contract do we have to actually Vote or do we just sign it yes vote to approve the contract I'll make a motion that we vote to approve the contract with ever J P Prescott Inc for the um Main Street Culvert replacement project second no motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I that came together fairly quickly Marlene thank you for all your hard work on that you're welcome okay um update of water and sewer increased charges for future meetings so you know the the uh DPW with uh DPC uh Engineers have been looking at uh the Water and Sewer revenues expenditures we had a preliminary meeting last week uh they're we're moving forward with um some additional analysis work and we'll make a presentation to the select board in the very near future on you know now how's the posting of that has to be right we have to uh have to have a hearing and we have to have hearing we will we will you know issue a public notice prior to that hearing but just to you know put it forward you know that this is the intent is to you know raise the rates um the preliminary review meeting last week we are um utilizing um water and sewer revenues and we have been using retained earnings the last couple of years to fund some of our debt and the retained earnings really that you know you really want to build that up for like emergency expenditures or or projects unexpected projects um however you what I'm saying is you can't rely on the retained earnings um so our expenditures you know are are almost exceeding our our revenues the other item I'd like to or other matter I'd like to point out is that the last two billing fiscal years we have not had a full um a full fiscal year at the new rates that were implemented because of of the timing of it so we're not capturing you know the increases in a full fiscal year so that has had an effect on on the operating and these projects are are done so they're that's GNA we're gonna have to start paying for those projects well there's still quite a few projects still on on you know our debt schedule and you we've picked up some additional debt over the past few years um so we we need to take we're taking a good hard look at our expenditures versus revenues yeah they have to yes need to balance your Revenue should be great yeah I mean so that picture really needs to be painted for residents so that they understand yes it does because that's a you know could be a a significant increase yes mhm okay um requests letter of support for pioner Valley planning um commission and HUD Pro housing Grant yeah this is an initiative um between the US Department of Housing and Urban Development um with Pioneer Valley uh partnering with the Pioneer Valley Metropolitan statistical area and that serves Hampshire and Franklin counties and the whole idea is to um boost housing take a look at um how we can increase uh community's housing needs Hatfield completed a housing plan several years ago I reached out to the planning board chair and suggested that maybe we apply for grant funding to update the housing plan that housing plan was completed back in I believe it was 2016 um and I would like to see and as a result of that housing plan there was a housing Committee created by the select board it's NE we've never filled that committee to capacity we have one appointed individual who is Stephanie SL actually she wasn't even on the planning board at that time um but I think it would be in the best interest of the town to update the housing plan so that would be the goal to submit uh an application um Stephanie has responded um to the request for interest and I have done the same thing as well but I would like to send a letter to Pioneer Valley that the select board supports this grant initiative sounds like it goes hand inand with the action plan m this basically just the letter of support this would be a letter of support a motion yeah you need a motion I'll make a motion that we support the PDC and HUD Pro housing Grant application second a motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I this next one show informational correct the decision from abcc yeah that yes that is informational but you know just want to stress that abcc the which is stands for Alcoholic Beverage Control bage Control Commission um they do take these violations serious and this is regarding the Hatfield Center School A Center store um at 60 Main Street um so they're getting a issued a warning warning correct and Karen and I attended that that hearing remotely and the applicant was not present however their attorney was okay that's that's one's informational too G we're supposed to sign this right we don't have to vote it though the P this sheet yes correct y on the DM uh the DM this is for informational purposes um because you know that that Dam everybody enjoys the the dam the old at the Old Mill in um and I just want to update the board and the community that you know that DM is owned by by two to different owners the town does not have any responsibility over the dam uh back in I think it was 2018 the department of conservation and Recreation issued a significant Hazard um letter of conditions to the owners and um they have in the past ye two years have been working with the Connecticut River conservancy and I was notified last week or the town was notified last week that um the Connecticut River conservat Conservancy has been awarded a grant for engineering studies of the mil River Dam so there is some progress being made to go forward and and look at that analysis um you know it as I said it's a significant threat um and I'm sure that you know they're going to look at it two different options at least you know whether you were to to maintain it or um if if they've mentioned removing it removing it yeah in my understanding this is almost like a fiveyear process they have to go through I would expect engineering uh it would take at least two years probably close years I believe there's also they do presentations and hearings to the town they after like years three or four they do yeah and I'm sure they want to look at the weather Cycles through a couple of years right because I mean it varies there from Spring to Fall to so wridge who is one of the partners of the um Old Mill in um he's been very good about you know keeping the town up today as Becky Bud from The Connecticut River Conservancy of course they have to do an environmental impact but what will occur if that Dam comes down they have to do a lot extensive work they got to do a lot of different studies well that's great that there's a grant to pay for that just yeah I thought that was you know helpful information to just know what's happening there with with that so our last item is this allocation of arpa funds yes what is this for I I thought we had is this isn't this what we had warrant articles for so just to clear there there were three Asset Management plans on the town meeting warrant and um there was the grant portion however there is this town's um cash contribution and there was the thought that it could come from the operating budget but that is not possible uh so I spoke with the accountant um the other option would be free cash if it were certified which is but I thought we had all that set up we we had all I thought we made all those decisions and all of that was taken care of before we did the articles on the three different plans I believe that as well and you know I had a conversation with the DPW director and this was just prior to him you know leaving for vacation um he had asked about the arpa funds I you know had said well that is an option the slick board could consider I know there's not a lot of money left there but utilizing the arpa funds you know would would reduce reduce it significantly because we're talking about 27,000 I thought three were taking care of at town meeting too I thought that I'm confused by I there so Water and Sewer what there was a drinking water Asset Management plan and a sewer Asset Management plan um in kind services from the operating budget are are covering those costs and then a portion is coming from the grant storm water is not doesn't fall underwater or DPW director know this when we entered into the I I can't be sure of that okay can could we does this have to be decided now or could he come to the next meeting and explain what happened well we're so we're still fund so we're still getting a loan the town is still getting a loan for all three of them however this amount I understand what it is it's cash contribution I understand what it is I just want to understand how it happened right so is it so urgent that a decision has to be made tonight or could Phil come to the next meeting it doesn't have to be made tonight no I would say because the work hasn't even the work is just getting started now so let's hear from Phil we have other funding sources as I mentioned yeah I I get it I just think we should hear from Phil because I did think that that was what we voted at town meeting was all we were all set I I think and ARA funding wise I mean those those plans weren't on the capital plan no so we sort of said arpa funds were going to be yeah anything that was on the capital plan we weren't going to stray from the capital plan because that would have just opened a Pandora's Box yeah so to come in now at the last second and say oh I need this and I want it from arpa funds no I just like to add I think it's important to note that although their plans and they're not really considered a project because they weren't on the capital plan when the treasure and I were Consulting with the bond Council and the town's financial advisors they that was a question that they asked is this on the capital plan and has the capital Improvement committee recommended this project the asset management plans correct so David Kier was asked to submit a statement and I was asked on behalf of the town to submit a statement that they were considered plans um and they they did come up relatively close to town meeting because I think it was sometime the end of March but that's all kind of different than this match part it is kind of well it's it's all part of the project all part of the same thing but I thought we when we did those articles that we were done yes I did too that was my understanding the same so that's fine let's have Phil come into the next meeting and explain that and maybe offer alternate sources because I am not inclined to use arpa funds for that okay I I I believe my understanding is that it was thought that the money could be in the operating budget but I I don't agree with that I just don't think that either one of those operating budgets could absorb that cost no that's a lot of money and if an operating budget can absorb that kind of cost then there's a problem with the operating budget right so okay okay that's that's it all I have okay anybody have anything else anything else no toj make a motion to adjourn second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I thank you John