and just remind everyone that this part this our meeting is recorded for um uh lctv it will be available on demand so anything that you say and your likeness will be on the reporing okay Anna why don't you start because like I say this was your document well thank you um chair Mueller and CPC members um for having this joint meeting we we do have a quorum of the affordable housing trust as well this evening so last year our respective groups met with fincom and one of the results was they requested we formalize the transfer of funds between CPC going to affordable housing trust and this agreement that we have received um does just that the first two pages are the agreement the third page exhibit a recognizes the funding that has transferred from CPC to the affordable housing trust since its Inception in 2019 and then in the final page is the grant schedule or exhibit B for the most recent um funding that was approved at town meeting so the idea would be that Hereafter every time we have a funds transfer from CPC to the affordable housing trust a new exhibit will be Dr drawn up and attached to the agreement so that's the purpose of of having this right and this is um for affordable housing trust and for conservation the land agreements you're this is a requirement we're supposed to have an agreement for at least for those two and we really should for and we'll talk about this at our meeting um other nonprofits that they get grants we have not done that um but this one kind of has kickstarted the process so um I thank Anna for pursuing this because there are many different forms that this can take so I think we kind of come up with the simplest but most thorough right and a little bit of background so we had received a version that um was from Stuart sagor CPC and it was bit more than what we needed based off of our meeting back in April with Town Council and this is a shorter condensed version of what had been reviewed by joint members back in 2019 then we can we we speculate that between the pandemic and and regrouping um um it just you know didn't get signed so we updated it a little bit and and we have what what we have now does anyone have any questions or comments on this so this was approved previously or no it it had been drafted by Town Council previously and I think it was reviewed by the affordable housing trust but beyond that I don't think it it took any further steps um The One content comment I have well two I have but um in two in number two well let's see um anyway it says it's number two and it says um terms agreement is 10 years I I would say 10 years seems like an awfully long time and I would suggest five years I mean a lot can happen in 10 years to change things but that's just my comment and the 10 years is just for the the boiler plate part of the agreement we would when a new agreement comes in schedule B would then be attached to it okay that makes a difference uhuh so do you feel more comfortable with all of the schedules that are attached I'm sorry what um do you feel more comfortable now that you know that all of the schedules would be attached as they go along over the 10 years or would you still prefer to keep it at 5 no I think um I'd be okay with 10 given that this is just the boiler plate part of it okay right and for those of anyone who's watching this afterwards the the beginning part is really just you know explaining kind of what the CPA does what the trust does and that the the trust May submit applications to CPA for funds and get approved by fund for town meeting um and then whereas the trust and CPC have conferred and agreed that the funds received by the trust are used solely for CPA eligible activities um to support community housing benefit of low and moderate income individuals and families and then the defi definition of that in the town code um that the CPC and Trust agree that the this document um constitutes the entire agreement between the two and the agreement 10 years from the effective date which um we just discussed y um subject to terms of the agreement the trust May apply to the CPC um for funding time to time and then that we would um put those details in exhibit B um down um should the trust of multiple funding sources um funding sour ources the funds will be held in a separate Municipal account and the trust will track their use of the funds separately from the other funding sources um the trust will track the cost of allowable scope through reasonable means of cost estimating and use only the funds for the allowable portion of the project cost any unused funds will remain with the trust and reduce the amount of subsequent funding requests which as we said if like the rental vouchers if they want to get Ral vouchers next year and they still have $3,000 left they'll only ask for 9 90,000 less three um funds are used for acquisition of real property it should be only used for community housing um things like that um all records and administrative records will be um kept through the trust and help that the town so that can be applied to any project and then again we would have this exhibit B which is the recipient the actual project that we're funding that time the timetable um time frame of that project and the total Grant amount award and the initial dispersement so that's the quick quick overview correct yep so any other comments or questions on this all right I'm not seeing any comments from I have one more minor comment but it may be a legal issue I don't know that the word Grant should be used anywhere in here I don't think CPC funds are legally considered a grant I'm not sure of that but I'm almost sure so it could just say agreement or funds I don't know actually the I mean talk about a grant agreement like the Coalition oh they do yeah and the I don't have the code with dat but the language used is definitely um called a grant and so really yeah and and Town Council um decided to to use that so even in the one um here that I have from that Stuart sagor sent us it says um town of blank Massachusetts Community preservation act Grant agreement for affordable housing trust okay I will deferm thank you for raising those Linda I guess we have no more questions okay well I would definitely like to thank um Carolyn and and Mitt and Bartlett for their time in in reviewing this over with with the fine tooth comb and then we submitted it to um Town Council and that's what we have in front of us so thank everybody for their time on that so with that um Madame chair if you want to do you guys want to vote first and then we'll do that yes do we have a motion I move we um vote to accept the community preservation committee Grant agreement with the Litton affordable housing trust is presented to us today I second it we have a motion by Jeff a second by Linda um we do have mitt online so we'll do a roll call vote Sam yes Andrew yes Carolyn is a yes Jeff yes Linda yes and Mitt uh this is M I'm yes thank you thank you okay it's unanimous on our side thank you and for affordable housing trust members um do we have a motion I will move that the affordable housing trust votes to uh accept the um Grant is it a memorandum of understanding or are we calling it it it it it's a grant agreement a grant agreement with the community preservation um Commission all right was get a second second all right so we have a motion to um uh vote to approve this grant agreement um and let's see Kim yes Sue yes Mark yes Matthew yes and Anna is a yes so we are unanimous on that vote terrific well thank you very much for having this quick joint meeting to take care of that so Carolyn um if you would like to um sign an original copy and um and I can sign it as well and we can turn it over to Diane Cy um all right perfect yall drop it off okay great um and then um we'll be all all set to go so um just a point of order maren do we need to um dissolve this meeting and then move to the next one and restart or just move to the next meeting I think we can just I think we can just continue the affordable housing trust meeting I don't I don't think we need to dissolve it great all right so everybody let's get off this one and then get on the next one thank you thanks for having us CPC thank you thanks everybody M you stay there bye I think m's on of town oh she was on there she was on maybe she's just there but not oh yeah maybe she's out of town but I mean I she's okay so they Dro at someone else might have tuned in for yeah oh coer okay all right so now get on with our our meeting here um no Lions to go so there's someone here waiting ml Lions teada does anyone look t a k e d does that W Bell with anyone I can make them go away though right if I if they are bad right I can drop someone if I go here right remove okay hi um this is the CPC meeting uh the affordable housing trust part of it has um taken place they've gone on to their own meeting are you looking for them or for us go okay ah okay um news and mail is the first um I just had a little bit of news um the CPA has announced the fund well not the final fund distribution for November but they always give towns percentage to use for the estimate and it's at 14.4% so you know here we were touting 30% on our um our investments and it's down quite a bit um they were saying that you know increase in interest rates um you know limited inventory how high housing prices over the last few years has decrease the amount of registry fees and that's the big the big portion of of the CPA trust fund um they were saying like between April 2024 and 2023 it's down 26% so that's a lot year-to dat collections are down 10% so um and eight towns that will be this fall have CPA on their um ballots ballots to join all little towns they were all small towns but still um so it was interesting there even if the pot gets bigger there's not going to be as much to go around but that was just interesting um are there any other member updates any feels like a long time since we've met it does and I just want to thank everyone for their help with um town meeting and Webster property there's I think they signed papers on that last evening um to they're they have to wait till July 1st but that's all set to go so the uh the Webster property will be in the hands of the town of Wilton which is which is great after all that was a lot of work I I just want to say thank you for your efforts on the flo absolutely yes yeah we've never that's I think only the second time we've done that and I had a lot of people come up and say thank you for doing that I think people before just didn't pay attention just to well I think it's good to have a base connected with the effort and the numbers and yeah yeah so after my knees start knocking I'm okay but he a great so well I think it was worth while okay anybody else have any updates um reorg this is uh M Carolyn I think it might be uh pertinent at this time of the agenda to ask you you sent out requests for people to sort of describe their commitment the uh committee on a forward going basis is that part of our agenda or do you want to talk about oh that's next okay thanks for letting me lip along here sorry I was late no that's okay well and it end up Jeff came in just before you did so we ended up with a with a quum oh that's great and I'm I'm taking minutes oh okay thank you um I did hear from Saul he does is being he's the chair of the prce this year so he does not want to be chair of this committee I did ask um he is coming back though as the rep which is great um Jeff I heard that you're coming back as the rep board rep which is good um Linda are you I guess so we haven't really talk about it but I would be happy to and then Andrew you have been the conservation guy for a long time for many years um I'd love to continue uh and then uh haven't heard from fincom Jerry like I said I should have I should have emailed her separately and Bartlett um and then Sam and Mitten and are here for another year anyways so we need to um vote for chair Vice chair and Clark so I don't mind continuing if unless somebody else really wants to you know I think I do think it's healthy to rotate but you all have other commitments I know because everybody's on a board K you do an incredible job for us as chair so if you're willing to do it i' absolutely no I I don't mind that's nice I agree Carolyn um I just want to let you know that um I would I would step up um to try on new roles and um this year wouldn't be the one for me though because uh I'm I'm going to be leaving teaching actually so in the coming year wow have a new job I just don't know what it is yet all right well then we'll remember that for next year but congrats that's when I get a chance to settle in and everything yeah just maybe and uh you can wish me luck but I won't describe any of the details and I'll let you know when I need your help everybody good good luck all right so do we uh with you continue as clerk for this board and then Andrew you're the vice chair I think I am the vice um happy to do it if uh the board so desires we have a motion to I would Mo make a motion that Carolyn uh remain as chair for the next session period whatever and um Andrew Marco remain as Vice chair and Mitt remains as what is it called secretary clerk clerk okay I second all right uh we'll do a roll call vote Sam yes Andrew yes Caroline is yes chef yes Linda yes and Mitt you can do thumbs up did he say yes okay yes yes great thank you everybody all right thank you Carolyn thank you m yeah all right so now I'm going to make you work so talking about the grant agreements um looking through the the text of the CPA we are supposed to have one for a affordable housing trust and the um we just did the preservation group trust I can't remember what the conservation um did we call it acquisition or um we should have one for that as well and it's interesting you should have like any nonprofit like when the Historical Society does a was has CPA funds awarded we should do one with them so for all nonprofits for nonprofits and individuals um the town of carile does one for everything like Conservation Commission but I mean holy smokes that's a lot of work and a lot of paper work to have an agreement with a town entity so unless you know I haven't never been approached I don't remember a minute of any any time this has ever come up um that we haven't had something but um maybe we do it for the the ones that are required and not the ones that are are good to have I would agree so we should get together with Amy and or the con or the trust or the commission rather commission yeah and I mean I think having something in place would certainly be helpful uh we're certainly within the guard rails um whatever we uh with the last application we're pretty restricted with the language that we had propose in terms of what the fing could be used for when buying land um but an agreement is just a it's a great kind of and we could probably use the application that Amy sent in for the basic wording of it so I don't know if we can put that on a commission meeting sometime to talk to them about it absolutely again nobody has ever tracked us down or you know slapped our hands so I'm I'm not you know stressing about it but I can see why they do it and with the the application that it submitted we're fairly confined with what we can do the money so but um yeah formal agreement I think would be and with the Housing Trust um you know any like this one is for the rental assistance but if they come back for anything else it's just putting that one sheet together so the the owner's part is done I think but this is um I'm not sure I uh I haven't studied policies like this so if I could ask it as a question um or imagine this as a question uh with the grant agreement that we have with the housing is to really serve a program and maybe uh it's hard to imagine since since we endorse that 100% of our of a certain piece of our cake or pie goes to them if is this being suggested that it happened for all the different categories and if not why is it necessary when uh we have a a process that people come with projects and describe their needs um with with you know paperwork as as an as an acute need um and I I I say that I I would I want to preserve that people have the ability to approach the committee as Citizens off the street co speak I don't want to feel like we're taking money from one hand and feing it to the other there's there's elements of that in our work because has tried to work with us to make things benefit everybody through their you know through them funding us a little bit and us being generous with them but I don't want it to ever lock things out so that it's just the only way to go is to be a d entity if you know what I mean think with the I have some notes that I read I took from the uh Coalition website um they are saying that many communities create Grant agreements to set clear expectations when granting CPA funds for projects on privately owned property are between the town and a nonprofit so in this case the affordable housing trust is a nonprofit it's not a town it's not like the lton Housing Authority like is that a town body that's a town body but the affordable housing interest is actually yeah it's a separate separate yeah um oh and is the agreement just to put in place once they get an award yes it's it's specific to one project that's voted in oh okay I guess I wasn't understanding that correctly that's different from what we're doing with the trust so then how would it apply to the conservation agreement because it's not one project it's just sort of like an Enterprise fund exactly it's it's similar but we're we're a town agency as opposed to an outside organization um it would really just be more oversight even though well because the purpose of that Grant was to avoid the paperwork required so why would we then go and layer it back on yeah and that's a good point um because the application itself was very restrictive and the award can only be used for certain things that are C eligible when it comes to acquiring land it had something to do with the the way that the maybe it was a land trust this wasn't a land trust oh yeah a land trust would be different private unpr yeah yeah maybe I'm mixing up the if the if we did have land that was coming up for sale and we wanted to use this money to do like an appraisal or other costs to investigate a property uh for purchase we would be heavily restricted with what we could actually use it for would have to be within the confines of the application that we submitted so see a policy might be Overkill [Music] so the thing that you're referring to is the cons Conservation Commission we give them a grant to have a relatively modest amount of money in their bucket in their control to jump on time sensitive um issues that might you know that does don't fit with the town meeting schedule so but we're talking Conservation Commission yes okay yeah I would think it would if it was the conservation trust that would make more sense not really it say commission right right so I would agree maybe the commission it's not needed for the commission yeah maybe yeah I don't know where read this thiss when CPA funds A Housing Trust a agreement is a must yes and I thought it said something about the other I mean it's good if we less pap I'm all for it I think that's a good point if was Lo in cons trust that' be another at first I thought that's what you're talking about then I said wait a minute become commission maybe it's not necessary yeah so we may be okay I'll see if I can find it and I'm like I say I may have misread it so that's a good thing but like if the society comes in for one we should Technic so it's for any project like if the S it comes in for one yeah so it's just to you know you know what happens if you default and it's all the things that we all know like if there's money left over it should get paid back um which we do anyway so it's just kind of a formal agreement but I could see why it's it would be wanted for a nonprofit yeah yeah so all right I don't think we have to really worry about it but I just wanted to talk about it since we were with the the trust itself all right um the next thing is just the change in the tennis courts um there's there's nothing to decide tonight I didn't even tell Alicia that we were going to do this I knew I knew Saul wasn't going to be here but just wanted to bring it up to your attention if anybody watched the um the meeting it seems that the courts don't fit on the parcel that they wanted the one thing that this you know if you remember there are two courts in there this way and they were going to make Four Courts going this way way and the one thing the school board said is you can't encroach on the bus parking and it turns out that it does it doesn't fit where they want it to go so the Project's going to be completely um completely different they sounds like they want to take the tennis courts from the high school and bring them down to the Middle School um on that field like if you're looking at the school on the right hand side they can get four courts in there um of course we awarded the money and we were going to bond the part of the project so they were wondering if we would work with them again which I'm sure the town is going to have them work with us again um I don't know if they've talked to the finance department about the note if the note's been opened or whatever happens to bonding so I'm not really sure where the finance part of it goes so we'll talk to steveen at some point to see if we need we'll need to resend that vote at the November town meeting because the project is completely different um so they'll probably have to go through another application but this shows how when they when Rush the projects through at the last minute and obviously they didn't have final measurements or or anything and it sounded good when we got it sounded like it was final but oh that's too bad so they they really won't get to put these in until FY 26 right because if they have to come back to us for funding they could do it in October but you can't build them over the winter and that funding wouldn't be available until next July anyway right it's approved no I think because it's in if we have it in reserve they can I think it's 30 days after you can you can use the Reserve if it's on fund if it's on funding for the next year they have to wait oh but if we already have the money if we have enough money to so interesting that's interesting you know for for a simple game of tennis it's because the senior center took yeah the two courts yes yes that's what started this whole yeah yeah operation for right plus they wanted to come up with they four court so they could have tournaments at Lo yeah yeah so I guess even if they were at the middle school I think I remember them saying at least they're all together just at the high school where so we will probably be hearing from them um but I just wanted to let everybody know oh I'm just thinking I always see you know act you know like soccer on that field or whatever I know it's I mean they have a lot to works yeah because also the other playing fields are be considered for the school s yeah I just anyway there's a lot of moving Parts interesting but but you know I mean that's something to think about with all these moving Parts is that you know taking action quickly is maybe nothing right yeah he P to build Bo tennis courts and then rip them up here so I'm not sure I say I haven't really talked to anybody about it but I just uh figured we better get that out on the table Carolyn do you want the minutes to reflect anything about timelines or openness or should it just say that the courts don't fit will need to resend the earlier vote and reconsider the next project when is brought to us yeah I think that's fine just to to have that in there that at least we've acknowledged it thanks for uh talking to those folks I'm I'm disappointed but we got to move on [Music] yeah um just like just like the apple orchard I'm disappointed but hopefully we'll find something yeah that's another butd we don't have to worry about the app well I could imagine you know an entity that's a nonprofit coming you know that is involved with that coming before us true that is in which case we'd have to do a branch agreement yes yes exactly oh say everything happens for a reason we'll stay positive it'll all work out yeah good um I had just put you know Budget on there just in case we wanted to talk about budget I do have um cash balances for us in fact I I need a little chart but hard um currently open space um in the open space bucket we have 1 million 15,00 $390 historic resources is $694,900 th000 coming back from see Robinson Road included in that yeah go um community housing has 11,356 Recreation is 1 million 375 298 and the undesignated balance is 73,74 and the FY 25 budget items are not booked yet so that's um the uh what we allocated at town meeting wasn't reflected so balance will actually be a little bit higher that's really great news Carolyn in a lot of ways but it I just want to note it took a long time to accumulate and it's also during Co we didn't have a lot of business coming to us so I'm guardedly happy about some of that especially we just paid cash for the property this is after we paid right yeah so that's not reflected here the cash for the um the Webster land so that will come out of the million oh it's not oh I see it's it's before yeah it's before anything from the town meeting was booked so open space will go down to 100,000 or something or less I can't remember what we seven and something seven add to from but what happens if they get grant money or something like I think it's too oh um well man patch yourself on the back that we had the money to buy that plan you know well I'm I'm glad we went there outout we did and found meeting was so amenable so yeah yes and it's good to know so that we can uh you know plan um like with Recreation has a good a good chunk of money now well actually the the tennis courts would come out would have come out of that so all right but that's really all have one budget anybody have any other I would just point out I think this is a great reason to why we have buckets laid out like we do so that we know that each category has these POS of money as a funding source as opposed to combining it and just doing 10% 10% 10% so it's reassuring that we know that housing historical and park and wreck have the lots of money so I think um you know it's worked in the past and it's a good thing and I mean sometime we may have to break our our even you know we're usually pretty fair but you know especially if Recreation is coming up with something big we may have to pad their bucket a little bit more at Point times but um we do have I mean 730 in in the undesignated is a pretty good that was a lot more than I thought and it's helpful that bcom is seen the light and is going to try and run the difference yes between one and three yes that's correct yeah because they offset a lot of what was spent and all the The Debt Service was all off offset this year so that that definitely helps and that will help us with our state match too so then next Carolyn makes me think of something that I wonder if uh there's been any movement on the the clean Lakes committee I haven't attended the recent meetings there's one coming up next week I think actually but they've had to reckon with uh having a lot of their funds recategorized and I think we're kind of familiar with it but it's it's complicated still but the idea of funding streams from the cell towers and stuff that that the Clean Lake committee was counting on got recategorized and they're sort of praying that over time they might get the money back in a way through projects but anyway that's that's complicated it just makes me wonder are we we need to pay attention to that too and and and and still keep our eye on trying to do hybrid fund streams from the town or is it looking a little more hopeless given their situation I this discussion was thinking about this specific clean Lakes thing because the way it goes now is that we will they will have to come to us every single year to get this money that is not right right and but that's not something I mean we can say it's not right um it needs to have an you know something they can count on and I think it's a selectman thing I mean it's I I was shocked at that whole situation there really needs to be a dedicated funding source for these projects I mean they're important for our water bodies and and for them to have to really screw around and for the funding sources to say oh not anymore you know yeah CPC is there it's interesting Westford has I think was it m Dave bar and mentioned that Westford kind of said no no more invasive up and um I know they had kind of the philosophy is that or at least there was one I should say they one gentleman had had spoken up and he said you know we're not supposed to fund something that should be funded from the town we're supposed to like be the auxiliary funded you know supposed to helps you don't just say don't put them on the budget just go to CPC but that seems to be more and more it's what's happening and I think not just in Littleton but in other towns as well because they say well the money's already over there and I don't think that's the spirit of CPA no and it's it's a lot of money I mean every year um anyway so I I admit I'm with you I I think that that we need to push back keep an eye on it start talking about it um um yeah I think that sorry to inter did I go yeah go ahead I I just I guess I'd love to re uh keep alive the idea that if we don't vote for 3% straight up that we try to fund something hybrid and that and that the the town hall sort of be held t for that as their state in things so that we we would sort of end up with our funding being a little bit hybrid in its own way that that that uh this is just generally broadly that people could count on 1% of projects going to fund needy projects that come up according to initiatives through the Cs let's say would be not yeah would be possible and that the other parts of budget have a stream originating from town hall or through cash or whatever or sell Power funds which we don't have lockdown either you know I don't think conservation does either um anymore so that but but we press the board of selectman to make that their policy to try to make sure that funds dream into us that way so that when they want to do a ten Court project they can feel that they have in the game Caroline a question do you want me I don't need to unless I think I think you're under a microphone so you'll be okay if you can just introduce yourself so Rob Browns 25 junifer Road yeah so that's this is really why I'm here to try to understand CPC with regard to clean Lakes type issues with some of the things that You' just discussed I just uh attended a friends of Forge Pond that is the Westford Association if you will and Dave bar and Steve Haden are both members they did presentations with regard to it U some of the activities so first Dave bar and Steve Haden are the experts I'm not but I am trying because of some of the comments I just heard from mid you je you're you're completely correct this is quite complicated further complicating it is that Westford uh was requested for an override this year it failed so Westford allocated $5,000 in the next fiscal year that's it so how that complicates things the water department routinely because of Lake manwan if we want to talk about Littleton terms for Forge Pond Wester terms um they routinely stipulate that their funds are contingent on Westford providing an equal share of those funds except for some aspect of every other year doing a testing component and again I'm not the expert I'm trying to help you with this part of there's a bucket like you folks have buckets they have a existing bucket in excess of 100K so for this year the water Department's you know contingency if you will is for is going to be able to be met but it doesn't take many years to run out if the existing voting sequences were you know continue that then there's even a bigger challenge because we have a neighboring Community who's now kind of gumming up what had been more or less happening as a result of CPC funds by Westford being used they shut that door now the override at least in this year is shut so I don't know how and why I'm kind of tracking pretty closely as much as I can with an eye towards is this the sort of thing that a member of your group tasks with a member of Select boards the task with a member of water department you know like there's so many pieces of this and and I'll tell you that from my observations the CLC you know John fome you guys were great so thank you but his familiarity with the process of applying for CPC up to your point of having to come each and every year one of you said they have to come each and every year they're not supported by staff or Tim Pearson the assistant he's not supposed he's just got eight hours of a 40 hour you know Collective work week so it's kind of a push and I'm not saying you shouldn't expect CLC to do their share and come before you with completed forms that sort of thing but I am trying to convey to you that in the things that I've just said connecting with the light department with contingencies connecting with the separate municipality that's kind of in a changing situation there's a lot of moving Parts I know many people that I speak with um in positions of authority like yourselves represented you know different parts of Litteton boards committees Etc kind of talked in terms of a mode of it worked out this year it'll work out again you said earlier let's hope for the positive and you and I want to hope that way but our Lakes as the annual report from the CLC stated we've had two really bad years of deterioration in relakes and my concern is that with the complexities and the nuances that I've already stated I don't want it to be slipping through the cracks or have a crisis of sorts so I offer up those comments to you appreciate you recognizing me to speak out of turn so to speak in order to convey that for you to consider when I get the public input or just say it now I I know CLC came here late in the process and you guys were terrific in terms of accepting it working with John and getting it all done I just want understand what's your desired time frame because I intend to continue to participate in their meetings and try to advocate for timely awareness of of what's requested so that the likelihood or the chance that a ball is going to be dropped doesn't happen and that boards and committees that have to take action have proper time to ask questions to evaluate consider to reach their conclusions whatever those conclusions may be so that would be hopeful the other question that I got I can hold off to public is it does it pertain to this and it it pertains to the Wetland Park that was created in 2002 so it's a bit of a outlier of more specific things so I I don't want to tie you up um no that's sry I mean we're talking budget so if you want to just continue okay so again I'm not the expert I want to establish that right away but I'm doing a lot of attempts to become more informed so that what I say stands up so please don't take this as the gospel but um so my understanding and I'm looking at documents the wman park that's located at the intersection of Beach and lakes Shore Drive basically it serves approximately 25 21% of the storm water draining two basins were created 2002 2003 something like that it was a section 3198 Grand so big money big event thank you thank you thank you you know sort of thing and it hasn't been maintained and it's now 2020 and I read a 2022 report by Geo sych Consultants it appears to me like that agreement because it's written to somebody in the water department seems to me like the water department which back then cell tower was still funding things so they were very much aligned with regard to um projects of this nature um so he wrote it to them and part of their you know four or five page is goes basically to basic points there's three different there a split flow you know opportunity to divert funds or not then there's a a rear plate to divert fund and then there's a off the second Bas there's like multiple iterations and the read that I have not the expert but the read I have is GEOS synx is not certain if any of them are operational and working and effective and they point out that there has been inadequate maintenance since the Inception so I don't know if a I'm a finance guy in my private career retired um often if you don't do regular maintenance in my world you it becomes a capital liting because you basically have to now we can't replace a lake we're not going replace basins you know that think we um so so if is there at any point that a project like a 20year search and evaluation um I I think Steve yanley from DPW I spoke with Jim dougen I fully expect to hear from them with regard to how they're going to go about trying to obtain funds with regard to dredging work that sort of thing but that aspect I'm just because I'm relatively new in Wilton and certainly knew on these issues I don't know the range and you know if it's no that's outside the boundaries for certain or no it's a possibility discussion more from the sources that really are the experts I'm trying to be an advocate for these types of issues with regard to what I see as a real threat to our lakes and looking for what are the places who are the individuals the board committies Etc so thank you yeah and with the Wetland Park my goal for this uping F of year is to get funny at least for the invasive portion and for the the walkway portion because it's very hazardous to walk through there and those are two areas that I know for certain we could fund uh potentially um when it comes to the dredging that gets a little muddy literally sorry Dad joke um but U but those are two components that I think that we could help with and that I really want to Target this time around and I mean you've done a tremendous amount of work down there and you know we really appreciate that um but I think to have like a professional come down there and do a phase treatments um or removal of the invasives I think that would that would help that site out greatly um because it it's it's overrun with not we burning book all the the bad invasives are down there and to have that under control would be a really key uh key move for us and then getting that Boardwalk not Boardwalk the um Cobblestone walkway repaired that's really something the town needs to get done because it is very hazardous I'm surprised somebody hasn't broken their leg on it uh it's it's bad but that's something that I really want to work with to get funing for this time around um even if we have to do it in a based approach especially with the invasives it's going to take a few years to get that on track anyway um just because there's monitoring after you do the initial cutting cut and dab Buller treatment um but yeah know that's that's something that I I personally want to go after this year um so there are components that I think we could certainly help with and there are others that are a little bit yeah we could look into the others but I mean it would be nice if we always talk about Partnerships yeah we could do that end of it as part of the larger project so what is your desired time frame I mean I saw an awful lot of activity in 2024 but I assume you don't want to have a crisis and earlier in your meeting you were talking about the tennis courts and Etc so what is your when do you kind of gear up and consider you know utilizing the balances that you have and and your whole approach if that's if I earlier the better so for for mtown meeting if we could start to talk to you guys at you know January because typically the warrant closes in March I mean December would be better um you know if you already have an idea of something you know because it's kind of a two-step thing anyways it's the eligibility which you can come in and kind of talk to us about and then we can ask questions I mean we really appreciate that when we have that little bit of time to to do that so I would say December January would be the time to start talking about it for a fall toown meeting um like this one the LA will close in midt so like next month you know it's a tight and and we have at times you know done some special meetings if we have to if we have to come back and you know vote on something but a cou you know if we could get two or three months where we could talk about that's why I want that's why I want to ask because you shouldn't be asked to do special meetings as was stated earlier it seems like this is going to be a routine you know puzzle that has to be put together so I'm one for trying to motivate people to avoid that sort of specialness so that full consideration of what partnership all the things we from your from this specific situation where we we also talking about I mean you need to know whether in advance whether we would vote to fund it or not and we may say no so the sooner you get that and in my point of view is we may say no because there are other Town buckets that should be taken care of this like this like Andrew you were dancing around it but I don't think CPC can give money for these maintenance typ invasives are well invasives is another is one thing but we're talking about the failure of the drainage systems yeah that so I I don't think we can do that and I know we this is I I agree with both of you but and I think the advice for Robert tonight is is sounds that the way that Andrew States it or your interpretation might your take away from tonight I would suggest be like is try to put the the biological Solutions on your front burner not and assuming that we wouldn't support that but that there are other pieces of the project that really needs articulating project if it's broken up we could definitely I think be pretty supportive of the walkway as a recreational thing as the greater Park needs stuff um and I but and I think it goes to the general discussion I reinforced my earlier statement that that um comprehensive approaches need comprehensive uh funding sources and we can't do it all so I think it would be smart to if you want us to look into it we could ask about ability if if really the most urgent thing was to take care of the all water quality issues if we could support that then maybe that could be the project but but again I think um I think it would require some definite looking into because it might not be I agree with that was that a little too vague no I think that's that's kind of what I expect expected but honestly I appreciate you folks independent of me raising my hand and being recognized you were already into the topic you're already it's wonderful that you folks have an awareness that from listening that things changed and they have real time implications and kind of these muscles are just being developed they're not they're not years of experience you know that they're worked out yet and and so I think what you've said and that's the hard part yeah and the hard part like you just said what we really need is clean Lakes CPC the select board and the finance Comm committee all in one room to discuss it and that's what I don't know how to that doesn't yeah yeah that's what that's what I'm probably speaking I'm taking use of Select Board office hours with regularity trying to emphasize that's good and and it's and I appreciate the time it's wonderful that they do that but moving it to the place where they do their yeah their agendas and their formal moving it along so that because again I appreciate the conversation the opportunity but I also recognize my limitations can you press for a hearing a select Board hearing about this issue okay and especially during the summer months when people are using long L and you know it's in their mind um I don't know I mean and Dugan I mean I think I would definitely make him aware of what's going and I started meeting with him about three months ago I mean he essentially works for the selectman but if he if it's on his radar screen too yeah he's got stev on Le with I think he was talking potentially recently I'll just leave you with that with so yes it's so I don't want to leave you thinking that nothing is being done we are but it's conversations like this that allow for the timelines that you stated uh I do have one different question which I have no clue of which is are you how does equipment are you able I understand that you can't do maintenance with CPA what I don't know is is the procurement of a device this gets pretty creative uh some of the funding that you did last year through clc's request was for Eco or Echo harvesting there's actually a number of us talking about how the funding sources that you provided for the the upcoming year um actually we could use more you know and so some of us are talking about well the cost for these consultants and then or the service it it's great but could we be doing do we have a greater need than what we're able to you know State and there are complications I'm not going to take you through those but there's a question with regard that I have of simplistic one of is a equipment even permitted because equipment would then you know back door into you can't maintain that so how why would you support we can acquire so it's a no okay apologize could be capital budget item for theway Department correct that's a different right but that's what I'm trying to do is knock on doors to understand don't need to prolong that conversation with all that's good good to get things thinking and I I think the the projects that came to late last about everybody's starting to think about this so great thank you you and this reminds me I I he you talk about invasives I would I would be in support of having a bucket of the CPC just for invasive mitigation yeah and I know on on the Northern Bank site which is across from this huge not they brought people in and it's gone I was really surprised I mean the vegetation has going ex no theyve killed it have they yeah for how many years no they did it last year they had several they came in guys with suits on and cut it and then some weeks later they and it's some kind of supercharged vinegar that they get in England you know English vinegar okay um so Amy um my understanding is Amy's actually got ser series of invasive proposals that I believe she obtained funding for for this year at least that's my one-onone conversation with her included in there yeah we did she got money from us yeah for but I think there's also on her plans for the current year I think she has funding I'm not but one part because I offered to clear out about 100 foot section we start to work on 100 foot section of not weed on Long Lake and I was told to stand down because conversations had previously been held with littleon conservation trust some back and forth the extent that Amy identified yes she's going to move with the glycate treatment or at least I expected to be I heard it's more generic name but to go with that treatment and effect you know to your point s if you inject it at the window between it's taking its energy back down into its root system right before the frost hits that's your window if you will to have a very effective you know herbicide treatment and the positive thing about doing it then is that it stays within its root system the you know poisonous herbicide destroys the the not weed but it doesn't release it into the soils which are honestly right on the bank of the lake Etc the so offer that up in terms of that's standing up gting more and more experience and expertise in this Le a lot okay all right well thank you for your your contributions Mr that's good I'm sure we'll be discussing it more in the future um in fact the next thing this again is just a preliminary um beginning of discussion is the preservation plan if you remember what um Steve vudi keeps talking about he wants us to plan he wants us to budget and and make plans which we in some ways is not our I understand what he's talking about but in some ways we're not the planners people come to us with budget we agree yeah but there is when you when you become a CPA Community you have to put a preservation plan together and we have one um revised in February 2016 so you're supposed to every year look at these review them make sure they're up to date and you're supposed to have a public hearing um we've talked about that the last couple of years I I kind of looked at other towns just to see what other towns are doing um after um you know they just did one in 2023 theirs is ours is very general um theirs is a little general but has some some goals actual goals in it um air I I thought airs was the best but they had a consultant Do It um they do it every four years so they don't they don't look at it every year which is I mean my God you know the years go by so fast um they do it every is but they have very specific goals like they actually name things that they want to do um this is the CPC yeah CPC and it's in this preservation plan so we're supposed to hold a public meeting annually to get input from the general public [Music] um you know some of them just ours just says you know there's a an osrp there's you know there's this there's that it's not it's not it's very very general but we just did work space and Recreation PL so there's your goals for part of it yeah um consultant did that right yeah so I mean we could actually pull from that but I'm thinking too you know the master plan we're starting to talk I hear it's will be coming up again but we just went through the open yeah yes and there were some specific goals yeah as I recall I don't remember very in depth document and I mean if somebody to say hey town of Littleton what are your goals for recreation open space boom we could excerpt it and put it in here so I just wanted to get your general idea of do we want to you know go through the plan again since it has been going on well I'm looking you know you just leave through it contact keep burden [Music] and so I mean there's some really simple stuff um I didn't know if we wanted to break it down so we don't have to do it all at once like take a section and this month let's look at this section and and see what we want to do um I noticed on some like we don't have in Littleton we we consider Recreation a separate bucket it it it really by the legisl thing it's open space and Recreation but I thought that was a town policy that we would have the two buckets separated but you know M we we tried to find that spending and savings and spending policy that we could never find I think it might be wrapped up into this because that's all about that same time and I thought we had I you know back when I was first on maybe sitting in the audience that um we wanted to keep Recreation as a specific bucket but that's the kind of thing that we should put in here if that's tell what we want as a board policy we should have that written down well yeah because it it is in here and it may not be up to dat right and then there's some other things that and what what I'm finding in 2016 they're talking about the Blended funds additional 2% funds I mean it's funny that this has been an issue oh yeah years I mean I've only been here a little while but oh he was an expert at yeah that's why we got it because of of him in fact I I think I just heard there's only five communities that have accepted the Blended fund um process so we're only one of five I think they told us that we're the only ones that actually use it oh wow us one in the back but yeah there's some obvious stuff and then some not so obvious so I don't know if we have an appetite to go through this this year I mean if if our goal is to have it done you know for the end of the fiscal yearn I I I do have an appetite for some of this work but I it would also be in this Spirit of uh I I don't think we need an annual uh I don't think we need to look at it definitely age that and I I I think the current the the the uh Community preservation plan that we have is is um is kind of philosophical in general it's and it's not lengthy I don't think anything we I don't think we need to have anything more lengthy actually I think I think we could tighten things up a little bit and keep it simple and maybe we should outline a few policies that that are new to us or that we think might be smart you know out having a having a section that itemizes a few more policies that we're in the practice of using would be good and at the same time we could possibly uh enact a new policy that had to do with identifying the short-term goals for the year that are more project oriented or more articulated not just funding ones we we do have a discussion annually about funding ratios but we could also rather than rewriting the P plan annually we could say that one of our policies is to discuss um well maybe we do that in at we because because we're because our process is driven by applicants I I think maybe now that I think about it we actually do meet annually about our goals we just don't put it in writing beyond the percentages and the thing do it every year but one year there may be no changes you know and that's okay because the years as you say tick by it rolls it goes really quickly I think I think we have some uh we kind of know how things go and we we uh we could hope for more people to come to our meetings but they're pretty much not and so uh to roll along the way we've been doing it but codify it and and satisfy other people and and also check the boxes that we met about it and Revis it I think those all doable this year and I'd be happy to help I mean even if we just you know it's referring to a master plan and using words from the master plan adopted August 2002 right and even even just updating right going through and you know that would be and in so doing then we can sort of review things so as a first first cut First Step do we want to just take this and look it over for general you know hey I I see this needs to be updated can we do this just like is a first I I think that might might be the goal I mean what else would we want out of this yeah other than it's like these all these planning reports we did last year with bike and pedestrian and I mean it it gives a PE chance people to come together and talk about priorities but it anyway I if we never refer to it uh you know yeah but we have to have it on hand in a in a credible fashion yeah yeah I think that's maybe that sort of is behind a little what of I'm saying that it could be we could tighten it up I mean maybe maybe our maybe it's to wordy it was a lot of cut and paste when it was made in terms of making sure that we referenced all the stuff that's going on and down but you know people don't read those reports or at least we don't and we've cited them in our in our document um and they're outdated we we tried to update them once along the way um but that was like 10 years ago when when it was noticed that a lot of things were outdated but um still so maybe a a good way forward was if it's it's a 20page document maybe even up to 30 with with some of the appendices if we if we just went if we dedicated a meeting to um Distributing copies of it or paper copies maybe the next meeting people could come having just taken a red pen and you know one of the stuff we could delete might be a good starting point yeah just start start there I mean we could take the entire year to refine it um but I think if we take it one step at a time it won't be so you know you get bogged down in in words and I encourage you to look at the air one um I could probably download it was really long so I didn't want to print it up but I'll do that I'll download it and and email it um and like I say the others like act and I think Carly was very similar to ours um but I don't think it's worth hiring a consultant to do it no I mean it's funny it's required but they don't come in where's your plan you knowbody asks us for it yeah Carol you know then I think about it maybe it's smarter just to take it a chunk at a time and just come like start with the first four pages at our next meeting and and with your encouragement I'll look at the air plan or do we want to go do like an high high overview go through it just to familiarize I think that's a good idea maybe that's a good idea yeah yeah like I say we can take you know up till next June to to finish this and it just well also if if we do look at it piece by piece I think it would be smart to have somebody do a proposed revision ahead of time because something that eats up a lot of committee time is doing where thing you know to draft something live is really yucky yes yeah and we could always talk to like Conservation Commission hey this is what we're doing this is your section you know look it over whatever historical commission we could go there and you know but nothing too in depth all right um I I you know M I'm reading the mission statement and that that's great I can't I mean it's really well done it's just sort of the actual updating the information that's referred to like say getting Keith Keith's name out of it right so the next meeting that's what we'll do is we'll just kind of high high level um if anyone wants a hard copy I can drop one off you whatever and um I um and then we'll just go from there and take it step by step but sounds good and I'm hoping that that will satisfy Steve and the finance committee up to you know how we're yeah I hope well one of the of the comments in here is uh we are not a developer we are a catalyst and that's what Steve has to understand we you know but it also says we need to have informational meetings and all this stuff to stimulate people to come to us with their and maybe we need to do some more Outreach maybe we should have a public hearing if nobody comes we can say well we had it yeah I mean we talked about it last last year we were going to do one um maybe we do it in this spring you know when you tell me I mean I hate to bring this up because it's more work but there's now this Littleton Town newsletter yeah and all the chairman have been asked to generate content for it yeah we should so I was with Linda I was watching the yeah we should put that in there well I there were so many people there I can't imagine it's not there but yes um the uh you know I mean we maybe need to document some of these things that we funded done you know like the boardwalk at the Town Forest or you know yeah get a picture and and just to stimulate people and thinking about or the clean Lakes if they could just take a couple images of the work that they will undergo um um and uh that would be good you know who has time but I'm just bringing it up no I think it's I think it's a good idea because Carn what did you what did you suggest we do at the next meeting I think just look over the plan in general and make notes and you know things that you think of that need to be updated that you know hey we could we maybe we could pair this down a little maybe we could enhance this a little just kind of an overview and then we can um we'll can take it in pieces and work on that but I think the new I think we need to because we found when we did the one when we were trying to do the the search charge increase people like what's CPA you know people didn't even know who we were yeah yeah and well now we could just Pi take a picture of the Webster land and say you are there some gorgeous photos of it and that we could just say you know purchased with your CPA FS I bet Rachel Robinson has some nice she took a walk up there but she's got some good photos I could ask um no Rachel Robinson from the historical commission didn't she go up and take some photos of the Webster property oh I don't know and when we do officially open it we'll have a sign I'm sure we'll have a an opening ceremony too to which we can certainly take pictures of really get out there did you yeah go ahead yeah if I can um so just FYI there's a working group being led by Steve thei I think it's called the finance committee working group on financial policies yes I watched the meeting okay so I've attended both of those to the and and so they're updating a document that hasn't been updated since 2018 you your CPC funds are in the document you know there with regard to a specific discussion so I just wanted to alert you to that that the timing should you go through the process that you laid out might work and allow for Steve and you folks the do tail if you will to feel like okay we you know mission accomplished during this course of time because I believe they're got they have one more meeting planned and then they're going to take it to the respective you know board's committees to further involve public comment and and you know move it forward so it's going to play out over an extended period of time you hope it's got the time that they're making it it sounds like you folks going to make make for it too and the other thing I'll I'll throw out is that um I agree with you with regard to you know um six months ago I had no idea what you folks did was I was clueless but I think some of whether it's Webster whether it's the fragma is whichever you pick I'm finding in the base of people that stop me on the side roads as I'm doing some invasive work that there is a general lack of knowledge in the public and it's not for you folks not offering it it's for them not making the connection and I will tell you that I'm trying to funnel people into that newsletter because it's already got an umbrella of sorts with regard to numerous things and so some of you mention you know photos and that sort of thing or aspects of what you've done because I I'm of the opinion that there's public sentiment out there they just don't know where to go in order to be proactive yeah and so some of them are stewing and and they need any sort of awareness campaign such as you were talking about I'm I'm all for I think I think it could lead to aspects of hopefully a frequently asked questions at some point that says if you have this concern Etc go thank you I always say there's hundreds of ways to get the word out but you can't get the word out to anybody yeah it's anything you try to do I know with the planning board we have people who come to meetings that say i' know nothing about this but yet they were on a certified butterland that got registered now you know um about it so and then they say well I don't have time to you know deal with this HP work and we're all like looking at each other and going you know we don't work we don't know sometimes I think they want you to come to their door and explain it to you the town CER uh for the record no I'm joking but I won't put it in a minutes you volunteer on the planning board correct yes does yes right and the board is the select board that's volunteer yeah all right so good okay so I guess we have a plan going forward for a plan um the next thing is the code of conduct I mean we don't have to do it tonight but I again it's I don't know if everybody has heard but the um select board has asked everyone to um adopt a code of conduct I sent around the the template that the Town Administrator had for everyone and I I think that we can just go through and change select board to community preservation there's a couple things like we're we're an appointed board um there were some things like the responsibility Town Administration all the direct reports we could just delete that but I don't know if anyone saw anything like really outrageous that they didn't like about I saw we have to do this on the planning board I I'm like you I think that it's just a matter of you know washing out the specific the only thing that bothered me for historical conviction I think it maybe even more so for CBC there's something there under Community responsibility B says recognize that their function is policymaking and not administrative I think we do do administrative work on the CPC and in the historical commission I kind of understand why they have it in there for the select board because there is a Town Administrator but you know for these other boards we do do administrative work as well as policy Mak you think that whole section can be deleted it's responsibility to town Administration all direct reports to the select board the Town Administrator police chief and fire chief well that has to be taken out want to see your roles right a member in their relations with the town Administration sh I didn't quite understand that oh that whole yeah that whole thing yeah it's just kind of a weirdly yeah yeah you know referring complaints to Administration for Solutions only pursu satisfactory results through the Frameworks of the select board structure of solutions should fail yeah right yeah something like that I think we delete we could probably readed a lot of these select word specific things I thought that whole section I had a question it now that I read it again I think you're right you know and the other's relationship to our members and other persons I like how I think it was the zoning boards that should just say be nice to each other that's basically what it's doing there was one like not withhold partent information on Municipal matters or Personnel problems we we wouldn't have Personnel problems here we don't have any Personnel um so why don't I do that for next time I'll go through and and CPC eyes it and if you have any specific things let me know and it sounds good I it's kind of in ulous once you take a lot of that stuff out it's right it's just be nice and we we're we're not like I mean the S board has so many different roles duties Powers we're present your application and we will consider it I know pretty reactive well not um but they have asked everybody to do it so all right I'll take a stab at that send it out before meeting and we say we done it um anything else I didn't I'm sorry but I told Linda I didn't get the minutes done again I'll do I promise do them next time I have to rewatch all the meetings and oh dear yeah because I don't my notes I just like Scribble notes down so do we have any um numbers about how many times our meetings are watched you can if you look on the on demand site it will say how many views but you have to subtract at least three because I probably watch it so I can always surprised when people say to me oh I was watching the planing board meeting and I'm going really sorry but that's how you you know things I I I'm just kind of I watch all the meetings yeah Jeff imagine if they were doing it as pay-per-view too oh yeah You' really like face lab oh my God you're not only doing that but you're paying for it don't say that they might start charging us watch all right next meeting if we um go back to our regular schedule the third third Thursday of July what date is that the 17th is 17th check the third Thursday is the 18th um I usually have a commitment on July theed Oh you mean the second Thursday no wnes Wednesday Wednesday sorry is it the 17th the 17th that good for everybody that should work all right July 17th we can stay on schedule which is good I'm a maybe I I'd have to zoom in okay well yeah I'll continue to do these hybrid I'm good with that so propose for which date could you state the it's Wednesday July 17th and we'll go back to 7 o' okay I appreciate everybody's help like I say good should I move to ajour good I I moveed I'll second can I second I can second um second toin the meeting Sam yes Andrew yes car Jeff yes Linda yes and M yes yes okay all right thanks thanks M for coming in thanks thanks