e e e e set to go thank you uh so uh we have all the members that are attending this evening uh here in the room with us so all members participating in the meeting are present in the meeting room the public has the option of attending in person here at the Town Hall via zoom using link posting post in this meeting's agenda this Mee meeting is being recorded that all said I'll call the public meeting to order for July 16th 2024 we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance please pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice item number one on the agenda is an executive session uh the executive session uh is being called pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21A purpose two to consider strategy with respect to negotiations with non-union Personnel on non-union Town employees and two uh approval of executive session minutes from July 9th 2024 Mrs Lazarus so we would just have entertain a motion which is probably in the motion's doc right yes mov there is so we do have that motion Mary Joe do you mind just giving the exact motion right there please okay I moved to into executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21A purpose 2 to consider strategy with the respect to negotiations for nonunion personnel which are non-union is Town employ pleas uh to appropriate executive session minute to approve executive session minutes to allow Ela Lazar to P participate in the executive session and to reconvene an open session at the conclusion of the executive session second so we have a motion in a second to go into executive session Mr R Bush no it's fine sorry uh Mrs Rush please Rush yes Joe Clark yes mayor Jola fer yes Brian her yes so with that we have to go in and close the door so we'll uh we'll take care of that uh and we'll be back as soon as possible we have it slotted for 30 minutes at this point just so you know e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 30 uh we'll come out of executive session we w we came out of executive session we started the evening with that executive session and now we'll move to item number two I'm sorry item number three which is public forum residents are invited to share ideas opinions or ask questions regarding their town government would anyone like to say hello please normal nothing written I came here to um to speak up for Timmy bvin who's been the starch advocate for the Vic I'm sorry 78 Pine Island Road I should know this by now Steve snow Steve snow so I came tonight to speak up for Timmy Boven unfortunately he was unable to make it tonight but um he's been the starch advocate for the victim of this through thick and thin my first meeting here I stood up and said I wasn't here to support the victim I was here to support Timothy Sergeant Timothy Brennan because Timothy Brennan was doing a really good job of supporting this woman without the help of anybody from this town and we all know what happened when the town tried to deal with this information that was unnecessarily given out laws were broken it's been already been proven people aren't being um prosecuted as far as the Northwest district has has said but um important to know that every dog has his day I mean people that are responsible for the the dirtiness that's happened over this case they're not going to get punished by me they're not going to be get punished by you but they will be punished by somebody call it Karm or call it the good Lord whatever the other thing I wanted to um congratulate publicly Elaine I think you're going to be a really good fit for this for the town and um at your meet and greet unfortunately I had to work but um one of the things you had said was transparency of the government of this town and we really' like to see that I mean I think uh Mr senior had had said that he does a a weekly podcast or blog I think it's good for the people of this town to have a clue what's going on before it turns into what all of this stuff has turned into and and that that should do it you ladies and gentlemen have a good night thank you thank you anybody else for public forum seeing none we'll move to item number four which is the consent agenda the select board will consider the following consent agenda items Amendment to the internet intermunicipal agreement for the central Massachusetts Regional storm water Coalition and we have new town employees the select board will consider confirming the town Major's appointment of Leandra money Sanchez Administrative Assistant DPW uh Shane Dunn did I get that right Elaine Shannon Dunn sorry payroll manager Sarah Nordstrom uh as the benefits administrator so uh two is consent agenda items anybody want to break anything out I'd like to just hear a little more about the mosquito change agreement change is that oh storm water not sorry that was mosquito agreement so it's just a change of the municipality it's just a change in the lead Community okay then I I guess I don't need to pull that up all set anybody have anything else they want to ask or break anything out the chair will entertain a motion for the consent agenta as presented I move that the consent agenda be accepted as presented second any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any opposed L please be sure to welcome the new employees to the town government on on our behalf thank you item number five the select board will consider annual appointments to various Town boards committees commissions and the appointment of certain Town officials so first up uh item a the select board will consider appointing members of the following boards and committees the affordable housing trust fund board Council on Aging marathon committee Personnel committee Trail coordination and management committee and the Woodville historic district commission Elaine so we have uh several applicants for board and committee memberships um as in the last time that the board did this um you can group them by the uncontested versus the contested uh seats and take a vote on the uncontested ones first um the uh all the applicants have been notified of the meeting and they may all or some be here both in person and on Zoom as well if you wanted to ask them any questions so can you walk us through the Committees uh and boards that are uncontested at this time so at this time uh the affordable housing trust fund board we have one applicant uh for one seat uh and it's uh James Burton um and for the Personnel committee uh we have two openings um and it's Karen muck and Bob levenson have applied and for the Woodville historic district commission Nancy Peters has requested reappointment okay does anybody have any questions about those uncontested positions no I have a letter from the marathon committee for an uncontested I don't think they're contested are they no I don't think elain had that one in your list we're just talking about the three uncontested so the go ahead one more time line the affordable trust right so James Burton uh for the affordable housing trust fund board KCK and Bob levenson for the Personnel committee and Nancy Peters for the wood Bill historic district commission so there were no other applicants for these positions got it okay so the chair entertain a motion to appoint the individuals to the three uncontested boards and committees being the affordable housing committee the Personnel committee and the Woodville historic district commission uh as applied for I moved to approve the appointments of the uncontested Committees for affordable housing trust fund board Personnel Committee in Woodville historic district commission okay is there a second second any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed that leaves us if I read this correctly the Council on Aging the marathon committee the trail coordination and management committee where we may have contested races correct we do okay let's start with the Council on Aging so with the Council on Aging there are three full member vacancies and one associate member vacancy and we have six applicants uh including the four incumbents Gail leine Paula Hass nanc draw and Sandra story who's currently an associate member and then uh new applicants are Iris deer and Karen Kong okay and all or some of them may be present so do the math for me one more time please six people four spots two of them being new applicants okay and the Council on Aging has been doing a fabulous job on behalf of the community for many many years um does anybody see any need to change anything on the Council on Aging I don't but I'd be happy to hear from anyone who's here in the audience in case some of the new people okay to speak up any thoughts on changing or not changing we we'll come back to that Amy that's fine okay no I'm I am I'm looking at the liaison list and I'm going to be the new liaison to the Council of agent I'm looking forward to that okay very much Joe any thoughts on whether we should change or not change or nope but I wouldn't like am I'd like to hear who's here okay so those folks that are here for the Council on Aging if you wouldn't mind raising your hand please I see two okay great why don't we start with these two and then we can go from there we have anybody on Zoom this evening by chance we do but not with any of those names okay all right so uh ma'am if you wouldn't mind joining us first if you could give us your name and address please sure I am Paula hos from 19 Mount Auburn Street Apartment 2 and I've served on the Council on Aging for one term and just really really enjoyed it and find it very interesting and something that really needs to be taken seriously um this Senior Center is a real Jewel I've visited several other senior centers and have taken classes and things like that at other ones and this one is extraordinary and I'd like to keep it that way and find ways to improve it even above from what it is I have had previous experience on nonprofit boards I've had experience on an extremely Small Town Council in a town of 45 people that basically Incorporated to put in a water system and maintain the water system so I have experience in this area and I've really enjoyed the experience on the board and would like to continue great thank you does anybody have any questions for Paula no no questions set thank you very much Paula FY do you want to join us please welcome thank you for being here thanks thank you um this is my third go around I believe address for the folks at home please ncy draw 13 Davis Road I believe this is my third goar around um as a member of the Council on Aging I was the um for the past um um two years I have been the chair person and uh I would like to continue in the same role and as well continue you for another um term in the council and Ag and I just can't imagine not being part of them it's uh it's amazing what we can do we um as a board there are nine of us and we are all um advisers for the uh staff so that's our job is to advise the staff as to what you know we think that um if we hear comments from some of the seniors or things that they'd like um improved or extra um uh activities that they tell us about I mean our job is to go around and and to um like talk to the other seniors and see what they what what they you know feel like and we always always always get great reviews the the lunch is the best I mean the senior center is the best around and even people from out of town come to our senior center because they say that we have the best program the best lunches etc so we report these um comments back to the um the staff when we have a meeting and um so it's really important for me to be involved with the senior since I live in the senior community also and um on the housing board so I have both The Best of Both Worlds I get to hear from where I live and also from up the um up the street from different seniors who also might live on Davis Road so um in that capacity I like I said I get the best of both worlds and um really enjoy meeting new seniors that are brought in weekly monthly because of word of mouth and it's only because of the great job that the staff is doing there and um managing new programs and like we like I said we advise them and if there's anything that we learn they're pretty they're really good about um getting new programs started if we advise them so uh that's pretty much our job and I really enjoy it and hope I can stay on for another term thanks great thank you for coming tonight any questions for Nancy no questions great thanks a lot thanks okay anybody else here this evening now anyone else come in for the Council on Aging positions anybody want to take a crack of what we should do next then given the numbers I mean so I think I would reappoint the three full members and and the alternate member Sandra Story the associate member I would do the same I'm sorry uh reappoint the three fullterm members and then um Sandra the associate member okay I age everybody y I make a motion that we reappoint Gail LaVine Paula has and Nancy draw with Sandra story as a currently an associate member to the Council on Aging second okay we have a motion and a second on the table to reappoint the incumbents basically correct which is I think the best move to go here uh any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any oppos this unanimous and Carries thank you all for coming this even and congrats and keep up that great work love it okay uh marathon committee the marathon committee continues to be popular um there are seven vacancies and 11 applicants including the seven incumbents so the uh people seeking reappointment are Judith patasse Jane Goodman Alex danahe Greg Gormley Chuck Wallace Jack leuk and Jean K and then the new applicants are Muhammad haer Victor Velasquez Lucy Harman and Iris Deckler I can see some of them are on Zoom yeah some are on Zoom yes okay so we'll come to them in a minute here um so another great committee that's done fabulous work on behalf of the town forever and uh literally put us on the map around the world um so those folks that are here this evening for the marathon committee if you wouldn't mind raising your hand one two three is Bob in the marathon he yeah here for personnel may not be up to share again yeah I don't see Bob's name for that so not the marathon committee okay that was for the Personnel committee Bob that is done and you're in so hang out if you like um okay so why don't we have the folks that are here with us first in the room I'll come up and say hello one at a time uh and and we'll go to zoom and then we'll take it from there like we did the last one so folks if you want to join us one at a time uh maybe DT if you want to come first um and uh just give us a quick interest in you know or reason why you're continue to be interested or you want to be interested or get involved and uh I'm just here to represent if you could just do name and address for everyone oh darthy Fara walls 57 Pine Crest Village great I'm here to represent the people that couldn't be here that are reapplying um because there was one date and then we were reassigned another date and some have vacations and another one has a college prep I think it's going on at the same time as your meeting um so that's I sent a an email off today late sorry but uh I just wanted to speak on their behalf they've done an exceptional job I mean the marathon committee is a little different than other committees many people on the marathon committee have volunteered for a number of years I think at minimum I think they've volunteered six years before they got on to the marathon committee I myself I think I V volunteered 13 so there's experience that goes with the positions you can't just you know okay drop this person into this position so that's what uh some of the nuances of the different positions and they certainly have institutional knowledge of the they've had you know that they learned throughout the course and everything but they're coming from years of volunteering for the Boston Marathon then coming into the different various positions had they like a a perfect example is um Craig Gormley he volunteered under me in the information Bo for years and then when I moved to another position we needed to fill that void was somebody had the experience so on day one he could take take over for me and there wouldn't be any lapse of you know contacts I mean a lot of the things that go on with the um marathon committee is the contacts that you build over the years with the baa with residents with you know um businesses in town things like that I mean they're developed over time and so that's what we recommend um that people come and volunteer for the Boston Marathon in various positions and if if anybody wants to do that I've said that a number of excuse me a number of years but then the people don't contact me after but anybody that is interested you know I'd like to get them as a volunteer for the Boston Marathon so they can experience and see what goes on and you know understand what we do okay great okay any questions for D she she's absolutely right I mean I uh it continuity is everything on that committee and each member of that committee has their own full team of volunteers and people doing a particular job or a lot of jobs and uh takes a lot of time and it's a lot of effort and elbow grease and it's not an organizational thing it necessarily it it's you actually do work uh as Judy Paz back there can attribute um and we'll hear from you in a minute I think okay no I think it's it's just it's just great and people do I mean I volunteered first and spent my time as a volunteer and then got on the marathon committee and I don't know too many people who you just you have to really know something about it and how to do it before you get on there another example is Alex Danny he he volunteered he he volunteered probably 4 years before he turned 18 and then he he's now volunteering with the wheelchairs with the hand cycles and everything and loves it and he's head of a team so those are things I mean but he he really he said I want to be on you know and when he turned 18 he was able to get on the committee and the path was there just to say you know well we had people volunteer and their expertise like they say is marting or something like that but this this isn't this isn't what the marathon committee does or is about it it's the Ba's race it's not our race we support the baa in in doing getting the race done so um you know marketing is something different it's a different aspect of the race okay great Joe uh no questions thank you doy y yeah I totally understand and we've done it this way before too that I think it makes sense to reappoint the people currently on it but I also think it's It's always important to get new volunteers cuz you never know when a current um Committee Member might step down in a future year so if the um New applicants might be willing to give their emails to Dy she could probably give them a volunteer job for I've offered that every time we're here so I'd be I'd be more than uh be a pleasure to get them on because I pride getting hopkington people as volunteers because they know the town they know the streets they know the stores they know how to direct people should they need so they know a about the top but I would like to maybe hear briefly from Muhammad Victor and Lucy we're all on the zoom yeah we'll come back to that okay so uh from my vantage point it's very much an operational organization uh having seen this thing from a couple of different angles over the years and what you guys do is fabulous um but it's not something to learn on the Fly because you could create all kinds of Havoc if you made a mistake somewhere along the way um so it is your recommendation then that would we would reappoint those that are incumbents this evening and encourage those that want to get involved to volunteer first through your organization and then maybe in a future year come back and get on the committee is that correct because then we can alert them to I mean and some people may get a taste of it and then say Oh it's not what I expected you know you always have that um but I think anybody that I've seen get on for different perspectives and then the time element and things like that later on they they realize but for the most part people that become a volunteer stay a volunteer especially in hopkington so um and all of us are getting older so you know um I'm willing to have people like volunteer and get to know what the marathon committee does what how the races run I mean from the big picture or reading an article and things you see certain elements but working it and being involved you you see the big picture okay great is there anyone else here this evening uh for the marathon committee appointments uh that is not an incumbent that's interested in serving I believe we might have somebody online that's not an incumbent three people incumbent okay so I think it's reasonable to give them a minute or two to introduce themselves and express their interest we really don't need to be kind of sold on the idea the next person's up you know next people up if you will please just give us your kind of intro and uh reasons for wanting to serve and then we'll kind of go through as quick as we can uh so what you want to guide us there I can't see who there's Muhammad haer yes hi my name is Muhammad Heather I am uh currently I live at H way in Hopkinson uh been here since 2018 I currently serve on the capital Improvement committee this is my second term um I am interested in volunteering or volunteering with the Boston marathon committee if that's how um how we want to run this that's not a problem um I bring a unique perspective um I have a business in hopon as well I've been involved in sales and marketing since 2001 uh from a professional perspective and can bring some of relationships with me if needed thank you Muhammad thank you for that introduction I think I heard you say that you'd be more than willing to volunteer to get rolling with the committee and then maybe yes that is correct okay great that's good thank you so much anybody have any questions for Mohammad beyond that okay how about Victor Amy or Lucy or IRA they're both on so Victor velaskos hi everyone uh this is Victor Vasquez I live in 27 uh Grove Street um the reason why I'm interested in the American Committee um we my partner and I bought a house on Grove Street last year not only because we wanted to uh start our family here but also so because we are both passionate Runners I have run the Boston Marathon three times I believe the last year I was the fastest Hopkinson resident to finish the marathon well I don't have any experience as a volunteer I have experience as a participant and also many connections with local Runner communities around Boston and I would like to to help in any capacity just as a runner as an Enthusiast uh I guess fan of the of the marathon and also now a member of hopk in town great thank you Victor for that intro and your level of interest uh would you be interested in volunteering on behalf of the committee first and then looking at an appointment in a subsequent year uh I would love that however I have plans to continue to run the marathon as long as I can qualify uh so that's kind of like what it gets in between volunteering and participated in the marathon there is any other ways that I can Vol yeah there's there's a ton of of work that's done in advance of marathon day uh that you could certainly help out in volunteering on behalf of the committee the day itself is sort of like the culmination of all the work but there's plenty of work that goes into it in advance so maybe that's where you could start if you'd be okay with that yeah I will love that and then uh Lucy Harmon is also on Zoom hi everyone my name is Lucy um I also live at 27 Grove Victor ner domestic Partners um again just as Victor mentioned we have been newer residents as of this year um and we've really gotten to know the town of hopkington and I've really enjoyed um how much of a HomeTown feel hopkington brings to the marathon um I also ran the marathon this past year as a volunteer for someone with a disability um and I was a a support for that person and it was just a really great experience and it really got me curious about the behind the scenes aspects of the marathon and um as Victor had volunteered himself on behalf of the the marathon I would love to to volunteer myself on behalf of the committee as well yeah that would be great Lucy thank you for that intro uh and kind of a similar I think you just said it similar question just to make sure you're okay with the idea of volunteering for a year or two behind the scenes and then looking at a future appointment down the road is that okay yes absolutely great uh well congratulations to both of you on your Marathon running uh I have done it myself a few times and uh there's nothing better when you step on that Finish Line uh how about Iris I don't see Ira on the zoom okay all right so with the uh input from those in attendance and those on Zoom uh does anybody have a path that they would want to pursue here I would move you want to go I would like to have Judy pitassi up and tell us what she does for the marathon committee because it's hard work work it's not um it's not organization I it does organizational too but she does very very her and her crew do very very hard work so Judy come on up and give us a one minute over the jobs are it'll it'll give an idea what the jobs are hi there I'm Judy patasi I live in 19th standard in Bellingham formerly three Maria Lane in Hopkinson I run the clothing collection and um in conjunction with with the um Big Brothers Big Sisters and how I started was I was already a volunteer for the baa and I ended up seeing clothing being thrown away and I approached aie not very nicely and said what are they doing and she later recruited me and um with the marathon committee's blessing we got a a a liazon with the big brother's big sister and the program is now 20 years old um it was crucial when the bombing happened because the buses went away and we went from 122,000 lb to 52,000 lb of clothing so it's an integral part of uh the marathon itself to get the roads open you need to get rid of the trash and the clothing so it's a very important job um I see a couple more years but I'd be glad to pass the torch at some point and if you know we bring in new volunteers I'll be happy to teach them but we do uh now I have I went from 30 to 40 volunteers I have a group of 200 so we have the whole town covered and uh I would really like to keep doing it great thank you very much for that input congratulations on 20 years too 5 52 what pounds 52,000 th000 PB of clothes after the boming that's a lot of clothes bagged and put on trucks so it's not not an easy job okay anybody want to make a motion specific to the marathon committee I would move to reappoint uh Judith paky Jane Goodman Alex stanah Craig gorley Chuck Wallace shck luk and uh Jean Conan uh to the marathon committee second motion and a table and a second just one quick comment before we vote for those that are interested in volunteering please do reach out to doy uh we always need more volunteers it's a lot of fun whether it's race day or it's weeks and months in advance if you really want to see how it all works uh we need the help and it would be very much welcome and uh we would appreciate that very very much and thanks for coming here this evening oh just another comment to the motion comment the vaa opens Volunteers in January early January so if if you want to volunteer for April you got to do it early and when you fill out the application with them you have to say specifically say you want to have duty in hington and they'll put you in someplace in hopkington and Dy can help with that too she helps great thank you anything else all those in favor please say I I any oppos it's unanimous and so carries okay um next up Elaine marathon committee Department Representatives can you just explain this to us real quick who these folks are and why we do this so the the charge of the committee calls for um one-year terms for Department representatives and specifies those um those departments and that's the police department the fire department the school department and the DPW and they've um their representatives would be uh Joe Bennett for police Gary DY for fire Tim person for school and Mike maner for DPW okay that's a one-year term and there's no contested suggestions or anything along those lines these are the folks anybody want to make a motion I move to appoint the following Department representatives to the marathon committee with terms expiring June 30th 25 uh for the police department Joseph Bennett the fire department Gary Dy the school department Tim Pearson and the Department of Public Works Mike mancer second we have a motion and a second on the table for the Department Representatives any discussion all those in favor please say I I any oppose it's unanimous and so carries all set uh next up we have the trail coordination and management committee we have one at large vacency with two applicants the new person is I Ira Steckler and the person seeking reappointment is Peter legoy or do we have Peter here this evening I don't see I'm going to run to the bathroom you guys can continue okay I think IR was on the last one as well we the last two yeah we didn't see him there is does Iris serve on any other committees and Boards in town I know his name's come before so he's very interested in getting involved they play for a number of committees so we got to find a way to help him get involved right we can send him a list of vacancies yeah that would be great cuz I think he's obviously very eager to help out and that's fabulous okay uh Mr legoy is here with us name and address please and state your interest P legoy 21 Hayden Rose Street I've been a member of the committee since its Inception I've been chair since in its Inception and would like to continue on um per our current charge uh we are term limited to three terms and so this would be my last term on on the board on the committee the upcoming one yes correct okay and I'm interested in continuing right any questions for Mr legoy no no that's that yep that's that a good job trails are always a topic of Interest right for all of us in town and what is it trees trash and trails are some of the three things that get people energized more than anything else there's a couple others I think we can add to the list these days but um you know obviously the coordination with the upper Charles Trails committee has been a thing in the past uh just give us your quick overview of kind of where we are with that and how you see that moving forward not long drawn out thing here but just quick kind of high level um I think we need to look at trails in a broader perspective I think trails should Encompass both the Woodland Trails but also as a trail committee that's trying to serve the entire population of hopkington we need to be looking at trails that folks are going to be using and one of the things we're doing in our meeting um tomorrow night is actually talking about how do we expand um how we reach out to people so for example um having had my grandkids with us um this past the previous week and being worn out by them but I did spend some time at EMC Park and thought boy you know we've got the Hughes Trail it's a great walking trail but we could expand with a few um big rocks for kids to climb on that kind of thing we could expand those trails to make them more usable for the general population if you're at EMC Park you see a lot of families people with young kids using it and I think other ways to get people out on Trails is something we ought to be looking at um and I think shared use paths that's the other thing we have probably 25 miles or more of trails in town this single track Trails what people are primarily using is Trails like Center Trail and so we need to be perhaps shifting our focus a little bit to be looking at doing those Trails a trail from West Main Street down by the Lumber Street Business Development Area to town is something we've been talking about for a while but I think we maybe need to be thinking about shifting our Focus to those kind of things again looking at how we more broadly serve the residents of Hopkinton um and I think the upper Charles Trail or shared use path like that can be certainly part of that mix coordinated effort yes thank you uh any other questions for Peter questions do we have Ira by chance on Zoom no still no okay all right um anybody want to make a motion make a motion that we uh nominate Peter legoy for his V Lodge position on the trails coordination management committee second we have a motion and a second on the table for a term to expire June 30th 27 any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed great thank you Peter thank you and yeah I think Elaine uh love to see if we can't get Ira uh a list of those committees are open where we could use some help um I'd be happy to chat with him too if he wants to just talk sure okay uh select board appointments so this is sort of us doing other things not necessarily board and committee related the first item here or the first two items here are for the Town Council Harrington Heap and for label council at mer o Connell um both of these appointments we're we're working through all kinds of different things with at this time is it would it be an issue Elane if we table these right now because there contracts are in effect until otherwise or is there a date certain that they expire I don't believe there's a date certain I would be inclined myself anyway to table these two appointments to a future date I I certainly share that opinion it's worth reevaluating understanding all of our options we had a good meeting with them last Tuesday um but I'd love to kind of sit on this one for a little bit anybody else any other thoughts about tabling it for now Mary Joe anything no I just I I know americ and oconnell do a lot of things at the senior center too they volunteer for for uh Helping Seniors that's just an aside uh I understand that it's labor coun labor Council I do have some questions of Labor Council okay Amy I don't have any objections to pausing it as long as we are they would still be our attorney for the time being yeah I wouldn't want to wait too long um and if there's something some research or other information we can gather on them or other attorneys well I you know we do have this uh piece of work that they were going to compile Force at least on the Harrington Heap side of things uh following our last meeting I'm just curious to see what that is and see how that kind of uh what that does for us going forward in terms of policy and procedure so I just want to see the qual not the quality of that so much but just what the content of that is uh before we get into all this other stuff our next meeting is August 6 do you think that we could get something from them by August I'll see if we can so did you think we needed to confirm like their term length or like a certain expiration date I know you said sooner rather than later but do we need to confirm that so they're appointed for a year so the year has expired um however they'll continue to to work under the the current conditions but um you know the more the year goes along the more the town is entering into perhaps new litigation or other things happening and we would want to think about that you also mentioned you know possibly reviewing other options what would the process look like for that typically there's an RFP process timing on that solicit proposals timing typically for that it could take maybe three months or so okay and um maybe for next time could we have um which roles do each of that you provide the LG facility is that Harrington Heap or is that okay and we're yeah they've done a very good job on that part for us okay so with that I don't think we need to vote that per se right we just kind of table it at the moment uh let's move ahead to the chairs designes the select board chair's design to the Metro West Regional Transit Authority Advisory Board is Mary jela frenier uh you've been serving on that in the past correct yes I have does anyone else have any interesting the mwta we were very fortunate from the mwta to get two vehicles to the senior center one will carry a wheelchair lift and and the others for the seniors and then they when they switch to all electric vehicles um so it's it's a good board I enjoy being on it so why don't we I'll entertain a motion to appoint Mary jiller frer to the Metro Regional Transit Authority uh to a term expiring 30th 2025 I'll make the motion or did you make the motion yeah just so move just say so move yeah so Amy so moves and is there second second Joe is a second any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any oppose okay it's unanimous and so voted so Mary Joe congrats mwta thanks uh the select board chair designated to represent Hopkinson on the MB ta Advisory Board as an ex official member um that's different than the regional okay that's the regional versus the yeah so the the first one was a Regional Transit Authority so that's basically the bus service in and around town connecting to Metro West this has been on the NBTA Advisory board but notice where it says ex official member you go there and you listen would you don't do a whole lot you don't get to vote um I had done this in the past and um while the MBTA does a great service to the Massachusetts uh commuter population and certainly helps us here in Hopkinson with the South bro station and Ashland and everything else uh I myself um would not be interested in serving on that board as an advisory member in an ex officio status because it's I don't know it's time you go to Boston the meetings I was going to maybe that's changed over the years because of zoom and everything else but um it was it was a lift and I felt like I would spend half a day and not get a whole lot done I'm being honest so with that great introduction who wants to do it no no one's done it for several years yeah we I don't think we have to fill it either no it's not required does anybody have any interest in going in or being part of the MTA Advisory Board no no I mean an interest but not the time if you have to go in Boston it's Boston yeah does anybody in the audience want to be on the MP okay with that it does not have to be a board member it can be anyone of yeah right no I know we could ask others I mean we can say it's an open position and I'd be happy to appoint somebody maybe we could communicate that maybe there's somebody who commutes on the NBTA that would like to do it I mean my thing is if I'm going to go and be on the board I want to be able to vote if I can't vote many I don't know uh this was years and years ago I couldn't tell you but I recall going downtown a lot going why am I doing this you know okay so we're going to pass on that for for right now and then next up we have uh to appoint the following traffic constables to term serving June 30th 2025 Stephen Buckley Robert Karen Shannon Casey Carmen sentes Nicole Cory Kylie Davis Sarah Jordan Patrick O'Brien Philip Powers Riley Ryan Riley Kevin Jr Robert salal John Shay John Sheridan and Brenda Stanley and there's one more that would be a separate vote I'm sorry and there's one more that's a separate vote okay got it I'll move the names listed to be appointed traffic constables for tering 63025 we have a motion and a second by M leier for the first grouping of candidates for traffic cables any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed unanimous and so carries I assume we're doing the second one I'm refusing myself ideally Y which one you would be recusing yourself and you would step out of the room protect yourself but it's up to you to decide how you recuse yourself okay so with Mr Clark recusing himself fully from the deliberation uh the chair will entertain a motion to appoint Ken Clark is traffic Constable to a term reiring 63025 second we have a motion in a second to appoint Mr Clark any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any opposed it's unanimous and so carries with Mr Clark recusing himself oh just a correction I realized that that's a three-year term and not a one-year term for all of those for all of them for all of them oh so we can we can just make that adjustment we'll be corre they'll be corrected to 202 or 28 I guess right yeah that's fine good to rejoin all set okay just make you'll note that in the in the minute right okay um Town manager appointments Mrs Lazarus your three appointments please so these are the annual appointments for the inspector of animals who is Elizabeth jeffris the Animal control officer William Proctor and the fence viewer at Harrow and those are one-ear terms okay does anybody have any questions about the three individuals just always like to ask about the Animal control officer because I do hear a lot of complaints about he's hard to reach but it's not a full-time position I believe it's a parttime position it's a parttime position so that's why they don't always get them when something comes up okay any further questions just what does the inspector of fenes do fence viewer so it's an unpaid position and uh when there are sometimes disputes among people regarding fences or a fence issue comes up maybe there's a fence at a corner maybe BL stability those kinds of things that the fence viewer can be involved in that and it's people usually call on the fence viewer to to address a problem okay thank you okay um so anybody want to make a motion on those three please I move to confirm the town manager's appointment of the following Town officials to a one-year term inspector of animals Elizabeth Jeffers Animal control officer William Proctor and fence viewer Ed Harold okay any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any oppose all set the sustainable green committee you know hang on one sec here yeah that's in a separate thing so we'll come back to that all right so we're now to item number six if I looking at everything correctly right we're done with five okay okay item number six uh the select board will hear an update on the planning and process to establish a cult Cultural District in Hopkin Ela so uh Julia Chun is here to discuss Cultural District proposal great hi Julia how are you thanks for coming tonight yeah thanks for having me so um there's already been some great progress on the Cultural District cultural districts are designations created by the mass cultural Council um um our town has a cultural Council that has been working towards designating a map of assets for the past 3 or 4 years we have 57 identified assets including things such as the hopkington public library hopkington center for Arts we have our several um different business owners in town who are artists and so although the Cultural District designation is currently on pause due to program restructuring um we will be having sorry I'm just going to lift this mic um our officers over at Mass cultural Council coming in for a visit um at the end of the month and we would love to have all of you or some of you come as representatives of the town to learn more about the district and also go on the tour with us great did you say 57 assets MH seems like a pretty strong inventory right yes yeah so there's currently I think over 50 cultural districts across the state um these are districts that are set up to entice more artists to come to town it's supposed to be a stronghold for the economic District um and so we're really looking forward to making this an establishment in the town and also leveraging the current assets that exist okay and do you have a date for this of the month it's July 30th from 10:30 to 12:00 p.m. where is where's that here at Town Hall we'll be meeting at Town Hall yes it's in the middle of the day but I would like to try to come where we where are you meeting at Town Hall Town Hall so maybe you said this would that District then be like townwide or is it confined to a specific area like the historic district and it's set for I believe one to one and a half miles primarily in the downtown district and encompassing the historical district um they've been very liberal and generous with that definition so if we wanted to include an asset that's not in the downtown district they would allow us to do so and then does that come with it some zoning opportunities Andor zoning restrictions no zoning restrictions um we would be able to designate special zoning um overlays but um it doesn't inherently impact the zoning we have but it allows us to apply for estate grants yes C it comes without the histor restrictions but the benefit of the grants so have like like na has one if you go to downtown na you'll see it they have events and Banners and their library is also historic yeah lots of marketing opportunities there as well any questions Joe no questions I think it's great I'm out of town on the 30th out of the state but I wish I was around to attend thank you any other questions or comments anything else you'd like to share no I don't think so sounds like a great opportunity for the town and I think we get lots of benefits and maintain you know our opportunity to manage as we need to so that's great and I think the next item is me as well so I'll just okay just hang right there yes Elena anything on the cultural Council from your Vantage Point uh just one question so on when they visit will they be walking the the proposed District as well yes we'll be walking so please if you are coming wear comfortable walking shoes um there's a heat wave currently so I'm assuming it'll be hot that day too so just light clothing um and then we will be going to the hopkington um Center for the Arts and so it's possible that we'll arrange um Vehicles if it's a very hot day okay so this HCA would be in the within the envelope but kind of one off to the side there in terms of geographic location yes putting the International Marathon Center in it too but that's also one that's a little further all right great yall set yep all set all right uh so that will be and thank you for that Julia a very interesting opportunity for the town let's move to item seven then okay the municipal aggregation plan the select board will he an update on the municipal aggregation plan and process alen I'll throw it to you first so um several years ago I think it was 2013 um the select board voted to um uh enter into the M Municipal aggregation program and at that time um the board even though uh it voted to do that it determined later that the terms were not advantageous to Residents so Advance a number of years and the program has changed and so the town uh began um reestablishing itself in the municipal aggregation uh program and process and so that's been going on for a year or so now Perhaps Perhaps longer um and Julia has begun uh working on that and is now our Point person on Municipal aggregation and it involves um electricity and where we get our electricity so Julia will explain a bit more about that and where we are right now in the process can you just repeat the electricity piece of that again for me please so um if I remember correctly um so the the supplier of electricity is eversource and That Remains the Same but it's purchased from through another vendor and it may be at a different price yes so there's a distributor and a supplier of electricity Municipal aggregation basically allows the municipality to set contract terms for anyone who lives or resides in the town um the only folks hang on one sec don't take this the wrong way I'm going to recuse myself from this topic um because of my involvement in the Solar industry where we generate electricity for certain municipalities so I'm going to step off the board and the vice chair we'll handle it from here excuse me one second pleas thanks would you please continue that explanation sure of course so um anyone who resides or is located within the town would automatically be opted into this aggregation plan um they have the option to either opt out of the plan at any time or to opt up or down to different level tiers the tiers are differently priced and they also have different compositions of green electricity um with this program right now we're at the stage where we're working with our consultant Mass power choice they have created a draft plan that has been approved to be moved on to dpu Department of Public Utilities approval by the department of energy resources and so we're well positioned now to have a public comment period for 30 days where we'll introduce the draft plan to Residents allow them to provide us with any feedback for the plan and then it will be submitted for dpu approval currently the timeline is about 4 months for that um and then 30 m 30 days after the approval um the consultant and the town will go out to put out an RFP for the electricity Supply now we have to have uh we going to have to have a public forum on this yes okay little hard to do in August so could that wait till September you unless we have a way that we can schedule a public form but we do want most of the public to come I I'd like to schedule it early September I I don't disagree I just want to know both of your kind of recommendations here what you're thinking on timing so um I've had residents Reach Out excited about moving this program along as quickly as possible and so um my recommendation would be to have the public forum closer to the end of the month but have a virtual option available for folks who are not in town then um so that they can queue in and um participate over zoom and then at the end of the process how do we get okay how are we going to get this information out to the public so um our consultant has iment experience in um explaining this very um technical information to the public and so they'll be present at the Forum and they'll be doing a presentation I've going over there there's a lot of information here and uh we want to get it up yes yes hi folks uh Jeff Roland I chair the sustainable green committee um so before Julia took over um the with this so we were doing the research on Municipal aggregation before uh Julia joined um uh so aggregation is actually incredibly common throughout the state about half the towns in the state have aggregation um plans so it's a very standardized process at this point our research showed that uh over the past um I think it was 3 to 5 years that we were looking at data that um towns that had aggregation plans the vast majority of them were paying below Market rates throughout those periods while our rates were going up and down usually up uh in these past few years so the the sooner we can get this done we can save residents um and you know local businesses money um through their electric rates ideally it's not a guarantee um and we have the potential to also reduce our uh carbon emissions in the process so um like Julia mentioned um it's it's very standardized there are two maybe three vendors throughout the state that do this um when Town's opt to join a plan um they they send out flyers mailings all all sorts of Public Notices it's uh it's pretty good process actually so I I think the the public form you know it's it's required but um I don't think delaying it will really change much for the the town and I think we have an opportunity to you know the benefit sooner we get something mailed to their house absolutely that's how it works so we've already received the sample mail out materials from our consultant so those have already been re reviewed both by myself and the department of energy resources so again we're well positioned um I think that even though the public comment period is only 30 days there's plenty of time in which residents can reach out to either the consultant or myself and provide feedback throughout the process and then so then timing wise your recommendation by the end of the month kcks off the 30 days at the end of that it goes to RFP and you said there's really three it's not an RP so we already have our consultant essentially um the plan would go straight to dpu Department of Public Utilities in which there would be four months um for approval process that lands us approximately end of November um from then on we would issue an RFP for the energy Supply um and hopefully we'll have a plan ready for us by the end of December and to clarify the two or three I mentioned were the Consultants that work throughout the state okay not the providers correct and we already have our consultant got it and so we had this overview that you gave us you know o overhead for the for the public um can we get this for our next meeting um certainly um that is just a packet from from the state um this was produced last year there are new updates from the Department of Public Utilities that were published 2 months ago and so we'll have a similar presentation at the public forum that's updated and so people would have until December then to opt out right they would have after the plan is established they can opt out I was just worried that they would have to decide within 30 days so I think it's four months is plenty of time for people to make up their mind um and I definitely would not opt out but I just I know some people will will want to do that right the plans tend to be very flexible they can switch tiers within the plan they can opt out at any time opting back in can change the rate that they're going to pay depending on you know the rates that we get but that hasn't been determined yet um so yeah so I'm I'm in agreement with it makes sense now thank you what do you guys need from the board to kind of move forward with the end of July kind of kick off mhm now what do you need from the board oh what do we need from the board we don't really need anything from board this is really just a way for us to introduce the plan make sure that everyone's you know um including the conversation before we kick off that public comment period and we would of course love you to attend the public comment period as well yep I mean I certainly may Joe like you brought up a valid point about people being gone over the summer but it sounds like get to but it sounds like with the time frame they have a whole month to make a comment there will be lots of time after that to decide whether to opt in or opt out yeah they want this done by the end of this month it's really two weeks but it sounds like that's feasible yeah but it's still 30 days total yeah that the 30day public comment that kicks it off the end of this month so it's in August people are coming back in August K kids will be going to school the end of August so we you know you'll have a better Forum then more people than I think in in August then you will in right now okay so you you suggesting that we hold the Forum end of August as opposed to end of this month that's my suggestion okay um I'm happy to have a conversation with our consultant and see what they would recommend as well again they have the 30 days and we can have a virtual for as well and so um elen can I just uh clarify so the time the point where resident would be making a decision about what they want to do is after the RFP where you have suppliers correct no so we have the draft plan completed right now so we would have the public forum and then they would have 30 days after that Forum to provide feedback um the prices the residents don't have any feedback to weigh in on um those are just the prices we'll get from the RFP process um after the plan is implemented and approved by dpu the residents can opt in or opt out or up and down at any point point in the program so it's many months before a resident would have to make a decision on what they want to do and there'll be multiple opportunities to hear about the program and additional public comment periods and so forth yes yeah so starting at in the end of July just starts a chain of of public comment periods and opportunities for residents it basically kicks off a five-month process so sooner the better um if it's if it's going to be held virtually which I think is great can that be recorded so that people can go see it view it after the fact inside that 30 days I'd have to confirm with our consultant but I don't see why that would be an issue I think that would be helpful for people to marry Joe's Point like you don't have to show up at a certain time that would allow them because it seems like a lot of work's been done in the background to get this thing going let's not slow it down anymore give people plenty of options to to review what's been said and make comment I just sound good as many people as possible and I know that the last two weeks in July are the heaviest vacation weeks of the year for everybody uh except for the week of the 4th but um the last two weeks in July it's like no traffic or anything it's amazing thank goodness get it out there okay thank you do anyone have any other questions regarding the plan okay thank you both if you don't mind I'll stick around I'm next on the agenda okay thank you foring that not problem um item number eight the sustainable green committee the select boorder review request of the sustainable sustainable green Comm comme to amend its committee charge Lane you want to kind of int this to us yes I just want to note that um in the draft that um was in the packet and uh previously circulated two things had been left off so the one before you tonight um includes in yellow two additional phrases that were were left off the the track changes version and so uh this comes from the sustainable agreen committee uh they have proposed some changes to their charge uh to address a couple of items and they're here to describe that and their process thanks again for your time once again I'm Jeff Roland chair of the sustainable green committee with me Linda chus our secretary thank you for coming in yeah um so I think the um discussion that we had earlier on the the marathon committee appointments um was a really good example of the types of challenges that we've had it's um people coming into the committee not necessarily knowing what they're getting into um and leading to turnover issues that we've had we're a fairly large committee we're 15 appointed members I believe that makes us the largest appointed committee uh that there is in town um so a lot of people coming in and out over the years um so the first few updates here in the the document are really more booking things to keep up to date on what we've uh been doing aligning um with projects that we've been working on um uring representation and uh aligning with the school committee uh non- voting liaison that's been working well for us but the you know probably more interesting aspect of this is the update to the requirements uh at the end I'll give you folks a minute to read those but essentially um the committee has recommended that we add requirements to the charge that ensure that applicants understand what they're getting into essentially hoping for people that have at least attended a meeting you know are able to attend meetings um have reviewed you know documents around uh the committee um and all of these have been developed um through the course of challenges that we've had over the past couple of years uh with membership and the problem is once you have somebody that's been appointed that didn't know what they were getting into and then uh can't meet those commitments then it can take months um to go through that process again of you know that person coming to that realization resigning going through through the process of posting you know the the vacancy uh waiting for you know new applicants and for them to get appointed which costs us time you know getting work done on the committee we don't have a legal charge like certain committees do we don't you know we're not the Conservation Commission you know um following Wetlands laws we are a working group uh so what we get done is uh dependent on the time and effort that our committee members put in I don't know if you want to add something Linda um no just that having these requirements makes sense not only for our committee maybe for other committees too we just want to focus on our committee of course but it's not unique to us as Jeff said it um apparently faced another committee and um the the process of lost time and momentum also affects you guys you might be having people coming back to reappoint positions every 3 months or something because if somebody joins who didn't really know what they were getting into then you have to go through all that again and the right time to do it is probably before they apply not at the time they're being appointed or after they certainly not after they've been appointed that shouldn't be when you say can you make the regular meetings did you know this involves meeting with our committee that should happen before the appointment is made great thank you for that input and explanation of what you're looking for here um anybody have any questions comments this is a stupid little one uh non voting member leaon from the select board and non voting Le on from the school committee you got dots there what red and black and different orders and stuff what what what's that inail that just shows that currently there is the the black means there already is a liaison from the select board the red means we're recommending formally adding that to our charge because the select board member because the school committee member has normally been liaisoning with us okay anybody else questions I like the attendance I do have some comments or did Mary Jo is she done I think so for the moment I think this is probably fine and I assume these are all expectations and preferences not requirements correct no we would like to make the ones that say um expected we say required qualifications we would really like people to have said that they can attend meetings before they're appointed um and so that gets into a process issue of how we make them required um and we can talk about that tonight or not but we want wanted to at least get our charge updated to reflect this uh and then we have preferred qualifications which we would consider optional and those would be if there's two candidates for one open position then you can use the preferred to help choose among them if you want to but uh we feel that none of the things under required if someone can't do those we don't really see why they would be a good fit for the committee okay it's just um I understand you're having like a plethora of people apply at this this moment in time but like we look at the veterans committee and they've got like four vacancies they can't even fill so they just need to kind of take anyone who would apply and right now you can kind of be picky but but you might that might not always be the case you might come to a time when you really probably would take whoever applied I have to say because of the lag when somebody finds out it's not for them you now lose another three months let's say till they resign you get another appointee they come in they come up to speed so you've lost the months that that person sat on the committee and didn't really want to be there or was discovering they didn't want to be there plus you lose the time till they resign and pick a new one so we asked you to not appoint recently because we'd almost rather not have someone than have someone who doesn't really want to be there cuz they didn't know what it was about yeah I hear you and I understand what you're saying but I've been on many many committees myself too and it just it kind of es and flows and it can't it's not always that way so I'm sorry you say that it just it really ups and flows the demand to be sometimes there are five applicants for one spot and then other times there's four vacancies and nobody applies um so it just really es and flows so I'm a little worried about making things required rather than recommended but but I understand the problem that you're having now and many companies face that sort of situation too that you get someone on and then turn they never come but there better than having no one perhaps it really isn't because then we Face quum issues I really do understand what you're saying thanks Joe anything um no questions I I I certainly get the intent here right and I feel like everything's worded because it's you know how you enforce these things is probably the hardest part right you're setting expectations though I feel like that's specifically in the wording of some of these things you know most monthly committee like meetings so um I'm I'm comfortable with it elene um is this something that we would need to bounce off Town Council it is different than most other boards and committees in town in terms of the specifics uh I think it's great management by the way but I just want to make sure we don't get ourselves into the hot water elsewhere um I think this is something we would need to bounce off them we don't want to be restricting or limiting par participation um we got to be careful that there's no First Amendment issues here I mean there's all kinds of stuff could in some really great lawyers mind come out that we don't want to create yeah and I guess I'm concerned if it's someone a member who intends to meet all the required qualifications at some point they need to take a pause or they can't meet it what does that mean do I mean are we going to hear request to remove someone I guess I'm concerned about that and and if we do it for this committee which is a public body within town government will we then have to do similar rules with other committees to be uniform and fair and consistent in expectations for serving right I think we need to bounce those types of questions off Town Council just to make sure that we don't open up a can of worms if he or she says go then I think it's great management like these are our expectations hopefully you can meet them if not don't bother I think we should do that take that step is everybody okay with engaging counsil on that I think the step would be good to make sure it's okay yeah you okay with that well yeah I'm I'm okay with that I was on the I was leaz on to this group um couple years ago and and they're very much an active uh group they're doing research there's somebody doing it's amazing the amount of time that the individuals put into it and do it it's a little it's a little like the marathon committee where they these jobs are very specific and uh they're doing they're doing a hell of a job actually uh but I but I can understand the require requirement of um attending meetings and and of attending before you apply for the committee because it's a new subject and a lot of people got to catch up with it sustainable green stuff I think the two yellow highlighted uh additions uh I don't think Town Council is going to have an issue with that at all I think that makes perfect sense I think having a non- voting Lea on from the school committee makes perfect sense uh it's it's just sort of this the requirements down here I just don't want to create something that will cause challenge of course in other ways so with that so goad I'd like to ask a question if Town Council says it's a problem would we be able to change it to recommend recommended that applicants do this rather than required and then the next step in either case would be how we enforce this but I just want to get the question out there if they say no to required could they all just be preferred if you will yeah if we if we bounce this off them which we will they'll come back with ideas about what would go what what you could change what you could not change you know that kind of thing so I think we'd get that feedback and we could share it with you at a future meeting so maybe the thing to do is table it for this evening and then uh Elaine if you could take the the charge of getting it sorted out with Town Council and get us feedback and then we can put it on a future meeting here in the next couple of weeks or next couple maybe month or two um and get get it sorted out yeah totally understand the hesitancy thank you for you know being cautious here um I'd hop to talk to vuda um before this meeting but she's been on vacation for a bit um because I do think there towards the spirit of these qualifications there are things that we can do procedurally with the way the applications are processed and managed to get closer to these goals as well yeah but we can talk about that another time different and the boxes they would check would be different you know so um all those kinds of reasons why I think it makes sense to have it a legal eye at it I have often wondered with the online form if there any opportunities to add other default questions like have you ever watched one of these committee meetings or would you be you just so that we'd have that answer to questions when we're reporting people that they know what day it meets and they can make that time one one idea I had that might be easy is you could add a question to the application form that says um have you please review the charge for this committee and and then how do you meet the how do you feel you meet what's asked for in the charge and that would be a way to point people to the charge which right now there isn't a good way and that would Point them to this and other things um and then if a committee had no requirements in their charge that's fine but if they did at least the applicant would see it and I think the committee you're on um has a requirement in it about somebody has to be a lawyer or a realator or something that's in the town bylaws written that way from the state law yeah yeah but I do sometimes think we're pointing blind too so if we did did have some standard questions we asked everyone that could be helpful but sometimes you never know what you're going to get to some some volunteer you'd never heard of comes and they run with the committee and they do a great job too it's just hard to predict yeah I will say I've been on the committee for two and a half years and most of the applicants who come to us who we've known first because they've come to meetings or worked with us have stayed around and been very satisfied most of the people who checked three boxes because they were advised to pick three committees in case the first one didn't work out didn't really last so we think we have evidence that something like this would work okay uh so with that let's table it for now thank you for the input I think there's some really great management going on here and maybe this would help all of us in some certain roles U but let's make sure we got our eyes dotted and teach Christ okay all right thanks for your time thank you thank you very much for coming in tonight and hanging in there with us um item number nine is the town manager report the town manager shall report to us now please uh so first driving at home for a while uh an update on the Main Street caror project um highlights of the update that were included are uh still waiting for Transformers um I just lost that still waiting for Transformers uh from eversource um they are working on the overhead relocations um uh crown castle is in next in line so they're going uh in line and removing the um the wires on the poles um and that work should be done by the end of September um when that's done then Verizon will schedule the removal of the old utility poles and this is primarily the part that's not underground so it's west of the fire department shall we say police department um so those poles hopefully would be removed in the fall when all of those wires have been transferred to the new poles so we will then have no double poles hopefully at that point um and then once the the um the rest of the um uh area up to Ash Street um the poles will come out once the undergrounding infrastructure is operational um there's a company out there uh repairing the peeling paint on the traffic poles um they are will go through they'll scrape it all off and then they'll go through and paint them a new and apply the new the new Surface to that um amarello will be mobilizing uh within the next two weeks uh Beyond site the week of of July 22nd um they'll be on the south side of the project which is the the fire department side um while the utilities will be on the the north side which is the the town hall side for example um and then regarding the the pfest treatment project before you move on um if I could just jump in a little bit on the Main Street Corridor project uh I have uh coordinated with Lane uh and had a couple of conversations myself with Joe amarello uh who is the owner of amarelo construction uh I've reached out to eversource and had conversations with three different people um trying to move this Transformer thing along uh they have been very receptive and understand that I won't stop calling until something happens um but uh I think uh we'll see how that all plays out but uh since I got appointed as liaison I have done specific things uh with ever source and with ell and and we'll continue to keep you posted but nothing nothing concrete at the moment but the buttons are getting pushed and they're going to get pushed higher and higher thank you uh regarding the the past treatment project um the system is operational and the water is Flowing to households that is filtered um there will be um uh periodic uh sampling of that per D and if all goes well in September uh DPW anticipates requesting the select board to approve removing the bottled water rebate that's been in place since December of 2021 because at that point the water flowing will be will meet the standards and there's no more need to just the bottled water Yeah question um when can we or you said that the water is slowing and everything can we get something out there so that people will realize they don't have to buy their water anymore well they they can still buy the water until um until we know that everything is um everything as as it should be through the testing so those rebates are still in effect uh until this board formally votes to to discontinue that anticipated that their request if all goes well would be in September so people can still buy the bottle water if they choose to okay thank you uh regarding the MW connection interconnection project Southboro um representatives of each uh Community have met uh met in late June and after um couple of discussions back and forth um there's been a decision to pause um our activities on that until um this board establishes a water and sewer advisory committee um did we say for sure we're g to do that pardon me did we say for sure we're doing that I think the board is continuing to discuss that okay I just hate to delay it when we haven't even started a like a draft framework for it um I hate to delay the project so uh I explained I talked to the chair of Southboro and told her that uh we're very interested in trying to figure this out at some point someday if it all makes sense for both communities but I can't speak on behalf of the board yet because we voted on nothing and she understood that and I said you know and it's a big effort and we want to appoint a group of citizens and you know professional staff to work with us to help understand the issues and explain issues and build consensus around you know the direction we want to take with our water in hopkington um she understood that as well uh there's a process there's a there's this design process going on right now and there's this possibility that there's going to be a peer review as part of that design process we already have funds for that so that could continue or may not continue depending on how they want to do it in the interim um but she understood that we were trying to gather this group of people together and that if if we decide to do that then you know they'd reaching out as part and be part of that process and so she got that I don't know about what that means for their decisions in Southboro directly but that's what I explain to them okay I just worry about the term pause well it's it's staff here will continue working on identifying the pump station location so we'll continue working on that yeah I think the design piece is ongoing so it's not the whole thing is installed it's just you know the IMA for something like that will be a Monumental task and and um I think she gets it and then the final uh item is the central Massachusetts law enforcement Council uh which the town has been a member of for several years um that um the police department is requesting that it be renewed um so this organization provides specialized training for the police department it also um provides resources uh for large events such as the Boston Marathon um and so the renewal is requested and it's the request is to authorize Town manager to execute those documents the annual cost of the town is $1,000 and it's included in the the budget okay do we have a question yeah any questions for lane on anything no I think we need to make a motion though on the um the law enforcement Council renewal that seems like a very small price to make to to pay for that specialized training for you know small towns like ours that can't we don't have the resources of a big city but to get that extra training make a motion yeah so I would make a motion to authorize the town manager to execute the necessary documents to renew the town's membership and the Central Mass law enforcement Council second second a motion and a second on the table thank you for that any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed it's unanimous and so voted okay um thank you elain for the town manager report I look forward to seeing amarello back here on July 22nd that includes starting to cut the bike Lanes to put the brick in and like they're going to kind of make a mess again before they clean it up but they're going to see a lot of progress here in the next few weeks um liaison reports and board invites item number 10 the select board will review and approve 25 FY 25 leaz on assignments and committee memberships um the MBTA Advisory Board we already took care of right by passing on that one and then we did have we did have in the packet the liaison list I looked at it this evening and checked the ones that were open which is fine uh I didn't see any real conflicts anywhere so I think we have a complete list other than my with my chicken scratch on it there so if someone's inclined to make that motion we could get that done just want to know uh before you vote there's um uh Joe I know you've uh voted you've decided to be on the open space uh preservation commission so they they um that is a voting member so they would be in touch with you once you so that means meetings going those me have to go to the meeting you know what I'm saying like this meeting go to that meeting but they don't meet very often right once a month monthly yeah and do we need to have the committee leas on from the board uh it's part of the Char it's in there so they were created by special legislation so it's in it's in there but yeah no some someone has to do it you okay yep they typically have a virtuals they typically have a virtual option I'm sorry they have a virtual option typically ex that's much better okay all right so any other questions any other concerns about anything that people have either signed up for not signed up for does anybody have anything they would like that someone else has that we could trade cards with here or there were no conflict right in the end no okay then that's fine with me there were a couple that were T typically done by the chair in the past but I don't feel the need to do that like I don't you know there's certain positions in town that come with a lot of what have you um but again the liais on position except for those that are voting positions so I I'm fine okay um so with no other questions or concerns or conflicts does anybody want to make a motion to approve the liaison list I think we have a motion here for it yes I would move to approve the f25 le as on list as discussed and to make the following voting membership appointments um Joe clock to the open spr preservation committee to a term expiring uh June 30th 2026 and Irvine too is that you Brian that's me may not meet and Brian tedo to or sorry Brian her to the Irvine tedo properties advisory second we have a motion and a second on the table any further discussion speak now I for hold your peace all those in favor please say I I any opposed it is unan so voted and I know that sh he got the positions that he was interested in contining with they seeking correct so there shouldn't be any conflict there okay that's item 11 I'm sorry item 11 is future board board agenda items uh let me just touch on these real quick to make sure we're on top of this uh proposed approach to changes to the charge membership and work of the upper Charles Trails committee actually if we could stop on that one for just a minute um I know this was something that was quite active a year or two back and but I haven't heard a whole lot about this in recent months so I I don't know what's going on there is that still alive and well or so the last thing that was happening is this board allowed the upper Charles Trail committee to meet for the purpose of making recommendations to its charge um and they met a couple of times to do that I don't believe they've finished but there's no more meetings scheduled so perhaps we could touch base with the chair to see could you have somebody reach out to the chair and see if we could see what they have so far Y and maybe we can see directly where it's headed and when did the board advise them to do that roughly but just like General time frame how long have they had maybe six months or so ago six months and they don't they've met a couple of 10 and they they have met yeah let's just see where they are today let's see if they have any docks that they've got completed or started or what have you and maybe we could take a look at that at that next meeting or two and see what's going on we should we shouldn't really let it drag out too much longer more than a year ago at town meeting that it was voted it's kind of festering in town I think a little bit too so okay uh second one uh consider forming an economic development advisory Council consider the town's approach to Economic Development uh we talked about this not a month ago and I think the chid do is taking a look at um possible Concepts there and and uh organization so forth so I think we're on it at least right now I don't know if we're ready to do anything per se uh lngg plan oversight and advisory committee we barely touched on it the other night uh it sure seems like the right thing to do in hopkington in this day and age given the development that's taking place and even with the host Community agreement in place um you know for years with the development over there I do think that something like this makes sense but we'll come back to that for sure um Tax Relief Committee Mary Joe this was back in April of this year yeah um I don't know if you're satisfied there if anything ever came up did you even do we have we covered it yet did you well yeah the thing is we kind of have to continue to cover it because uh they they have more more people all the time uh requesting relief and they aren't allowed to solicit as as a gr group there's nothing they can't they can't solicit and so in order for people to even know about them we just have to have to continue to talk about it I'd like to have Suri's in when she's ready and and talk about uh how it is uh there's a different amount that they wound up with every year because it's it's volunteer contributions and uh they've been running around 500 a little more now uh but then we lost a a big contributor and at one time we were given less than $100 you know for for a year or so and it it's just there's no Set uh way to I mean it was really good when we had that big contributor for many years we had a set amount but they don't have like a set amount anymore and and uh the only way is to reiterate it just to just to say that but what would be the ask of the board to when we bring this up what is it we're trying to accomplish just just to uh get the word out there that there is a Tax Relief Committee and that they are uh on contributions only uh they can't have a a fundraiser they can't uh solicit money they can't do any of that stuff themselves so it's just a a publicity thing we just have to keep it in the Public's mind so that when the tax bill time comes people will make a donation so the future agenda item might be a Tax Relief Committee uh presentation presentation right to the board which is to the community and kind of a refresher for everybody to see would that work okay Lane so something along those lines like a refresher okay uh next up Amy the MBTA Community zoning compliance I know that we had the town meeting situation so yeah so I um I was waiting to officially be the planning board Le on again so now that I am I could try to reach out to John guch and the planning board chair and maybe get some information from them to bring back to you who is the new planning board chair Rob Benson Rob Rob Rob okay yeah great all right so still pending but you're okay with where we are today yeah I think we we do need to bring before our board because we really do have to communicate about this in the deadline uh item number six was the update on the Tim Brennan situation um we did have that we've tabled it at the moment right yep questions around the arbit ation item seven is establish a water and sewer advisory committee to manage paaf the MW connection and the Enterprise funds we touched on that earlier uh for a couple of minutes uh I have sent to Mr Manan is that how he prefers the that's the correct pronunciation is that true am I getting that right think so man okay uh I'll work on that um I have sent him ideas from my perspective about you know water and sewer and PFS and the MW and I know he had ideas about it in terms of PFS and you know when he did the pre presentation at the P PFS public uh Forum month or so so back so he's working you know that my ideas into his ideas and we're going to bring them back to you guys and we'll all look at the ideas and figure out how to go forward so that is kind of advancing uh and he has that ball at the moment uh considering instituting limits on Town Department Authority and spending and hiring by the end of July so this one we haven't touched on yet really um the election's over the school committee Situation's over you know we got a stabilized government now we've got a town manager in place and now it's just time to get down to running the business of the town and um I have never worked for any organization that doesn't have multiple layers of authority to hire people and I think in our situation with Debt Service that's coming at us we should go back to what we did in 200 7 8 9 9 10 11 whatever it was and put in place a couple of um loas called a hiring freeze but it's not really a freeze it's just a limits of authority that you have to get approval before you go so we haven't talked about this yet we haven't had it on the agenda yet I would like to get that on the agenda for the next meeting and then lastly um provide information update on the matter concerning the release of unredacted documents we did do that um at our last meeting and we're expecting uh a response from Town Council specific to corrective actions and then uh we shall go from there on that one is there anything else on the uh future agenda items that folks want to add or discuss so kind off of number nine kind of separate thing we talked about tonight understanding understanding our options with Town Council right um Ela we talked about that before just I I think we should be on there so that we can review it at a future date even if it's not the next one but I do know there's a sense of urgency there okay and then um I really like how now that we have our town manager the employee appointments was just part of the consent agenda I love that do we still think about you know once every other or every three meetings have the new employees come for just welcome to hopkington and the picture very briefly at the beginning think it's worth I do think it's worth the public getting to meet the employees but it could be brief I yeah like no questions just you know ID um bringing them up thank you for working for hopkington Welcome to the town picture and then they can be on their way that's great I think it's a great idea okay uh so new employees would be 11 new periotic new employees how about something like that and then uh anybody else have any other future agenda items they want to add to the list um sh emailed us one about capital projects review and prioritization um thought I saw that but he could explain that person yeah okay I did see the email but I didn't I thought it was I thought it was spelled out here it's not okay yep so we also mentioned up Trail which we have already discussed tonight so the capital projects process prioritization process like Pro all the putting all the projects together it seems like and then just reviewing prioritizing them and then we do have a committee for that though too right who's somebody's one of us must be Li on right for Capital Improvements oh it's the town managers Mar Joe I know the assessors tried to do a very good job of this but there's always people say they didn't know about this they don't know about that and I think that if we announce the exemptions as they come up the exemption process process like this right now in August is the deadline for the exemption applications for the circuit breaker tax relief so uh and there'll be somebody who say they didn't hear about it CU it's in August and I I uh I think that we should continue to that we should make an effort also at bringing up the dates and when these things are coming up okay sense all right I think we are ready to wrap for the evening um unless there's anything else somebody wants to discuss that is on the agenda somewhere if not CH a motion to adjourn please I make a motion that we adjourn to August 6th 2024 second we have a motion a second any discussion all those in favor please say I I I thank you all have a good night e e e e