e e e e e e ready I got 6 o' I got 6:02 one minute we are ready to go good evening everyone I call the meeting of the select board to order this meeting of the hopkington select board is being held both in person and remotely using the video conference platform Zoom if all members are in the meeting room and they are all members participating in the meeting are present in the meeting room 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 thank you let's begin with the Pledge of Allegiance please pledge ofg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Elaine for public forum if someone is remote how does that work um so Amy has zoom on her laptop and she can tell us if someone has a raised hand we motion to the post so they would raise their hand on Zoom yes and then we will recognize them okay great all right so with that we'll begin with item number two uh public forum residents are invited to share ideas opinions or ask questions regarding their town government Mr Mr Weiss mayor thank you Ken Weiss man 145 Ash Street planning for the July 4th horal parade is continuing the parade will start as per Tradition at 12:00 noon on July 4th the parade theme this year is America the Beautiful we ask that floats and P parade participants assemble around the town common at 11:30 a.m. when the judging will start judges from the hrtc hcam and Hop news have been chosen rules are simple for the parade any person family neighborhood or organization can be in the parade two no hate speech will be permitted three no obscenities will be allowed four no water balloons or water hoses will be allowed in the parade and Spectators are requested not to use water balloons or hoses as people have been hurt and some equipment has been damaged in the past with uh some heavy water balloons uh I've talked to the fire chief and the police chief uh regarding the parade they've expressed their support I was a little surprised that the parade permit wasn't approval was not on the agenda for tonight I've not received any questions the application was an updated version of what has been previously approved by this board in your past be before covid we look forward to seeing everyone on July 4th and celebrating our country and our town thank you very much thank you anyone else for public forum public comment can I comment on that going one second yes sir Timothy boen 41 Pine Crest Village at the end of the previous select board meeting I was disheartened that none of the board members asked that a future agenda item be added to address the release of the survivors personal identifying information as well as that of her young children following the lot rail hearing for sergeant Timothy Brennan it's now been 137 days since the hopkington police department at the direction of Chief Joseph Bennett released a transcript of Sergeant Brenner's interview it's been 134 days since that transcript was taken down but only after it was published over two days by multiple media Outlets as well as shared through select board member Amy Ritter Bush's social media accounts to thousands of more people it's been 143 days since then select board chair Muriel Kramer speaking on behalf of the entire select board in the town government said and I again quote doing the work and making sure this never happens again is foremost on our minds as well as rightly holding ourselves and others accountable as needed in meaningful ways including but not limited to correcting processes and requiring any necessary or relevant training or retraining it's been 46 days since the first assistant district attorney of the Northwestern District identified several parties associated with town government as being negligent in protecting this Mother's identity as required by state law and urged the town and Council to implement precautionary measures to ensure it never happens again I applaud the select board for taking the initiative finally to launch an in investigation of the processes related to Sergeant brenan's lud Mill hearing I encourage the select board to also ensure this review specifically includes how the release of the survivors pii happened and again I ask who has been held accountable for this egregious breach of the survivor's trust as the select board promised in its statement to the Survivor 143 days ago in January thank you thank you there's one person on Zoom if there anybody else in the I'm sorry anybody else in the audience seeing none Mrs R Bush um also sh um are you on the zoom or you hand so if Ben could and then um and then and then Peter Thomas okay Mr Man would you like to speak uh no actually I raised my hand because I couldn't join the um panel got it okay it happens good evening uh members of the select board on Tuesday May 21st sorry Peter Thomas 215 Pawn Street on Tuesday May 21st I listen to the select board receive an up from HR Director Jessica lorens on the deputy chief Deputy fire chief hiring process Miss Loren was joined by fire chief Gary Dary Jr and the pair took turns answering questions about the consultant that the town has hired to engage the deputy fire chief discussion uh notably through an interchange uh with Mr Clark Chief dowy stated that approximately $10,000 uh that has been allocated to support this process will come from the Department's operating budget and chief dowy further disclosed that in his opinion the money would be uh better used for equipment and training I want to say that I am confused by the board's decision to weigh in on this process at all U Massachusetts General Law chapter 48 section 42 is the strong Chief statute and it specifically grants Authority and autonomy to the fire chief in towns like ours um under this statute the strong fire chief has the full and absolute authority over the administration of the fire department and that includes the ability to appoint and remove officers firef ERS rules regulations etc etc and to manage the deputy chief uh specifically the GL says that the chief shall appoint a deputy chief and such officers and firemen as he thinks necessary so because the select board has no legal authority over this process I further urge you to withdraw from the process and allow Chief dardu to appoint his own team as he is entitled to do under law um I have sent this in a letter to you as well I was disappointed not to see it in the agenda packet uh tonight because typically letters to the select board correspondents to the select board are included um I just wanted because I didn't see it I thought it was important to read it into the record as well and thank you for your time thank you anybody else if you would come to the microphone please Michael Riley 2011 West Main Street uh thank you for giving me time um I know this is in light of seeing the uh officer Brenan going to look at the Luder M hearing again I just hope that those who were on the board at the time three out of the five members will just really look deep into what was presented in possibly reconsider the decisions that made how it affects the individual how it affects the town that's all thank you thank you anybody else okay with that we'll move to item three which is the consent agenda there are one two three items on the consent agenda the first are some minutes from April 16th 24 April 30th 24 and May 6 24 the second are two parade permits for USA Track and Field New England long distance running committee uh request and the poly Arts committee uh the first one for the running distance committee request is sorry July 21 from 9:00 to 12:00 p.m. and for polyarts the parade request is for parade permit is for September 7th from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for polyarts and then uh there's the appointment of two constables uh Barry Sims and Scott gfra as constables in the town with a term to expire June 30th 2027 would anyone like to break anything out on the consent agenda all good good to me hearing I'm sorry it looks good to oh good hearing none uh the chair will entertain a motion to approve this consent agenda as submitted in the agenda and board packet someone second any further discussion all those in favor I I any opposed m is all set great item number four this is always a fun one because the dollars are huge but the dollars have already been spent we are not spending the money tonight uh this is an approval of renewed and Municipal a new Municipal Bond anticipation notes Elaine you want to just give us a quick overview of this please sure um CFO Kyla laier is here and um he uh CFO KY laier is here to uh address the board regarding the the bond anticipation notes and Treasurer Charles pette should be on Zoom as well okay uh so uho from CJ he online yes yes he's live he's online so so if you would like to come up great come on up please join us so as per their memo uh they'll talk about uh renewing um some uh Bond anticipation notes that have been previously issued and issuing uh new uh banss for new projects voted uh at various Town meetings there on on Zoom hello who would like to go first yeah please go ahead I can go y sorry I'm not in person I'm in a training this week so um virtual it is um so just you know we're quickly running through so we had um a $4.8 million rollover um from last year um we did include the projects that um that 4.8 um are from um Hayden R water main the Main Street Corridor project um Wastewater management an air handling unit replacement for the school um and then the Fruit Street field replacement so those are being basically rolled over again from last year um this is the last year they can be old so next year they will have to become permanent bonds um and then we are adding a few new projects to that um so new spending from this year um Elmwood well formerly Elmwood now it's charleswood um so that's spending that they've spent um so far plus additional which is forecasted for the next six months um so we try to keep our borrowing to one year um so we're forecasting for the future uh kind of estimating what they're going to be spending on that project uh the next one is Chestnut Street sidewalks um the hopkington school HVAC system it's another um HVAC upgrade Hopkins expansion uh roadway Paving that's Fruit Street and cemeteries the fire engine replacement uh and Marathon School updates um so for a total of the 17 mil 18,000 um so we worked really hard with um our partners at easi which is part of uni bank uh to get this done um everything went really well uh we accepted a bid from Jeff LLC in New York um so there's a bidding process with bonds and banss uh basically the lowest interest rate um in the highest um they kind of give us a premium for the bond uh between those two items we decide who's the best bidder is uh and then we accept their offer so this year the uh coupon rate is 4.55% uh sorry 4.5% uh with a premium of $147,500 uh for a net interest cost of 3.63% so basically what that number is calculating is the 4.5% minus the premium they're giving us of 147,000 uh to get the 3.63% um which is really good um you know considering what the markets are doing right now um so we're happy with that rate it is actually a little bit lower than last year last year was 3.88 4 after the premium um so we're happy with that rate we did go through an interview process with SNP um prior to issuing the ban to make sure that they they understood what was happening in the town and um to have them evaluate us and they did evaluate us at the highest rating at the current time thank you uh any questions from the board Mr Mayor want we start with you please um thank you through the chair U one question I have it's great we found a better rate than last year um so that's encouraging one thing I was thinking uh looking at the projection of the rates um we might be better off B borrowing as little as possible in anticipation that the rates might come out better next year but of course we have to borrow what we have to borrow now given that scenario do you think and have you done any analysis that we would need to borrow all 17 million or some of it can wait another year the only project that we have a forecast for is the charleswood school everything else has been expended to date so far and we have not borrowed for anything that was just passed in the ATM of May 2024 so we're um being very careful what we're borrowing at any given time um just for that purpose okay so this is go go ahead sorry uh Kyla if I remember correctly I think we're only forecasting for Elmwood uh I think we're borrowing into to addition of what they've spent I believe it's only $2 million I don't think it was um significant okay thank you nothing Fel I think it's pretty clear and I I love this that you have the annual Town meetings here and uh what's rolled over and it's pretty self-explanatory actually thank you thank you uh no additional comments okay Amy no comments it's um you know I appreciate the information it helps helpful for the public I think thank you so I'll ask a couple of questions I think I know the answer but I'd like to ask the question so everyone in town that's paying attention can listen and hear uh this is in line with our current Bond rating and our current Bond rating is AAA AAA so Bond rating is a AAA so we talked a lot about this the last couple months we want to make sure we maintain AAA because our interest rates are crazy low compared to the rest of the world if we maintain that AAA so there's a big if in that statement and this is only a onetime per year process can we not come back if we need some more money like down the road a little bit we can we can go back borrow at any time the preference because we get the best rate if we do it once a year got the bigger than that the better to deal okay it also saves the town money if we borrow once a year um instead of borrowing a few times a year um so because every time we have to get rated by S&P that's a cost we you know have to pay um and so it's it it just makes more financial sense to borrow once a year and my last question again it's somewhat obvious but still I think good to ask all this money the $17 million has all been preapproved in Hopkinton by town meeting and our process in years prior or this past year I guess yes and all the articles are listed on the sheet right great thank you excellent any other questions or comments from the board and Elaine I have something for this correct there's a lengthy motion yeah okay that is a lengthy motion how's your reading tonight Joe so the chair will entertain a motion to uh we hereby determine in accordance with General Law chapter 70b that the cost to design construct and furnish the new Elwood Elementary School authorized by vote of the Town passed on November 13th 2023 Article 1 being financed with proceeds of a portion of the notes defined below together with all other bonds and notes of the Town previously issued to pay costs of this project does not exceed the portion of the total cost of the project that is not being paid by the school facilities Grant and we hereby approve the issuance of notes and bonds to finance this project under General Law chapter 70b but I think do I go through all of them I think you you have to continue on down okay you're really putting it to me welcome voted to approve the sale of 17,1 18,43 uh 4.5% General obligation Bond anticipation notes of the Town dated June 14th 2024 and payable June 13 2025 to Jeff llc at par and acred interest if any plus a premium of 147,000 $549 182 further voted that in connection with the marketing and sale of the notes the preparation and distribution of a notice of sale and preliminary official statement dated May 22nd 2024 and a final official statement dated May 29th 2024 each in such form as may be approved by the town Treasurer be and hereby are ratified confirmed approved and adopted further voted that the town Treasurer and the select board B and hereby are authorized to execute and deliver a significant events disclosure undertaking and comp iance with SEC rule 15c 2-12 in such form as may may be approved by Bond Council to the town which undertaking shall be incorporated by reference in the notes for the benefit of the holders of the notes from time to time further voted that we authorize and direct the town Treasurer to establish post issuance federal tax compliance procedures and continuing disclosure procedures in such forms as the town treasur and bond Council deem sufficient or if such procedures are currently in place to review and update said procedures in order to Monitor and maintain the tax exemp exempt status of the notes and to comply with relevant security laws further voted that any certificates or documents relating to the notes collectively the documents may be executed in several counterparts Each of which shall be regarded as an original and all of which shall constitute one and the same document delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page to a document by electronic mail in a PDF file or by other electronic transmission shall be as effective as delivery of a manually executed counterpart signature page to such document and electronic signatures on any of the documents shall be deemed original signatures for the purposes of the documents and all matters relating ther too having the same legal effect as original signatures further voted that each member of the select board the Town Clerk and the town Treasurer B and hereby are authorized to take any and all such actions and execute and deliver such certificates receipts or other documents as may be determined by them or any of them to be necessary or conven vent to carry in into effect the provisions of the forgoing votes I further certify that the votes were taken at a meeting open to the public that no vote was taken by a secret ballot that a notice stating the place date time and agenda for the meeting which agenda included the adoption of the above votes was filled with the Town Clerk and a copy therefor thereof posted in a manner conspicuously visible to the public at all hours in or on the municipal building that the office of the town clerk is located or if that applicable in accordance with an alternative method of notice prescribed or approved by the Attorney General as set forth in 940 CMR 2903 Tob at least 48 Hours not including Saturdays Sundays and legal holidays prior to the time of the meeting and remained so posted at the time of the meeting that no deliberations or decisions in connection with the sale of the notes were taken in executive session all in accordance with General Law chapter 30A section 18 to 25 as amended second thank goodness we have a second on that one okay does anybody have any questions comments on the motion on the table thank you Joe thank you all for your patience all good okay the chair will uh call the the vote now all those in favor please say I I I any opposed great all set thank you very much thank you okay item number five process update Timothy Brennan matter the select board will hear a process update from Town Council Representatives on the matter of former police officer Timothy Brennan good evening if you could state your name for the audience please good evening I'm Donna Brewer from Harrington Heap town council's office hi Donna welcome thank you for coming out this evening uh we had a special town meeting on May 7th 2024 there was an article put before Town special town meeting uh did I say special town meeting a minute ago there was an article put before special town meeting uh that evening specific to reinstating officer Brennan uh the town meeting vote was two to one in favor uh in terms of directing or suggesting or guiding the select board to take the matter up um there is other information I suspect that the Town Council is going to share with us about the process so let's begin with that and we'll go from there please sure uh good evening everybody so the process is after the termination decision was made uh the council the labor Council as well as the Union Council discussed what the steps are for a grievance because a grievance was filed shortly after that vote there are steps under the collective bargaining agreement for grievances to be addressed and the Council the two councils agreed that they would skip the first three steps given the issue involved and go straight to step four which is to go to arbitration the information that I have the last information I have from labor council is that he has been waiting for names of arbitrators from Union Council so that the two councils can agree on a on a me on an arbitrator and go forward with ar arbitration great thank you very much um why don't we start with the board Mrs R Bush any questions um I guess I'm going to reiterate um what Oran said at town meeting just for everyone but um there was a lot of incorrect information presented at town meeting and I know Oran asked about it but just to clarify with Council am I correct that we cannot discuss publicly any negotiations Personnel or disciplinary matters that were discussed in executive session because we're waiting on the arbitration correct anything else um so if the select board wanted to get involved here what is possible while something's in arbitration because that seems like it's happening at a higher like a state level potentially but locally if the select board chose to do something what would that look like so uh just to correct a little bit it doesn't happen at the state level it is indeed just still local in the sense it's between the local union and the local labor Council but they have a mediator or sorry I keep saying mediator it's an arbitrator who is connected to the state board that will decide uh whether the action taken by the select board was the appropriate action or if it that arbitrator can order a different outcome while that is going on there are things that you can still do you could go ahead and vote to reinstate him and that would moot out the arbitration you can also continue negotiations with him through his Council for some other kind of resolution um one other question like typically how long do these types of arbitrations last the arbitration itself won't last all that long it's just a matter of getting it scheduled that will depend on who the arbit trator is who is chosen and the process is actually going more slowly than it usually does and the vote to terminate was in February and we still don't have names back from Union Council for potential arbitrators so the normal process though just because because I'm very new to that what does that typically look like uh you mean once an arbitrator is chosen yeah just the whole process in general from choosing the arbitrator to from then the next steps of actually working with Council okay so typically what happens with arbitration is that the parties will submit me memoranda to the arbitrator and then have a uh usually a multi-day hearing process with Witnesses who are sworn in and evidence is presented to the arbitrator and then the arbitrator takes that information in a way it's sort of like a private trial uh the arbitrator takes that information into account takes it under advisement and issues a decision at some point either side can then appeal that to court but typically arbitration decisions are very very difficult to overturn and just to clarify typically I know it's none of these things are the same but like how long months Beyond it's months it it would be done in less than a year okay anything else um typically like what are some of the outcomes that are possible through arbitration that you've seen in these types of scenarios so labor Council will be has more of the experience on that than I do but in my experience and from knowing what happens with these things the arbitration can go either to totally affirming the decision of the select board and he would remain terminated he can be reinstated uh and there can be some uh damages that would be awarded not just back pay but perhaps some other monetary damages as well okay thank you I'm good he I I uh don't have any questions I I feel that we really have to we have to buide whatever arbitration decides I I should say Mr Clark I forgot that while it could be reinstatement it could be reinstatement with some kind of penalty imposed on him that is some kind of term of suspension okay thank you Al set Mr Man um yeah not much uh just couple of clarifying question so um obviously you know there's a lot of um discussion that happened and in town meeting uh we got a vote I was wondering given some of the information that we discussed and experiened through confidential executive sessions as well as other confidentiality do you think there are more information that the Town Council can share to the residents and this board publicly and if so can would you be able to organize that in a upcoming session it's a nothing's coming to mind um I could certainly think about that a little bit more and and think about what perhaps has been included in some of the investigations that the reports of which have already been released and so maybe there's something more that I can put into a memoranda for the board and for the public that would be information that would not disclose any confidential information and uh um the last one is can you elaborate a little bit what is the qualification and um role of the arbitrator in this scenario the arbitrator who will be chosen will be somebody who is experienced in reviewing decisions about police officers and their discipline suspension or termination uh I'm certain that that is the type of person that they're looking for thank you and the last one is um for this board since we have new members what would be the best way to share the historical information and um sequence of discussions with them uh if you're not able to share more in publicly you can share with the new board members anything that is confidential from the prior board uh sessions and reports in executive session in executive session or you can just go to um elain's office and read them there you don't have to do that in a session if you if you don't want to but certainly we could have an executive session and go into more detail and disclose the confidential information to you yeah that's pretty much and last one is uh do you see any risk of bringing it back to the select board before the arbitration is done any risk for the town legally or financially yes I I would think that it would be likely that the town would be hit with a with a lawsuit thank you what set um you mentioned a minute ago that the arbitration is a private hearing of sorts so this is a private matter it's not a public meeting where this when this arbitration would take place is that correct so it's is it termed an executive session or is just termed an arbitration private session or private arbitration session the board would not attend uh it would be just uh attended by the arbitrator the council for both sides the witnesses the the defendants um some representative for the defendant and of course uh Sergeant Brennan could also be present okay you mentioned a second ago that there would be a risk to the town if we were to intervene prior to the arbitration U being wrapped up what would happen after the arbitration takes place and it is w wrapped up and then the town where intervene same level of risk or could we then come in after the fact if we didn't like what was going on or how does that work the the board can come in at any time and take unilateral action if your action is going to be to reinstate him uh if you're talking about something else uh some kind of reinstatement with a suspension or uh some other kind of agreement or or resolution I suspect that is going to require cooperation by Sergeant Brennan and his attorney to reach some kind of resolution that would not result in a lawsuit okay all right any other questions comments concerning this agenda item I have one more sure um as we know from the letter Mill hearing um I wanted to ask about the post commission so the post commission sent a letter which was in the louder mail hearing packet that um there was a preliminary investigation being launched against Sergeant Brenan and on the post commission website that they update monthly he's still listed as not certified so what would happen if we were to reinstate him can we have a police offer that's not that's not certified no if if he is not certified by post to serve as a police officer we cannot hire him as a police officer and how long will we know before the post commission might make a decision on that you know it's so brand new and it's taken them so long to get up to speed on any thing I really can't predict when they're going to issue a decision set everybody good Mrs Lazarus anything from your Vantage Point no okay so it would seem that um until we have an update whether it be an executive session or one-on ones with Miss laus and I and yourself and elen um that's one piece of the puzzle we probably need to check off uh and then anything else would probably happen in in an executive session with the full board uh so I think for right now it probably make sense to table this discussion everybody good sounds good okay thank you very much for coming we appreciate your time no problem thanks a lot okay uh with that let's move on to item six Farmers Market license Hopkinson Farmers Market uh broken Creek Vineyard as a request in for a license this is not a public hearing we we do have a public hearing at 7 uh and two of them one one we're going to postpone but we've got a little time here okay uh if we have the proponent here yes or perhaps on Zoom or perhaps on Zoom do we know the name there's no one with a hand raised question that Lan might be able to answer um this is not the same Vineyard that we had at the last meeting it's a different one it's a different it's a different one so okay I think it's a third one now it's the third of three we were expecting three Common's going to be rocking yeah well let's hope it's not rocking but it's going to be quite the quite the festive occasion over there um so Elaine what is our practice if we don't have the proponent here well it's a complete application uh there are no outstanding permitting team comments and it's much like the other two that the board has already approved where uh someone would be selling small samples for tasting on the common and they'd buy the products to go what is your recommendation then I would recommend approval okay so the town manager is recommending approval why don't we start with Mrs Ritter Bush and see if we have any thoughts on uh moving forward um I don't have any questions um we've done this before and everything seems to be in order so I have no objections Mr Clark no questions good Mr man I think it's pretty straightforward no questions okay M the friend here yeah it it's pretty straightforward I think we do have to approve this one uh I I would like to make a stipulation we had the uh map of the common and the different areas for different things and one area was set aside for this sort of thing and there's just so many booths and I just would like to propose that once that area is full then uh it is set aside for alcohol and things like that so uh want to make the motion that we uh that we keep it to that area that we don'tu any more licenses once that area is full will this fit that area motion yes okay so with that you want to make the motion okay I move to approve Massachusetts General law 138 section 15f Farmers Market license to S FF Vineyard and Winery uh broken Creek Vineyard to sell wine at the Hoppington Farmers Market on Sunday June 9th through October 13th of 2024 there a second second any discussion on the motion all those in favor I I any opposed all set okay thank you for reading that okay uh actually we are right on time um so next up it's my understanding that we've been uh we've had for some time uh on our future agenda item list a discussion about economic development in the community perhaps putting together some form of uh economic development team of sorts uh I don't pretend to know all the different discussions that have taken place over the last several months or maybe there weren't as many as we had thought we were going to have but what have you let's have one this evening I know that Mr man has worked hard on this uh o over a period of time so I thought he could lead us through this discussion if that's okay with you sure thank you Mr chair I do have a short presentation I'll initiate that if I may uh um I am sharing it I don't know if it's visible y oh okay thank you so thank you Mr chair thanks everyone I think this is obviously something that has been in our mind and in my mind for presentation mode yeah for quite some time uh which is how can we uh increase and improve our economic activity in the town and um the context is pretty straightforward at this time with growth in town we are observing our budget uh gr over 120 million and it needs significant and um we need significant growth in our Revenue stream to keep up with the growth inflation contractual obligations all those good stuff now we already have seen and discussed in many budget sessions that we are at this time kind of falling behind in terms of our revenue and expenses and forecasted to be shed by two to five million in the coming years if the current Trend continues as is and based on the capital projects that we have in line we have approved quite a few important and good ones for school and quite a few other for trucks and whatnot but there are uh others in the queue that will uh if goes approved uh generate significant tax increase and we already seeing it in our tax base and uh there's more infrastructure need looming as well uh so given that context and if we look at our uh budget uh Revenue distribution uh as of the latest one uh we are seeing about uh 82% of our Revenue coming from residential and only 7% from industrial property 3% from commercial and 8% from taxable business property uh so in that context um I had initiated the conversation about Economic Development and uh I was part of the growth um study committee Amy was there too and we had a good bunch of um experts and uh enthusiastic volunteers who did their study and research and came up with certain proposals and kind of based on that uh we had uh hired an economic development officer partially we had um Julia Chun who has three uh portfolios essentially uh sustainability um equity and economic development and to support that position uh I had worked with uh state representative James D R Roa and was able to um acquire about 60,000 as Grant which supported that initial small part-time economic development office but obviously it's not sufficient and given the uh opportunity and the challenges that we have and the need that we have we need to do more so looking at the opportunities and these are all known but I just wanted to Baseline uh for everyone's awareness uh we are near completion of downtown Corridor which can open up a new restaurant scene new uh small business Corridor as well as a vibrant downtown we have South Street uh where our major um company EMC now MC uh being out of state now is um shrinking its footprint and we have almost 40% space available but sufficient resources both utility wise and space-wise for new business and uh even half of those if utilized can generate enough Revenue to cover the budget Gap that we are talking about and in the meantime um proudly so and thanks to everyone's work uh including our chamber um of Commerce and the leadership we have and the town Administration we have achieved Platinum Status by mass bio and uh we have happy and expanding biotech scene with the companies that we have and um obvious viously we have an active and engaged Chamber of Commerce and a vibrant Town friendly business community and town friendly is also a key uh item on this uh because we have a special character for our town um we love the natural scene and we want to uh focus on economic development that goes well with our town character and the vibe so why now is um uh uh I think I have covered enough on this but it's now clear that we need a comprehensive more comprehensive economic development office and economic development plan strategy and oversight and select board um obviously we have a lot on our plate and we do support all these or have been and um but just don't have enough um traction and laser beam Focus that we need to make it um to speed it up and keep it going in the right direction and at the right pace so we need aggressive Outreach uh for New Town character friendly business and we need more relationship development as well uh with the state and federal agencies and other towns for grant opportunities and collaboration and only a full-fledged Economic Development Office like some of our neighboring towns and some of the successful towns uh in terms of Economic Development have achieved that uh through such office and we do need an advisory Council working in collaboration with Chambers to keep the right Focus help build the right strategy and work with uh everyone to resonate Town residents voice as well as focus on the right strategy for economic development so with that context I'm um um proposing that we have more focus on economic development have um expansion or have a full uh blown Economic Development Office full-time official and have an Economic Development Council to support and oversee and help build the strategy for and guide this office so the purpose would be again um I'll probably repeat quite a few things that I mentioned that uh to promote sustainable economic growth enhance local business create job opportunities and improve the overall economic well-being of the community and the council can serve as the collaborative platform among stakeholders and um help strategize plan and Implement initiatives for the economic vitality and the miss would be obviously to foster a vibrant and resilient local economy and addressing the challenges coordinating efforts and increase our tax revenue from the uh commercial and Industrial sources and overall enhance the quality of the life of the residents um so with that I have identified seven key functional areas that the advisory Council can focus on and again these are all super superdraft a point of discussion and I'm hoping with my colleagues and everyone's feedback we can f it up and um you know add more or modify as needed so obviously the key functions I'm looking at first one is strategic planning and goal setting as I discussed uh attracting business and retaining business so essentially working closely with the business Community looking at their challenges helping them out and encouraging new business and also reaching out um new business outside the town and this reach is where I think we are lagging tremendously and which which can open up a lot of new opportunities number three is our infrastructure and real estate development this is something um the council can research work with Zach work with planning board and others and bring in some best practices to encourage uh business or support business Workforce Development and education there are plenty of resources Statewide and um also Federal um um level that we can tap into uh gain some grants and since we are focused or historically and um from our Chambers and others we are also looking at biotechs there are opportunities to uh promote more training on that sector so we can build up uh more talents in the town or in the vicinity to attract more companies in this uh area uh then tourism cultural um enhancement we already see a lot of activities through HCA and bringing in a lot of people and um cultural activities it can only go more uh and looking forward to the 26.2 initiatives for the marathon Museum and the like our regulatory streamlining and advocacy that's always important for economic development there are a lot of uh State AIDS um Federal AIDS or infrastructure and other um Farms that are available but we do need to streamline and make sure we have the focus the relationship and the right strategy to Garner more support from the regulatory bodies and as necessary advocate for regulations and finally Community engagement and Outreach this is super important because we are a small town and we always want to make sure we he the voices of the residents and anything we do on the business front we don't want to become a commercial City like um at all so anything we do we want to make sure it's in line with our sustainable goals it's in line with our residents expectation for the character the personality of the town so constant communication and Outreach and garnering the feedback is going to be very critical so all these we can have the advisory committee kind of take that headache from us and advise us based on these functions how to move forward and guide the economic development office that we are um that I'm proposing uh and the then I can talk a little bit about the council composition this is pretty standard what we do with most of our committees but since this is an economic development we definitely want um and I I think with the very um um enthus I Astic and wonderful active Chamber of Commerce we want them in the Forefront of this uh to be partner with the town and uh town government of course Town manager deputy and the economic development officer would be part of it uh then we would uh also look for Town resident representatives for the right voice and the expertise preferably from education Workforce Development tourism Hospitality real estate development economic research and planning expertise area we would want to seek out to um um have the voice from nonprofit organizations um and there are many in town uh I I just gave some examples the big ones um notably related ones HCA Marathon Museum and then leonzo from select board Chamber of Commerce planning board Appropriations zoning and other appropriate committees meeting frequency reporting and duration all those we can start again small and then see as needed and uh the Committees themselves committee themselves uh itself can decide on those as well uh this is just a glimpse I won't uh drain too much on this we have discussed it in the past this was a proposal by the growth study uh where uh we were part of earlier I was part of and um uh there was a big study report and part of that was a proposal for economic development office and this is an outline of the functions and the responsibilities and I liked it a lot of course and I think it's very uh relevant so something to look at as a reference as we go about looking at forming a full-blown economic development office again a full-blown can be as um minimal as a full-time official which currently we don't have and because of that don't really have a full uh traction and bandwidth on this so with all that my uh recommendation for the next steps is to have a more open dialogue and obtaining feedback ideas thoughts uh working with Chambers working with related committees and residents uh perhaps through meetings and public forums and then as select board we um can look at deciding what the final Charter would look like and if we decide to form it formulate The Advisory Council and then finally upgrading the current uh Economic Development function that juliaan is burdened with uh only 33% availability and promoting it to a full-time position in office so I'll pause there any questions comments are uh open for discussion great thank you very much I wasn't wrong you've obviously spent a lot of time and put a lot of energy into this thank you very very thorough uh Mrs ritterbush any questions comments um I guess I would be curious like what would be some next small action steps the uni because I know this has been tried before and many people have suggested it and worked on it but it's not really ever come to a fruition so what are there some small action steps that we would do soon I'm sorry I miss some some action steps like what what like we don't have the budget right now for a full-time Economic Development officer so that would be one thing yeah great question I think you know looking at um what I would suggest is we discuss and gather the feedback to form the right Charter that we want to do with the advisory and uh let the advisory also come back with a fullblown proposal for the economic development that I have outlined and we can discuss and you know recommend further so the first step would be forming a a group correct and part of that would be also working with the Appropriations to see where the potential funding might be available uh remember last year and I know there are many reasons I had thorough analysis with the uh CFO as well we had almost 5 million in um uh free cash which means there are buffers around understandably they're not permanent buffers there may be because of not hiring but what not but we can look at those and help prioritize uh with some more tar analysis to find the money anything else no Mr Clark um so first off I would be against adding more committees and boards to our list but if it has to do with economic development or water I think it's the right the right time to look at it um but you know going back to your comments around Miss Chun um so as you described that she's got kind of three portfolios that she spends her time in and since since she's already salaried with the town is it possible to kind of adjust her like how much time she devotes to each because I mean you talk about sustainability equity and economic development I think in a perfect world you could justify positions for all of those things so to have one person do all of them I I I just I can't imagine it's very productive to do that um so is there a way to kind of shift Focus to Economic Development with that position in the short term to see what we can do cuz I think she's a year in is that correct yeah most right yep you think that would be over a year actually by now right not a year yet no oh okay I I mean I'd be interested in looking at that in parallel to starting the the committee or the commission because if if there is something that she could get more focused on right away I mean it's something that we we really shouldn't wait for I look at these other things sustainability and Equity you know we have some dedicated committees in some of those areas those things can also be weaved in and out of everything that we do I think those should be pillars for everything the town focuses on um but Economic Development probably needs a direct Focus would be my first inclination so I I'd like to explore that excellent point through the chair I think that is something we could um request um Elaine to look at and uh if you can recommend something analyzing what her current workload is and how can we have more dedicated Focus but something to look at in the interim um I think is a good idea but I'm sure our answer are full and in terms of committees they couldn't agree more I think um but the town um you know um Administration structure that we have um kind of Demands the committee and advisory type of framework to get things going that's the Govern Government Model we are in and um at that on that note I also thought about at some point we may start looking at our overall whole set of uh committee portfolio and see if there is any way we can also rationalize or have some more um efficiency through consolidation just a thought I don't have any strong position on that gotcha um one more question um so in her current capacity that 33% is she engaging with neighboring towns that focus on economic development or have these full you know Department stood up already uh good question I don't have the full view of it maybe Len can help but I think she started with engaging uh and getting to know the business getting to know our current resources and um engaging with Chamber of Commerce but elain do you have any yes uh Julia's been involved with uh neighboring communities and their offices as well as state officials as well um and mass bio and other organizations ations okay thank you yep R I think it's important I was on an economic development task force for the town of Franklin a number of years ago and it's very important that the right people come together uh and I mean the right balance of people from the from the town from the business from uh all the surrounding areas and I really think that we need to include a state representative um it probably won't be a senator or a representative they have too many towns but it will be one of their staff would also be at the meeting and that would help facilitate uh State spending when we're looking for Grants or or something they can go directly back to uh the boss for assistance um I think that this is a very very worthy idea and to get the people together is is going to be difficult but um I know in Franklin we had chamber people we had individual business owners we had council members and uh and and myself I I was a state rip um so I it's it's it's important we wound up with some very great ideas and some moving forward in Franklin and uh and I think we can do that here uh the thing is we don't want to get too big and too unwieldy because then you don't get things done you you really need to have a focused a real focused group on economic development uh when you when you put together this group um and uh that that's really all I mean we are looking for development in downtown and we we just shut down a a parking uh Amendment or a parking uh piece of town meeting and you can't attract business unless you have parking for them so I'm think parking is going to probably come back it's going to probably be on future agendas and future Town meetings and I really would like people who have ideas or thoughts on how to do that please come forward because we need your advice thank you great um I have a few questions maybe kind of going in a couple of quick directions here different directions anyway so Elaine on the uh with Julie so does she report to you currently reports to the town manager she reports to the town manager got it okay and um how long someone mentioned she's been in the job about a year uh maybe N9 or 10 months yeah has there been tracking of any kind of uh returns on that investment in terms of like new businesses or new revenue or anything along those lines yet not sure I know it takes a while but we've been working on grants but it does take a while yeah I understand that part okay great okay so just one kind of thing uh and somebody mentioned neighboring towns um and and Julie's been working with those folks but how many neighboring towns let's say those that Circle us and maybe one more Town out have this type of full-time position and have an e economic advisory Council uh that we would be competing with right do we know that um little bit I think Ashland has won and on the other side Westboro has one or forming one okay um but we do have um advantage of being close to the highway so I think that kind of distinctly being in the 495 Corridor gives us a distinct advantage over neighboring towns God I I know Marboro has one cuz I've gone up there for other things yeah so I would suspect that Franklin's got obviously so they're out there I'm just wondering how many are around us so maybe we as part of our sort of process to walk down the path is let's find out maybe Julie could reach out and give us some input on how many towns have a fulltime person or and a full-time dedicated counselor committee would have you uh as part of it um oh I know mway does mway does would this Council be subject to open meeting laws in other words fully transparent yeah usually that is the expectation I think okay but we can decide among ourselves and look at what are their forms but my understanding is any such committee has to be open under open meeting law okay is that correct yes if if you're appointing a committee it must operate under the open meeting law but if we appoint you and we appoint several other folks that work in town hall but may not live in town would that still apply then if it's a group of Staff then no as non-residents do you know what I mean I don't know the rules around that so staff are so subject to public records law yeah we have to look it up but I mean it's best to have something that's under the open meeting law yeah thanks chair I think the committee will be under open meeting law but the economic development office and the staff doesn't have to be they will be under operational um regulation of our town Administration okay that makes sense and do we so I know we have the chamber in town and the Chamber does a lot for the community and certainly promotes business wherever they can it's the role do we see any redundancies in what we're proposing with what they're working on or is there any conflicts there or do we have any redundancies with Staffing other than Julie that you would could anticipate I I don't think so I also had discussions with some of the chambers leaders over the last year and uh you know Chambers is also a voluntary organization uh so I think this is uh going to complim and also include uh Chambers voice with the resident voice at large together uh and more Focus from and town Administration and various Town zoning and other committees together I think that orchestration is kind of the missing piece uh Chambers has of course their own focus and um their own set of activities and they're very active wonderful group of leaders but I think uh it it has so many stakeholders on the starting from the regulatory side to Our Town Administration to various committees planning Zach and others uh as well as uh the business community and residents voice that orchestration is the missing part and this will help complement that got it great thank you uh let's do this let's pause for one sec please I'd like to open the public hearing for cable television license renewal Verizon New England Incorporated the select board will hold a public hearing on the renewal of Verizon New England's cable TV license federal and state law require the holding of a public hearing for the select board to consider approval and execution of the town's proposed variz and renewable license this hearing is for the public to have an opportunity to comment on the proposed renewal license and provides an opportunity for the select board to deliberate and vote on the proposed renewal we will now suspend or what's the term continue continue that public hearing until we wrap up this important item and then we'll come back to it uh last question I have um is if we put in a full-time dedicated individual and officer an economic development officer of sorts and we have this council do we have any idea on the anticipated Roi from a Time perspective uh you know in other words when we're going to flip it to turn it into a profitable you know Center or we're going to go from a cost model to a profit model at some point down the road so what are those dollars we're thinking about perhaps and I know this is I'm just I have no idea what the answer is uh and what the timeline might be in terms of an Roi have we been able to keep that around great question I think that would require more thorough financial analysis and strategic kind of um um thinking and Direction setting but in general if we think about it um South Street has 40% capacity that are not utilized even if we are able to uh ramp up 20% utilization uh we can do a easy math and it'll show that it's in the millions uh which can help us now how long it's going to take is going to be the question um usually these would easily take three four 5 years but we have to uh plant the seeds as early as possible so we can ear the results in many typical business operations an investment and an Roi that you're coming you know you're getting your money back in 3 to 5 years is a pretty good deal so uh I hear what you're saying in terms of the timing but in terms of just sort of business 101 it's not outlandish by any stretch I had something to add when you're done go ahead I just wanted to add to that I think we looked at this with growth study we were hoping that it would be just a little better than break even at least at first uh but something about Economic Development too though is if you make a more a place that people more want to come to and work here and then they also want to live here and then it's more residents that get built to so sometimes it's kind of a a wash but it does make the town more vibrant and enjoyable but it doesn't necessarily necessarily increase the commercial tax space because the residential might also increase so and we can't know really but that's happened in Hudson I think so um just to kind of maybe put a bow on up for this evening anyway it certainly seems like the board is interested and intrigued by the idea and it sounds like very supportive of moving something forward what something will look like we'll figure out here in the coming weeks and months uh Mrs Lazarus as the interim Town manager do you suggest or do you support the idea of also looking into this and and getting deeper into the weeds yes I think there's a lot of opportunity here for the for the town uh my only reservation is you know when we talk about a specific person and position I mean we have a person working in a position that would change and that's not necessarily easy to to accomplish yeah understood and we we'd find a way to make that work for everybody involved so understood I mean as the business we got to set up the operation and the process and and and the procedures and the goals and all that and if we have an individual in that mix then we have to take care of that too but and we certainly would we wouldn't leave anybody hanging but I think that the council is the important part of it setting up the council itself is do you think that's a logical first step I think that's important would you agree with that being a logical first step I think that makes sense yeah sure just uh one more question for you do you think she's set up for Success doing this 33% of the time seems like a big task to do on you know a third of the week you know so far it's been working well because not all of the areas are constant there's EV and flow on each so so far it's worked out well okay okay so with that I think uh the next step app would be another agenda item where we talk about the constitution of the council itself does that make sense that makes sense yeah that's that satisfy your um interest and the path you think we should take uh I think so I think that certainly does and thanks for everyone's um comments and support one thing we could initiate in the meantime uh and I'll work with L and uh you all are of course welcome to engage as well is um we can start having more kind of feedback loop with the Chamber of Commerce and with some of the key stakeholders that we mentioned and potentially have a public forum as well and again these are the mechanisms how we engage and work and get the ball rolling so we could do that in parallel as well okay I know there's a lot of residents in hopkington are very eager to see something like this come together so uh well done and thanks for that presentation I think we all learned quite a bit okay with that we have a uh public hearing uh underway we'll resume that now is that the appropriate term L to resume the public hearing uh and this is for a cable television license renewal for Verizon do we have a representative from Verizon here or online on Zoom Bill August yeah Bill August is on Zoom bill I believe you're on zoom and ready to go he's not ready yet Ben has to let Ben has to make him um oh I'm sorry that's right Ben explained this to me in the lobby the other day of course my eyes glazed over by the time I figured it out hi everyone Bill AUST here the count welcome thanks go right ahead please uh yeah share with us your thoughts and ideas and what you're trying to do here okay um you have before you a a proposed final uh Hopkinson Verizon renewal license that I have worked very close mostly with um Jim cousins uh developing the details and uh with Norm kumalo before he uh transitioned into retirement I don't know where Norm is on that but I do want to thank him um and we worked very closely and we have what I believe is uh continuing what we have in the existing Verizon license which we're very familiar with but even better and with more support for the very important uh Hopkinson local Studio channels local programming and everything that flows out of that studio uh for the main highlights are they're really two buckets of financial support for these local facilities is the annual payment which is currently under the expiring license at the maximum permitted under the federal cable act 5% of gross revenues of the Verizon and in the new five-year license it will continue at 5% of uh gross revenues so that's at the max the second bucket of financial support in a cable license and a well- negotiated license is uh what's called the capital funding budget uh we have about a 30% uh increase in the capital funding and the folks at Hopkinson cam are extremely uh pleased with that so there's Improvement there terms of support this license also includes uh first ever highdef uh local channel they're currently standard definition so this will mix it up to have one at high definition and one at uh the uh current standard uh definition it's a non-exclusive license the public often assumes this must be some type of exclusivity we only have two cable companies Hopkinson has uh Comcast in addition to Verizon we recently renewed the Comcast this has more funding than the recent uh Comcast license on an an average annual basis uh but it is a non-exclusive license so there could be more competition we we unfortunately Are Congress kicked us out of the ability to limit the rates rates are deregulated by acts of Congress program people care a lot about you know cable rates and any rates uh there we're out of the we the dereg also goes to the actual programming lineup sort of the grand bargain of the cable Act is that uh you know because the the rates and the programming are not regulated and in exchange for that the cities and towns have do have the jurisdiction to negotiate support for local channels which is a pretty amazing thing when you think think about it you have three you have a few TV channels it's a real Priceless asset um and uh and Jim I know has been uh you know uh had accolades for his programming not just in Hopkinson but at at you know at the state level and in the alliance for Community meet he's recognized doing a good job on the local programming in terms of all the verbiage it's a long license this is a very well- vetted license so I'm very first of all we've we're building off the existing license which we fully negotiated and that's has a good pedigree it's based on uh a license uh precedence that our firm has negotiated with Verizon and probably over 101 15 renewals in the last three years so it's tried and true uh we haven't seen or heard of any problems with it there's always a first time and you know there a lot of moving parts and but it's been working out well as a uh Verizon uh precedence so it it has had uh again uh Norms active involvement until he started transitioning out which when he W he has he was still active when we uh finalized the language that went to Verizon and Verizon accept so it was a real team effort just one last note of thanks to everyone in h uh hopkington like nor I've worked with Norm in the town for over 20 year maybe 15 years however and you know there was a steady commitment to building up Community programming so uh you know was it really made a difference and then in the uh you know f finalizing this and getting us to what we're hoping is the end zone um basuda and and Elaine Lazarus also at every turn you know if we had needs about uh background data or different drafts and versions they could not have been you know more responsive so it really great uh to work with the uh Tana Hopkins and I hope Jim cousins who you all know can say a couple of words because I know he knows it uh as well as anyone if if Jim is here Verizon called late late today to really say regrettably he the they were called to a uh a corporate meeting that was on some type of very high basis that he had to go to he was planning on attending uh tonight uh John Harrington the renewal Council for Verizon and I I'm grateful to Verizon they were very fair and responsive uh negotiation partners and uh you know John would be available for any follow-up questions all the time if needed he could not make it tonight he had to cancel out today you found that in my emails later in the day great thank you Bill okay okay uh Jim would you like to share a couple of thoughts please maybe introduce yourself to those folks that may not know you I'm Jim cousins I'm the station director at hcam here in hopkington have been since its Inception in 2004 and I would first like to say very briefly thank you all for the work that you do that makes our town the great place that it is you're all volunteers and I really appreciate what you do we are a great Community as far as this contract goes uh I am very happy with it um Bill August mentioned that he's been involved with hopkington for 15 years I've actually known bill for over 30 years because he was the lawyer when I was working in Westboro at uh wcat and um I have a lot of faith in him and I think that this contract is uh is a good contract uh I'm very happy with the capital that um they're offering to it so I don't have I don't have any any complaints great thank you for your input thanks thank you anyone else on the Verizon team that would like to speak or need to speak to the board okay with that uh let's come to the board next and see if anyone has any thought specific to this item uh we'll we're still in the public hearing portion we'll come out to the public in a minute Mr Manning um not much first I just want to also extend thank you to uh gim and the uh hcam crew for the wonderful work that you do for our Town's um transparency Our Town Administration and uh board's transparency and communication wonderful uh to have you and um we are very thankful for that as for the this particular license renewal one question I was just wondering and to educate myself um how would you compare this um uh deal with other neighboring and similar towns I think it is uh I I would uh this is a a topshelf high-end uh renewal compared to other towns cuz we are at the maximum permitted in terms of the annual funding which is the Lion Share of the funding and on the capital we're also uh you know it's very strong and uh so it we we it Compares very favorably thank you uh nothing else all set M the frer I don't have any questions really um thank you ready for a motion Joe uh no question I know if um if the town manager's office and Jim cousins are happy with it and we've done this before I'm happy with it Lane any thoughts comments on this license renewal no seems like a great uh great opportunity for the town do you have a recommendation recommend that you approve it okay thank you so uh with that it is a public hearing so this is an opportunity in an open meeting for the public to comment on a specific agenda item does anyone here want to address the issue before us regarding Verizon and the license renewal seeing none do we have any perhaps in Zoom No Hands raised seeing none so with that the chair will entertain a motion to close the public hearing so mov we have a motion in a second Mr Man is second okay thank you uh any discussion on the motion to close the public hearing all those in favor I any opposed okay the hearing is now closed and the board can deliberate Mrs rter Bush it sounds like you're ready to move ahead is that fair right I'm comfortable with moving ahead okay good all right so we have a motion in a second everybody seems to be in good shape all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppos motion that we have to I'm sorry there is a motion yeah Mr Clark If you this is shorter than the first one you ran so red so oh yeah the motion the motion uh for the motion acting as so so let's do this we had a motion on the table in a second who made that motion you did and you second can you resend that motion please it was to close the public oh that's right that's right oh I'm sorry public hearing that wasn't this I said I'm ready for a motion thank you my mistake I'm confused go ahead a motion please the motion acting in its capacity as the statutory cable television license issuing authority pursuant to Mass General laws chapter 166a and finding that the cable license renewal proposal of Verizon reasonably meets the licens and cable related renewal needs and interests of the public and town and finding that Verizon's financial and Technical qualifications and Verizon's support for the local programming channels Studio facilities and services are reasonable to meet Town cable license needs and based on support for continuing Verizon as a licensing lensee serving the town the Hopkinson select board hereby approves the ver Verizon approved non-exclusive renewal license effective July 11th 2024 immediately following the expiration of the current license on July 10th 2024 and is there second please second okay now we have the correct motion on the table in a second any discussion on the motion no all those in favor please say I I any opposed great it is unanimous and so passes thank you before we move on I just want to thank Bill and Jim and Norman for for their all their work on this thank you great thank you all thanks Bill thank you great great to see you all good luck have a good night thank you you too we had under item number nine a second public hearing this was a continued public hearing we're going to allow it to continue to continue uh because we were not ready for it this evening is that correct right so just another vote to continue okay so we would entertain a motion to continue the public hearing uh for the Elm Street poll number t.3 3B e. 33b on the south side of Elm Street to move it is there a motion I I move we continue the public hearing great is there a second please second any discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed so that hearing is continued to a late later date uh item number 10 Town employee appointments the select board will consider appointing the following New Town employees Sam gutell as a pum dispatcher and Roberta Anderson as a senior library assistant Mrs Lazarus so uh I believe Jessica is on Zoom today um and we have dispatcher first we'll do the dispatcher first and that would be Sam Hi Sam hello welcome thank you uh and Mrs R Bush do we have Jessica I I don't see her unless she's using a different name uh okay that's fine we can we can go ahead got it okay go ahead I just want to introduce uh Sam gutell and uh Megan dad who's the director of the Communications Department great and uh just some background that Public Public Safety dispatchers are responsible for receiving and transmitting emergency and administrative messages to appropriate law enforcement fire and medical personnel in the manner dictated by the state mandated emergency medical dispatch protocol and the department policy the position requires the utmost discretion independent judgment initiative and must operate within wellestablished mandated State and departmental guidelines and procedures the public safety dispatchers receive have access to and must maintain confidential information uh Sam has experience at the Sherburn fire department as an interior firefighter for three years and at adessa in Boston for a year as an auction driver and appraiser uh his references revealed that he was described by a previous supervisor as focused calm and a hard worker he was also described as having great customer service skills he's thoughtful and smart when it comes to dealing with people and a lieutenant from sherban fire stated that Sam is resilient strong and gives 110% every day on the job the interview panel included uh Megan uh Rob savl the public a public safety dispatcher and Kristen Merill HR generalist and uh interim Town manager recommends appointment thank you very much Mr manam um nothing in particular uh just wanted to understand if you want to share um your uh reason for your interest in this position and for our town yeah of course um as you guys know my name is Sam gutell I am currently a firefighter EMT for the town of Sherburn I live in uh Upton and I'm curious about the other side I've I've known the fire side of it I'd love to learn the dispatch side of it and I'm always is looking to better my skills get more Tools in my toolbox and I'm excited to have this opportunity at the town of hington thank you and welcome thank you who's the front air uh being on the force in Sheran do you see any problems with hourly or or filling in or rushing to either Department um I don't my schedule is pretty it's a pretty uh set schedule in Sherburn and and I I believe I'll be able to make do so this is a a step A continuing step for you yes you want to know dispatch plus the firefighting Etc yes okay and you live right here in town I live in the Upton right on the border oh okay all right I think uh you why did you want to come to Harington uh my my brother is a dispatcher in hopkington your brother my brother yes yeah okay thank you very much thank you think I'm done Mr Clark no questions welcome thank you so I also say welcome it looks like sounds like a good fit it'll be a step for you to see if you like the dispatching or not and you have the fire experience and then if you like it maybe you could there'll be another position open later thank you so every now and then uh on the board you have to play the the the role of the the manager or something along those lines so bear with me for a couple of quick questions you mentioned your brother is a dispatcher now will you be reporting to your brother in any way shape or form no Miss Lazarus do we have any kind of nepotism policy specific to the town and its employees yes we do and what does that state well it's in the employee handbook but I can't quote that but uh the employee handbook does address that but so I can't exited but and this is that is not an issue in this particular it's not an issue if you're not okay don't read into it I'm just asking the questions that I don't get paid to ask okay um and Megan you recommend this turn this hire I do great great great okay thanks for bearing with me on that one um so last question I have is and and this is a general question has nothing to do with Sam's uh position where is the line drawn for what the board or who the board hired and who we don't hire like you know do we have to hire and go go through a public process for every hire that comes to the town so the charter um requires the select board to confirm the T manager's appointments um the interim T manager doesn't have the authority to make permanent appointments so you're actually appointing now but when there's a permanent T manager you would be confirming the T manager's appointment it doesn't have to be in person um but it does need vote to confirm we would confirm when there's a town manager in place correct okay all right got it I don't recall that part all right um I have no further questions uh with that I think we're ready to take a vote uh the chair will entertain a motion to appoint Sam gutell as the PDM dispatcher I move to appoint Sam gutell as a prium dispatcher in the Communications Department second okay we have a motion and a second on the table is that motion in order Mrs Lazarus make sure we're good great okay um any discussion on the motion all those in favor please say I I any opposed it is unanimous and so carries welcome Sam thank you thank you for coming in tonight great to see you thank [Applause] you let's do the uh let's let let's do yeah let's do Roberta Anderson um she's uh here to uh for us to fill the senior library assistant position Mrs Lazarus so uh we're introducing Roberta Anderson and we also have Nancy Hill who's the director of the public library this evening so Roberta uh is recommended as senior Library sister um she replaces Ray Stevenson who was promoted to reference technology librarian the senior library assistant May perform complex administrative work in support of the daily operations of the library while providing excellent customer service to patrons the role requires tacked and discretion while working in a flexible and energetic work environment Roberta's experience is at the hopkington public library for one and a half years as a substitute library assistant uh with the do uh public library for three years as library assistant and with the Welsley Free Library uh with three years as library assistant uh she has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree both in music um her references revealed that uh she's a talented Library professional bringing years of customer service and Library experience to the position she's taken on many projects during her time as a substitute circulation assistant and has learned to expertly manipulate online and inperson circulation systems process new materials and provide detailed circulation services including leaders advis uh she shines when working with the youngest emerging readers patrons with the highest levels of need as well as introducing an older Patron to assistive technology such as audiobooks through their smartphone the interview panel uh included uh Nancy uh Allison Keeny circulation and Technical Services Supervisor and Kristen Merill the human resources generalist great thank you for that overview Mrs RB you want to start this time sure I just want to say welcome it sounds like you're well qualified you've been here before so you know what you're getting into and that you like the environment hopefully um yeah and I I think it's great that you know you have the music degree but you can also do libraries my sister had followed the same path she has a music theory degree and ended up getting her master Library science later very good it Mr Clark uh no questions appreciate the service over the last year and a half as a substitute welcome thank you glad to be here AEL welcome to hington uh any particular reason why you're choosing hopkington to come to uh boy I don't know who wouldn't want to work in that beautiful hopkington Library uh it's it's just a wonderful environment a great Community Center staffed with just committed and creative people it's a wonderful a wonderful asset for the town of Hopkinton and a real center of the community and I'm proud and happy to be a part of it okay can can I ask another question is this will this round out the library staff this gives us a full staff that's what I thought because it seemed like some we're very excited we're hiring to the library for a lot so this is a a full Library staff now yes that's great thank you very much Mr Manor yeah um great to hear that certainly love our library and all the services you do and you've been here 15 or year and a half so thank you for all the service and choosing Our Town welcome thank you very much so the manager Me Love of appr proven Commodities this is great excellent appointment and very excited about it with that um I'll make a motion please okay I'll make a motion to appoint Roberta Anderson as senior library assistant second we have a motion in a second on the table any discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed it is unanimous welcome Roberta thank you very much for coming in tonight thank you good luck to you [Applause] and we have a third and final uh appointment this evening uh the select board will interview and consider appointing Adam row as a police academy officer for the town of hopkington Mrs Lazarus the chair should we do the photo of the first two first because it takes longer to do the police appointments is the photo thing like a yeah we do all new employees practice is that is it required or what's the deal on that and may make itself into the annual town it may make itself into the annual Town report also okay and let's do those folks oh we have those two folks here did they bolt on us already no here here they are right here cuz we're going to have another one in a minute yeah so we're going to do these two and then we'll the other one that's fine I don't know when I get hired no one takes my com get a little closer that's great thank you very thank you all yes okay thank you Mr Bush for making sure we did that um next up as mentioned uh the select board will interview and consider appointing Adam row as a police academy officer for the town of hopkington Mrs Lazarus and others so the board is the appointing authority for police police officers and so uh in this case the board always interviews and appoints new police officers okay Adam welcome great to see you I look forward to hearing your background so for this particular interview we have a typical interview process is that a fair statement for the board that we go through kind of in consistent manner these types of questions right so that we don't get too far off the off the path yeah uh it's Adam Ro Mrs ritterbush would you lead us off please sure okay so I'm gonna go with question two that's okay so um so welcome and I think I may remember you from M stage left is that right oh perfect all right okay but uh the town of hington has adopted the pledge principles and actions on systemic racism in our community and other communities that pledge affirms hopton's ongoing commitment to address systemic racism social injustice and inequity in our governance and provision of services to hopkington Residents and businesses in what ways as a police officer can you support the pledge absolutely um hold myself to the highest level to of account accountability in which the department supports and embodies a another way um I can support this is recently I've been substituting uh I've been a substitute teacher at the Hopkinson schools and in part I have been meeting with students and building rapport with students from multiple diverse communities so they have someone that they can come to if they find themselves in a situation where police are involved okay thank you so my son is substituting there this week too so you may see him around okay Jo question getting so question one what is about hopkington that interests you in this position and what are your long-term career goals and how does this position fit in with with these goals so the reason why I picked Hopkinson um is primarily due to living in this town all my life my I am part of a multi-generational extended family who's all grown up and lived in this town and I truly owe it to this town's Public Safety this town's school system and overall its community environment which has pushed me to a point where I believe it is vital to me to give back to this community um they have pushed me towards success which I am truly grateful for um what they have provided awesome that certainly resonates with me um a little bit I noticed in your cover letter that you were graduating with your Masters this month is that done yes congratulations thank you so much Mr May um thank you for your interest and you have a wonderful background so certainly um I'm happy to see you here uh if you are hired as a Hopkinton police officer what steps would you take to build trust and legitimacy with fellow officers and the community with fellow officers I am truly excited to start building report or with my fellow officers I believe there are multiple community events in which I can engage with them and uh build rapport with not only them but the community uh to build rapport with the community I believe there are multiple initiatives we can take such as meeting with our diverse religious uh organizations in town um officers meeting with uh churches temples mosques to kind of build rapport with um Top members those communities which can hopefully spread to diverse populations thank you Hometown boy yay it's nice to have one uh coming on the force and um usually I ask questions about a difficult situation you've been in or or something like that but you're kind of new to this game so we're going to send you to the police academy and uh I think you're going to do a wonderful job and I'm very glad to see that you've come forward thank you so much down thank you thank you uh I'm going to go off script a little bit here I see you have two other folks from the police department with you this evening Adam welcome by the way thanks for coming out tonight thank you uh and to the gentleman to your left and right do you folks recommend hiring Adam for this position through the chair if I could a couple comments I'd like to make uh first off I'd be remiss and not thanking all the people that helped bring Adam to to you for consideration uh with HR and her and Jessica's team and Lieutenant van ralton and the team that he assembled and all the work that goes into to getting them here because it is an exhaustive and extensive process involving backgrounds and psychologicalscience tell a story so Adam reached out to me and was interested in learning about the department and any opportunities he might be here he might be able to come to the department and we had been emailing back and forth looking for a time slot and about an hour and a half before the halfday pizza party I said well if you want to come by and not only did he come by but he brought someone and we really needed him and he did a great job and he made a real connection with the officers were there so right then and there I knew that he'd be a great addition to the department I I feel he's going to f fit in very well and I ask that you appoint him as a police officer and send him to the police academy great thank you for that input Lieutenant I Echo the uh the chief's words uh it's an extensive process uh over uh the last year uh we've interviewed and and gone through upwards of 30 different candidates um through that process uh we recently hired Noah bunell who's also a HomeTown boy um and to find another one in town who's vested in the community his family's vested in the community um I think it's an incredibly fortunate uh opportunity not only for the department but for the town and uh and I wholeheartedly support uh his appointment and uh for him to start the academy in Boon July 8th okay great thank you very much for that uh I don't have any other questions myself anyone else just one other um related but not for the candidate question um this should be our 23rd or 26th hire out of 29 so this will bring us to 24 there is another candidate that is in the queue and is preparing to go to the academy there are some uh others that are within HR that are being evaluated for good number thank you Mrs Lazarus anything from your Vantage Point no nothing great thank you any other questions comments so with that could we entertain it the chair will entertain a motion I move to appoint Adam row as police academy officer for the town of hopkington second have a motion and a second on the table to appoint Adam to be a police officer for the town of hopkington any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I any opposed it's unanimous and so carries welcome Adam congratulations good job with that we'll do a pick now you got to do a pict might have to start wearing a tie everybody good set got y okay okay well that's great always exciting okay know have so that takes us through item number 11 item number 12 on the agenda at 7:45 so just want to make sure we don't get too far ahead of ourselves in case others are following is a hiring process updates on the town manager the deputy police chief and the deputy fire chief the select board will receive updates on the hiring process relating to the town manager Deputy police chief and Deputy fire chief the select board will discuss the the deputy fire chief hiring process so do we have Jessica we didn't find her earlier this evening did we I Bernard Lynch is that no he's manager for Town manager okay and I don't see uh Jessica okay he's with the company okay so why don't we do this then let's do the fire chief first the deputy fire chief uh is the fire chief here he is and then we'll do the deputy police chief and then again like last week or two weeks ago then you could step off and then we can come out to our colleagues to help us with the town manager so just bear with us for a few minutes there on the town manager role okay welcome Chief good evening how are you good good good um do you want to share where you're at with the process what your mindset is and then uh I know um we talked about this one a little bit more last week than couple of the other the other two anyway and I'm just curious if uh there's anything else on your mind uh no I'm still um just waiting for your direction um whether how much advertising you want to do whether you just want us to advertise as internal or advertise it external um okay and how much of an assessment center you would like okay um all right thank you um Mrs laus do you have any thoughts on this position in terms of the boards where we are and the pricing on the uh assessments and things of that nature and the interviews or the recruiting so we did review the um the RFP the response to the RFP that the town sent out for consultant services for this and uh the price that was quoted last time is for the entire process so if we do go with the consultant they would take care of the entire process including the advertising with the price that was mentioned and that was that the 10 G's approximately the last one I saw was uh 7,000 but that was just the assessment center that doesn't include the advertising the total the total is 9,775 but it does doesn't include the advertising which the town would cover the advertising okay so all right great thank you um all right so let's come to the board now I know that this is a process that has been ongoing for a while uh I think Mr Clark had some questions last uh time about the process itself so maybe we start with you we'll go from there sure um I think we heard again tonight um I believe it was Mr Thomas in the public forum talked about the strong Chief Clause you know in the Mass general laws and you know I see this as you know my questions for the chief would be you know one do you feel like you have the right candidates internally and two do you need the select board support here cuz if not I think you have everything in your power to do this on your own and I would love to be able to support the department leading on its own making that decision and moving forward quickly without spending cost cuz I see those costs whether it's 7,000 or or 10,000 you know if if the board's getting involved in that that's the board getting involved in how the fire department is using some of its budget so you know I feel strongly that that's an option that we should go down if if the chief's comfortable with that I'm certain that U any of the lieutenants in this department would be great Deputy Chiefs um they've all have been with the Department over 20 years years some have been officers 15 plus years the town's invested thousands of dollars worth of training education in these men so any one of them could step on being a great Deputy fire chief okay Mrs rder Bush so are you proposing not even doing the assessment center is that what you're suggesting or or just not advertising externally is that that that's that's what I was suggesting no Assessment Center either nope okay so um I'm sorry the question was is the assessment center is the expensive piece right the 7,000 yes straightest assessment center is around 7,000,000 okay and you're suggesting that he not do the assessment center because he's a strong Chief and you can do his he yeah if he doesn't need it again I think he's he's come to the board and you know my questions were really does he feel like he has the right candidates in house and does he feel like he needs to select board or an assessment Center's help here and I think he just answered that he's confident in what he has to make this decision on his own so I feel like it's a good opportunity for the board to step back and let the department which in in my opinion the things I would look at is it's Department that's run well I haven't heard of any Personnel issues the budget's been strong and you know we have a you know chief that we that the board previously put a lot of um confidence in promoting him to Chief last year so with those things in mind I think it's great opportunity to just move forward quickly with at the chief's discretion okay let's go back to Mrs Rush any other thoughts questions so I'm I'm just on the fence here I guess because I thought we had decided it previously and I didn't realize it was controversial but um so I I do think it's always a good practice to advertise both externally internally but not to go to Great expense to do that we can just post it both ways I think even if you know but I understand that the chief is confident he's got internal candidates that would be great which is fine okay Al set Mary Joe yeah iar isn't here and I just I wanted to ask how many new candidates do we have from town from from the Department do how many people do you know from the Department that are going to apply there would probably be two to three lieutenants that would be eligible so we we have enough candidates uh and uh you said something when we were talking about advertising you want to do your own advertising if if I would to do it I would just post it internally post it internal okay I have no problems with that okay Mr Man yeah to the chair no that's um good to hear and I think we didn't hear that before but um if you feel your uh lieutenants are ready and you feel comfortable promoting them I mean that's definitely a good news in my view now the only question I would ask do you see um going any benefit or necessary uh need to go out to seek additional candidates or you feel like super comfortable they're they can hit the ground running or we have coached them enough and as you mentioned we have invested enough so we we are comfortable with them I think we've invested a lot of money over the years on um all our firefighters um Hopkin has a lot of unique things such as the LG facility and stuff and the deputy fire chief really oversees the daily operations so to bring in an outside candidate would be a lot more for me to train up whereas one of the lieutenants could actually just step into that role and hit the ground running and scale and um all experience- wise you are comfortable so I I have no problem with that either I think you know it can be efficient and um having someone can be more motivating and there's some savings involved too and I also to trust the Judgment of the chief uh he runs the department and he knows the people so I think I would be okay with that okay with that okay um so Chief you have you mentioned you have three possible three internal candidates okay one person would get the position how will you manage any um Fallout concern frustration whatever disappointment that others might feel and I think people's you know how they feel in situations like this is important uh and how would you help sort of facilitate that and get folks to kind of kind of come back together and continue on as a great team so even if we did uh we didn't do an assessment center we would still bring in some outside Chiefs uh I know Mary Joe originally asked to be part of the interview process so we will interview our three candidates and then I would just use that as a learning experience from them and say this is why we picked X and then help them get to that point uh for the next opening okay great I like that thinking okay well um I guess my only other question is and it's kind of something about similar to what you were talking about if if if he is the strong Chief which he is and it's a strong Chief position in hopkington um they both Mrs Lazarus why are why are we in the midst of this at the moment anyway uh the prior board um had headed down a different path okay all right so there was just a more engagement there correct for various positions the board I think the board liked the the process of more engagement by others um in the process of of of interviews and and review got okay all right that's fair and I can certainly understand that that would be uh some positions and um you know I think the statute is pretty clear but you know for me as a as a business person you know the manager the chief uh the leader um should manage his team and if his team goes arai I don't go talk to the team I talk to the manager so if the manager is going to make the decisions and the manager gets to make that decision but then also the manager has the accountability to make that decision work which is why I asked the question about how you're going to handle the other sort of stuff um so I'd be okay with us backing out and letting the chief do his thing with where he sees it fit um so we're not on a formal path yet with this position is that correct has this been just sort of a dialogue to date do we have to vote or anything specific to this I don't know that the board has taken any votes in this regard it's just been dialogue sir just dialogue to date so do that ring true for everybody in terms of I think the next steps which is a non-step like other step backwards like we're out not moving forward one thing I wanted to also understand and Ty from proc oh sorry one thing I yeah sure one thing I wanted to understand from a process perspective and um elain through your time here what was the process traditionally um in the town and also in other towns is it um solely on the fire chief or is it a committee or what was it before I can't speak to other towns um but here the only one I recall is uh when Gary became became a deputy and it was an internal posting and there was an assessment center so internal posting but a assessment committee was it there was no there was no uh select board uh involvement correct okay but they did do but there was an assessment center okay and um I don't know if Gary wanted to describe what happens at an assessment center but if it's something that we think is important we can find the funding for it yeah yeah no thank you I I I I am comfortable with that I mean I run organizations and usually you're right it's the chief who takes the responsibility and ownership it's always good to have the resident voice on the leader voice but um if traditionally we've been comfortable I don't see need to you know go ex out of the way too much histo yeah historically the uh past five Deputy Chiefs have come from internal internal yeah I think every Deputy Chief of the department has actually has come into right and from the charter also it's kind of only the Chiefs and town manager is the select board's direct responsibility man spending I think there is a slight difference between the fire chief and the police chief even though they're both strong Chiefs I think we're still the author appointing authority for police officers is that correct correct solely um with obvious in input from the management team or the the chief and Deputy Chief and so on on the police side but on fire side in the past my recollection is that we weren't really engaged we would talk and certainly guide and you know have the reviews on an annual basis with him who you hired and things like that but I don't think we're really involved in it so no understand um maybe a question for later which is coming up which is um for the police chief is it different tradition wise or government structure wise the language of each statute is different for buer Chief versus police chief slightly different and the recent Passage of the strong Chief Clause does it change any of that or okay thank you that clarifies it well you know I know we went out when we looked for the Chief's position but uh I don't think we've ever done deputy chief before and need okay so why don't we do this though why don't we vote to make a very clear decision so that there's no ambiguity about what we're going to do with the deputy fire chief position so the CH entertain a motion to um uh the CH entertain a motion to withdraw its guidance and decision-making uh deliberations with respect to the deputy fire chief for the town of Hopkinson so moved is there a second for that motion do you think that Motion makes sense I think it did I don't know it makes sense yeah I think it's in reasonable order that we're just backing out of this one say we will allow the Chiefs to decide whether to use the assessment center or an internal process I'm sorry why don't we just maybe we could just make the motion that we would allow him to make the decision of assessment center versus an internal versus external process but if we back away he can do that right I guess I'm still wanting a nice big rigorous process but we could let the chief choose what that will be I guess if he doesn't have a rigorous process and his hire doesn't work there's the person we're going to talk to I like that um we do have a motion in a second on the table any further discussion all those in favor please say I I any opposed okay chief you are free and unencumbered good luck thank you thank you thank you uh next up uh as far as part of the process for the hiring of folks uh let's talk about the deputy police chief position um and again I don't know if Jessica's here so so I think all that the Board needs to do at this point is set a date for the interviews of the final candidates okay how many final candidates do we have uh if Jessica were here she could tell us can you estimate the number probably three approximately three okay so two five somewhere in there three okay so we have three candidates that we would interview and what has been the past practice of late for interviewing candidates when we have multiples for a position within the police department does that happen on a Tuesday evening does that happen on a different evening uh I'm a big fan of Tuesday evening like normal meeting stuff because that's what we get charged to do here the board has typically done it at a regular meeting um but it's dependent on how heavy the agenda is looking too and how long you think it will take and how long would a typical interview be per person do you think for this role are we following the same five question format or something along those lines uh we did to the lieutenant um did we each ask two questions of them I there three people might be about 15 20 minutes per and then they took turns waiting downstairs the other Max 30 minutes it's an hour and a half of our meeting that meeting may run a little longer than an 8:00 P.M close or something like that but yeah that makes sense everybody that's okay yep so I think then the next thing to do would be to get with Jessica on the deputy Chief position and uh suggest that the board is ready to proceed with bringing in the three approximate three candidates during a regularly scheduled meeting we'll set aside enough time for each one okay does that sound good to everybody y I don't think that requires a vote you no okay and then finally uh Miss Lazarus if you wouldn't mind um the board uh will discuss uh the hiring process with respect to the Town manager position uh Mrs Lazarus has stepped off and I'm sorry John's not with us this evening there's another gentleman I didn't get his name Bernard Lynch it looks like sorry Bernard Lynch it looks like Bernard Lynch Bernard welcome glad to be here thank you for uh thank you for having us if you would be so kind as to update us as to where you folks are sure I I think uh I think Ben may be there or someone from there we go uh we have a very brief PowerPoint presentation just to present to the board uh and to the public on where we are with the town manager finalists uh unfortunately John couldn't be here um but um I I met with the um previous board back in early April uh my name is Bernie Lynch I'm a the principal of community Paradigm Associates and we're pleased to be working with the town again on the on the U uh selection of a a new town manager so I'll just give you an update based upon the information that that I have from John and from um sort of where we've been in this process in terms of the the Search summary we were engaged by the town uh in early April I believe we met with the board on April 2nd but uh we actually were on a little bit before that beginning our work uh on the on the process uh our first step as I advised the board uh that night when I met with uh board is uh to uh identify the community priorities and the attributes that we wanted to know from the board and from other stakeholders in the town uh what people were looking for from the new town manager uh you know Norman was there for a number of years but uh certainly the town has changed and evolved and there different needs and uh opportunities that the town is looking for now from a from a town manager uh and so you know we think it's a good process to go through to sort of identify what those needs are and the priorities uh and uh also it uh and from that we so we conducted these interviews of board members department heads uh we conducted a community survey that we gathered quite a bit of information uh and ran that through until April 12th uh and again I think it's a good process but uh importantly for us we use that information to develop a position profile or position statement uh that we use to market the position that was uh as of April 12th uh we got to goahead on the document that we uh developed um with a few edits from uh from the town from the uh then uh Town manager uh and we began our active recruitment on April 12th uh by posting with the Massachusetts Municipal Association which obviously is the the primary uh source for uh opportunities here in the state we also posted with the international city and county management association uh which is the nation wide organization of city managers and town managers uh we utilized a number of other sources as well to post the position and get the word out uh for example we use the Boston chapter of the national forum for black public administrators we also post regularly with the uh area um universities that uh offer uh master's degrees in public administration and similar degrees um not so much for the recent graduates but for uh alumni that are looking for positions that rely upon the universities and colleges where they obtain their degrees uh so that's more of a passive if you will just getting the word out we also uh we have an extensive database of some 400 plus uh individuals including all the managers of the State uh in which we distributed this uh this position uh through a position announcement referencing the position statement uh and then we did more extensive candidate uh uh Outreach uh to a number of area managers assistant managers uh people that we're familiar with that uh uh might be interested in hopkington or might be a good uh Choice uh for hopkington based upon our knowledge of the town and uh our knowledge of their background so we we contacted U several dozen uh individuals directly encourage them to look at the job and to apply to the position the deadline for applications was May 6th uh so uh we uh we received all the applications on May 6 we got 21 applicants uh which is pretty much in line with uh what we're seeing in that particular region I should note that you know at this point a community Paradigm has conducted uh over the last seven years uh over 100 uh close to 110 I think uh recruit Ms for Town managers and town administrators in in the State uh so we we like certainly like to think that we have a pretty good handle on the market uh and um 21 applicants in the Metro West area uh is a is a reasonable number of applicants for for this position if we can go to the next slide uh you you appointed a screening committee or there was an appointing a screening committee that was appointed uh with a number of Representatives I believe there's one repes representative uh in fact from the board uh there was the school superintendent the Personnel um board had two members uh the HR Director uh sat on the Jessica sat on the committee and you had one resident uh that sat on the committee uh and I'll I'll tell you we we work regularly with screening committees uh in many of our uh CL with many of our clients many of our communities uh and certainly the word I received from John is that the committee worked very well together and uh really uh you know brought their aame to the task of uh reviewing the resumes and narrowing down the field and then uh conducting the interviews um of the 21 applicants you had six that were identified by the screening committee uh for interviews uh there was a review certainly of all 21 but those six were the ones that stood out to the members of the committee uh and uh interviews were held over two days uh and the topics that were reviewed were their careers obviously we can read about their careers on their resumés but we wanted to have the opportunity to have the candidates speak to their specific uh backgrounds what the experiences they've had uh and most importantly why are they interested in Hopkinson what is it about the Hopton position that that attracted them and they felt that made them a you know a good candidate for this position um time was spent on talking about leadership and management difference between the two uh and some sense of their style of building uh teams and uh working through uh issues and and uh coming to decisions on uh matters uh of the town uh and um you know how they would be interacting with the department heads as well as members of the community uh we talked about uh their background with budgeting financial management project management uh that balance of Economic Development uh which is obviously a priority in uh almost every Community uh but likewise um and certainly hopkington has experienced this is uh it while development is very important for the uh development of Revenue jobs and uh quality of life of the community likewise in terms of quality of life is growth management how you manage any of that development happens so it was that balance that was U addressed in these interviews as well personnel management including collective bargaining um citizen relations citizen engagement and transparency uh it's uh we see this in many communities and certainly hopkington is is not unique in this that there's uh quite a bit of interest in ensuring that uh citizens are engaged in the process of local government and there's transparency with the decision- making that occurs um and that information is spread uh widely with regards to decision- making and then lastly select board relations uh a successful Town manager has to be able to work uh successfully with their select board members uh in terms of communication in terms of roles and responsibilities uh and we want to understand how they've they've been able to do that U throughout that so is a result of all that uh interviewing that took place with the screening committee uh the committee uh identifi ifed four finalists for presentation to the board and if I can go to the next slide um we are now in the process of conducting their background checks background reviews uh we do a a preliminary background review that we have uh uh complete before we even meet with the screening committee and understanding a little bit about the candidates uh that they're reviewing uh obviously our knowledge of the municipal uh uh man manager world uh gives us a leg up in trying to U understand the the the backgrounds of these individuals and uh you know what has taken place in their careers uh John had worked with the committee in reviewing all of that uh obviously utilizing uh whatever internet resources are there to to through uh search engines to look at their experiences in other communities and trying to uh sort of explain everything that we know about those uh individuals uh so uh John petum did all that with with the committee uh prior to the interviews taking place uh but we move forward now with background reviews that include a Corey check uh reviewing their educational uh credentials to ensure that they're uh in fact uh as described in their resume uh likewise their employment uh experience is is uh verified uh and then we spent time speaking with their references uh that uh we can uh get from their references not only the um sort of a sense that they're a good employee or not uh but more as you'll see when we give you your finalist report uh we spend time talking to all their references to get some uh identification of the types of projects that they've worked on with these candidates uh and what the style of these candidates is with regards to uh decision making uh you know interact interpersonal relations uh Etc so that you have a sense of these candidates and what their backgrounds are uh as you're interviewing them uh we spend roughly uh 30 to 60 Minutes I would say with each reference of each candidate we're we're doing four to five references for each one uh so we spend arguably more time talking to the people that have worked with them than we've actually spent talking to the candidates at this point in time uh to get a full understanding of these these uh these individuals uh so we will be generating a finalist report and we'll get that out to you uh by uh the end of next week uh so that you have that in hand when you uh um move forward with the next steps uh the the next steps that we've identified based upon discussions with the town is a candidate meet and greet event the week of June 17th I think uh Mr chair you you and John had spoken about having a meet and greet uh I believe uh maybe perhaps the 18th um but Jessica has advised me that that's in fact a selectboard meeting that night so I I guess we'd probably more likely be looking at the 17th or the 20th of that week uh if that's possible so that U select board members can participate in this meet and greet with the public um which would occur at the library from 6:00 to 800m have those four candidates there uh to be able to spend some time talking to residents of the town uh and then the board would be conducting their interviews on July 9th uh with anticipated selection on July 11th uh and then um obviously negotiation of a a employment agreement uh following that and we we stand ready to assist the boy with that process as well so um we can take down the PowerPoint now I guess if you wouldn't yeah let's leave that up if we could only because I think there's a couple of key dates up there and things we want to talk about meeting so thank you for the overview I did have a uh a phone call with John petran before he went out for I believe he's on vacation uh good for him um but I was also Al going to be hoping that Jessica could kind of walk us through some of this uh as well so without her here this evening I don't think she's still not with us um we're a little bit kind of off cue here for a bit um let's let's start with uh the next steps um Bernie's team is going to give us a finalist report by next week and next week next Thursday it looks like the 13th everybody good with that receiving that information by the 13th by the 13th that sound reasonable okay yeah I think that sounds reasonable um but I let you finish and through the chat I had um uh some questions regarding the meet and greet but um yeah okay we'll come back to that because I think that's just a different concept that we'll kick around and then the discussion I had with John and was going to get with Jessica on tonight uh was talking about this concept of the meet and greet so maybe that's some of your questions will be there too uh and then if that were to happen at that time and everybody was ready to have the interviews they would be on July 11th or July 9th from 5: to 9: I think this would be an hour per individual if we have four candidates I think that makes sense given the the role and so forth you just say three I'm sorry you just say three candidates four it's four four I want to come you're going to go to you next for everything anyway so um and then um and then a board selection on July 11th seven if that works but I think some of the key dates up there are coming in the next month or so uh so let's just kind of if everyone doesn't unless someone's going to Europe or something and disappearing let's we this isn't not in cement yet but this is kind of where we're headed at the moment but with that let's pause for a second Mr man's been very involved in this whole process if you would share sort of your thoughts on the process not all the history like we just did there but just where we are today your thoughts on this idea here and anything else you have on your mind no thank you uh through the chair um so the process was pretty robust and I want to thank the committee everyone was very dedicated we had a wonderful group of Resident voices who are also expert and a lot of um HR and organizational leadership experience so I definitely um was really happy to work with all of them in groups we uh had two full two half days of interviews with all the candidates and uh we did go over all the different areas that U Bernie mentioned and John was wonderful in orchestrating and facilitating all that and through that we had very engaged discussions and um based on the criteria and the insights from everyone uh we thought you know having a broader Spectrum um of candidates for larger review uh with the board and also giving the opportunity to engage and uh be visible with the residents uh would be you know a logical next step and would be a good idea and certainly uh would also give the board um flavor of the variety and of the strong talents that we have observed so that's um been a great experience and I think the committee has done a wonderful job now that said and we discussed it in the committee as well is the meet and greet uh is certainly going to help bringing them in a more larger audience to see how they interact and how the residents also feel and we all can also participate in that uh and that said um I would be interested to know in that format the outcome how are we going to capture that um is that going to be some kind of survey or feedback mechanism or it would be more just to get the feel and flavor but the main evaluation would be in the board's final decision that's something for the board to I share a little how we do it where I work if that's helpful we hired a tech director recently and um you know the tech department is not the decider and neither is the curriculum team but um there was a day when the candidates all came and we all got to meet with them um in small groups and we got just filled out a little survey form very brief um just to kind of weigh in even though it's really the superintendent's decision like in this case it's our decision but we could have that input from the public so I would suggest something similar if Jessica is comfortable with that that makes sense yeah like that mhm thanks for Set uh that's it yeah yeah I think the idea of some kind of survey form filled out uh and certainly Jessica could help us put that together she's probably done that before with other situations uh would make sense coming out of that meet and greet um you know there are some Logistics involved in having a meet and greet and maybe a 50 or 100 residents showing up to meet possible New Town managers if if if some many are interested uh at the library we'd have to have different rooms for the various candidates and make sure it's organized in a professional way but uh um I I like the idea of getting some feedback in a in a document you know the only thing I'm worried about is there any are there any legal you know pitfalls and having folks filling out a document what if they fill out that document and there's something inappropriate in there something along those lines but I guess we can try and filter that out somehow and never have it come to us right so we'll put that with Jessica I'm certain and also we probably would not I know the if oml applies would not share all the uh feedback and surveys publicly but for us to digest and pro and the decision Mak yeah so we can talk to Jessica about that uh so Bernie if you could do me a favor please can you check in with Jessica tomorrow um I have a full day at the office but I'd love to hear from her at some point and just kind of get her thoughts on the schedule that's outlined and her thoughts on the logistics I would need her to be the one kind of coordinating all that for us we don't have the time Tom Andrew's office doing this obviously so we're going to have to rely on her to kind of help with some of that on the operational side um yeah Jess Jessica is aware of the the dates we we actually again we we went over the dates uh earlier today and identified the 18th is being a problem because the board's meeting that night so she's where she and I discussed it it's either the 17th or the 19th because excuse me the 17th of the 20th because the 19th is a holiday uh in terms of the U survey uh you know I can I can speak with her about that of how she could go about doing that uh you know other communities that we've worked with have had have have not used the survey others have used the survey of some sort of form and and you know generally that is work through with their HR department uh there is the risk uh there is arguably there is a sense that uh because these will be coming through they have to be generated in such a way to ensure that there's nothing uh inappropriate put into any of the documents that comes out U for legal reasons uh but um uh at the same time there is sort of a public um record issue here uh with regards to that if they're if they're filling that amount making comments uh but perhaps a survey type of uh r as opposed to uh open-ended questions would be a solution to that problem yeah I think that makes a lot of sense create them on a scale without giving a comment so they don't say something discri ratory something that wouldn't be allowed okay um so with that I'll work with jet I'll work with Jeter on that uh tomorrow and then I'll um I'll I'll have her uh work with the chair on uh some of the other logistical issues okay great so today's the 4th we have a meeting on the 18th a regularly scheduled meeting and you know I can assure you the last thing I ever want to do is have another meeting uh outside of our normal schedule but I think in this case it warrants it the 20th is a Thursday evening um is the 18th a Tuesday 18th is a Tuesday I have 16 on M here um I think I'm in the right ear yeah I'm in the right ear yeah uh so what are because I think we need to figure this one because the key to this being successful is we let the public know that on the 20th they can come meet potential new town manre candidates yeah unfortunately 20th um Mr chair I do have a long planned uh commitment okay all right the you would like to join us at this event correct I would like to if but I was going to say for myself since we're going to have this long interview with them it's not so important to me to come to the meet and greet so whatever date works it's fine with me okay um I'm sorry this is the meet and greet or talk about yeah I'm talking about the meet and greet I think I I can pass that okay yeah I don't think all right uh well you've been in the interview so far so you're there and you're going to be doing the interview yeah so um is everyone else so are we all comfortable setting the 20th as the date for the meet and greet if we want to attend I would like to be able to attend that um so it works for me but I'm flexible I can do it any other time so does that work for me prence so Bernie if we could talk with Jessica and make sure she's um on board with Thursday the 20th we would need to make sure the library is available to us that evening and all the other logistics that we go with this but let's shoot for Thursday the 20th for the meet and greet uh for the public to say hello to the candidates and I think John has already talked to her about doing the necessary uh community outreach on that to uh with regards to whatever date is chosen but uh you're right if the library is not available on the 20th that could be an issue uh perhaps there's another facility in town that could be utilized if that's not the case and then I see our upcoming select board schedule has us on Tuesday July 2nd MH we be all due respect everybody I don't know who picked that Tuesday like why would we do that one um the 19th the 9th and the 23rd would seem more logical to me but whatever um so I may have a problem with the Tuesday July 2nd but it was the nth for the interviews right I'm sorry we're proposing the nth the nth yeah the 9th is when we're talking to the interviews yeah change a second till the ninth so that's not a t is that well I think this is going to be four hours folks so I think this has to be outside of our normal meeting so okay I guess if we hold the second for the meeting and then go the ninth does that make sense to everybody yeah or if if you really can't do the second you could do the the 16th could be or we can have a 16th meeting anyway right yeah if if we need two meetings in July I don't know I'm okay ninth uh everybody go to the ninth yep so then um yeah July 9th Tuesday the 9th Bernie for the interviews correct that's that's what we have right yep okay and then uh after that I'm not as worried about the schedule because we can make decisions and do other things we have to hold the 11th too for the vote actually interviews of the 9th sorry interviews of the 9th and the vote is the 11th right well interview is the 9th and then if it's a vote on the 11th or it's a week later okay whatever you know like I think like I don't think we have to get together to make that decision solely you know what I mean for the vote we need for the vote itself couldn't we do that in a regular scheduled meeting yeah I think so so that would be like the 16th so okay so does that all make sense Bernie 20th for the 20th for the meet and greet interviews on July 9th and then decision deliberation decision on July 16th okay that work for everybody yeah does uh through the chair one quick question for the meet and greet do we want it to be on hcam as well I think it would be hard to do that just given four candidates in four locations in the library oh that's right yeah I think it would be a little disjointed so and I think the the the format of the meet and greet uh based upon again I'm hearing this from uh I heard this from um Jessica and Maria before that and Norman before that as well as on this was the idea of having more of an informal uh you know allow res to come in and as the name says meet and greet the candidates speak to them about uh their backgrounds their experiences what they could bring to hopkington and then uh provide that type of feedback that would be available uh as opposed to a more formal um uh you know question and answer period uh which so the meet and greet is not really something that could be televised okay all right so do we have a schedule that works for everybody and a plan in general great so Bernie uh thank you for coming this evening we appreciate your input uh we'll see John when he gets back uh but I think uh maybe you myself and Jessica can tie out or and then I'll get with Jessica myself as well and just make sure we have the logistics organized uh for those days and I'll I'll be in as I contact her if I have any any results from all of that I'll uh send you off an email it summarizes that okay okay great thank you very much have a good night byebye item number 13 on the agenda is the middle sex Sheriff's Office keep safe program uh the select board will consider a memorandum of agreement with the middle sex Sheriff's Office MSO that would permit this Police Department to use the regional pre-arrangement safekeep holding facilities facility as a holding facility for the short term Detention of persons arrested by the Hopkins and police department prior to arain Mrs Lazarus can you give us a little info on this request this is a request of the police department um it's um theyve all left um but it's it's something that um will help them uh when people need to be held for short term uh stays before arraignment it would be in go to the facility and build Rea there is no cost to the town Town Council has reviewed it and is accept the agreement is acceptable do you have a recommendation for the board we recommend that uh that this would be beneficial to the community and that you would approve it okay Mrs ritterbush any questions or comments um I don't really have any objections I just am curious just for the public too why do do we need this we don't have space to hold people in the case that we might I need to yeah I wish that the the chief was still here he could answer that question okay you can you if you would like uh them to discuss it with you you can postpone this discussion to a later date if you prefer okay Mr Clark um I mean I mean no questions right now no cost of the town I don't see any glaring issues be helpful if the police department was here R Joo well I uh in reading it I thought that it's probably entails more than one night kind of thing and uh and it is a safe uh Safe Keep Holding facility so I'm just just thinking that perhaps it's it's for people you know that have problems and things you know maybe drug addiction or or things or violent people that need a safe holding facility I think ours is is fairly safe but you'd have to have someone on duty in the the facility all the time if you had a a really violent person so I'm thinking that this is a good idea okay thank you Mr Manning um yeah I think it sounds like a standard procedure and uh something that would help us um I just was hoping who would be able to provide more details if we want to understand this is just for educational cuz I have I haven't seen this before or in type of agreement like this before and from the look of it it makes sense but um would that be our police chief or someone from the Sheri's Department if so I think for the town to understand it might be a good idea to have a discussion just a brief update or overview of it just my thought but I'm okay either way till the next meeting yeah I was thinking just to just for the town's residents to understand better and for my education too that would be a good idea in my view but I don't have um any problem if we think there's a timeline or for any reason we need to do it now no there's no no time crunch here so I don't recall this from the past has this something is this something we've done in the past I don't know yeah I think that's a fair could we hold for now it's possible the chief could join the zoom or something too later in the evening but I'm a big believer in making decisions but only after we have the facts so I think we should suspend this and postpone it to the next meeting I have the chief or his designate join us and let's get a few questions answered in then we can take make a decision okay it seems to make sense but let's make sure we're clear before we sign on something we don't know about yeah I agre everybody okay with that y so we'll just postpone Lane to the next time um okay with that let's move to item number 14 the town manager report although I note that um I think your 8:30 uh people are here if you wanted to take them first for the water and sewer rates we have the 8:30 folks here oh Mark's here we do M okay great oh there he is hey Mark how you doing um so yeah that's fine that's a great idea thank you for that catch let's go ahead and do that so we don't keep folks waiting too long if you would be so kind as to join us uh we have about 10 minutes or so set aside for this so if we could tonight we're not making a decision it's my understanding we're not making a decision tonight we're just getting an update as to where we are and kind of where we're heading Ed and then there will be a public is that a public hearing when we do this no it's not a public hearing public meeting public meeting we'll actually set the rates at a subsequent meeting next time next okay so with that and the time a lot and if we could just be nice and tight on the presentation that'd be great so please welcome hi Carrie so Carrie Reed director of Public Works Eric hardi water who is superintend manager Matt Abrahams the Abrahams group Mark is my father but Mark was your see I'm dating myself all the time up here yeah good to see you Matt good to see you again all right so we're here just to provide a a short overview see what kind of information youall might need before the rate setting next time and I'm going to turn over to you to give a kind of overview of what we've done sure so tonight as mentioned already is is simply informational there are no decisions made tonight but we just want to up update you on where we were with the water and sewer analysis for the upcoming fiscal year of fy2 so in your packet you should have received um a a a report or a summary that's about three pages that summarizes where we are and I will cover what I consider to be the important points uh in the memo this evening so if we go back two years ago uh when the town first started heavily considering a connection to the MW as a supplier of clean water to the town the town's Chief Financial Officer at the time recommended a 9.5 5% rate increase for water but with a caveat that future increases could be higher as costs associated with the m became more clear so fast forward to one year later which was last year at this time setting rates for FY 24 this board approved a 175% water rate increase now that was that's that that was a nice large step um towards that direction of being able to cover what we believe to be the cost for the M connection um however when the board did make that decision it was with the multi-year plan of a 30% increase for fy2 which is the upcoming fiscal year and also for FY 26 so I just want to make sure the board was aware that when 17.5% was approved last year at this time we were showing a 30% for FY 25 and a 30% for FY 26 so now um with our update analysis for this year we're actually looking at a number a little bit higher than that we're looking at a 40% increase on the water SL and we can talk about this evening I'll try and cover it quickly um some of the reasons behind that um so some of the reasons are this if if we just focus on the short-term retain earnings in the water side are are a little bit on the low side um they were last certified at $277,000 that was a certification that took place last fall uh and since then the town authorized Capital expenses um out of retain earnings in an amount that was greater than that so the town actually authorized spending um for retain earnings that wasn't available at the time and we're going we're going to be discussing this a little bit more just to see how we might tackle that but I just wanted the board to be aware that that took place on top of that there were some connections that were planned in town over Legacy that have been delayed so some of the connection fee Revenue that we were relying on in last year's analysis has been pushed out a few years um the capital plan which Carrie has worked on since she started about a year ago um is now more robust than it was last year at this time we're showing it's showing about $1.7 million in additional Capital expenses in that plan compared to the plan that was the year before um so if we just look very big picture on the water side and if we focus just on MW costs what we have in our analysis for the construction portion we're looking at about $2 million annually in debt that is not on the books today we're looking at an assessment from the MW once the town is fully connected which we know is several years down the road but we have an opportunity to start planning for that now so we've included that in our analysis of $2.3 million once the town is fully connected that's 4.3 million total and the budget today is $2.7 million total for the water budget so that would mean that the budget would increase by over 2 and a half times what it is today so with all of those things in mind mind we have put together some preliminary options for the board's consideration again nothing's being decided this evening but we did want to present you with some things to think about um one option I mentioned the 40% already if the town if the board were to approve that then we think at this point based on our projections we're looking at 25% increase the following fiscal year of FY 26 and then s 7% for years that follow that and just so the board is aware that 40% or fy2 works out to be at $148 annually for the average residential user we also have an option uh two which were showing a higher increase for fy2 if the board was interested in uh doing more now that would mean doing less later um 50% year 1 15% year 2 and then the 7% again $185 annually for the average residential user for fy2 and then we did take a look at if that $515,000 that I mentioned um we're not uh if the funding source were to be changed maybe to a borrowing setad of retain earnings which is something that town could consider um then we think the rate plan would come down perhaps to 17.5% is what we were showing for option three but that would be multiple years of 17.5% under that scenario 17.5% represents $65 for the average residential user in FY 25 so that's a quick summary on water I'll try and do sewer just a little bit more quickly than that um sewer the is kind of in the opposite Financial State than the water fund right now retain earnings are very strong they were last certified $2.3 million which is a very strong number um because of that and the capital plan that that was um supported by the town at the time we actually recommended and this board supported a 5% decrease for sewer rates the last two fiscal years for FY 23 and the current fiscal year of FY 24 now taking a look this year at what the sewer analysis is telling us um we're seeing that sewer flow is a little bit down um we think it might be related to the pandemics impact on um employees physically being in buildings over on South Street and that flow being down and then also again the capital plan has been reworked by carrye and it contains much more than it did last year at this time $8.4 million in capital expenses above what was in there last year at this time so for option one for sewer again preliminary option but just something to think about we're showing 5% per year starting in FY 25 that's an increase not a decrease 5% per year which works out to be $42 annually for the average residential user and also option two has no rate change but if the board were to support that then that means that um presumably rates would need to be higher in the subsequent years and uh Mr chairman that was all I planned on saying this evening so hopefully that was quickly enough great that was very helpful thank you anything else Carrie or Eric you want to share okay uh quick comments from the board Mr manam um I don't have any particular comments but in terms of financials I you may have implied some but overall is there any additional burden or at level from Financial perspective on our town budget with the rates that we proposing is there any what I'm sorry the rates that you have are is it going to be sufficient to run as the Enterprise fund or there would be subsidiary needed from uh the town budget general fund oh so um Enterprise funds which water and sewer are their separate Enterprise funds are me to be meant to be self-sustaining and when we design these rate plans we ensure that the funds would uh project to maintain that self- sustaining setup so um we don't anticipate Reliance on the general fund under these scenarios no impact yeah thank you that's what I have in the past when we have decided on the Water and Sewer rates uh we had a tiered a tiered way of doing it for income and Etc age and income and that sort of thing and I was wondering if we could get that I this probably a question for the CFO if we could get that format again so that that we could look at the same discounts for different people different brackets I can I that so I do anticipate before the the setting that you'll have a a recommendation from CFO that provides a little bit more information the tiers I think you're talking about are actually based on water usage um so higher usage is different rate than lower usage right I think we had exemptions that's how we based it on was usage it's us the ti are based on usage but the U memo as last year and what I would recommend again this year um that you as the select board can have what do we call it aor discount yeah yeah um authorized annual discount for seniors based on you know the exemptions y y y but the typical property tax exemption so that's something that's been happening past several years um and I would recommend that you continue doing that it's not a lot of accounts but it does provide some relief for certain people that are struggling that that's a little confusing for me because we we did the the water and and things and now we're looking at the exemptions again for the school uh portion of the tax bill uh construction only and um and I don't I don't know if we you we didn't really use that as the criteria for setting the tiers and I can't remember exactly what we did so uh I guess we'll have to get the CEO to give us a copy of last year's plan through the chair I I believe that was the the same uh criteria that was used for the the regular tax base was applied to the water okay qualify for a tax exemption you got the lower tier it was there were a number of tiers though there were like three or four tiers so I don't remember how that through the and that's something we've been doing for several years now right yeah yeah than yeah your my understanding is that you have to v on each year great that's setm um one thing you mentioned was you that 515k the impact on retain earnings was potentially going negative was that right is there any repercussions from going negative on that no so I checked with my dad on that and um there there's no penalty related to that but we the town would need to make sure retain earnings are positive as soon as possible okay um and then you said with your recommended there was multiple proposals the one you guys recommended was at 30 40% increase yeah if you ask me for my recommendation I would I would probably choose the 40% yes okay and what was the the average cost per resident under the 40% scenario 40% please um the average cost per resident for FY 25 only would be um $518 annually which is $148 above what that user pays today annually so they increase the 140 148 Delta okay thank you sure yeah I appreciate you giving us some options here I just looking at it I do think the 40% option sounds better for next year so we can even it out a little bit and for people who pay the um the sewer and the water I think it it might be good to go with the option with the 0% for next year when it's going to be 40% for the um water so and then even it out with the 6 and 1/2 for the next few years just cuz that's such a big jump of 40% in one year for the water and if we could help them out with the sewer being lower or or even anyway um from from my vantage point obviously a 40% increase is a huge number uh for any entity to kind of raise the rates uh so I I struggle with that but I understand the challenges we have with water in particular um and this is a little bit off topic but perhaps not I think Eric you might have been here when we had a Water and Sewer Commission in town was that that correct disbanded before you took over or had that was that here during that during that time yeah I mean my concern with all this and it ties to the Past thing that Mr Man led us through the other night uh at the senior center and and other stuff that um you know the town has gotten so big the budgets have gotten so big uh the amount of work has gotten so big and yet we are the Water and Sewer Commission right here and if you're here this evening you hard us talk about 58 other things that had nothing to do with water and sewer tonight and now the water and sewer Commissioners have to sit down and waiting on a 40% increase and and you know thanks Matt for coming and we'll do this at the next meeting but we don't spend a lot of time on Water and Sewer issues if we're being honest with ourselves and I know PFS kind of drove a lot of different things in the past year or so but uh I I still think that some form of commission tied to that P effort and and other things might be something else that's part of this conversation overall with the community uh not specific to the rates this year I know we got to do it but uh you know if if if this were my business and I had to go to my boss or I had to go to my clients and say I'm raising your rates 40% they would tell me where the door is and they weren't be they wouldn't be very polite about it right so I think we just have to be sensitive to that and figure out a way to run the business um with all that's going on with this whole past thing that has nothing to do with Hopkinton in many ways but we have to deal with it right uh and getting some more input on how we manage this going forward anyway I'll jump off the Soap Box on that but um I think for tonight I think we have the information that we need to to Noodle for a few days on is that fair for everybody uh is there anything else you guys want to share with us no thanks for allowing us to speak this evening Elaine do you have anything in your mind specific to this NOP thank you okay great well thank you for coming tonight and uh we'll see how we can sort this out in the next couple of weeks have a good night thanks for hanging in there with us sorry we're running a little late there and through the chair Chief Bennett is on to answer the questions about the keep safe program sorry Chief Bennett is on the zoom to answer the questions about the keep safe program uh yeah we already missed that opportunity I think so Tom thanks for that we'll okay take it up the next time around uh now let's go to the town manager report unless we have others here okay I I just want to make a comment if doesn't usually the legis our legislators come and give us a briefing in this this time of year they do it periodically throughout the year I don't know if it's a specific time but they do well actually to tell you the truth I'd like to ask them in and put some p and water questions to them because we need their assistance and uh we're not getting as much as we'd like although James has been wonderful and everybody's for it but uh I think we need to put it to them okay we can schedule a visit we can schedule a visit by them great okay time manager report please okay uh first item is the uh Main Street carer project uh I included an update uh from Michelle Murdoch and Dave deloro on where we stand there um construction meetings are ongoing um major work that's going to be happening as you may have noted the peeling paint on the the poles and other facilities so that's a problem Statewide with the vendor that that created those so they will be coming and scraping all of those and repainting them and they will go one by one um and uh that will be happening uh pretty soon I think most of the major work like that will be happening after school gets out on the 18th uh regarding uh the pest um treatment project um you have a report from um Nicole bratos indicating that the filtration um project is ongoing uh it's at the point where um they will be working on um the testing phase timately leading to D approval um and hopefully that would be coming online you know sooner rather than later I know people are looking forward to that um also on the PS subject there was the uh Forum on the 30th um which was well attended and a lot of good information um discussed and I put in my memo uh the major I think takeaways from those in attendance uh so things for the board to consider as it talks about uh specific groups to look at Pest and other water quality issues can can I through the chair ask a question about that one yeah I appreciated having the slides in our packet but I went on the town website to try to find them on the DPW or water department website so I could share them with the public and I couldn't find them but if we could get those on there right now they're on the select board page I believe oh see I was looking in the wrong Department okay put them multiple places but I thought it was a very well done form appreciate uh regarding the NW project um the 30% uh drawings have been provided by the engineer and um a um a progress meeting is scheduled for another week or so um we will have to begin meeting again with the town of Southboro um on the IMA um and that that should be resuming uh later this month um regarding a any questions on any of those regarding just real quick before we move on back to the main street Corridor project a request to approve night work is that something we need to vote uh it turns out we don't need that uh we had thought that the uh the scraping and uh repainting might need to occur at night but it turns out it's only one it's only two people with one vehicle so we should be able to detour traffic around that during the day but if it does become an issue they may need to to work at night if we see a traffic issue glad to hear that we don't want night work possible but y okay um regarding the um the town payroll uh update uh as you know payroll was delayed for um a little less than 24 hours uh last week um and I did um uh circulate to town employees today kind of an update on um our investigation into what occurred and um how we're um correcting um and preventing that from happening in the future um and so uh what did happen is um you know after the town's payroll was uploaded into munice uh it was noticed that one of the dep Department's payroll wasn't posted and some hours were missing um the payroll manager was unable to understand to correct that problem and consulted with munus support um actions taken by munice Andor the payroll manager resulted in the deletion of all Town payroll information um and this was happening during the day uh after that occurred three finance department employees began keying in all the data manually they were unable to complete that before the 4 P.M deadline uh for the bank for wire transfers they completed it as soon as they could um and the next morning the bank was able to begin the process of of funding fing the payroll so thanks to all those who worked really hard on getting that done and was delayed for less than 24 hours um and then we did develop some corrections and preventative actions uh based on what occurred that involves more staff cross training more Reliance on in-house expertise um involving senior Personnel early when critical decisions need to be made when working with outside vendors and sharing access to our computers we have to make sure that everyone understands the problem clearly what needs to be done and what's being done in the system um we have to ensure that our Sops are reviewed often and kept up to date um we did make a Personnel change uh last week and the town is continuing to seek a new payroll vendor and we will uh reimburse um uh employees if they encountered any uh fees from the the lack of the the expected payroll on that particular date okay sounds like there were some good learnings there thank yes yes through the chair I think you mentioned part of it was it a monei software system glitch or some um lack of training that resulted in just to understand it was not a glitch um we don't know how part that part of the Department's pay was missing in the initial in the initial uh occurrence but it is something that has um apparently happened before and can happen from time to time but people um the payroll manager had not experienced that before with the measures you feel comfortable going forward yes thank you and then as a staffing update um just uh continue with um our previous um ones that we had identified last time uh we still continue to uh to Source um a dishwasher uh at the senior center um we have um advertised for uh two uh lateral police officers uh this replaces two of the sergeants who were promoted uh to the officers who were promoted to Sergeant so now there are two vacancies that will be that we have advertised um looking for a water technician um actually an offer has been extended and accepted and was working through pre-employment steps uh there are interviews ongoing for a benefits administrator um and um also needing more additional perdm dispatchers it was nice to have one here this evening um and then there's still applications being accepted for full-time dispatchers um and we're still looking for a social worker uh program coordinator and an administrative assistant at DPW and the other thing that's not actually on my list that came up today um is that as you know July 4th uh is a holiday in which town hall is closed and that's a Thursday this year um last year um Norman started um uh what may become a tradition or a you know an ongoing thing where uh we closed Town Hall the last year uh 4th of July was on a Tuesday so we closed it the Monday and the Wednesday giving uh Town employees you know a longer time off period um and thanks for all the the hard work that they've been doing and so this year uh July 4th is on a Thursday and um the recommendation if you uh think it's a good idea is to close town hall on that holiday but also on the Friday afterwards and the the Wednesday before so just something to consider and if we if we do that I think we should know as soon as possible so that we can let people know would there be any contractual issues with that uh some folks you know have the holidays spelled out I would assume they are spelled out in the contracts for those that are under contract yeah obviously it doesn't apply to say public safety personnel but last year we were able to work out those those intricacies and we were able to make that that happen it'll keep people whole uh I don't on the last point there uh I don't if any others have any thoughts on the idea of an extended holiday around the July 4th weekend Mrs rter Bush um yeah I think it's good to reward employees if they're able to get the work done that needs to be done at the beginning of July I think that would be a good thing to do um so maybe if this your senior team talks it through and feels like all the work can get done a lot of people a lot of offices Clos on the Fridays in July anyway so just be one um I love the idea for morale as long as people are getting paid that week right yes yes they will okay Joe well actually I think it's it's a nice little pat on the bat for the people in the town hall who work so hard all that for the town who give all their time and work very hard for us and I think it's just would be a nice thank you yeah I equ the same I think it's a nice gesture and uh is a in a good reward to give to all that are working hard dedicated and providing the service one thing I would also and I'm sure you'll handle that is to manage the services and the notifications appropriately so you know there's no disruption but I'm sure you have that in place already so all for it yeah so as I understand it then we would close town hall on Wednesday the 3 Thursday the 4th and Friday the 5th Friday the 5th is an absolute quiet day no one's going to work on Friday the 5th even if they say they're working they're right that's fine that's fair uh but Wednesday the 3D would be be a change in services and that we would be Town Hall would be closed you're not coming in Conor's office you're not coming upstairs the building department anything like that um so yo is that okay yeah I think I mean I would promote the idea for you know spending being able to spend quality time with the family and uh with all that uh just planning it ahead as Brian um mentioned so there's no disruption and also the residents are well Ware that they don't plan any particular service or waiting for any license on that day that's all it's also the biggest vacation week of the year for the state of Massachusetts so uh there will be fewer people in town I mentioned I wasn't going to be around on July 2nd for that very reason uh so uh yeah I think it's a great idea I think you know the the communities had a little stress of of late and uh let's uh let's take a moment and take a breath give everybody a break uh take some time off and enjoy the summer weather it's very shortlived here in New England so I love the idea and you're the town manager so you'll figure it out great thank you I appreciate it I have a question though considering we're speaking about the 4th of July and um Ken and is 2 minutes earlier was talking about the horri parade have they come to us for a parade permit it's on your agenda for the next meeting H it's on your agenda for the next meeting next meting next meeting okay anything else for the town manager no uh item number 15 on the agenda is liaison reports and board invites uh I'll start by saying I saw the email come in for the liaison reports uh I was able to open it and go through it real quick um I don't think it's something we can get into at 9:00 tonight as far as who gets what um I don't have strong opinions myself um on the liaison reports and we'll defer to all of you to pick and choose as you please and then we'll try to figure it out so um maybe some kind of just formal write up or note back to Elaine is the ones that you're interested in for the next year would be the first step maybe I think Mary Joe and I already submitted ours okay great we s we send ours into to Runa so if you want to do the same and I don't Mr Man if you had a chance to do it or not I have not okay but you know um my history with liaison uh reports and liaison assignments in general is um you know and I would always make it very clear I as a liaison to a committee does not mean I will attend that committee's meetings I just can't do that no one can right but I would be available to any committee that I'm a leas on to if they need me to reach out and say hello but just to be very clear about the record once we set this up for me anyway I will not be going to every Comm committee meeting that IMA is on to it's just not possible I have to and I don't think you need to I think you know if they have an issue where they want the board's engagement they could certainly reach out but they all do great work it's just it's just physically impossible mentally impossible and you know with work and everything else it just doesn't make sense uh anything else on the aison reports anybody would like to discuss tonight so so I had go ahead the only thing I wanted to add was I didn't see DPW on there his name I didn't see the public works on there there as having a Lea on is that because Carrie got hired last year was there a Gap I'm just kind of curious I don't see it in the list we don't have a leas on to every Department not every department has has a leas on mostly boards and committees leas on not the Departments okay okay any other questions or comments uh no no all right we come back to that at a future meeting Lan but sorry I did have a couple y but um I just wanted to mention that I went to the Eagle Scout court of honor last night for troop one and I think we have citations for them and we'll invite them to the next meeting and then um I listened to the planning board meeting last night it was the first time they had met since the MBT vote failed at town meeting and so they I guess they've been talking with Town staff about when to do a special town meeting because we have to comply by December and Connor was going to be so busy with the elections in October November that the choices would be September or December so December September seem pretty quick to try to get something so I think they're kind of targeting December so we should all be aware of that and getting a timeline ready I think yeah I think December makes a lot of sense uh through the chair I also just wanted to um notify that there's an Interfaith program in the new mosque this coming Sunday at 2 2 330 uh coming Sunday at 2:00 I didn't oh an Interfaith program at the new mosque yeah so everyone's welcome to attend and um um Congressman Jim govern is going to attend and uh some of the Town leaders I'll be attending I think am me you're attending um and um another point I wanted to just uh clarify based on the Pasa open Forum that we had I think in one of the upcoming meetings we' want to discuss that as well as the Water Commission thoughts that you have so collectively we can make some uh Way Forward so great segue I have under item 17 for future board agenda items we have those listed and we'll be chipping away some of these as we move forward I was going to add this evening establish a development Economic Council Charter and composition as a future agenda item and then perhaps if I'm stealing your thunder a little bit establish um some some version and I don't know what that is so we could just get it on the agenda and discuss it then some version of a water uh and Sewer Commission or past commission whatever we want to call it however we want to focus we'll get to that but I think we should have that in there too is that all right yeah yeah I think that would be a good discussion we can incorporate the ideas and have a clean Water Commission or something to okay great expand the charter accordingly I have two more when it's on the email list it's at 2:00 on Sunday does anyone have any other um future board agenda items two more to mention um our next meeting is the night before juneth and we usually would hoist The Joint teth flag outside the town hall so if we could all come to the meeting a couple minutes early we could do that if that works I've done that the last few years and then also just to mention the paride parade is coming up this weekend at the HCA if everyone would like to attend great anything else any other future agenda items I had one um we've obviously had a a resident that's come for multiple public forums asking about kind of with the release of information with the louder Mill just what our response has been to avoid that you know just any process in place I believe was the nature of the question but like how information got released what we're doing to prevent it like is that something that we can dig into well it was investigated by the listed da and and they found that there was uh it actually happened at the attorney let's they were supposed to have redacted everything and it didn't get redacted I think they at a secretary redact it all and it was given to us and given to the public as a redacted issue let's do this like like like with public forum let's get it on the future board agenda items list and we can have the conversation things we're not posted to discuss it tonight um but I think uh we can put that on the list I just want to know anything else anybody else no okay all right um with that I think think correct oh one last thing July 2nd 2024 like that's the meeting date it's a default first and third there's some tone there I get it right I'm sorry it's the first and third Tuesday but you can certainly change it you guys want to do the July 2nd meeting or you want to move it I want to move it we want it to do July 9th no well July 9th we have the intervie we have the interviews and then July 16th we're hoping to make a decision on the town manager right I believe someone's coming for a parade permit sorry someone's coming for a parade permit that would be timely right or or no that can come in June okay 18th yeah you know sometimes the board only has one regular meeting in July and August you could do that that's kind of what I remember but I don't want to Sherk my responsibilities here I we can figure it out let's just leave it as is for now but okay all right with that the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn Move Motion joh second and it's seconded so moveed by Mr Man seconded by Mr Clark all those in favor I I oppos do we have anything to sign tonight yes we are adjourned thank you very much