##VIDEO ID:IeSitB3QJOA## never never all right good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the lunenberg select board today is Tuesday October 1st please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live over the lunenberg public access channel on Facebook live on the public access Facebook page and will be uploaded to the lunenberg access YouTube channel after the meeting the agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the chair votes may be taken as a result to these discussions not all items listed May in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law we're going to begin tonight with public comments are there any public comments from the board from me n no are there any public comments from the public all right seeing none recording in progress we're going to move on to announcements I have a couple the lunenberg high school alumni association is pleased to announce a 2024 alumni alumnus inmemoriam award recipient these Awards recognize lunenberg high school graduates who have made extraordinary contributions to the lunenberg community for alumna Sharon McMillan Kimble class of 1975 alumnus David pasos class of 1972 and in memorium Lance D May class of 1968 all are welcome to join us to celebrate on Sunday October 20th at 12:00 p.m. at the Bull Run restaurant at 215 Great Road Shirley Massachusetts in addition to the presentation of these Awards the recipients of the 2024 scholarships and attendees celebrating their 50th 5050 5th 60th 65th and 70th High School graduation anniversaries will be recognized the town of lunenberg has signed a 24mon contract with its current supplier first point power beginning with the November 2024 meter reads the lunenberg Community Choice power supply program will have a new rate of $0.12 per kilowatt hour for lunenberg residents and businesses who are enrolled in the town's program the current rate of 11 cents per kilowatt hour will expire with the November 2022 meter reads and the new rate of 12 cents per kilowatt hour will take effect this represents an increase of $6 per month on the supply side of the bill given an average usage of 600 kwatt hours however the new rate is 33% lower than uni Till's residential basic service rate residents can expect to see an average savings of $38 per month for the months of November 2024 through January 2025 lunenberg launched its electricity program in an effort to develop an energy program that would be stable in affordable it is important to note that no action is required by current participants and couple more sorry have a lot of announcements tonight the flu vaccine clinic at the library is this Thursday 3: to 5:00 p.m. pre-registration is required and you can do so at nova.org calendar the Agricultural Fair will be this Saturday at TC pasos and you can get your 2024 lunenberg spirit wear from the lunenberg PTO who was selling t-shir shirts and hoodies the proceeds go to the PTO supporting their mission of promoting the best educational experience for students is at lunenberg Public Schools make your order by October 18th and you can visit their Facebook page to make a purchase all right are there any other announcements Communications from other boards I don't have any is anyone else no all right so we're going to go a little out of order here so we're going to jump down to appointments ratifications and resignations and we're going to start with a ratif ification of interim Town manager's appointment for Public Safety front desk clerk Evelyn row so I'll pass it to Carter Chief and I'll pass to the chief all right at least I didn't make you one of those Canadian Football League Pass well after the way the Patriots played Sunday I wouldn't I wouldn't object to it well they played Sunday uh this is coming from a new yorky um thank you for having us tonight I really appreciate this again um as you are aware uh we had an opening in our Public Safety front desk clerk uh when Miss Moore left us uh the position became vacant uh the position that was there she took over from Miss Moore We advertised a position uh we conducted interviews on five candidates at the end of the interviews myself and Lieutenant met with Evelyn row and she was the top scoring candidate out of the interviews um at the conclusion of the process we are confident that we had found the right candidate who is a good fit for our department and Community um I am pleased to recommend Evelyn Ro for the full-time Public Safety desk clerk position Miss R is a lifelong resident of drit graduating from drit high school until she moved to Nashville New Hampshire she graduated from the University of Massachusetts low with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice with a minor in Psychology Miss Ro graduated Magnum Lai uh which is probably a lot higher than we have had here maintain AED a GPA of 3576 and earning Dean list H is from 2022 through 2024 uh she also holds an associates degree from middle sex Community College graduating in 2022 um through her background investigation it was found that Miss row is well thought of and is an excellent employee the owner of her current place of employment described mro is a great person a team player dependable and hardworking um a coworker described her as a great person who's always ready to go dependable and coachable um one of the things too that stood out was the fact that she was given tasks with very minimal supervision she was it was demonstrated and she was able to complete it on her own without uh without any uh interactions it it it is reiterated by both it was reiterated by both the owner and coworker that she is a great employee and a great imp person uh we believe that Miss row has the necessary skills and characteristics to be successful within our organization she has met all the requirements for this position and we look forward to miss Ro coming on board I introduce you to M Ro thank you hi guys thank you for having me um as you know my name is Evelyn row um just a little bit to cover a little bit about myself um grew up in Drake obviously like you said um you know went to umle for criminal justice for my bachelor degree um I have a lot of background with communication especially from my previous job so I think I can take that on with this new job um and I really look forward to serving the community of lunenberg cool thank you Evelyn I'll open it up for any questions or comments from the board no questions sounds like you're very well qualified and uh I look forward to you starting with us thank you very much I also don't have any questions but looking forward you joining the team it's a great place to be thank you here here to the previous comments um you know it's fortunate that the chief is in his last couple of weeks with us um but you know I think that you know one of the things that I think you know is one of the signatures of of Chief gamel's tenure is his hiring um and the high highly qualified individuals that have come before us for appointment and you certainly are continuing in that mold so I want to thank uh the chief uh for his work on Recruitment and also thank you for coming before us for this important position thank you I don't have any questions but it sounds like it'll be a great fit Evelyn so thank you for wanting to work for uh the town of lunenberg so is there a motion I would move that we ratify the interim Town manager's appointment for Public Safety front desk clerk Evelyn row second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion passes congratulations congratulations conratulations thanks for coming in tonight thank you all right and now we're going to jump back up to scheduled meetings and hearings and we're going to start with our first public hearing for the transfer of a general on premise all alcohol license common Vic license automated Amusement license Juke boach license and weekday entertainment license to St Mary in Christ Inc located at One Main Street so since this is a public hearing um I'm going to have to ask the clerk to read the public hearing notice and then I will invite the applicant up to the podium to introduce themselves and talk about what you want to do with the business and uh your experience if the app is here tonight yep okay cool coming up start hold on one second we just need the clerk to read the notice just the first paragraph y the lunar licensing Authority will hold a public hearing on Tuesday October 1st 2024 at 7:05 p.m. on the application submitted by St Mary and Christ Inc for the transfer of an all alcoholic beverages General on- premise license common vicer jukebox and weekday entertainment license located at One Main Street lunenberg Massachusetts the premise is described as a single story Lobby a single story Lobby takeout counter bar area 22x 20 outdoor patio main dining area women's restroom I'm sorry I don't know what NC women's NC restrooms office storage area order area and cook Kitchen the following information is also provided by for the members of the public that would like to participate in the meeting remotely all right cool thank you so yeah if you could just tell us about yourself what you want to do with the business and um talk about your previous experience okay uh actually my name is iMed scander and I have another partner his name megot tus and I've been working the in the food business for 20 years and I do my best to Ser in lenburg residents and I I make a great food make everybody happy all right I'll open it up to questions now starting with select Alonzo okay so in reading all the information if I am understanding this correctly you don't have any employees right now all right now no so what exactly are you going to be doing with the business it's the same employer is going to be in a restaurant but you you said you have employees I I still don't get the business h i I'm going to use the same employer with the in working right now in the restaurant okay so right now you have no employees but you're going to inher it yeah I'm still not not on it now okay any it might help I don't interr might help if I come up here with him you can yes but we do want to hear from the applicant as well but you can come up and speak to well it be easy he's he's taking over bad lares so he's going to be taking over the existing business structure employees restaurant menu everything's going to remain the same his intent is just basically to as I start to retire he's going to be taking over my existing business he'll be training with me for about 30 days prior to the business being uh Acquired and at that time he'll have all the licensing tips I don't know if he's already got tips certified Etc that he needs to take the like take the business over I I was just trying to help clarify I think you there might be a little bit of confusion maybe a little bit of shyness I'm not quite sure at this point so I figured I might be able to clarify some of the questions well well I understand the intent I'm not sure that uh I'm not sure that things are going in the right order because the first thing we would ask is certainly not for all the licenses but certainly for the alcohol license is does he have anybody whose tip certified but if he has no employees and he's not tip certified himself by definition he has no one who's tip certified yes he all of our employees but he's your employees aren't his employees as of right tonight correct okay so that's a problem I can't you know we need to make sure that the license we're transfering for has somebody who's tip who's tip certified but if he has no employees then he then that's a a cart before the horse it seems like well technically he has no employees cuz he hasn't bought the business yet once he acquires the business he acquires all the employees all those employees then tip certified so all the employees are going to be transferred over we already discussion it with them and every employee that's currently employed there under Mike business will then be transferred over to his business okay so he'll so technically he's correct he has no employees until he actually pays for the business they're still mine until the day we transfer the business that's what he was trying to say is he has no employees but I have employees that are going to be trans transferred over on the day of the business transfers they're all tip certified my bartenders are tip certified the managers are tip certified so technically he's buying a business with TP certified employees well yes yes and no I mean again while you you you mentioned the word a few times technically well unfortunately the whole law is about technicalities so I'm being asked to transfer a license with someone who actually not technically but actually doesn't have any employees that are tip certified now the and there's no promiser in this in transferring the license you're just telling us that he's going to do that I mean and maybe for all intents and purposes he will do that but there's no legal responsibility that says he's going to do that and that's to me at least I don't know about the other members to me that's problematic yeah I've been in a bunch of meetings and I've never I I'm really confused as to the question and how it's posed because I mean I can understand his confusion if he's buying a business and he has no current employees because he has no current business am I am I correct in that assumption I'm just I'm just trying to ask this no okay so so I'm not correct that if he doesn't own the business and he's not employing anybody at this time because he doesn't have a business exctly and he has no reason to uh have an expense of any sort for employees because he has no business currently until the license is transferred and the business is sold then how could he have employees so I'm just I'm I'm confused at that because right now the entity hasn't transferred and he has no current business therefore he has no current employees once the business is transferred and he actually takes possession of the entity then he will have the current employees will then be under his employee under his payroll they will then be his employees those employees are the ones that are tip certified and able to work for him but he had I mean I don't want to use word technically again so I won't use it uh but I I'm just confused as to the uh the question if if I didn't make that clear I please clarify as how he can have employ employees when he has no business I I don't want to may I well well I just I will say one thing so I understand what you're saying and what the intent is and I I and I don't we don't generally for these kind of transactions don't have Town Council here but in approving a license an alcohol license the other licenses are fine I have no problem with that with the other licenses but the alcohol license have special you know have special oversight by the abcc and my understanding at least as being a member of this board is that we would need those certifications so the fact that he has no employees would prevent in my eyes would prevent the transfer of the license today he would have to get the business first with all the other license and then have employees and then come back to ask for the the alcoholic one that would be my understanding I don't know if anybody on this board has any information other than that but that is my understanding my understanding is very similar to Mr Lonzo I think that what we've normally seen with a transfer is you know usually the sale of the business is contingent upon the successful transfer of all the licenses that go with the business right that is what and so you know for the on the applicant side you know the applicant has to demonstrate that when he takes over that business that he's going to have all these insurances ready to go on day one and so 100% of the time when an applicant comes before us as an example you say you know if you're going to have employees you know you reach out to your insurance company you get that quote you get the you know um you get your Certificate of Insurance that identifies the date the policy starts all that other information now you can work with insurance companies push that date out two three weeks if you need to that way you don't have to pay them a minimal or nominal amount but you certainly have to demonstrate that you have insurance you have to demonstrate that you have employees I mean even further into the policy and I'm I'm going to you know go back to Mr Lonzo here but we'll get into it when uh it's my turn but there's also as you know a requirement for like a written policy for your employees uh and so you know the application certainly is missing that uh and and you know and that written policy is how do you train your employees uh you know what is your training program all of that you know suggests that you're taking those steps before the business is necessarily fully transferred but I'll refer back to Mr Alonzo no well those I mean again the first one was my and and I was going to get so I'm glad that you know the vice chair talked about insurances because again we would need insurances too for the business at the same time so there has to be some kind of legal thing that's guaranteeing that that he has insurance if the deal goes through and is got to be a legal thing that he has employees or he can't get the alcohol one he can get everything else and then if when he's starting then he can come back for the transfer but again I don't know that we can approve it without those things being in place not being promised not being things in the future but things being in the present yeah I wish he is his attorney had in fact come tonight because he would basically say it more technically than I'm I love that word by the way uh than I'm than I'm saying uh basically we do have a purchase and sale agreement currently running which says that the the transfer of the business is contingent upon the transfer of the license we cannot move forward for the transfer of the license I mean transfer the business until the license is transferred that's standard I've done this a half a dozen times and I've never had this question honestly asked about the employees because the employees naturally not naturally I don't want to say that they automatically go with the business but my employees his employees would have to be tip certified Etc he will be training with me taking over the business the current running business he's not planning to change the menu he's not planning to change anything all he's planning to do is basically purchase the business in its existing form with the existing employees so um I I mean he could go and get a um what do you call a right an insurance writer stating that but I've never I've never seen that at this point of the game normally it's transfer license contingent upon him getting those things in fact and you don't sign the license they send it to the state the state approves it but he has to have those in place anyways they the state won't give it to him without workers comp I know this for a fact so he has to have all these things in place I basically my understanding of this meeting was to meet him to approve I'm not telling your job this is not my job to tell you your job this is just my understanding from prior experience that you you you meet them you approve them or not approve them depending and then it moves forward according to uh State policy which would then you have to have workers comp you can't have uh any alcohol license without workers comp you have to have this town requires tip certification my employees a currently tip certification if he purchases the business then his employees that come with him will be tip certified if not we still have to even if he hires a new employee hypothetically all his employees quit they all have to be tip certified this is the town rule so it's not like he can just go over past the the policies of the town of lunar I know every employee I hire that works the bar has to go out and get tip certified if they're not tip certified they have a certain amount of time to get tip certified so I I'm I'm at a loss as to the the employee question I understand the premise behind it I do I honestly do but it can't none of this can move forward without your approval so he can go to the state so we I mean he can come with a riter you can give him 24 hours to come back with a riter I mean that's that that's easy you go to insurance company say I need a riter if he doesn't already have it like I said I'm at a loss to why his attorney is not here today and I'm standing here acting as his Advocate but that's neither here nor there right I mean I could say that I've been doing this for 18 years and we've done a lot of these I've never had somebody not have an employee at all not one and and and it's a promiser note that okay I'm going to inherit I mean employees aren't real property you know he's going to inherit you know your business and the location and the and the lease and the equipment and everything but your employees are not yours to give to him so it's just a promiser that they're going to go along and I don't know that I have the authority without somebody on his payroll that says that he can do it or an agreement a legal agreement that says and I don't know how it have to be signed by that the employees will work for him but until that I don't know that again and I don't want to belabor the point because I've made it several times that I can approve the alcohol license I I can approve the other one's contingent on everything else I I can I'll say it right in front of you so you know that at the time of purchase I will be employed by this gentleman for a period of 30 days I am totally St certified and I will work for him and ensure that he at least has are you tip certified by the way David two of us is it your tip certified y do do we have documentation on that in the application I don't have it right now all right select more do you have any questions no SEL me Jeffrey do you have more questions yes um so can you show me I don't know if you have a copy of the application but can you just point to me where your hours of operation are listed the our operation it's going to be the same what is that what what is I don't I don't I I don't want to be hostile very respectful but what does that mean it's uh I think he open uh Monday to Saturday Sunday closing but Monday open half day like 4: to 9 maybe in the future we we all day but I'm not sure yet okay so on the application uh it notes that you are a 50% owner um not a 51% owner but a 50% owner where is the other owner at yeah he's supposed coming but he have another business so he was busy he can come in tonight yeah okay so um at the end of my questions I want to make a couple comments so um can you show me in your application where you have the floor plan I mean I understand what the business current layout is but do you have in here where the floor plan is uh no right now okay is that it on the back page last page I believe okay thank you and um and I already mentioned two other notes so in our in our rules and regulations as it pertains to alcohol uh section 1.01 first identifies you know that that you're going to post our you know the rules and regulations of the select board that there will be Post in your place of business um in the application you know section 1.04 requires hours of operation maybe I missed it but it would be helpful if we had that um next uh I am not comfortable moving forward without both entities you're not a majority owner you're a co-owner and so I would like to interview and meet with the other owner since this is a dual business uh in order for it to move forward I believe that was I'm not sure how to pronounce it but but maed meded mag mag magged um and then the last thing is I know that uh the business currently has a written training program uh for alcohol uh this we've talked about it before uh it's required as per section 1.19 of our rules and regulations it's not included in your application um so you know I'm going to ask uh the chair if we can reschedule this public hearing but what I would also ask is that you provide in the interim you know basically borrow what Al's policy is uh and you just say hey I'm going to incorporate this you know into my rules and regulations this is how I'm going to train my employees you know you you kind of go with Al's employees you know they're tip certified you get a copy of that tip certification added into the packet so that way when you come before us next time it's hey I'm going to be coming here I'm expecting that on day one I'm going to have up to 10 employees you know these are the ones that currently work for the business here are their tip certifications as well as a copy of yours uh and that way we're good to go in there those are really my main and then the insurance point I mean when you look at our checklist which we kind of do to help the applicants out as well as the ABC's checklist uh they kind of coincide so like the floor plan is on their list too um as well as some of the uh rules and regulations so it would be helpful if you could come before us uh with that information that's missing okay that will be soon it would not be up to me that would be up to the chair and town manager and u based on the upcoming schedule um but I don't want this to happen again uh where we have a public hearing scheduled and we don't have all the stuff in and I understand the intent of what you want to do with sort of onboarding and taking over um but I'm not really sure in terms of how the application was of you listing employees and so do you have workers comp insurance now under not yet okay and as I'm I'm not entirely sure but I would assume that that's a requirement for licensing any you can exempt the officers of the business from the workers comp but I mean it's hard to run in a pizza shot with two people um so I think the ex it's understood that you're going to have employees right I mean someone's answering the phone taking orders someone's making food someone's serving alcohol someone has to clean stock I mean it's usually a restaurant it's a more than a twers Enterprise yeah but like I said I get the intent you're taking over the employees probably going to stay and you're going to transition into the ownership how that works now for transferring this license over to you it seems like there's still some things that need to be worked out unfortunately um so I will also ask Intown manager if there's anything that he wants to add at this point well my suggestion is that um we get a a conference with the current owner the buyers our counsel um his Council uh and we put all this information together uh any additional questions from the board to us uh and that you table this matter uh until October 15 is that I just don't think we could get it done for next Tuesday MH okay so we can continue this hearing yes you would table it and all right that that makes it a lot easier then we don't have to republish no so that would make it quicker have one one additional question for the applicant are you are you intending on working there you are your partner will you be working at the site right now no no after you buy it will you be working all the time I be there all the time that's going to be your primary location exactly yeah okay so by rights you actually do have an employee you're your own employee yeah exactly okay so you probably want to reflect that but I am for the tabling of it continuation of this all right so it sounds like we're going to take this offline and sort of get everything that we need for the application and then continue this public hearing I'm sorry it didn't work out tonight and I'm sorry that maybe you didn't know that going into this meeting um but yeah it sounds like we're going to continue this public hearing until maybe two weeks from now and hopefully everything will uh be in place then Mr chair I I want to make it clear that I I am not in I have no interest in in unint you know purposely delaying the whole transaction I just am Resolute in my ability to do this correctly so again if it takes to that two weeks I I for everybody's sake I'd rather it be done right instead of backtracking and something not being right after the fact so I apologize for the delay but I think it's important so Mr chair I I then move to continue this public hearing to a date certain October the 15th at 715 p.m. second any additional discussion those in favor say I I no the motion passes unanimously all right all right so we will see you back here again on see you in two weeks we to our office I was going to say you should reach out to our office and talk to Annie and Carter and the office the people that you've been talking to to really just work through so we get a schedule for everyone to chat I would so like I said I'm sorry it didn't work out tonight but that's fine we'll get there we'll be next time all have a great have a good night thank you all right all right moving on to another public hearing for the transfer of a general on premises on premise all alcohol license common fic license Etc to bedrock Bar and Grill LLC located at 324 electric AV unit 4 and then same thing as last time to the clerk I'll have you read the notice and have you guys talk about what you want to do the lunenberg licensing Authority will hold a public hearing on Tuesday October 1st 2024 at 7:25 p.m. at Town Hall 17 Main Street 2 floor lunenberg Massachusetts on the application submitted by Bedrock Bar and Grill LLC DBA Bedrock bar and grill for the transfer of alcohol license number 0039 rs- 0636 restaurant all Al all alcohol located at 324 Electric Avenue Unit 4 the premises is described as a lake Plaza and unit consisting of bar dining room two restrooms kitchen cooking area seating for 100 people with an entrance and exit the fall and that's it all right and this is um Kindred Spirits just to be clear right correct okay cool all right so I'll pass it over to you guys very good um my name is uh Steve Marsen my partner Walter gfy well we're we're uh taking over uh Kindred Spirits I did sit with Annie quite extensively and I went through her checklist so I believe I have um all the information in there I have insurances in there workman's comp um we have five employees right now I already submitted the tip certifications and server certifications for those people so all of that is in the packet um the hours of operation we're going to do the same one as Kindred on their current uh liquor license so basically we're just mirroring uh the existing operation uh and the hours of the existing operation uh we're looking forward to uh uh making it a a userfriendly and and clean uh place for people to come and and uh have some fun Mr chair Maxa dis Mr Marson good to see you again I just need to confirm that uh you do not abut you do not own property that abuts mine anymore is that correct corre okay thank you y I do not full disclosure Mr Marsden uh a but was a butter to me for 15 years y y I don't think that would matter in this case but no no his business isn't going next to you if his answer was yes would you recuse yourself okay all right I'll open it up to questions um any substantial changes to the business painting and cleaning that needs a lot of painting there's a the inside will be all gut it and redone but the no other than that it'll be cosmetic okay so there's no structural changes no structural changes just fluff and buff yep wow all right you learn you learn a new rhyming phrase every day never heard that one fluff uh I see we have employees you talked about the certified everything in here seems correct you said you've submitted the tip certification right yes they're in the pack I have the packet here that I submitted to Annie Annie's got those yep I don't know how quickly they get approved but probably quickly uh there's the floor plan I I have no questions everything seems to be in order here Annie was very good she did a good job helping me I don't have any questions either all right um so I think the application is complete as we require we I don't see a copy of the alcohol policy I know you have one uh and so she called and she asked for that I submitted it did I miss up yeah I was going to say she did tell me that you submitted it's there okay I know it's usually lengthy and so maybe that got missed and the scan I didn't realize that you would I just our policy is that everyone has to be tip certified everybody has to be safe serve s which is for the food M uh we have um two man two Safe Serve managers for the food so and they're uh also certified uh through the state uh everybody will have a choke CPR and uh um safe service so everybody that was a requirement of my insurance carrier everybody has to have those State certifications so they'll have it I'm comfortable tonight moving on your application um I think that it would just for me I would ask that it would be contingent upon the presentation of that policy that just says you know every but we know it's in place we've had inspections in the past from the police department you got guys have we've never you know really had a significant issue over there with the alcohol as you're aware and so I'm confident that everything's in place uh it's just a matter of you know is that box checked here so what Annie I don't know if you saw we did that's what Annie asked for okay yep yep I don't have any questions I'm comfortable with it as well but I'll um just ask the inter room Town manager if he's comfortable with where the application at absolutely all right cool with that is there a motion I would move that we approve the transfer of the General on premise all alcohol license common vitler license automatic Amusement license Juke back license and weekday entertainment license to bedrock Bar and Grill LLC doing business as Bedrock Bar and Grill located at 324 Electric Avenue Unit Number Four as presented in our packet second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no motion passes unanimously ladies thank you very much you look forward to seeing you there yeah are you fully retired now Steve is this is this the end yeah no you get to a certain age and that's what you do all right thank you guys for coming tonight have a good night all right we're going to move to our next meeting it's not a public hearing report by police chief and DPW director uh for the fla Hill Road Traffic Control thank you uh Bill Berard DPW director so I have a uh multi-page report but I I distilled it down to about a page so I'll just go with that so the residents in the flath Hill area requested the select board to review the speed limit on flath Hill Road at the request of the select board the DPW and the police department combined to study vehicular speeds roadway geometry and other site conditions to determine if any adjustments or improvements were required the police conducted a speed study over the period of July 11th through July 20th 2024 uh the basic standard is that 85% of people will drive this speed deemed reasonable proper and safe the study shows this speed to be less than 5 milph above the existing speed limit we jointly studied the traffic additions adjacent land use and other Road use and found no need to for potential adjustments thus we concluded no adjustments to the speed limit are suggested and like I said at the full I have a full study I call it exhibit a it's about six seven pages um after a preliminary review of roadway curvatures slopes and roadway conditions was conducted first by myself and then jointly between myself and the um lunenberg police traffic officer Jacob lechance and as a result of that study we found that certain advisory signs for speed limits at various locations were may be warranted so have a list of locations in almost all of them are curves so um so I don't know if you want me to read them all here no you don't you can just like generalize too I mean one question I had it seems like it's most around like the lake cuz it looks like there's only one that's like Northbound exactly so most of them are from Reservoir Road up to um Sunset Lane right and then there was one I I would recommend one um hill blocks view sign um at house number 453 and that's kind of a straightaway um closer to um Page Street uh beyond that um we concluded nothing further is warranted um again that study was part of exhibit a and we did a third study was conducted at the intersection of flat Hill Road in bar Street as a resident requested this intersection be an always stop so none of the five CR standard criteria for an always stop are met at that intersection therefore I do not recommend making this intersection and always stop up and again I have a full study of that in exhibit B that's the condensed version all right cool I'll open it up to questions yeah after reviewing this and I think you know you and I spoken in the past after the first hearing where the citizens presented this I I am fully in support of the document here of the advisory signs and no changes other than that I fully in agreement with the report so I do want to acknowledge you know the concerns that the residents raised regarding the safety on their Road um than those that submitted the petition and that you know it's important and we value people's input um and I did take the time to review this full um very lengthy and and well thought out presentation you guys put a lot of work into it um after reviewing the recommendations from the chief and the DPW director I fully support their approach I think the plan increases signage it will boo considering boosting enforcement um and it's balanced in a well thought out response to the issue um I'm sure they'll continue to monitor it if there's any other things that come up in the future um and I appreciate you your hard work that you put into this and I fully support your recommendations I also support your recommendations thank you for the work as you know I just would have dropped the speed limit and been done with it um but I think that you have fully uh you the work between the police department and DPW um you know this kind of sets a very high standard for uh how we look at into these requests as they come from residents um I know that when the residents met with us you know they were obviously a little upset uh that the answer wasn't on that evening uh what they wanted to hear um you know but I think that it's what you've taken is an evidence-based approach um to you know demonstrating that you know speed is mostly a factor in these kind of tight turns um that and as you know from previous conversations I've made it is important to me that people get out of lunenberg quickly um so you know people work in Boston people work in Worcester you know I'm a little resistant to dropping speed limits around town uh especially in the in the absence of of car accidents and other things that would necessitate it um but I think that the comments by my colleagues I I fully concur with I think this is an excellent approach to resolving the concerns uh I think it would be helpful it seems I would assume we're going to approve this it will be helpful if we can also communicate this back to those residents and I'm not sure how to do that um but let them know that hey we've looked into this you know this is a lot of work and I think demonstrating the amount of work that went into this and and why the decisions were made I think will will help the residents understand um that you know they were listened to they were heard and that this is a reasonable approach uh to their concerns yeah I agree with that point as well um but I think I told you guys via email about my experience and I also share with the board and I talked about it publicly uh like I experienced firsthand why you use data and and the 85th percentile to set speed limits because the biggest contributing factor to roadway safety is differences in speeds I know cuz I drive generally kind of slowly around the speed living in town and I can tell you I get ped all the time and sometimes very angrily actually it just happened to me like couple weeks ago since I last had that experience on Arbor Street that I talked about so I don't know it just happens a lot um whatever I don't know but I think people like genuinely forget when they get behind the wheel that they're operating a 2ton killing machine you know that's what cars are and when that happened on Arbor Street there was a woman walking her dog right in front of us so I can good faith when we have all this data and also now my personal experience to back it up make that road even more dangerous which we could in theory do by just lowering the speed limit so I understand why we're doing this and I think the advisory speed limits that you're recommending are going to address it right and we're not putting them up everywhere so that they just sort of blend into the environment and people just drive by them you know I think people will actually stop and slow down so I hope that this is actually the best way forward to get people to slow down in areas that you know actually improve safety and I want to thank you for all the work that you put into this because it was a lot of work so thank you Mr chair I want to just reiterate that uh what I said at the initial hearing first of all to the vice chair's point that it should be communicated I think this board since those residents came to this board this board should respond you know either directly or through our the interim Town manager but it should come from the board not from the DPW director or the police chief uh secondly what I said at that thing is that you know the major issue with that road and it's true on other roads in town is that they're incredibly narrow in their definition and what we need to do at some point we we will be doing I don't know if it's 10 years on almost 20 years but eventually we're going to need to widen the roads and as they as they come up for you know repavement or something maybe at some point I know it's an arduous and potentially expensive process but you know people nowadays expect roads that they can live on past two cars and actually have a shoulder to ride a bike or walk a dog or just walk or Jog and we should be looking at those every chance we get it may not be possible in all areas but there are certainly areas where it can be although will require imminent domain Etc but still something we should look at because that really is the heart of this issue so um I would I mean again yes um so should the board vote to endorse these recommendations uh we'll put the report somewhere on the web we don't have a major project section or something but we'll figure that out uh and then send a letter to all of the uh area residents that would be impacted with a hyperlink as to where they can find the full report uh that said before the board acts uh were you able to get into to the report anywhere the our last discussion about the chief's concerns on the advisory I I my only concern is that I I just want I just want the board to be aware of uh one of my concerns with advisory signs of Lauren what the actual speed limit is that people need to understand that we can't enforce it ours but that is not in our purview um and it does create some issues but we just want to make sure that people understand that so there's an expectation of folks that they'll follow that advisory sign as if it was the limit and you can't ticket anyone for exceeding so I just want the board to be aware of that I mean to me as a driver of I don't know how many years now 10 12 now yeah over over really want to somebody who's driven more than 10 years I would say that you know the signs are most important for people who are unfamiliar with the road I mean I live on Lancaster it's a very windy road it's not as narrow as flat hill but it's also not wide and I know i' like the back of my hand cuz I've lived here for 26 years The Advisory signs are really for people who if they didn't exist would be caught off guard that there is a a turn or an S turn or something like that so I think that's the important reason for it and to advise what the speed limit should be yeah um we can also put a um we have the ability to put links up for that report we can link it on our web page also perfect be great that'll actually help uh moving forward to anybody else I request 25 M hour or any neighborhoods like that they can see the work that goes into it and it's not just to come before the board and say I want 25 miles hour that there's specific um guidelines that we're going to follow given what else is on our plate I would tell the board that it's probably uh about two weeks before we could get that mailing out to everybody we can get it up on the web faster but to get that letter to every resident um get that mailing list together and such it probably will be about two weeks before I can do that that's fine actually before Annie can do that no I think that's pretty reasonable all right are there any other questions uh just call I want to think as well the chief because I know that I had raised a question about what is an advisory spe Li real and is it even enforceable um so I do appreciate the full circle on that one um you know and I do think that people react to the advisory speed limits because they're a different color it kind of tells you hey slow down in this area and it's just a I think it's a helpful Tool uh and it seems as if you know between the police department and DPW that you know I think you guys the two of you specific as like people have been really resourceful uh in trying to figure out you know how to how do we get to the end state that we want to get to using all the tools in the tool box so thank you all right is there a motion I would make a motion that we accept the report of the DPW director and uh police chief and the police department as presented tonight and go along with their recommendations of the advisory signs in those uh nine locations that were listed second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppos no the motion passes unanimously all right thank you both for all the work that you did on this and thanks for joining us thank you have a good night Mr chairman could I ask that you take the other two nominations out of order so that uh any bill can speak to uh the two nominees and answer any questions sure that's fine yeah then we can get him on going to move to ratification of interim Town manager's appointment for seasonal Cemetery laborers they're both yes Nicholas green and Autumn Buck I don't know if you've ever spoken on these before um I think I have yeah okay he's here you know I'm here so why not uh so what did we write up for Nicholas okay so a very inici St by the way it's it's been a long day it's been a long day we used your write up Bill 13 hours sorry all right so Nicholas uh he has some experience maintaining grass he's a quick learner he works well under pressure and it's taking on bigger roles and other positions uh Nick is a resident of lunenberg and is eager to help maintain the cemeteries in any way he can so awesome and the other is Autumn buck so autumn is a highly qualified candidate having performed the same work at a State Park and loves working Outdoors Autumn is also a resident of lunenberg and has a conservation background and we are excited to bring Nick and Autumn aboard they're going to be a great help for the cemetery Department awesome any questions for a pill yes okay seasonal um can you define that cuz it seems like I thought this was a spring till yeah it was every year yeah so see on May to roughly Thanksgiving okay um this so This Time year there's a lot of leaves a lot of acorns I don't know if you g to the north cemeter it's con Invasion over there and there's a lot coming down this year particular we'll keep him busy all right yeah so seasonal means everything but winter correct yeah it doesn't mean that we only hire people with seasons in their name yeah as it turns out good one come on I'll be here all night all right any other questions no I would recommend that we I would move that we ratify the interim Town manager's appointment of seasonal Cemetery laborers Nicholas green and Autumn buck as presented second any additional discussion those in favor say I I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right thank you so much good night have a good night thank you all right we've done a lot of jumping around on this tonight was sure no I just mean we we did one it doesn't matter anyway just want to make sure we get everything that's all all right now we're going to move to a joint meeting with the architectural preservation District commission about the Brooks house uh which is just one member it's Nathan so I'll invite you up Mr chair I would suggest that if they posted the meeting for 8:00 that we wait until 8 p.m. did they actually post a meeting for this I don't know if they did let me look did you post a meeting for this um Anthony may have is there any of the other AP C members on zo I might have been a quorum notice which would be proved sufficient for this purpose nothing has been posted so I will still invite you up okay um no okay so actually it does have scheduled meetings and hearings 8 P.M joint meeting it's posted on the agenda I don't see it posted on unless I'm missing it that's on our agenda though under Section Five we can go to the interim Town manager report yeah all right that's fine all right my apologies all right we'll go to the interim Town manager report uh so um on the employment front I would uh like you to know that uh our administrative assessing assistant that tentatively uh accepted the employee did not complete uh the process um so that one is a back out for research we did interview today for uh sewer business manager uh and that will be submitted to the Sewer Commission for ratification this coming Wednesday I believe it is so that will leave us with the assistant business manager and the administrative assessing assistant which is quite a cutting the list we've been working with on for a while um I would like to uh update you on um some of the projects the um adult Activity Center roof bid uh has been awarded and is to be completed within 30 days uh we have um awarded the lunenberg historic property survey uh which is underway uh and the award for the library exterior paint project uh is underway now uh as well um I think that I'd like to address some of these other bids when we discuss arpa it'll flow together a little bit better um with the anticipated dates I have been meeting with the facil director uh every Tuesday at 2: p.m. to try try to set targets and keep things moving along um and I think you can see by the bids that have been going out uh over the last week in the coming schedule that that has uh proven to be fruitful um so we'll we'll stay on top of that um I do want to let you know that the TC pasos uh good Lord uh for the automatic spell checking of the TC passion deficit uh has been eliminated we were able to find sufficient dollars uh elsewhere in the facilities budget to offset those uh and I want to be clear that this had nothing to do with the school department paying their rent uh they have paid their uh after uh before and after school rent as agreed um I think that what happened uh was that it was not necessarily clear uh as to who was responsible for processing what and who would mol and who would snow uh plow snow and all that so we're going through a process right now with the school superintendent and the business manager uh and the facilities director to establish what the budget truly is to operate the bud uh that building and I've recommended them that they make a very specific request for that building going forward not just lump it in with all the facilities so that everybody can understand what the costs are uh we're also looking at the building with the school department to see whether or not there's possibly some cont traction that we can do within the building that might lower operating costs uh and make the best use of that $300,000 uh and the school uh superintendent has been an active partner in those discussions and we certainly want to thank her uh for that uh thanks to um an assistance uh from Pac uh I was able to record a 30 minute Talk of the Town show uh which introduced our new waste huler GW Shaw and sun to the community um all reports well lack of complaints would tell me that at least it's gotten off the ground relatively smoothly uh the only real change is they're coming from the north and Harvey was coming from the south so they've kind of just flip the route same day same route um but if you thought you had until 10 or 11:00 a.m. cuz Harvey was going to be late you now could miss the boat because cha will be early at your end uh but we've um hopefully had a nice discussion um we had a chance to uh exchange our youth growing up tending to to pigs and such a little bit uh and I'm going to do one of those Talk of the towns each month while I'm with you different department head different subject matter uh next month's uh will be you know sort of question time what's on the uh town meeting warrant for the for the fall cool um we held I'm sorry was there no I just say cool yeah it was a great idea um I had uh two listening sessions for the employees uh I I didn't take an exact headcount we had 40 plus or minus in attendance um it it seemed well received um you know before we launched into the concerns I did get a thank you for doing it which is always you know a good way to get started um we will uh prepare a fuller report get all those notes written up and everything but from a high level uh I would like to share with you the concerns that the uh staff expressed uh first was the status of the police department once Chief gaml retires uh next was a concern for Holiday sick leave and vacation time uh for those working under 20 hours a week particularly holiday because many of our people um are part-time elsewhere and so if they lose that 8 hours on a Monday or Thursday they can't come to work work on another day of the week and pick that up they are out of that time completely um it was suggested that we uh develop an employee recognition program uh some of the employees spoke to the sickly of donations being on a department by Department situation kind of basis um uh they spoke to the challenges with the current reimbursement process uh there was the General discussion of IT issues that you know about uh and the need to develop some more standardized operating procedures uh so we will be submitting a series of amendments uh to address the PTO cly Bank uh employee recognition and some other changes uh you'll see those in your draft warrant next week um they're undergoing review by Mark Terry and then I tried to involve Nancy in it uh so that any changes to the acrs um I I try to address some concerns that she might have uh we have uh committed to bringing the interim police chief uh in final search process before you next week um I've spoken with that candidate uh I do know that the chairman will want to speak to you about the the timing of an executive session for you to review the proposed contract for the interim uh chief of police uh we have committed to bringing a new reimbursement process and possibly a purchase credit card this is not a standard credit card it would be controlled by one individual um and we have committed to bringing those policy changes before you uh we had said to the group 111 it will be in your packet for 111 but you won't have it for consideration uh until 1105 uh when the employees uh spoke to the need for standard operating procedures it occurred to me that Samantha was clearly volunteering to leave lead that group and as uh Annie and Logan um spoke to it I I sense that they wanted to volunteer for that group as well so they have established a working group I've given them 1 hour uh a week to work on this um I've asked them to work with the committee handbook and to start on meeting minutes standardization of meeting minutes across all the boards uh and pointed out to them the section that allows the town clerk to set those standards for all boards and committees um and ask that they be sure to include the clerk in those conversations this will not happen quickly we've only given them one hour a week they'll go away and do their homework uh but involving the employees that wanted this in that process I think is uh is important um and we as well um did interview some uh people for network uh administrator today and we had a a a good heart-to-heart with suer um and um we'll review how that goes I I don't want to speak to it much more than that I think suar felt that um well let me just let me just leave it at that I I think it was a good conversation and we've turned the corner uh the finance team is close to being able to close out FY 24 we did have one Department uh that had some adjusting entries that needed to be made we did get those today I want to thank U Ezekiel for really going above and beyond um they're still a little bit off but we're just going to have this point have to call them reconciling errors and try to clean them up in the next fiscal year cuz I need to close the books we're we're quite deep into this fiscal year without having closed uh fiscal 24 uh and with that done um we're hoping to be able to get the trial balance out uh to do by next week for free cash we're not using any free cash at the fall town meeting we'll use overlay Surplus um and uh I've reviewed the 925 massav I'm not I think it was member Emy that had questions on that um I had a number of questions on it which I've kicked off to to Town Council and hopefully um Adam and I can get that done um over the next few days I'll be in the office next Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday um and I sent y'all an email today and if you have any questions on it at any time just pick the phone up and call me um and we can you know on a one-on-one basis uh happy to answer any questions about the listening sessions or anything that I've I've outlined in here I do have one question Mr chair uh through you to the interim Town manager my question is the other piece that we like to have in place before a special town meeting will we have the tax rate set or available to be Set uh my shorter answer is I me I'll ask that tomorrow tomorrow the assessors have a meeting so well um So the plan is to have the classification hearing uh before you on November 5th okay and that would have an estimated tax rate subject to final review and approval by the Department of Revenue right I understand that but yeah but mean it'll be out of our hands by that point so I mean I I've never had a time in do changed what our recommendations were not saying they don't have the authority but it it rarely happens it usually only happens um so you have to explain any differential in your local revenues that are up or down more than 10% MH and so if you haven't done a good job at submitting that sometimes they will kick that back and say but what's going on especially let's say it's a new fee you're introducing you know how did you get that number when is that taking effect what Authority did you have to do that um the only other number is sometimes on the overlay especially if it's adjusted um along the lines that we've been having discussions at the budget task force um if it if it jumps I don't know where we are just yet they may say you know what happened here you know it went from X to Y um but the plan is to have uh the classification here and on November 5th okay thank you any other questions I don't have any questions but I just wanted to make a comment that I really appreciate all you all the work that you've put in I think that a lot of the things that you just reported on align really closely with the goals that we set um and even with what came out of the listening sessions so I think that on a great path and I appreciate all your work I I do want to say that it is and the employees must understand it is an active partnership uh and so um when one employee said some I didn't know about this this this and this and another employee was able to stand up and say but it's in the documents we've been sending every single month you know it's like there is a certain responsibility on the employees part um when we do make information available uh to read it and to ask questions about it if they don't understand so I'm hoping that uh you know that little polite conversation we had uh can um just be a reminder to people that when that that newsletter hits that hits the mailbox or when that email uh from Julie or Cara that says the flu Clinic's on Thursday and if you're regularly scheduled to work during those times you can have one hour of release time to go get your flu shots you know so I do hope that um uh and for those who are watching tonight um I do hope that they uh can find a few moments to read those things that we do send out uh because on the other side of it there's the staff that tries to put some time and energy into getting that information out um I I think that if you did this twice a year would be plenty uh anything more um you you need to have some time to actually have some progress um on what they've suggested M I do think they appreciated it awesome I agree with with all the comments uh I do have a question Mr chair to the um interim Town manager in the report you noted that there's um uh finances close to closing out that there's a small reconciliation how small are we talking are we talking tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or hundreds um thousands I think it's 140 on one account which we can 140 which we can take care of in the reconciliation and on the other department um it's somewhere around it I'm going to tell you somewhere around cuz I don't remember the number exactly uh 14,000 plus or minus um in in the size of the budget uh we will have to deal with it at some point it will hit our free cash and we're going to need to do something at sometime we don't have the ability that the state has to just you know at the fall town meeting appropriate $155,000 for deficits that were in the FY 24 budget uh but it's it's nothing of great concern okay yeah 15,000 and enough multi million dollar yeah 15,000 you know I think all together at the end of the day we're probably 15,000 varant I would like an opportunity to refresh that number if I'm wildly off all right thank you all right awesome thank you Carter but um yeah it's exciting to see uh all that is in motion right now so thank you very much all right so we're going to go back to our joint meeting with the architectural preservation District commission it was really just Nathan Lockwood here today uh regarding the Brooks house so yeah you can come up to the podium it's better for you all right great to see everybody great to see everyone uh Nathan Lockwood 91 Main Street uh member of the architectural preservation District committee um could I I got a little presentation uh okay um I think the booth if you share your screen the booth might be able to put it up let's try down oh all right can the host please enable screen sharing or oh never mind okay can you email it to me real quick if you if you want to have it sorry I didn't know you had a it's all good see new Zolo at lunenberg ma.gov and Nate you don't have to lean into the mic they can adjust the volume oh okay great thank you you you can stand normal and they can [Music] modify all right sorry I'm just uh getting this email sent here I'm sorry Caesar how do you spell that one again oh CAO lber got it okay great all right thanks yeah let me know when you when you get that over there it looks like uh Anthony scull brini has joined the the zoom y I saw he's on on the zoom I just let him in All right so I can exit the zoom is okay or actually I'll stay on so I can see it on my screen I guess all sh I got the email I'm opening it up now apologies for the folks at home cool all right hold on one second let me share my screen all right there you go all right fantastic well thanks for having me I'm here today to talk about a warrant article that the apdc would like to add to the town warrant for the November special town meeting uh pertaining to the Brooks house um so uh so I I think uh just if to to proceed here go through the article and then we can then sorry go through the presentation and if you want to look we want to look at the details of the article we can do that so the purpose of this article is to save the Brooks house from Demolition without using taxpayer money the Brooks house is an attractive historic building located at 1033 Massachusetts Avenue the article seeks to create the conditions for the building's restoration renovation and valuable reuse using private funds and initiative in order to achieve this the article asked town meeting to instruct the select board to sell the building along with a minimal lot footprint let's do the next slide please the Brooks house has a rich history predating the Civil War it was built by Samuel Bailey in 1837 it was sold to Fernando Brooks in 1870 at that point it became the Brooks Farm Fernando's son Warren lived there with his wife Ida the house operated as a youth hostel for a period in the 40s after Warren died and his wife sold the prop of the town in 1946 for use of the school department offices it's an architecturally significant Building located at a prominent Vista approaching the historic Lunenburg Town Center uh it was used as school's offices until around 2011 when it was relocated to the current office in TC Paso's building following that the property was partially leased to The lunenberg Ledger for a brief period until roughly 5 years ago more recently the main area of the house was occupied by the lunenberg public schools facilities director who has since also moved to the TC pasos building as a result the Brooks house is currently being mostly used for school storage while the town continues to incur costs to heat the building and maintain the envelope of the building the town building reuse committee with varying memberships over about 10 years has been considering using it for town government purposes the general consensus has been that the bill bu is not well suited for the requirements of town departments the property is in the architectural preservation district and falls under the protections and Zoning of this bylaw as such it cannot be demolished without the consent of the apdc or a vote of town meeting these protections are necessary but not sufficient for the preservation of the structure as you know absent of compelling use for the building the town is unlikely out of fiscal responsibility to continue to allocate the funds needed to prevent the building from falling disrepair and without private reuse the building will likely end up being demolished due to Progressive neglect much like the old primary school before it it present the building is still overall structurally sound it's attractive for private mixed use repurposing do several factors oh no I'm I'm going to open mine up it looks like uh this is uh okay well we can just skip that one and go to the second Bull point if you want hang on one sec so it it enjoys permissive mix use zoning of the Village Center District uh the which means you know it can be used for both living in and hosting a business uh or just hosting a business the building is equipped with emergency exits enhancing its adaptability for a wide range of commercial uses it's uh potentially uh has some good foot traffic and convenient location with visibility on massav in town center so given all that uh the building is desirable for private mixed use repurposing the town does not have a public use for the building at this time the size and location of the parcel are in no way essential for further Redevelopment of the town's property for other uses residents of the town have consistently prioritized retention of the town's historic character and structures both by passing the APD bylaw in 2015 and as recently as 2024 in surveys and public working sessions related to the updating the master plan so folks in lunenberg when they are asked consistently tell us they would like to preserve the town's historic character it's important to them uh the building needs the needed protective repairs and routine maintenance and upkeep are costly to the town renovating the building would be costly to the town demolishing the building would be costly to the town conveying the building in lot for private use would produce tax revenue and solving the future of this building you know uh helps out the the town in the building reuse committee by just simplifying the overall equation for Town building reuse taking one piece of the puzzle away and letting us focus on the important remaining pieces so yeah that that concludes the the presentation thank you very much awesome thank you Nathan all right I will um oh maybe I skipped all that but all right I'll pass it over to the board for questions do you have the actual wording of the article yeah um I do one moment um I can send that to to Caesar as well you're bringing that up I will say that uh I'm glad to see this come forward I think that the reasoning that you gave and the bullet points are accurate I I concur that the town will likely not be spending any money anytime soon for a building that we have no purpose for and no reason for uh in line with what happened with the uh going to Luther burback house which I can't remember the title of unfortunately uh but we went through this where we put it out for private bid several times even at no cost just to keep it on finally found the current residents who did a fantastic job there and we're able to restore the building and keep it up if there is an appetite for this I mean I think it's a very interesting location because of the surroundings you would have no privacy if you live there but if somebody's willing to do it I think it is the only option available to us that would prevent it from being demolished and so if that is true and I believe it is true then I think this is something we should have to uh really pursue I'd like to see it saved if possible I mean it's so unusual and it's so amazing to me that buildings like this were moved they're much larger they were moved several times to a current location it would be nice to see that house move to a separate location to regain the property in front if somebody's willing to do that that would be great but it has to start with the town meeting article that allows us to try to sell it and I'd be willing to do that even at at zero cost to purchase as long as the person's willing to agree that they will put this amount of money into revamping and revitalizing the building so thank you for bringing it forward thank you appreciate that so sorry thought you looking at me like no I just didn't know we were if if you had pulled it up the article I do uh I don't know if we really want to read it but if you want to go first you're just going to send it to us um I can do that yeah if you want it's kind of lengthy so it's in theboard drive the uh I don't see it in the drive I see theed summary okay that's okay it's with if you want I could go through like do a really brief summary just so people have an idea sure why not yeah and I mean to Tom's point I think the town was given authorization to move to sell the property sell the building to move it at a previous uh town meeting possibly I don't know if that's that's correct this is to sell the property this is to sell the property with it which I'm willing to try if somebody wants to do it yeah so I mean so it's basically I won't read the to see if the town so basically it's to ask the select board to take the following actions one would be subdivide a lot Min of minimally compliant size for the property that includes at least four parking spaces as part of the property on such terms and conditions as the select board May determine so one thing to know it's in the Village Center District uh zoning um the uh lot the regulations for the lot the offsets the lot size are incredibly permissive I think the the offsets are maybe 5T to each side of the building or something you could very tightly carve the parcel along the building the intent here with requiring that parking spaces some number of parking spaces be conveyed with it is to make it viable as a either inhabitable or commercial property you know no one's going to buy it if they can't park outside it long story short so the the second point is to convey to the owners of the property basically an easement so that they can get to their property through the uh existing driveway and parking lot of the town-owned library so that's that's how the building is currently accessed is you go through the the the library and you go to the right and then at the end of the parking lot there's a access to the to the to the uh driveway or parking lot behind the uh Brooks building and you know figure out what that looks like there may be different ways to do that legally but you know um we're asking we'd be asking the town to do that um and then convey an easement to allow potential access not not conveying the parking spaces although you could decide to do that as opposed to this is basically give uh an easement for access to an additional eight parking spaces this is based on that would give um 12 parking spaces this is based on the formula for parking spaces for um com commercial uses in the in the Village Center District I think it's like a parking space for every 300 Square ft something to that effect basically and that I I believe the the existing Brooks parking lot has likely has enough spaces to accommodate all of that or certainly if they you know if it's not there you know maybe a couple in the library space and they would be all set um all right then the the last point I think yeah the last point is to place the property for sale by appropriate legal means at the town's disposal and there's a you know no later than October 25 and continually render it until it's sold on terms and conditions that the board of selectman determines or the select board I apologize my only comments um that were you addressed when you were just reading that part of that article is you know about zoning and meeting with planning and the subdivision itself of the property you know how that would be done and making sure we are following that process um but sounds like we've already started talking about that so MH and I did add it to the drive by the way so if you want to read it there now if you refresh it well the real the real trick is and I give this to the committee and it's going to involve more than the select board because the select board I don't think owns the property I think the school department owns the property and I'm not sure because I don't think it was ever subdivided correct so the school the the the building was turned over to the town when it was vacated so the town we were able to say hey if you can get the building moved then move it but we don't own the property and that's a school department property so have to carve out the lot exactly with them my point was there y yep interesting okay and uh we did put that request before the town I know it was only 5 years ago and it was defeated um and that was to subdivide that lot specifically um for the building but what was passed was for us to be able to sell the building itself which we can still do so if someone wants to buy it relocate it as of 2019 in May this board has had the ability from the town meeting voters to sell the building okay yeah um so we can certainly talk to the school I guess is it possible I mean this is more question for Town Council if we can get the article amended on the floor or in some way so that you know if the school you know to to reflect the the current ownership well I mean we haven't published a bulletin so I me you cannot you need to start with how you want to divide the land up mhm well first is the school interested in releasing the land that's a base no cost question you then need to decide how you want to divide the land up because you're going to need a survey plan and authorization for the board to sell a piece of land described as right uh and so the current with the parcel ID number uh or at least yeah you wouldn't have to divide it until you're ready to actually sell it but you got to be able to you know meets and Bounds um so there are some things that are a little bit out of order here that you couldn't solve necessarily by um amending the current article as proposed if may ask the questions yes um so the a couple of of well the m b and design committee really consider this to be a surplus property um and the uh in the hybrid model um I think the long-term use was for this to be utilized by facilities and at that time uh the town manager uh expressed some interest in retaining the building for the purposes of being like office space for facilities director potential school facilities as well um but we kind of identified it as Surplus you know I think there's a couple of things the town can do here uh which is you know reach out you know you know the state the Commonwealth has a program called up for underutilized properties um and I think it's called the underutilized property program or whatever it stands for um but basically they have an interest when Municipal properties sit vacant and they do provide some resources to assist in that um and and it's grant-based generally um I I don't like the idea of partitioning of portioning off this building uh within the school parcel and I'll give you a couple reasons why um you know right now when you travel from basically Memorial Park all the way down to you start going down the hill on massav on your entire left hand side is Municipal property and if you carve out a Post-It stamp right of property I'm going to go worst case scenario worst case scenario here is that someone who buys it puts a sign in the window that says I hate black people right or you know who pick pick your whoever you want to categorize which is something that you should be able to do or can do on your own property anywhere but when we create in the middle of of Municipal property a private parcel we open the door to all the unintended things that we don't like uh which is signs in the windows you know the speech that we may not want the kids that are going to grade 6 through 12 to look at every single day that they're coming in and out of school now granted they can see it on Burge they can see it on Massa they can see it on Lancaster you know but I I have a slight issue with creating those conditions in which we can you know have a property right at the entrance of our school right what looks to be Municipal speech and for it to not actually be Municipal speech I'm using an extreme example there's a whole lot of other stuff um that comes with having this parcel there now I know that many communities urban communities you know they deal with this all the time um you know we're not alone and having you know um res obviously there's is across the street um but that's my natural hesitance is I just think the location of it is a little too Prime that it really worries me uh we can't regulate speech uh but it worries me the type of speech that will get a real prominent location uh at that property aside from that you know I I like the idea of someone coming along and perhaps moving it um or you know for us to figure out what's minimally needed to continue to use it but that's my general response uh I need more information but that's my general inclination yeah I mean I I hear what you're saying I think it's I think this type of thinking about what ifs that are pretty improbable has you know been a barrier to the town you know effectively managing some of its Surplus properties it's something I think we've struggled with for the past 20 years so I think part of bringing up this again even though it has been considered different times is I think there is an opport for us to re you know rethink this a little bit our schools are already near a bunch of private properties there's been nothing it's been a good experience vaguely like that yeah I mean the the middle the the elementary school the Turkey Hill there is next to a couple private properties um even if we made that made the Brooks house disappear there's properties across the street they've got political signage you know just the normal stuff no one's you know off their rails or anything but um it's just life I mean people you know we can't put our town in a bubble or a part of our town in a complete bubble I think the footprint of this building is incredibly small if you walk behind TC pasos there's a compost pile roughly the size of the footprint of this building um it's an attractive building it could be an architectural feature and the goal in terms of turning it over to private hands is to put it to vibrant public private uses maybe they'll open a coffee shop there it would actually be a good location for that it actually has the facilities to that it would bring more people to the library you could go to the library take out a book go sit down at the coffee shop and read it um the zoning is there to do this like it is an attractive location it's a good-look property and we'd be better served as a town by making it a living Monument as opposed to just like you know a a statue you and I have time that we're going to be meeting and to talk and I will take this up then in more detail cuz I I'm like I said my inclination but I'm not willing to make a decision yeah sure no I appreciate that and I appreciate you're raising these concerns cuz I think you're not the only one who's thinking about that and I think it's a natural inclination to want to protect the good things that we have I think though that sometimes you know it's human nature for that to sometimes crowd out other possibilities so I look forward it to talk to you about that and I mean I know I gave like an extreme being an African-American but I mean I think the other things is you know when you get the speech that says you know vote Yes on three or you know I think it just has the influence of looking like you know the average person may not realize that hey in the middle of this large stretch is now a private property and this isn't Town speech yeah I mean it's really at the edge of the public property in a sense but I'm wondering to you know a couple things you know one is the town the the goal of this bylaw was not to prescribe you must have these meets was to empower the select board or the school board or whoever to uh to solve it you know understand the town's intent is to get the property in private hands for real use maybe there are deed restrictions you could put on that would you know the buyer's going to limit you know stuff they can do and 99% of these buyers it's not going to be a big deal you know if they can't put up political signage or their signage would have to be reviewed by the school committee you know be approved by the school committee or something like that yeah I don't know about that but well you got to pick what you care about at some point you know what I mean do you want to demolish a historic building because you don't want to put on a deed restriction you know that's like it's it's it's trade-offs as far as you know I mean just I guess a question for Carter is does town meeting have the ability to compel the school to dispose of the to to do to relinquish the property however anyone who ignores the vote of town meeting does So at their own Peril yeah and I mean I think that we have to I I've said this numerous times that I think that we have to recognize that we have a problem with what to do with old school buildings um and you know and I know the school committee is committed to trying to kind of changing course in this which is excellent um but it doesn't you know change the reality of here and now which is that you know we're buying new and shiny without a disposition for what exists and what exists needs millions of dollars in investment to keep it running you know or or it starts literally degrading and falling apart so and I think we just as a community you know before we as voters vote for money for a building to not be used anymore we need to have a plan for what it's going to do for us um you know and other when we have a change of use we need to have a disposition plan because it really is unfair to all of us as taxpayers to be in this position of what are we going to do with this old what used to be a superintendent's office Etc and we're having these conversations 15 years after these were actively utilized because it's because clearly whatever the building offers did not and has not met our needs definitely definitely uh it hasn't met the needs for Town use but it could be great for a private use and it does by the nature of its history represent something that has value to the town otherwise I mean I think you start to pluck these buildings away from the town and it won't be long before you lose you lose the character of town center that is a building that greets you as you enter Town Center there you know we have a similar situation down the other end of massav coming into town where a building uh could be demolished at some point potentially uh with the old Funeral Home there and it's a perfectly reusable building but you know it's it's see it's just one building but pretty soon you know you've kind of lost that Connection to the Past you can just look at it in the picture books and that's it it's you know your Town's the same as any other town in the country at that point I guess I would be open and you know I think I I don't know that I can speak you know Anthony's on this he he can chime in and I don't know that we have a quorum for a meeting but I think the goal of this article is to put this question before the town voters to create a mandate for the select board to work with the stakeholders they need to work with to achieve what is a pretty simple goal we're saying take take a minimally viable property here open it up for private use take the steps you deem most judicious to make that happen but make it happen and you know we don't want it to fall off the rails along the way because oh well no one showed up for that auction it's like no we're going to do this till we get it off till till it till till it happens and that's really the goal of this is is to get that get the Mandate from the town to the select board so the select board can you know use its Ingenuity to uh execute on that I recall from our last time talking about this that we even needed town meeting approval just to partition um subdivide the property and that was what was defeated was the request to create different Parcels here um so that way we would have the schools we'd have TC pasel we'd have the Brooks house to really open the doors for the future I remember being a part of that conversation and remember that article being defeated so we're basically saying you know enough time has passed let's come with a different argument but still the same request and let's see what happens now and and we know the makeup of the town has changed over the last 5 years yeah and I don't know that the the APD I was at the apdc that introduced it the select board the select board brought it through last I think yeah I think let's I'd say let's give it another run I think we've had time to pursue other options and see see how that went and I think um yeah I think it's worth the with the conversation all right right cool this is Tony skull Bry if I might just add a few words if I could sure yeah we can hear you first of all I want to thank Nathan for uh his initiative and getting us to take a look at the Brooks house again and I think that he's really done a good job of summarizing um what the what the need is you know the house needs someone interested in Saving it and I think that uh well there's obviously concerns about turning that piece of property over to a private owner um I think that the that there's ways you can control how that transfer takes place and at the same time it represents something that could be viable for a private individual to conduct business in the village District which is one of the reasons why the town passed a village District bylaw to promote you know more business in the in the center part of town and you know I I've been participating as a member of the public in the master planning steering committee uh uh meetings and the master plan uh public meetings that have been held and in almost every one of the public meetings that we've had we've had people say they want to have more commercial activities in uh you know the the village district and I think that this could be a way of adding to the Village District as the Town members you know that have participated in those public members have asked for I mean there's always there's always some concerns when you take a piece of uh public property and turn it into uh turn it over to someone in with private hands involved in the development but I think that the the the war basically says let's explore it with the end result being something that would lead to a transfer um I think this is this is there's risks that everything the one risk that we want to avoid is just leaving the house fall apart and and then have to be demolished I think this I think that the school committee could be approached I think that they would understand what we're trying to do and it's not like as if we don't have non-school facilities in that area I mean the public library is not a school board uh school facility and I think that this is just a way to complement what we have started there with the library being at that location Nathan I think you did a great job of summarizing thank you for taking the initiative to bring this to select board hey thanks Anthony all right thank you both I don't think there's anything that I'm going to add to there's been a lot of discussion on this but you know I get the concerns but I also see the potential here and there are ways at the select board if we are to move forward with this there are ways that we can sort of guide what happens you know we've done that before with other properties but is there anything else anyone on the board wants to say I would just closing summary say that I want to see something happen because if we don't do anything then nothing will happen and that means the the building further deteriorates and you you're closer and closer to the inevitable which I think if we can avoid again like we did with the Jones house they did remember the name uh you know if it wasn't for the fact that the select board and and it was close it was a 3 to2 on the select board to sell that and sell it for no money like $1 just to get it back on the tax rols and it worked in a huge way and I'd be before saving it I am probably in the minority I know the apdc and I know uh Mr skolen brini certainly being on the historical commission too feels I'm probably in the minority wanting to protect historic buildings and as a general rule I don't I think the public wants to as long as they don't have to do anything to do it as long as other people do it and statement of values not right right so I am for seeing if we can do it and I think that there's some you know maybe some problems that we can work out with the wording and what can happen even if it becomes a non-binding vote just to get the the the the you know the to better understand the will of town meeting or what they would be doing and then go forward we can work with the this board can work with the school committee and and with the town manager and everybody to try to designate what we think would be the lot lines it would not have to be anything that would be recorded would not have to be separated this is the idea this is the idea with parking this is the proposal eventually that we would have people buy into but we certainly can get there and this article would be a good a good placeholder to say this is what the goal is and of course for you Mr Lockwood will vote on it with rank Choice voting too oh of course yeah thank you all right Carter do you have any uh closing words well um this has to come back at the annual town meeting right but you could turn it on its head and um request that the select board and school committee or the select board at least develop a subdivision plan and a potential adaptive reuse um now that's a a a bit more positive I think perhaps um to get an initial vote on then at the uh spring the annual town meeting uh and we've got a pretty clever guy over here at uh the new land use development director um you'd have some graphics you'd have something more definitive and you could get the monies that you needed to survey that plot uh and the actual authorization for the select board to sell um if the commission is is uh interested in revisiting the wording a little bit uh within the next week I'd certainly be happy to meet with them and and try to pound out something that I think meets their needs uh and yet Perhaps uh uh might be a better bit better received by the town meeting um and a bit more in line with the statutes we would need to get that done within the next week however and the article may need to come from the select board given we have care and custody over the property may be better received from us right okay to have the one article come from the select board I you know I you Anthony's on on the call here Uh I that is that's I I am supportive of what you are something we could get a quorum let's say by next Tuesday on uh a quorum of the apdc yeah yeah we we'll work on that Carter I'm actually I'm actually in Seattle but we can we'll do a zoom meeting to to uh to discuss any potential changes to what we presented as a warrant I I'll work with them okay okay perfect I would like just to add I've always said to board's committies and citizen petitions if you got an idea for a warrant article please feel free to come in ahead of time and while I might not agree with it I can at least help you word Smith well for the time I'm with you I can help you Wordsmith it so that it's presented in a format that is um uh at least you know in compliance with the steps you got to go through yeah that sounds great we this was a little bit late developing on our end and you know we were kind of rushing so I apologize for the that rush but if if the board's uh open to that and the apdc is I could meet with them and and have some new language by next week yeah we've historically Wordsmith our own articles till the last minute so yeah okay all right cool any your remaining discussion at this point I have one question would it be um I hadn't thought about the the school property angle is there anyone on the school stakeholder side that it would be useful to engage to uh you know walk them through the presentation or anything like that I think Mr beardmore uh for sure but as well as you know any member of the school committee Mr Leighton but I would suggest Mr beardmore since he's kind of had a more facility Focus as a member of the school committee super yeah appreciate that I was just looking at the article from 2019 when we tried to convey the land and in the building and it is what you were proposing the select board not the school so I think you know looking at that too M why it was proposed that way at the previous article so the building at the time the building reuse committee was advisory to the select board and typically the boards that are advisory to us the his history has been that we put the articles on we'll have to look at that we'll have to look at the map and the lot yeah I don't think it was ever again it was never designated its own property and it was the next one that was when that passed right yeah yeah yeah I think to to Carter's Point like having that if you know having that laid out was you know kind of more definitively and I mean to make it pass I would recommend I think the ABDC would recommend you know our goal here is not to carve out a big chunk just like make it as small as we can I think if people know it's good you know if it's small and people see exactly what they're getting I think it has a better shot like is Carter was saying yeah well the important part is that we put the designation of what the site plan will be but we don't actually execute it unless somebody buys it so we don't have to separate the property and then well that's not happening it's like so we just leave it but we will execute it if there's a sale so oh it's a good idea yeah we would assign uh Chris Riley to work with this once approved by the town meeting y all right well thank you for coming in thanks so much enjoy the rest of your night all right you too thanks so much all right we're going to move over to Old business now and go to SS update and discussion on arpa so we pass it over to Carter for that certainly I sent out a uh supplemental memorandum uh midday uh you've asked me to develop a um I guess a a safety plan if you will for lack of a better term uh and truthfully uh I can only give you my thoughts in in Broad Strokes uh because we still have numerous unknowns um the tree trimming proposals are due in December 10 the DPW roof at 65,000 is due in October uh 23rd as is the DPW Flor um the municipal building design committee has a target of getting all the proposals in uh for 10 uh 28 um a bit of a wild card we don't know exactly where that might land um the library teen room met with Chris as I mentioned this afternoon the target is to have those bids in by November 4 uh you know then on the other side we had some wild cards of you had a $60,000 estimate on a project uh but we think it'll come in at around 38,000 plus or minus we have a bit of around 33,000 but I've allowed a contingency of 15% uh because there's some um carpentry and repair that they won't really know until they start to get into it uh so we have some projects that may have underruns which we then need to apply elsewhere um and we have a number of capital projects which may be underfunded for instance the adult Activity Center roof may be 10,000 short uh so at this moment my suggestion is that we purchase uh the four DPW trucks uh with arpa instead of the capital monies and we can then reallocate those Capital monies uh at the annual town meeting needing um should that be needed uh the second is that we apply arpa under Bruns first to arpa project overruns so for instance on the uh exterior envelope we think we're going to have 20,000 uh at the library uh but we know uh we don't yet have roof and floor numbers at the DPW so there'd be an automatic reallocation of any project that's under budget would first go to uh any project that's over budget we could do the same thing with the capital project for that example the adult Activity Center roof the bid is um 5,000 above estimate and then we need another 5K roughly for contingency so my idea is that for any underruns on oura projects first we cover the overruns on capital projects especially those have been out there for a while um we also as this picture starts to become a little bit clear can adjust some of the quantity targets so for instance you know as you get closer um to December if you've still got monies you can always increase the allocation for tree trimming that's a quantity contract um it's it's by the hour so you can tell somebody to do 25,000 30 35 as long as we stay within that uh band where we can uh just solicit pricing under 30b uh and similarly the sewer manhole repair you know uh maybe you do an additional five 6 7 8 9 10 I don't know um and finally um I know it wasn't on the uh original requests but something we did in some other towns was we gave an allocation of dollars to the local food pantry they bought food stuffs submitted the costs and then we reimbursed them uh that is something that would benefit many people in the community uh and can be put in place pretty quickly pretty easily um especially at holiday season as we start getting in uh so that really is Broad Strokes it's the best I can give you until we start getting more bids in um Julie's been working with everyone we've been you know I I think you seen a lot more go out the door in the last few weeks and we have more on the schedule um happy to answer any questions questions uh that might come to mind Mr chair I do have one question and your contingency Point number one which is purchase all DPW trucks with arpa so what DPW trucks are you referring to so you have you have two the six wheels that are being purchased with capital monies uh they're actually on the lot you're waiting for the fit out of them uh you expect to get them around December 15 instead of using Capital Money if we're okay so these are these are trucks that we've already put in the we've already ordered them okay got so those are separate from the trucks we used arpa money for well that was an ambulance and two dump trucks well you you have you have the ambulance that's arpa right you have two six wheel dump trucks as I understand it that you're buying with Capital Money okay so you could pay the arpa monies for those and then you could reallocate those Capital dollars to other projects in the spring so my memory I'm trying to remember what we initially posted that money for it was it was an ambulance for about 500 grand6 and then it was two DPW dump trucks at about um 200 cuz I think the total was like just under a million yeah it was like 986 right around 450 or something probably right so those aren't coming in they're ordered right they aren't coming in until March got it so these are some other that's right so these were other trucks that were previously ordered under capital and that as I remember the conversation uh Tom it was that we had already had orders in for Capital we were getting significant from previous year correct yes okay gotcha and that's why that's what I just want to know where those trucks we coming from so yeah well that makes sense then uh the other thing that we can do if if we really need to push the cash out uh these trucks are sitting waiting awaiting fit out what we have done on some occasions is paid for the cabin chassis and take en title to that so we can push that cash out the door and then we pay for the fit out separately well I I like this I like the plan then so yes cuz that should cuz those two trucks are sizable in cost so in case we get left with something it is a little bit of moving the peanut under the sh the pee under the shells um but as long as we stay on top of it I I think we'll be o okay we do have well there's going to be in the fall in the in the spring there will be another Capital Pro a capital project article that we can reallocate and there will be vehicles in that I am sure when the capital planning committee starts meeting I'm sure there will be articles so if we do the supp plant this then those monies that were approved in that Capital plan from two years ago it should be easy to reallocate because it's going to be the same purpose or the same you know maybe not the same exact vehicles but vehicles for DPW were going to be on there right and and tomorrow at the staff meeting after you asked for this plan I think it was two weeks ago um I advise the staff that if they have a piece of equipment that is on the state bid contract and could be delivered within 60 days um or at least put under contract within 60 days to bring those to me tomorrow so I may have some additional good um real quotes hopefully uh in hand um I don't I know the police chief's been hard at work uh on that um always a a fellow that helps me find ways to spend money good guy um so I think we're closer than we were but there's just so many unknowns as we sit here today well I feel better seeing this in one sheet about if these are the if these are the intangibles right here and everything else that's not on this list has like I want to make sure we're fully covered with the million we gave to the to the parks yeah I was just going to bring that up actually cuz we've talked a lot about other projects and that's the biggest dollar right there so so that would be good to make sure that to see what we have what they have done against this to make sure that from the federal perspective we are covered under what is quote committed and I I have asked Adam to confirm for me the the position is that because that million dollars was committed to the state in partnership with that grant that that is in fact committed okay and I've asked Adam um if he's was part of that conversation and feels comfortable with that uh I I just haven't been able to complete that conversation with him yet yeah thank you yeah all right is there anything else you want to talk about on aror tonight no I think people probably want to get home to watch this uh you know I only uh found out that was tonight a couple hours ago the I'm I'm not watching minutes all right well we're almost done and we have a lot of minutes to uh review but other than that uh current business the only thing we have is adoption of Select board goals for fiscal year 25 so first coming out of our workshop last week is there any discussion um I would like to make a comment um I've been a part of many workshops over many years and I think that that was uh the best Workshop I've been a part of uh I think that it was facilitated well I think that the members of the board um certainly came with an open approach to the conversation I think that you know we all have varying points of view but I I really enjoyed the feedback um that all the different members said I know that I I probably agreed more with Tom in most things uh in that as as I think um you know Tom's view on goals is generally similar to mine uh or rather mine is uh has become more similar to Tom's but I think that it was a really good conversation all the way around from all the members um you know the participation was great um and I think it's just a great example of this board um you know working together for the good of the community so yeah thank you I think it went really well too and I think we walked away with uh a lot of really solid to do do um I think it's given us a vision of the work that we need to accomplish and obviously what our goals should be this year so uh I was going to bring it up too in the upcoming meetings but I was thinking about scheduling more workshops as well so we can start putting together some of the policies uh cuz it might just be easier you know just like tonight like it's almost 9:00 we had a lot of other work that we had to do so uh if you guys think that's a good way to move forward with actually getting some of the work done on those goals to do more workshops and I'm definitely for that for sure I think I said that last week yep did you yeah at the workshop I said okay because when you get I mean not all the time but there are some things that are important goals are certainly are important and there are other things that can be equally important that you need a one agenda item meeting to work on it and solely work on that so uh I will say what I said at the workshop as well that uh while I I I do agree that the goals came together well with all of us participating I will say that the creation of the goals is like 25% of the work and then the 75% is actually making progress toward progressing toward them not even necessarily completing them but certainly make sure that they don't just sit on the shelf and you dust off every once in a while to say oh we haven't really gotten back to these so a caution every time no I understand and that's the point of scheduling even maybe a workshop every month on the last Thursday of the month if we're uh you know manable to losing that last uh free Thursday of the month to not come and do work for the town Tuesday last Tuesday what what did I say did I say Thursday I'm sorry it sorry I can't do Thursdays Tuesday I at Tuesday uh but yeah that's just what I was thinking on that so yeah there's uh nothing else that we uh need to discuss on that today if we want to um I guess formally adopt the goals we can um are you looking for a I am uh I move to adopt the select word goals um for fiscal year 25 M any additional discussion those in favor say I I I those oppos no all right the motion passes and we have adopted our fiscal year 25 goals all right so we have a lot of minutes to discuss and approve tonight November 14th 2023 November 28th 2023 December 5th then September 10th 2024 and September 7th have we had a chance to review all these no okay I was just going to say I don't think September 17th is in there September 10th is in there right um okay yeah I see September 10th and then it goes to the interim Town manager's report um I've I did review the September one since I wasn't at the other meetings I've been recusing myself but I think she made the adjustments that we requested on the September 10th I think those ones have been submitted before but just sounds like not everyone's reviewed them yet well I would say that I mean so the ones from November 14th uh which are very short and really were recommendations of the special town meeting yeah meeting before a special town meeting yeah I mean I think we could probably just to get them off so we could make a I'd make a motion that we approve the minutes of November 14th 2023 as written second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no motion passes unanimously oh I'm sorry any abstentions I all right motion passes 401 the other ones I have to more fully read oh three never mind we're missing a member today sorry I'm all messed up now aren't I 301 thank [Music] you all right all right so those were November 14th right [Music] and then there's September 10th as well and yeah it looks like that's the only one that's in this packet do we feel comfortable approving these ones tonight I was comfortable with approving those ones but I don't know okay I have no problem approving them all right cool is there a motion are we doing all three no I thought we just the one thing I will say I mean I'm not it shouldn't hold this up but if you look at the bottom right corner of each like this one says page I'm I'm on page four of two yeah yeah yeah it does so there's numbering there's a mathematical problem with these numbering of the word docs I thought we commented on that line since that is not anything to do with the content I am willing to it looks like the changes that we did ask with member um and some other things were adjusted right so I would move that we approve the minutes of September 10th 2024 second any additional discussion those in favor say I I oppos no any abstentions all right motion passes unanimously the other two I'd like to read the ones from 20 23 from okay so it's November 28th and December 5th correct correct okay and then do we say September 17th was in here too not there it's not yeah all right sounds good moving on to warrants look like we have big stack over there do you have a black pen one okay I do not I was going to ask for yeah I need a might be sharing here um we have an accounts payable warrant in the the amount of $951,000 52 can I ask a question this might be to the interim Town manager do we know how my mother is being paid I don't want to sign a warrant if she's being paid and accounts payable now I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that question so I'm just not going to sign that's fine yeah as long as we have three it's okay I'll have an answer for you at it was just that one yeah all right any action items I was going to bring up um the SharePoint migration but Annie preemptively answered my questions with her email today so I appreciate the work that she's putting in to that migration the what the SharePoint yeah that was a good yeah yeah any other action items um I would I know that there has been a conversation about um tax rates and where or not we should consider um changing our tax rates so even before we meet with the um assessors I I would like to see if we can just have a discussion about that because I'd like to present some information I could probably do it in a public comment actually but I I'll give some information next week um okay and I know we're at the end of the meeting we're probably into people already watching the debate so probably not the opportune time to say this publicly but uh I do think that it's worth noting that um you know every Community between Aaron Gardner North of Route 2 sure does a single tax rate system and to explain the history of that why it's done um you know and maybe why we should continue M yeah we'll definitely have to discuss that at some if I may just comment on that um we've talked about that in the budget task force and tomorrow at the staff meeting we'll bring bringing up a methodology in which that can be uh put out relatively easily and I'll give you a update on the schedule for that after tomorrow okay thank you all right any other action items committee reports fincom met last Thursday Capital planning is they've now schedu we have potent a preliminary schedule starting this month so we're kind of behind where we want it to be but that will be this month most importantly is the board of assessors uh we got an email the board uh from last week and that meeting is tomorrow at 6:30 regarding some issues that they wanted to potentially have us here I will be at that meeting it's 6:30 at the lower meeting room in the Ritter tomorrow at uh Wednesday the 2nd I don't have any uh Library met last Thursday uh I need to get the full update from them I was not able to attend uh m v design committee's meting meeting this coming Monday and I just want to make the board aware um you know some of my Outreach that I do out you know uh in this role but not directly in this role I had a conversation last week with uh Senator Cronin and with Senator Kennedy Senator Kennedy Ed Kennedy is out of um LEL and a community in drait and the conversation was about 40b um which as we know is a Consolidated permitting process that allows for housing opportunities and what I was uh advocating for CU I there's grumbling that they that they May the Senate uh the house may be taking a serious look at 40b I know I've been a consistent advocate for that even in my um conversation with the lieutenant governor a couple weeks ago but what I wanted to highlight is that you know my advocacy for this is is modifying the 40b process to consider senior housing um you know what I one the point I keep making is that we have many members of our community who want a downsize but remain in the community um and so you know can we tweak this 40b process to you know really allow for starter homes for families to allow for you know housing that's specifically designated for 55 plus and then also housing for Veterans um and and you know and I think that as I understand it from Senator Kennedy and from Senator Cronin is that they will be um having more discussions going into the fall they are planning on bringing forth legislation uh during the session that starts in January uh if both are uh reelected uh they plan kind of bringing forth legislation that will again make these tweaks to allow more localized control for 40b processes but specifically as it relates to those areas senior housing starter homes thank you I don't have any committee reports none of my boards or committees have met in the past week but I do have a similar update along the lines of that one um so I had an opportunity to speak to representative Scarsdale and her team about lunenberg exclusion from the governor's um relief regarding the nishoba valley closing and her and her team are pretty dedicated and uh are advocating on our behalf to try to get us included so that we can get some of the funding through that program so hopefully that uh works out all right upcoming meetings we are meeting next Tuesday on October 8th and the following Tuesday on October 15th Mr chair yeah I will not be able to be here at the next meeting on October 8th okay um any other absences on either of these meetings all right cool all right public comment any public comment from the interim Town manager uh two scheduling notes the intent is to send you the draft warrant next Tuesday with a final vote on October 15 so I can publish all that in the fly that goes out um and we would need to have a short executive session next uh Tuesday um 6:30 6:45 at your pleasure to review the um contract negotiations with the interim chief of police are we I'll just ask I forgot to bring it up but are we good to have an executive session before next week at 6:30 I am yeah I won't be here oh yeah 6 I mean do we need 30 minutes to go over no we can push it back but I I don't I I think it's going to be pretty straightforward yeah um I'd rather 6:45 Run 2 minutes late then we Run 2 minutes L okay how long it will take so I will defer to people who know what we're talking about well I haven't read it yet so I can't say for certain either all right cool we'll try to get it out to you ahead of time we are not having a meeting the Tuesday before Thanksgiving is that correct um I mean I wasn't really planning on it but I guess we can have that discussion that's the last Tuesday I won't be month isn't it is it the last Tuesday of the month maybe it is yeah maybe it is it is the 26 I won't be I won't be around that Tuesday oh so that is you mean the week of Thanksgiving yes we no we're not going to meet that week oh that's what I that's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving sorry for some reason I heard Tuesday before I I interday before thanks I know we've we've already established that I'm not thinking the schedule for action on the uh fall town meeting warrant is acceptable to everybody y okay all right any public comment from the public I see someone raising their hand on Zoom but then now they're not raising their hand anymore so I don't know if you y I'm here um George Burton 39 Courtland Circle wanted to bring the attention to um the board that two weeks ago I um talked about public document requests that I asked for hadn't been um responded to this the town is now in compliance issue with the state the Secretary of State we have not heard a response this this document request is specifically regarding a a an abusive um zoning board appeal that we feel is very very abusive that's requesting a shed to be left on common land of of our homeowners association I think anybody that is involved in a homeowners association at a director level a trustee level in the town of lunenberg or any other Town should be well aware of what the town is trying to do to protect this individual that has a shed behind his home that's on common land that's owned by 44 individual they they requested an appeal the appeal was then ex requested to be extended the the neighbors and the owners of that land that are deed owners have not all been notified I am one of those owners I have neighbors on each side of me we have not been notified of this takeover of this land the town the the the building itself the structure is considered an UNC conformed um structure on a special permit the town manager I mean the uh Brian gingras the um a zoning board of appeals I don't know his actual title has told the trustee to move his shed to move that shed off of common land and that's where the appeal came in very very abusive um we request this there's an extension on October 23rd um zoning board of appeals at the Town Hall we request anybody that's involved in homeowners association to attend that meeting and see how abusive this is a joa lawyers involved as well um where they charged us $20,000 for accusing us of things on on common land that never occurred and that we were never even able to be represented by an attorneys that we paid however a trust fee that has full control is very abusive in this process it's unbelievable and anybody that we've talked to said there's a there's a conflict of interest with those with those HOA attorneys which we know Mr Jeff potentially has a a connection to that we've talked about before it's disgusting it's absolutely disgusting and another thing we've asked for those those document request Mr terenzi has ignored us is this about the situation where the policy was tried to with the other Town manager was trying to redact or stifle her from releasing information we think this is very related um it's happening again we have other document requests that haven't been responded to that will be in a compliance issue very soon as well this puts a liability on the town it kind of shows where we've been attacked and what we been going through um those are some issues I want to make make another instance that is very disturbing to us if you think about the issues that we have brought up in the past about Mr Jeff Mr Jeff has indicated things about real estate taxes and then we've gotten attacked about that we think there's a protection in our neighborhood our HOA of reducing those taxes down 33% and when we raised that concern they went up back up others went down we all know what's going on there I think the people around the lake should understand that I raised the concern on their behalf and I was attacked in my neighborhood for doing so and I'm being trying to be evicted from my home with three daughters and a wife that we've lived here for 20 years totally disgusting Mr Jeff and Mr Franco made a comment on a January Mr Burton I'm sorry to cut you off but if you want to just wrap up your public comment let me finish please I'll have one more minute Mr Jeff made comment and and Mr Franco on the January 9th 2024 about about basically calling us crazy in mental cases we've had neighbors yell out their Windows about those same remarks that were made at that comment and also Mr Jeff has sent me an email that back in prior to that that told us we had concerns and called us bat crazy does it make sense for someone to be concerned with mental health issues that then goes into a public records request and an individual that councils use for mental health that counsels that goes into a meeting and abuses and and and basically persecutes a family of five that basically is is a contradiction to his other words what do I mean by that someone calls someone has abuse you know is concerned about mental issues but then abuses that person in that same manner that's like calling someone that got raped you're calling her someone that got raped maybe later on oh don't worry about all right Mr Burton I'm sorry to interrupt you but thank you for your public comment enjoy the rest of your night okay everybody should everybody needs to be aware of this situation in town it's a big liability as we've heard before the chief of police has caused problems for us and no doubt about it there's problems and we and one more comment I want to make this is pathetic you were all in on copied on on an email from a neighbor of mine that we had friendships with that we did things during Co we brought him groceries that guy turned around and backstabbed us and now is said he's to take us to a lawsuit for for because his wife had a stroke we haven't even talked to his wife in three years all right Mr Bon I'm sorry to interrupt you but i' I've let you go go on for a while now all right we need to move on have a good night are there any other public comments from the public all right seeing none are there any public comments from the board none is there a motion to adjourn so moved second any additional discussion those in favor say I I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously it is 9:16 p.m. and the select board is adjourned thank you all at home for tuning in tonight we'll see you next week