##VIDEO ID:gwPCzDxpcaI## progress all right good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the lunenberg select board today is Tuesday October 15th 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 of 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 yes yeah uh it's the time of the year where um everyone turns their heat on and uh also gets ready for the change uh in uh daylight savings time so it's a good time to be reminded to check your smoke and fire detectors um yeah the the primary concern being carbon monoxide you know if you haven't used your system for the last 6 months you know you turn it on it might cost some problems so make sure that if you have the um ones that still require you to change off the batteries that you're checking those and if you can upgrade to the newer ones with the longer uh 10-year lithium batteries and then please do so but again this time of the year be sure to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors that's it thanks thank you all right are there any public comments from the public all right seeing none moving on to announcements I don't have any but I'll plug special town meeting which is coming up soon Tuesday November 12th 700 p.m. at the Middle High School any other announcements Communications from other boards I don't have any does anyone else no all right so we're going to start tonight with the ratification of the Town manager's appointment of Lieutenant Jeffrey Tibido as interim police chief so I'll invite up the chief and Lieutenant of course yep so you can start if you want uh I hardly got to know one Chief when I get to uh start working with another one uh but I've spent uh some time over the past 8 weeks or so talking with members of the board other department heads getting to know the current and retiring Chief to understand his philosophy and his thought process and I'm pleased to be able to bring before you tonight the nomination of the lieutenant as your interim police chief effective 50:01 p.m. on this coming Friday all right do you guys have anything you want to say um yes please thank you um and thank you Mr Teran zini thank you the board for having us again tonight as you can see um this is tough I didn't think this would be that emotional um but um Lieutenant Tibido has been by my side since I became the chief of police here in lenberg and I couldn't have asked for a better person to to be my second in command um as you can see uh the department he is well supported by the department um a majority of them showed up here tonight those that couldn't had had different commitments but it shows the leadership qualities that we look for and it shows the leadership that uh Lieutenant tibal brings uh to the department I have nothing but the utmost faith that he's going to carry on um even if it's in the interm right now um that he'll carry on the mission and he's going to do a fantastic job I couldn't be happier uh for him and his family uh knowing that his father was a chief of police in Shirley and for him to take over the Reigns for me it's truly is an honor thank you thank you I'd like to thank Chief gaml uh acting Town manager terzini and the board um I'd like to thank my family and friends especially the members of the lunenberg uh police department and lunenberg fire department who work hand in hand every day together that really put in everyday work and they make it look easy but it's not and I just like to thank uh all of them for their support tonight awesome all right well I'll open it up to questions and comments from the board starting with select manmy I just want to first thank the chief current chief and uh wish him well in his next chapter um jealous that he gets to play as much golf as I know he will um and congratulations um to Lieutenant Tibido thank you so first I want to thank Chief Gamel uh I remember all the way back way back when this this ceremony of of The Changing of the Guard was a whole lot different than when you got promoted Sergeant uh I'm glad for that and you certainly persevered through that uh that time uh working way up through and you know becoming an excellent Chief and we thank you for your service here it's been a pleasure working with you for all these years at every different level you know through sergeant lieutenant and then through now and uh to lieut Lieutenant Tibido now soon to be acting Chief or interim Chief tib we've worked together too I've known you since you were uh appointed as well uh it really is a testament to the whole department I say this all the time but it really is true this the the Rank and file support of the whole department in the town you have big shoes to fill but I have every confidence in you as does the chief that you will do it an excellent job following a strong line of Chiefs in our town we've been very very fortunate and I wish you luck in that uh one last comment I feel like I'm in like the safest room in Lunenburg and to everybody watching outside look at your ring cameras for the next 15 minutes till everybody gets back on the road okay but thank you both very much thank you okay we going to do both yes okay I have two statements and I wrote them down because I don't want to get emotional so I'm going to read them um it's my honor tonight to be officially part of welcoming Jeff Tibido um as hopefully very soon with our vote acting Chief of lunenberg Police Department Jeff's been an integral part of the Department's leadership team since 2020 when he became the lieutenant working closely with Chief gaml to guide the department throughout important initiatives and challenges before serving as Lieutenant Jeff spent many years as a detective Sergeant building deep under understanding of both investigative work and the needs of the community his time in that role gave him invaluable experience and allowed him to form strong bonds with the officers making him not only a respected leader but also a trusted colleague within the department having had the privilege of working with Jeff for many years I've always appreciated his study leadership and thoughtful approach to problem solving his commitment to the department is unwavering and I know he will bring the same passion and dedication to the new role I'm fully confident that this will be a smooth transition with the Department in great hands under Jeff's leadership I look forward to working alongside acting Chief tib as we continue to build on the strong Foundation that's already in place Jeff um congratulations and thank you for your continued service thank you I have should I do my chief one now or after up to you okay we're g to I'm going to do them both so I don't have to talk again um Chief it feels surreal being here tonight recognizing your retirement and if I'm being honest I'd sort of rather not be doing it and I wish you weren't leaving I've known you since I was a kid and it's hard to imagine this town without you at the Helm of the department as a friend I couldn't be happier for you and Ellen as you begin this next chapter but as a select board member and someone who's worked a lot alongside with you for the many past many years I'm going to really miss you your work in lunberg has nothing been nothing but short of remarkable from leading the department to earn accreditation through the Massachusetts police accreditation commission to building strong relationships with our schools you've L to ask you've left a lasting impact that has made both the department and the community stronger Beyond lunenberg you've also been a leader across the region serving as president of Central Mass Chiefs of police and as a member of the municipal police training committee helping to shape the future of policing across Massachusetts personally I want to thank you for always being there not just as my colleague but as a friend your support has meant the world to me and that's not changing your phone number will be staying at the top of my list and your tea times are going to have to wait when I call I'll still be calling and you better believe in planning on dropping by and Hilton Head Tom your legacy of leadership integrity and friendship will stay with us long after you retire you've given so much to this town and the profession now it's time to enjoy every moment of what comes next you've earned it Chief gaml I want to thank you for your service to our community um being a police officer you see the best and the worst of uh what the community has to offer and you've approached the job with clear-headedness uh with a sense of determination I've really respected the work that you've done for our community you know it's hard coming after Mana cuz she's worked with you uh pretty directly um but I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you for the work you've done for the town of Lunenburg um it will it is appreciated and you will be missed thank you and to Tibido um as you know you know I think you've earned the right to be in front of us tonight um I think that you've demonstrated over your career very clearly um leadership abilities um I think you you know it's obvious that you know you have the support of the department and you've got the opportunity to learn underneath Chief gaml underneath Chief Marino you know quite directly and I think that all these things will enable you to be very effective in this role um so it's with a lot of pleasure that I will support the ratification uh of your interim appointment and I know that we're going to be engaged in a a process to identify the full-time uh the permanent um placement I won't comment on that today um but I think that you are fully qualified to do the role that we're about to ratify you to be appointed into thank you all right before we ratify the appointment Chief gaml we would like to honor your time with the town whereas Chief Thomas L gaml has honorably served the town of lunenberg for 24 years beginning his career in 2000 and steadily Rising through the ranks earning promotions to Sergeant in 2003 lieutenant in 2018 and ultimately chief of police in 2020 whereas under Chief gamel's leadership the lunenberg police department earned accreditation through the Massachusetts police accreditation commission reflecting his dedication to the highest standard of professionalism accountability and operational excellence whereas Chief gaml worked tirelessly to strengthen the relationship between the police department and the lunenberg schools fostering trust collaboration and a shared commitment to ensuring a safe environment for students faculty and families whereas Beyond his service to lunenberg Chief gamble has held key leadership roles in the law enforcement Community including serving as president of the central massachusett Chiefs of Police Association and as a member of the municipal police training committee contributing to the development of training standards and practices that enhance the quality of policing across the common wealth whereas throughout his career Chief gaml has served as a mentor role model and leader to officers within the department earning the respect of colleagues and the trust of the community through his Integrity compassion and dedication whereas after 24 years of exemplary Service Chief Thomas L gamble will officially retire on October 18th 2024 leaving a lasting Legacy of Public Service leadership and Community engagement that will continue to benefit the town for years to come now therefore the lunenberg select board does hereby Proclaim October 18th 2024 as Chief Thomas L gaml day in the town of lunenberg Massachusetts in honor of his distinguished career and extends its deepest gratitude for his many contributions to the safety and well-being of our community furthermore the select board encourages all residents to join in celebrating Chief Gamble's remarkable career and expressing heartfelt appreciation for his leadership vision and commitment to the people of lunenberg in witness thereof we have here on to set our hands and caused the Seal of the town of lunenberg to be affixed on this day October 15th 2024 thank you [Applause] um thank you thank you for the kind words um the citation um I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the men and women of my Police Department uh they are truly the backbone of what I've been able to accomplish without the collaboration I had with them without their true dedication the hard work to our community and to our department we wouldn't be having this conversation right now so all the praise goes to them um I can't thank the community enough uh for allowing me to serve this community I I am truly humbled and honored um to be able to be a part of this community and Lead this Police Department um it'll forever hold a special place in my heart I've worked with many boards and I've appreciated every every minute that I've had to work shouldn't say had to but work with the boards um through the pitfalls and through the celebrations it's been good I've enjoyed uh my career and I've enjoyed this ride and I can't thank you enough uh for this moment uh but truly this is a remarkable day but this is truly a moment for lieutenant tibal too um and I really appreciate that thank you um and I I better say this because I know my wife is watching but um and I I would hate to forget her um truly because if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be standing in front of you right now between her and my family um my children uh Thomas k um and Alissa my parents I I wouldn't be before you I wouldn't be the person I I am today without them and without their support and I wish everybody here the best of luck in the upcoming budget season my department uh my younger officers a long career and rewarding career it really is thank you thank you Chief right there we need a yes so we're going to ratify the appointment first you can come up though if you want so a couple notes about how this motion has to be made uh it has to be uh effective on October 18th at 5:01 p.m. and we also need to include in the motion to authorize the interim Town manager to sign uh the contract so with that said is there a motion sure I move to ratify the appointment of Lieutenant Jeffrey Tibido as inim lunenberg chief of police effective October 18th at 5:01 p.m. uh and also authorize the interim Town manager to sign the contract as approved by the select Board second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously congratulations thank you now we have I Jeffrey Tibido do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties incumbent on me as the intern police a chief and the agent to the and authority of the town of lunberg according to the best of my ability and understanding agreeably to the rules and regulations of the police department the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and under rules regulations and ordinance or bylaws of my Municipal employer made under the authority therefore so help me go thank you [Applause] can we get some photos yes yep please all right we'll take a photo Chief yep all right so we'll just go into a brief recess for let's say five minutes we'll take some pictures I'm going to give this to uh the former Chief now and we'll be back in a couple minutes get everybody in's a whole bunch of room down here come on this side guys I'm not directing it ask we can't guide him anyway well I don't want to be in the back will that work thank you all right now we got our photos congratulations congratulations Center e crazy that's uh when I like right after right before I start do I want to capture the St all right thank you thank you all right have a good night everyone we'll wait a couple minutes for uh people to leave and then we'll resume the rest of the meeting conat all [Music] than you good night thank you all right so we're going to continue on with the agenda now let's see what do we have next we have a toll booth request with the Boys and Girls Club of lunenberg for October 26th 10:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. with a rain date of October 27th is anyone here from the Boys and Girls Club I don't think so here I'm Kitty white oh okay hi sorry I didn't see you on Zoom that's okay uh Lisa gambardella is on there as well sorry what I couldn't hear that what' you say um Lisa gamberdella is also here from the board Okay cool so it looks like we have all the paperwork do you just want to introduce what this request is foring event for the boys and girls club it looks like um voluntary toll in the center of town you already mentioned the dates and the times um the police department and DPW were notified as well um not sure what other questions you might have for us sure so we have it on the paperwork that it's in support of the after school program scholarships yes all right awesome so I'll open it up to the board if there are any questions or comments no no question I believe this is just uh they have two a year the last one was in April um May and this one is always usually is this the date of homecoming no I think it's the week after weekend after okay anyway it's pretty common they've been doing this for years I have no further questions or comments s all right is there a motion I move that we approve the toll booth request for the Boys and Girls Club on October 26th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m with a rain date of October 27th at Town Center second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right thank you guys for joining via Zoom thank you a and up next we have another toll booth request with the Salvation Army for December 14th also 10:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. and this one's at Main Street and also the CVS on electric AV hi hi yeah we were requesting the Salvation Army to do the toll booth we do it every year um to bring joy to fam is less fortunate and unable to have Christmas and all this money that we collect goes and stays into the community throughout the year programs of um music food pantry um summer fund programs free after school stuff for the children the gift of music so um this really is a driving force for us to be able to do all of this in the community um the Salvation Army Fitchburg serves Fitchburg lemonster and lunenberg and it's with great joy to say that you know um a lot of time and preparation goes into the holidays for these children and um we Grant ask asking for permission to do the tollbooth all right awesome thank you are there any questions or comments I have a question are we also going to get the uh giving tree this year as well yes that was my next question yeah I always come back with that but um I have a meeting with Carter to talk about what the Salvation Army does in the community and let him know all the enrichment programs such as the Good Neighbor energy fund that helps pay utilities and um people that are going through a difficult time so I look forward to that meeting but the request is also have a tree um put in at town at the Town Hall so people can take angels to buy gifts and bring them back awesome any other questions no questions but I will say that I cannot overstate the importance of the work that the Salvation Army does year round not just at Christmas when most people know them uh Miss Valentine has been here in front of us many many years real main stay at the local chapter all the money raised stays in you know in the local chapters here so uh the work they do I've seen firsthand is enormous for people who are less fortunate and I cannot support this strongly enough all right is there a motion I move that we approve the toll booth request for the celebration Army December 14th from 10:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. both in town center and at the intersection of whm Road and electric AV uh at the CVS there second any additional discuss discussion those in favor say I I those opposed no the motion passes unanimously thank you all right thank you for coming in tonight have a good night good to see you Lynette all right so we're going to jump down now to appointment to the agricultural commission Kathy Dugen am I saying that correctly Dugan okay thank you term to expire June 30th 2027 so Kathy I'll invite you up and just ask you to introduce yourself and talk to us a little bit about why you want to serve on the agricultural Commission I'm Kathy Dugan and I my husband and I own tipson Farm over on Page Street we bought it four years ago now uh prior to that we had a small family farm in Lancaster um and I have always been involved in agricultural education through 4 I've been a 4 Leader for over 20 years um and I feel very strongly about the importance of Agriculture and our community and not losing that connection to where our food comes from and helping other people realize that so do you have any questions for me and you did attend the last agricultural commission meeting and I believe they voted unanimously to uh recommend your appointment all right awesome yeah any questions or comments from the board no uh thank you for stepping stepping forward no yes I would say the same and certainly you have exactly the background that was envisioned when we created an ad commission so uh hopefully you will continue your good work with that commission as well as on your own on your own f i Echo what my colleagues have said thank you for stepping up and I'm sure you're going to be a fantastic addition same thank you so much thank you yep all of that um so hold on one second we'll finalize it um all right is there a motion I'll make it I move to ratify the appointment of Kathy Dugan to the agricultural Comm mission for a term to expire June 30th 2027 just point of order I think it's we are appointing them it's not a ratification thank you just uh I'll withdraw that motion and I'll say it again okay uh I'm moved to appoint uh Kathy Dugan to the agricultural commission for a term to expire June 30th 2027 second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppos no the motion passes unanimously thank you you thank you last thing I know sorry U so it sounds like you are already in contact with the commission so they're going to help you with the onboarding but one thing um just make sure you go down to the town clerk's office so you can get sworn in okay yep all right awesome thank you so much have a good night thank you all right so we do have a public hearing it's scheduled for 7:50 I want to apologize to the applicants here we got through all of the appointments and the um ceremony that we had way quicker than I thought we would so uh unfortunately we're going to have to wait until 7:50 so if you guys don't mind just hanging out a little bit uh and we'll get to that public hearing at 7:50 all right so we're going to jump down to the interim Town manager report uh the contract has been executed for the library exterior paint project and the second DPW salt contract has been signed by the vendor and just working its way through internal signatures here uh the stre cutting services part of which are funded by arpa uh were due on October 10th the bid came in a bit over the anticipated budget uh but we will award a contract based on our good faith estimate and keep the project under 50,000 so we don't have to go out to formal bidding uh we have the DPW garage flooring due next week and the DPW partial roof replacement as well as the sewer manhole Rehabilitation we have at least one addendum will be issuing this week on the flooring project uh we'll wait to see if there are any uh other questions that we receive by Thursday I believe they're due the library teen room bid is uh out and is due in November 4th at 10: the municipal building design proposals are due in on that same date as are the town hall roof replacement and chimney restoration bids uh do those on those dates so you can see that uh both Mr Ruth and um uh Miss Bello we've been keeping them busy here the last couple of weeks the data collection Services contract with vision uh has cleared through uh Town Council and is awaiting the vendor signature uh and the payroll services RFP uh I think we reported to last week there had been a a meeting on that and that's ready to be released we expect that to be released next week uh 925 massav is pending Town council's comments uh and clarification as to the impact uh if any on the recent court uh decision on the proceeds of tax uh which we spoke to you a little bit uh in the um proposed rewrite of your tax foreclosure policy and the audio update U the equipment has been ordered for this room and we'll try to get a installation date for you at tomorrow's staff meeting the town manager job posting has been submitted by Community Paradigm uh on the MMA site Town's website uh and we have um been in touch with Mr petran Mr Lynch on potential candidates we think they might uh want to contact uh and we are hopeful of a robust response to that uh the Council on Aging direct it was kind of I had a bit of a moment with Chief gamma retiring because I wasn't able to meet with Miss dhy today cuz she was at the Retirement Board working on her paperwork and we're certainly going to miss her uh but that position has been posted now um and we anticipate being able to do interviews the first week of November the fire chief uh mure and the Council on agent chair will the initial screening we are including user agencies in this uh in these screenings we need to formalize that process um which we'll we'll task Julie with uh when she gets a little bit of breath uh but um I think Mr Lonzo you've spoken to that I know other board committee members have as uh as well and we'll make sure that gets codified before my departure uh we do have vacancies for videographers the position hours vary um but it's a great way to not only learn a bit more about the the craft and serve the community uh we had some unfortunate news on the sewer business manager uh in that we had made a tender uh but they've been responsive to our tender and so the position remains open as to the assistant to the Sewer business manager and the administrative assistant uh assessing assistant remains open that's been reposted both on the mass Association of assessing officers uh MMA and other uh various um sites that we can find um I attended the finance committee this past Thursday to review the draft warrant uh they had a number of questions that we have spooled out and I believe I copied you on uh that earlier today uh to various departments uh so we can get them their answers in time for their October 24th public hearing uh they are holding their formal recommendation votes onto that evening um I'll do my very best to get them published in the booklet being mailed out if we can get that done within the time limits otherwise it might have to be a single page of their recommendations that we uh have at the night of the town meeting um I did draw the task of preparing uh Finance terms for the booklet so I'll get to that this week uh finance committee was uh down its membership and wasn't exactly sure what they wanted to do so um I think I I'm not sure if I volunteered or was volunt told but in any ways I I'll get that done this week uh and circulate that uh most of the other efforts this week frankly were on some Personnel matters where I ended up being the the last resort that I shared with you um dealing with a number of public records requests and then finalizing the draft warrant um we do have the uh boards and committees with the I Commission Now down to two with your recent appointment architectural preservation District commission um and uh they'll have a active discussion possibly at the town meeting which we hope will draw some interest in membership uh Board of Health Conservation Commission cultural Council um finance committee I believe um Mr Lonzo we're down to two vacancies now as of this evening we did a appoint somebody the finance committee appointment committee did meet an interview and appoint somebody just this evening yes excellent uh and the green communities um as well as the historical commission uh Library Board of Trustees the master plan steering committee Public Access cable committee uh each of these uh committees are able to function um with uh with Quorum so that is good news but we certainly encourage anyone that has any interest in the uh to reach out to us also if anyone has any questions about these jobs I've actually gotten some text about the Council on Aging we're trying to respond to any individual person um in as much detail as we can so if someone out there is interested and it says 19 hours what days of the week how does that work please feel free to reach out to our office directly and I'll either connect you with the right department head or uh address it as best we can between Julie and myself Mr chair yep uh just so it does not drop off the radar Personnel committee is not on here which has no members thank you sir so five vacancies for the Personnel committee as well all right looks like that was the end of the report are there any questions for Carter I have some comments so I just want to thank you um Carter for that report and I just want to make an acknowledgement to uh Julie to Annie to Cara and to Chris Ruth um I think that we can see the amount of work that has been going on um in the office uh and you know it's a tremendous load for Julie I know uh Annie and you know car are keeping everything updated and then a lot of these projects as you made reference to tonight uh fall in some way underneath Chris Ruth and so you know I just want to acknowledge the staff for the work that they're doing to help push all these things uh forward so thank you for that report all right any other questions or comments All right so we'll jump down to Old business status update and discussion on arpa other than what uh the project updates you mentioned in the report are there any other updates uh not really we did get the bid in on the um tree which met Target and we have the quite a few coming up uh in the next uh 7 days or so here I'll be able to give you a much better picture after that all right any questions or comments for Carter on arpa I believe all arpa projects are now out to bid I have a question um so we know that the parks uh received um a million dollar in arpa funding and uh you know I strongly support um the project that they've created but you know speaking with one of the former members and and this is the the question through you Mr chairs to the interim Town manager um speaking with one of the previous members of The Parks Commission you know there seemed to be that assurance that due to the vote that the town took at town meeting that there was a um that the funds could be considered committed even if not uh directly under contract so I want to just um verify that that we are 100% sure that there's no other steps we need to take regarding the park so that way we don't accidentally find ourselves in a position where um we lose those funds and specifically the parks who's worked so hard on this the park Commissioners that they don't lose these funds I posed that question to Town Council um I think about 10 days ago uh he is on vacation this week and his attention really was focused on the warrant um uh and some other matters but I will will uh reach out to him again and move that up to the top of the list thank you all right any other discussion on arpa tonight all right so we're going to move down to current business approval of the state election warrant so I have this here this is for the election in may we signed the warrant for pretty much all of them you guys don't need me to read through it do you we usually look at it before we sign it yeah okay I can pass it down you guys want to review it first U there's usually multiples y are there multiples Yep they're all in there all right would okay if I just take one and pass it sure all right thanks [Music] is any commentary on the warrant I know members are very diligently reviewing it right now do we know if um when it comes to the actual I know that uh when it comes to the actual ballot I mean this is looking like more than a front and back ballot but are are do we know if the summaries get removed from the ballot if those are provided separate or if everyone's being given two ballots or cuz this is a little lengthier than what we're used to seeing do we know that's a good question um let me see if there's a sample ballot State website yet I haven't I did request a ballot I haven't opened it it's emailed to me but I haven't opened it it doesn't impact though whether or not I will sign yeah I know in the past when there's like a lot of ballot initiatives and there's lengthy language the ballot is just like I don't know very large but there's still one individual ballot I don't think I've all right I've never seen more than one yeah I don't think the summary I mean this is up to the town clerk I don't think the summaries go on I think just the yes or no votes go okay what the explanation is mhm all right well is there a motion to approve it I move that we approve the state election warrant as it was distributed to us second any additional discussion those in favor say I I I those oppos no the motion passes unanimously all right we'll sign that later all right so we are going to skip over special town meeting warrant for now so that we aren't interrupted when we're doing that so we'll do review and potential vote on proposed amendments to select board policies and procedures tax title policy and procedure so for the members who weren't here last week we did an initial um glance at it and basically if you haven't reviewed this um the process for properties the tax title properties um there's part of it where um they will basically submit a report to the select board um regarding properties that we uh may or may not decide to sell and that part of the process is not explicitly defined in our policies uh so they're recommending that we add it we reviewed this last week right yep and were there I think there were some modifications uh yes um with respect to the form that the treasure collector would use uh the original it said on a form to be designed by them we changed that to be treasure collector to make it clear um and we went on to say which shall request we added the word information not only as to the desire to retain the property but the reasons therefore correcting a spelling error on the therefore the plan is manage the property and the potential costs there of and that was the extent of the revisions I was given last week I was I think we held it off because we wanted a full board I was fine with that with those changes included I was fine with the policy Amendment or amendments Michael Ry or Amanda since you guys weren't here last week how does it look to you guys I reviewed it I think it's fine um I think it's straightforward no objection all right is there a motion then move that we adopt the proposed amendments to the select board policies and procedure section 3.08 tax title policy and procedure as presented and written second one question uh this goes to Town Council for review first this hasn't gone yet has it I don't normally send policies like this to council I can if you'd like this is just a process an internal process we talked about it last week that it would be reviewed no this no I don't remember yeah this is just an internal process but I certainly can send it along to them if the board would like okay all right any additional discussion those in favor say I I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right so for the rest of current business we have discussion on annual climate survey policy and discussion on select board and to manager goal setting process so we're not actually going to discuss it I really added it as standing agenda item so that we're tracking it and aware of it so that we can start thinking about it going into our workshop on the 29th uh so these are which I will not be able to attend unfortunately okay I cannot be here on the 29th that's fine for clear ification um you you're calling another meeting at the end of the month yeah I mean we discussed it like several times so uh my general opinion is I think that it's healthy for the board to get a break um you know I think that this would essentially put us in a three-month um cycle of meeting every week um which becomes a little more problematic I think on the individual level because we I tend to plan you know that I have that Tuesday off certain things you know so when it's not available this becomes a little more challenging so I'm I can't confirm if I'm also available on the 29th I'll have to get back to you Mr chair all right well we did discuss I believe three times now before I put it on here so if we want to revisit that that's fine I get people like their breaks so all right all right we got a couple more minutes so we want to jump down to minutes warrants and action items so there are minutes from executive sessions from August 20th 2019 October 8th 2019 and November 5th 2019 they're in the drive uh one thing that I will note is that Mark Terry our Labor uh council did review them and he okayed them before they were added here have we had a chance to review them yet I have I have not okay I also wasn't here in I know that I know so I I have a clarifying question sure so you and and this is to um I think the town manager and to uh selectman Alonzo I thought that we needed to meet an executive session to approve minutes from executive session because we can't really discuss what's in these minutes in an open session you do not need to meet in executive session unless unless you think there's going to be substantive discussion about the minutes okay so we can certainly uh if you would like to follow that practice I was not aware of that um but there are many communities that simply present them in open public session uh when they believe they will be pretty much a straightforward uh approval uh but whatever the board wishes that policy to be we can certainly follow it um it's not in your operating rules that I saw but we certainly could add that well my and please Mr Mr terenzini correct me my understanding is if we're approving the executive session minutes we're approving them to be public at that point they are separate actions okay so these are just approving minutes okay that's that's exactly right you would have to subsequently approve to release them okay gotcha all right got so would we prefer to review executive session minutes in executive session I don't have anything to discuss in them so to me approving them here as the interim Town manager indicated I have no issue with if somebody else does that's I won't speak for them no I I don't have an issue I I think only probably two members on the current board were present for right most of these but we will need a majority of us to agree to approve them so we have justy I know we sort of have avoided having members who weren't present during the meetings vote on the minutes we did brief I know obviously but we did have and I I'm mentioning this because I specifically remember that you weren't here for the meeting that we were talking about it um but in terms of Statute it's not required if you don't attend the meeting you can vote on it and we sort of took a straw poll of where members of the board were at and people thought that it would be okay uh so we kind of have just started voting even if we weren't present for the meetings so all right do we want more time to review these no I mean yeah they they came in too late for me to read them for tonight other people have read them I can abstain yep I mean labor Council has okayed them he reviewed them he was present so all right is there a motion are you okay with yes then I'll make a motion we approve the executive session minutes from August 20th October 88th and November 5th all of 2019 second any additional discussion those in favor say I I I abstentions I'll abstain all right motion passes 4 Z to one all right so we're going to jump back up to the public hearing for the transfer of a general on premise Al alcohol license common Vic license automatic Amusement license Etc to St Mary in Christ Incorporated located One Main Street and this is continued from October 1st so I will have the clerk read the public hearing notice and I'll invite the applicant up Hi how are you good how are you hold on one second to read it again even though it's a continuation uh yes the old date or the new date sorry oh it has the old date on it well yes that's okay because it's still it's continued so okay the lunenberg licensing Authority will hold a public hearing on Tuesday October 1st 2024 continued tonight October 15th at 7 originally 7:05 now 7:50 p.m. on the application submitted by St Mary and Christ Inc for the transfer and all alcoholic license all alcoholic beverages General on- premise license common Vic jukebox and weekday entertainment license located at One Main Street lunenberg MA lunenberg Massachusetts the premise is described as a single story Lobby takeout counter bar area 22x 20t outdoor patio main dining area women's restrooms office storage area storage area order area and cook Kitchen all right so I specifically remember during our last public hearing that we wanted both co-owners here tonight and I was informed that he would be here so I just want to ask it's actually the my partner is not here but you have a reason have a I'm sorry I'm going have to ask you to just speak into the microphone have work if you want to he have like or surgery today and he can come in and he have the translat too all right all right so that was one of the things I know I saw the paperwork we saw the workers comp so you guys got workers comp I got all that last Tuesday as you guys tell me okay and the tip certification I saw for one person all of them except uh all of them plus the two partner but for the for the applicants yeah so both of you are tip certified yep okay um all right I will pass it to the board for questions and comments any particular order yes select m key um yeah come back all right if you have questions now you can go I just had one I was just reading a memo that we received from um our executive assistant do you have the list of employees yes you do my uh comment I don't have many I I think an alcohol license is uh pretty serious and um you know I don't have any con I drink alcohol I consume alcohol I have no problem with people consuming alcohol zero uh I think as a matter of business I think that the information you've provided is clear um looking at the application all the questions I had last time I think have been appropriately answered um and and I you know I'm from I know Al and and I'm trust that you know as outlined in our memo that the training will occur no problem um I strongly believe that when we have an applicant come before us that they need to be before us uh we made the request last time uh for you know what that that I we wanted the applicants to be here I know that you've provided us some handwritten note um that says that he had oral surgery or something but I mean this isn't like a to me this is a business matter um and if you have oral surgery that's understandable it happens it usually doesn't can even talk to so I'm I'm interested in in a mod being here so for that reason I'm I'm not going to support the application he was try hard to come in with me today but he can't even speak I I would have preferred to see a mod here um for this application he want to come in even not talking but he have anesthesia did have did he also have oral surgery at the meeting two weeks ago I'm sorry did he have oral surgery at the meeting two weeks ago today okay so it's today and I have the paperwork for that all right all right any other questions can I see the paperwork you can I'll pass it um look I don't want to have discussions about people's Healthcare so I'm I'm not going to get into that so I wasn't at the October 1st meeting but I watched the recording and if I remember right the questions then were the employees were they tip certified the workers come uh were there any other outstanding questions that I'm forgetting it was just the other the presence of the other applicant yeah well it was the policy about the alcohol policy the alcohol policy there was the hours that it was going to be was not presented um and we kept getting saying well well everything is going to be the same as it was but nothing was in writing can I see that yeah and the two owners you're 50/50 yeah they are yeah is a tip certification for you and emad in here yeah there is included for any send it to let me just see where they put it here I saw one of them I didn't see the other I got mine last week but I'm not pred it but I have something to say I already pass the test if you want it and I just not print it yet you still need it or it's my part my partner he sent his Y and I already did mine last week but I don't have the paperwork for it all right now yours is in here is it it's just not together it's page uh 44 43 all right I see all right thank you it is yeah right here what page is that 4344 and the so again not not to talk about people's health care but I was under the impression that your co-owner was going to be here tonight that he's been in the he was in the office yesterday or very recently you he was have a plan to come in with me but he was sick in the morning when he get to the to the boyman you have to make in surgery you want to even come in but not talken I have anesthesia I can't even drive it okay may I say something just briefly you can if you want to just come up to the microphone yes you can Al Warick owner bad Larry's Mr Tadros has uh purchased two of my other businesses so I know that he's a rep I'm speaking speaking on his behalf because he can't be here and I know that's not policy and you need to talk to him however he's not here he has purchased two of my other businesses been successful with them this is he's this is the third one he's he'll be purchasing from me um I've never had an issue with him he's mostly going to be a financial partner of this establishment not he's the working partner so Mr tados uh will be limited as far as what his role will be because he has other businesses as well kind of what uh so David here is actually going to be the managing partner of the business he'll be there fulltime all the time Mr tados is again going to be more of the finance a fill in when necessary so I just wanted to explain the rules and exactly what's going on I know it doesn't forgive him for not being here and like you said you don't want to speak on medical conditions but emergencies happen and you know I'm just hoping that the board will consider this or take this under consideration you know that i' I've known this gentleman now for four years and uh I've never had an issue with him personally like I said he's purchased two of my other businesses from me because he knows I do a good job so all right thank well thank you for adding that um you know it's good to know that you trust him you've worked with him previously but you know especially with alcohol licenses you know we really need to meet with all the co-owners that are applying for a license and you know I feel that way I know Michael Ray has voiced that same sentiment to the rest of the board how do you guys feel about this at this point well I will say that I certainly think that alcohol and you know alcohol licenses are serious and I certainly I don't know why your partner wasn't here last week or two weeks ago but he knew that we needed we wanted plan to come in today but it's a reason having you know I understand what happened today but that doesn't explain why he wasn't here when at the beginning of this two weeks ago when this whole started uh actually he came in last Tuesday I was supposed to be meeting too no but yet for paperwork and then she tell me the manager is not here yet I was in the morning so both of us was here Mak a meeting with this board I'm talking about yeah we met two weeks ago for the first time yeah and then the next week and he wasn't at that one I mean last Tuesday was supposed to be meeting with someone in the morning 8:30 and we show up in a time and Miss Annie she take all the paperwork and she say whatever who's going to take the paperwork and meeting with us is not here yet so he shown up last Tuesday and he have a plan to come in today that's for the town I'm talking about for this this hearing yeah you want to like making like uh like f you sh with him if you want to talk s what like video sh talk to with camera I don't think that would be good substitute in my opinion what about joining the zoom is that not I well he he says that the other person can't speak so I I mean I don't know what FaceTiming and zoom is going to do today I also have to say just for the record that getting two handwritten notes that to me and I don't mean to be impolite but to me looked like excusing somebody for not doing their homework uh which is the equivalent of what it seemed like is not a professional way to submit a letter or anything any kind of documentation that being said I'm I would begrudgingly approve this but barely but barely because I don't think this is the way to approve approach a license I don't think this is the right seriousness to approach an alcohol license um all right s m key where are you at can I ask you a question if you you have an emergency today before you come into the meeting and you came making it what are you going to do it's the same thing happen here I'm I'm not saying that emergency doesn't happen but it doesn't explain why he wasn't here for the first meeting yeah he he can't making it because he was have another business so so his other business is more than this second time yeah I mean when emergencies happen sometimes people just reschedule they say hey something came up I had this emergency I'm sorry you know you could have I mean I don't think this happen based on the times of this paperwork this was this morning could have reached out to the office and said hey one of us isn't going to be there should we reschedule was just spend the whole day in the hospital that's why yeah my my point is I think that we all experience emergencies like they come up and sometimes you can't do what you you can't be where you're supposed to be at so you recommit and and I'm okay with the recommitment I'm sorry the recommitment as in coming again resing so both both owners can be here yeah Renee yeah I'm in favor of uh of fre scheduling okay Amanda I hate to hold up a sale of a business you know that that's hurting someone else I don't know if there is there a way that we can do a contingent approval upon the other applicant meeting with the town manager or something I don't know if that's we could approve everything but the alcohol I mean and that allows the food service to keep going everything else to happen it just the only thing that stops is the alcohol which is what I last week too last meeting no I I suggested that we could do that but instead we did it here but again I would be for that yeah I I would be comfortable with that and then rescheduling the liquor license portion of it at least that can move something forward I don't know if that's yeah helpful they have several requests so I'm okay with all the other ones yeah I'm comfortable with that as as well all right is there a motion sure I'll make it uh let me get the business name correct all right I move to approve the transfer of the common Vic license automatic Amusement license Juke boach license weekday entertainment license to St Mary and Christ located at One Main Street second all right any additional discussion um I just have to put this out there um so I got a text from Annie right our executive assistant um and she says your partner called her and had a phone conversation with her at approximately 2 p.m. and confirmed that he would be here um so I guess I'm just a little confused but um all right did it include I I didn't I didn't follow the list because I didn't have the hearing notice up I just want to make sure we included everything except the all alcohol license y i what I said was common Vic automatic Amusement jukebox weekday entertainment license and General on premise right uh I didn't say and General on premise I'll amend to add and General on premise second any additional discussion I just want to add that knowing that information it makes me less comfortable moving forward um because those are twoo different things but okay all right well motions been made in seconded all those in favor say I I I I those oppos no all right the motion passes unanimously so I would move that we continue this public hearing for the conclusion of the all alcohol beverages license uh when can we do that you um is there an opening next week to do this yeah there can be but depends on availability do you think you guys are going to be able to come back in next week that's for me yep so do you want us to schedule it tentatively for next week and if we need to push it back further we can okay if it's not next week then the next meeting available would be November 5th y it's so much delete you not excuse me it's too much you delete it's you say November 1st no no next week next week we can do it next week or yeah can make it our next meet if you can't do next week the next meeting meeting we have is November 5th so the reason to delete for next week you you just need to see the other partner yes yes okay I'll let them know all right was there a second uh second any additional discussion those in favor say I oh we should put a time up before you do it so NE so we'll say I I would make a motion that we continue this hearing until uh next Tuesday October 21st or 22nd sorry at what time do you want to make it Mr chair well I I mean I don't I've never seen a vote to continue on with a time you you have to have a time you do a date and time but I'm going to suggest to you um after you get through this applicant that you change it to start your public hearings at 7: p.m. or as soon thereafter as the agenda permits okay there's a number of towns that do that and what it does is it takes all this right um you know sliding out of the so I think that if we did it for 7:15 and then we're able to discuss a different approach that that would work right so I move that we continue this public hearing until next Tuesday o October 202nd at 7:15 p.m. second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no all right the motion passes unanimously and we will tentatively see you here next Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. if we're not going to be here I'll make sure we call and reschedule all right I apologize to the board again um thank you both all of you very much y have a good day I have to be here to both of us Absol yes both of you have to be here next Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. thank you all right thank you thank you have a good night all right so we're going to move on to review and approval of the special town meeting warrant so we're going to just jump right into it and I'll share my screen too so the public can read along on the warrant um so traditionally what we do is we go through we either recommend approval or not if one member of the board prefers to defer then traditionally we have just deferred uh and I'm okay with continuing that process as well so we'll go through and if one member of the board wants to defer um we will respect that member's desire and defer um but other than that if there are motions to make recommendations then we can vote were there can I ask a question before we start when do we need to have the votes the for recommendation to be printed in the warrant well the schedule was that it would be voted tonight um and I'd be sending this to the printer on the 17th I think I can buy a few more days uh but this October 22 would be the true uh the true drop Deb I I just don't know how to get it printed if we push it past that the finance committee will not make their votes until the 24th MH and I I mean I'll try but I did not think I'm going to be able to get their reports into the booklet because I I watched last week's fincom so I heard the questions and some of the discussion but I'm only now actually laying eyes on on it I'm sorry I didn't hear that last part what' you say it's only now that I'm actually seeing it in print we can we can walk through it tonight and then you know discuss yeah concerns but I will have to walk out of that meeting next Tuesday night with a final copy and signatures the next day because yeah the initial draft that we were sent I thought last was it last week or a couple weeks ago to don't no it was last week don't look at it cuz it's it's changed since October 3rd and we were going to get an update version right then then I fell down somewhere I don't recall saying don't look at it but relatively speaking I it's not hugely different there's an an Omission I mean I think we received about two weeks ago cuz I remember we had this conversation last week it was a week before that I got a draft on October 3rd yeah yeah and as I said it last week's meeting I never got that one at all so this is the first time I'm seeing this and you know for whatever reason but you know it I have to say on the outset that it's a little dis distressing and again I you know again we have an interim Town manager we have people going through this process the first time Etc I understand all that but to take I mean it it has been past practice that one of the one of the things to do with the Articles even as they're being submitted before the warrant's even closed is to alert the town's people what is going to happen right what do they should be prepared for and there are some major things being asked in this in this warrant MH that we haven't even discussed Here and Now tonight we're going to be asked to take a position on them we haven't even discussed them now some of them are housekeeping the article one is housekeeping I get it but some of them are not just housekeeping some of them are fairly substantial two of them major substantial that as a select board member who thinks I'm pretty plugged into town politics and what goes on have not heard these things I I want to add to what Mr Lonzo saying um I concur um I know that you know the chair and I had a conversation U before the meeting started that I know that this process with having um you know an interim Town manager um that you know the usual process that we undergo and I know that I um did miss a meeting and I inquired if it occurred at the meeting I missed um but the usual process is as Mr Lonzo stated and and we can do this as we go into the spring is that as we get um warrant submitted that usually the board has made aware of them during submission and most definitely once the warrant closes we get a review typically the board then identifies anything that they want to be presented Ed to us um and then we separately kind of manage the calendar that's not on the primary calendar of when warrants go through but we add in there the date for when we are recommendations need to occur by at and then prior to that we then kind of walk through it so I do think that because of the time uh that we're under that some things here are going to be pretty straightforward to um approve uh they're pretty standard paying you know outstanding invoices um things like that um but there are some more substantial things and I think it may be in our better interest um to proceed with a uh supplement similar to what the finance committee is planning to do um that identifies what our recommendations are and are not at a later Point um again you know we can we know why we're in the situation we're in it is what it is but I do think it's re it's important that we take the time to look at all this um and that over the course of the next several meetings that we uh we we discuss them in depth and and if necessary receive presentations yep I agree and some of those presentations are definitely going to happen so all right let's just jump in so the first article hold on one second I want to share my screen so people at home can see what is our deadline for when we Mr chair if I may ask what is the deadline or the town manager for when we need to have our recommendations in for this to go out I think go ahead inter Town manager I won't speak for you but I think you just mentioned that if your if your review is to result in rewarding or revoking any of the pros posed articles I absolutely need to know that by next Tuesday to send out um an article that you think needs substantial rewrites or you didn't really want that there I I really have to have that by next Tuesday Tuesday as in our meeting or per Tuesday as in your meeting I got to walk out of there Tuesday night with a a warrant that is done got it with respect to your recommendations for those such as article one article two there's some others uh perhaps you're prepared to vote on them if we can get them in the booklet great if we can't we'll publish them as a standalone as we will have to do with the finance committee all right any remaining questions or comments before we go in all right so article one authorization to pay late bills and funding thereof to see if the town will vote to a authorize the payment of a so-called late bill from fiscal year 24 B appropriate the sum of $4,180 to pay said laid Bill and C meet said appropriation by a transfer from the overlay Surplus account or take any other action relative th to any discussion or is there a motion or a deferral on this one i' like to know what what is the payment for yeah that's one of the questions that the finance committee had oh okay so we don't know right now I didn't ask what it was for no I can have that answer for you next Tuesday night it won't change my opinion of whether or not we should pay our bills but it is good to know so yeah I agree I think we need to pay it regardless but I also would like to know I'm comfortable is there a motion or a deferral I mean I would I would prefer frankly that I get the answers to your questions before you vote on matters I I think that's I would feel more comfortable okay with that M Mr chair if I may suggest um we when we display on the screen sometimes it's helpful to make it like super large y I did that last time you're absolutely right I will zoom in thank you so it sounds like we want to defer on this one when you're saying defer you mean just till next the next meeting or you mean we're not going to vote until town meeting um we normally still vote on them before town meeting even if we've had to set up meetings right before town meeting so that we have an actual recommendation to make um but sometimes it'll get into the warrant sometimes it won't I just wanted to confirm what deferring tonight means I mean we could likely approve this next week if we know what it's for yeah yeah so just deferring to next week okay I was I just asking is it sounds like what you're saying is kind of that fourth status of next week right so defers yeah maybe tonight we can't defer maybe we make those deferment decisions next week okay right hold call it a hold until next week yeah hold sure sure all right pass over for now all right so we'll move down to article two amending School fiscal year 25 budget to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate an additional sum of $31,800 for the fiscal year 2 operating budget for the school department to total in the aggregate the sum of 24 m881 126 or take any other action relative there too so this was in the from the increase of Chapter 70 funding that we got that memo from so my question on this is the wording because if if the money that we're looking to appropriate is coming from the state then we don't need to raise it mhm you you you do because it goes on the tax recap it's different than transferring from cash that's somewhere in one of your other accounts okay I was under the impression that Ray meant through Levy tax levies it it does and then this will be an offset income just like all your other state is an offset income okay and Town Council has reviewed all this so yes yeah I think we should hold I think I need a little more information about what this is for just in Clarity I think I heard what you just said that there's additional funding coming in from the state um but I don't understand I'm with Mr L I don't understand why we're raising and appropriating okay I want to be clear this is here at the board's request I will get you a better answer uh to your question on how this works with respect to trans uh uh taxation as opposed to transferring from other funds all right so it sounds like we want to skip this one for tonight all right we'll move on to article three then article three boonenberg Mart connect Transportation program to see if the town will appropriate the sum of $20,000 no to support the lunenberg Mart connect Transportation program as provided on our behalf by the montachusetts Area Regional Transportation organization and administered by the Council on Aging and to meet set appropriation by a transfer of said sum from overlay Surplus or take any other action relative there is there any discussion on this one or is there a motion or a deferral so what just to what are they let me read the summary we're just increasing the extending the service uh so it's not extending it it's just changing the way that it's funded if I understand correctly they're exping we're just we're just supplanting a grant exactly okay okay I have no issue all right is there a motion to recommend approval I move to recommend approval of article three second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right article four adoption of prudent investor rule to see if the town will vote to accept the provisions of Massachusetts General Law chapter 44 section 54 b c and d to allow the town's trust funds to be invested in accordance with Massachusetts General Law chapter 203c which is the so-called prudent investment rule or take any other action relative there to all right um any questions on this one no question but a comment um that the library trustees did something similar um and that enabled them to uh realize um improved returns and so you know I do support this request coming from the uh Cemetery my only um this this is not coming from the cemetery it's coming from the finance director okay I thought this was related to the cemetery no it's everything no we use the cemetery um sale of cemetery lots as an example of the trust fund so you have the scholarship funds conservation land purchase we were trying to give people a sense of which type of monies would be subject to this prudent investor rule I think I would need to see more information what information specifically would you like to see yeah um other communities that have done this comparison data what has whe the what have the results been cuz I mean essentially it's asking the town to assume a little bit more risk yep yep and so kind of justifying why we should assume that risk and what the history is of other communities that have assumed that risk all right all right I understand so in in again in past practice when something came up like this of a financial nature the first question that would normally be asked is okay well how much more money can we do by doing this what is the added risk and you know so we'd have some data to go on right now there is like no data except a percentage difference but as Mr Jeffrey said with increase in percentage returns comes an increase of risk what is that increase in Risk like what could happen all right so do we want to defer on this one uh I think we're holding to get L till next week yeah all right so we're going to hold until next week Article 5 adopting certain Clauses relative to tax exemptions I'm not going to read through all this but to see if the town will vote to accept or confirm its acceptance of it there hold on is that a to see if the town will vote to accept or confirm its acceptance of if there is shown to be prior acceptance Clause 17th e Clause 17th F and Clause 41d of Section 5 of Massachusetts general laws chapter 59 or take any other action relative there to I'm familiar with these so I no problem with these changes in the limits being proposed I likewise uh don't have a problem but I think that you know to the average person getting a booklet um that says You Know M Jal Law chapter 59 Section 5 clause 17d 41c and then this table uh below 17d assets exemptions 41c I I don't know if this is enough information for the public to make an informed decision um so I I don't know if the wording of this and we don't have influence over that so so much but I don't I don't know if the wording of this in terms of what is it that the taxpayer gets out of this what is the benefit to the taxpayer I think that may need to be a little clearer y I understand well also after the RIP just for clarity of the sentence there should be a comma between of and if so it should read to see if the town will vote to accept or confirm its acceptance of if there is shown to be prior acceptance Clause 177e 7 17th E I think it's should be 17 yeah I wasn't sure why it was 17th and CU it doesn't say 41st right yes is Clause 41 s yeah the th should be 177e clause 17f yep and I think there were some things from Town Council about what sections were these already changed okay I think it's important to understand that this legitimizes what you've been illegally doing for N Out to 20 years tripping away everything else you have been engaged in this practice for a number of years and this would correct that oversight and adopt new sections which give you the authority to do what you've been doing for N9 to 20 years right no I I support the request um fully I just don't think the way that it's presented is clear I had written a summary um the assessors believed there was a better way to present it and I went with their language out of respect uh to their office all right we can have the assessors here next week if you would like we can have any of these department heads here next week if you would like well they will be able to speak to this at special town meeting right they can someone from the board of assessors when this article actually comes up at special Town Mee of course they will yeah yeah but we should get people as prepared as possible yeah so that is the intent of the summmer it's not working out quite as well as I had hoped it would uh but that is the intent we're trying to prepare these summaries for each warrant article yeah no I mean like even if we what I would encourage is you know when we think of like the last sentence even in this summary and I just going to read each of each of those Clauses has defined Baseline Provisions for income and or assets and or exemption amounts that were put in place at the time the legislature adopted them towns can vote to modify limits and amounts I don't know if that is clear enough to the average person reading it I I don't know I I know what they're saying but I don't know if if I didn't know what they were talking about if that would make much sense share concern with the office of the assessors I took their language out of respect to their office all right and as a as a separate issue I think what we're I mean what we're taking votes on I mean I I don't necessarily agree or disagree about the clarity of it because I'm too close to it so I know what it says but we're talking about whether we support or don't support the article if everybody supports the article I would make a motion that we recommend approval of Article 5 and we we can get potentially clarifying some for next week but at least we'll it'll be in there what we vote on second any additional discussion those in favor say I I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right we're going to move on to six now water protection district to see the town will vote to amend the code of lunenberg to delete section 250-499 water supply Protection District as written below zoning map is the last page in the voters guide booklet so I'm not going to read through all of this um but I know this has been on our radar for a long time so any discussion are there any changes to this from the last time it was presented oh I'm sure oh yeah so the planning board has continuously been working with residents to get to a point where everyone was happy with it moving forward and that the version of this that's here now this is the third time something of this Nature has yeah Special town meeting and then last yep it is and then annual and now this time I mean I haven't read all 10 pages of what the changes are but I'd like to hear them I mean personally I want to I was for them in the past when I've heard them but I'd like to know what the changes are I have not re-evaluated that so I couldn't take a position I don't even know by next week I could take a position on this because I want to hear what people's argument against is I've always been for it I think we need it it it updates a policy that's you know 20 years old I think more than that uh but I want to hear what anybody's objection would be this time again I would like to defer to on this one all right sure so we'll move on would you like to have someone from the planning board here how can I get you the information that you'd I believe was the chair of the planning board in contact with you Mr chair because he indicated to me at a meeting that he and I are members of uh on the capital planning that he wanted to know if he'd be able to come before the board and no but I can reach out and get that scheduled as soon as possible all right moving on to article 7 once I scroll through all of it all right Council on Aging revolving fund meals program to see if the town will vote to amend the code of lunenberg section 138-a authorized revolving funds by the creation of an additional revolving fund to be named Council on Aging M site revolving fund and administered as presented below so I'm not going to read through the table here but and two set the fiscal year 25 spending limit at $16,000 and no or take any other action relative thet any discussion um I have a question over over the um you know I haven't followed Council of Aging meetings um the question through you Mr chair is for Carter um familiar with us setting up revolving funds but what is the what is the core benefit here in this situation of doing that for to bring your current practice in line with statute and best practice got it thank you all right is there a motion or deferral I would move that we recommend approval of article 7 second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right article eight parks department revolving fund to see if the town will vote as a block to one amend code of lunenberg section 138-a authorized revolving funds by the creation of an additional revolving fund to be named Parks programming revolving fund and administered as presented below right so I'm not going to read through that two set the fiscal year 25 spending limit at $77,000 and no transfer all funds remaining the so there's a typo transfer transfer all funds remaining in the Parks revolving fund established under mgl chapter 44 section 53d by article 7 of the special town meeting of February 6 1984 as amended by article 11 of the special town meeting of October 14th 1986 on the effective date of this amendment bylaw and for revoke the town's prior acceptance of mgl chapter 44 section 53d and dissolve the aformentioned 53d revolving fund upon the transfer of all funds or take any other action relative th to same question to the interim Town manager a 53d account um the interest that is earned can stay in the account as limitations I what you can use it for for staff but the larger issue is at the end of every fiscal year any amount in excess of $10,000 is supposed to be swept into the general fund that has not happened for a number of years I'm told that it has built up to a balance of $75,000 plus or minus now there is a risk here because this has to go to the Attorney General's office and you can only create a new revolving Fund in the middle of a fiscal year if you can identify the funding source we've advised the parks chair that a careful reading at the AG's office may cause a referral to the Department of Revenue who may say well it's it's nice that you're finally straightening this out but you kept those extra funds in these years and they should be turned back to the general fund so there's a risk but the parks chair and I believe the commission as a whole and certainly the finance director and myself believe that no matter how that risk plays out you do need to bring these monies into a cord statute I so in the worst case it would go to the general fund that's the worst case so at which case if we make the case town meeting to reappropriate it back into that fund we could do it you cannot okay you can't no okay because there's very special Provisions as to what to go into it okay now what I didn't think of in time as I was writing this was you could do a special appropriation um just like a capital article that doesn't expire and they would work that off until they built the revolving fund back up and we could we could certainly do that um if if you wanted to take that route instead well I just don't want to penalize the parks department and their funds that's all I I understand the problem is we wouldn't know exactly what to appropriate because you got to get through town meeting it's got to go through the AG and only then will they stop spending out of the 53d account transfer the money to the 53e and a half and only at that point do we know exactly what kind of money we're talking about that's it so we can take whatever approach you you'd like but there is that alternative approach do you have a recommendation on which approach you would take I I think you just run the risk and you do it and we figure it out somehow but whatever you decide to do my recommendation is you fix this it's gone on like the the board of assessors it it's gone on too long right all right so is there a motion or do we want to pass over this tonight one one question do we have to call out specifically 50 3 e and A2 and 0.1 we have to call out the type of revolving fund cuz I see it in the title of the article but I don't see 53e and a half mentioned yeah it's it's in the summary um should be it should be in the it will add it to the summary but 53e and a half authorizes you to establish These funds in accordance with your bylaw so you don't actually call it out in your bylaws all right is there a motion or do we want to pass do you want to use an appropriation method to resolve it in case something goes wrong I think that sounds reasonable yep like let me try and work out that what that number might be between now and next Tuesday all right so all right we're going to hold on this one there is a challenge we don't have any certified free cash right now that is the challenge to the alternative solution you want to expand upon that is our dates usually somewhere in October November 1st is you're not going to hit that this year I'd be happy to speak offline to any of the board members as to what the issue is okay all right and do we have a talking about fiscal things are we going to get a tax rate is that all set before town meeting before special town meeting we are trying to have the classification hearing on November 5th uh we do not yet have our la3 values we we have not yet submitted all of the property data to have our property values certified by the state and until such time as that happens we we can't set a tax rate so we may not be able to have that rate going into this special town meeting which is wildly risky does that mean we're at risk of not having an actual Q3 tax bill oh no no no no no that's got to be by the end of the year I know but we're not going to have it by special town meeting we're not going to know our tax rate by November 12th it doesn't officially have to be you know everything doesn't have to be set till the end of December but I think our history has been usually the meeting before town meeting or the meeting after it's usually when we set so to select lono's request is Right On Target but if it's a week or two later it's probably not advantageous because I don't think we're going to have all the information going into special town meeting this year I feel like we're getting dangerously close to the the the all the timelines are slipping and we're getting close to last year's timeline well I'm not worried about that I mean that that is a concern that wasn't by the way that wasn't last year that was two years ago but no oh no last year we didn't get it either yeah last year we didn't but that we but that we knew well in advance my concern is that without the tax rate and and without certified New Growth have we certified New Growth either no see without any of this we're appropriating and we don't even know what our Levy limit is so we could actually lose Revenue to run the town when we're looking at you know when we just passed an override we're looking at other people who want to spend in upcoming articles $5.2 million to borrow and we're not even to know if what we're appropriating we could leave money on the table which happened one year which is in my mind really bad I'm reluctant to get into I I do not want appear to be throwing anyone under the bus fair enough you had and we notified you of this I believe in one of our weekly reports uh that we had a major department that had a considerable amount of work to balance out its yearend budget that has only happened as a result of considerable work uh by the finance director with the folks in that department and frankly he went above and on Beyond in my view uh in showing them exactly where and how to move money that's that that's not his job and frankly we shouldn't be doing it for other departments in with respect of the specific Department in question we have a challenge in the assessor's office in some action that they need to take tomorrow night and we've not been able to submit our values to the Department of Revenue and irrespective of everything else you can't set a tax rate without your value certified that I understand the mechanics I'm just saying we've always in fact when what I described earlier you know happened when we lost Revenue we lost Revenue because we we had a special town meeting that appropriated money and then we had the tax rate set later we we've always tried to set the special town meeting in the fall at a time such that we can have the tax rate set so we know exactly what kind of money is we're talking about that we have to appropriate and without knowing that it's a risky thing I'm not here to assess blame I'm not looking to assess blame but I mean I I can't in my position here as somebody who represents the town I can't not acknowledge the risk you know whatever the reasons we're not appropriating any new money or raising any new money that we don't have a funding source for mhm so we'll continue to push for November 5th um but it might be November 19th before we can have the classification here okay all right so what do we want to do for this Warren article we're on eight yep well the second method that you mentioned needs free cash so if we don't have free cash then we can't use your second method hopefully tomorrow night the assessors will take their action and I'll report to you next Tuesday all right so I would delay this till next Tuesday I would recommend Mr chair all right moving on to article 9 request to select board re the Brooks house to see the town will vote to request a select board to prepare a report and present the same to the 2025 annual town meeting to that would that would that would have the intent of a sale or long-term lease of the Brooks house situated on 10:33 Mass Massachusetts Avenue by one defining a lot of minimally compliant size for the property that includes at least four parking spaces as part of the property two conveying to the buyer or lesie and their successors and assigns a non-exclusive Perpetual easement for the purpose of using up to eight additional parking spaces nearest to the property to accommodate customers of any business located therein from the lot of the town-owned library on 1023 massav three conveying to the buyers or less SE and their successors and assigns a non-exclusive Perpetual easement for the purpose of using the existing driveway and parking lot of the Town own library on 1023 massab for the purpose of vehicular and pedestrian access to the property four Consulting with the school committee and relevant parties on the recommendation to be contained in the report five advising on the terms and conditions the select board deems reasonable and necessary to protect the interest of the town and six advising on the methods and the cost of placing the property for sale or lease by appropriate legal means at the town's disposable with the intent of offering the property for sale or long-term lease by October 30th 2025 and continually reten rendering the offer until the property is sold or leased or take any other action relative there to this one was presented to us by the AP it was but it was modified after that yeah because they wanted it to be an article too now it's just a request so mhm that's a whole lot different I mean I'm for this again I we have to do something to do we have to take some action with that building and if this is you know we can do that there's a lot of work with the re re uh setting up the property lines I think upon looking at this property it's still under the school mhm and that would mean you know we'd have to put in some potentially you put in some money on surveying about how you would even do this so the discussion the presentation on this if I remember right because that was the meeting I missed you thought this study could be done in house this this the work this first cut we thought I think so wouldn't it wouldn't require any additional funds to generate this report that's Des described here but the report would then describe you know so here here's a conceptual plan they can do it in PowerPoint and the graphics that they have if that's agreeable to the town the report would outline how much is needed for a survey how much is needed for title work how much is needed for an appraisal when you go to offer so the report would outline the funds that were needed to move forward and I believe that can be done inhouse by the staff that you have I support the request um I think that the um I think the language in two about um Perpetual easement for the purpose of using up to eight additional parking spaces nearest to the property I think that's a bit excessive um you know I think when we look at the properties even across the street most people are not going to get you know four cars in their driveway plus eight cars park nearby I don't think it's possible for anyone along massav uh from the center of town even past the high school to accommodate eight cars per house um but I do think that what is being asked is reasonable um we've asked the apdc to come before the municipal building design committee with this request um we already have the ability to sell the building itself they're just asking to sell the building in the land and I had an opportunity to meet with uh Mr Lockwood about a lot of my um concerns um primarily that you know this would become like a billboard property that requires us to have good relations with whoever lives there or it could be really problematic for the town uh and I think that those can be mitigated so I I generally support the request all right is there a motion or do we want to pass on this for now I would move that we recommend approval of article 9 second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion passes unanimously all right article 10 salary Administration plan amendments to see if the town will vote to amend the code of lunenberg Chapter 70 salary Administration plan and added chapter 71 to be entitled employment contracts by making certain deletions and striketh through in additions and bold italic as follows so I'm not going to read through it but I will ask um Carter to summarize the changes so I'm going to ask you to hold this tonight so that I can get con comments concerns but I would like to touch upon these are all driven by Recruitment and Retention issues and we did circulate to you we didn't have a chance to write the full memo and uh at length because you saw what Julie's Been Working on but we did give you a overview of the employee listening sessions the employee listening sessions specifically spoke to um a desire for the of the part-time employees and under 20 hours a week for holiday vacation and sick if and and that does take time off the clock there's a there's a cost to that there's not an outof pocket cost but there is a productivity cost if you will uh certainly if you wanted to think about that in terms of capping it at some level that seems reasonable yet gives the employees that benefit that's something we could certainly talk about the next thing that um and I think one of the members of the board may have been present when it was spoken of was a sickly Bank uh this has been handled as I understand it in a one-off situation a employee in a department gets sick and if that gets approved and I don't know exactly how that happened then some employees can contribute towards that employee this would be a townwide CLE bank for everyone now there's Union issues but those are easily dealt with and we would have to have an executive session to talk about how I propos to deal with that what this does is not get into all the weeds about exactly how it would work but it authorizes the select board over the coming it would be 7even months to develop that plan and were there to be a Personnel Committee in place once again it does call for you to consult with the Personnel committee the third piece came out out of the listening sessions also and that was a recognition program that we should be doing something to recognize those employees who really go above and beyond and so frankly this was probably the easiest thing for me because I simply stole it out of where I've introduced it elsewhere um it has been reviewed with the department heads that they thought it was a good approach it's a nominal amount of money um 250 bucks per employee so those were all driven by what I'm going to call the retention side of things some of the other uh changes that are proposed are a little bit more flexibility in establishing the starting wage right now your bylaw requires if we're going to try to start someone above step one we have to get the approval of the Personnel committee which means it has to be posted then there has to be that 48 or 72 out whatever it takes to get that Quorum meanwhile the clock is running on trying to have a conversation with the employee so this does put a little more Authority in the town manager's hands but out of respect to the Personnel committee the town manager still has to consult with the chairman the chairman can then report to the uh balance of the committee and if they think the wheels are coming on off the bus they can come back to you they can raise the issue but we need to find a way to close some of the gap on how much time it takes to hire people at least in this environment and finally um in addition to the small recruitment bonus uh not bonus but incentive uh which is CA back so it's not all that great of an incentive uh you know we have some people who come to us recent one person with 25 years experience and exactly the same job in municipalities and to have to tell them that they're going to start at two weeks all over again it it doesn't fly now that can work in Reverse I had a health agent who went to another town he loved the other town he loved the pay but then they told him he was going to have to start over at 2 weeks and he came into me and said no no no I'm I'm not doing that I got to keep my guy in that situation so um please look these over uh they have been discussed quite a bit with staff they were distributed to over 80 I'm going to say 80 plus or minus cuz I don't want to be off on the math uh I understand some your concerns about the Personnel committee we we tried to respect that they would still be existing and uh be part of the process process um but give me a call over the next few days oneon-one send me your thoughts we'll try to rewrite in a manner that you can find acceptable okay so I will say that there is nothing in here again I just read it so seven pages so on its face there's nothing in here that I'm necessarily against uh except the fact that there just to me there's not enough Runway first first of all it hasn't been gone through a Personnel committee because we don't have a Personnel committee this has to be I mean I'd like to know the ramifications of each of these changes about how it'll work I need other people to look at how it'll work and for it to be sure we talked about it in overview you know what happens up here to get it down on paper and then it say in four weeks from now we're going to be voting on this to me it doesn't give anywhere near ample time to discuss it and so on that criteria alone I would recommend or it would be my feeling that we this should wait till annual town meeting so people can review this I'm again the things you mentioned I'm not necessarily against or for they seem perfectly reasonable but to make this kind of changes with almost no visibility to the public or a non-existent Personnel committee I just I just couldn't support even this special merit awards could we sure that seems like sure we can do that I mean really is this sure I mean if you had if you paired it down to the special merit awards sure I I could probably get behind it um all right might I ask Mr Lonzo um if he could be supportive of the sickly Bank also well again I just need to know how the whole thing works again I'm not again I was for it when when it was brought up I was actually kind of appalled that we haven't that it hasn't been in place and hasn't done it I just again I just think that from listening sessions to putting something on paper and discussing it I think is Just Happening way faster and I'm not trying to delay it for the sake of delaying it but these things need public hearings they need time for people to digest time for me to digest I'll even put myself in there I mean can we at least pass on it for now and then keep discussing it and if there are specific issues then we'll address that at that point what do you mean pass to next week hold can I just add something please yes I don't disagree with Mr alenza this got pushed faster than I would have liked primarily because I wanted the show right or wrong that we were listening to the employees and what they had to say in all those sessions so I felt a sense of responsibility to take what I learned in those sessions and to try to translate them into action um absent that I would agree with you 100% so I commend the I what you just expressed I completely commend and I want the employees to know that we are doing it and I I do and I think that by saying that listen these are these are a draft we don't necessarily vote on it but we can submit it as a separate piece as an ENT like so take it out of the warrant show it as a piece and say this is what we're looking at and these are the things we're working on so people know we're actively working on it but we need time to basically form it and Dot all the eyes and cross all the tees for the for the annual and make a promise that we'll have something for the annual I think I think it touches all the buttons that we need to to say that we're serious about it I um I support I don't disagree with Mr Alonzo um I I think that what we heard in the listening sessions were things that I've been hearing offline for years uh they just weren't making their way to us um and I think that the attempt at a climate survey a couple years ago was a good Avenue in which a lot of people you know have said that they vocalized these concerns in paper but again we never got a good report out of that so I I I think that we should take a look at this next week um but generally I think that when we have staff come before us and vocalize a concern that we've solicited that some things are are straightforward common sense um um Solutions such as the sick Bank such as Merit uh opportunities you know I I I think that I'm comfortable as a member uh voting on the request I do agree that the runway here has been short I think we have a duty over the next month to uh if if the board in in full recommends it I think we have a duty to socialize what's being put in here but I think that um you know we want our staff to work well for us I think that we need to be um it would be helpful if we can hear them and Implement changes more immediately that they've been I think sitting on for years all right so do we want to hold off on this for next week yes all right and Mr chair if I could take this opportunity to say if you are out there and you are interested in helping and reviewing this you know the Personnel uh and the salary admin plan and would like to be part of the Personnel committee we need people like you to help you know staff up that committee and do this kind of work where we're reviewing the fairness of the salary of men plan employees and making sure that they are not forgotten in this whole thing and that these these issues are addressed thank you of course all right article 11 this one should be straightforward presentation by Town bodies to see if the town will allow the chair of the budget task force and the chair of the lunenberg municipal building design committee to make a verbal report on the status of the work of their respective group all right or take any other action relative there to I move that we recommend approval second any additional discussion those in favor say I I those oppose no the motion pass passes unanimously all right article 12 debt authorization for Marshall Park improvements to see the town will vote to appropriate a sum of money to pay all remaining costs of the design and construction of the Marshall Park renovation project including the payment of all costs incidental and Rel related theto to determine whether this appropriation shall be raised by borrowing or otherwise to approve the submission of the Grant application to the land and water conservation fund grant program in furtherance of this project to reaffirm that the Marshall Park land is dedicated to park purposes under chapter 45 Section 3 or take any other action relative thet I think uh we should hold 12 so from the summary my understanding is that the parks department and then the next article two by citizen petition is looking for the town to borrow approximately million $5.2 million that they are hearing about tonight to vote on in a month that even sideswiped me is that first of all is that the ass they're asking for $5.2 million to borrow I truly don't understand how you are just seeing this tonight though cuz that number has been set for a while but that's besides the number complete the project as 5.2 the fact that they're going to ask for it is the first time I'm being told that this was going to be asked for as an article it has always been left first of all let's review the history is that they changed the when they came to us and we gave them the million dollars the P the whole park was going to cost their estimate approximately 5 something million do so we appropriated through arper a million dollars they got grants and then when all was said and done and they ra we you know like $3 million was raised or found from Grants and everything we found out that they still needed $5.2 million and I found out that because I read it in the paper of a a a project manager being sought for a project that was $8.5 Million so they were never came to this board and made this public maybe they made it public in their things I don't watch every board meeting I don't have time nobody has time okay so I know that it was 5 two remaining to fulfill what the project was but nobody had any I I didn't have any idea where they were going to appropriate that from okay but now here I am today one month before the special town meeting that they're going to ask to borrow $5.2 million for a park when we just had an override of just shy of a million dollars we have a task force who indicates that there may be more financial you know tightness ahead we have buildings from the municipal building that's going to require money and again no Runway to get people set for this m to me I this is a dead no for me yep all right anything anyone else wants to say on that I I think Tom that uh I think you hit the nail on the head um I think that I am trying to get to a yes and I want to be very transparent about this I am actively trying to get to a yes on this request I want to support this request if we had to vote today or next week I'm a no um I think that if I had a little bit more time to better understand the financial implications which I want to comment would ordinarily be flushed out well by now I think that the process we undergo in the fall and in the spring is a healthy process so that way by the time we have a budget that we present to the town and all the capital requests that go with it that we've all spent months flushing through all those details asking all those questions um and so I think that I need to get a I have very specific questions to the chair of the Parks Commission uh as it relates to uh this request um I think that between now and the next month it is possible I want to acknowledge it is very possible that I could that I could get to it yes um but I think that uh everything Mr Alonzo just stated you know is a change in information I think that if we would have been advised that this was a you know eight or9 million project I would not have committed a million dollars to it um you know I probably would have would have looked for the cost to come down first I have questions about budgetary implications on other things um given that we don't know where we stand with free cash and and New Growth I don't know where this money is coming from I don't know when the debt that we currently have on the books actually falls off the books this year um so you know when can we actually absorb it um and then I think that you know there's been some intimation that some of these grants have time limits on them and so I just I would like some clarification on what those time limits are again I've personally asked these questions to the chair of the Parks Commission um and she committed to getting answers to me um you know over the course of the next couple weeks and a satisfactory answer to those questions could have result in me supporting the request but generally speaking um you know I for all the reasons Mr Lonzo stated I think that that's my current position yeah so I want to say I fully support the project but how we Finance it really matters and financing it with regular debt is very concerning to me uh we did have 500,000 of our regular debt drop off from FY 24 to FY 25 and despite that we still needed an override so it is very concerning to me um so I'll just put that out there yeah I I just there's not enough information here to understand I I don't understand how we got here I don't know how it went from a 5 point something million to an 8 point something million project um and I honest I don't know if there's enough time to flush it all out to actually present it special town meeting I don't know if there's a time limit to this to the the grant that's mentioned here is there a deadline I was told that there is a deadline and that's where I had a lot of questions because my understanding was that the award was received in September and that they have to have full Town committed Project funding by the end of December in order for the grant to stick and and I don't personally understand federal government giving grants that says oh and by the way you got 3 months to get your town to commit to all these funds for the so I I just have certain questions about how that is actually working um but that's my understanding is that there's a deadline on the million dooll landw waterer conservation fund Grant and that it expires the end of December well I know that I thought that that lwcf Grant was granted a while ago so they didn't just my understanding is they didn't just give us 3 months I thought it was the state Grant was oh the Federal grant was relatively recent oh okay so the park PR PC I forget the exact what it stands for that's a Federal grant well then I'm all confused cuz the the email that I got to me earlier today was very specifically lwcf and I'm I thought I looked at a date of September of 24 on that letter well that's that's what I think he just confirmed what you just said yes that that Grant was just recent he said okay and that was the one I thought that I was told expires by the end of December right but it's administered by the Commonwealth but the source and that was another thing so w with the lwcf Grant and the in the literature that I read it said that it comes from oil and gas funds it's not actually taxpayer dollars so I think that we need clarification on this I don't want to badmouth it I just think that we need clarification on what the grants are what the requir ments are for those grants when things need to be fully funded and if there's if this can be fully funded in the spring um then you know I think we should talk about it but if I I just don't understand enough I need more information yeah or rather Clarity on the information on his face I don't see how anybody is against rebuilding the park I think there's no one in very few people I never should say no one there's very few people would be against rebuilding the park it has been overgrown and it's been done however what is the average tax bill going to change how is it going to change um is for regular debt not excluded debt okay but then then how does this affect our financial policies and what our how far did we go down because we were close to that you know there have been people talking about the upcoming or the impending in the next few years you know Turkey Hill either Renovations or rebuild or something of that nature mhm you know so we need to keep our credit available yeah and those are all questions that need to be answered and it seems like we're doing this now to chase you know the million dollars now again I I don't want to thumb my nose at a million dollars but our override barely passed yeah and that was to fund our own schools and that was less than a million dollars now you're going to tell people the next year that you're going to just borrow money for $5.2 million when if I may ask I mean feel free not to answer but when did people on that like I said this totally came as a surprise to me today so when did people on this board know about this that they were going to ask a warrant article to borrow $5.2 million when I went to Hanford I'll tell you I went to Hanford on a Saturday I think it was so this Saturday I I think it was two Saturdays ago and there was a Citizens petition and residents were asking ask for signatures for Citizens petition and I was very confused on what the request was and I was like what is this for oh it's for a million doll Federal grant why do we need a citizen's petition for a million doll Federal grant oh it's to get the funding for the project how much is that so I remember stopping and saying what is what are these details I don't know if that was two weeks ago or three weeks ago but I found out at Hanford um and so within a couple weeks yeah anybody else so it's I've known about this for maybe a little longer than just a couple weeks and I have put a lot of thought into it and I've said a lot of what I think already you know there's a very there's a big difference with regular debt versus excludable debt right and I'm fully supporter of the project but how you finance it is very important and I have a lot of concerns about the impact that this will have on our operational budget given that it's regular debt which will for people at home excludible debt is basically like the override your taxes go up and it adds to the amount of money that you take in to pay for something very in particular regular debt is built into to the operational budget so we have a certain limit right it's 3 or 4% of our operational budgets 3% and I know that we're well under it so yes technically we could do this but if we do that it's going to have an impact on the rest of the operational budget and I'm concerned and want to know more about the impact that it'll have on other departments MH because again we had $500,000 come off our debt schedule last year to this year and we still need an override so that's where I'm at with this and when when so and when did you both know about it Carter emailed the draft October 3rd and it's in there well that's was it the same email that the the the the warrant the draft warrant October okay but again I I've said publicly I never got that for some I also will just add we did have a meeting with the chair of the Parks Commission I want to say in that was in June I or July uh and we had a full presentation on all of this minus the amount of money that they would be asking for uh I don't recall anything where they were going to ask for Mone they gave us an update on the project and the project manager I knew how much was outstanding in the project okay that is not the same as and we're going to ask for it in the fall yeah we never we weren't told in that mean that they were asking for thisf I think Amanda's trying to Rack her brain I think when she I I cannot remember aside from seeing it in the draft warant this go forward I'm also not feeling the best right now so my brain might not be firing all the cylinders no worries it's also getting late all right so we obviously need to continue discussing this do we want to pass on this for now I think not discuss it anymore I I would like to hold till next week but it's sounding like several of our members have already made their mind up about this regardless so I don't know if I'm hearing that I mean I I don't I don't know where we're at but I think I'm hearing at least two members say no three potentially say no so I don't know if uh we're ready to vote but I again I would hold or defer but yeah I would rather hold for now I've made you know I okay where I'm at pretty clear and I'd rather hold but I support the product in full and again I do trying to get to a yes I one other thing so um slug noono you mentioned this I didn't explicitly say it but you're absolutely right in that we're doing this so that we don't lose the million doll Federal grant um I just want to point out like that one Grant isn't the be all end all of this project it's not so we could easily you know come and ask for IDE I would think excludable debt I would obviously want to see the numbers for that I much prefer that to Reg regular debt because of what I already talked about with the operational budget but you know I I haven't looked at the numbers but the $1 million Federal grant isn't the be all end all of this project I just want to put it that way yeah I don't disagree yeah and is this all the money that's going to be needed like is this it if if if 5.2 is a product done do we have any assurance that that that this is it that this is their product total like do we know that or we or is this a partial funding and potential for more funding down the line so I think I would like to get clarification on that from the parks uh commission and I could reach out to Anita and ask her I've been talking to her bring it back to the ideally we do want to have I mean my goal I was never going to go into special town meeting without having her come in but I know a lot of this is still they're disc if you watch the Parks Commission meetings they're still discussing a lot of it um so I'll talk to her and see if we can at least schedule something so that she can come in and we can really discuss this further are they scheduled to present the fincom I know was discussed on the 24th that is on the 24th yeah they're having a public hearing with Parks being there so being Finance Comm finance committee yeah all right any other discussion on this or are we good to pass on it tonight all right and that just leaves the citizens petition um no um well well look hold hold on we'll we'll step back for a second we got to read it probably I I I will read it yeah but no I have other things to say so to see if the town will vote to borrow a sum of money of $5,200 th000 within the town's debt limits under GL chapter 44 section 10 for the purpose of funding all remaining costs of the design and construction of the Marshall Park renovation project including all related equipment and costs and to approve the submission of the Grant application to to the land and water conservation fund grant program and to reaffirm the Marshal Park land is dedicated to park purposes under chapter 45 Section 3 or take any other action relative there too so it's my understanding of why this is here is article 12 the one preceding this um so since that is most likely I would assume being included in the warrant even if we don't recommend to approve it we still want it to go to special town meeting to be voted on we don't actually need the citizens petition well citizens petition is the one you can't right that's the one you can't remove right so my point is that it will be passed over at special town meeting I think that citizens who want to petition the town for 5.2 million should come before the finance committee should come before the select board should come before you know all the normal boards and processes Capital planning committee that we go through before we borrow money I do not like the idea of a citizen petition for $5.2 million when the normal process hasn't been utilized so I'm I'm a solid I'm ready to vote on this one and I'm voting i i i would support not recommending approval of this article regardless as to whether or not it's passed over or not I'm going know well to me they're both the same article they are yeah yeah if I'm not voting on the other one if don't want to vote on kind of indicated but I'll leave the opening I don't ever set my decision in stone till we take a vote but you know my feeling on both of these yeah all right so we're going to pass on this was anyone in favor of this the 13 no but I think selectman Alonzo's point which I agree with is that we should vote on 12 and 13 at the same time all right so since we passed over 12 we should pass over this one as well all right and that's it it's all the waren Articles if I can may I Mr chairman quickly comment you know I don't I don't want to crap on the ideas of anyone out there in the public who's put in the time energy and effort to really get behind what is a really good idea and a really good project you know we can't let process be a barrier to um to progress um but but I do believe that that you know process overwhelmingly is intended to guide um you know informed decision-making and you know 5.2 million is is too significant in my view of a number um to not go through a normal budgeting process um and and even if we do it in an expedited process I think that the the need needs to be quite compelling so I as an individual see a distinction between article 12 I could support article 12 with more information um but again for a Citizens petition for Article 13 I don't want to crap on the people who spent the time pull this together gather the votes um but I just want to comment that I think that you know regardless of you know the differences of personalities on these on different boards that everyone still takes the same approach which is to do the best job that they can do and I think that anyone who comes before any of the boards in town has a fair opportunity of being heard and and being supported and I would like to see this project go through that process to build that support um and it has nothing my comments tonight have nothing to do with whether or not I support the project and has everything to do with whether or not I think a citizen's petition is a proper process by which the town should be committing to $5.2 million of debt yeah I mean I would assume that all of us up here are fully supportive of this project you know I think the majority of us so far have already said that how you Finance it is important so I agree with you but I mean in terms of a citizen's petition versus the proceeding article I mean that's really the same ask you know so but well I would say Mr chair that I think the question just to reframe what the way you put it is like H it's not how you finance is important the first real question I I might be supportive of the project and I am in in its conception and I would love to see it completed but the question isn't necessarily how do we Finance it the first question is can we Finance it given everything else in the table now anybody who's a homeowner knows all the projects you'd love to do in your home but you can't just go out and do them even though you hey I still got outstanding credit on my credit card so I can still do it you know these are serious matters and I'm I guess I'm really struck by the fact that that for the most part nobody knew this more than let's I'll use the October 3rd date so two weeks ago for a $5.2 million ask usually you know months in advance you can come up with financial plans you can talk about the impact of the borrowing limit you can talk to the tax you know again what what how will that affect other departments and everything but to seemingly to me Short Circuit the whole thing and then then do it in special town meeting where we have a we even get a lower attendance than annual town meeting it's really it's really hard to see how I get to any yes on this other than somebody gifting us $5.2 million I hear you I do all right any other discussion on anything regarding the warrant at this point all right awesome well thank you everyone so with that let's move on to committee reports uh school committee meets tomorrow night budget task force meets on Monday uh we just had the finance committee appointing committee met and we appointed uh a member so we're down to only two vacancies that the the member was very well qualified I I look forward to her joining the the committee and really hitting the ground running the capital planning committee met last week and got our first presentation from the Police Department with uh soon to be the then Lieutenant Tibido soon to be uh interim Chief uh we have meetings uh October 21st and 23rd I believe are our next meetings to get other presentations and of course the finance committee uh the town manager screening committee will not meet until the beginning of November when the um applications will be you know tallied and reviewed with us with Community paradigm and we can schedule interviews in uh December which are scheduled for December 11th and 12th I believe and lastly the finance committee as you it was noted several times today uh and by the interim Town manager in our email that they are having their a special time meeting public hearing on October 24th I do not have any um the economic development committee has not met and the master plan steering committee does still not have a date for an October meeting all right um so I have um Municipal buing design committee is meeting this coming Monday um we're going to be hearing presentations from uh Chris Ruth on an update for TC pasos and then also uh representative from apdc has been asked to uh provide an update on their warrant request that's here um upcoming to the next Regional Economic Development uh committee or collaborative committee rather meets um beginning of November so we don't have a meeting for a while Library trustees meet this Thursday and I will be in attendance and then just for like the benefit of the board I'll just mention it now um you know uh Carter that we do have through Mass development um a up program underutilized um properties and um you know we have not seen applications come in from Lunenburg and uh it would be helpful especially when we think about 925 massav and some other properties that if there are opportunities where we can receive grant funding uh just want to encourage the town to apply and then um you know through my job I'm conflicted when it comes to dispatch but I can share that um we did enter into a a long-term lease uh with the Dispatch Center um for I think five more years that keeps and the Dispatch Center provides um Regional dispatch uh we did keep their rent uh basically the same um with uh CPI adjustments so that then trickles down to member communities uh I think that I put them roughly 40% below market and so that that benefit uh again trickles down to all the member communities as well all right thank you I don't have a committee report tonight so we move on to warrants we have an accounts payable warrant in the amount of $772,500 so stole my pen who was it I had one but I'll hear you again that was thank you I came with one to it's all right I have full box of them have to download any action items thanks no action items all right upcoming meetings we'll say there's at least October 22nd probably not October 29th um public comment are there any public comments from the interim Town manager there are the first night I appeared before you I had a book Mr Alonzo asked me if it was Mass general laws and they said it was the bully pulpit the story of Theodore Roosevelt who was landbased by conservatives for being too radical and pushing too hard and vilified by liberals for not pushing hard enough I'm also reminded of sun Sue's The Art of War is primary maximum being don't lose so I do want to um ask everyone to please look at the sap and give me your questions and thoughts on it um and understand that I do believe there are some things in there that are Worthy on their own merits and I have a feeling of some responsibility to the employees to push some of those forward so I will be thinking over the next few days um as to whether or not there's a manner to bifurcate some of what I would call the secondly some of the things that I think stand on their own better that don't have as many strikethroughs and bold they're all just plain brand new ideas uh and perhaps withdrawing the balance um so please please do understand if you see a slightly different presentation uh next week specifically on the sap uh otherwise we'll try to get as many of the department heads in here uh to uh be able to answer your concerns uh questions in better detail um and I won't be here for your next warrant but I will advise the staff that as each one comes in to ship it off uh to you piece by piece all right thank you Carter are there any public comments from the public Mr Bowen oh hold on I think I have to unmute you now we changed our uh Zoom permissions recently I am unmuted yep we can hear you very good sunzo when to fight when not to fight thank you Mr Town manager Teran zini that was a uh an excellent position that brings me to my inquiry here is that we have a cemetery commission who hasn't met since July 25th um my understanding is is that they are supposed to meet every 30 days I mean obviously you know there may be some issues and so forth but from my understanding there are a number of town matter is particularly an imminent domain issue that has been ignored for two years by this Cemetary commission and for a Cemetary commission to take four months off as a result of a person's personal issue when that person being present that would be Nancy yasco uh has nothing to do with the Quorum of a board which would mean that Dave Doran and Michael Clark can basically handle that board and to allow a meeting to lap even though you had a quarum because somebody is not in control is AB Boren on that note that's just my inquiry to you to look into that as to there's a quorum board there and there are Town matters particularly an imminent domain matter that needs to be addressed that's been ignored because we're spending so much time you know worrying about how uh tall our graph is in any case the other issue is the finance committee the finance committee and other committees that are having difficulty being able to meet to be able to meet the deadline for printing as uh the interim Town manager has mentioned can be alleviated by and I know this is an unpopular thing and Mr Jeff I agree 3 months straight sitting in meetings everybody needs a break but when we have such critical matter in town I think that it calls for me members of boards even though volunteer and elected to step up and say we need to hold two meetings this week we need to hold three meetings this week we need to address these matters we need to give 48 hours notice to the public if we have to hold one on a Saturday we'll have to do that for the benefit of the community so those are just my points um that I wanted to make tonight and you know for consideration and I'm not saying that it's a requirement I mean we just had Congress say we're not coming back to give you more money for Hurricane funding have a nice day we're on vacation so Mr Jeff I do agree it depends upon how serious the situation is to whether or not you come back and whether or not things have been managed properly which is basically what our uh Speaker of the House Mr Johnson said at the federal level he said it's not important we've given you plenty of money you've Ed it you've misapplied it you've misappropriated it we don't need to come back you figure it out we'll be back November 5th and in that I can respect that Mr Jeff with what you had to say about having time off so I say that if you have to take extra time hold an extra meeting to be able to meet deadlines well the fight is on sunzoo is in the house thank you very much for your time all right thank you Mr Bowen any other public comments I don't see any other public all right with that is there a motion to adjourn so moved second any additional discussion all those in favor say I I those oppos no it is 9:36 p.m. and the select board is adjourned thank you everyone at home for tuning in tonight we'll see you next week have a good night