##VIDEO ID:DziiGnVFKu4## seeing that is seeing that it's 609 uh I will call the meeting to order in accordance with the requirements of the Oprah meeting law please be advised that this meeting will be recorded and can be found on the lunenberg access YouTube channel within 24 hours of the meeting this public meeting is being conducted remotely the following information is also provided for the members of the public that would like to participate in the meeting remotely to participate remotely from a computer please use this link to join the public meeting and there's a link provided or from a telephone dial the toll-free number 888-474-9500 is needed just press pound when asked telephone users may dial pound N9 to request to speak after joining the meeting computer and app users may use the raised hand feature to request to speak and first item of business is call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance I'm Mike Mackin chairman of the Sewer Commission I ask everyone to join in the Pledge of Allegiance and I will be providing the flag tonight we coming on that I pledge allegiance to the flag the flag of the United States of America to the it stands one nation God indivisible and thank you all the following information is also wait Loop let's get through this I will do a roll call to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear from me can hear me Members when I call your name please respond in the affirmative Eli Torres not yet Joe Hurley present Scott do here Brett Ramson here and Mike Mack is here let's see is there any public of uh online tonight I don't see any no there's no public but there is Staff oh I'm sorry I should mention the staff uh Bill Bernard I'm here Jane renley here good uh let's see current business uh business manager position so let I understand that last last uh Tuesday Bill Mike do you want to start with public comments there's any I did I said if there any public oh okay how about any announcements okay are there any announcements I don't all I'd like to welcome the new members uh I'm very happy to see that we actually have a full uh commission now uh and uh you know I I'm very happy to see that you know everybody's uh almost everybody's here tonight um look forward to working with everybody um we're all kind of on a learning curve together so uh I appreciate you know all of us you know working together as we go forward any other comments no so Bill I'm going to ask you to lead the discussion on the um uh business manager position okay all right so we did interview one candidate uh we use the same questions that we've used for the past two sewer business managers um the candidate uh well we thought she was pretty good she showed um that she had relevant and transferable accounting and customer service skills um she demonstrated she that she has good experience you know at business but she doesn't know sewer and she doesn't know our accounting software munice um but I think she did demonstrate that she can learn to to do the processes needed um and she doesn't have Municipal experience um but given that you know if we do decide to go forward you know I would sit down with her at you know one month three months and five months um and then at the six month probationary period you know see how things are going make sure it's working out the way it should um but I think before we decide to offer the the job to her um I think we need to check our references and um Julie the HR Director just hasn't had a chance to to contact or references yet uh so my opinion I think we should hold off on ratifying the appointment tonight but um I think we should talk to Scott I mean not Scott to Joe and if Eli was here talk to Eli about their feelings on on the candidate I agree Joe any any feedback you can provide um yeah I thought it was a good interview um she seemed you know serious about work you know in her current role don't know how to really explain that but um you know she seemed like she's interested and being productive at work and and and being um like a a a substantial contribution in the workplace you know she's not just looking to come and and punch a clock and get a paycheck she seemed to have you know experience uh learning more about about the business she was working with she has run her own business um she seems intelligent um humble I uh yeah I Had No Reservations I having said that I again I don't fully understand the scope of what her job would be and um I'd have to trust in bill and the HR manager I would just caution I don't I I don't know I'm sure Julie is swamped I don't know if there's anyone else we're really not allowed to or supposed to get involved in the process is what I understand I just I I I'm interviewing people you know 5 10 people a week and like my concern would be she's already found something something else kind of thing I I don't get that vibe from her talking to her but um I usually um trying to hire managers for a grocery store like I've got a week to like phone screen them get them in for an interview call their references make them an offer I lost them to somewhere else and you know being that she seemed like a serious candidate and a a professional person I would just caution that we that we probably don't have two weeks or something like that to to contact references so I would I I don't know who the other people are that could call references or if that's an hron process but um that's my only my only other comment I have a question question oh go ahead oh that's okay um gentlemen did you she's pretty young as I understand does she see some seem like someone who would be self-motivated in this position it's going to be GNA it's a position that takes a lot of self- motivation and um concentration just didn't know if you had a feel for that well I I think so and she's young but she does have 10 years experience in in the work world or more um yeah she seemed pretty eager to to you know do the job and do it well and and I think she said multiple times she'd like to help out other people to do their jobs um you know I don't think she realizes how much her job's going to be I don't think there's much time to help other people but but she did it say that yeah yeah did she get a good did she get a good view of the list of what her expectations would be that paper you sent us earlier um with her um job expectations and what you know where she's working and what she'd be dealing with she read that thoroughly she did um but you know that only tells you so much right yeah I me sitting in the seat yeah until you're sitting in the seat you really don't know yeah what do you think Joe I was just gonna say like her current I think one of her current um frustrations with her job right now is that she's expected to work significantly longer than she originally signed up for for like she's paid for a 40h hour position and she's putting in 50 plus and there's no opportunity to move up or room for a raise or uh or so I I don't think she's a stranger to work like I think she I think her biggest issue would be not being allowed overtime and I don't know if that means in that job you just sort of do it anyway kind of thing but uh she didn't seem like the kind of person that was afraid of a heavy workload fantastic yeah I suppose if she was working for a law firm at some point which I read I don't know if that was her last gig or not but uh I've got some experi not me but someone close to me uh was a legal secretary for many years and they aren't appreciated in the workload goes Way Beyond expectations so I could see that um that says a lot about her that she was there two years or whatever it was a year I think that that was a few positions ago but I oh that's right I don't recall how recent that was but it's still a very challenging thing but if she's most recently been putting in that kind of hours I agree that she's not afraid of work we're we're only really expecting 40 out of her here right oops it looks like from our previous manager's experience didn't look like it was 40 yeah right yeah well also Paul was special so um the other thing is she did say she would want to give two weeks notice and then she said she had something personal at the end of the month so she probably couldn't start the November anyway so we do have another meeting in two weeks so we could ratify her then if the references check out okay so Bill we had no other qualified candidates to interview we haven't interviewed anybody else that's correct no we had no other qualified candidates to interview that's correct thank you I I recommend just to for for for information purposes uh who who participated in the interview besides three three of the you and the two members yep that's good question myself obviously and uh Julie bellie the human resource director okay all right well I guess unless there's any uh objection uh we'll hold this uh over for for the next meeting I agree I did want to say one more thing um Mr chairman yeah um it's it's good to know that we have some time with her but I do want to just um keep in the back of I I'm sure you will keep in the back of your mind Bel that if the references do pan out um probably reach back out to her and let her know that it's looking good at least so she doesn't keep searching elsewhere yeah absolutely and believe me I wanted sooner sooner than later so yeah uh the end of the month we have to do the billing process so really want to see her hit by then right but well do you really believe that she'd be able to do the billing at the end of the month uh with Paula's gonna have to help us through it so that was my next question which is that Paula will still be available to right really that's great I didn't know that yeah really helpful for anybody right so the thought was for training was you know Paula would walk through the new person through right through the whole billing process you know over multiple nights you know when Paula can do it any other questions from the commissioners okay we'll move on to the next item which is the assistant business manager position Bill okay so it's still advertised um we have a couple of candidates some look pretty good but you know I I think we should wait until we have a su business manager yeah I think we all agreed on that I just yeah yeah because they that's going to be their direct report so they should have a say on the hiring yeah but we do have candidates so you know hopefully we don't take too long and lose them you know like Joe was saying curious uh external or internal or both all external all external interesting okay yeah and this hiring uh atmosphere I don't know where it is exactly but it still doesn't seem to be an easy thing out there to grab good people okay unless there's any other questions or comments we'll move on update on special town meeting articles bill yeah so the accounting for fiscal year 24 which ended June 30th uh 2024 is not quite done yet so the number that we think we're going to put in the article is probably good but we don't know 100% until all the books are closed and it's not sure if the book are going to be closed in time to get the article on the special town meeting so may not happen so what's the impact of that to the budget nothing really we we just have to make the swap of money at the the Springtown meeting it would just be done at a later date okay so it has no significant impact on the operation to put it off until the annual correct correct okay um Mr chairman did we skip a few things um the grease trap and discussion for hybrid meetings I don't think we've come there yet oh oh we're still on the S business manager higher position that's maybe your agenda is set up differently maybe I have the first one that was sent to me we we skipped a little bit but that's okay yeah we went out of order line repairs Mass one Mass one line repairs okay so I talked with um CTE and they're trying to get it lined up for the next within the next few weeks um they just wanted to make sure that we didn't interfere at all with the U the water main job you know when to have trucks going in and out we don't want them digging right in front of the station if we're there so I gotta make sure that it's not going to interfere I I don't think it's going to be a problem but got to double check on that um other than that they sound like they're they're getting ready to go and hopefully not going would it go smooth Mr chair I have a question um for Bill actually being Mass one and the water line installation happening right now in front of that and I know that's going to be a little time before that operation starts is there going to be a bit of an overlap there with the water line installation and they going to end up running into each other at all right there I believe they actually have the new line in the ground adjacent to it but I didn't know if the hookups were in and um that directional drilling was all complete and all that and how much longer they would need before any off chance we lose a lane working on mass one yep that's that's exactly what I need to coordinate with the water district so yeah I'll reach out to them and see where when they're going to be in that area you know if it's not in the next few weeks we're good sounds great thank you sir so yes I did in fact uh uh skip over the manhole repair so I found it now Bill all right so the man repairs we put the um ifb invitation for bid it's out on the street uh went out on September 25th and the bids are due October 23d so I after our next meeting um I know at least one bidder is hold the uh the specs because they had a couple questions so we'll be putting out an addendum to answer their questions so yeah well hopefully that goes well great so now we get down back on schedule to item F which is the uh sorry hold to the um uh FY 24 budget update Mike you might be looking at last the one the one that you sent sent to me uh this afternoon oh maybe I goofed up on that because that's that's not on the agenda right Brad you're not seeing that I don't see it either I'm reading the one that you said to me this afternoon I wonder if I grabbed the wrong thing I am sorry okay so let me go back in and one that was originally sent H what did I do Mike aren't you a mind reader by now that wasn't in my do job description oh you're right Mike I I sent you the wrong file that was brilliant I knew something was up because Mike is way quicker than that yeah yeah where's what's the file Bella's just testing you Mike I had a tough day you're running he's just giving you a there only a test it's funny that the file I sent and the file that I have open in front of me have the same name I don't know how that happened you know look look look bill it's it's all good because as long as it's not me I'm fine I like that one [Laughter] so now we're at Future agenda items well I'd say let's go up to basap oh grease traps that's there we are look what you look look where we are Bill let's talk about grease traps all right all right so Mike I just sent you I hope hopefully sent you the right file all right so the grease traps so I kind of hinted at this at the last meeting so um back in February of 23 the commission voted to require permits for the oil water separators and I'm not sure why it took this long but the first permits were issued in September of 2023 I wish I knew why it took that long but I'm sorry I don't so all the permits for the next year I just renewed so that which is fine but our regulation states that the permits are effective April 1 of each year so we're way off schedule so I'm proposing that we extend the expiration date on the current permits which would be October of 2025 until March 31st 2026 which is like another six months and that will put us back on schedule question bill is there a fiscal implication for doing that uh I assume a permit has a cost to it uh no let me think about that now so October of 25 that uh actually no because we just did no let me think about the fiscal years always get me so we're in fiscal 25 now which is July 1 2024 to June 30 2025 yeah so they winning so then the next fiscal year when these are due October of 2025 be fiscal line with the fiscal year yeah it' be fiscal 26 and March 31 2026 is in fiscal 26 okay so we don't we wouldn't lose any money we'd still get the $150 for each permit in in fiscal 26 it'll just be six months later okay good question so I assume you would like to see a motion for to to that effect well you guys might want to discuss it I mean this is just the way that I I like to proceed is you start with the motion and then you do the discussion oh okay yeah I'll make a motion uh to that effect I'll second the motion okay all those in favor of the motion oh wait before I discussion got thank you sir Joe what do you think your your question before was about um whether or not the work would be done at a different fiscal year or you're worried about the cost of permits no the fact that whether the whether because we were not collecting the permit fee at the time that would affect our budget the answer is no so the town has to pay the town for permit fees interde departmentally like we NOP these oil water sep operators are businesses that have that you know like a c wash or a garage yeah well the schools do too don't they uh don't they have it's not us taking oil out of the main lines it's people taking oil before it goes into the lines correct correct okay so the schools have we have grease they had grease traps I don't know traps this is this is so in that case they do pay us the town does pay the town well only yeah only on the schools the schools just to clarify a Joe right so just a little background there's only I think six of these right and so far the part of the permit requirement is they they have to send us reports the reports have been coming in um I think one of them was was late a little bit but for the most part the the businesses are doing their part of the permit process that's you don't have to have a grease trap anywhere you have a three compartment sink yep so that's that's a different permit that's a grease trrap permit so like a restaurant has a grease trap permit okay so these are oil water so like a Service Garage where you get your car fixed okay all right or like the a car wash or the other one I understand okay any other discussion Bill we have two car washes on there man we do um my only my only I'm sorry Scott go ahead go ahead Scott go ahead Scott no I I just wanted to chime in just if the permit were expired in April and up for AAL that money came in in April so that technically was in this year's fiscal nope so we didn't do them in April so the oh you didn't you didn't even take is to get us April yeah we did it in September so we took April since September yeah same I I mean I'm only wondering do you do a you know a pro-rated permit on the next one and get back on track or is it all right sitting where it's going to sit good question because are they covered by permit right now like they never got renewed in April right so everybody just renewed now so they're good for a year so I'm just asking you know give them a grace period of six months right where they won't have to pay to get us onto schedule I and we don't have to do it it's it's up to you guys well I'm not saying that not on schedule it's still it's still six months on the permit what what do the permit cost $150 each so we're talking six permits at about $75 if we talk in six months right right but we are getting we're not talking a hug huge resource of revenue for the town for the Enterprise fund right right and we will get it in the same fiscal year we'll just get it six months later yeah I that's the only question I had have it out there and I don't mean to ask a stupid question but if in fact they needed renewal in April and didn't get renewed in April were they running without permits till now is my question no because the first permits we issued were in September we didn't do them in April I I don't have the answer why but essentially from April to September they had no permit yeah the I mean there's nothing we can do about it but in 2023 yes right yeah so now the renewals will just be what SE uh we talking about September one next year well that's what they are now yeah we're trying to get them in line with our regulation it says April 1 okay so basically if I understand correctly we never they never got a bill or informed that they needed to update their permits until September um and then they're they're paying 150 a piece and then arguably in six months they going to have to do another 150 and be like you know why am I paying it again six months later so basically we're talking about giving them a free year which I know it comes in in April it still come in in this year um but I just wanted to understand it I'm I'm not saying I'm against that um and as Scott pointed out it's not a huge influx and you know we don't need upset customers either over such a small item yeah and it's it's not a year it's six months right yeah it's six months yeah any other discussion um it seems to me that just for the ease of you know making everything whole that you know I would recommend voting yes for this going forward it just seems the simplest way to untie the knot I agree I was just trying to talk it out oh absolutely I think we might be ready for a vote sounds like it sounds like it so all those in favor we'll do the roll call uh Brett hi Joe I Scott I and for myself I look at this carries our first big vote congratulations mik okay we're now let's see make I want to make sure that I didn't miss anything oh discussion on the in-person hybrid meetings this was something I kind of brought up at the last meeting um it's just a matter of discussion I don't think we need to necessarily take a vote tonight if we wish to that's that's fine too uh but um I have a thought um Joe can we we have to have the public um be there which I think was one of the or have it open to the public which was one of the roadblocks is there any reason why we couldn't have some number of us even if it wasn't all of us sitting at a conference table with a a laptop so that we could be in a group and join the same meeting as the public as I understand it that's been that's completely okay that was something that was dealt with during covid that became policy for uh a lot of meetings okay where uh members of committees could participate remotely am I correct on that bill yeah you're correct so the select board does that now right they have an in-person meeting but it's also on Zoom sometimes you know of us select board members out of town they're on zoom and the public can come to the meeting or be on Zoom so uh one of the things that we we wanted to just revisit uh now is whether it's also worthwhile of attempting you know even on a once a month basis to to hold an in-person meeting um I mean I find some benefits to in-person meetings this is the first Zoom only committee I've ever been on um and it seems to me that there are some valuable discussions that sort of come up when you're in a room rather than you know looking at a screen um but that's my two cents and I'm open to discussion from and Fe back from from the members of from the from the other Commissioners anyone so let me just offer let me just offer this up the uh DPW conference room can be used for the in-person meeting it has you know it has a a computer there's a camera with a uh speaker and microphone and we have a TV you can project up on to and we do use it for the storm water task force meetings so um also like tonight there's no public here right so it's the conference room's small but it's pretty rare that we have public so the uh DPW conference room can be used for that that's proba we always used to meet does us being in person do we have to offer then both the public to come virtually and in person again it's it's a hybrid meeting so anybody that wants to join on Zoom is is uh more than capable of joining on Zoom okay I have no problem with being in person I just wonder we we they going to revisit maybe pushing it back to your original Seven o'clocks that you used to have or is that uh off the table yeah we'd want Scott to be able to make it and I'm on Bo I mean I can I'm not worried about it it's just if I if I hit the dead zone in Lunenburg when I'm driving through by Stillman by Stillman and stuff uh you know I may drop off for a little bit but uh yeah and we want you keep we want you to keep your eyes on the road Scott oh I'm fine I'm I'm parked now I was just joking yeah yeah I'm fine so again what I'm hearing is that there's people like the idea of an in-person meeting don't like the idea like the idea of the hybrid inperson I like the idea of the hred and in person um and if it's not annoying if we're doing it once a month maybe we could do the in person at 7:00 should make it easier for everyone to get there and still keep the the zoom meetings at 6 does that make sense or is that too confusing no that's fine I mean it's I as long as we all communicate and know what what's going on you know and keep everyone on the on the same page we're all uh we're all getting used to our new uh new new seat so um yes get a hold of Eli and and get this ball rolling so perhaps we'll shoot for uh the first meeting of the month as the inperson and the second meeting being the strictly Zoom that's fine with me sure I'm game out of curiosity I I know we were saying that the inperson meeting does have the ability yes it's I'm sorry the inperson hybrid meeting yeah yeah so just we would basically expect to be there in person and then you know we can communicate with each other if we have to uh somebody has to join virtually correct okay yeah that's fine with me and the meetings recorded gives a is a a mic in the center of the table um which I assume is connected to the computer so everything's recorded anyways which is required by law and um it'll all work at some point if we wanted to we could start meeting back in the town hall should we decide to want to but uh I'm actually on board with the idea of meeting at the DPW at least for the time being okay I don't think we need to take a a vote on that I think it's just a sense of the committee Bill does that yeah sound right yeah I guess so um so the in-person hybrid is 7 pm and the zooms at 6 PM right that's that's what I'm hearing from the from the from the group yeah so first Tuesday we'll be in person at 7 okay I feel like we should vote on this then then then then I will then then I will accept the motion I'll second the motion no I'll accept the motion who's making the motion oh I'm sorry I will make a motion to vote and I will second that motion okay all those in favor take a roll call Joe I Brett hi Scott I and for myself I great um future agenda items Bill do you have anything to you think we ought to be touching on um no I think most of the items that we have kind of just keep on there for updates um but new Stu I don't know okay along with anything that comes up between now and the next meeting okay yeah all right uh any old Bills new spill I don't think there's anything we have to go over okay uh public comment having no public we'll move on uh you see the upcoming schedule October the 22nd which will be the regular Zoom meeting uh then um November the 5th will be our first inperson meeting and then November 19th and December 10th uh Brett I just want to let you know that I will not be available on October the 22nd it was something scheduled a bit ago I take my wife away for our our our anniversary fantastic sir and thank you for the heads up I have one thing to put on a future agenda when we U sorry about the crying in the background um we uh when we were um appointed to these roles there was multiple roles open that had different expiration dat on them for reelection and I I don't know what kind of like lead time you need to file paperwork to be on a ballot and things like that so we should probably what I wouldest Joe yeah Joe I think the simplest thing is that um the way that we it will happen is uh the easiest way to do it is you show up at Town caucus okay and at Town caucus you will be nominated to be on the ballot and somebody will second it and you will be voted to be on the ballot uh it's I don't think I've ever seen a sewer commissioner being opposed for office I figured but WR in would probably be a challenge too I just didn't know what you had to do to get it onto the onto the B but okay having been in the school committee yeah yeah those are positions that there's rarely uh opposition if you start swearing at the meetings and things that [Laughter] might alrighty so I think we've just had a like a record meeting in terms of the timing yeah not bad so I think I've been on one shorter meeting than this well in my short tenure this is the shortest one but thank you all um thank thank you Joe thank you Scott for for you know stepping up to the plate uh glad you're here problem glad you're here I would like to make one comment um Mr chairman absolutely I would like to thank you for being chairman and um um you handled it very well especially with the wrong agenda in front of you that with t and um was just testing me that's all it was well you uh you passed the test and uh just wanted to say great job tonight thank you so much well with that uh I'll take a motion to adjourn I motion to adjourn go for it CH I'll second that one all those in favor I'll take a roll call Joe Joe pick a r vote here here hi Scott I I for myself thank you all have a great night