##VIDEO ID:c-g1eBSPhLk## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I call the meeting to order this meeting of the Hopkinton select board is being held both in person and remotely using the video conference platform Zoom if all me all members oh well all members participating in the meeting are not present in the meeting room so select board members um Joe Clark Amir brush and shahul Manan will be participating in person and Mar Mary Joe is joining us at the moment um are present for this meeting at town hall room 215 216 in person at this time I will ensure that the select board members participating remotely can hear and be heard we don't have any tonight um so 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 all votes will be taken by roll call vote um we have marij Jo here so I'll hand it over to her okay I'll entertain a motion that we adjourn this meeting and go to Executive session I think we have to read the whole thing return um so I move to enter executive session pursuant to mgl chapter 30A section 21A purpose three to consider strategy with respect to litigation United States of America versus Michael Zep because an open meeting may have a detrial effect on the litigating position of the board to allow elain laser us to participate in executive session and to convene in open session at the conclusion of the executive session um we need to roll call vote call am B yes Joe Clark yes may yes yes do we need to roll call e e e e e e e e e and I'd like to open our regular Open Session please and uh first we will open with the Pledge of [Applause] Allegiance IED to the of the United States of America to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and I will open public forum and everybody will have 2 minutes John Ritz 11 Erica drive I'm a co-chair of the hopkington trails club and we are beginning our 20th year of service to the community I'm here to share a bit of our story I'll start with a complaint about the name that our Founders gave us folks ask how they can become member of the club but the problem is we really don't have any members or committees or anything that a club generally should have so if we're not a club what are we it depends sometimes we're a Consulting Group using our experience and expertise to provide advice and guidance on trail matters we act as mentors for scout projects respond to requests for trail recommendations and even advise Town officials when the town was considering creating a Trails committee the Trails Club researched What towns around us were doing and presented the town manager and slick board with a report and recommendations for those looking for advice online we have a website full of information about the trails in hopkington as well as those in neighboring towns other times we're like Park Rangers promoting hopkinton's local Trails by Leading walks to introduce people to the 30 plus Trail systems we have in town we've organized and led walks for the Girl Scout the senior center and the library and we lead a monthly walk for the community on these walks we even we often hear people say I've always wondered about this Trail or I never knew this Trail was here we've also acted as project managers for construction of some of hopkinton's signature Trails you won't find our name on any of them but we are responsible for the creation of the echo Trail the Hughes Trail and the center Trail that's right the blo center Trail was a Trails Club project and we continue to maintain it speaking of Maintenance finally the trails Club is a trail work crew we've always done some trail work but three years ago we started leading a monthly Trail work day in partnership with the trails committee it's been great for Scouts and students seeking community service hours and since the start of those work days our volunteers have provided 892 hours of work on the trails now I know finances are a topic nobody really cares about but the current value of an hour of volunteer work in Massachusetts is $40.95 so those 892 hours represent a donation of just over $ 35,5 65 to the town this year alone the value of our work is over $133,000 and since it was formed that club's volunteers have provided more than $42,000 worth of work to the town as we head into our 20th year we look forward to continuing two minutes can we finishing thank you as we head into our 20th year we look forward to continuing our service to the community and we encourage you and all residents to join us thank you thank you thank you good evening Steve snow 78 Pine is in the road again and often all right I just wanted to give you an update on my 20 June 20th foyer request as you may know the town took a long time to respond but ultimately claimed a bunch of exemptions on why they shouldn't have to give me the records I requested at least not one but there are ridiculous redacted I I objected to the claims of the exemptions the claims were ridiculous you should should read my September 4th email about that that I sent to Connor in that I explain why those exemptions are silly I also asked the town to comply with the public records law by providing me with the specific as to why they believe those exemptions apply to the redactions since then I've been asking the town to respond but on October 1st before the select board meeting I spoke with Connor and he told me that the town has no intention of responding to to it at all I never received an email phone call text message nothing to that it was just because I asked him what he was doing with my information and so today I spoke with the um Secretary of the Commonwealth to find out what my what my um options were and he walked for me through the um the appeals process for Tom's noncom clients I will be filing that appeal tomorrow and I will see C Conor on that of course so as you update and oh just to let you know the M the Northwest District Attorney's office just sent me a supplemental response in a flash drive to earlier response to my foyers that they missed some of the information in their investigation into Jo Bennett and to others who violated releasing the documents exposing the personal information about a rape victim that's right the NW Northwest District's attorney sent me a new flash drive of documents that they said they failed to provide me the first time they also explained all of the redactions in those documents and who who redacted them whether it was the town whether it was the Northwest District Clarity and transp Arcy how refreshing but not you why why is it so hard to just let me know what Chief Joe Bennett did with my criminal complaint if he violated POS if he violated his own policies or the town policy why is he still working or sitting at home with a broken ankle it's ridiculous it's just too much just hold those accountable we voted you people in to help run this town but to the will of the people and right now you're not you're not responding to it we the people don't have a voice here anymore it's it's freaking wrong so have a good night thank you and anyone else anyone on no no hands raised on Zoom okay moving on to the consent agenda select board will consider approving the minutes of the September 10th 2024 meeting accept a gift the select board will consider accepting a donation of $500 from Frederick Cullen to the sustainable green committee uh street name request pursuant to Mass General laws 174 Article 2 street names the select board will consider approving the name of Red Tail Circle for U the approval of a five lot subdivision at 24 Chestnut Street new employees the select board will consider confirming the town manager's appointment of Jesse NATO heavy equipment operator and Aaron balini a drug free committee Coalition coordinator and Vic Deon Administrative Assistant land use planning Nicholas Madero custodial maintenance worker weekends resignation we will accept the resignation of a select the select board will consider accepting the recognition of Donald wolf from the Council on Aging and November 24 uh 2024 state election warrant the select board will consider approving and signing the November 5th 2024 state election warrant does anyone want to break out any of those no no I don't have anything except I just want to congratulate the newly appointed uh town emplo and also thank uh Donald wolf for his service thank you okay thanks to the donation for the green committee can I have a motion to accept the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda second all in favor I I okay see them here so now uh I want to bring special temporary alcohol license for project just because uh the select board will consider approving a special temporary out alcohol license for project just because uh for a private invite only event for potential donors the event is to be held November 7th 2024 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 77 South Street the alcohol will be served by tips certified servers and will be donated does anybody want to discuss the permitting of the license uh just a clarification will be donated proceeds will be donated is that how we read it it sounds like alcohols will be donated certified servers just as we'll be donated oh that I think that means the servers are going to work as a donation the alcohol is donated as well huh the alcohol is donated thank you for clarifying y um all of the documents have have come in and uh no adverse comments approvals of H permitting team is okay with it yeah everything is here everything has come in so I will I will accept uh yeah everything seems in order everything seems to be in order so I move to approve special temporary alcohol license for project just because for an event on November 7 2024 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at 77 South Street second do I have a second second okay all in favor I okay uh I don't see Connor is here yet I know he was coming up from downstairs running behind he's on Zoom um I don't you're a little ahead to 10 minutes 10 minutes ahead okay oh is he in the building right now you're saying so oh so should we come back to him in 10 minutes then running behind would anybody like to take something out of order we have should we jump to lia's arm reports or town manager report sure how about uh Le's arm reports do we have any um I don't have anything particular I went for the Arts on trail it was fantastic by cultural committee um so Kos to them and all the participants okay yes we have a a the new mosque is having an open house on Saturday from 1 to three I believe uh it's coming up uh anything else anybody can um the freedom team is having an event at the H on Thursday um called Artful conversations what does it mean to be indigenous um so everyone's invited to 10 that's a free event okay okay that's are things that are coming up I have uh one report that the uh the mass transit has received some money from the state and we will be meeting uh next month to discuss the possibilities of what we're going to do with that uh so that's my report for the for this anybody have anything that they want to discuss while we're here waiting I could add that the CPC um the deadline to submit applications closed so that they um will be reviewing them at their next meetings so anyone can view them online if they're interested good point and what's the last date Amy um the CPC Grant applications were due last week and so those are now all available for anyone who would like to read more about them and they'll be reviewing them to make sure they comply with their guidelines thank you the senior center has a few things coming up one of them is for people like me who wear hearing aids um they're having a hearing aid cleaning day next Thursday and you should call first and make an appointment and uh they still have some openings so if someone is interested that that is H something that's going on this week you want to do the should we do the town manager report there still like seven minutes you want to start your reported line the Conor estimates about five or 10 minutes oh F five or 10 minutes okay so that gives you time so for the TA manager report uh this week uh regarding the Main Street Corridor project um highlights are you know all the 12 Transformers have been delivered and installed eversource has completed its overhead transfer work overhead electric infrastructure to the underground electric infrastructure continues um waiting information from ever Source before connections into buildings on the east side can be scheduled an overhead transfer work continues Comcast is on site and expected to be finished by the end of October um existing utility poles located between the police station and Ash Ash Street will be removed once the new underground infrastructur is operational and all utility services for the properties in the area have been transferred um the installation of the bricks began in September um that continues to go on and today they excavated the sidewalk in front of town hall for the brick work Landscaping plan changes are under review by mot which may result in some of the landscaping for the project being pushed out to next year uh pending an on-site meeting to review the plans so that's it for Main Street um any questions on on that I do I did hear a question from the public um we have a bunch of temporary easements for this project and when we first did them even though we expected the project to last 3 years the easements were extended for 5 years but we are unfortunately getting dangerously close to 5 years so what happens if we're not done before the temporary easements expire I'll have to get back to you on that okay I think the hope is we won't need those easements beond that time but okay and then it's just every time I drive by Main Street although I know it says that Comcast is on site and working it doesn't really look like much progress has been made on moving wires since July it's been slow okay and then regarding a town Department position vacancies no new vacancies since the last meeting Conor is here sorry Conor is here but we can finish this up I can I can finish this later if we want do you want we're still a few minutes ahead of schedule okay all right uh with regard to budget listening sessions last year the um the board held a number of budget listening sessions in different times different locations um attendance was slim um so I think the discussion was uh the wish should discuss at some point whether it would like to hold them and if so where and what times do you think people would be interested in coming out and hearing from the board or perhaps you would go somewhere where an event is being held something like that so we consider some various options different locations different times and it can be with staff or if it's during the day or it can be with the board in the evening so there's a lot of options yeah I like the idea I was thinking if you can propose some kind of U special events are specific that would be more convenient as well as um effective we could go for those yeah I do think the idea of picky backing on other events might be more successful because when you just say do you want to come talk about the budget most people do not that doesn't know sound very interesting but if we go to an event that's already happening we have a table or that might be helpful do you have the schedule from last year and like which events were they all kind of low participation they all were at they were held at various there was time at at number of Select board meetings and there was no one no one present and it was one at the senior center in the afternoon there's one with Chambers there quite a few do you think we should have more events or go with what we have different events I think rather than more maybe I don't could schedule a few over the next say four or five months let's start there yeah like if there were any events at the library we could have a table there so people would be there for the event anyway that's right with the HCA um even during Library people are there yeah yeah okay uh moving on a bit we have our town clerk Connor Degan and he's going to present us with our new assistant town clerk will Lee good evening everyone good evening uh so as you know I'm Conor Degan your town clerk and we've just welcomed to the team now for two weeks will Lee who comes to us from teaching he was a Civics teacher and his background has already proven fantastic and quickly learning all of the aspects especially hitting the ground running as we go into election season he had assisted in both Ashland and Franklin when it comes to their election process over the last few years so he really was able to quickly ad adjust to that as we we are in the thick of the 2024 election cycle um but he's been a great addition anyone who's had a chance to meet him so far has seen he's definitely keeps in with the the theme of keeping it friendly and informative in the clerk's office well I I will I'll start off and I will say that I had the privilege of working with Will 3 days last week and it was like he had always been there uh he really he's really picking up things fast and with the election coming up there was a lot to do and uh I'm very happy that he's he's there he's good with people he's good with the office and uh I think he's been doing a great job so far and uh if anybody you have any questions for for will as our new assistant town clerk don't have any questions but we just like to welcome him and um we're very glad to have you in the nick of time before the elections uh the early votings beginning next week and then you have the special town meeting in November so you're going to Jump Right In I know Conor is glad to have the help so welcome thank you no questions congratulations and welcome William right uh on time and we'll be drinking from the firehouse but we need that help and glad Connor has the help welcome and then I encourage of course the the public to come by and and say hello and meet the the new assistant especially as we go into early voting in the next few weeks you know we're going to have plenty of traffic downtown so hopefully with the foot traffic we'll see a few people stopping in to say hello and see how everything's running and and I understand that you have all of the ballots out now 100% of everything that we received before 1011 so if anyone has not seen it in the mail yet it's because the post office hasn't gotten it to you yet we've received a lot of phone calls today but uh everything is out in the mail unless we just received your application today for all the residents um understanding the early wedding starts on October 19 that is correct it goes the 19th through November 1st and it skips the two Sundays in between there uh during the week it just runs during our office hours and on the two Saturdays the 19th and the 26th it runs from 10: a.m. until 400 p.m. here at Town Hall thank you let's all vote I encourage everybody to get out and vote and I thank you guys very much and we welcome will and do we have a camera around here somewhere we going to take a picture somebody's got to have one picture would you like to be okay thank you thank you speaking of our budget sessions what is the busiest time at Town Hall is it Tuesday evening because it's open late like because we could have a table at the lobby during the busiest time or Monday morning Monday morning is it bued Ah that's interesting huh or when taxes are due oh well and people paying taxes might be interested in the budget so here we go so that might be an option to just have coffee in the morning okay uh moving on we have received a a draft of the possible new trails uh committee draft now as I understand it the trails committee the town Trails committee is still working on projects that they have are they've been doing and are not finished however this will be a new trails committee when they're done they will be disbanded just as the other one has and this will be uh a new committee so we will I encourage everybody to read the new Charter or the new the draft and of the new committee and to come forward with suggestions and uh let me see Elaine is there anything you want us specifically to focus on with this um yeah thank youor Joe I just want to thank um all the people for that provided comments uh to me as I Was preparing this draft uh was very help um tried to incorporate um suggestions from current and former members of upper Charles and the tcmc was very helpful and also uh open space chair as well so it was very helpful to me um so the process um once the board is comfortable with this language the process to establish this committee because we're going to be transferring Appropriations would be an administrative order under the charter so that would be a public hearing um and a vote of this board um the last committee that was created that way was the permanent building committee so it doesn't happen that often but we have gone through this process before to create various committees um so that would be the process but in the meantime um it would be great to know if you had any edits or questions about the current draft um I wasn't able to incorporate everyone's comments but I tried to get as close as I could um and you know take on the the flavor of what it what the current committees were doing that people wanted them to continue with and what the goals of the Town might be in that regard so it would be an entirely new committee uh that would be created with the membership to be appointed by this board thank you elen so to understand and for everyone's understanding what would be the next um steps in formalizing this so you mentioned uh public hearing uh in incorporating the feedback and then bringing to the board for vote and then start going about forming the bodies but um we also have another tcmc uh that is we have it in effect until we finalize this so that's another step in between uh did I say it right or anything else you want to add oh that's correct so I'll formally submit it to the board and then within 30 days the board will have a hearing um and then after that uh there's a period of time where the at the the uh the public will be able to comment at the hearing um and then following the hearing um you can amend the proposal and then be subject to final review by the board um and then would the board would vote on the on the administrative order okay and the committee would be created we'd then seek members uh like we always do by posting the vacancy and then you would appoint members to the committee and the tcmc would be um disbanded following the appointment of the new committee had a couple questions comments um is to the chair is that okay yeah um I was I was a little concerned about the associate member non- voting members it seems like other committees I've been on that have had associates they can usually vote in the absence of a permanent member because sometimes you get into the where one member has to travel a lot for work and they're never there and then it's kind of hard so I guess I would lean towards the associates could vote in the absence of a permanent member or not whatever full member I guess and then the other thing I would really like the language to be beefed up a little bit about accessibility because so I would say the majority if not all the trails in town are not really very access are not fully accessible so I just want to make sure that that does not get lost and then we're not going to strive towards um some accessible trails and accessible in a variety of ways not just mobility issues but could be Vision issues or um in neurodiversity other potential issues good um these um money articles for particular uh projects um should be transferred to the new trails committee they would be they will be and the new committee would decide whether to proceed with with those or not or how to so while while we are waiting for the tcmc to complete the what the projects or whatever it is that they're working on for us to uh we're going to accept this proposal or accept uh comments on this proposal and I would like to encourage anybody in the town who's interesting to please come forward and apply for the new committee um comments yeah thank you El for putting it together I think this is long de and we want to resolve and move forward one quick comment I have is ideally I'm not sure if we do want to have you know full member and then associate member why not all full members and all voting members um I didn't understand the value proposition there and my my thinking is we should do all full members all voting members everyone spending time and energy and uh participating fully and we should recognize that by providing that and in doing that I don't know if 10 is the right number or 9 or 11 uh we can talk about that but that's my um General feedback so an increase in the number of members is that what you were sugges right so eliminating the associate members and adding them as full members and making it uh if we sum up now it'll be what 10 right so we can go with 10 or if we think for decision making an odd number is better we could go nine or 11 I I like nine nine is yeah it's reasonable nine I I'm not sure that I want to disband the associate member bit alog together because we might have students that want to get involved and maybe wouldn't be a full member right away uh and being an associate member also helps with the learning process but uh that's that's up to the board when we decide to vote on this yeah I lean towards what Mary Joe is saying too that it's a good place for somebody to get involved before they become a full member but I mean it can go either way but but I I I lean toward having some Associates what do you think I I don't have a strong opinion but I do think that you know I I even if it's student or new members like with all other boards even in the select board we get a new member as the new member not as an associate so that's my thinking I mean there are other it's a large enough committee others to quote and teach even if there is a new member so not having a full membership in my view doesn't um really recognize the uh value and the time and effort they're putting in and it it it just makes my thinking like a second class membership that's my opinion I I wanted to ask a question about okay we're going to have a new Committee of nine people all at once um should we have a number of staggered years instead of all nine and then years from now we have to appoint all nine again uh we probably should have uh appointments for 2 years 3 years four years 5 years you know for the whole nine even though they'll be appointed at the same time yeah it's kind of Incorporated there saying that initial members shall be appointed to 1 2 and three year terms right to achieve staggered terms we kind of have are looking at a nine member too so so so just to just to kind of summarize that I think we're all in agreement with nine the associates is up in the air but if there is Associates they're non- voting members is that well that's I'm just trying to clarify I don't have a strong opinion on this I guess if there are Associates I'd like them to be able to vote in the absence of a of a full member CU I guess I've been on committees where like one full Committee Member just is never there and then it seems not productive to have other people there that can't vote do we have associate membership besides the youth or which other committees do we have associate membership so for example the the tcmc for example has three associate members that have never no one has ever um been appointed to those so it's as needed and I think the thought was that for a trail committee there people who want to do work on the ground but do don't necessarily want to attend meetings necessarily or be involved in you know the day-to-day working so you know if you wanted someone who's a doer on the committee that might be a place for them um but I think it's variable so for example the board of appeals has associate members who participate if a member is not is not there um so there's there's a variety uh we have associate members on the Council on Aging as well and historical commission design review Zing advisory many many committees and it's some are some can be voting members and some some not so yeah I understand I knew some of the associate members in the tcmc and I heard them that they were not feeling their voice was heard and they were valued enough um or recognized enough um so that's also part of the kind of thinking um so that's my thinking on that why why keep it separate make it all together and everyone can participate and everyone can vote speak up their mind so it's it's not necessary to have Associates we can have them so for example the tcmc they were on there and said that they may be appointed if if somebody wants to but it wasn't wasn't required so um we we have copies of the um we don't have to decide tonight right propose it's a draft yes the proposed draft so that uh if anybody wants to come and see it and make comments they may they're free to also and uh we will be uh making a decision on this at a a later meeting should should we um if we go with nine should we bump Quorum up to five instead of four oh yeah that's a good idea right okay so then would that make quum harder to get yeah that's the debate I agree though if it's nine then it should be five for the quum okay anybody else have any uh questions or comments or nope otherwise it looked very good to me okay so we're going to move on to the local option meals excise tax the select board we will discuss adopting a local option meals excise as an additional source of Revenue Massachusetts imposes a 6.25 sales tax on meal sold or bought from restaurants or any restaurant part of a store cities and towns may add an additional 75% adoption would require a town meeting vote so really what we're going to do is decide to put it on the on the meeting warrant can I can I start with this yeah so Elaine and I were invited to the chambers meeting on Tuesday last week Wednesday I forget which day um and so this came up as part of that I know we have a couple chamber members here are we able to have them come up and speak to this with this being a chamber driven thing is that okay I think that's a good idea yeah it's it's it's up to you oh okay can we can invite chamber member up do you guys want to come up if you want to just one perfect good evening my name is Paul Ostrander tender Carlo Road hackington um going to read just a brief statement from the hington Chamber of Commerce uh the Hoppington Chamber of Commerce board of directors unanimously supports the local meals excise tax to specifically help fund a full-time Economic Development officer in a small town the path of economic resilience and growth often requires focused attention and strategic planning an economic development officer can play a vital role in this journey bringing the expertise and Leadership to Foster local businesses attract new Investments create job opportunities tailor to our community's unique needs by supporting the local meals excise tax to help fund an Edo we can harness the potential of our local resources promote Entre entrepreneurship and build partners ships and strengthen our local economy I think it's very important to state that 358 communities and cities in Massachusetts of the 351 already have this meals excise tax it's 73% and um I believe that this uh proactive approach will help enhance the quality and life of our residents and businesses in hopkington for a prosperous future uh a lot of this has been discussed with some of you in the past um so really just when the math comes down to it it's very inexpensive for the consumer we have a few restaurant tours and Brewery owners if you can guess who on the board of directors who all have supported this uh so for example if you buy $100 worth of food not alcohol or liquor food you would only be assessed an additional 75 cents on top of your bill think that's very um minor for any consumer and uh it can go directly to helping support uh our town and especially flagged for an economic development officer thank you awesome thank you Paul so so I think thank you so I I think it's a great thing he talked about a small impact to the consumer and you know I think we won't know officially for you know until this goes into place but this is not going to be a massive Revenue stream um and and I know we're up here joking no Financial articles in the in the special Town meetings but at least this one's Revenue so I think what it is is if we're looking at this as an opportunity to kind of invest in Economic Development you know they talked about an economic development officer um personally like talk to Elaine talk to Julia you know they're both and elae you can speak for yourself in a minute but they're both supportive I don't think this is going to fund one a dedicated person full-time but could be used towards Economic Development programs um I think neighboring towns use it as an incentive for new businesses to come in you know 10,000 like it's just an example but $10,000 for a new business to come into hopkington there's a lot of ways we can use this even though it's not a large amount of money and we're reinvesting in the community to give our taxpaying residents more benefit from the town I think it's a great thing that we should just put on put on the agenda for town meeting and let the town vote well I'm all for economic development I was on the economic development task force for the town of Franklin when they decided to H to have one and develop a number of programs um I'm not sure have we checked with the state and found out that we can designate this tax I haven't found out the final answer I have learned that you can uh earmark it for a stabilization fund but I'm still waiting to hear whether you can dedicate it to a salary or program specifically I know there are there are rules and regulations as to how we can use the these you know how we can use taxes and I know Auto excise tax has to like go to the general fund and it goes through um and I'm not sure that that this can be designated if it can fine um but we that's something we definitely have have to find out and it will go into the stabilization it can go into the stabilization fund right if that's part of the vote okay okay well I guess we have some more research to do here too but um but the special town meeting W closes maybe you're about to say the special town meeting weren't closes this week right right we can we can vote to put on the meals tax I just don't know if we can designate it anywhere correct and and I think that's the important thing for tonight is we have a short window to do it we can't say for sure but again if we're if the intent is to earmark it for economic development as she continues to work with the do we'll get more we'll get more clarity if we want to get this tax on the books then we have to put it on at at town meeting yeah just like that so uh let's have a roll call on putting it on town meeting shall you do can I make some comments for sure I didn't get a chance um so for economic development I think we are all um aligned on that and I've been talking about it for a while and we did talk about building an economic development Forum uh so we can talk about that and in fact the um position that we have now partial economic development that was funded uh when I was starting to talk with um representative James ARA D Rosa and got a grant for that that's how Julia ch's uh position was parly funded but we talked about that it is certainly not um sufficient for a town size of ours and for the things that we want to do and so I think this is a very creative way to fund a full full-time officer and full-time office activities um so this to me makes sense given that few things one uh I saw the research that you have submitted as well that pretty much all our surrounding towns and 73% of Massachusetts towns have opted for it so um the funny thing is even if we don't have it most of our residents are paying it they're just paying it in some other town uh so with this we'll get some benefit uh for our town uh so I think that makes a lot of sense and in terms of um uh ear marking this I I did some research it says Massachusetts law actually allows for it uh but we want to hear from Brian and see what exactly are the um legal procedure to do that before we move forward but I think it makes sense from that and and last but not the least we can Shel it for another time my thinking was when I read through this and I think I see Ron is here Ron actually floated the idea some time ago and we discussed about this and I think this is a very novel and creative idea given the financial constraints that we are going through where we want to do more on economic development but we cannot spend really much more from our opics and others so I'm really happy to see that coming to this slide um another uh idea I wanted to interject is actually for our tax the economic development eventually is going to contribute to our overall Town's Revenue stream and that would help us manage um the burden of taxes so given that philosophical concept I would like to also think about if we U um get U to that allocating 10 20% of this for our tax relief for elderly and Veterans and 80% for um the economic development office the only reason is that kind of uh provide some more Equity to the challenges we are having with elderly struggling for tax relief and we don't have enough Fund in the tax relief fund as we hear from sukuri and others from that committee and last but not the least I think uh there's tremendous potential for economic development and this will only be the beginning uh and the numbers are really not too bad um I think our neighboring smaller towns of our size Garners almost 150 to 250k per year eventually uh um Welsley gets almost 800,000 of course Framingham being its big size gets almost over a million so it can grow over time and uh contribute significantly to our various activities that we want to do in this in this sector so I'm I'm uh thinking this is a very good idea and we should we it out on the legal perspective and go forward with this yeah I'm comfortable with us putting this on the warrant and seeing if it passes and it was it's good to know that um most towns already have this so it's not like we'll be an outlier um and then I had asked theen like it looks like our neighboring towns have it too Southboro ashon Westboro and I was asking approximately how much revenue and I think the smaller ones like Ash and the Southboro were 100,000 some right southb I think in fy2 24 had 124,000 or so and Ashlin 292 292 wow okay and it will take some time before we um start seeing the revenue to know how it will work out for us really okay but I think I'm comfortable with starting it this year yeah and I think to that point so if this got voted on at special town meeting it would go into effect January 1st and we would see the first reimbursement and in Q2 calendar calendar Q2 so by April May we'd have an estimation on what you know partial year looks like so I I think it's a great thing I to are we ready to take a vote put it on town meeting y Shah sh yes do we have a motion we have a i moveed to submit an article into the November 18th special town meeting warrant to accept general laws 64 L section 2A to impose a local meals excise tax second man yes Amy Ames yes Joe Clark yes mayor J yes thank you thank you chamber okay and now we will go back to Elaine and her man Town manager report okay thank you uh one of the items that I attached to the town manager report was a list of grants that are subject to the MBTA Community oh can I just ask a question this goes back to the the last article uh I have friend who is economic development coordinator for the count of North Fork do we have one from middle sex that we could draw on for some help no M sex doesn't have one we don't have County government like norfor County does we're not part of County government okay okay I actually wanted to check another L for um Economic Development related one because I've been kind of pushing this as an agenda for a couple of years now if you can include me in the conversations and in the meetings I would appreciate that okay so um one of the um attachments to the T manager report was anticipated grants that we expect to be anti uh affected by U not non-adoption of the MBTA Community zoning uh so I had um staff take a look at the list and put in um uh different grants that we've applied for in the past and received um so there is some some representation there and some grants that the town may want to take advantage of in the future so we'll continue to to think of um of these uh potential efforts and then um any new grants we hear of that keep getting added so there are grants that keep are getting added to this list yeah um so we don't know the full number and we may never know they just may decide to to do to make that change in the future as we go I say thank you I really appreciate that and I hope the superintendent will add to it too um if there's any education related items I think the big one for the town is the mass Works Grant which we've been fortunate to receive a number of times and that would affect things like water infrastructure project okay um and do we know the Milton had their day in court but do we know when the decision is expected it could be months that's really unfortunate because it would be helpful for all the cities and towns to know how that's going to go um the MBTA uh communities act it says grants affected what do you mean by that exactly so if the town does not adopt uh the bylaw and comply with the state requirements we will not be eligible for any of those grants starting January 1 until until the town complies we're not eligible and the uh the town meeting voted for us not to participate in this right correct but it's on the special town meeting warrant okay so theoretically though if it does not pass next month we'll be back at town meeting in May and like another article could be on for this again correct and then we could comply at that time so you talked about m works I know that's the big one you know all the all the Main Street Corridor project stuff is already allocated right like there's nothing on calendar year 25 that we're expecting that we would use this grant for uh there's nothing that hasn't been spent at this point okay so as of right now there's no impact if this was to get voted down I don't think it's retroactive so like things that we yeah that's what I'm trying to make sure well we're not sure we're not sure possible that uh they can revoke Grant now I know Milton Milton is the first town that is going to court on this Millis is it huh which town is it Milton Milton Milton and um how how they doing do we know have any any results I mean i' I've heard Scuttle but but I think it's also it's not like in my opinion it's not like an Apples to Apples comparison to hopkington Milton is in their top tier of it you know that Rapid Transit Community you know we the third tier adjacent community so I I think as Amy pointed out it's helpful for us from a decision-making standpoint but we can't you know necessarily rely on we did talk about joining other towns in a suit so I that's why I was wondering how they making out although I don't know if from the legal obligation perspective that will make any difference particularly um in other words we'll get sued yeah I think very L I agree with you I think Mary Joe's point is we could we could share legal fees in the in in the event of a lawsuit right right yeah right but we're looking to um get a permanent clean water solution from the MW and if we vote it down starting January 1 we cannot apply for a mass Works grant for that until we get into compliance so I mean that's a risk we've already delayed a little bit on the water delayed four months on the water now so yeah we don't want any more legal challenges and lawsuits but it's the town's decision so I was just going to say like this I I think the planning board has done a great job putting options together the only thing I don't like is the fact that the same option that got voted down less than six months ago was back on special town meeting I just think that goes against the point of open meeting structure of government um CU it was a great plan letter of the law Spirit of the law Town voted it down like let's see a new Option let's make it clear to the residents why we're showing a new Option and we we'll see what happens it's not our decision eventually it's the towns and Town members they're the legislature right so it's their decision I think our job and uh planning board is trying to do that well is to make sure we have all the information all the analysis all the impact and good understanding so everyone can make a educated decision and also everyone as much as possible can participate in the discussion and in the decision making showing up on the town board let's see a good reason to attend Town meeing yes do we have a date for the planning board public hearing on the maps I forgotten I hav there is a date but I didn't bring that with me okay we should try to publicize that so people can come ask their questions about the three options then um before town meeting this is a state mandate right yes so the town voted it down and that's absolutely you know where we're at but uh the planning board does kind of have an application to keep their eyes on a plan in case we lose well it's I guess it's out of the what do you mean like so we could try again in next year if it kind of but it's going to be on us if we're losing we're in charge of the budget and then if if we're losing the grants then we'll have to figure out what we're going to do about that okay we did some liaison reports do we have any more just have one final Town manager report item excuse me it's one final Town manager report item oh yeah I'm sorry I thought that was one more one more just um announcing the release of uh some executive session minutes so uh periodically we're required to go through through uh executive session minutes and identify any that can be released so um I'm announcing the release of minutes of November 19th 2019 December 3rd 2019 February 4th 2020 and September 17th 2024 and they'll be filed with the town clerk tomorrow that's it okay I think I did find the the planning board date here can I can I have a motion to release those minutes to the town clerk doesn't have to take a board so the board's uh um staff reviews them and then the chair reviews them um and then they can be released and Town Council has already reviewed them as well and in the criteria just for my understanding isn't it time bound like it has to age certain years or no uh it's whenever the purpose of the executive session no longer exists the reason for that like for negotiating a contract and the contract is done and signed something is done okay thank so the planning board hearing on the special hearing on the zoning is October 28th at 7 p.m. via Zoom what was that date October 28th at 700 p.m. on Zoom okay anything else Elan no okay any other leazar reports that we didn't get to no okay any new future agenda items to again I don't think so have we have quite a few right going yes um given the tax exercise one Ela I spoke to the chambers as well on the 12th I'm going to their board meeting to talk about the economic development forum and um collect some feedback so we can move the discussions uh I think the goal with that is I want to understand what they um I shared with them the structure Ure and the information and I shared it actually for quite a few times and back and forth so hopefully we'll collect some more feedback from them and uh in the meantime we discussed in our last session so we can schedule something after that to discuss further on that anything on tax relief manager uh no uh the regular tax relief things are out there the school tax relief will not be uh done until next year it's they left us with quite a bit of criteria for the application and I did talk to John nce about it and uh Renee chin and we're going to be working up the uh the program and the application uh and it's it's going to be quite a long process actually uh and that's uh that's where we have all the other exemptions the uh are in there and I would like people to start getting ready to fill out those applications for exemption for uh veterans and elderly and uh blind and and families of slain officers police officers fire department uh we have a great number of exemptions we have uh an exemption for people who are um really kind of destitute or or have no uh who want to delay their taxes we can delay them totally and when they sell their home or or become deceased or something like that happens then the town can uh take the money and add an 8% increase um and let me see there's just so many various uh applications for exemption that I there's a book on it at the senior center with all the applications in it so that people can look at it go through it browse it and you can get in touch with Renee Chen anytime in the assessor's office and she will be glad to explain any one of the exemptions that you're interested in for the sake of time I think we don't probably need to talk about all of these but in general do you want to keep it in the future agenda or you want to cross it out thinking we disc tax Rel no I we're keeping that in the agenda uh Su curies wants to come okay before us and uh I'm hoping that she will do it the end of November the beginning of December when the the tax bills for next year will be going out in January and then they will start getting the applications for tax relief and that's when I think we could use some they could use some publicity on it because they can't raise funds she may be at the next meeting doing oh good what she may be at the next meeting on November 12th oh she was going to come to the next meeting okay that's early but that's great yeah I was just thinking we have nine on back up so is a good idea to start putting them in the future agenda or of course the chair will also decide yeah um number four um Joe you have the Tim bran and number five also is yours on unredacted documents do you want to keep them schedule them keep them both for now but not schedule them now nothing scheduled yet okay we have we have discussed a few of yeah no I mean we discussed like number four we've discussed that was an executive session so we're that's moving on we're waiting to hear back from Council and um number five we do need to get back on I think we asked in January right yeah is is that when we tabled it too oh I mean that's s that's number six number Red unredacted do related yeah no I'm talking about how to implement the information that we've learned so far correct so so I think we agreed with like the the process that he provided plus we want to look at adopt a software so it's I think we keep that on for now no no immediate meeting need um and then to Amy's point the the last one was tabled till at least January okay number six oh number six right right okay uh number seven that's Brian's number eight Amy I think that number seven is done I I have to say that uh the senior centers and they have complained to the the state and the legislature and as far as I know the answer was no to the certain it's not all employees that are being denied it's only certain jobs and and they're not part of the tax relief program for some reason we we thought they were or the town of senior center thought they were and they were being given an exemption but uh the state has said no they don't get one for what it is that they're doing so is there a workaround there's other jobs they can do is there a workaround there are other jobs they can do um the wood count yes yes okay sorry there are a lot of jobs that count that L we'll focus on that going forward even at the senior center waiting count okay you know it's just a certain a certain few jobs that the state has said no to so that's also something to schedule seems like in future right can have an update update uh the budget listening session Amy I think yours yeah we do need to um figure that out cu we're in the budget season now y do you could that be something that you or vuda could do administratively send out a list of potential dates and we could see see we available we can try to look at some dates times places some suggestions yeah that would be great and the last one is um the report from Commission on disability is that something I should reach out elain or you want to reach out and see when is it a good day for them to come over and give us an update and how we can support them get kind of well I can ask since I'm on the committee if you want um I don't know if there would be ready for that or not so I I can ask though whenever we've also reached out to the affordable housing fund board so um we've reached out and that's why it's not on the list anymore so they'll come when they're ready okay sounds good all right making progress that's all we have any other new items anyone you and do we have uh any comments or anybody know of any other activities that might be going on in town that we should [Applause] announce okay I'll entertain a motion to adjourn this meeting I move to adjourn the meeting second all in favor by thank you