hello good evening I call the meeting to order this meeting of the Hopkinton select board is being held both in person and remotely using the video conference platform Zoom uh all members participating in the meeting are present in the meeting room I believe Muriel will join us little bit late but in person the public has the option of attending in person here at town hall or via zoom using the link posted in this meeting's agenda this meeting is being recorded uh first item on the so um I moved to enter into executive session pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21A purpose 3 to consider strategy with respect to negotiations with the fire and dispatch unions pursuant to Master General Law chapter 30A section 21A purpose 6 to consider purchase lease s or value of real estate in relation to properties in the vicinity of town hall and South Street property comprising part of Elwood three division uh subdivision development zero Hayden Row the Kella property zero Spring Street the McD property zero Hill Street the Carrol property zero Cedar Street the Isidor property zero Wood Street and uh five Mechanic Street the L property and Parcels owned by um off of Chestnut Street street because an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the boards also to approve executive session meetings uh meeting minutes and uh to allow Norman kamalu and Elaine Lazarus to participate in executive session and to reconvene in open session at the conclusion of executive session second uh let's do a roll call vote if for yes yes Mary Jer yes and CH yes thank you'll be back so we'll be back after executive session 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 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 uh in Open Session uh I'm Shahid Manan member and vice chair calling the meeting to order uh first item on the agenda pled of Allegiance to the FL flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right um we have the public forum to begin with and I would now please uh request anyone who wants to speak at the public for to come forward please note that each person will have up to 2 minutes to speak at public forum and please start by stating your name and address uh is there anyone who wants to come first please my name is Jamie gon Solis live at 92 Downy Street also the lmpa uh president I'm here in support of the the cig and the DPW in their hopes to uh do the application of herbicides to Lake Masano we've been at this for 10 years just about to get this cross the line to address the weeds and to we' studied this we've looked at all the options we've actually written two separate reports to get this done and I'm hopeful that you guys can approve this and move on on so we can actually get the application done this year we're really coming up on a hard deadline of getting this the weeds and the application done in the early spring we'll hear more about that in the uh presentation to come the lmpa has been an active member and partner with the cig and for the DPW in this whole process I myself was on the cig for five years to vot I was on the the I was on there when they uh develop the initial plan and the initial review process as also as lmpa president we've also gone through the lmpa has done an extensive uh educational um Outreach to the lake residents and there people in the uh Watershed to use the uh friendly Lake friendly fertilizers and to address some of the other issues with storm water runoff and we've been partnering with the town to address that also looking at um uh helping out uh voters when they come in to uh giving them pamphlets so they can uh figure out where they're bringing in or are they bringing in uh you know non-native species of of we of uh weeds into the lake and starting a new problem so we're really hopeful that this process can move forward tonight and I hope you uh so also support us in that process thank you thank you thank you Steve snow 78 Pine Island Road I'm here to um see if you have addressed my criminal complaint to the hopon police department for the criminal acts of Amy written Bush and chief Bennett uh this not interactive but I remember um chair Muriel krer K down the road for 60 days who's been our um police leaz was going to follow up so we'll wait for her so he telling me I have to wait is she on Zoom today she's planning to come that's what she said she's running late so can I speak when she comes um we are going to close the public session okay you might as well get it on the record so I've kept this in the town you're violating my civil rights by not following up on this this is going to be well let me speak I got my minutes so this is going to be sent to the um Attorney General's office it's going to be sent to the Northwest District it's going to be sent to the governor's desk going to send all of the paperwork that you guys have been kicking this can down the road I filed a simple complaint against an officer and a citizen they did not follow any policy you guys have answered zero questions personal opinion the chief's review tonight ask him would he I know Aaron O'Neal is a good cop he didn't just throw in the crash he gave it to the chief where's the document simple question hold him over the fire this is wrong it's not right for the people to be doing this follow your policies we lost probably the only good senior cop in town because he violated something thank you very much good night who's next anyone oh please coming in hi I'm Don suin 205 Winter Street I'm uh also chair of the environmental uh working group at the Hopkinson sustainable green committee and I'm here to voice the opposition uh to the use of herbicides to control uh vegetation growth in Lake maspenock I I submitted I think our group submitted a statement for you to review um and we commend the lake maspenock uh vegetation uh man uh control and Management Group and the community group for all their hard work over 10 years we just feel that the in the toolbox that they're offering there is uh we have an issue with the herbicide the use of herbicide is short sided and not holistic um things evolved uh herbicides now potentially can have formulations that involve uh per and poly uh floral aloid uh substances added to their uh sub uh their formulations um so this is evolving now in our in our in our country where we're reviewing the extent of the use of this uh compound and uh the use of herbicides uh could potentially have this without a preest a floral carbon test there's no way of knowing if it does or doesn't have uh and the state is involving its own regulation involving uh testing waste water on this but not pesticides yet Maine the state of Maine has so uh so Maine's moving on this and they've they've identified it as an issue uh so it's a concern uh that should be addressed because these are uh forever chemicals that uh do not break down the other opposition we have to the use of herbicides and again we favor the toolbox the toolbox has options for the community um and the company that offers uh Services the licens company has never negated that those other options cannot be used so um two minutes is over that's it thank you hi Joseph Bal got 65 Ur road on the lake also the chair of the uh citizen import group on the lake I think we have a presentation later on so I'm only going to take a minute but I just want to make sure that uh this body is aware that those issues were thoroughly fleshed out by concom including the P issue which was completely discounted when we had the concom meeting and I don't know where that's coming from is that coming from me sorry um and that issue was thoroughly discounted concom voted unanimously uh in support of the herbicide proposal fortunately um we're going to get more into that when the DPW is up there for their presentation but these issues that are raised by the opposition have been thoroughly vetted uh aired uh really to no end um there is no practical alternative for the area that we're talking about the other tools in the toolbox simply aren't workable for the north Basin so we'll be back in a little bit for the full presentation but I just wanted to make sure that your committee is aware of that thank you thank you there are four people on Zoom I don't know if the room is five people um we have one more in the room after that we can go to the zoom please state your name and address Kyle Smith 25 Amhurst Road just speaking in support of the use of herbicides for Lake mpon that's it thank you thank you people on Zoom uh come on up hi Sarah Bala 55 oakar Road um I live on the lake and I swim in the lake and I am in favor of the uh cig and the concom recommendations to applier besides thank you hi my name is Lori Barnes I'm a resident of the Lake Community at 23m Hurst Road I've lived there for over 20 years and I just want to I just I am in favor of treating the weeds with herbicides because I feel like we've thoroughly gone through all of the measures in the toolbox as presented and I just my only point is that if we right now this is a spot treatment happening um responsibly where the weeds are and if this continues for years it's it's going to be more than just spot treatment that we're dealing with if we do nothing it's going to be you the entire Lake possibly if we continue for years and years thank you thank you uh Bill Bala 67 urst uh speaking in favor of the herbicides as well the lake is a great resource which now has very limited use during weed season which unfortunately is much of a summer in terms of rowing paddling and things like that so um it's um we wish we all wish there were a better alternative unfortunately there is a thank you thank you s cany 110 Hayward street uh just want to also support the use of herbicides um some reason to everybody else uh if we're not doing something now it's going to become unusable pretty soon and that's kind of the bottom line Thank you thank you Karen Crum 12 Joseph Road sorry to um I'm going to interrupt the weeds for a second although for the record I have looked through their entire presentation already and to look forward to listening to it again um I have a few quick things to point out and a request for the select board to take into consideration tonight um we're coming up on the 4-year Mark since Sergeant uh police chief Bennett's been appointed to his role and there's a period of six months from August 22nd to February 23rd that should be of concerned residents during these six months and in this order the following things happened a former police Sergeant was placed on administrative leave for following a report following a reported allegation of rape Mariel Kramer started to have concerns about the police chief's ability to perform in his role an independent investigation into the action surrounding the reported rape is completed and delivered to the town that same month the report was completed those reports were delivered Sergeant Bennett's contract was then renewed for 3 years it's important to note that the report with the chief's interview was never easily made publicly available however you can get it and yes I've read it assuming all five board members read that report also I I'm really at a loss for why the chief's contract would be extended for three years the contract is only signed by then chair Amy ritterbush so I have no idea if everyone else has read it since I wasn't familiar with this type of contract I compared hopkington police chief contract to a handful of other towns including conquered Southboro Welsley Westboro and a few others h is very generous we have the highest salary for a police chief if you were to keep in mind that this contract negotiation happened alongside the infamous croll investigation and that his contract was finalized may I have a few more minutes um seconds 30 finish up your t Okay um following the completion of the investigation it's just oddly ironic that the board would agree to include a policy that says we'd absolve our police chief from any responsibility of losses whether legal claims are groundless or otherwise it's just an odd way to reference that it pretty much absolves some of anything my request is simple whatever your decision is regarding the chief please wait on appointing or promoting any other ranks those were supposed to be in place by May of 2023 SO waiting six more months isn't going to harm the town any further thank you please coming over hi Carol esler 16 Oaker Road and speaking in opposition to the herb besides um we're forgetting several important things in the rush to have Lake free of nuisance weeds for human Recreation we live in a town where 173 species of animals and 259 species of plants are endangered our ecosystem is already stressed by climate change there is no evidence that after using toxic chemicals that the lake will be any less weedy in a few years this is a temporary thing there is strong scientific evidence that the soils will retain toxins for many years any killed weeds will sink to the bottom continuing the cycle of too many nutrients that promote Weed grow there is no evidence that toxics caus the lake to become as some have said more balanced there is not scientific proof of that they are a temporary solution for human activity I've done some research on Hydra raking one of the tools in the toolbx these are smaller machines than dredging and it would cost seven or eight times as much to applying the toxic substances it would remove nutrients the same ones we hope to mitigate with Native Lakeshore plantings fertilizer restrictions and better runoff control hand pulling could also be done more cheaply in various areas in the 1990s individual homeowners hired some hyro raking at the lak fronts the process only lasts a few years just like the herbicide but in the long run it removes some of the excess material and could improve Life Health can I go a little bit longer of one more paragraph uh please finish up quickly is that okay yeah we don't know enough about the complex food chains or even what healthy native ecosystems can be let's respect nature and swim with weeds this plan for toxics is neither sustainable nor green the climate plan from sustainable green committee which I've recently joined talks about regenerating nature and natives Landscapes not poisoning them a matter of respecting nature for future Generations thank you thank you the last one they about seven on Zoom a few on the zoom okay why don't we go to zoom sorry for being late everybody Al the zoom we have Paula to me I'm going the order that I'm seeing the hands Paula do you want to ask y yeah hi my name is Paula Tumi I live at 16 Duff Field Road um the secretary of the lmca board I just want to say support of the Weeds on the herbicide on on the use of herbicides on the weeds but I also like to tell you somebody who up until the past couple of years who spent literally hours swimming laps around the lake it's becoming down right dangerous um the L the weeds are growing closer and closer to the middle of the lake which not easily dangerous for any other people who swim or um kayak canoe or use any of the standup boards they're also in danger of being you know hit by the boats um so I just wanted to let you know also that I am affiliated with a group of marathon swimmers who swim in many lakes around Massachusetts and Maine who have swam in lakes that have been spat treated for weeds over the past decade and not one person has come become ill or have come down with cancer and I know that that's those are anecdotal um Tales but I think that needs to be heard as well thank you very much thank you and we have Amy gber Amy can you speak up yes I just had to unmute um just want to say that I am in favor of trading the lake with sides Mike Graber uh also 56 Lake lak Shore Drive in favor of the arbor sides thank you Matt dearo Matt unmute yourself and uh please speak up uh yeah this is Matt dearo 40 Downey Street I just want to say that I am in favor of the ID for the lake okay thank you do we have anybody else a lot of people so Ivon yvon thanks yep Ivon rally 2011 West Main Street I am also Pro herbicide I swim in that Lake all the time and I just wanted to state that I'm Pro herbicide thank you Sabine STS Pier Sabine hi can you hear me sure can awesome Sabine St Pierre W Woody Island um I just want to say I was in attendance at the select board meeting in January 2023 when the DPW and cig presented their toolbox and the rec recommendations for herbicides to all of you in the last few weeks I've also attended the cig meeting as well as conservation where they um made a similar presentation but I just wanted to make a couple notes of some major differences that I know noticed since the 2023 uh presentation to you in comparison the 2022 weed situation now in 2023 this past summer the overgrowth was significant and I actually was out on the weed surveys for both years and um you know obviously been out all summer and noticed it as well um because we were we went another year untreated um the other major difference is that the Conservation Commission has also now recognized that it's dire and has unanimously voted for herbicide spot treatment so there have been a couple members of the that board that have you know diligently resisted the herbicides because of personal views but based on all the research this committee has done and I know Carol referenced that this is a rush to herbicides but it is been by far a rush uh they've been working on this since 2015 so they've turned over every stone every possibility and now along with the unanimous vote from conservation this group also has gained the additional support of the Board of Health um if you saw that at the conservation meeting so nobody's jumping up and down about this proposal nobody is pro- herbicide but it's a last resort and Last Resorts are used when everything else has been exhausted and as you heard in 2023 and we'll hear again tonight this group has worked diligently in with Fidelity and have documented everything along the way and it's available for public consumption I know that the cig has made this proposal with the health of the lake at the heart and soul of their decision so this was my long way of saying that I am in support of spot treating this spring thanks to being so Matt already spoke so there's someone without a name 17816 17816 phone number hi my name is uh D Garber I've spent my 30-year career in medicine studying grg safety and patient term um when you look at the herbicides that they're trying to use for the lake I can tell you that it's safe effective and in the long run not dangerous at all for the lake or for human consumption and I would say that you know in the long run if we do not treat the herbicides with herbicides um what we're looking at is like death right so I I would strongly favor the use of herb sites and I think we should definitely do this did we get the address on that what's your address sir thank you sorry nine L for Drive okay thank you anybody else on yep um Ren Hayes or Ren Hayes Ren hi this is Ren Hayes from 20 dowy place to itate uh a lot of the things people have said today Sabine said it well Joe Jamie Gonzales um we are in support of treating the weeds in the lake with herbicide uh it's been a longtime issue and I've been around the lake for more than 20 years property owner for 10 and it's as it's worse than it's ever been and it's it's getting worse exponentially year over-ear so treating it definitely seems urgent and thanks for reconsidering thank you there's a Daniel Danielle or Daniel sorry it's Danielle Danielle perfect I'm at 26 twin Island Road and we are in favor of treating with herbicides I have grown up on this Lake and now live here as an adult and my Cove goes out into the north Basin and when we take our boat out we have to constantly be cleaning our um engine of those weeds um so I am in favor and it is in very much in need thank you thank you Corey McDonald Corey hi this is Cory McDonald 45 Woody Island Road can you hear me y y perfect yeah so I've lived on the lake since 1996 uh if you know where 45 wood island is it looks right over the north Basin I've spent the majority of my time since the lake in the last 25 years on the North Basin uh the weeds have gotten unbelievably out of control recreational use in the north Basin is pretty much not doable anymore no one wants to swim fish wakeboard ski tube anything out there because the weeds you have to constantly clean off your propeller um it's just become unusable unfortunately and it's really a shame when I was as a as a young adult fishing in in Recreation on the North basin it was awesome and it's it's not there anymore it's it's become choked out and doing nothing is no longer an option something needs to be done herbicides unfortunately are the our best option right now I'm suppor of them thank you thank you um Nancy Glassman Nancy hi Nancy and Stewart glasman 21 twin Island Road um and we're totally in support of these beside on the lake the time has come just keep kicking a dead horse and we're ready for this we need to get it done thank you thank you uh James golden James Jay hi this is Shannon and James golden Seven Hill Crest Drive we are in support of treating the lake um Danielle peppy Danielle or so Diane I'm sorry Diane oh Diane sorry Dan if you're speaking we can't hear you muted my apologies we're going to have to move on oh oh good okay here I am on 1969 my name is I'm at 54 Downey Street and uh in the early 70s the lake was treated we had a little bit of fish kill there wasn't much of anything I've raised two two children on this Lake I'm I'm pretty healthy for my age and I'm in support of the weeds thank you and let's hurry up with this all right um let's see the next one was um it's not a name fg3 fg3 yeah I guess that's me Ron ainson uh 75 Crockett Road I've been on the lake for 35 years and um the weeds have definitely got have been the worst I think in the last four or five years so we definitely need to do something um however I do agree with earlier caller that it's likely going to be a temporary solution and the weeds are going to return and I think we need a long long-term solution of either continual um herbicides Andor some program of raking raking the the the weeds so anyhow I guess my comment is it's going to be a temporary solution it's going to return okay thank you um can I I know that I'm late to this meeting but um I know that the public comment period has gone on quite a long time can I recommend unless uh if people have some uh you know opposing position I think we've heard from the supporters is it okay if we move on okay um I think we're going to uh take our next order of business is the public I'm sorry the consent agenda so the consent agenda will consider the following items minutes from March 6th um I guess that's it minutes from March 6th so um I'll entertain a motion on the consent agenda Madam chair I move to approve the consent agenda second all those in favor I any opposed any extensions okay um we were next supposed to have um the midyear goals evaluations um I Heard just before the meeting that the chief is not able to be here um so I am asking the board how you want to proceed um through the chair I would suggest we move to the next meeting just keep it on the next meeting schedule yeah because I think it's critical that we do this I do too um and we can't keep picking it down King it down so I'd say the next meeting okay I agree the chief um needs to be here and then we have a conversation to yep and it has to happen and we had um new documents received today so they could be in the packet the next time yep so next do we meet next week I'm sorry I'm a little bit yes it's becoming it's becoming a thing um okay so um we will um need to speak to this issue somehow um next week but um it is our hope that the chief will be here um when we do uh next item of business is annual town meeting and special town meeting uh Mr camalo yes um we included the draft town meeting warrant in pocket and we uh as we've done in past meetings inviting comments from the board if you have any questions regarding any specific Arles please hear questions now does anybody have any questions on the annual town meeting or the special town meeting articles I don't have any question I just wanted to kind touch on the previous decision that we made I heard the chief is on FMLA is that uh certain when that ends or is it going to be next week I just want to I think we can't discuss we definitely can't discuss that okay no yeah I understand the question totally oh okay yeah all right and appreciate it but we can't we can't interact with it okay um annual town meeting and special town meeting any questions I guess I'm wondering if there will be any additional articles for a special town meeting when is the deadline deadline's very soon right fourth is the deadline the fourth and do we have article the three that were presented to the board by staff yep and no more no additional ones so far not yet okay let let that be a trend I did want to note that uh tentatively scheduling for the next meeting the public forum on the general bylaw changes that we have on the schedule that will be when next meeting next week okay and we will send out a press or something about that okay great um okay and you don't need any particular action from us tonight okay um the Department of Public Works and the lake maspenock weed management and control Advisory Group update is next hi everyone hello so um I'm Carrie Reed the director of the public works and I have here uh Joe bigo Joe baldiga thank you um the chair of the lake maspan weed management citizen Advisory Group um and we're here tonight to give you an update on the plans for Lake management for this year and um um just get you a little bit of Outreach and public involvement as you've seen so far so we have a short presentation um although we know you all are very familiar with it we just thought that this would be helpful to give a background great awesome um so we can go to the next one right so just for h a short I'm trying to do the cliff note version of the background um lake mpano is a man-made lake it was formed by a dam in 1834 as you can see the town of H purchased that Dam in 2006 at which point the town had gotten a lot more involved um in overall lake management as a result of that at the annual town meeting or a dollar for a dollar great great rocken um so in 2015 as part of the plan for Lake management the Public Works went to the annual town meeting with operating budget that included a proposed herbicide treatment at which point there was considerable amount of debate um back and forth in the annual town meeting proposed an amendment at that time to change the funding so that it wouldn't be used for herbicide but we used to make a Lake management plan um and then another amendment was passed to have the plan managed by the select board and at that point the select board created the Lake management the lake M weed management citizen Advisory Group also sometimes called the citizen input group cig so they've been around for about 10 years um they work together to put together the comprehensive weed management control plan which is available on our website and was approved by select in 2016 and then since then has been conducting annual weed surveys with the help of a um certified limnologist so we have about 10 years worth of data um to support you know the observations that folks have been making so you've also heard a lot about uh pering through the Conservation Commission um the conservation so Public Works went before the conservation with the notice of intent in 2020 um asking for herbicide treatment at which point it was denied I believe the vote was 4 to3 at the time with one of the findings being that the Conservation Commission wanted to see more of an alternative analysis and make sure that um they were looking at all the different possible options and making sure that we came up with the best one so taking that to heart um the citizen Advisory Group went back updated the management plan looked at several options and then in 2022 came back again with a nose of intent for the Conservation Commission with this what everybody referring to as a toolbox several Alternatives and one of the conditions at which point it was voted I believe it was 5 Z with oneing at the time to approve the order of conditions with this toolbox with the public works having to come before the Conservation Commission each year to propose what we uh plan to do for management of the lake that year and um so we did that last week um and they approved the proposed use of herbicide in addition to the regular draw down um and some of the local aspects so that's how we got here today all right what we got next so this is just a visual reminder of what we're seeing out there um I also want to point out that it is a mix of native and invasive species and as we've been talking about when we have the annual weed management um surveys we've been seeing an increase in density and and also in diversity all right next slide please so this is just to show that there has been a considerable amount of public engagement both by the volunteers who have done amazing job um past years on both sides um in the local newspaper in on websites through public meetings I I think there's been a lot of effort to try to make people feel like they have a chance to be involved and to provide their opinions like they did today um all right next slide please these are both in your background but just to go over we do have a full toolbox that was approved by the Conservation Commission um we've done a full analysis on what we think would work and what wouldn't work um the Public Works preferred method is still an extended draw down which seems to be successful if the weather cooperates um and is very well received by the public and by a Butters unfortunately that has not been successful in the last couple years it was completely relying on extended full periods of time so if you don't get that weather it doesn't work um and you will hear from the folks on the lake that said maybe it was five or six years ago that 2016 was last time it was very you know successful so it's not reliable but the DPW does continue uh plan to continue do that so the order of conditions allows us to do the extended drown every three years was last out in 2022 and we do plan to do that next year if allowed um but herbicide treatment is what we're proposing this year based on the recommendations and the findings and everything like that so the next slide which is in your background information is just a variety of like you know the question comes then what have you done and what has worked um and so we've tried a lot of things out there the only thing that we haven't tried that in the toolbox was mechanical harvesting and is not the most cost-effective way and and there has we have been advised by the limnologists and others that it wouldn't be effective on the weeds that we have and there's concerns about what it would create and spreading but um and that's what's my next slide so here's an overview of the proposed treatment as we said it would be in the north Basin it would be a spot treatment um the types of herbicides the tribon and aquathol okay and I probably pronounce them incorrectly anyway um the dosing and the combination is based on an evaluation of the data that we've had and experience that the company's had in different places and what we think would be most effective where we could use the smallest dose most efficiently so that's why it's a combination some people have asked why one and not the other and why this combination was chosen they are both approved by mdp and EPA um and we have all the safety data sheets and all that information we will have a safety plan we have several different things that we have to do to comply with the Conservation Commission order conditions including pre and post surveys um we'll have to submit to them a more detailed once we do that but right now this is our plan and the hope is to have this herbicide treatment in early June because that's when we think we'll get that perfect balance of when the weeds will start to grow up we can observe what we can and have the most um effect from herbicide treatment but again this will be a spot treatment it's not blanket um application and it would be focused on this area and we'll be able to narrow it down and we will put the information out which I think is our next SL ah Outreach so the intent is to keep everybody informed um it's been the lmpa has been great The Advisory Group has been great about getting information out um we will use several different methods we will have signs up in around the lake we will use a press release we'll try to use social media and everything like that to let people know um the herbicide is considered a safe herbicide it dissipates very quickly so there are limited restrictions if any um to a on the side of safety we're going to up these signs and recommend that folks don't swim in the water when it's applied but it's not required and that is all I thank you and I'll just I'll just be brief Joe baldiga the chair of the citizen Advisory Group so we got good news and bad news right so the bad news is uh that the draw down yet again was ineffective this year obviously we had a warm winter um we moved onto the lake in 2016 that was the last year that we had an effective draw down we just need lengthy cold periods sadly we're not getting those um and it's not just a fluke right we haven't gotten them since 2016 so we have to come up with some alternative the good news is um is that uh we finally after thorough vetting of the issues uh that everybody's concerned about that concom has uh endorsed and support Ed now the herbicide approach we do have the toolbox right and there's other tools that we can use but the weeds are worse in the north Basin and in the north Basin the mechanical harvesting is just not feasible that's the problem and the hydro raking alternative that was suggested tonight which was also uh bantered about at length at the concom meeting is a form of mechanical harvesting and the town lionist responded to that at the concom meeting saying that there are now increased restrictions on the hydro raking because it actually digs down into the sediment and there are now more restrictions that are being imposed by D because that hurts the Ecology of the lake so Hydro raking is just a form of mechanical harvesting it's probably even more intrusive than just the mowing the tops of the weeds off um and it's not practical for the north Basin so oncom as you know has been concerned about herbicides since we started proposing them you know almost a decade ago um even they now have endorsed the herbicide proposal spot treatment in the north Basin uh unanimously so and that was not an easy task to get them to accomplish and I will just remind this body that your chair commented when we were here back in January of last year that this body doesn't have a formal vote on this right that's what concom is set up for I'm not saying that you're unable to weigh in on this but the good news as well is that we're not coming to you looking for a vote we do want your support at least recognition that this is an issue that has to be addressed but there's no formal vote required by your body at least not that I've heard and I think your chair commented on that last time I'm hoping that when we come back here in January or February or March of next year right a year from now that we're able to report more good news that the spot treatment of the herbicides which is going to be tried for the first time since the 70s has taken effect and that there is a demonstrable difference in the extent of the weed growth in the north Basin let's all hope that's the case and anytime that we want to apply herbicides right we have to go back to concom each time it's not like you know we try once we never have to go back for approvals we can just throw more herbicides in year after year we have to go in front of them every time we want to do this so we got their approval we're going to try it once hopefully with your support hopefully it takes effect and we can start on the path to restoring the balance so thank you any questions yes uh through the chair how is the herbicide actually applied to an aquatic weed I mean you're you're in water um so my understanding and you can correct me if I'm wrong that there would be we use a boat an applicator try to apply it close to towards the bottom of the weed and it attracts to the weed itself and it interrupts the photosynthesis of the weed so it would in my mind I'm picturing like a wand that gets applied um and distributes the herbicide in the areas where we see a vegetation in a very limited extent um you heard some discussion tonight or some concern expressed about there being weeds uh accumulated in the sediment it's very low dosage we're talking about a couple gallons maybe of this combination of spread over per acre so it's a very limited extent it's studied at length about how much of that accumulates in the soil it really I'm not a scientist but we're told it doesn't that it disperses it's very low dosage um it's applied right where the weeds are starting to grow that's why you got to whack it in the end of May early June period um and that's how it's dispersed so yes picture one that's how I picture it as well so I mean so it doesn't get diluted by being in water I mean it will but it's an aquatic herbicide so it's designed to be that way mhm and they are certified um applicators so the company they would have a certified and they would have to get will um and Perman by D before they apply their plan okay and is there any kind of um plan for uh boter when they when they want to go into the into the lake to check the boat for you know weed seed before it goes in I'll let you so there's a couple good things right one is we've got increasingly strict and this is really Jamie still Yes Jamie's still here maybe he's the one to speak to this but the Lake Association and Sandy Beach has uh a lot of restrictions now right it's only hopkington residents and we have been getting out the education I believe there's increased signage um we don't have the ability and you heard this I think last year um we don't have the ability like some bigger Lakes to add and I think we talked about Newfound Lake up in New Hampshire you know it's wonderful with these big lakes that have a lot of resources they have washing stations and inspection stations we don't have that ability and capability but we are trying to get the education out there we're limiting uh the permits for boats to town residents and things um and we're really trying to stress that and the increased signage so you know we're trying to reinforce that that stop with the migration of weeds from somewhere else to here so it's a good question and it's a concern everybody on the lake has so thank you yeah in general I think I mean we definitely have a problem at hand and that's lingering so we need to solve for it we need to solve for it you know in the most um um unharmful way of course so a few questions on that is uh is there any known uh harm to the whole water ecosystem because of such applications that uh have been found or scientifically proven that you are aware of not that I'm aware of I mean any kind of herbicide chemical has risks but that's why we've taken steps um they will be applied you know using the safety requirements um it dissipates pretty quickly it is approved by DP and EPA we used as direct it so not significantly and it's used by other communities it's used by DCR um you've heard other folks talking you without considerable negative effects and there a good indicaa the restrictions are very limited krie had a slide up there talking about you know how long you have to stay out of the lake and I mean it's very limited right as in a day or two you can't you can't use the water from the lake for a few days to uh irrigate farmland or something right because you don't want but but other than that it says seven days in our packet restri are very limited yeah restri and we did follow up with you know um the Board of Health or the health department you know about concerns about drinking water sources as you said use for other um Landscaping um or fish and W there wasn't no concerns considerably for that thank you haven't been addressed and mitigated in other ways and someone commented already about the Board of Health appeared if concom had a lot of responses to the questions and it was firmly in support which I think helped to carry the day with concom so thank you and looks like you have a good communication plan cuz that will be important too and critical how many days and what are the activities that are not um going to be allowed to happen things of that sort yeah this other question I had was um how confident are you about the effectiveness and the result that we are expecting 100% guaranteed you know we wouldn't be going through all this if we didn't think it was going to be have some effect it's the first time we're trying it so they better there be some effect um I don't know if you want to answer that in more depth we think it'll be effective but it's as everybody said it's a temporary thing we have to take a watershed approach and improve overall water quality and have more responsive users of lake and more responsible but so it's a combined effort that has already been put into effect for the last 10 years since the the um Advisory Group was formed and with support of the lfda that's been around for much longer than that so there's no one thing that's caused this issue and there's no one thing that's going to fix it but these are all tools that we're trying to get to you know the the intended results right and and Jamie the president of the lmpa made this point at the concom meeting which is we're not going to apply these herbicides and it's going to create I think he used the word like a desert it's not going to be just this you know perfectly Sandy weedless atmosphere and we're not looking for that right we're trying to restore the balance so that of course there's going to be still be weeds they're just not going to be all consuming right they're not going to be clogging the lake up so it's going to be restored balance it's not going to be creating a desert where there's no growth no fish still going to be plenty of weeds in the lake no I understood my question was more because um and you touched on it um how sustainable the solution is going to be we don't want it to come back and have this conversation 2 years later again after application and then 5 years later again and pretty soon it's going to you know um where I'm going is if we applied on a regular basis or have to apply then it's a larger ecosystem and chemical intoxication challenge potentially right so that's where I was leading with that that generally from you know what you have seen and heard and from EPA and other guidelines do you see it applied and then if we maintain it and that also means we'll need to take the accountability and the responsibility to maintain it to a level that we feel we can continue with the outcome that we'll get in a reasonable way of course um when it comes to Nature nothing is 100% uh so how what what is your plan post this to maintain it and then any information you can share about the recurrence to the level where we would have to talk about reapplying so we are going to do pre and post surveys to kind of evaluate the effectiveness um we will do it again next year our plan next year student is going to draw down and hopefully that will work so I think we're going to re-evaluate each year I mean if we get a wetter year um the weeds get worse if we have a dry cold year they're better so there's so many different variables but we have a consistent plan where we evaluate it every year we have data we do a comparison we have the professionals and so we'll just continue to do that um the intent is not to continue the herbicide treatment every year but there's a recognition that we might have to do do it on a every so often just to kind of get back to a a state that we find acceptable right but that's going to be controlled by other conditions right we do we would love nothing more than to have the extended draw down work so So the plan is hopefully this gets us started down the right path um we can't predict you know next year what the conditions are going to be like right no I I totally understand my thinking is and this is a homework maybe for all of us which is that um once we apply this we solve the immediate problem and the larger problem because it's otherwise um alternatives are not going to be able to manage it to the extent we want not going to be fible practical or cost effective but then how can we not only monitor it on a yearly basis but do other alternative things maybe from the toolbox or others that will not allow us to reach to this threshold like ever again that is doable it's like weed in your backyard right once you have it like a jungle it'll take a while to clean it up but once you do that it depends on how well you are in maintaining it then keeping it there so that's the plan I think we we should all also focus on with it part of the difficulty is you've heard a lot talking about like we're trying to educate people around the lake to use the right or no zero zero zero fertilizers and things like that but but the Watershed right for this lake so because we've looked at that right I mean you're getting water pouring into this Lake from as far away as School Street so and it's you know we have a more difficult time it's it's easy to reach the folks around the lake right the lmpa is very active on reaching out to those people keeping the list current making sure mailings go out and email Communications and we talk about it at the annual meeting and things right it's a little more difficult to talk to people up on School Street and say you got to restrict or stop using fertilizer because it's going right through my yard into Lake maspoch that's a little harder to sell that but those you know we have to continue with those education efforts that's a townwide education effort right not just for this Lake but for the water basin for whiteall and you know for all the water bodies kids and your pets who play in your yard all right off my soap box thank you so we're with you it's a continuing process questions to my right yeah I was just going to say like I guess I hear all your reasoning and everything but it's just really disappointing that you might have to do the um the herbicides um but it does sound like you've tried everything so I understand that um I guess I hope that we can continue to do the extended draw down like you're saying the next year and other methods like the hand harvesting and the bethnet barriers in the other areas so that um hopefully we can minimize the use of herbicide um I guess what concerns me a little bit the most I think is in our in the slideshow there was a warning that's going to be posted for seven days that people can't use the lake for boating fishing and swimming for seven days I think that's going to be really hard to enforce and people won't be aware of that so I'm anyway I'm just very I'm worried about that that people won't know because I I'm always shocked how much people don't pay attention to everything in town you know there' be like 200 comments on Facebook about dominoes and then somebody will come after me did you know there's a dominoes um yeah there were hundreds of comments about it a couple weeks ago but or a month ago and people don't know so people don't pay attention so anything you can do to really um make sure they know because I wouldn't want my kids you know swimming in the lake and if you don't live near the lake you might not know um that's that's the plan right well I want to compliment you people um because I've seen this happen I was the assess in a town south of here that they always well nature nature will take care of it nature will take care of it and they lost their whole South Basin to weeds they they're now way taller than I am and they've they've come together in the bottom and there's no longer even any water except that it's a little it's a little wet and the problem with that is that we had to reduce the values on that South Basin because it was no use no Lake View no use of the lake no nothing and it was because of vegetation took that part of the lake over now the rest of the lake there's boating and swimming and you know and it's beautiful so they are lakefront property but this whole area much like this North Basin it was only it was their South Basin is gone absolutely gone I I know it's taken a lot of years but you anybody wants to take a ride down there I will be glad to because the the weeds and the grass and everything that's growing in that Basin is way taller than I am and and The Roots have all come together and there's almost no water even left in there so uh it's just a damp boggy mess and there's another Lake in the same town that now they're beginning to say oh look what happened here now we got to do something about it but they haven't yet and and they're having real problems now with that other lake so I am glad to see that Hoppington is trying to be really proactive on this and um nature does not take care of everything that's all I can say I had one more thought sure that I forgot but um maybe for a future item maybe we or the Board of Health could consider some fertilizer restrictions in town or recommendations or better publicity that people shouldn't be using those on their yards if they're anywhere near the the lake even you know if they're the water the runoff from their street comes down to the lake maybe we could publicize or restrict that more but that would be a future future meeting yeah you know an educational campaign too because fertilizers and treatments on your lung can be very toxic for a lot of reasons so um that's not it's a good idea all the way around um to encourage people I know that I'm I I I I practice tough love on my lawn my grass has to want to live but um but mostly I I came to that because we have our own private well and we and our neighbors all have private Wells and um it just and I had a bunch of little kids and pets and I I didn't see any any uh benefit into um regularly regular applications of of chemicals that I wasn't willing to research to that extent so um I I really want to congratulate everybody involved for the hard work that has gone into this I know it has been um it's been a marathon not a Sprint um I know that I I feel the energy in the room everybody who lives on the lake loves the lake and they would um I I guarantee you if you took a poll probably you said it before I got here um people would love to be able to manage the the weeds without um using the herbicides every time um and I appreciate that it's going to need to be um you know vetted each time it gets done so it doesn't just become a habit and um and the educational campaign um I think is is really important right what what everybody can do to maintain the healthy Ecology of the lake I think makes an awful lot of sense and certainly even around town but um appreciate the presentation I appreciate the hard work um I have you know I I have a reluctance towards chemical treatment but I um also believe in science um but uh I I prefer you know that they approach that we're way more cautious than we are um quick to do this so I appreciate the hard work and good luck y thank you thank you all right our next item of business business is the fiscal year 2023 audit report yes looking for an answer about the police rep the last I I reached out but I don't I thought I recognize that bad one question Jamie all right Jamie 92 down street again um so right now we have to get the contract oh I don't know how that works that's a great question is there uh I don't know the I don't know the logistics of of putting that together Jimmy we can talk off n so and let me know if I need to help all right appreciate y welcome good evening uh honorable members of the select board uh Manalo ladies and gentlemen my name is terenzio velli I'm a certified public accountant a representative of the firm roselli Clark and Associates certified public accountants with offices in wubber and Hopedale Massachusetts we were engaged on May 23rd 2023 to complete an audit of your financial statements um this was a financial statement audit not a forensic audit um this is the first of a three-year engagement uh we have provided to you what's referred to as our required Communications letter dated March 22nd which you already have in front of you I will not bore you with the content of that you do have the full content but happy to go through that if you would like more importantly we issued a clean or unmodified audit opinion on the town's financial statements on March 11th 2024 additionally a single audit was filed shortly thereafter with the federal Clearing House um and that is a specific audit to your federal Awards so everything was completed one time your financial advisers have uh all those files and all been Incorporated referred to as your continuing disclosures uh well in advance of the due date which is this upcoming Sunday the financial statements themselves are roughly 60 Pages or actually exactly 60 Pages rather and uh they consist of a a number of components the first section uh is what's referred to as the government-wide financial statements that is a depiction of what the town's Financial condition and results of operations would look like on what's referred to as a full acrel basis similar to say a company like EMC the next section is what's referred to as our governmental funds financial statements that is modified AC cruel basis and that most closely resembles the internal accounting records that you all maintain we have what's referred to as the proprietary fund financial statements which are for your water and sewer funds um those are your Enterprise funds and those are also kept on full acral again similar to a uh private entity and then we have what's referred to as the fiduciary funds for which The Lion Share is your opep trust you do have some some modest uh refer to as private purpose trusts very modest Li share that is your opep trust in addition to that there are the notes the financial statements and then what's referred to as our uh required supplementary information which is mdna that precedes the financial statements certain schedules uh with respect to pension in OPB and then finally a budget to actual comparison based on statutory figures in terms of budgetary act to actual on a statutory basis revenues exceeded budget nearly $5.6 million until 23 while expenses were under bug by nearly $3.6 million very healthy year within your governmental funds um you would have noticed last year we started breaking out the arpa fund as a major governmental fund um arpa was established in 2022 as a major fund through the Gap hierarchy qualified that way um and as of June 30th 2023 there was $5.4 million of unspent arpa funds I'd like to take a moment just to discuss with this board the timing of arpa those funds must be fully obligated by December 31st of this year an obligation under the current guidelines issued by the uh US Treasury is either the funds were expended or they've been formally obligated through a purchase order or a contract so a plan by this board or a subcommittee on how to use these funds does not constitute obligation very very important um the way that this this fund um the way that this Federal grant was set up um that they do need to be formally obligated either purchase order contract or or heck the money's off the door um so uh please be careful with that because you hate to have to turn back those funds yeah you do have two years to expend any of those unspent funds so let's say you were entered into some sort of long-term contract um in December you would have two years to actually spend the monies sorry to interrupt do you have the number how much is it for now as of June 30th you had $5.4 million uh the actual hard number can be found on page approximate it's fine 15 of 60 5,349 M overall for the year your fund balance again in the governmental funds increased slightly year-over-year to about $ 62.7 million uh you had reported increases in your general fund your CPA and what's referred to as your non- major funds and those are offset by an $8.1 million decrease in your capital projects funds you had a number of significant capital projects including some projects at the marathon Elementary School the Fruit Street uh turf field a number of other school projects as well as some uh DPW work out front the general fund reported about $2.4 million of investment income in 2024 which is a real sharp increase from the year before so you folks were very very uh Smart in the way you were investing your funds um in fact at the end of the year had about $52 million invested with the mmdt which is the state's uh investment fund and uh I just took a peek at that today today that fund is yielding 5.55% um so it is it is quite a robust fund debt for the year decreased about $6.1 million to about $73 million $63 million of that is General debt that's supported by the taxpayers the other $10 million is from the rate payers you water and sewer fund and it's almost evenly split five and five between water and sewer some of your other your largest liabilities pertain to pension in your OPB with respects to pension you're a member of the middle sex County Retirement System so you get an annual assessment you really don't have any control over that at December 31st of 2022 they were 58% funded by Statute they are required to be fully funded by June 30th of 2040 um and so they've developed a u uh funding schedule uh for for all of their participating employers to get to that 100% funded ratio by that time um if you take a look at year-over-year the funding ratio had come down because middle sex County Retirement Systems measured on a calendar basis and calendar 22 there was negative investment returns calendar 2023 we would expect it to be anywhere from 10.8% to 11% gain based on the composition of their Investments now way too early to tell but based on similar similar um invested uh assets is anywhere between 10.8 to 11% return would be somewhat expected thank you quick question if I may yes um what is our projected timeline now it used to be 2075 at some point then it came down to can you repeat yourself um the projected timeline to have uh opep fully funded for our town do you have the year that I don't have handy um no that's fine yeah yes there is a right now your opep is roughly 11% funded which actually places you quite well within the state based on your size uh of your community um that would probably a question better serve for Elmore your actuary we had it on our financial report I just have top of my head but the reason I was asking is um uh you're right I mean I think we are above median right now in out of the 241 towns so in a better shape than than before yes yes thank you uh B Parker who is your actuary does roughly a third of your state so I would say he has a pretty good representative sample when he's taking a look at your funding versus everybody else thank you um so again once again you read my next line you're you're 11% funded at this point in time you came into fiscal 24 with a number of reserves your free cash which was certified couple months ago at about $9.6 million the general stabilization had about $4 million and then there was a series of other you know uh other pench um uh stabilizations speci specific specified stabilizations were which were roughly $2.6 million quick question on that if I may and um sorry to interrupt U but I think this is fascinating um the various insights you're projecting on I'm just curious to um understand based on your uh breadth of um exposure to various audits the 99.5% free cash is that um for the budget of 110 million is that we have is that normal or is that um out of the kind of that's a diff that's a very difficult benchmarking what free cash is one town to another is not an easy thing to it fluctuates greatly um they tuck it has a really really large number it it really it really depends you know it really depends the the city of malo's number isn't that high but they have a $45 million excess Levy capacity you know it's uh it it is tough to to Benchmark that one okay sure that's essentially the accumulation of of of very positive results and and you know you build a school that might might disappear quite quickly yeah no absolutely yeah you should mention funny that you brought that up um but also just for the public too um free cash is really money in hand excess Levy capacity is money you're allowed to like take from the voters so it's a very different thing that we're talking about yeah free cash is unspent money essentially it's been certified that this was essentially these is your retained earnings that is unencumbered uh by any other means that could be used for the discretion of the uh government body which in your case is Town Mee correct and it was appropriated but not used the reason I'm asking is that is also an indication if we have too much free cash are we do we need to fine-tune our planning so that we invest in the right spots uh otherwise we don't always it's not always good to have a huge amount of free cash where you are starving some departments or some areas where we actually need to invest and support with the budget that's that's why my question was that exactly yeah thank you there'll be taxpayer Advocates who have another perspective of that also sure it's a balance yeah and then U lastly again um just just speaking to the investment rates uh you are heavily invested at least as of June 30th in the mmdt um as of today was a 5.5% yield the 5year T bill as of this afternoon is about 4232 2% so the the the returns in fiscal 24 I would expect to be again robust and that will contribute almost dollar for dollar for free cash because um I didn't take a look at your uh your your 2024 budget but I'd be shocked if you had that much budgeted for investment income because that's such a variable it's generally U budgeted quite conservative which is appropriate yeah I think we we do conservative to yes we do do team I'm sure we are we have a very disciplined and good practice in our finance so I'm happy about that that essentially concludes the formal part of my presentation and uh so I'm just available for any questions comments or concerns at this point so does um Mary Joe do you have any questions not really no I don't Amy um I'm not sure if they're for the auditor or maybe for the Tommy manager but um the arpa of balance that we have uh that we haven't spent do we have to spend that by a certain amount of time two years two so when will we it has to be fully obligated by December 31st year this year okay yes spent by 12312 okay so do we have a plan to to do that yeah through the chair um let me answer that question as well as the question that was asked regarding um opep yes we have a specific plan as to how we'll obligate those funds okay so we won't be in danger of losing it then okay Elaine has clear instructions okay and for the most part you can use it for most General I say most General government there you know follow the guidance there you can't use it for Extraordinary pension payments can't use it for Debt Service pay a legal settlement um there there are a number of no NOS there but for the most part it is it is uh it's very flexible much more flexible C cares act okay yeah restriction our water B water projects greatr correctly we we have discussed applying the $5.4 million towards the MW project uh however uh as I stated earlier we have a plan as to how we'll protect those FS great the other question was um when based on the um November 2023 actual evaluation of our opep the town is projected to be fully funded in the year 2052 close nice nice I'm just going to see if Amy wants to finish are you all no I think that's it it's related so for the public that these documents are now all on the town website for anybody wants to read through it's a 62 page document but if you want to look through feel free there good news in there goad my first question is related to Amy's question that's why I was going on so we can use the same time to discuss the same when we are on the same topic but I'll reefer surface that which is the fund we were talking about are we obligated to I heard we are obligated to alloc appropriate it by December or spend it by December either appropriate either purchase order it has to be obligated or spent what does obligated mean appropriated or spent uh appropriated would would infer that town meeting takes an action this is not subject to town meeting um so it needs to be obligated so if the money has already been spent for a project obviously it's gone um or it needs to be a formal purchase order or contract uh okay binding a binding purchase order binding contract or you spent the money because L that it's done it's been done yeah thank you um so coming back to my question U my question was uh in general based on you know your whole report and thank you for the insightful thorough analysis what do you see as you know some of the areas we can do better and some of the areas I heard of course and it's more about our continuous Improvement effort perspective I have full confidence how we do our budgeting financials and um all our accounting and we have become better and better and uh I think we have done a tremendous job thanks to everyone I keep saying that we finished our balance budget and everything by um end of January this year which was the first time in decades almost so I'm I'm very confident that we have pretty good grip on our financials but I'm also always looking for opportunities to improve and see where we can do things better so do you have any suggestions um if you want to give like your top three OB obervations that we should do or we can take opportunity of doing better the thing that keeps me up at night is the uh technology security um ransomware attacks uh that involves employee uh education um don't click on this click on that um that that's what actually keeps me up at night that that that a client is going to get caught we did spend some time with the uh uh folks here on fishing scams to identify some of the um common traits that we're seeing out there and to be be aware of of of these types of red flags that are out there um so especially with a newly appointed Treasurer because it's unfortunately it's the treasury Department that's really going to get hit because they're the ones who control the money um so we did spend some time talking to those folks about about that so network security fishing whatnot th those are areas that um again you just need to have uh excellent diligence I mean you folks learn the hard way unfortunately how how to how to react to an IT disaster when I first got involved with this audit in 2017 we were doing the audit in an old building down the street because we had a a water issue and boy that it group had to do something really fast Unfortunately they had the processes in place um so that that is a testament to folks over there cuz you were up pretty quickly weren't you loss of service no loss of service actually I could jump in I did go to a cyber security conference a couple weeks ago in Milford um for schools and towns but um there is a grant opportunity I think opening this week to do a cyber security audit of your your town and I know you've done the cyber security training uh for staff too that's an excellent opportunity when those uh grants come up to uh to have somebody do some penetration testing and what now your folks had a lot of turnover recently so that that's an area that that that just needs to be uh be looked at um when we take a look at Municipal fraud and theft one of the there's a greater opportunity for it when when there is flux and so be diligent in that area um uh and then again just making sure everybody's trained up and um understands what their roles are and how how one one Department's actions affect uh anothers and uh ultimately the financial uh well-being and process-wise any any suggestions I think security is something on everyone's mind especially in this agean era um cyber security is is tremendously I think vulnerable for for many reasons as best as we can be but even then there AI D and others are constantly coming so it's constant war and we definitely I I like the idea of doing an audit and taking Grant where we can um but process wise do you feel we are pretty solid and um I I I know we are solid any opportunities again well I mean written policies and procedures need to be updated particularly again with with with Personnel transition it's a great opportunity it's it's a training uh opportunity um uh it's a key element that any internal control uh system but it's particularly valuable in times of transition so I would you know I remember uh the past uh um some of the past managers when they were working on it it just has it hasn't been completed yet that's just something that that U resources should be uh dedicated towards thank you and may very last question for now is um what in your view is a healthy stabilization fund ratio for town for school I can honestly say no one has ever asked me that question of it um I think uh I may I may have to get back to you on like that I'd have to take a look um many times we take a look at at your reserve balances policies um in in the same way that say an S&P might look at it and that that's that's what I would recommend what what are the S&P recommendations for you folks having a a AAA credit rating is is is a a sense of Pride um to the community so I think I would I would suggest taking uh a look at what their recommendations are then benchmarking against that from the rating agencies yeah certainly we are proud of our triple we work really hard and together to keep that you the opportunity to have lower interest rates larger projects and it's sizable if you're looking at a $150 million school you're going to have to Pony up a 100 million of it um 10 basis point difference in your interest rate real money it's huge is is and and one thing we have done is um our stabilization fund contribution we have almost doubled or more than doubled it in the last two years so that is a positive thing knowing that you know we have big expenses uh coming and whatnot but I'm we're always curious in you know what is the good range for allocation on that and if there is so speaking to that you had $9.6 million of free cash you know by by moving some of that money into stabilization it permits you to do certain other types of Investments correct um that are permissible in a trust fund like a stabilization fund then in the general fund Fort again fortunately you know we're in a Black Swan time frame where where you know money markets and um CDs and again this mmdt Municipal uh trust are paying pretty significant R um that's not that's not typical um but uh but by by allocating or appropriating because you have to appropriate free cash into stabilization the mechanism of taking it out of free cash and out of stabilization is identical so have to your governing body or your town meeting U but it does allow you to do uh different investing legally permissible sure yeah thank you yeah we can check on the S&P recommendations and if you find anything feel free to share it thank you I appreciate it we I'm all set set thank you um I just have a sort of a broad general question um given your experience with this town and so forth and looking forward to the the near future when that new school will in debt will be coming online um do you do you have any um do you have any thought like how do we protect if we can protect the AAA rating I know it helps us as we borrow for that big school but does that all that debt coming online um put that that AAA rating into Peril uh I think I would defer that to your bond counsel um that's not my area of expertise just as a general investor I can't imagine it wouldn't affect it right um but that's that's a question better folks use Hilltop or UN Bank I don't recall to talk I would those are fantastic answer great well thank you very much um appreciate the thoroughness of the report and certainly it's always good to have good news if I may y um terenzio it's been great working with you and specifically I want to acknowledge your your patience your cooperation as well as willingness to also guide uh especially this year when we're going through some transitions in the office thank you thank you very much it was a pleasure working with you I might be the last time thank you very much thank you all right and then um the the quarterly deposit and investment report hello thank you for your patience welcome all right so you guys me not that long ago CJ treasure sing in do you mind moving towards the com the microphone yeah I'm sorry so I'm CJ the new Treasurer as you guys remember me we do and Ka the new CFO so three weeks in nice all right all right so we wanted to talk about um the report today um obviously this is the first time we've issued it um and we plan on moving forward um having it a lot closer to the end of the quarter than you know 3 months in okay um because this reflects obviously for 1231 of 23 yep um so our plan going forward is to have it done a lot quicker than within three months perfect but understandable under the circumstances yes yes um and so our summary is it's a very good story our last quarter uh we earned over $1.7 million in interest um and that is pretty significant um that's more than double the amount in interest for this past quarter versus quarter 1 soort of put into how markets have came up um this year that's that's a big jump we have over $91 million in deposits and given the stab stability of interest rates as of right now we believe that it will continue to grow quarter 3 the finance department experienced turnover in staff of 2023 we have one open position and are actively recruiting for the assistant treasur job given all the new employees we are very busy onboarding and cross training um especially cross training we find that the more cross training we can do the better the office functions um so when I first joined one of the things I noticed is we have a lot of key dependency on single people so this cross trining updating procedures and spending a lot of time as a team to understand the different tasks is really important so we know where the risks and the control points are and need to be going into the future so CJ and I have been working hand inand over the past couple of weeks to put together a plan to what we want to accomplish in the next six months wonderful correct um we have also hired new staff um Sam is a new administrative assistant and she's doing wonderful um and we also have a new per manager Rita who has been helpful as well um we're very excited to have them both um one thing to note though is this department would not have been successful without John and Renee and CJ and susen without that stability um it would have been in chaos but they also stepped up and they all did multiple jobs over a period of months so kudos to that U so we also continue to attend trainings as terenzio touched on um he kind of gave me some personal it security very good nice of him good um it's nice to have the the support from you know all over town uh whether it be our vendors uh whether it be within Town um it's a very welcoming environment and it's great to have um and so we're also starting to work on a few different projects that will help streamline the work um and will help create more efficiencies within the department uh as Kyla touched on we're also updating our Sops um which we have found some of them are outdated um so they're a need of being updated slightly as our software has changed a lot of the uh detail the detail gets updated um so an sop from three years ago may not necessarily work anymore right right and the number of manual tasks within the department is pretty significant so we're looking at the different technology within the town as well as with some external vendors to see if we can cut out the manual tasks in order to streamline the work and create more accuracy on that note we were using something was it from granas or from um one of the vendors that have more budget management and then you can also compare with other Town's budgets I forgot the name of the software oh the clear yeah CLE clear yeah day to day we use munis however for our transparency we were using two tools clear go and I forgot the other one yeah yeah now for Clear go I think we didn't use all of their um all of their tools right and I haven't checked it recently so and let me um I think we didn't have the full depth of comparative um insights if I want to slice by our towns with similar other town at more granular level something to look at it it helps at times for benchmarking as you know definitely thanks yeah yeah just to be clear we are not a custom of clear cve anymore oh we're not yes we used it for a couple projects right yes yeah um and also DLS has done a very good job in making budget information from all the Massachusetts towns available for the public okay I'll check that out that's why I didn't see it on CLE makes sense I'll I'll check it out with you um the last thing I wanted to touch on uh was that we're also starting to digitize slightly more um a lot of our documents within the office are paper uh but for research purposes I found you know throughout the months uh it's a lot easier if we can have them in a secure location uh and be able to search for a specific document so we've started to implement that as well great well first of all very nice job couple a couple of weeks into new jobs um really appreciate um really appreciate the report um appreciate the staff that was here before holding the rope and appreciate the new Talent that's through the door and that you are working so hard early together to get systems and uh processes and and so forth in place so I guess what I just want to say is um keep us informed of what we can do to support your efforts to build efficiencies and sustainability in your department for sure so we want to hear about it thank youa do you have any questions um no questions but just um really a Commendation that you know with so much turnover stepping into these new roles um for you to be able to to manage it the the the cross training I love it I think it's uh it's quite an accomplishment so keep it up keep I'm going to have fun yeah no certainly I um didn't get to see this before so I'm very happy to see it and um again it's great to see that we have now formed a new team um and ready to go and you have jumped right in there's TS to do and it's a great department they have really stepped in and couldn't agree more we didn't feel anything in terms of the town's activities and whatnot um so kudos to them and thanks for jumping in so I was just going to add in the spirit of the you know the transparency and searchability um on the town web files we just saw that the accounting document that they just presented is on the tab Town web files but the uh quarterly investment perose is not there yet so I'm sure you'll add that tomorrow get back to work y yeah I'm I'm just I'm glad to see that we have such a diversity in our Holdings and and uh Investments I remember a time when I was here years ago and it was really just very few Holdings and Investments and now we have quite a range and quite a diversity and uh that's great thank you thank you the wonderful work thank you appreciate the good message too I know you can't it can't always be that way but yay so thank you thank you thank you you can okay all right um so the next um the next item of business is the hiring process updates so um I don't know that we have particular updates on the town manager hiring process or we I think there are some changes for we yeah we we do have uh uh some some specific information for for the board on each of the processes and Jessica hi yeah Jessica is here with with with with me she will help me along uh beginning with the with the town manager search process uh we now have contracted with uh Community paradig they are scheduled to appear before the board next week great to present their program their schedule and and engage the board on some of the key topics that apply to the process we have begun working with them in developing a couple of tools that will help the process specifically reaching out to the select board and Senior leaders to better understand what you're looking for in your future permanent Town manager we are also working on developing a survey that will allow them to reach out to The Wider Community to seek the community input so that's the town manager search um in terms of the Deputy police chief as reported at your last meeting position has been posted applications are coming in and we will have future updates for the board that's your could um so the the posting for deputy chief went live on what date the 14th the 14th so it's open until the 12th of April right um and then there's a series of um scheduled um steps are we able to schedule those in advance so that we get them scheduled so we know when the um you know the hiring committee will talk to the candidates and that kind of thing can we just get them on the books according to the schedule that was laid out is that possible great thank you that would be wonderful yes and we can now report to um we've reached out to um um the chief from natic yep he has agreed to par oh that's great news great news chief chief Hicks yeah Chief Hicks uh want to thank the the police chief also for helping in that regard um we moving on to the deputy fire chief uh making yeah Deputy fire chief sorry go yeah Deputy fire chief we making good progress um we have identified a Consulting Group to work with we reached out to three companies we received uh two responses and the most responsive response was from MRI okay so we'll soon be working on a contract with MRI with assistance from the fire chief great and then um the lieutenant positions uh I think I believe the chief uh Chief Bennett uh submitted an update uh to the board um interviews were held yesterday the chief has completed his assessments uh he has uh indicated that uh it's now um the process is moving to um now engaging with the board Y and having the board um articulate to the community and to the chief what the next steps are going to be so that's the discussion point for tonight no no thank you I was just asking um the chief sent an email with an attachment and I it was today this afternoon I have not interacted with it yeah I was going to say is it going to be available for public consumption I think in the next packet in the next the next packet yes yeah yeah so we're we're referring to the updates that we received from the chief yeah but again the question is what does the board want to do next the chief has completed the interviews he completed the assessments and he's rated the candidates right he's ready to present his his selection of candidates for us to interact with um and meet with and evaluate and interview yeah through the chair I think um the final selected candidates if uh the chief and HR can share some of that information ahead of time and then we can schedule some time to meet the final candidates like we do if we have any questions in between we can always uh ask ahead of time or prepare them so there's no surprise in the meeting in some ways I think that could be a reasonable approach right it's it's the approach we used last time for the sergeant so it worked we agreed so that's in this case there's only one Lieutenant opening correct there's one opening but there'll be final candidates to interview and select okay it's not usually the chief makes a recommendation for for the candidates for the finalist okay is that in line with the c Sor the question is with the Union contract um does he recommend just the one finalist or as you know if there's multiple they would be all recommended my understanding is that the chief makes a recommendation um I I in any ing process okay they can be one candidate there will be more than one candidate it's up to the board again it's up to the board to discuss how you want the process to be forward in terms of have we complied with the contract the chief doing the interviews doing the assessments that complies with the contract he makes a recommendation to the board that complies with the contract okay so do we know when that will will be will we will receive his recommendation my my take from the conversation we had this this afternoon is he's ready the chief is ready yeah yeah so when is our probably not next meeting but the meeting following that that we can at least hopefully Target to address it the 16th the 16th does that sound right yeah I think so I think in the that gives us time the email Chief was if I read it correctly I read it quickly almost five five um candidate five positions are ready to be filled out um the next few months of the off officers of the officers highest the remaining five they're in different stages okay yeah and and we'll update report on that under the town manager report right to look at the numbers and if you have it then that's great if not we can come back to it later so we have 29 officers position we were at 21 or now at 21 and we have Pip uh five in the pipeline so if all those go as the final or variety of stages almost towards final sounded like so that'll take us to 26 out of 29 um if we go ahead and complete all of those or are able to complete all of those so that'll be almost 90% right that's awesome yeah I mean if awes it's okay with the chief I go to Sergeant Balton is here he can speak specifically to the numbers okay in our packet it says three of the five are not are ready to come for the select board so maybe that will be at the next meeting or so three of the candidates go ahead so last meeting you um appointed Kyle quinzani he was he was in that same process process um we have one individual um that we have three individuals we're hoping to bring forward next week those three individuals um one is scheduled for an Academy in May um with a graduation in September one of the individuals is scheduled for a June Academy and the last candidate would be scheduled for a July Academy and they would all anticipate a graduation uh beginning of December as early as next week did you say correct oh that's great for those three and then we have two more that are still working through the process with each okay they all need to complete the academy so they can't start for a while those this group yes yeah that's great news in that case instead of 16 do we want to do next week CU I heard they'll be ready for next week we have we through um the town manager's office we did put a placeholder in for for next week for next week okay for the new candidate the new hire candidates great that's amazing good news you guys have been working hard hiring like mad thank you thank you I noticed the port was all s with the chair's permission um interested in hearing more about the the general Staffing uh that falls on the town rers report if if that's okay we can jump onto that uh since we have Jessica here um we we are pleased to report that we have identified and will be representing and will be presenting the town's next HR Director at your meeting next week oh nice HR Direct HR wonderful um I want to um acknowledge the put in by elain uh she um was leading that process working alongside um other senior leaders uh and as usual H was providing the administrative support um Jessica you want to speak to the othering processes um I can do that yeah I don't have that me in front of me I can do that I can certainly speak to yeah um we included uh in your meeting packet an update uh and we spoke already about the town manager Deputy police chief police lieutenant and then administrative assistant in the land use we've reposted that position uh the the the application period will Clos on the 25th it closed on the 25th sorry um then the dishwasher was still looking for the dishwasher please still looking for dishwash still looking for a dishwasher I thought I saw that there was there was interviews in process isn't wasn't that the last upate yeah um I'm going to send my son yeah we we're also looking for the head chef um we are now in the process of uh scheduling interviews for that position great and then um as reported earlier we've advertised for the assistant uh Treasurer collector the application process closed yesterday um we have reported on the police officers again five candidates in the pre-employment phase and then the young adult librarian interviews have concluded uh we're making an offer uh reference technology librarian offer extended and accepted and then water technician um we've hosted that position it's closed already we are now evaluating candidates for interviews uh we also continue to have uh open-ended vacancies uh heavy equipment operators PDM dispatchers and social worker it's amazing uh amazing work it's been a very very busy period of time every everybody so I thank Elaine and I thank your you and your whole department especially working a little little under staff it's amazing so appreciate that and and also all those interviews all those senior leaders and and staff members who lean in to make these interviews happen so appreciate everybody's hard work to help uh substantially build the team here abely very support yeah and in fact what I also have enjoyed watching from close range is how H always reaches out across the entire organization to identify people to be on interview panels yeah I very I I reflect back I haven't done too many but I reflect back on um the hiring process that I was privileged to be part of um the the typical hiring process when um we were hiring for a a new uh planner principal Town plan manner um and it was um it was really it's a substantially impressive process everybody takes it really seriously around the table where um several different uh Town leaders and participants both both rounds of interviews and um I think it it really serves the town well you know really looking at uh people's sort of fit and also expertise right to meet the town's needs so appreciate all the hard work TR the chair Qui question how many are still open now you mentioned the roles I was counting six or seven is it correct or more the the senior leadership positions are all filled that's great that's pending the meeting on the second next Tuesday yeah and then we have the water technician we have the dishwasher we had chef um we also have the custodial maintenance worker and then the land use administrative assistant and then we have the grouping of ongoing continuous open ended PDM positions sure no that's great looks like we're almost almost there uh one just suggestion and question also are do we do any employee survey employee satisfaction survey just to understand the P time to time maybe we can start building that as a practice once a year twice a year and get feedback on you know how we can also encourage them or motivate them in their work support their work um that will be a good practice I think yeah we do that um we remember we have the CommunityWide satisfaction survey we also have the employee service and then also um on a voluntary basis we have the uh the exit interviews conducted all of yes those are conducted by great that's awesome for the employee surveys do we publish the I'm sure we do I probably haven't seen it is there a way to make it available and also look at the trend things of that sort those are all good HR practices yes in fact um we are wrapping up on one survey uh conducted with a professional company um that company does this surveys Nationwide so they do have the ability to provide comparative data from other jurisdictions excellent um however our effort uh for the most part always is to identify what we call our Market Basket towns and with some of the service it's it's not easy to to come up with um a repeatable process um that you can measure to to to to bring up those towns because not everybody for example not everybody does the survey the way we would be doing it right yeah and that's year-over-year Trend data is Trend so is so important yeah even um one is comparative with other towns one is comparing with our Baseline ourselves ourselves on a trend basis so anything you can share on that would be great in fact I should mention the amazing work that you saw I think at your last meeting breaking down our recruitment yeah thank you for that the bar of that work was performed by none other than Jessica oh thank you that's wonderful very helpful Anis great perfect getting better every day it's awesome you know some of these process IES really start to build um sustainability and strength you know people particularly I'm a big fan and I know everybody else on the board is to um the transparency in the process so we can see where we're strong and where we need to uh fortify I I do this work professionally too and I always I always try to remind people that some of the the gaps right are the opportunities right we know where we're strong and we want to you know maintain that and build on that um but the gaps are not necessarily negatives there are opportunities to be stronger so appreciate that okay I think we we're all set on stuffing um again with the chair's permission if we're now on the Tag's report um M um starting off with Main Street uh there was no new update for this meeting uh AAS good progress made um R Building Systems has completed the setup for the frame supported membrane structure uh we're still looking at the um you know completion date first week of May well still on Target and in terms of the MW um we We are continuing our conversations with DC uh in terms of whether the town can possibly locate uh the pump station on DC Island uh we're finalizing a letter that articulates the town's position based on a preliminary informal in U meeting that we had with DCR staff we are also uh now actively engaged uh with the Water Resources Commission uh we have scheduled a meeting uh where we will discuss the status of the town's designs and get a better understanding from the uh commission informally on what we should to expect relative to um our relative to the application process and then we are also uh contining to work towards establishing regular meetings with our legislative team um project team members as well as also reaching out to DP and mea because they will be involved in this process fy2 budget update the participatory budget proposals are due March 29 9th the Appropriations Committee has let's go about that on the front page of the town website it says they're due the Fe or March 25th which was yesterday but did you say 29th oh my B 25th they're closed then okay yes such a short turnaround time uh did you get many applications or 10 10 okay that's good oh good all right good sry thank you um Appropriations Committee is already meeting with department heads um yesterday they had a great meeting with the school department and uh the town's it Department uh the other meetings um March 27th Human Services April 1 land use Town clar April 3rd Town manager finance and human resources and then April 8th they will meet with CPC we also um have made our annual request to our legislative team uh listing projects that could be funded through the state budget process uh we included uh requests around cultural proficiency support in fact we worked I worked alongside the school superintendent um on a on a joint request um regarding this uh this this uh line of work and then restoring the two FY 24 Bond bills they're very important for the town we just need to make sure that they continue to be active uh such that when money becomes available we can then seek an appropriation uh Capital requests to support the MW sidewalks in town especially to the schools uh trails and roadway improvements roadway improvements they there has been a request by the public that we look at a traffic cly at lambar and West Main Street um that's the project that perhaps we if if funded We Begin the design process and then uh obviously Public Health focusing on vaccinations uh Dei mental health support uh and at a macro level we are restating our request that the uh Commonwealth looks into um funding employee pensions they are doing that already for school teachers um it would be great if they could extend that to the rest of Municipal Employees and also tied to that is the request that uh pensions be tied to the cost of living adjustments each year is that something doing jointly with I would think other towns would want that too or a lot of submitting the the same request or submitting it together other towns will do that and um again this is an issue that we can bring up El at the MMA to see they'll be willing to Champ on it for all the towns in Massachusetts I'm sure somebody else has looked into this before too awesome okay um Mary Joe any questions no I have uh something else in a little bit but okay I'm okay with this right I just have to general question thank you for the update these are great uh one is for pasas and MW related do we need to U think of any last minute action or uh activity planned for the town meeting um so we don't miss any you know specific timeline I I think um in terms of pias it might be helpful for the board uh as part of article one on board updates to let the public know where we are in implementing the filtration project the town wanted us to fix that project I mean that that that issue uh immediately and we've we've we've had delays it may be helpful to give an update to the community that's point I think that's good idea yeah in in terms of the MW um I I believe the conversations that are taking place now um will help us get to a point where some specific action may be required a town meeting however I think what is important at this point is to really identify a robust public engagement process uh this is a large project it is expensive and we need to find a way to to make sure that the information is getting out to the public um for example this afternoon kri and I had a conversation with Peter Thomas um he's interested in the topic uh he's uh he wants to be the pro he wants to be part of the process of getting the information to the public right exactly I think that's that's a big part of our Ong effort on um one of these days uh we are having this public forum right on the clean water um Advisory board that we were talking about yes in fact you and I still need to connect so that we can lay out the yeah the the the plan and specific his right yeah I think in terms of scheduling exactly so the idea behind that is to glue all these together so we can have a you know overall story plan and communication system approach that's awesome yeah appreciate yeah awesome I'm good I had a one second one um so the second one did you forget no I'm sorry um to anyone else have any question then I can oh sorry now I remember so um for the Health Board I think I think um the latest I saw and heard as Leo and through Communications we had some hiccups with the Grant and um we had to follow a couple of people and what is the impact and is there any remediation that we can help or what are your thoughts yeah um when was it elain we we had a meeting with the health services department staff and the Board of Health chair um regarding um some accounting anomalies um that we had been investigating and at this point we have a very clear picture on the state of the general fund budget and and the expenditures in the department that are tied to contracts outside the general fund as well as expenditures that are attached to specific grants we have identified the way forward and I'm in the process of finalizing a memo that I'll be sharing with the director as well as the Board of Health regarding here's what we're going to do going forward yeah so at this point again we do understand the state of the general fund active contracts and grants thank you and um a followup would be that do we foresee any service impact because of that I'm sure there are some impact because of two person not being available right is there anything we can do to mitigate that any other um I don't know I mean looking at the financial the operational stuff is definitely yours but um I was wondering if it is cu it's an important um set of work that I heard that they are doing if uh that doesn't continue There Will Be impact on seniors or other service areas is there anything we can do to help a and b i I'm sure you are doing all the due diligence is there any operational Improvement or visibility or reporting that we can build in the process to also monitor it better going forward yes I think what what I'm in terms of the second question absolutely yes the memo will outline here the operational improvements that are required here's who's responsible on the service Level side I think one recommendation I'm going to be making to the board is that the board absolutely is the entity that has the authority to Define from a policy perspective the work that we're doing thankfully the department and the board are currently um moving forward the strategic planning process that process will help us identify where are the areas of where are our strengths where are the areas where we need to improve and our opportunities exactly yes where our opportunities and also uh what are the structures that are required to move forward what the community identifies as the priority for the town um so at this point policy decision by the board will be supported by the work that is being done through the Strategic plan that's that's great to hear and I'm a of the Strategic plan they're moving ahead waiting for um you know more robust outcome as well I think that'll be great I'm just curious and it doesn't have to be now if you can uh explore if there is way to mitigate the immediate impact um of the services that are going to be either stopped or um you know reduced because of because of this impact I'm going to suggest we put it on an agenda I know you're the you're the Le on but let's get it on as an agenda item so that the public is noted and talk about it I think there is public interest in this topic so yeah appreciate it okay okay um the next item of business is the aison reports Mary Joel yes um I met with the tax relief committee and then I met with sries um and they are really in trouble they seem to have lost their big uh one of their contributors to um and they were able to give out less money they had more applications this year they had 30 at least 35 applications uh and if things if they don't find a way of funding somehow they don't really expect to be in existence after 2025 and they're like down to they were giving 500 bucks to like down to 175 per person which is a drop in the bucket when you look at people's taxes and everything so um they're they're they got two marathon runners this year which is great but uh with with the lack of this funding uh it's been difficult for them and it's it's going to be more difficult because they're getting more applications every year so instead of less and they're giving out less money they not just just not there to to give out more they give some everything but um she would like to address the bringing come before the board and and just kind of explain to them what what's happening over there Y and if that's okay I want to put it on our future board agenda items it's a great idea here Jo thanks for bringing that forward and there's some there's some vagaries and some intricacies about how people can fundrais for that board in particular and they can't I know it so I think just just for the general public to understand exactly how it's designed and how it works and what the needs are that's right thank you I know there we are and are they getting enough funds they've got two marathon runners this year so a possibility it will be better next that's they're getting their funds now but they were getting a a portion of funds from labor right I'm not getting that anymore thanks for bringing that up I know we have and that was for for a lot of is that were getting that now they're not getting that any totally and we have regulatory limitations as you mentioned um but is there any creative way or any other way possibilities right how can or other towns are doing any best practice that we can follow well there there are some of the towns are doing way better but I don't really know exactly why and other towns don't have it at all we were one of the first to to go in and and ask the legisl for this so might be worth it's a good idea Sean to find out what people are doing that I think she probably I think Su probably has that information I'm worried the well is drying up fast and the need is getting bigger yeah right that's that's the reality can't it okay all right thanks Mary Joe and actually the amount of money you're allowed to have is pretty small it's under 30,000 or right right right around 20 something thousand uh it's not much right right Amy um I don't really have much just to you know the reminder like last time to that the one of the Hot Topics at town meeting will be the MD MBTA communities act zoning overlap change and the planning board has had um a couple meetings on them where they talked about it a lot so people should really is do you know um elen if there's another meeting coming up on that or people should just watch the p meetings to get I don't know if their hearing has been closed or if it's still continued okay but I know they I should have brought the date anyway I'll try to bring the exact meeting date so people can watch but it would be good for people to watch and get those questions answered before town meeting because it is a complicated issue and I think it'll be a Hot Topic and then yeah I think that probably uh I was just going to mention that there is a Elmwood project Community Forum coming up tomorrow okay um for the public let me just open it up and see if I can the Elmwood School so at 7 o' at the high school auditorium uh the Elmwood School building committee um is well there's a actually a survey link on the flyer um but there's going to be um a community Forum tomorrow night at the high school auditorium at 7 so for all those that are interested it's exciting there it is exciting we're seeing a lot of progress sh any um upates just one quick update I had the opportunity to attend Dawson Marque code of honor ceremony it was wonderful high energy and really uh I think High Spirit highly spirited event and also congratulations to him congratulations to all the scouts who has become and earned the Eagle Scout badge It's a Wonderful it's a it's a huge achievement wonderful achievement oh and the people who weren't here last week still need to sign certificates oh the E Scouts right yeah I handed over the ones that I got oh you did go ahead so these weren't sign I gave it to him and for the others they also give it to the troop leaders okay so um the up Charles Trails committee met uh great last week and they sent over a um the Bic the minut of their meeting um so we're going to reconvene tomorrow uh myself uh chair for the tri Trails committee and the chair for the uh TC tcmc uh so we'll be meeting tomorrow and then hopefully we can come come up with a document uh that we can present to the board if we can't um I think we'll bring various proposals before the rest of the board um either from you know proposal from the chars proposal from tcmc and uh as a board we're going to have to figure out which Char we want to go with are you targeting any particular week um you thinking early the earlier the better um because we want to get this moving how does the agenda for next next week's meeting seems to be filling up sounds pretty big actually if it's yeah so two weeks or 16th is no next one 16 too much time the second and the 16 because tomorrow we're meeting with the chairs yeah with the idea of let's have a conversation with the rest of the group before we come to the select board right yeah okay so the 16th would be the soonest yeah yeah okay great appreciate appreciate some progress on that yeah well hopefully we get some progress yeah well you're we're already making progress cuz we we we're we're moving it yes right to the chair um I think the economic development discussion we had slated for Mid April but I'm okay moving it to early May or whatever the next one is early May will be the Maytown meeting lat May it'll be it'll be miday for sure in that case if it needs to last time we we were targeting the week of the 16th M April 16th should I plan for that are so let's let's keep it as attentative and see how that agenda builds because it would be nice to do it yeah I think so I think it's been waiting nine months taking them off though yeah checking off each one um okay um I just wanted to I got an email or a text message I just want to make sure that we I did not do any investigative research research at all but um a text suggests that there might be a typo in a town meeting article I didn't think of it when we were talking about the town meeting article the one to correct the scribers error for the strong Chiefs so I just want somebody not me to um to just double check it and make sure we have it the way it's supposed to be okay um and then um uh we did get um when we put the the continuation of the chief evaluation on the agenda next week I think we should plan also to um to have an executive session if we need it because we need it to discuss matters that we can't discuss in public so performance has to be in public just so everybody knows um I know we all know um but if there is a reason that we need to have one we should just have one scheduled at the end of that meeting you mean after the meeting well in part of the meeting but but I I presume at the end but it it actually doesn't matter to me either at the beginning or the end we'll find out if we need it but what would be the agend item we have to be clear on the scope of the discussion yeah so if we have to discuss anything that has matters to do with health or or related that would have to be an executive session that's what we heard from the attorney so just in case we need it because we couldn't talk tonight I hope we don't need it and on that note I was thinking um because we have so much items for the agenda if for any reason uh Chief is not available we should have backup agenda so we don't lose the time yeah I I we need to do this I very hopeful that we um get through this and I can't we can't no no we need to do this and I'm all for doing this I'm just thinking I think we're going to have plenty but I will I will just keep that in mind keep that in mind ask question you'd have to come up but sure Karen y yes Karen Kem 12 Joseph Road I I just wanted to clarify on that and I actually was gonna catch Norman after um the updates he gave did you said you talked to the chief earlier today was that about like positions and hiring Str stry stuff we had a phone call about the Lieutenant's hiring process I'm very comfortable telling you that so that we can keep that moving forward okay so that is good news for the Department that that we are seeing some movement in in promotions and the hiring processes and we don't want to interrupt that for sure okay so that was what that was yeah I did we didn't know it was going to be that way right to just in full disclosure I was on my way to an event um heard that he's was not going to be able to be here but had an update on the hiring process so that's exactly what happened we wanted to get that update and make sure we were moving forward so we get his recommendation for finalist candidates and the select board can do their job okay make that happen yes all right thank you y yep okay all right um so I I think that that's all that I have for liaison anything else I just mentioned this last time too the discussion about dogs I wanted that removed yeah we'll take that right off you you know what what happens is I don't get it to vuda I will I'm going to sit here and I'm going to set it to vuda U because that's the only reason that that's the where the disconnect is or I could s well if you if you want to that's fine um so yeah I know we wanted we wanted to remove it all right I will entertain a motion to adjourn move the motion to adjourn all those in favor I I any opposed any extensions awesome e for