##VIDEO ID:lSFiKc8-oRA## school when certain of our training Fields were dedicated in Bob's name many of you know him some of you may not know but Bob is a longtime volunteer here in town in many very different capacities and he was recognized uh for that uh what I wanted to do is just call to your attention that Bob had also been a active participant here at town meeting every time we would start a meeting at least during my ten year here as moderator I would look over to the right and Bob neit would be on the camera over there to give me the high sign that we were going to start the meeting uh those of us who serve in town government serve sometimes with higher profile than others and we get praised when we do the job well and we get criticized when we don't do it well but B them typified the type of Citizen that we have here that works quietly in the background under the radar screen making our lives uh better and adding to the quality of life that we enjoy here in Holliston and I wanted to make sure you understood the role that he played here at town meeting and comment again on the huge crowd we turned out to recognize his efforts and I wanted to ask you to join with me this evening and I know Bob's watching I gave him a little heads up that would be sharing our thoughts about him here tonight and so I'd ask if you would join with me in giving him a round of applause to thank Bob for [Applause] the thank you for all that he's done here for the uh town of Holliston and particularly that he's done here for town meeting we love love you Bob and we wish you the best that having been said let's I'll read the uh Return of the warrant Comm off of Massachusetts town of hallison 20 any constable in the name of the Comm the hibi required to notify and warn the inhabitants of the town of hollison who qualified to vote in town Affairs to meet in the hollison High School auditorium 370 Hollis Street hollison Mass Monday October 21 2024 at 7 p.m. to act on the following uh 24 articles and so we will proceed before uh we proceed to votes on matters I'm to call on the select board to give us uh an update please thank you good evening good everyone hear me okay is this better okay good evening welcome and thank you for the opportunity to present to you my report this evening there is a saying that you don't have to be the smartest or loudest person in the room to be a good leader as chair of the select board I'm reserving comments on several articles for others tonight particularly Brian Clancy from the Housing Trust on article 9 MBTA 3A zoning and Liz dembitzer from the board of appeals on article 11 accessory dwelling units Brian and Liz had have years of experience with housing and Zoning in Holliston and will share insightful and detailed presentations instead my comments relate to how the warrant tonight makes overall progress for the town of Holliston and I want to highlight those who contribute to making hollon the place we love to call home because a good leader knows that while they may set the goals it is often through the efforts of others that we reach them together the special town meeting and special setember 10th election brought an important change in the direction for the normal course of business for Town Hall in the intervening months between town meeting dates it is a Time typically allowing the select board to turn attention to our resident and policy-driven priorities for the year ahead while much of this work was carried out uninterrupted this summer it was due to Herculean efforts of town hall staff there are too many to name in the time I have right now but I'd like everyone here tonight to know we are in very good hands if you attended the touch of truck event last month you saw dedicated Public Safety employees engaging with children of all ages to share hollon Fleet of Public Safety Equipment a few weeks ago through the efforts of our assistant Town Administrator and economic development coordinator Holliston unveiled a remarkable public art installation in Blair Square during a celebration that Drew in local dancers musicians and other artists to Mark renewed interests in arts and culture here in Holliston the art installation is one piece in a larger strategy to promote economic activity and wayfinding throughout the downtown area just the other day members of the hollon police department welcomed and escorted dozens of school-aged children and their families on the annual fall walk to school day and throughout the year Town Hall Town employees have supported and assisted the amazing volunteers of celebrate Holliston to pull off a 300th birthday parade a field day and many other events we are a good town that cherishes community and family and staff in our town departments join the many volunteers to share in these moments with the summer work and a successful override now in the rearview mirror the select board sharpens its focus on the budget development uh process for the upcoming fiscal year like last year we anticipate revenue and expense challenges and tough decisions on Town priorities ahead as we continue to make progress on updating and modernizing holl's transportation and water infrastructure and our buildings in ways that require taxpayer funding to adapt and grow with changing Community needs all this while ensuring that residents continue to receive the level of service from town departments that they deserve and expect article 7 directs $44,000 raised through the override and appropriated to the at the June special town meeting to dozens of town employes employees across 17 Town departments advancing more Equitable compensation for the excellent worth work they perform it is worth taking a moment to highlight past efforts to adapt and change that are now being realized for the greater good of residents today this fall hollon residents began to benefit from Advanced life support certification for the first time in its history with the first ALS call handled by Holliston paramedics earlier this month the moment marked a yearslong process of incremental change under the steady leadership of Chief Cassidy and former select board chair John Cronin there there is more work to be done to fully Implement ALS service in Holliston and the board will continue these efforts in the coming years and through several budget Cycles tonight Article 5 requests a new ambulance among other Capital requests to maintain the fleet of vehicles that is essential for providing ALS service 5 years ago the town of hollison adopted a new complete streets policy to improve access and safety for all Road users this summer through the complete streets program the Central Street Corridor underwent a significant enhancement through the in installation of new and repaired sidewalks and crosswalks with 2third of the cost coming from State the state dollar uh being paid for excuse me by State dollars the town will continue to build out hollis's network of sidewalks and crosswalks within walking distance of parks schools and dense neighborhoods through phases phase two of the Norfork Central and Golding Street projects phase one planning and design for the nor fork project is currently underway and article 24 sure I got that right article 24 requests additional design and construction funding for both both the Norfork and Central Street projects together these Project's phases bring sidewalk water M and Road surface improvements that will have real benefit for today's resident quality of life and will strengthen infrastructure for future Holliston residents the feasibility studies and planning of the past few years together with the oversight of a more than capable Town Administrator and a focused select board mean positive real change are in store for many years to come in different ways each articles 14 through 19 make progress on efforts already underway on a variety of town priorities finances the environment transportation and water Article 19 provides the necessary match to a first in recent history Grant award from the Boston Metropolitan planning organization entering into the design phase with the mo will give Holliston access to state and federal dollars to later construct an improved intersection at Whitney and Washington streets that will better handle the 13,000 commuting vehicles that travel through the intersection daily as they move throughout the region I'd like to take this moment to thank the patients of residents who are waiting for the reopening of Woodland Street when the state failed the dam and closed the Road Holliston was handed a major and expensive problem the state did so again 3 weeks ago when due to their own timelines the state failed to come through with 2024 seaw wall and Dam Grant seaw Wall and Dam Grant award although the select board made an initial decision not to burden local taxpayer with the cost of a state decision tonight town meeting is asked to approve a safety net of sorts to keep us on a mid November 2024 timeline to bid the project and a 2025 timeline to finish the work the $1 million request from the capital expenditure Fund in article 4 will be set aside to ensure funding is available to stick to that timeline in the unlikely event that the state does not come through on its promise to send us resources in 2024 through the the next sea wall and Dam Grant cycle the select board views this as the best approach in a difficult State driven situation because we understand that the impact of the road closure is felt daily by nearly every resident town meeting can certainly join us in expressing frustration at the situation we hear you and we will share your comments with our state representatives we know that providing Sewer Service in our village commercial commercial district will pave the way for future economic growth and improve environmental concerns of the town and private property owners Article 13 creates a Sewer Commission that will Shepherd in the early development of a sewer district although you are asked to approve the commission tonight the select board remains committed to public forums and hearings through the commission's charge giving residents ample opportunity to learn the benefits and impacts of a village commercial Sewer District the proposal has always been to allow Property Owners to opt into the district by choice with the cost of installing and running the system to be paid for through state and federal dollars and only those property owners who choose into to tie into the system to that end hollis's remaining federal arpa dollars to be obligated in December by December are earmarked for initial project costs and we anticipate over a million dollars for the district coming from our Congressional represent atives in 2025 to date the select board has not requested local taxpayer dollars to fund the feasibility of a new sewer district tonight the request in Article 13 has no spending within it rather the article looks to create a structure by which future decisions can be made no one will be denied a vote on a on the future creation or spending of a village commercial Sewer District a yes vote merely lays the groundwork for significant next steps that will most likely result in returning in May to present the district for approval to town meeting I'd like to end the select board report to town meeting by offering thanks and gratitude to the 30 plus elected officials here in hon who come together to support the town manager act select board Vice chair Ben Sparrow dedicated many hours to meet with elected officials and others to work out compromised language for the ACT presented to you in article 8 you may recall that the Act was first presented in May but given the concerns of a few the vote was postponed and the select board was given marching orders to take another look at it we did a deep dive over the summer meeting more than 10 times with elected boards and committies Third Party Experts and the community the final product in the warrant tonight represents a good and necessary evolution in how Holliston is governed we aim to meet the Statewide growing demands of municipal government from today's budget and Personnel challenges by making reasonable changes to day-to-day operations within the town administrator's office the selectboard willingly gives up certain authority to allow the Town Administrator to efficiently take on tasks that they are more than capable of handling so thank you to those elected officials for their collaboration and the willingness to come together in support of making lasting positive change for our community I urge Town meting to vote Yes on article 8 and with that I will end this luck board report to town meeting and pass the podium over to the finance committee chair Benin Murphy thank you yes please proceed Mr Murphy so welcome thank you for everybody attending uh it's very important for us to attend and so let me just give you brief highlights of all the different things we have been working on the last guys sorry let me give you a brief highlight of certain article warrants warrants articles uh that we've talked about and sorry so first I want to explain free cash now for those who haven't attended pre in previous meetings free cash this is what we do at this town meeting the fall one we end up with free cash after all the numbers are crunched and the state certifies the number we received the free cash certified number at 1:00 this afternoon and so we the finance committee voted and recommended a couple different things free cash comes from what happens at the end of the budget year is we've appropriated so much money for certain budget lines it doesn't get expended and so that goes to to free cash in addition some local receipts are higher than we had expected when we were doing the developing the budget so that in turn also becomes free cash and also some one-time unanticipated things like insurance proceeds or if we get some sort of reward but most of the time you don't get those now the state recommends a good budgeting process is to have three to 5% of your omnius budget end up being free cash at the end of the day we're on Target we' currently we constantly have met that in the last 10 years or so so it's something we should be proud of free cash can be highly vola of though and this is something Ken has mentioned previously due to economic factors so we like to make sure it's conservative when we do our budgeting process and we have kept it up so thank you to the town okay there's two articles if you read the warrant and I'm sure everybody has carefully read the warrant that we said we were going to recommend here at the town meeting and we were waiting for the free cash number to do it first article is article one and the committee recommends that the town appropriate $750,000 to be transferred from free cash to the general stabilization fund the second article in question is article three and the finance Comm committee recommended the following $1.5 million is transferred from free cash to capital expenditure fund the 750 if you recall was what we did in may we took the money out and subsidized or gave it to the schools because their budget for special ed had gone upside down in the state we're waiting for funding long story short so this kind of gets us back to where we were before Maytown meeting it's $1.5 million while we've been spending a lot of money in capital and we'll be spending a lot more tonight it still helps you know build up our capital expenditure fund couple articles to note and terer already mentioned a couple of them article four the $1 million for the factory pond dam and Woodland Street Bridge work as Tina mentioned the grant was supposed to be coming out from the state but for whatever reason it got hung up so we never received it so this is a supplemental money to basically get us started because the laws require us to actually have money appropriated or money coming from certain sources to start the work we know people are angry and frustrated that the Woodland Street can be driven on so this at least gets us started we're hoping to get the money coming sometime in the spring if not the fall and we'll replenish the funds back into the capital expenditure fund once the money comes in next note I want to just go over a couple things on the capital budget 1.25 million for the Adam School roof the whole roof it's going to cost $3.5 million to do we're hoping to get money from the mass School building authority their accelerated repair program and get another 1.25 if that still doesn't come through we're still going to use the $1.25 million because the certain aspects areas of that roof this is the Robert Adams Middle School that need to be repaired there are leaks and so we feel as though the finance committee and based on recommendations from Travis and the facilities manager and the also schools we will have to we need to repair them sooner and later so we can't wait on msab next thing to note is the 333,000 900 supplemental appropriation for the ALS ambulance tener mentioned it um it's actually in a supplemental appropriation we had appropriated at the October 21st town meeting $285,000 so this brings up we had debated and we said let's hold left it because we knew we were going into the ALS program the 285,000 was only going to get us a basic ambulance and with all the new features plus all the different additional costs because we have inflation it's now going to cost us $68,900 so not ideal but that's what it's going to cost to get us the ambulance we need in order to do the als program next to note article 24 again T already mentioned but I just want to highlight a couple things this is to water means there two parts of it 500,000 is for the finishing the designs and construction of the water for Northfork Street the other 100,000 is going to be appropriated for the starting of the designs for the Central Street project uh the total cost of the Wall Street Norfork street is going to be $3.1 million now that the original proposal expectation was going to be $3.7 million so this is a lower estimate but we're hoping we're holding off issuing the debt until we actually start doing the con construction we'll do some other things and let the treasur of our flying Town handle that so and that is it thank you very much okay thank you Tina and Vin since we've had the commentary from the board of selectman and the fincom with respect to each of the articles I won't offer a explanation beyond the Motions unless it's requested if you have questions though please feel free to to advance them uh as I stand did motion before we take up article one my motion moveed that the following non-residents and non-voting officials Consultants to committees Etc be allowed to speak during the course of the annual town meeting Travis of Hearn Town Administrator Kathleen Buckley assistant Town Administrator Susan kutka superintendent of schools Joanne manad assistant superintendent of schools Daniel McLoud HBS director of technology and digital learning Christopher Mayo technology director Chris Hyman's treasur collector sheeta Patel Town accountant Kevin rudden principal ass Karen Sherman Town planner Scott moles Health director agent Tyler skip conservation Agent Mark cine building inspector Matthew Stone police chief Brian Kelly assistant fire chief EMS director Sean ree DPW director Mark Frank pox and Rec director jacqulyn Winer Youth and Family Service director Jason Talman Town Council and lorme JM gston the Consultants there a second any discussion all those in favor say I I so voted article one to see if the town will vote sponsored by fincom Mr Murphy to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate and transfer from available funds a sum of money for the general stabilization fund or take any action relative theret the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $750,000 from free cash to the stabilization funds is there a second you heard the explanation from the fincom with respect to this article and I note that Mr Murphy indicated that the fincom voted uh in favor of the article at the $750,000 level is there any questions a comment seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed so voted pension stabilization fund again sponsored by Mr Murphy uh to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for the pension stabilization fund or take any action relative there to the motion is move that the town vote to appropriate $250,000 from free cash to the pension stabilization fund is there a second my notes Here indicate that the fincom recommend that the town appropriate $250,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article and that vote was unanimous is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted Capital board expenditure fund uh to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate a transfer from available funds a sum of money for the capital expenditure fund or take any action relative theret the motion is move that the town vote to appropriate 1 million $500,000 from free cash to the capital expenditure fund uh Mr Murphy indicated that the finance committee will make a recommendation and they have made a recommendation favorable at the level of $1,500,000 any discussion excuse me is do I have a second to that thank you uh any discussion if not all those in favor say I those opposed so voted Factory pond dam Rehabilitation to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for the rehabilitation of the factory pond dam on Woodland Street or take any action relative thereto the motion is move that the town vote to appropriate $1 million from the capital expenditure fund for the purpose stated in the article is there a second the finance committee recommends that the town appropriate $1 million from the capital expenditure fund for the purpose stated in the article is there a discussion if not all those in favor say I those opposed so voted Article Five capital budget to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate transfer from available funds or borrow a sum of money for the purpose of capital expenditures including the replacement of old vehicles and equipment for the following departments police ambulance fire DPW parents Highway grounds and schools including the expenditures listed below and authorize the select board to sell or trade equipment to a part of the purchase price or take any action relative there to the projects are as follows and I'll give you the department and the estimated amount replace ambulance pars a supplementary appropriation from the ambulance department $333,900 and you heard the explanation with respect to what those funds were earmarked for replac the fire chief vehicle for the fire department $70,000 two Cruisers and one administrative hybrid less the tradeing for the police department $186,600 pred for the police department $177,000 traffic advisory committee signs and equipment for Public Safety $10,000 grounds equipment for DPW $24,000 heavyduty dump truck with plow lless trade for DPW 84,85 uh hoing Brook Road Phase 1 gift match DPW $45,000 Exchange Street parking lot Rehabilitation DPW $28,000 and the Adams roof msba a roof Grant application for the schools $1,250,000 the total for those projects if approved will be $2,493 40 the motion is move that the town vote to appropriate that sum precisely $2,493 40 from the capital expenditure fund for the items listed in the article is there a second the finance committee recommends that the town appropriate that sum $2,493 40 from the capital expenditure fund for the items listed in article 7 unanimously any discussion yes Miss Tyler Dr Tyler excuse me Dr Liz Tyler 17 Newland Street you have all heard the good news announced by fire chief Micha Cassidy that the Holliston fire department has received its Advanced life support Ambulance Service license from the Department of Public Health and the plan to operate ALS service starting on September 24th the ambulance service in hollison has come a long way since the two 2022 provisional basic service license at which time it was the only town in the Commonwealth to have a provisional basic service license progress really began in May of 2022 when the MRI study of the Holliston fire and ambulance service was released thanks to the leadership of Town Administrator Travis aarn the support of the select board and particularly John Cronin who was chairman of the board at the time who navigated more difficult aspects of the MRI study especially the hiring of assistant fire chief Brian Kelly a critical person to move hollison to advance life service ambulance assistant chief Brian Kelly has made remarkable improvements in our Ambulance Service he accomplished in 14 months what his job description required him to achieve in 3 years an appreciation goes to Chief Michael Cassidy who allowed this change in the fire department and who efficiently answered my many questioning emails whether the information was in his favor or not I respect his Integrity but Holliston needs more than a license and equipment to meet the critical needs of the residents from newborn to El elderly we need properly certified staff to provide Critical Care Holliston continues to rely on Mutual aid from neighboring communities the MRI in 2022 stated about frustration from Community leaders outof Town providers and public safety personnel on scene waiting for the arrival of a mutual Aid ambulance today when hollison requires Mutual aid from a neighboring Community but what is technically called ALS intercept this means that if the patient needs ALS services such as ekj monitoring chest decompression or IV Therapy another entity dispatches a paramedic to meet the BLS ambulance at the scene or once the ambulance is on the way to the the hospital let us be clear Holliston remains to be relying on neighboring communities for emergency health care because it does not have the necessary certified paramedics as evidenced in the fire logs of October 4th to the 10th this is after the receipt of the ALS license the ambulance went out 25 times and relied on paramedics from Ashlin twice as well as Medway and Millis to provide Advanced life support Holliston residents in emergency Health situations required the ambulance service of three neighboring communities the log does show that hollison provided coverage to Sherburn during their 350 anniversary Parade October 11th to the 17th the ambulance went out 30 times and relied on paramedics from Medway eight times and ashin twice in two of those situations a second paramedic was needed yes in the last week Holliston residents in emergency Health situations required the help of Medway paramedics for eight times it is clear that Hollin needs more than a paper ALS license with all the necessary equipment and medications Holliston needs certified paramedics to provide Advanced life support what I'm going to say is very important and it just became clear to me today hollis's hiring plan does not hire full-time paramedics but only part-time paramedics it's time to change that plan and to hire full-time paramedics it would be beneficial both to the town and to paramedics to have the same paramedics repeatedly on duty part-time and perdm positions are not going to fill the void chief Chief Michael Cassidy has written in accordance with the license we have an ALS provider on shift at least 8 hours per day to start we have three years from the issuance of the license to ensure that there are Al Als providers on shift 24 hours a day currently paramedics and hollison work 12-hour shifts some days we have paramedics working a 12-hour day shift other days working the night hour shift and some days working both day and night shifts we can see the big void by the need that we have had in the last two weeks since the ALS license was received that we need certified paramedics let us hope that the plan is not to wait 3 years before we actually have full-time a ALS service the residents of Holliston Deserve Better Health Care and it is the standard care of our region our tax dollars have provided the equipment and the medications the present Ambulance Service is like a beautiful well equipped hospital with not sufficient staff to provide the health care of the residents I invite every everyone as it affects every one of you to encourage the Town Administrator and the select board to change the town plan and hire full-time paramedics to work to achieve paramedic sta Staffing levels of advanced life support that is required so that a 24hour ALS is available to everyone in Holliston from Holliston ambulance services thank you thank you sure Mr Kelly that's High Praise that you receive from Dr Tyler on that and I think uh town meeting would like to know if you're here if you are just stand up so we can acknowledge you with the efforts that you made thank you any any further discussion on the article if not all those in favor say I those opposed so voted article six pay unpaid bills to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for unpaid bills from prior years or take any action relative there to Ashland Animal Hospital for the fiscal year 2021 to 23 1,671 for animal control crane 101 par 1 c 2 a 4 e 4 G I have no idea what those names stand for but nonetheless for FY 2024 is $200 for the DPW continuing ed I assume that's a cost that one of our employees took that hadn't been paid for timely this requires a four fifth vote the fincom recommends appropriating $1,871 from free cash the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $1,871 from freecast for the purpose stated in the article is there a second second any discussion if not all those in favor say I I was opposed so voted you vote for the record that that vote was unanimous so there's no question that there was at least four fifths thank you Jay U article 7 fiscal year 2025 budget adjustments to see if the town will vote to transfer from available funds a sum of money for the purpose of supplementing various Town accounts for the town's fiscal year 2025 annual budget previously voted under by the town under article 20 of the warrant for May 24 annual town meeting as presented in the article or take any action relative there to the motion is move the the town vote to approve the line items listed in the article with $443 45 transferred from the June 2024 supplemental appropriation approved under article one of the June 2024 special town meeting and $ 6,396 transferred from the reserve fund the fincom recommends approval of the line items listed in the article with 44345 transferred from the June 2024 supplemental appropriation and 6,396 transferred from from the reserve fund that vote was unanimous is there a second any discussion yes sir Robert princee 203 Turner Road um thank you for give me a moment to speak here I'm not sure if this is the right point to do this but I'm guessing so it the the article says budg budget adjustments and I basically have a question um in the brand new wonderful strategic plan for the town under goal one which states enhance our differences by supporting internal and external diversity Equity inclusion initiatives creating a welcoming inclusive community and attract and retain diverse pool of workers residents and businesses the objectives which is requires funding to implement and that's my question where are these funds coming from um one is to recruit hire and retain a more diverse Workforce of for for the town which my experience is you have to train recruiters to understand what the difference is when you look at it lens to diversify your staff they don't just do it by osmosis the second objective is provide um educational Dei materials and mandatory Dei training to be to elected and appointed officials community community me community members staff Etc on on on the value of Dei the understanding of that where the funds coming for that the third objective under this first number one goal in the town's plan um is provide educational uh Dei material for the town um to be able to have the town understand the values to the town as a whole of advancing greater diversity Equity inclusion in the town again that doesn't happen just because people have an understanding of it and then finally the fourth objective is frequently review and evaluate town uh policies for fairness and equitability which again who's ever in that member of that group needs specific training all of these need dedicated funds I don't I don't know if there's I don't see the fun the the numbers and dollars and cents in the budget and my question is um how do we take advantage of making budget adjustments to make sure have the funds we need to implement the plan that's been approved for the as part of the Strategic plan so thank you for answering my question go ahead Travis you like Travis thank you so to answer the gentleman's question related to the budget overall uh we're generally appropriating for the the financial plan for the town in May for annual town meeting for our fiscal year budget um and we certainly had discussions uh leading into what was uh finalization of the Strategic plan going into this fiscal year which is fy2 um So within that in the HR budget specifically for example our assistant Town Administrator HR director is is certifi has a Dei certification for Cornell um and so a lot of the programs that we have for employees uh that the gentleman mentioned uh will be coming through rhr department on the town side the school side um Jarl ver if you're not familiar with him does a lot of the same things on the school side um for employees and programming um what this article just to to be specific on what we're talking about tonight is not related to the overall budgeting for the year cuz that was said in May what this article does is after the May uh budget the budget was set for fy2 in May of 24 um there was a special town meeting in June uh related to an override um that was namely driven by uh needs on the school side and within that what we were looking to do is ensure equitability for a group of employees that this article touches upon um which is generally non-un employees on the town side that are non-department heads usually assistant department heads office managers Etc it's sort of laid out in the description so this is a pretty narrow scope article and what we did in June was we appropriated the 1.1 million to the school budget and the school operates as a bottom line budget so they can allocate that as they need to as they discuss with town meeting on the town side we allocated $44,000 for uh 40 some OD employees that fall in this category and that money needs to be parsed out into each departmental budget so it needs to be moved into 17 budgets um I can't say it addresses everything um that the speaker mentioned but I can say that what we are trying to do in terms of Recruitment and Retention in this article is identify a group of employees that we don't feel are competitive with our neighbors so we're trying to move them along um an existing chart that gets set at Bytown meeting in May um but it does not it's not supplementing the FY 25 budget beyond that that very narrow scope um so everything else related to the Strategic plan that was mentioned um that we certainly were able to get some of into the first year of that 5-year strategic plan this fiscal year in the May town meeting will'll continue on for the next five years as we Implement uh the Strategic plan and I'd also point out since the gentleman brought up the Strategic plan um and Chris if you don't mind I have one slide at the beginning of my um my sort of just in case slides that highlights um the chair Tina Hine and I did a an hcat presentation to sort of preview what was on the the warrant tonight and we tried to highlight sort of how a lot of what you're talking about tonight um overlaps with the Strategic plan um so as you see on the right side of the screen this is the wheel that sort of shows in alphabetical order um the seven strategic priorities and then what we list out is sort of all of the articles with the with the numbers there that overlap with various areas of the Strategic plan so um this one I I understand the gentleman's point it doesn't sort of add to specifically um what uh what he was looking to see we did hopefully get some of that in in this fy2 budget um and we'll continue to progress with that in the next five years as well um but as you see here there's a lot of of areas for us to cover and a lot of that you're you're handling tonight so I'm happy to answer any questions on that um but I would just point out that this particular article is a pretty narrow scope it's dealing with um what we dealt with in June for the special town meeting and that um a lot of the other points that were made will will look to continue to make progress on as we move forward in FY 26 thank you thank you any further discussion if not all those in favor say I I those opposed so voted article 8 special legislation Town manager act uh to see if the town will vote to authorize the select board to petition the general court for special legislation creating a town manager position and prescribing the duties and responsibilities thereof and further to authorize the select board to accept any non-material revisions to set legislation as may be required by the general court the motion is move that the town vote to authorize the select board to petition the general court for special legislation creating a town manager position uh as presented in the article the article is runs a full six pages published in the warrant and has been published prior to town meeting for those citizens at home that wanted to familiarize themselves with the language is there a second for the motion I see that it's sponsored by Mr Sparrow did you intend to make a presentation sir go right ahead please sponsored by the select board Mr Spar is going to speak on behalf of the select board good evening um Ben SPL uh 9 Force Park Drive and the vice chair of the select board it's funny how no matter how many times you do this it's still awkward um so I just put together a couple quick slides uh because there's a lot in this uh particular uh article uh six pages uh actually I have control there we go and um so just to go briefly over what the ACT does it's replacing the special acts of 1994 that established a Town Administrator in Holliston and the main goal of this is to shift more responsibility away from the select board onto the uh the town manager there are some changes that take place in here and it is enshrining existing practices into uh bylaw and um the actual change of the position from Town Administrator to town manager is meant because the uh position has added tasks added to the responsibilities this will allow the select board to concentrate more on doing things like policym rather than dealing with some of the day-to-day operations that we uh have to do um uh with each of our meetings there are no immediate financial implications um the market is driving salaries um I noticed that hackington just um got a contract for their Town manager I believe and uh so we'll have to look at the market as uh things progress so um we started with the language that was proposed in May and we made several changes so just to go through quickly what the changes are in uh section two the schools had brought to our attention that the uh Town manager should not be managing School properties in the event of an emergency and so there was some language that was codified within that uh within that area uh for section three the the finance committee uh sought to have a little bit more of a say on the revenue forecasts in the process of the budgets so there was uh a um some language about a consensus between the finance committee and a town manager and I wrote Town manger I made a typo there my apologies uh section four um had some changes uh at the behest of the library Board of Trustees to allow boards and committees to have uh more say on the process of hiring department heads uh the library have just gone through uh hiring a director and they went through a um I think the sort of the the the standard what we should be going through for department heads and we wanted to make sure that that was enshrined in law here and all the changes that have taken place are consistent with existing practice and not replacing any bylaws as well for the average resident with this particular uh article if it passes um you won't see a lot of difference in how things um work on a day-to-day basis if you watch the select board meetings and I know all of you watch religiously every Monday um just to hear what we have to say but um you'll notice there will be some changes in things like board business and things like that in the way some of the things that the select board does but for the average resident you'll see things like greater accountability transparency and have a single point of contact across the organization so the main difference is better functioning government with all departments working a little more together under a centralized management just to talk a little bit further um the select board sought um input U through meetings with the select board specifically um there were a number of boards and committees that were invited to um talk to the select board in the select board meetings and I personally went to a number of meetings um of some other boards to talk to them answer questions and to work with them on uh creating um a a better uh Town manager act so thinking about next steps here um this legislation does take time I think whan passed theirs in May and it was signed by the governor the following March about 9 months um so probably 9 months to a year potentially um there are some before that can pass the select board will need to work on updating a job description and thinking about future consideration for the position and I would also um implore future boards to be looking at this law on a consistent basis you know we're rewriting this law 30 years later and that's too long to be waiting for something like this this should be we should be looking at these things frequently every 5 to 10 years to make sure that things are working properly and if there's changes that need to be made then they can be made and then further if this is passed the select board will talk have the conversation in May about increasing the size of the select board from three to five members this is a critical step before that can take place so that com if this passes this evening then we'll have that conversation in uh at the next town meeting so lastly I just wanted to take a moment to say some thank yous this is my academy award speech so um the first one and most important is here so I wanted to say thank you to John Cronin you did The Lion Share of this work I'm just taking it that last mile you took it the first 25 miles so thank you to John thank you to the select board for their support and um their patience with uh with me uh thanks to uh some of the input from some other folks some subject matter experts like Charlie Cristello um who's a member of the uh Mass Municipal uh management association the mmma um try saying that three times fast and um he came to us and spoke to us and had some uh good feedback on the on the law that we had put together uh Carolyn DK also offered some uh some comments and as well as our uh state James Arena doosa I wanted to also thank the boards and committees for their feedback and time in this uh particularly the library trustees the school committee and the finance committee for their input on the process it makes things better when we collaborate we work together to find Solutions when we have uh challenges and also thanks to uh Jay talerman he uh took some time to talk to me um about some things and had some great suggestions that helped get me uh to the next to to the to a final product here and thanks to Travis aarn for putting up with me while I asked them lots of questions and uh and uh finally I wanted to uh thank all of you for your time and support this evening so I hope you uh support this act I think this is something that's very important it's important for Holliston and uh thank you very much for your time and I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has any thank you let me note also that the fincom recommended approval of the Town manager act as presented under the warrant 70 further discussion Mr blae Jack blae 25 minutes a row Mr moderator at this time do we could somebody explain would hollison be Bedrock becoming a City versus a town Tina you want to handle that sure why not okay well thanks for that curveball uh I'm going to say that there's the select board has not in any way shape or form entertained moving to a city form of government uh there are many moving pieces to that uh but if there is interest here boy I suppose we could start that conversation but that is not the intent of the Town manager act and there has been no discussion um I would defer to Town Council because that would be the first place I would turn to say what are the steps necessary but I'm going to say population size I'm going to say budget size uh and Staffing Resources are three of the first things we'd have to address that we currently don't have to make that possible um but that's an interesting question thank you any further discussion this requires a major yes requires I was going to say requires a majority vote but we're not moving to a vote yet Mr go right ahead I'll give I'll be fast no no don't be quick you take as much time as you need just tell us who you are please Carla Alfred 315 High Street um I'm here today representing the library Board of Trustees as the vice chair um we want to recognize Ben and his board for the very hard work that they put in um Ben met with the library twice I got up here and spoke against the act on behalf of my board at the previous town meeting um and he came into our meetings and really worked on the language to be something that we could approve so the official statement as voted on at our October 2nd meeting is that the Holliston Library Board of Trustees is in support of section four of the Town manager act as presented with the September 27th 2024 revision prior to any such appointment the town manager shall at the opinion of any such board commission or committee meet with the same for the purpose of reaching consensus on the process of making any such appointment so we are in we are in favor thank you thank you further discussion yes sir I'm near the end Mr Tyler Quick I don't want to hurry you but before Mr bla gets out of control uh Sam Tyler 353 Chamberlain Street uh Yogi Bara the longtime catcher for the New York Yankees was for his interesting sayings his yogisms one yogiism that comes to mind speaking on this article is it's like deja vu all over again well talking about this article is like deja vu in 1994 I served as the chair of the Holliston governance committee or government study committee and re recently served as chair of the Holliston governance Committee in 1994 the government study committee recommended the town meeting uh approve the position or CH change the position of executive secretary and upgrade it to a New Town Administrator position with more responsibilities however in 1994 a sitting member of the board of selectman and a former board select board member were both very vocal and spoke out against the Town Administrator position concerned that it would affect the authority of the select board for that reason what was recommended in 1994 and approved was a Town Administrator position whose authority was less than provided to other Town administrators in the Metro West area at that same time in 1994 1994 was 30 years ago and no legis legislative change has been made in that special act since then even though recommendations to do so have been made by the state's division of local services and the town governance committee this situation captured one of the key findings of the governance committee and its report to the select board in 2023 and I quote the town of hallon has not kept pace with other Massachusetts towns which have taken steps to continually update their management capacity and reconfigure their governance structure to more effectively address the greater complexities of municipal government that has evolved over time so it's deja vu again because we're talking about a special act tonight that is long overdue but as in 1994 it's not as comprehensive a town manager act as in many other towns this article has been as I think Mr Sparrow has indicated carefully crafted to preserve the status quo as much as possible while transferring selected operational responsibilities of the select board uh to the town manager with the intent of enabling the select board to focus more on policy matters the added involvement of the Town manager regarding personal appointments with independent elect departments and board has been worked out um and is not a factor here when the governance committee back in in 2023 was looking at the issue of the select board size we were convinced at that time that no change in the size should be made until there was a realignment of Duties um between the select board and the Town Administrator parts of those transfers are included in this act the town manager will evaluate uh or execute weekly account payable payroll warrants so the weekly warrant that has to had to be approved by uh the select board um is now will will be able to be uh appointed by or executed by the Town Administrator which will simplify the administration of that act the town manager will approve events per event permits except those dealing with serving of alcohol as required by state law and the town manager will accept allowable donations and gifts so these are three good steps and there's more that uh will allow for more centralized government and more efficient government I'm going to skip through a few things so the special act to create the town manager position again is long overdue the ACT provides a more centralized administrative structure with the town manager responsible for more operational duties while the select board is able to focus attention on more on policy decisions in essence the direction of this act has been recommended already by both state and local bodies that have studied holl's government or government structure the ACT has been carefully crafted to preserve the status quo regarding independently elected departments boards and committees the ACT also starts to address the realignment of responsibilities between the select board and town manager the ACT will help stabilize the tenure of the current professional staff this act is important for the town of hon to successfully address the challenge it faces now and into the future and should be approved thank you thank you Sam further discussion if not then we'll proceed we have a second on this Liz we do we do perfect all right we proceed to a vote all those in favor say I I those opposed unanimous had to believe terrific we'll move on to article 9 MBTA 3A zoning overlay District to see if the town will vote to amend the zoning bylaws by adding section VI MBTA communities multif family overlay District Parn MCM o closed Parn to allow multif family housing as a right as required by section 3A of the zoning act parenthesis masteral laws chapter 48 Clos PRS and to update the town zoning map depicted in appendix a or take any action relative theret the motion is as follows move that the town vote to amend the zoning bylaws by adding section VI MBTA communities multifam overlay District paren mcod per closed pars to allow multif family housing as a right as required by section 3A of the zoning act parenthesis Master on laws chapter 4A as presented in the warrant and to update the town zoning map depicted in appendix a amend the zoning bylaws by adding section VI MBTA communities is there a second again the article is published in the uh warrant it runs seven seven pages so I'm not going to read it here but I know you've all had an opportunity to uh to review the language of it uh Mr Clans you'd like to be heard well I'm sorry Mr Clancy lest I forget if I could uh Z as you may recall zoning articles required that the matter be considered by the planning board and I have received communication from the planning board dated October 18th regarding article 9 mbts Community multif Family overlay District Mr Mayor with regards to the proposed amendment to the zoning bylaws at section VI I would respectfully report that the planning board held a public hearing as required by master and laws chapter 48 Section 5 on September 19th and October 3rd the members voted 5 to recommend support of the proposed article as printed in the warrant and expressed appreciation to the working group and JM Goldson for putting forward a thorough and thoughtful proposal for consideration if you have any questions regarding the matter board members will be present sincerely Jason Santos Mr clinty that vote is not intended to influence your presentation unless I forget I wanted to put it on the record okay gohe ahead sir thank you thank you very much uh Brian Clancy 45 Wendy Lane um uh thank you for hearing our presentation tonight uh I am president of the hollon Housing Trust trust who's been active in creating affordable housing within hollison including I think nine single family homes three Habitat for Humanity homes in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity uh but tonight I'm here to talk about the compliance with the MBTA communities law which is um a law that is was passed in 2021 it is required uh by every town and City affected by it to uh vote on this law at town meeting or through through their uh Town governance so um exactly what is the MBTA communities act it became law in 2021 by an act of the state legislature and it was designed because it was due to a limited amount of housing stock in relation to the state population and the ACT is designed to require that towns uh that are directly served by the MBTA and those adjacent to it to Zone land and that's an important distinction Zone not necessarily build uh land for additional housing density by right according to the law Holliston must Zone a minimum of 50 acres and provide for a minimum of 750 units so if you divide 750 units by 50 acres that yields a density of 15 units per acre uh the law requires towns to Zone land but not to actually build the units that would be up to any private developer uh who owns the land or land owner uh and and the ACT is designed to increase Supply and moderate um moderate housing cost by just uh creating more Supply so you can see by the map above these are all of the communities that are subject to the uh law uh we are an adjacent Community because we are adjacent to Ashland which does have commuter rail through it um as is hopkington and some of our other surrounding towns um an adjacent small town would be Sherborn they will have to comply by uh December of 20125 we have to comply by December of 2024 so what does it mean uh for Holliston as I talked about we have to have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre as of right uh at least 50 acres we have to make room for 750 units and that was modeled out by our consultant uh lauris SME from JM goson there are no restrictions on unit size or number of bedrooms or owner rental uh restrictions and we must comply with the law by December 31st 2024 which is why we're here tonight and so many other towns uh are also uh voting on this I think including Needum tonight um what does this mean for the town of hollison uh it does not force Property Owners to develop their land it does not overrule Title 5 Wetlands laws or or existing zoning it does not create a production goal for us to accomplish and it does not require the town to improve or provide water and sewer sewer infrastructure to facilitate the development of these districts um the there are many reasons to comply um uh if we do not comply we are in a do I have the right slide yes we'd be inel ineligible for many existing grants you heard a lot of Grant uh discussion in the town budget tonight it informs funding Decisions by other state agencies when evaluating discretionary Grant programs uh we could face possible legal action as some of our Brethren are facing uh for not complying and more importantly I think we need more diverse housing types for families and seniors and more housing generally with the supply means more affordability hopefully so let's talk about a little bit about the process that we went through to comply we hired JM Goldson their uh planning uh expert in affordable housing expert Consultants to guide us we formed a working group uh that cons uh consisted of of town staff uh Karen Sherman and Travis aarn select board um Tina Hine planning board Dave Thorne zoning board Liz deitzer uh Housing Trust myself and Housing Authority Haley uh fetro um so it was a very collaborative group with a lot of diverse opinions uh we had lots of opportunity for public input from February to September of 2024 we did surveys and Inter interviews forums uh planning board hearings everything was advertised and I hope that you participated uh we considered the goals of both the town strategic plan and hollis's housing production plan which is also done in the same time frame excuse me uh after reviewing several sites that were chosen by JM JM goson with the proper parameters uh we chose two sites that met the criteria of minimum land area density and buildability tonight we will vote to rezone those sites with the proposed overlay District that was referenced after our vote it's important to note that the state will examine whether the sites chosen comply with the law so that was very it's very important to carefully meet all of their required uh compliance criteria so that we are not um rejected by the state with regard to how the parcels were evaluated so the public and the working group um gave input to JM Goldson on various areas in town and they they looked at and modeled the potentially potential unit capacity of various sites in town and what you do is you take those land sites and you subtract out all of the non-negotiable constraints such as flood zones and wetlands and well protection areas etc those are all excluded from the land that is considered developable then the zoning um the zoning dimensional requirements are overlaid on the parcels the minimum lot size building Heights setbacks lot coverage parking requirements Etc to determine the actual density that that parcel can support So JM Goldson modeled uh the results for several different sites in town um we set out a survey uh to many group groups and came up with two particular sites that we are uh going to recommend to go forward with tonight what does the zoning mean it means that the parcels are zoned by right to allow the density of 15 units per acre and by right doesn't mean you can build everything anything that you want you still have to develop within parameters of the bylaw but you have to comply with laws site plan review environmental factors infrastructure requirements and obviously economic feasibility for the uh Builder some of the key District zoning parameters in the overlay districts are minimum lot sizes of 10,000 ft height uh maximum of three stories or 35 ft Maxim maximum building coverage of 50% setbacks front side and rear of 10 10 and 20 parking spaces per dwelling unit of one per Studio or one bedroom and two per two-bedroom unit or greater uh a site plan review process with the planning board and uh if you go for additional density uh with a special permit there's a cap of 17 units per acre in the in the overlay District so uh the two sites that we have looked at there's one out on Street uh on the Ashland Town Line you might be familiar with it cuz I think there's a 40b project within this District uh there's no flood zone in this um area there are some Wetlands but there's no groundwater protection area that would uh restrict or limit development the other site is out on Summer Street which you might uh know is the wild communication site and uh similarly there's no flood zone some wetlands and no no groundwater protection area um so if you look at those sites and overlay the model that JM Goldson did we are proposing that the ashl and Border site um is 29 Acres it has a unit capacity of 458 units and that's a density of 19 units per acre which is uh above the minimum and on the wild site summer Street subd District 59 Acres 1,000 units and 21.5 units per acre so tonight we're going to uh vote to create the overlay zoning District to comply with the law so that we don't lose grant funding so that we can create more housing eventually in town with proper planning um the vote would change the zoning byw with specific language in the warrant and identify new MBTA Zone overlay District after the town meeting we'll submit an application and Analysis to the state for approval and the state will certify that we are in compliance with the ACT hopefully so um here's a town map that shows the general location in relation to the entire town uh for your for your reference so um I would emphasize that this isn't a law that we came up with this is a law that we have have to comply with this is a law that has consequences that if we do not comply um and I think there's a lot of benefits for our town if it's done properly with zoning to create additional housing to create additional affordability uh and moderate some of our housing cost in town so I encourage you to approve thank you thank you Mr Clancy further discussion [Applause] I'll you miss pleas yes sir yes sure come out ahead hi I'm Ralph fenos uh 169 Cedar Street u in hariston and you might want to refer to uh I guess uh I don't know if any body can put the PowerPoint back up that has the map on it that might help people understand what we're talking about because there's some subar parcels that uh we're considering yeah up on the upper up on the upper left hand so I live about uh 200 ft or 200 yards actually uh from the 3A Zone uh on subdistrict number one bordering Ashland and if you want to look at the your warrants it's on page 42 subdistrict 1 if you can't see the the screen the Western most parcel um that's uh in the zone over here subd district one uh there's a 40b affordable housing project under way right now uh that's Jeffrey Park uh it's committed I think to 24 single family units it's affordable housing and um uh it's probably they've been uh daily for the last year or two kind of pounding away at uh the surface up there I think there's a lot of granite in that neighborhood uh but they're been doing that for about a year and a half now and uh so every morning we're getting our dose of pounding on the uh the surface but it sounds like they've made some significant uh progress in terms of the infrastructure uh establishment so that's a that's a good thing so I have a few questions in relation to that because there's some issues here one of them is what's the Builder's plan I don't know if anybody can speak for the Builder or if the Builder is actually here um to explain what they may be doing in relation to a rezoning in that area and uh I'm sorry sir what do you mean what are they doing in relation to a rezoning uh well if if this uh if this area is rezoned uh will he basically cancel the project he's working on now which is the 40b project and then reapply for a uh 3A project so if he was here maybe he could speak to that uh because there's 24 units kind of here at stake that are actually going to be buildable and sailable and usable for the town with a net ad of new new units in town of 24 so uh that's in my mind a good thing anybody want to claim interest in the property in developing it and respond to his question seeing none we'll go to the next question okay um if it's rezoned at 3A uh I think you know what does the parcel actually add I think it's important that there be more affordable housing in Holliston but the number of units that are kind of projected here uh assume in the model is I understand what the consultant uh wrote or or the modeling that he did that there's public uh sewer um and obviously we don't have public sewer at least in that part of town uh so there's no way there'd be that number of units that could be built there so uh in the um on subdistrict one there on the left that's the that's the um Jeffrey Park uh project and that's where the the 40b work is being done that one apparently in the uh modeling that was done would have 200 multi- uh family units in it and the other ones that are in that area I think would have like 250 in addition so uh you know with the septic issue with the single access point there's only one Road in and out of that place uh wetlands and maybe other kinds of constraints uh they're not going to build 200 multi- uh family units in there um and it would be helpful if anybody has a like a back of the envelope rule of thumb as to if you look at that site actually how many multi-user uh uh multi-user multifam uh homes Could you actually build there because you got 24 affordable housing units kind of being built there now what would be the tradeoff if you did that I don't know if anybody can speak to an estimate of exactly or even ballpark how many units you could do there so um from my perspective we have a bird in the hand here with 24 units that are going to be online and add to the Hollis and housing stock probably in the next year or two uh my understanding is that if he if the Builder decides to go to uh the 3A zoning uh he's got to reapply to the state and it'll go through the whole town process all over again so there's a net of uh you know 24 units that are kind of in hand as opposed to waiting for perhaps something else happening down the road that the Builder may or may not be able to actually execute so my uh intention here is to remove the Jeffrey Park uh parcel from The Zone um there's still Parcels on the site as you can see that are buildable and could still be applied for multifam uh housing but um as probably around 250 there and the other half of it is that from the perspective of meeting these numbers uh I think the uh the uh xaven Brothers uh property down there which I think is the other Zone I think by itself makes the U makes the number so what I'm proposing here is an amendment to this article that would exclude the Jeffrey Park parcel from the the 3A Zone and leave the current zoning that's there in place so I've got this is a very complicated thing and the uh Town Administrator uh Travis is very helpful because he told me I had to read this article in this way to have that happen uh move to amend article 9 by removing map 14 block three lots 154 a through S from subdistrict 1 as presented in section 5-1 paren 2 and the map entitled town of Holliston MBTA subd District's location prepared by JM Goldson dated August 2024 so that's the motion is there a second second okay if we can have that passed up Sir the amendment is open for discussion yes Tina thank you is Jay seeing it to address the previous uh comment uh from this gentleman what is the Builder's plan we don't know he is not here to speak to it I'm I'm sorry we can't address that here with the information you're most likely looking for from the Builder what is the number of units like likely for the parcel that you were referring to uh 207 units is the hypothetical maximum this is a hypothetical um projection based on the models that we used to calculate maximum number of units so again 207 is the maximum that takes into no consideration other constraints on the property on the parcel like sewer the ability to install sewer for uh any number of units so again hypothetical maximum using the model is 207 would like to just uh fact check one piece that the 24 units that are proposed on the 40b they're not 24 entirely all four affordable housing units they are 25% of 24 that would be affordable the 207 if we were to hit that Max although again it's hypothetical and therefore probably unlikely um it's a 10% Max so um just use that in your math as you're figuring out where to the question of whether or not there's a benefit in terms of affordability the 25 home 24 homes proposed with this 40b project 25% of those would be affordable of the 20 seven hypothetical homes that could be built on that parcel uh 10% would need to be um affordable and again that hypothetical modeling does not factor in other constraints particularly in this case I think we would say sewer we do have our subject matter expert our um consultant here in the room tonight if you would like more detailed information I'm happy to ask her to come up I'm sure she'd willingly do so um but I hope that answers your question sir okay further discussion yes Mr please I don't know okay oh okay Jack blae 25 M Road Mr Mayor as a lawyer you do know that the town of Milton is taking this MBTA case the the Comm the mass Supreme Court so I have two questions depending on the outcome could this get go all the way up to the United state supreme court for a verdict and if it does it does it behoove us to wait for a final decision from either the Supreme Court or the Mass state supreme court before we go forward okay I am I am an attorney I have my thought on it too but Mr tal Talman I have anticipated your question oh I apologize I thought you were the main lawyer that's okay no I'm just a moderator T I'm going to defer that question to Our Town Council please so I'm not J talerman Town Council um the the requirement to do this by the end of the calendar year exists regardless of how many levels of Court there are however I would also state that under the way that the the current litigation is structured the end of the line is the Supreme Judicial Court case that was just heard a few weeks ago um an oral argument that a decision will be issued at some point over the next weeks or months it's unlikely as it's currently structured that it would invoke any us constitutional questions that would go up to the US Supreme Court even if it did it wouldn't stay or toll our requirements to act by December so you feel positive it won't go to the Supreme Court I I feel positive that as structured there's no jurisdiction for the federal Supreme Court so then as Hollis then why can't we wait and based on the mass Supreme Court decision well holl what's that what's the worst case they give you a slap on the wrist from my perspective as as Council for this town and and other towns is that the potential ramifications are much greater than a slap of the wrist what's the definition of that in English that there are substantial grant opportunities that we would lose out on um automatically and there are other grant opportunities that we would be risking of not qualifying for including things related to school Construction Grants so what happen if the state rules against the MBTA all bet off well if the if the state does overturn any part of the this particular statute which is unlikely then the town could always at the Springtown meeting vote to resend this entire bylaw now we include all expenses the state would pay for that uh the state's not paying we I'm not aware that we have any expenses related to a legislative act like that it would be simply putting a matter on the warrant for the spring to resend this bylaw thank you okay thank you let's be in mind I gave Mr bla some latitude we're talking about the motion to amend is open for discussion now whether to remove that portion of one of the poses that the gentleman had moved Is there further discussion on the motion to amend I'm sorry do I have Kevin oh this Kevin I'll get you next please thank come on down start a little que yes go right ahead please hi uh I'm Cecil frck and I um I live in 10 Indian Ridge Road um on a butter of the Jeffrey parks in fact I'm right uh there uh listening to all the uh pounding that was a disguised for my concern actually um is really based on the process that we went through for the Jeffrey Parks which was quite an eyeopener for me um I moved to Holliston eight years ago because I like the uh quiet and the um and the space um and I understand that um many people are not as fortunate to be able to afford uh the homes and I'm all for um opening a hollisten for um people who are not as um uh as uh financially um uh doing as financially as well however um the process of uh Jeffrey Parks occurred during Co and um so with online um and um many people were very obviously interested um in what was going on and uh offered um concerns uh so the concern was uh the access uh one Road in and out uh in an area that already had multif family homes and a nursing home and quite a bit of traffic um the response uh to that was a traffic study that was done during covid where everybody stayed home um and we were told that um uh the projection is that there is no problem it's kind of a laughable response really uh um the uh other uh concern uh was um uh the Water uh access the water there um pressure is quite bad even with uh booster pumps and um they were planning to do some um uh some booster of the water um however there is a uh easement through my property uh that was obvious um it was obvious that they were going to try to put a a pipe through to connect it to Ashland and yet I was told that that was really not planned at all um and the new plan of course has that without even discussing it with me so I'm kind of a little long-winded but my concern really is the process and that is um we already went through some process to get yes only four affordable houses I understand uh but that was went through kind of a very long and painful uh the idea of putting 200 um units uh with one ESS uh through an area that was already very congested to me is inconceivable so I'm not quite sure how that is even um planned or um or thought thought through so that was it's one of the reasons I mean I'm uh you know we settled on the Jeffrey Parks uh we're going through very painful process all of us um I think um there will be some affordable housing I think it seems like there are other um options in um in the area for um not only to um follow the law but to be decent human beings um in um and allow other people um access to our our community I do however think that the Jeffrey Park should be partialed out thank you Mr Ren you Kevin Ry principal assessor with regard to the amendment that's there there's been an error in the lot numbers given out there are 26 lots and it extend from a toz as a zebra not s if you want to exclude all of the Lots thank you this Mr run before you leave have you seen a copy of this motion to amend no I have not so he is correct correct Trav that it should be Z so I don't know if you want to do that as a friendly ACC this is incorrect that should be a z instead is that what you were putting now Mr R it should be a z instead of an s yes it should be a or all the way to Z 26 separate Lots all right so it appears there's a typo in the uh Amendment would the petitioner agreed to we can amend change your motion to say lot 154 A through Z okay so noted that's right is that right but also in right that's what I'm saying it's right there this is just what you just wrot and just change that there's another amendment that we have to do but we could do it after we vote the uh what no that's so that's correct to z i I changed that to a z but is that otherwise okay for the amendment yes but we have a small amendment to do the the main thing after we vote okay let's deal with this first okay any further discuss Mr Shada yes Ken oh no Michelle Michelle Zer 583 Winter Street my question is for either Brian or someone from planning if this motion passed would it be possible for us to be in compliance with just the other lot okay hold on one second C sh is probably best able to answer that or our consultant just for the record uh Brian is nodding Laura is nodding the answer is yes by removing that particular parcel um we are we would still be in compliance and we're just clearing up um to make sure that this is done correctly because we are very concerned that anything that goes off with a wrong period to the AG's office won't get approved and this will all be for not so they're just clarifying that and the answer for the record um to miss seer's question is that removing this parcel we will still comply what's that Fell's name what at the petition do you know of it okay someone's we all set with this Fell's motion yes okay further discussion on the gentleman's motion to amend yes sir hello Brian Goodman 86 Church Street um couple quick questions just clarifying I know we just went over this but removing the parcel will still keep us in compliance with the mpta zoning yes that's what we're told um Brian I'm sorry I don't remember your last name I don't want to be disrespectful Mr Clancy yeah Clancy yes okay Mr Clancy um does the MBTA requirements require the zoning overlay to be in an undevelop on undeveloped Lots or can it be an overlay on currently developed lots for redevelopment it does not have to be undel okay and also um once we are in compliance is it possible to at further Town meetings down the road um end the overlay into other districts in town come on up if you can Brian so the folks at home can hear the response and that's my only other question by the way thank you that's all I'll sit down you don't have to hurry so yeah just for the microphone and and the folks at home yes if you I'm sorry ma'am identify yourself sorry lauris SM the senior community planner at Jam Colson um our our firm helped to run the model um so the parcel that's a question has the capacity model capacity for 207 units which we all know wouldn't be built due to the Sewer constraints however if we subtract those 207 units out of the model you're still at your unit capacity and your acreage requirements so it would still meet the law and then in a future town meeting if you wanted to extend the district to other areas of town you would certainly you wouldn't be required to do so you certainly could do that if you chose too great thank you further discussion yes Mr Alfred so so Dan Alfred 315 High Street just a quick question so doing this though doesn't preclude the ability to do the 40a 40b continue sorry doing this does not preclude the ability to proceed with a 40b right that's right Jay so I mean is there anyone from the from the right the 40b still still stands and that project could still continue just so so all you're doing is removing something that in theory is an option is there anyone from the planning board I mean they the planning board work has been working on that 40b right would the would the planning work consider changing the the project I I just don't you know if if the 40b still exists I don't see why we would alter the plan and because it only gives the developer sort of an option if the developers thought that that was the best option so anybody go ahead Travis so I I and the the gentleman who who brought up the question uh because I spoke with him earlier today and the neighbors so the neighbors had gone through as a Butters the 40b process with the planning board and I don't want to I'm going to speak for the gentleman and then have him speak for uh correct me if I'm speaking wrong the concern it seems to be is they don't want the current 40b that's underway to now go back to the drawing board and potentially have a larger impact which may be allowable under 3A they would prefer the existing 40b that was previously approved to move forward as previously approved so that is I believe the concern and um that that can still move forward by removing it from this process the rest of the the parcels and the subd districts could move forward and have options for the private sector to build on um but your question is correct even if the parcel was not removed the developer could still proceed with the 40b but what by leaving it included the developer could say never mind to their previously approved 40b and go in a different direction which is what I believe is the intent of the motion to stop that from happening okay further discussion thank you for that TR you going to correct him Tina no no go ah ahead no I try not to correct the town administor well he's not the town manager yet go ahead ahead uh in the effort to dot our eyes and cross our teas to do this once and to do this right we're going to make one more correction uh to the motion as it reads in the No No we're dealing with the motion to amend that's before the floor now oh you okay so he can correct me I just don't correct him okay thank you we're just dealing with the gentleman's motion to amend to take a portion of that area out of it any further discussion on that topic yes ma'am sorry Lisa Brown 145 Hollis Street so why was this portion included there has to be a reason why this portion was included and I'm curious before I vote on whether I don't want it included what the reason was go ahead Tina if you like so we held P public forums there was a survey this was the feedback we got from the public so this is what we're presenting to town meeting um the feedback we received so we did our modeling these were the districts that were identified we presented this to the community we got feedback and we're bringing it to town meeting that's thing one thing two is this is about risk as well as it is about what's good for Holliston so we are presenting overlay districts here to comply with MBTA 3A that gives us the best opportunity to Once town meeting approves and it goes to the state for their final approval we get that final check mark that we are in compliance this lowers the risk that we have any issues so we are presenting the best option to have the least risk when we send it up to the state for their final approval so two things we're taking the feedback we received for the districts as as uh commented on by the public and bringing that to town meeting and we're presenting to town meeting something that the working group through our consultant and the town planner felt was the best approach to present the lowest risk to the town so that we would be in compliance when we submitted thank you further discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote it requ we go voting on the motion to amend and I'll read it so that we there's no misunderstanding here because we did make a friendly amendment to it move to amend article 9 by removing map 14 block three lots 154a through Z from subd District 1 as presented in section V-1 parents two closed parents and in the map entitled town of hollison MBTA subdistricts location prepared by JM Goldson dated August 2024 uh this requires a majority vote uh we'll try voice vot and see proceed in that fashion for all those in favor say I those opposed can we accept that Jay I I rule that a pass it's your phone okay the eyes have it so that amendment is now we now return to the main motion as amended by removing that section Tina did you want to be heard on a motion to amend the main motion now okay recess no no recess we're ping forward we're committed to one night town meeting at least I am I don't know no I work for free at night Tina accuracy is more important than timeliness so take it whatever time you need to get I kind of learned that the hard way um okay so what we're going to do is amend the original motion please and thank you here for Section V1 MBTA communities multif family overlay District subsection B sub subsection a everyone there to read subd District 1 map 14 block 4 Parcels 4.1 adding block 3 154a through as as stated so the amendment is to add block three prior to 154a in again sub subsection a where it says subdistrict one to amend a through z instead of s and to amend further A through Z instead of a through S wa do you have that in writing for us that doesn't change the that it's just the assess again we're just going to go slow make sure we get all of our information correct here so it's so it's already it's already been deleted by removing yeah that's right but does the block three to 232 is okay thank you for your patience just give us one more minute please oh that's okay Mr BL I'm going to accept your suggestion we're going to stand in recess for 5 or 10 minutes to give us a chance to make sure this is accurate it's very important very important that it be accurate we'll recess for 5 minutes if you need to get move about thank you all right [Music] okay good times did you set that off no good idea might want to do that e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] what for the am that it is ready to go to the a we want to make sure it's but up Amendment all set ready to go to yeah yeah okay folks if I can ask you to take the seats I think we're ready to go you have the motion uh to amend Jay yeah Jay approved it okay folks take your seats please so we can get back underway thank you for your patience not yet no no I want I will not entertain that Tina do you have a motion to amend you want the town meeting to consider yeah I mean okay let me have it please verbally all right is this on okay thank you again for your patience I believe we have this right I have the full confidence of everyone to my left here uh we are going to make two amendments to the article the mo you mean one Amendment with two pieces that is correct okay thank you that is correct just procedurally this will not unchange any of what was just voted in terms of the amendment to remove the parcel which should be up on the screen behind me all right so Chris Mayo is going to help me here you can see the cursor moving through the bottom left of that Blue Block I hope you can see the fainter line on the inside of that Blue Block showing you the parcel boundary that is what is being removed by the prior Amendment okay and that is what this language is now going to correct in the motion that goes to the language that goes to the attorney general so thank you again for your patience here goes uh in section V1 MBTA communties multif family overlay District under uh section subsection establishment and applicability B it will be 76 acres in removing this parcel we drop it from 88 acres as listed and it is now 7 6 Acres we then continue to sub subsection a subdistrict 1 map 14 block 4 parcel 4.1 block 3 parcel 232 map 14 block 4 parcel 1 that is the amended language and that should reflect what was up on the map as the remaining Parcels in that Blue Square so Jay do you have the motion as amended so we can I can read it to town meeting I'll give it to Jay first please I need to read the the whole we're going to vote on the motion this motion to amend first then the main motion as amended by this amendment I can put it we have the motion that's been presented to town meeting it has been amended to delete that portion of the Locust that the gentleman identified that becomes the main motion if you're seeking to now amend the motion as amended then I need to have what your proposed amendment is and if that's voted then we made the motion as including both amendments the gentleman that was already passed and this one right or wrong that's right so here's you said that's right go ahead yeah so there's one part the first part she read the motion that I suggested earlier had no mention of acreage you're talking about changes in the article in the language in the language of the article right right so the motion to amend by changing 88 acres to 76 Acres all right and um subsection 51b and to amend and the language for subdistrict one such that it reads map 14 block 4 parcel 4.1 comma block three partiel 232 comma map 14 content with it I am okay I'm going to have Mr Talman read the motion so there's no misunderstanding between he and I and the select board okay this is going to be a motion to amend the language is technical I think it's reflecting what the gentleman's motion was to to further more accurately Define what the locus will presently consist of so I'm going to ask Mr Talman to give you the motion to amend if there's a second to that we'll vote that and we will then proceed to vote on the main motion as amended by the gentleman's Amendment and by this amendment if it's voted okay Jay if you can give town meeting the motion to amend the report is presently advancing so the motion to amend is in two parts so it would be move to amend section B first sentence by changing 88 acres to 76 acres and second by changing the um language for subdistrict one under Section B to map 14 comma block 4 comma parcel 4.1 comma block three parcel 232 comma map 14 comma block 4 comma parcel 1 and that would be the the new language for that definition of subdistrict one okay thank you is there a second and do I understand correctly for Town meeting's benefit that the effect of this is to take from the underlying article the gentleman's motion to amend and to correct one or more ref particular references in the article to accurately describe what town meeting is being asked to vote on correct by way of explanation it removes the acreage and the identification for the parcels that were part of the amendment and it adds the word block three in subdistrict one which was missing before got it okay thank you and and and f as to those involved in crafting this there's no way to anticipate what articles what motions to amend are going to take place and whe they're going to be voted up or down and when they have voted up particular something as technical as this it's very important that it be accurate so I thank the team here for getting it together all right any fur any further discussion with respect to that motion to amend if not all those in favor say I those opposed so voted now we return to the original article the original motion including the amendment language offered by the general was it Ralph is that your name yes sir I don't I should be more polite than that offered by Ralph not to be too friendly with him but that's what it is and the Second Amendment offered by the select board who we're all friendly with and so the motion is as I originally read encompassing both of those amendments any further discussion if not then all those in favor say I I those opposed so voted thank you we'll move to article 10 MBTA 3A zoning bylaw bylaw consistency to see if the town will vote to amend the zoning bylaws at sections i-e definitions and triple I use regulations as well as delete section v-g apartment District requirements to be consistent with the amendments to master chapter 48 Section 3 MBTA communities multif family overlay District mcod as follows note existing text to be deleted as deloted denoted within the proposed text is denoted in bold italic the motion is move that the town vote to amend the zoning bylaws at sections i-e definitions and triple I use regulations as well as delete section VG apartment District requirements to be consistent with amendments to master chapter 48 section 3A MBTA communities multif family overlay District as presented in the warrant as a referen in article 9 I have a communication from the planning board to me with regards to the proposed multiple amendments to the zoning bylaws to achiev consistently with the changes proposed in article 9 I'd respectfully report that the planning board held a public hearing as required by Master chapter 48 Section 5 on October 3rd the members voted 5-0 to recommend support for the proposed article as printed in the warrant Jason Santos chairman Jay could you give the town meeting an explanation with respect to what this housekeeping article is intended to do I think that can can I can be heard okay so again Jay talerman my understanding and town planner Karen Sherman can correct me if I'm uh abbreviating it too much is that with the prior bylaw we passed the the main portions of the MBTA by law and now there are other components of the bylaw that have to be amended to accommodate it not further substantive changes around the MBTA bylaw but just to make the rest of the zoning bylaw consistent with what you just passed thank so more housekeeping I ask for a second do you have a second to the motion any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted article 11 zoning BW accept dwelling units to see if the town will vote to amend the zoning bylaws at section i-e definitions trip I use regulations VA accessory buildings and structures and v- GA accessory family dwelling unit to reflect amendments to master Law chapter 4A sections 1 a and 3 pars the 2024 affordable homes act regarding accessory dwelling unit uh note existing text to be deleted is denoted with a striketh through and the proposed text is denoted in italic in the in the article itself the motion is as follows move that the town vote to amend the zoning bylaws at sections i-e definitions trip I use regulations v-a accessory buildings and structures and v- GA accessory family dwelling unit to reflect amendments to the master Law chapter 48 sections 1 a and 3 perents the affordable homes act regarding accessory dwelling units presented in the warrant is there a second I note that the uh planning board communicated with me uh with got in this article indicating that with respect regard to the proposed amendments to the zoning bylaws prepared in response to the affordable homes act with regard to accessory dwelling units I would respect respectfully report that the planning board held a public hearing as required by Master chapter 48 Section 5 on September 19th and October 3rd the members voted five in favor zero opposed to recommend support of the proposed article as printed in the warrant it's open for discussion any discussion n seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted uh article 12 zoning bylaw section 4-g penalties sponsored by the planning board to see if the town will vote to amend the zoning bylaws that section 6C that v-g penalty to allow for a maximum fine Allowed by master and Law chapter 40 section 21 for both criminal and non-criminal enforcement actions and to eliminate a written warning process for non-residential violations as follows the motion is move that the town vote to amend zoning bylaws at section v-g penalty to allow for a maximum fine Allowed by Master Law chapter 40 section 21 for both civil St that for both criminal and non-criminal enforcement actions and to eliminate a written warning process for non-residential violations as presented in the warrant with respect to this article I also have a letter from the planning board to me dated October 18th indicating that we propos with respect to this proposed amendment respectfully report that the planning board held a public hearing as required by masterin law chapter 48 Section 5 on September 19 and October 3rd the members voted five in favor Z oppos to recommend support of the proposed article is printed is there a second any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I oh I'm sorry I didn't my eyes filming all praise the Lord I thought we'd get through a whole meeting Ken without it welcome Mr sh can't get rid of me okay welcome Mr Shada yes it's Shad to you do excuse me that's right um I just had a quick question which is and by the way Ken Shada 676 fth Street the way the article is phrased it says and to eliminate a written warning process for non-residential violations but then I see in what's proposed it says first offense written warning second and subsequent offense $300 and I see no reference to a non-resident doesn't have to do this so can you explain why it says the warning process eliminate the warning process when it says there's a warning right in what's proposed anybody the planning board can help us with that the sponsors of the article okay she on the planning board yeah thank you thank you for stepping forward Miss py barbar py uh 166 Union Street uh I'm I'm going to believe that's a typo because we are issuing a a warning uh followed by a second uh for first offense you get the warning any second or third off uh offense is for $300 and that is a uh State man uh top and while we don't have a we only have a few egregious companies here in town who don't comply with the zoning laws uh which is the reason for this bylaw change is to uh give the building inspector the tools to uh Force compliance to the bylaws so I guess we change that Karen to eliminate the written warning process well the process I'm sorry Ken is the process down here is what's eliminated yes the warning is still being issued right okay so so there's you don't need to change anything then yeah right that's all I was saying was that it mentioned this non-resident violation no warning and when I down and I say well wait a minute it's not a typo this is what we're eliminating for the existing by law right so you're limiting language related to the written warning the warning itself still pertains I'm fine that's good thanks are you content k y thank you thank you Miss py further discussion if not all those this requires a two-third vote I note here so we'll see how close we are to unanimous all those in favor say I those opposed so voted that's unanimous Article 13 Sewer Commission adoption of Master Law chapter 40n section 80 and 83 to see if the town will vote to adop the provisions of Master laot chapter 40n model Water and Sewer Commission chapter 80 betterments and chapter 83 sewers drains and sidewalks for the purpose of establishing a Sewer Commission and a municipal sewer system to take any action relative there too the motion is move that the town accept an adopt the provisions of masterin Law chapter 40n model Water and Sewer Commission chapter 80 betterments and chapter 83 sewers drains and sidewalks for the purpose of establishing a Sewer Commission and a municipal sewer system Mr Hearn did you want to be is there second did you want to be heing Travis thank you Mr moderator I'll be quick I know we we lost some time previously uh Chris if you could pull up my prepared slides here um these are going to be relatively brief um you go to the next slide Chris so uh this was the slide that um that the chair of the board uh put up in the original presentation so um I just want to be very clear with what we're doing tonight and what we're not doing tonight so what's being asked is um as the town has gone through a feasibility study on potentially utilizing an existing wastewater treatment plant on lyen street that Services the Woodland School complex um is to look at which we used federal arpa dollars to to do a feasibility study for we've invested in the facility it's been active for 20 years we want it to be active for the next 20 years we've also looked at can it take Wastewater flow um from additional areas specifically looking at the downtown or Village commercial District area so this map is a rendering of what could be conceivably um included in a district that would take the Wastewater flow and send it the district is not what you're being asked to approve tonight by any means what we're being what you're being asked to approve is uh specifically uh Master General Law chapter 40n chapter 80 and chapter 83 which would establish a Sewer Commission we have uh water Enterprise fund for the water system in town we do not have a townwide sewer system or even a sewer district so we don't have a Sewer Commission body so to date the select board and myself and James ke have worked with the consultant which is Lombardo Associates to move forward this concept and in September of 2024 we actually did receive an approval from Mass DP on our scope of work which is essentially the concept of taking private Wastewater flow and sending it to the existing wastewater treatment plan the next steps that we have are coming in December of 2024 when we anticipate Mass D will give us a stamped approval of Wastewater capacity that we can then utilize for that scope of work and then additionally as uh the chair mentioned we had a congressionally directed spending request to Congressman McGovern's office Senator Mar and Warren for $5 million of federal funding to go towards this we're anticipating dollars potentially being available in early 2025 so between now October 24 and our next town meeting of May of 25 the idea would be to establish the Sewer Commission which would take this process forward and be the public facing body to make the decisions that would lead to a future town meeting including potentially bringing a district and town meeting we need to approve the bounds of that district and everything that would be encompassed in it the Sewer Commission would make the decisions on rates on spending town meeting would have to approve that just like you approve everything for the water Enterprise fund so Chris if you just go to the next slide I just want to give a really quick sense so we've done a lot of work uh in terms of surveying But ultimately all of that in our opinion should go to a new Sewer Commission so the Board of Health has met with the select board I believe twice in the last year or so uh to sort of go through the progress from the the feasibility study um but they there was some surveying done there were forums held for potential properties that would be in this District to to say you know this is your water capacity we know that as a water customer would you potentially change your use would you increase uh the number of seats in a restaurant uh the the the use of the building if you had access to sewer because that information we need to present to D so uh and then just you go to the last slide Chris um again what we're looking to do is establish the body that takes this process forward and this is what these mgls mean so 4dn section four for example sets up a three-person commission the board was looking for a five person commission but this is how the law is written the other option is to Simply make the select board um the the Sewer Commission that's another mgl the board looked at both options and chose to make a separate body um that would that the town meeting would need to approve um so it would be three members one with Finance experience one with an Administration experience and one at large uh the terms would be appointed so that it's rolling so that every year somebody was up on that commission and then um chapter 83 uh essentially allows them to operate like a water Enterprise fund again town meeting approves all of the spending of the water Enterprise fund but they're separate monies with the idea being that we would not be using general fund tax dollars it would be user fees it would be state and federal grants that would pay for the cost of a of a relatively small scale and scope Sewer District um and then lastly chapter 80 is for things like betterments as the chair mentioned currently the idea would be for it to be a complete opt-in a property owner would not be forced to join the system so betterments may not come into play at all but these are the tools that you would expect a Sewer Commission to have so this is essentially considered to be a step one one Sewer Commission gets established Sewer Commission has public hearings continues the progress from the feasibility study taking it forward to ideally present a potential District to town meeting in May of 25 at the earliest um and then this this becomes the body that is is the face of the sewer so um again uh we we feel very strongly in all of the work that's been then put together that the existing wastewater treatment plan presents us the first opportunity to have a regional Sewer District I know some of the questions that come up is does that lead into a further District what are other opportunities for sewers and I I continue to say we have this town has looked at sewers for decades and decades this is a real possibility for a relatively small scale and scope to get us moving on sewers uh the economic development benefits to the downtown area can be substantial additionally as we talked to mass D there are environmental concerns when we have so many septic system so tightly packed in that downtown area that there's environmental benefits to having a downtown Sewer District as well it's a lot of work we feel that a Sewer Commission would be the best next step to take all the work that's been done to date and move this forward to a future town meeting I'm happy to answer any questions I know I'm speaking quickly Jack I do feel old tonight when I hear SE Jack Blaze m road I feel old when I hear sewers because we presented sewers the town meeting Mr Mayor do you remember the year we brought that up no too old to remember oh and it started out oh we need sewers we need sewers it's only going to cost 40 million we approve it oh we made a mistake it's only going to cost 70 million the town meeting voted it down and we end up spending M millions in cons consultant engineering fees for nothing so I certainly hope we do some due homework before we bring up sewers again if it's not prudent to the taxpayers we do not have a blank check for the town of hollison to say that's a great idea it's only going to cost the average taxpayer 200 bucks a year only 500 we have to be prudent because we've been down this road before so if you do your homework as a newcomer in town not being condescending we've gone through this nightmare thank you further discussion seeing that all those in favor say I those opposed so voted article 14 computer assisted Mass appraisal C system to see sponsored by the board of board of assessors to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate a transfer from available funds a sum of money for the replacement of the assessing Department's computer assisted Mass appraisal system or take any action relative there to the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $115,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article is there a second the finance committee recommends that the town appropriate $115,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article seven in favor zero opposed any discussion if not all those in favor say I those opposed so voted license Article 15 license site professional LSP services to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate a transfer from available funds a sum of money for for licensed site Professional Services for nine Green Street or take any action relative there too the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $445,000 from free cash uh for the purpose stated in the article is there a second thank you and the fincom recommends that the town appropriate $45,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article is any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted St article 16 storm water management and Engineering ms4 to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for engineering consulting or Construction Services related to compliance with the EPA and mass D Municipal storm water management system regulations ms4 would take any action relative there to the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $130,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article is there a second thank you the fincom recommends that the town appropriate $130,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted article 17 hotton pond dam design engineering to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for engineering consulting or matching funds for state or federal grants related to the rehabilitation of the hotton pond dam would take any action relative there to the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $90,000 from free cash uh for the purpose stated in the article is there a second the finance committee recommends that the town appropriate $90,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article 7 in favor zero oppos any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted climate action plan to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate a transfer from available funds a sum of money for engineering or Consulting related to the devel elent of a climate action plan or take any action relative theret the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $60,000 from preached for the purpose stated in the article is there a second thank you the fincom recommends that the town appropriat $60,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article 7 in favor zero opposed any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted matching Grant funds related to design improvements of Whitney Street and Washington Street to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for matching funds related to an awarded Grant from the Boston region M Metropolitan planning organization Mo for design improvements of the intersection of Whitney Street and Washington Street or take any action relative there to the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $50,000 from free cash for the purpose stated in the article is there a second thank you the fincom recommends that the town appropriate $50,000 from preash for the purpose stated in the article seven in favor zero opposed any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I those opposed so voting non voter speaking authorization at town meeting to see if the town will vote to amend article one town meetings number 11 of the general bylaws by adding the sentence in bold italics length of speech number 11 length of speeches except in the discretion of the moderator no person shall speak for more than two times s or more than a total of 15 minutes upon any question without obtaining leave of the meeting unless to correct an error or answer a question the amended language would now say include any non-vote a president of town meeting may be recognized by the moderator to speak on an article under discussion the sole discretion of the moderator the motion is and I'm not making the motion but the motion is I move that the town vote to amend the general bylaws regarding non voted participation at town meeting as presented in the warrant is there a second second any any discussion yes sir uh good evening again Robert Principe 203 turnor I I I just want to I'm completely in support of this and um I want to just use as a moment for us to expand our vision as a town for the change we need um so you addressing your comments to this article yes I am okay go ah ahead I have oh I'm sorry I actually have an an amendment a motion to amend but I don't want to chill you if you want to speak first I just want to make sure you understood that you you're to speak on this article rather than at some topic of general interest but right ahead sir thank you got you yep I'm with you so first of all I want to appreciate all the folks that work to get this to come to our consideration um and and especially uh Pua Gupta who was instrumental in in developing this and bringing it Forward Etc it's got enormous support from a wide array of people that are involved with the town including um state representative James Serena D Roa who stated and I'm reading from what he said in the town uh house and town news there's some there's some common sense piece this is common sense piece people who live in town that pay taxes that have kids to go to school should have a voice all all three of the select board members in the same article Express absolute support for this and including if you read your notes for tonight in this s board comments that the expect purpose is to ensure that all residents of the Town regardless of voter status May participate in some capacity during the legislative process and express thoughts and concerns pose questions Etc so um it's interesting though that the state um uh because of regulations as they currently exist um see this this which is basically Under The Heading of home rule um as unconstitutional and and and so so that's based on Leal Leal Council for the state when they look and determine that the the the way it's under current written law law in the Constitution it's unconstitutional so we have another example of how we have an opportunity at a local level to respond to a restriction that's Antiquated it's as simple as that we need to change to expand our capacity to be as inclusive we inclusive as we need to be to create these kinds of opportunities and and by the way um besides the personal consequences to our neighbors and our community members that can't speak in their own town that there's there's you know there's there's plenty of towns across the state I'm just going to that have some form of this already happening Arlington Brooklyn Somerville Medway Everett Malden agam Auburn Dam Plymouth on and on reading Falmouth Bara Swampscott Etc so these these towns have Vision Beyond regulations I think that's an important thing to to to bring before us what can we what how can we seize an opportunity to to expand our capacity to be more representative of who we are and more inclusive of who we are as we continue to expand our demographics across the country including in the state including hollist um so so I'm I'm I'm going to propose the following Amendment motion to amend I'm trying to get the language you're supposed to say right men is it hope I'm getting it right okay so and I have a copy of this I can I can I can pass it up so I think we can do more than just allow people to speak we can use the opportunity to make the the language that says we have a vision for what we want to be so I'm going to propose this that the town vote to amend the language the town meeting of the general bylaws to add a stand alone sentence not under number 11 lath of speeches but it reads any non voter resident presented at town meeting may be recognized by the moderator speak on the article under discussion that the language does not include the phrase at the sole discretion of the moderator we are saying our own community members can speak not the moderator and that's no no comment on the role of the moderator or the certainly the individual so stronger language from us and that also that the town vote to amend the language of the town meeting of the general b as to direct the select board and Town Administrator to study alternative me me mechanisms to address the need to ensure effective and efficient voting and toing that does not segregate non voter residents into a non voter resident section in this room while the rest of us sit and vote somehow to not create a section that further segregates individuals that are already segregated because we can do better so again I want to offer these two po potential change well three changes that it's not under the length of speech piece it's already that's redundant secondly that it doesn't say at the sole discretion of the moderate and thirdly we get we we certainly support that our administrator and select board figure out ways to make it so that people don't have to sit in a segregated section it just doesn't feel good and I'm not even in it so um that's my propose what do I do with these pass it right up here sir we send give it the Town Council to look at it please thank you thank you okay you is there a second to is a motion to amend that motion is under discussion I want to speak I'm sorry want to speak come right down I'm Don Hammond 32 revroad Street um and while I support the intent of everything that was just said I actually think it's important that the moderator have discretion about who speaks because there's nothing in the language here that says the non-voter must be a town resident so we could have anybody coming in for any disruptive reading to reason to town meeting um and if the moderator can't make that decision we're in kind of a difficult spot it seems to me okay Jay did you want to be heard on the motion to amend um yes so my concern and it's ultimately your ruling Mr moderator is that the town meeting got notice of a change to section 11 and the two amendments proposed here relate to creation of sections that are outside of section 11 and while they might be Loosely related to the same subject matter I'd be concerned in in your shoes or I think it's necessary for you to make a ruling as to whether or not we would expand whether or not town meeting had enough notice of potential other changes Beyond section 11 um in terms of the the scope of the Amendments being properly before the body okay uh I think that uh I'll be inclined to exercise my discretion in favor of the gentleman's amendment I think Town meetings on notice that the topic of the ability of non-residents or non-voters to speak and address the town meeting is properly before us so I'll exercise my discretion liberally to allow the gentleman's motion to advance my understanding is that we had used the seating in the upper leftand corner to uh house during town meeting non-residents so they're welcome to participate in the meeting but for V in purposes it's easier to not have them sprinkled within this so we can ensure that only residents of town are voting that's that was my understanding of it in any event but anyway the gentleman had made a motion has been seconded it's open for discussion go ahead I'll let it fly don't you don't have to run it's okay good sorry Tracy mcer 109 Hemlock Drive I believe the one segregated it's not non-residents but non-registered voters okay thank you I'm I can be trained thank thank you further discussion yes Ken Dr Ken thank you Bill um I I want to read an excerpt from yes thank you Paul Ken Chada 676 fth Street I want to read an excerpt from the Secretary of State's citizens guide to town meetings who may speak and I'll Bridge it slightly all of a Town's registered voters may speak in an open or representative town meeting non-voters may speak at the discretion of the moderator or town meeting we don't need to pass this at all okay uh there are a couple of things with regards to the amendment I would strongly strongly strongly oppose putting in our bylaws directions to the select board that is not the intent of bylaws bylaws are to codify the rules not directives so I'd certainly vote against this amendment for that alone but frankly I think that entire Warren article is unnecessary as we're putting in bylaw something that is already codified in state law and I know from speaking to former select board members that one of the intents they had when they created our bylaws was to defer to state law on certain topics so that you don't create a logistical problem when state laws are adjusted over time we don't need to codify this in our bylaws when it exists as a power already at the state level it has nothing to do with diversity segregation I'm all for people having the chance to speak I'm talking administratively this makes no sense why would we put into our bylaws something that will then potentially be in conflict with state law if the state law changes in the future this is why lots of our bylaws for finance committee and school committee and select board do not redefine the powers already given by the state that was intentional to keep our bylaws clean and consistent with state law so I would urge that we and I'd like to make a motion to in definitely postpone this article since we don't need to do this at all is a [Applause] second motion hold on a second Jay what's my procedural order the motion to amend has been made this motion to definitely postpone yeah takes priority over under okay app okay to not want to apply two on yeah I'm going to after Consulting with Jay I'm going to treat the motion to inde deply postpone as being applicable to the not just the motion to amend but the entire article that we have before us so the town meeting have a sense right now to say that if uh they want to do that so let's debate the if we can the uh motion to indefinitely postpone which would have the effect of just defeating the article and Amendment yes sir if that fails then we'll proceed to deal with the motion to amend and then proceed to the main motion subsequently Mr mcclanan Walter mclenon 29 School Street I'm going to be speaking uh in favor of inde indefinite postponement I just want to share a story uh when I was a young boy uh probably in the uh fourth or fifth grade in a town in Massachusetts my father was on a board in that uh town and a very active member of the town meeting and he would always encourage and my mother were encouraged would you like to go to town meeting Walter and I said yes and so from about the fourth grade to the eighth grade I in this town sat there and so my question would be for this motion uh to amend would I there well the motion now is to indefinitely postpone not to amend you're debating the motion to indefinitely postpone I'm sorry so I'm supporting uh indefinite postponement because I think there would be a confusion about uh young young people who might be seated up there who would seek to be able to speak and seek to sit amongst all the members of the Town Meeting thank you thank you further discussion on the motion to indefinitely postpone yes Lori marov 280 Mark Tree Road so the point of what we're talking about here is for us to communicate our desire for people who live in our town but who are not able to vote because they are not citizens to be able to sit Among Us and to have a voice in decisions that are made that affect their lives so I know that this particular um article does not spe specifically speak to all of that but the proposed amendment makes what we would what we would put in the article different from state law so state law says that the moderator can decide who can speak if they're a nonvoting citizen what I think is being proposed is that we as a town say that a nonvoting citizen can speak at our town meeting and a nonvoting citizen can sit next to us at our town meeting and we can figure out some way to do the voting that makes it clear who has the right to vote and who doesn't so if we accept the Amendment we're not just repeating what's codified in state law we are making an article that says that nonvoting citizen nonvoting residents can speak at our town meeting and that feels like at least the first step toward being more inclusive and some states are actually voting to allow nonr non voting residents to vote and we may someday want to do that as well but this would be the first step in being a more inclusive town and it would not be the same as the state law if we took out if we accepted the amendment and took out the moderator that the mo at that it's at the moderator's discretion thank you Travis did you want to be heard I'm just going to actually probably Echo uh Lori to a certain extent here so just to explain um and for the the motion to definitely postpone under the um under the assumption that this is not necessary because it's written so um I I agree with the vice chair of the finance committee's point that this is allowable now um and so I think to the to the previous speaker the point of doing this and saying any non voter president town meeting may be recognized by the moderator speak on the article under discussion at the sole discretion of the moderator is to be um is to is to put that outright to make sure that we are acknowledging to anybody who is currently not a registered voter in the town that they are more than welcome at town meeting that if they have a point that's related to the article that the moderator will make a decision based on you know as as it does for anything else right as the moderator does to make sure that if it's a if it's a relevant point for the article that they're more than welcome to speak right so it is not a Monumental step forward by any means but it is something that shows that we are being deliberate was the word I was trying to find there uh in stating it outright that that that is at the moderator's discretion I agree that it is allowable now um and this would be a bit more of a change in practice than necessarily policy based on where the state is and so the example that I gave and and we went through and and I just want to be clear that Town Council made that clear to the board the board reviewed that and said yes we would like to be deliberate in making this change so that we can then voice that to the community and those who may not be coming to tell meeting because they're not registered voters so that was intentional um and that was why we are here tonight on this item um so the example I would give for those who came to tell meeting previously uh was a business owner who came on a liquor license question uh English was not his first language he had his daughter speak for him the moderator pulled town meeting to authorize his daughter to speak she gave a lovely explanation of it received a standing ovation it passed unanimously and that's fine right and it was a nice moment but ultim the answer here would be the moderator could simply say you know in in preparation this person doesn't we don't need a motion from town meeting to call out that she's going to speak it's not a a Monumental change again but it is deliberate to point out that you are welcome to speak uh as long as it's to the question as the moderator normally does so thank you Jay do you want to address the potential conflict between this local proposed bylaw change and the state law right so I thought um it would be important to address two Le legal issues that might relate to either indefinite postponement um or not the first is that there was a suggestion earlier that the current status of our bylaws or is not compliant with state law or the state constitution I could Venture a guess as to the root of that but it's untrue the current status of our bylaws um are that they are completely compliant and that to the extent that someone might equate town meeting and what goes on a town meeting with some other precedent kind of regarding the Public Square that that is not a legal comparison the second thing that I wanted to point out is and it's not a value judgment on letting non-residents sit or speak or whatever but if the non I mean non register voter a resident non um registered voter is that it becomes difficult legally for the town clerk's office from a just a a pure logistic standpoint to weigh in and determine the various categories we have a list of registered voters it can be difficult to for them to amass the necessary information to say who's a resident but not a registered voter and separate them from non-resident non-registered voter so is it possible yes but in my experience working with other towns do performing those steps can be an additional burden on the the town clerk's office which doesn't make it a good idea or bad idea I'm just pointing out for the record that there's a there's a legal aspect to that that does make it logistically difficult so just those two items I wanted to point out okay I'm going to call on Mr Principe to give him a chance to respond to the motion to definitely postpone and then Dr Shaya can have another word on it exercising my discretion to allow multiple presentations on a topic Robert Prince B 203 turn Road um so um thank you for the clarification from a legal perspective thank you for the clarification from a state law perspective um uh the issue and your last statement if I may that it is possible yes but it might be difficult and that's part of change so all I said at the last part was to examine okay I don't I guess I didn't put it in the right place you know bylaws and all sorry about that but just to give for us to say to these folks hang out together and figure out how to make this happen cuz we need to put it where it belongs but do it and I really appreciate Lori marov saying that we as a town are saying whatever the state says the state says okay we as a town like I said I rattled off 15 different towns that are doing the same thing for the exact same reason and Lori also pointed out the fact that in some of these towns it's not just speaking it's a ability for noncitizen residents to vote in Municipal elections and to serve in elected positions oh my how about that for inclusion okay and some of these people live in town 15 20 years by the way not they get too big with this this is a huge problem nationally South Asian Indian from the country India are coming in as a legal sorry the word walking across the border in Canada and the south southern border because it's a shorter process to to become a migrant than it is to get a green card in this country now a colleague of mine who is of the same descent told me that if he started today would probably take them 40 years so this is a larger issue okay this is a larger issue let him finish go ahead I'm sorry I'm sorry okay I'm I'm to me is a larg is the motion to definitely postpone I think we understand your perspective so so I appreciate Travis saying we should say this members of the community saying we should say this regardless of what the state says thank you Ken I'll be very quick I just wanted to clarify one thing uh I'm still of course wanting to indefinitely postpone but I'll read you another section of state law no person shall address a town meeting without leave of the moderator and all persons shall at the request of the moderator be silent so Bill could tell me to shut up any time so I just wanted to point out I just wanted to point out that the language about the moderator having control even though this we don't need this at all and I'm still for indefinite postponement there is no situation where the moderator doesn't have discretion over voters and non-voters so right Damon I'm going to give you the last word then I'll entertain a motion it's actually a question a question well that's whatever you choose to say if you do it from the podum so they can hear sure well as a point of information would it be possible to disentangle uh the motion to indefinitely postpone from the previous Amendment to the original article we're going to vote on the motion to inde defitely postpone first and if that wins if that PR feels that's the end of the debate if it doesn't then we go back to the motion to understood okay thanks all right is there motion did I hear a motion to move the question yes is there a second to that yes all those in favor of moving the question say I those opposed so voted all right we'll move to uh the motion to indefinitely postpone all those in favor say I those opposed no that prevails and the matter stands and definitely postpone article 21 Goodwill Park renovation sponsored by the CPC to see if the town will vote to appropriate monies from Goodwill Park preservation fund annual revenues or available funds for improvements to Goodwill Park specifically the installation of a prefabricated bathroom unit and repurposing the interior of the existing Stone building for indoor Recreation space the demolition of the existing Pavilion and stage area and garage and construction of an addition including a patio and historic Stone building in the footprint of the demolished Pavilion and garage space with all funds to be expended by October 2026 or take any action relative there too the motion is move that the town vote to appropriate 1.7 1 Milli $700,000 from the community preservation fund's General Reserve to the purpose stated in the article the finance committee recommends that the town appropriate $1,700,000 from the community preservation acts General reserved for the purposes stated in the article 7 in favor zero opposed I get a second no do I have a second any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I those opposed so voted open space acquisition regarding Adam Street to see if the town will vote to transfer from available funds a sum of money for the purpose of acquiring that possible properly property known as zero Adam street map 4 block 2 lot 54 or take any action relative there to do I have the right Travis do I have the right description on that Locus yes okay the motion is moved that the town vote to appropriate $35,000 from the open space acquisition fund for the acquisition of space as presented in the article and to authorize the select board to take any action to facilitate such transactions there a second the finance committee recommends that the town appropriate $335,000 from the open space acquisition to fund acquisition fund for the purpose stated in the article they voted seven in favor zero opposed any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I oh Who whoo who we need a second no I didn't want to rush it I'm sorry if there's a a second we is there a second I'm sorry is there a second for the motion yes got it okay got thank you yeah hi lixie KY 37 Green Street and chair of the open space committee I just want to tell you guys what you're voting on so it'll take two seconds is there can you put the thing up Chris thank you so we have an opportunity to buy four 64 Acres of conservation land that's right in the middle of Adam Street um cons or right on the edge of Adam Street conservation land um you can see it right there it's marked on the map can you go to the next slide please um it's marked there as well I also want to point out the land right behind right above it just to the north of it with all the trails that you see that's actually a 25 acre parcel that has just been donated to the town in the past year so consider that also ated in green so this is actually a piece of property that is actually already being used very heavily by people that are using the atom Street property um and actually it creates a terrific access point there's a cart path so there's a really great access point so I think more people will end up using it next slide please um it is a $35,000 purchase price is coming out of the open space acquisition fund which can only be used for the purchase of of open space um so it can't be used for anything else and we haven't used it for a while and we'd like to use it for this so please vote yes thank you any further discussion see none all those in favor say I those opposed so voted declare 2/3 yes and I would declare that was a 2/3 vote at least 2/3 okay article 23 water meter replacement supplemental to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate a transfer from available funds a sum of of money for the replacement of water meat is for all residential commercial industrial or take any action relative thet move that the town vote to appropriate $200,000 from the water meter fee account for the purpose stated in the article is there a second the finance committee recommend that the town appropriate $200,000 from water meter replacement account for the purpose stated in the article 7 in favor zero opposed any discussion if not Mr blae Jack Blaze 25 M Road Mr M maybe somebody can explain a couple things when you get your water bill in the mail they charge us 750 a quarter which is $30 a year for the water meter replacement there's over 6,000 water meters in the town if you do simple math 3 * 6 is8 that's $180,000 a year 10 years would be 1.8 million and I believe the water just up the fee from 750 to $8 so could somebody explain why where all this money is going Mr auring okay um is the interest on all that money all right I like the good news question at the end of that um yes we we receive interest so uh we have three funds of of dollars within the water Enterprise fund um there is a water infrastructure fee there is a water meter fee and then there is all of the user rates to pay for the ongoing budget so the budget for fy2 is approximately $3.3 million this article um at the time that the original appropriation was made October of 22 uh there was $95,000 in the water meter fee account and we needed to go out to bid uh I believe um the chair of the finance committee explained sort of where we need to be prior to going to bid the bids you come back this is replacing all of the remote readers including commercial and residential throughout the town um and so where we are right now in the discussion that we have with the finance committee for this article is the bids in we need $1.1 million just slightly over uh to accomplish the replacement of the water meters the remote readers especially um that gives us better information to be able to to notify um residents especially if we see a spike we can notify um you know a property owner that they may need to look for a leak Etc so there's a lot of good benefits to it the the reasoning behind the 750 per quarter and the building up at about $180,000 per year uh is the idea that we don't want to um and this is again the finance committee can speak to as well the methodology is to pay for it over time so that the money is there in the water meter fee account to replace the meters on a um on a cyclical basis and so these are this is technology right um you know decades ago these were were meters that were on the side of the house and somebody would come and read them and now they have electronic components and there's a little bit more of a um a cycle to replace them so the idea behind the water meter fee is that the account builds up when they need to be replaced right now we're going through a full replacement because the technology has changed so drastically the bids are in the 1.1 is what we need the 905 was available two years ago and we're looking to get these replaced um and then plan for the next cycle uh just like any other technology that we replace um over time so uh in a lot of instances so the the question for anybody who didn't hear and for those at home was where did the money go on $1.8 million over those years so the the process previously has not always been that we replace all of the meters in town all at once when when meters were able to be placed and meters were broken and we had a report from a resident or a commercial a business or industrial business um we would go out and replace those meters so the water meter fee account could be used periodically over time what this is doing is systematically replacing all of them and then within that we're on a new technology because replacing the the old ones is no longer viable they're no longer the technology that should be used so your question is a little bit of a change in how we're replacing them which is to do it all at once whereas previously we would do it as we went goe okay thank you further discussion anything else seeing none all those in favor say I I those oppose so voted and before we move to article 24 I have just two brief comments I want to uh I know you heard this from me before but it begs repetition I want to thank Travis and Jay Talman for the work they do in preparing the articles for us the motions and the explanations that we have there's a ton of work that goes into it uh and it's done in a terrific fashion I Want To Praise them for that I delivered as I say I deliver the product here but it's all put together for me and I thank those Town officials for and Jay uh for the work that he's done we have some sticky potentially sticky articles here tonight and they were drafted well the second is I did read some in the Press uh somewhere commentary that we were looking for second night of this special town meeting fall town meeting and I take that as a as a professional challenge to my ability to help guide us through being able to do this in one night and I don't take it lightly so I hope in a effort to be efficient that everybody who wanted to have a chance to talk did have a chance to talk and didn't feel that they were under pressure for me to get done by 10:30 even though it may the pressure may have been subliminal all right so we'll get to article 24 and hopefully you won't make a liar out of me what of main replacement design and construction to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate a transfer from aailable funds a sum of money for the purpose of completing the norol street watermain project and designing improvements to water MS for cental street or take any action relative there to the motion is move that the town vote to appropriate $600,000 from the water infrastructure fee account for the purpose stated in the article is there a second thank you the fincom recommends that the town appropriate $600,000 from the water infrastructure fee account for the purpose stated in the article seven in favor zero opposed any discussion if not all those in favor say I those opposed so voted is second all those in favor say I I thank you and good night good night to all you at home very nice there we go very nice there we go that's good yeah e e