##VIDEO ID:NCjJBK2INq4## so I will call the meeting of the select board uh here in Manchester for August 19th to order we will start with a roll call vote for the select board members Jeff here Kathy here Ryan here and somewhere out in the Atlantic but I can see you never that far away and John is here okay all here and I thank you all for attending our uh meeting this evening um first thing on the agenda I won't say the formal agenda but first thing a public comments on non agend on non-agenda items is there anyone that has a comment and um I Look to Greg or anyone online okay uh Chairman's report uh we will defer that to the next meeting um and let's go the select board action items which we update with each of our meetings is there anything that any of the select board members would like to add or modify on the action items that we have and we have three that we will be covering today but for future action items anything okay the only thing that I I would ask but maybe you're going to cover that tonight uh Greg is uh we had mentioned a consultant for operational audits than you up on that okay all right fine all right then that's going to be covered this evening that's good all right great um then we'll move on to the formal agenda and the first event is the uh a celebratory one and I might say the second one in as many consecutive meetings as we've had involving our Public Safety staff and I would ask uh Chief mcne to provide us with the details sure um tonight I have the distinct pleasure of uh introducing Matt cely uh to the suel board and to the town uh Matt comes to us as our newest full-time firefighter actually started towards the end of June and uh he's been a valuable asset uh in our department already unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts this is the first meeting that we could uh get him into uh but uh nonetheless he's um already off to a good start uh and a valued member of our team joining him is his wife Katie his son Connor uh and his daughter Maya and his uh in-laws as well uh so Matt comes to us from acon fire he comes as a fully credential paramedic and firefighter so he spent a couple weeks on days and he was kind of plug and play so um it was it worked out very well uh so without further Ado we'd like to do our ceremony of pting the badge on uh fir5 sely who's got the honors everyone doing it come on don't worry there's plenty of EMTs and paramedic draw a little blood draw some blood I don't want to see BL me either it's not official unless you see red so congratulations thank you congratulations I always enjoy those events as a literally a show of course show up great uh okay so we're right on time pretty close on time uh and the next uh the next uh subject on the agenda is a joint meeting with the affordable housing trust and I guess the the Housing Authority could you clarify that U Greg is it both groups oh well I'll leave it up to so the affordable housing trust yes and affordable uh Manchester housing authority have a joint meeting schedule for seven we're here as an update to the board of Selectmen the affordable housing trust okay hous trust we haven't given you an update in a while sometime in 2023 I see from my notes okay it was well great so so this is John corack and he is the chairman um and the housing extraordinaire he and Chris so John's going to give the presentation hello everyone chairperson of the affordable housing trust I'm speaking on behalf of the affordable housing trust but also on behalf of our partner the housing authority and as muffin mentioned we haven't been here probably in close to a year and we just wanted to update uh the select board because I think we're at a critical point and I'm referring to the the development plan that you you're aware of it's It's focusing on Newport Park uh the planes loading place in the context of of new new units on the sites and possibly Rehabilitation that's a plan that we have been engaged with boards such as yourself incom planning going back to probably 2018 2019 uh probably maybe not that late that late um in 2021 we had a culmination of that we had a presentation at the town meeting where there was a non-binding approval of the plan the concept in addition to um having some flexibility on price for the for the land whatever land we charge to reduce development costs to promote affordable Community affordable housing um we issued a request for proposal I think it was in 2022 and unfortunately uh there was no response we reconvened spoke to some development Partners who gave us some advice and the advice was issue a quest for qualifications and that would attract a qualified developer to provide guidance to us we didn't issue it to actually select a developer to proceed with the plan but a team could work with us critique the request for proposal look at our development concept see which way it could be improved so that when we do move forward with the request for proposal which we plan to do um it's it's something that seemed more feasible and and reasonable when we we had one response it was a very credible strong development team based in Boston preservation of affordable housing in my little summary to you I give a little outline of their background they're very very strong team in Boston they've got some influence in Northshore communities and they're very very respected at the state the executive off office of housing M communities uh coming right to the chase they looked at our proposal and they looked at our concept and they said great idea but the issue you have is land availability I think you've heard us say that we need to have a onetoone match in in in development to have a a feasible development from the point of view of this economic viability from a development partner but also to meet State funding guidelines so when we were looking at the three sites at one point we included Pleasant Street we were looking at about apprx about eight about 80 units when we issued the request for proposal we took away Plus street because of the uncertainty of that um and we just put loading place we put two other sites no response um PO said you guys need more land otherwise you're you you're you're going to have a you're just not going to attract a developer um so with that we explored options on Newport park at at the PLS uh and and one thing we just wanted to revisit with you it's this this site on on Pleasant Street you recall when we initially moved on this plan we we included Besson Street uh it was taken out probably a year year and a half ago and it may have been after a meeting we had with you we're reaching a point now where it really increased the viability or even to meet basic feasibility in our plan land is a premium and we we see that Pleasant Street site as an important resource it's in a residential neighborhood we' be providing housing in a residential context um so we just wanted to leave that with you as you're deliberating other competing uses that the town would have for that site one important use would be housing it's our concept has been supported by the town by residents and to get back and to use that would increase the viability tremendously so so that's the the first point we wanted to bring to your attention and leave you with I hope you'll consider that as you weigh your other options and and lean on on the housing option the second is when you looked at Newport Park uh on the back right um they said that would be if you're going into new park and you you turn around that last building there's like a little parking area there's that building there that could be reconfigured it could be repurposed uh if we had more land back there the consultant said that would be an ideal spot to have slightly larger foot foot building foot footprint and maybe slightly higher density there's really no butter issues it's it's placed in the back near the powder house um so they thought that would be a very strong um element if we could do that uh in our discussions at our meetings and um with with Mark um was brought dra attention that there's some some Town discussions with parking and there might be some easement issues but we just wanted to bring it to your attention and that would be a vitally important site for a forthcoming RFP to make it known that that a developer could have flexibility to look at that back right and propose something that would be um appropriately from uh site context from design but also enhanced economic viability I mean so unless there's any other point that a trust member wanted to yeah I want add one thing just to remind you John the state just passed a huge uh housing Bond Bill billions of dollars which includes a big chunk of money to rehab public housing units uh and the Newport Park well actually all of the housing properties are state funded public housing so they'll all be eligible if we can put a plan together for uh major renovation and again if we can add other units to those properties that's going to make the state much more keen to participate in this because obviously as we all know there's a critical shortage of affordable housing and in fact there's a shortage of housing across the board which is by the NBTA communities act that's pasted as well so we can take advantage of the state's Uh current uh willingness to fund these projects this is probably the next year is going to be a critical time to do it and just to add to that further and then we'll here for comments and um we've recently found out that Marble Head has got a public housing we know we knew it had an inventory but recently they put out a request for proposal for a plan somewhat similar to ours we're identifying their current housing stock they're looking at their available vacant land and they're trying to get a developer to create new units and then have financing to rehab their their current units uh wind develop when wind companies based in Boston National company development responded and won that that bid so they're they're online to be a developer and they're looking at approximately 100 units a combination of new and renovation and they're going to this big they're going with the same state agency that we're considering executive office of housing Lial communities they're going with what we consider a relatively small density and I've had conversations with the state and they say you know as long as you have something that hits some of the the metrics that they're looking for and their evaluation criteria we could we could be viable so we have some uh I wouldn't say precedent because haven't been funded yet but when companies is is very very strong in the state po giving us direction is very very strong in the state and they're sort of we're sort of going in the same direction so but for our lack of land so that that's really a pressing pressing issue that we wanted to bring to your attention and as I characterized my little summary to you help that we we could get from the select word well thank you for those comments some questions from the board Jeff so without Pleasant Street how short are you landwise to put a decent plan together we anticipated approximately 30 from our previous our our proof of concept that 30 added to assumptions on the other sites brought us up to the mid 80s I think we we've learned what we were assuming on Newport really wasn't feasible we were looking in the back left and there was a a plan that I think it would come into problem with the down slope of the woods and there's some water issues that's why I think the back right is extremely uh attractive and important but we're probably looking you know 60 probably 60 to 80 would be important he's asking Acres Acres yeah how much how many AC are number so if you assume 15 units an acre they two or three acres yeah that's a midrise that that would be a midrise at 15 unit per AC uh it' be town houses or mid R three three flers yeah mid R okay the tow houses would be like eight Breakers I understand it yeah well you know like um 102 Summer Street that's 18 units of right so that's that's I think was the allow that's the metric that state looks at y right um yeah so because the two locations might have different it sounds like speed is of an issue is we need to move right I sense an urgency you know whoever gets to the money first gets the money right so we get a move and I believe um Pleasant Street would be a longer lead item um task to go address that so my question is can we split the two move out on Newport park and if yes what exactly are the next steps in my discussions with the Marble Head the public housing authority contact who ran the process that led to the request for proposal and the Lessons Learned after she looked at her RFP she said maybe you put them out all aart rather than three sites and the developer might look at one of the sites God I don't know if I want to work on that one but the other two look viable one one lesson we learned is the forthcoming RFP will list the sites individually well what I'm getting at is um there are things that the town may be able to do faster than move a DPW site okay so trying to say that's a longer lead item and and decisions have to be made on whether or not we use Pleasant Street Newport Park seems smaller doable and my question is what are the next steps you say land is of an issue do we already own the land necessary or if not what do we have to do I'm not clear on if let's say we're all supportive of what you want to do what's what are the actions so if you're looking at using some of the part of w Hill there needs to be some land swapping in legislative blessing with that because it's it's conservation okay so um so there's some hurdles there they're not insurmountable but there are hurdles and I we assumed or I thought it would it be involved some some town meeting approval before the pursuit at the state level or no great right typically you would want yes You' want the voters to approve that kind of potential swamp what's the U what's the new land that will go into conservation so you need to typically the state looks for a 3 to1 ratio so we one acre of of conservation land to take they're looking for three acres new not not hard and fast but that's a general rule of thumb so if if you're going to take some powder house you need you still need to find some land to put in conservation that parking area the back right people pull in and I get the impression it's access powder house might be someone parking for Newport is that powder house right there or is it um no that's that's that's Newport that's new that's yeah the housing authorities land right so but if you're if you go up the hill a little bit then you're into the PowerHouse Hill so the question is can you squeeze into the to to achieve your objective quickly is there any way to squeeze into the land the Housing Authority or the town already has that that's really my question I guess the question is how much density could we Toler go up yeah we could we go four stories five stories there that might do it what is the status you do that that would be one way to go about it most likely have to be a friendly well would want that anyway I would think uh what is f ons is that cons conservation uh it is reserved for recreation and school related uses and it's been used that a lot has it it's deed restricted de restricted wi Fields I haven't seen one school kid playing it a little deep uh and questions thoughts um the reason this came to the front was um somebody asked us well there's 76 of Summer Street that's just come on the market which could be converted into half a dozen or eight units of of affordable housing um and um I didn't have an answer as to why that wasn't something we should be doing and I'd like to know why it isn't any any talk about acquiring private property will be done in an executive session not the public meeting right I think the short answer is that it it's certainly Something to Talk think about and talk about yes and there's another part of it too which is there's some vacant underutilized land that's part of the memorial school right next to it and I I don't know who exactly owns that land and whether that's the the the town owns the and leases the land to the school so maybe that little part of it could be subdivided it just is that something that could fees could conceivably be done I'm not talking about you know purchasing the land I just is that a project that is of a size that's worth doing or is it just seven or eight units it's just too much hassle and and um we need to work on a bigger project well I think it's something that the Board needs the opportunity to talk about once we became aware that the property was for sale okay but maybe you should be looking oh and we we we do cons consistent okay how about how about old Corner in you buy l or do something like that then you need somebody to run it it's not just you can't just make affordable housing and say here you go uh and that's that's why we partner with a development person who then becomes the person that runs it um you you could put 12 unit there but then what who's going to say okay yeah you're all right you can go in who's going to investigate the finances who's going to run the place that's not part of the um of our uh Direction and we don't have the ability to do it it wouldn't be the town wouldn't be the property no you need someone else nonprofit and so to get usually to get a nonprofit involved takes a bigger uh number so can ask this question so the property on Pleasant Street isn't part of the Housing Authority so if you develop that what would happen there as far as that goes same thing we compar with the developer and he would end up it' be a partnership and the developer would end up managing the property developer would be the land like Po house property 12 semester the same thing they're run by property managers okay to that point part of the the problem of the land acquisition costs and how they amortize that or how many units they can have to build right all right so uh say that pel that Ann's talking about is a million dollar and half million dollar APLE to build just eight units doesn't make it it economically feasible all right so that's why you're trying to aggregate yes um as much as you can to drive your PO stop and so I mean the big key is look at land acquisition costs and then you look at the site work and everything else like that with the actual Cass involved have you have you uh I assume that you folks have talked with some 40b folks with regard to try and try and put some sort of picture together with them because they have certain advantag that regular developers don't um have they said anything with regard to all of the concepts that you presented at this point we calling him 40b developers is a little perjorative okay we call them nonprofit okay developer or for-profit really well it's a mix yeah it's a mix right I mean the focus is on community affordable housing whoever we're trying to reach out to and we've had conversations I think that part of the issue with the SLB 40b development doesn't exactly make nonprofits come knocking at a door to put in 4B development we have a a reputation precedes us okay oh but if it's speaking personally if we approach a developer or they come to us and we work with them and engage with them and we reach out I see that as quite different than what we're it becomes it becomes the classic private public partnership exactly and uh you know and I think a a good 40p developer friendly 40b developer he would take the the temperature of the town before we would spend too much money or too much time do look for Grassroots development find out's it's not a bad thing it's happened here actually 10 to 12 Summer Street is private partnership yeah friendly friend well it it seems to me like being able to go up a little bit higher at Newport Park so you can get your density up because acquiring three or four acres in that space is a lot and you've got to swap this out for 10 or 12 the town's not sitting on a whole lot of property but John I think one of the concerns that we had is that there was conversation going on about a land swap at that Newport Park site and we wanted to make sure that if in fact some type of a lands slot happens it doesn't result in the fact that that back right corner is set aside for parking for powder house Hill so therefore it wouldn't be able to be developed as affordable housing so that was one of our concerns here and I might add that if we go to the state and say we're not swapping at three to one we're doing a one to one but you're going to get affordable housing out of this seal that's what I'm thinking they're mandating with the the MBTA zoning basically they're telling you have to do it so this the only way we can do it guys yeah so I can see that the the cost of you know the construction cost of going up will be will be exorbitant and almost doesn't make it I don't think makes it economically feasible to to construct above uh existing so so I'd like to suggest we focus on new Newport Park continue to focus on that it seems like the most logical place to get something done as quickly as possible um I I think you know I'm not sure if it's the housing trust or brag the town but I think we need Clarity around how many acres are we missing right to Jeff's question how many acres are we missing we need that answer and then other than getting the land swap let's say we propose a one to one a town meeting what are the next steps so I need you know how many acres are we talking about what would the proposed land swap be and then what what are the next steps I think you start with new Newport and see where you end up as far as a land swap where they want to be you know and then you know if they want three acres to an acre that's you know then you just stop there and do my question though is that's what we just talked about is action that the select board I think can can help facilitate but you guys have to go out for an RP I'm trying to understand the big process here what are the next steps I think I've got some ideas to what we need to do but what are what are your next steps I think we have to put a plan together then put out the RFB then go to town meeting okay so would you be targeting town meeting in the spring no yes okay okay good so then what might be helpful is a backwards schedule right yeah and we all have actions and and it seems that going up with the existing building might be part of that picture whether it's a 40b or seeking variances with a regular developer but adding a floor becomes practical to get um excuse me the there's a problem with adding a floor given that there those are non- elevator buildings it's it's starting from the ground and building up why aren't we considering Newport uh why aren't we considering the planes we are it would be part of yeah I mean when we issue the request for proposal and we'll have the planes Newport Park and loading and as we've indicate I think we're going to go in a direction of saying you could apply to one or all or two but we would we would include that but I think that when we worked with po they were kind of steering us towards Newport as being the one that would be considered the most feasible by a developer which is why we're honing in yeah focus on one get it done I think it's important that um we have something when we go to Springtime meeting annual town meeting and affordable housing trust ask for money people are going to say what are you doing with money and I think it's time that we have an answer for them as far as something try I know and I think that if we're aiming again for another uh annual time meeting to have something would it would be very helpful as far as being able to fund you further so the land challenge is one thing but what is encouraging to developers when I talk to possible Partners is when I say that we have money in the bank now when we started you know late 20 17 18 it was great we got support from town meeting but then to try to be a partner with with no money it it was very difficult we're at a point now Brian where we we we could step in and provide I'm not arguing the fact I'm just echoing what we've heard in the and what going to come back up again and let's let's prepare ourselves in advance to have that answer yes I think the other part of the answer that was if with the new Bond bill right yeah there's there's money to go get more money early bird gets the money um I gotta ask you a question um I don't know if it's a double-edged sword is this also contingent on the town passing does that that money contingent upon the MBTA uh or is it because it's housing it's exempt from that I imagine it's probably contingent but because they they threaten to pull with withhold all of the public housing subsidy money also right it's insane are you suggesting that the state should be run same I'm learning government doesn't so the the considerations at the planes are similar to what they are Newport in terms of you can maybe find some additional space maybe it's a it's abing some conservation space there I don't know but there's space that can be added to it is BU there's some time Landing back of it okay all right so and there's a residential development next I know it's kind of on both sides a little trickier but okay all right so so both of them have similar sorts of possibilities yeah I think the wild card here is this extra State money that's something that wasn't there before so that leverages uh what have we got 1.2 what do we yeah a little higher than 1. okay Money Talks we can almost buy a house now basically buy one building lot all right thank you for your so all right good so when when would you come back with us yeah what's the next action yeah why don't we work we muffin is a great liaison why don't we we have some work and some talking to do and muffin can check in with you we're not going to di it okay we'll put it on our action list if not before we'll uh say in a month we'll just check with you and say hey what when yeah we're meeting at 7:00 so we can talk about this and formulate a better time timeline than me without talking to we've got a Tickler for a month if we don't hear from thank you thank you very much okay not too bad picking up all right the next topic is energy who don't I recognize you guys they must be here fine so we have yeah yeah so markona is with us from Power correct and Joseph thank you um so there um as you may recall we went through an RP process to select a vendor to help us with our Municipal aggregation U came on top I'm happy to have them here and so they'll um tonight is is an introduction to the process so Mark and Joseph will walk us through that and explain some of the decision points that you will have over the next few months as we um as we get this process underw so I was about to share my screen [Music] okay so good evening my name is Mark capona from colonial power group five Mount Royal lab M Mass Joseph capona colon Power Group five thank you for having so the first couple of slides just about us so you get an understanding about us in in the kind of the marketplace so we're local we're from malb Massachusetts we started the company some 20 odd years ago I did he was just being thought of at the time all we do is just so you know all we do is munia this is we don't broker other energy we don't do other things we do Municipal aggregation specifically 247 365 um with the larest provider of it um we've been working with all the agencies believe it or not the model that you're going to be embarking on we created this model back in 2006 with the city of malor was the first aggregation to go live and since then more and more have gone through more good news for you we take care of all the design the implementation and the management of it we just allow you to make the decisions so think of us as no no more we carry the shovel you guys tell us where to dig we're going to take care of that we know exactly what needs to happen how to do this as I said we've been doing this since the concept was created uh right now we're working the next slide if you don't mind is just this is just to show you I don't know if you have it in your in your packet yeah this is who we work with across the state but just kind of just to give you an idea of the breath of you know from some of the smallest communities out the birkar to uh the largest community in Massachusetts city of Boston just just what what it is the next slide again is our our last little um slide on us solely focused on aggregation our Consulting agreements uh protects the municipality as well as the consumer I'll get into that shortly huge relationship with the do the dpu we have 10 suppliers that we've been dealing with over time they cycle in they cycle out depending on market conditions uh huge thing this program is going to allow customers to opt in and opt out without any fear penalty so literally what the town is doing is uh and you've been through it um that huge energy Spike um back in the back two two Winters ago if as long as the program is up and running can opt into this program they can opt out of this program there's one little hook here that I'm going to mention hot button item this program is an opt out all of them are by Statute an opt out Municipal aggregation meaning everyone on basic service will be sent a mailing and as long as they um do nothing they'll be enrolled in the program they can opt out at any time in the future or opt back in but that's the way the program is set up um the last thing I wanted to mentioned our ESA we just went through a two-year process with all the suppliers as well as KP law making sure that it met all the requirements uh for cities and towns across Massachusetts so next slide is what is Community Choice aggregation so what we're embarking on is is basically a buying group everyone in the geographic area of of Manchester that's on basic service would be pulled into a buying uh Consortium if you will and we take them them out to the marketplace unfortunately requires us to go through a small state process now and I do mean small by by aggregation standards um so if and lots of people have if you're on a third party supply I want to mention this now let's just say you have constellation ever I mean National Grid is still your um utility but you have direct constellation you would not be a participant in the program out of the out of the gate because you've already have a supplier if we were to switch you we would be doing what we can't stand other supplies we would be slamming you and it's against the law so this program if you're on third party supply you want to be paying attention when the program starts so that you can opt into the program we would not keep any customers out but we just want you to know the way you know the laws work so that everyone's on to uh everyone understands how it works um so and uh this is the big thing so when I talked to many many people so Manchester by the city how are you going to beat the the big utilities right because every everyone is if if went on size for a a uh a commodity purchase how would we ever be utility well utility doesn't have what you have you now have a buying Consortium that you can get into a relationship with a supplier for any number of months SL years and that means the supplier can serve you the utility utility can go out for 12 months for 50% of their needs but after 12 months that that customer may be there may not be there but it's not a long-term relationship so these suppliers can actually dig in and try to find better pricing and other products so what I'm here to say to you is although most people will will try to sell this to you is oh it's the biggest buying group it's just not it's really has to do with load profile and then market conditions of when you're going out so again it's a huge issue most people say oh it's the Walmart effect not with a commodity if I buy if I buy one share of um I shouldn't say share but if I if I buy uh gold at at 101 if I buy 10 ounces or 1 th000 ounces it's 101 the same thing works here this is an electricity Futures Market whether I'm buying 10,000 megawatts or a th000 megawatts the price of energy is price of energy uh next slide just going to run through these benefits quickly choice this is the number one thing that I'm going to push to you is you're literally bringing a choice some people some people in town are not going to like the opt out nature of this program unfortunately you'll never get the pricing that you need without an opt out program so but I want to say this today they don't have this choice in the marketplace so everyone gets National Grid or you can go into third party which not I but the Attorney General the governor said hey stay away from these third party contracts normally you end up losing so this is a program that's going to actually bring you're no longer stuck with default basic service that is just going out every six months and I just want to tell you I I know everyone thinks oh they're trying to do the best for you and unfortunately by the by Statute they can't so when the prices went through the roof National Grid didn't do anything different than when they were two years earlier when they were completely at the bottom of the barrel National Grid would have bought no question many more much longer in the marketplace like aggregation did when when prices were at Rock Bottom during Co the beginning of Co they could only buy 12 months and that's what they did when prices were high they wouldn't have bought 12 months they had no choice they bought their 12 months and did exactly what they were supposed to do put it in and that's the price we got and so again this choice is huge control for me is finally the towns in control we're no longer subject oh National Grid this National Grid this did that so forth we get to make choices for for us in the marketplace you want to do something green you want to do something longer you want to have uh some other product all of that is now available to you you're no longer stuck you are in control you've never experienced it but you can have a contract for three four maybe even five years that prices are just what the prices are and that's the towns program let's say National Grids rate goes to 33 again everyone's in the town's program I'm making it up maybe the prices go to 6 cents for National Grid people leave the the program there's no financial responsibility for the town whether there's 10 people in it or four 4,000 people the rate is the rate that's just the way it works there's no tax dollars used doesn't cost you anything to create this program run this program other than the town administrator's time and your time so there's no cost as far as that goes funding if you wanted to create and lots of communities are starting to do this uh funding stream you could add a fee to the price and you could create a energy manager position to possibly look at other energy projects I don't know if you have anyone in that type of sustainability but you could look at further uh Energy Efficiency projects in town that's what the person can do as long as one of their tasks is dealing with the aggregation but it does give you the ability to possibly you know fund a position or or partially fund a position um again no penalties for consumers nothing they can come and go as they as they as they choose leverage as I mentioned this is a larger buying group it's plenty big to go out in the marketplace you don't need any you don't have to partner with anyone you certainly could partner with someone if you wanted to but what most people won't tell you is and it's going on right now but if you partner with someone either you're going to subsidize them or they're going to subsidize you it's just the way it works either you ever been a load profile or they do and we don't know until we get out in the marketplace and approve you know what your low profile look like all these contracts Pro consumer meaning this is no there's no small print in this contract we're out there working on behalf of the town for their citizens so there's no small print there's just none of that all public oversight happens here in front of the whole uh group so that we're not here to hide anything we're here just to once everyone gets educated they're going to see the benefits of aggregation because almost at every turn it allows if for any reason you're you're not interested you can opt out there's no fee or penalty but if you're interested and you're paying attention you certainly can use this as an advantage down the road this is where we come into play the professional expertise about in market conditions when things are right long term unfortunately I was hoping that I would be able to sit in front of you when I started this company that the energy markets would be much more um uh transparent it's terribly opaque I was to ask you today what does the two-year Energy Future look IO New England no one would because how would you know that no one would know that but I'm saying to you many people may know what what the uh the the futures for oil look like but for some reason we we've still been unable to get the Energy Futures out from behind this but we we're in the market every day we deal with a 100 different communities in Massachusetts so we're here to help and now that means that we have the same knowledge as the supply Community now it's an even an even shape because if they come say oh this is a good deal I'm going to say I don't think this is a good deal it's always your decision whether or not you like it but I just want you to know it's a huge Advantage having someone on the inside um green power don't know yet if um if it's something of interest uh in the community but you certainly can greet up your load while still possibly uh providing savings just really depends on what the goals of the community are going to be uh moving forward meaning hey we'd like to add some green some communities like to I'll give you uh the city of Boston they wanted to add some extra green 15% more green still try to be underneath basic service so they're delivering savings and Renewables and they've been able to get like 15% more Renewables in their uh standard product then they offer a people for a fixed income or there might be you know on tight budget L elasticity in their uh budgets they've offered a meat sort of the product everyone goes into has a little more green they op down or the city of Boston want to said hey if we're going to offer something we're going to offer the the greenest 100% renewable product a fully MTH class one so it allows you but that's Boston that may not be Manchester by the C that's why I love this program you decide what it is that you're looking for and we're going to bring you that pricing and show you whether or not you may look at the pricing and say that's not really for us we're going to change the product perfectly fine um Energy Efficiency funds um so there's a there's a brand new um sheriff in town it's called the Department of Public Utilities and they have completely revamped um where they are so for the last this is one of the few times in life you're going to find that procrastination has paid off and paid off da for you and the only reason I'm saying that if I was sitting here in front of you just a year ago I would have told you have a fouryear weight in front of you that's how long it was to take since then the Department of Public Utilities has opened up a docket 2367 and issued uh guidelines those guidelines that they're not in stone they're guidelines but they're they're what they're trying to do is 120 days from submittal to approval which before you couldn't get a public hearing with in under a year so they just a 180 and then some so from my perspective what's in front of you now allows you one speed because you can get out into the marketplace at some point here whether late this year early next year also allows you full control of products these Energy Efficiency dollars that are out there on a mass save those they're starting to have conversations about how might they be better spend and uh I'm a firm believer that we don't need someone at the state telling us how to spell spend our Energy Efficiency dollars you're better at that than than they are and the only the only thing I want to mention is it's a possibility going forward where it was not even to be discussed prior so that's separate if I can we're only talking about Supply right now but down the road I just wanted to mention it because they're opening the door to those kind of conversations which is extremely excited that's separate from that small Sur charge that we could also add that is completely separate that you talked about the sustainability coordinator that's ex that's a separate charge this is already being paid for and wouldn't be any ad at all it's your it's already on your bill for the mass Sav um and my my last slide is this program is going to depend upon um education education and then we'll get to education and the only reason I say the most important thing we do is when this rolls out um I'm going to be working with the administrator about how best I know exactly how best it worked in Boston what we did and what we had to do what works in Boston what works in Newbery Port um ansbury is not going to be what works here in Manchester so by my goal is to work the administrator the board say Hey listen Maybe we're going to have a meeting at the uh counseling on Aging you know on a Friday afternoon at two with coffee and donuts and what have you then we're going to have a an open meeting at you know town hall or something we're certainly going to take care of all everyone's going to get a mailing everyone would get a this is just another town but literally a mailing comes to each and every person that's on basic service goes directly to them 30 days before the program ever starts and then they have a decision to make here's the hot button item though if you take this mailing and you throw it in the trash you're in the program now again when the program starts we're only going to start when it's we're saving people money we would never start a program over but we'd be saving people money but if you throw it in the trash when you get this you would certainly be in the program because it's an opt out make sense then it comes down to you know we're going to have PSA I don't know if the local cable does anything all of those things there I don't know if you push out anything on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or any of those things I know very little about but we we'll give you all all of the details on that so that you have all the content required and now I'm here to answer questions because I've talked for a long time I apologize for that what's that with you Bri an awful lot to comprehend uh but uh it certainly seems like it's a good deal obviously the cynic and me says it's the catch so uh I'm just going to listen a little bit more uh you know right now anything can save the Town Money uh without costing the town any money to do that seems like a no-brainer and that's was common sense as you know is is a fleeting mod now so I'm I'm good at this point I I just I I have just one basic question on average or median comparing Apples to Apples what is the savings over I don't know say three four year period as you look at because I know sometimes you're higher most of the times you're lower yes what is the medium so so I'm going to just remove that huge Spike when when utility build for the and the reason I'm saying that it just skews our numbers somewhere between 8 and 10% we normally can save you on the supply portion of your bill right so National Grid there's two portions of your bill one's transmission and distribution the other is Supply right now believe it or not it's like 65 35 6040 somewhere in that range depending on rates so on that 40% of your bill you could save 10% okay just need to put that no makes sense uh you're going to wait to hear more well no yeah I'm just I'm just I'm thinking of what my small little place my electric build was this past month I'm thinking so anything I can put a couple dollars my clock I I don't think that anyone in the community is going to have a problem with any of this uh but they are going to ask what is the catch because that's we're all a bunch of c and I will say early on when the program started that was difficulty getting off there there are no catches though I feel free to I'm happy to deliver any no I and I fully get it I I I started the when I read the legislation 20 years ago I said this is a great opportunity and that there's no such thing as a free lunch well and and there isn't a free lunch right I mean it just depends if you like uh what what the program has to offer the thing I love about the program it allows them to make the decision that's what I like I'm the consumer I have more choices in the marketplace before I didn't have I can just tell you from my perspective throwing that out was be something I would do so I'm glad I'm already into the program all right uh an questions I guess I was a little misled early on when you were talking about shovels I assume I our problem in town with National Grid has been their unwillingness to provide the materials for transmission um our our compost site was delayed by four or five months because they couldn't get a Transformer out here I assume that has nothing to do with you nothing so and I it's a great question meaning does this affect the tnd side of things believe it or not the utilities make nothing on the supply portion so it's not like you're taking Revenue away from them starting this program but I want to make sure I'm clear by no means does this help or hurt you with National Grids inability with supply chain issues or or or you know as far as you know work product comes this won't have any effect on that good or bad okay so they're not going to decide that if we're not buying our uh Supply from them they don't have to serice us at all which is 100% correct that's correct they don't know whether you're getting third party supply from um an aggregation when they come out when the when the storm's there or constellation or you're taking basic service they're for the last 25 years they're plls and wirers Company only that's how they make their revenue and what they're what they're best at that's too bad yep I I don't what they do yes correct what they do uh Kathy yeah so um as someone who owns an electric car I'm eagerly awaiting this so thank you um I think from a town standpoint when people start to remember um this our first duty is to remind them they already approved this at a town meeting so the decision has been made now it's it's how do we roll it out so that people you know so it's about reminding what they already approved um so just to be clear our decisions though right are what type of plans we intend to offer the town um and the time frame or could you just be clear on what are the decisions this board has to make so at this point I'm going to end up working with the administrator because we and I know I was saying it's it's a short time frame we're still waiting for final guidance from the Department of Public Utilities on exactly what has to happen on these I'm going to call them tables but it is that we used to create a whole 17-page plane they don't want that anymore at all these are simply tables but what we will do those tables will be hung kind of showing who's going to do what and so forth for 30 days after that the it's call that the um the high level infrastructure after that this board would vote on those saying Yep this is good at that point we would go on to the dpu and have a full filing during that time that we're in at the filing we would have some discussions around what is it that we're looking for in a product just a meat product or do we want to add Renewables uh if we want to add Renewables what type of Renewables those kind of things so when we um so basically we have to approve the rate tables that go correct Y and the types of plans you know what percentage of Renewables um you don't have to approve that at the beginning not anymore you don't have to approve not all we have to approve is the rate tables that's exactly there's a bunch of tables and you'll see them they don't make a lot of sense if if you're not in the business but that's what they're going to be looking for and we should be receiving guidance within three or four weeks I mean that sometime right after uh Labor Day we're expecting to get okay here's your guidance okay so then if um is there any impact on the rates if we make decisions about let's say we want three plans you know one really green one basic and one a little green I don't know does that at all impact the rates or not because you just you're approving the rate tables they have no impact on what your CH what your choices are afterwards and the good news is we'll show you those what we call indicative then you'll be able to say okay these are the actual prices with our load profile and it would be a few weeks before we'd have final pricing and you might say at that time you might say n I'm not interested in I'm making up the number right now 25% I'd like to bump that down to 15% and we can make that change okay so I guess my last question is is this something we're gonna be we expect to vote on before the end of this year yes yes I the answer is yes I hope so okay I I I I I want to say that because we are waiting on the Department of Public Utility DP so yes let how many weeks after the DP Department of utilities does that thing do we need to make a decision like what's what's the plus I would say with I would say within a month we'll have a plan ready to go and then after that plan is done and we've worked through that we would hang the plan so that everyone could look at it 30 days is the uh statutory requirement by the department then after that you'd vote on that plan and we would move on from there so that's sort of Milestone number one correct Milestone one is The Rake to waiting waiting for the dpu to do their that's correct just waiting on a final guidance I guess is the the term from the Department okay and then so dpu guidance and then the rate table that that's correct all the tables that that the the town is going to have and before that there's going to be a small meeting yeah with Greg myself and the do they've changed the process ever so slightly that's just the department of energy resources I just want to talk to you about Renewables and things like that they're kind of the think tank so what you incorporate that that's up to you I'm just trying to what I'm trying to do is get a mental timeline here so let's say dpu guidance comes out let's say September 15 September 15th yep rate table October 15th like to this board so rate table another month okay and then um um expected beginnings of the communications to the community so here's where we'll go once approved we would then have that whole filing into the department so filing into the department is that say by the end of October and then now now you've hit the stop the clock November December January by February have to have an order okay and then it's going to be market conditions on when we're going to start the program okay because the re when I'm getting at is we have a lot of snowbirds here right yes so I don't want mailings to go out to people who aren't necessarily paying attention so I just think we need to so we're probably in the springtime is when this is really I would I would agree that's most likely your time frame spring early summer of 2025 okay that that's kind of what I'm getting at okay sorry I think it would be helpful to actually have a timeline yeah when we work put together a timeline if you can take the action add that to our action em list let's review as a board what the timeline is because the communication's obviously really sensitive and we want make sure we hit those Milestones right absolutely s okay great thank you it's not a problem at all J so once this thing gets rolling and we vote on a plan rates we get a rate and this thing's rolling how often do we revisit this so believe it or not so depend on timeline but what I don't want you to think about like I'm going to make that up a scenario for you the the opening contract started and given today's it was a 24-month contract any point during that 24 months I could be coming back to you and say Hey listen I'm going to use now as a the time frame hey 2027 uh Energy Futures are priced at 10 cents you can bring down the price and it's a 36-month term I think we should go take a look at it that could happen in all honesty three months into the program and you guys sign that contract for 2027 because Energy Futures are down on 2027 uh for some reason Mr Putin's sick and they think he's going to be passed away and all of that goes away right so none of that premiums in the marketplace so it's not like we wait until the end of the contract to to rec contract right so if you can buy in at a better rate you're going to come back to us and say hey there's a better deal here the next contract that contract is the contract but I would say Hey listen in 2027 if you're looking out for a 24mth contract 27 28 those those those Futures are now all in prices around 10 cents I think we should take a look at the market run a pricing just because we run pricing does it mean that that we're going to accept it you you like what you see we'll take those prices it guarantees you at 10 cents and then someone's going to have a decision to make when we announce the new rate two years from then right at that point we'll announce the rates people like the rates that's great if they don't like the rates they opt out of the program so it's not a renegotiation of the contract we signed but it's an early uh signing of a followon contract that is correct if you wanted to I would just explain to you sometimes what you're talking about is a blend and extend it can happen but sometimes that's not beneficial to you because you can't use the marketplace and lots of suppliers take some extra margin when they're blending extending and they know that there is no one there to keep an eye on on their on their margin it's difficult for me to see that it's very easy for you and I to see it when this competition So to that point just clarify yes so we locked in at a price 10 cents yep and that's what the consumer will be paying and then the market crashes yes right the town itself is locked into that 10 10 cents but the individual consumer can opt out that's correct back to uh B service and take that lower price 100% And then say you know Mr Putin loses his mind and invades Germany or what have you and rates go through the roof they come back into the program again it's all about choice and one you you didn't experience back then but you will have this choice in the marketplace moving forward what is the how do you opt in and opt out how does that work very simple again Town program we're not trying to keep anyone out or or in the program so you can go on Colonial powerg group.com and opt in electronically right on your phone so forth but for uh people without access to the internet dial800 number 86645 5858 extension one you're running out of the program or you keep that opt out card at any time you can just sign that card put it in the self- address stamped envelope it's already there throw it in the mail and you're out of the program simple phone call to us to get back in the program I want to explain one thing just because I don't want people to think it's it's so the way energy works we still don't have Smart Meters here in New England so do utility doesn't know whether you used power when they they take a metor read here and they take a metor read there whether you use power during that they have no idea so if you opt out of the program I don't know about you but I look at my bill I'm like who what did the kid to do here like I you know I okay I'd like to get out of the program just had a meter read so I can't get out until the next meter read the following month just it's just the way it works and unfortunately people like oh what you you know you're trying to get an extra month if we got to a Smart metor situation we may be able to get someone else the next day right now we just don't have that ability unfortunately well it's good that people know that yeah no and that's you know all the documentation make no mistake yeah and you guys will provide as in-depth education as we need absolutely I I if you want to call any of our communities whether we come out once three 10 times we're going to make sure that everyone has the information that that they require period because without it it can't be a town Pro we're no better than the third party suppliers so the contracts that are signed you said 24 months 36 months who's the smart guy on our end that says this is the best deal it's like a that's what say this is what's available this is what I think you should do correct and I'm going to give you a perfect example many times in the in the energy world the supplier will call you the Market's starting to come down and they call you when the rates have come from from 12 cents down to 10 cents we're in the market we know they're going to eight but they call oh I got you a great deal how do you know we're not at the bottom of the market yet and that's what they that's how they end up taking the extra margin it's just a tough okay but it could be a 12-month deal could be 24 could be 36 so not only is it the rate hey do you want 10 cents for uh 12 months or do you want uh 11 cents guaranteed for 24 months is that's exactly all okay so in essence you're just a like a financial advisor but with energ correct so we're for me at the beginning we're nothing more than a consultant at the end we kind of we morph us into a broker as your consultant meaning hey here's the marketplace and this is what we know about it and this is why we think this is the the right thing to do right now we've gone from 36 and 48 month contracts down to 24 month just because of marketplace conditions okay and one other the question so you got this 50% green 100% green you got all these things does a town generally offer like three four different no normally three normally three project three products is the max the only because there's a lot of confusion around that and and I want to apologize because I know I use a lot I'm in it all day so when I say maass class one or or Rex and you know if someone has a question I'm more than happy to explain it it's just so early in the process probably don't need to waste your time no I don't want to get into the details I you but the answer is three is more than enough people and I don't know they put out three and maybe one doesn't let just just languishes people are doing one or three in the middle I don't know John your spot on it just Everyone likes to have the options I they're not well um they're not well um participated and I'll tell you that all right other questions from the board and good I don't I don't have any more questions I wanted to mention two things because people that have solar on their roofs this program works with solar on your roofs if you have solar it it will work uh all of the budget billing if you have a if you're on a a low-income discount or any of those things those are all utility programs and they're all stay in place so you don't have to worry about oh if I'm in the program am I going to lose my solar credits no you won't those are all things that are utility programs and they all stay in place okay good good thank you very much the update and you and we'll be in touch great thank you all right a little bit behind but not bad um let's see next is the senior Transportation followup and we had a discussion last week from presentation or discussion with kada who came by and uh chatted with us about what they had with regard to I think a dial ride program to perhaps supplement um the offerings that we had here and I think Greg you were G to well I I see that Nancy is here you were going to chat with Nancy and see how things might fit together how how things might complement each other in terms of broadening uh offerings to the senior senior folks here yes so where are we here so I think um Nancy and she has one of our drivers here as well oh good so um they can talk a little bit more in detail about the current programming and and we can talk about how um it might be possible to to do this sort of complemental complimentary merging of the two programs sure and do a little bit of troubleshooting on that um so Nancy want to start off just sort of again sort a high level of current current programming and services it's providing yeah we uh have the Council on Aging Vans currently we we have four of them out there um two 12 seat an e seat and then the brand new electric van which is seven seats are without wheelchairs with wheelchairs the seating goes down so we run Monday through Friday 8:30 to 3 on Monday and Tuesday when there's only one van running on on Wednesday Thursday Friday there's two Vans where 8:30 to 4 um from January 1st to June 30th of this year we all combined including my car because I'm on the road too a lot we did over about 18,18 miles and provided rides to 3,1 28 Riders so we're busy and Steve can agree that we can go anywhere from 150 to 200 miles a day usually 100 miles okay uh whatever bands are in there in other words if you got two bands on the road that's 200 miles not necessarily yeah depending what here on okay all right so those are the specifications right now there are a coule of things I guess that came up last week what one was important about expanding hours or shifting some van hours around such that something could be worked out between the say 3 3 to 6 or 6:30 time frame in other words would some van on some days start later so we're not adding the hours of how many total van hours we got here like 50 little over 50 53 hours or something 53 hours so yeah where's the the need show me the need in expanding till 6 o' because I have never in 24 years had somebody call and say I need a a ride for a medical at 5:30 on Thursday I'm talking about a ride anywhere for any reason well a ride anywhere you know Department of Elder Affairs gives us guidelines especially when we're using vans that are purchased through the 8020 Grant I report to the state every month on the miles the Vans go the number of riders and and so on um so we're not in the business of giving somebody a ride to the Sentry house at six o'clock on Friday night that's just not what eldreth is wants us to do that's an interesting yeah so Greg are there restrictions on kada well no I'm asking so Nancy is is bringing up the point that there may be restrictions on what we can use our town Vans for okay okay that didn't come out that was never the first time always a restriction on what P Vans can do p hours are 9 to2 I believe I'm just curious but as far as uh a trip to the mall or something like that or we go to the mall once a month we go to Walmart once a month month we go to Trad Joe's once a month we go to Wegman's we you know right but those those are not MediCal calls but those those are special trips that's when I have two vans on the road Wednesday and Friday are typically special trips I think what we're trying to understand is what's the difference between the types of special trips we do now versus a special trip that someone might want to take between 4: and 6:00 at night what so those special trips are allowed even though they're not MediCal you're saying taking people to dinner is not allowed we're trying to understand want to go to Mark pket at 5m want a taxi service that's really a taxi service yeah that's in effect what we're kind of looking at here a ride service that people can take for any well for whatever their reason may be to see a friend or something like that yeah that was the other thing that came up Johnny right so a lot of people they may want to go see a friend who's in a rehab you know temporarily visit them Etc and um so yeah but if somebody wanted to go as you said to Market Basket at 5:00 in the afternoon that's doable no it's not within the schedule that I'm oh I know it's not within the schedule but so but I don't know of any other Council on agent Senior Center that provides transportation that does what your what Your dial ride does Dial Dial ride within what their hours or they have limit hours but they they're not say whatever you want wherever you want to go you're you're saying you're saying you go to w weedman's once a month what happens if someone wants to go twice a month they we uh we pretty much try and meet everyone's needs is it cost effective to put one person on a van and drive them all the way to Burlington we don't think it is but perhaps kada uh I don't they'll do it I doubt they'll do it they try to put I I know they try to put people together in rides they try to they have a they have the economies of scale because they're dealing with multiple towns so where we might not be able to accommodate certain things because we're so small they're doing a number of towns they may have they may be able to fill up you know um a band I think K only goes up as far as Pete right I mean Wegman Wegman's is probably not the best example Trader Joe's is in PE okay so we may take people once a month to to Brian's point if somebody wants to go once a week today it sounds like we can't offer that so data would be an option and or if somebody wants to go at a time when the bands are going somewhere else exactly I think that's there's flexibility flexibility to our defense nobody has ever called and asked that so I really think there needs to be A needs assessment done to show the need well I think a lot of people know that the Vans stop at 3:00 or 3:30 so they haven't asked they know they can but the uh Greg let me ask you is are we if is there a contract we have to sign for the for kada if we decide to go that route oh yeah we redirect a year six months or um that's good I don't know for sure I would say a minimum of a year yeah that's a good question yeah can we do a trial and redirect the money we're sending to the MBTA toada exactly we're spending the money anyway it doesn't it wouldn't what we're saying is it wouldn't cost the town any additional money because we can redirect the funds that we send to the NBTA to kada and try it see if people will use it and if not we can redirect the funds back to the MBTA you know in essence we're already paying for basically the money's just we're taking it from one pocket putting or another and that allows you a little bit more flexibility with some of the vans that you do have the cons the concern I guess that I have is that we've got hours that essentially 9 to3 9 to 4 8:30 to 4 okay and so does kayen we're trying to buy that other two hours somehow now K don't think does that or they told us that that they're pretty much have the same hours that we have um I thought we were more flexible I don't know whatever state or federal agency that we report to says you've got to only use it for certain situations and I mean maybe you have a medical appointment at 4:00 that's possible but I'm still kind of getting to the fact that yeah you want to visit somebody or any of a number of reasons that would be after 3:30 and I'm hearing that that's kind of hard to do at least with our bands because of the way they're financed reporting my experience has always been that uh as soon as people get a taste of what they can do they do it they'll start doing it more I mean right now they know that there are limitations and schedules with the COA at this point in the Vans but once they get a taste of the flexibility that kada allows the more it's going to be word of mouth and more and more people are going to take advantage of it and then we can look at what we do own as far as our inventory and okay as how we can reallocate some of that right so we're trying to figure out if we can leverage kada to free up our vans to do to to service more of our folks in different ways than we're doing now that's that's really we're try toig what what is the impact of kada on um the Manchester C Council on aent would you would you be doing reservations through them or or is this just something entirely separate um that we're getting essentially for free the latter so has anyone talked to the essics Council on agent to see what their um success is with diay uh with S6 C no I am not spoken with those those Folks at all I don't I I don't know no one here has Greg have you had any feedback at all from from them not directly didn't was given me some some feedback I haven't spoken to them directly okay but that's a fair question would like to know how uh how those folks uh feel feel the thing is going um they're in a slightly different well you know better than I do they're in a different situation that's all theyve got yeah we're we're not talking at all about eliminating our bands we were just trying to see if we could leverage what we think is essentially a free resource from kada right to do some of the day-to-day stuff to free up our vans to service more Manchester residents in a more flexible way so we haven't we haven't discussed at all again I'm not turning away anyone anyone okay but excuse me I I if somebody wants to go visit a friend in Danvers that's not part of what our Council and agent can do yes we take a lady over to worksby Village a couple of times a month when she asks to go to visit friends we've taken people to nursing homes on a daily basis to visit their spouses we we take adult children to visit their mother in a nursing home we take people to funerals that ask for a ride to a funeral there isn't really anything we don't do how many drivers at any given time do you have on the RO two CL myself between Vacations or sickness or health issues we we have AUM driver who will cover if there somebody other vacation now I I mean we know that's you've got two vans on the road but you know half the time they're structured for specific trips so then there's one Flex fan and the other one is Market Basket is Thursday and that's where they're going and that van is going to be tied up with that for I don't know the day or the morning or for a period of time because then he has afternoon runs right right I understand but there there are structured things that that take a van van out of out of flexible Flex Flex time sorts of things let me ask a question if you had um if some of the Vans were freed up from some of the oneto One Rides would you schedule more planned trips or not we could but you know it's again it's good to have at least half the van full to go on a trip we're not going to take two people for you know unless it's the Bly Farms are somewhere for an ice cream we do we do ice cream rides and we get six to to eight people for those rides so there isn't a whole lot more we can schedule that's where the kada May the dial ride may be helpful if someone really wants to go somewhere and it's just that one or two people even if they have to pay $2 you know for the ride yeah k k is two bucks you know that two bucks right again Pro to to well I don't think it's not taken away from the service that we have now it's just it's a backup it's there somebody needs it and it's basically great I think that looking at is we want to expand services to our seniors and options to our seniors and I think that there is I don't feel a need to prove anything at this point okay I have to look at what is the best interest of the seniors in the community and I think that flexibility and options this is just my opinion are uh what our seniors are looking for and uh and if it doesn't work work in a year's time we opt out well I'm I'm wondering if like just for a start you know you say you've gone to Brooksby and there have been other things where people have gone to various things that aren't medically related okay not everything is medically okay and that's good so I I'm interested in seeing how you might be able to structure one of the Bands one or two days a week to work a 12 to six shift and get that four to six time period into the mix some we'll have to hire another driver cuz I don't know if the drivers we have would want well well you haven't asked them though so you'd have to ask them to see what the story is but maybe maybe you can get somebody to say yeah I'll work I'll work 12 to 6 so if there's no rides scheduled and he's on 12: to 6 and at 2:00 there's nothing else happening and he goes home we're still paying until six oh that's the case always do they're all on they're all on this let's talk to Cheryl over at the beach specific so you know it it might it might even be just a seasonal thing you know I know you know the seniors in my family they don't like to go out when it's dark a lot of times but during the summer when it's light until you know nine o'clock you know maybe it's it's you know when you know a seasonal thing when you can expand the hours it's also you know the we fewer people in town during the dead of winter and people don't like to go out as much so you know if we can try something um at a time that makes sense U maybe that's another way to think about it I just want to Canvas your drivers and maybe there's one one person that might say okay I'll give that a try and we schedule that for maybe just two days a week that's taking taking a van off of the road on a Monday on on a 9 to 9 to 12 period but that's starting at 12: and going 12:00 to 6 so it's still 6 hours approximately whatever it is and let people know and see how that that works but I you know you'd have to ask your drivers I mean Steve says the Steve right yes not his cup of tea no but I I don't know about the other guys do you have a busy season Nancy is there like one time of the year that the Vans are busier versus different I don't know SCH right now and then tomorrow morning it'll be a completely different schule you don't know you don't know who's going to wake up with a broken two you don't know who needs you know to go to the veterinarian with a sick cat so we just go with the FL and make it work other questions I'm I'm just wondering you know I mean we're not jumping into cat or anything right away here we're just trying to get a feel for what's going on and the afternoon thing I think is still something we should explore because that was where we felt there was the most leverage oh the biggest change that we could offer seniors my question is if someone has a problem with kada how do they know who to go to to complaints so that nassy isn't responsible for service that she doesn't control well look at that answer from kada I would think yeah yeah it would be somebody at kada you know but I mean person yeah to that point I think we need to talk with the folks at essics get a feel for because that or Hamilton or it switch all of those folks are using this and see how it's I don't know how long they've had it had quite a couple of years um and and see what they think but but in the interim I'd like to see if we can't do something with an afternoon thing and to Kathy's point I agree it's a seasonal sort of thing at this point maybe ever just you know I know I I I tend to agree with you on that once you get into the winter time is less demand for that sort of thing anyway so Greg I think we we need you to figure out what the minimum period of performances right um so that you know can we do a trial but I I do remember the woman from uh kada saying that it it takes a while for the service to kind of stick you know um just about like a year a year you know then if be stop right now we're coming into the middle of De winter right which is not going to be op optimal time right but we're not going to revisit it for another year so we'll have all next summer well I think that we should I would like to get some answers from CER as far who's the point person who's the becomes the uh do we have a town rep that someone can call if there is a problem I'd like to hear about what's going on in Essex Hamilton and nips switch yeah can we position ourselves to be ready to offer something in i' like be yeah by the time spring rolls around we can pull the trigger yeah yeah was there any specific uh contract time I can't recall find out okay no I I don't mean the length of the contract when you start you could do yeah I yeah I don't think there is it could be tomorrow it could be next year it could be I we can confirm by ficity but depending on her budget I think she's feeling she had flexibility with the current when when do we pay the mvta right well that's a good point uh I think it's quarterly okay well that's that's short enough so to make a decision gives us not the story five months or so and then yeah just put maybe just add it to our action list to revisit it at a time frame that makes sense um I'm not sure would that would be at this point if it's I think there are some there are some short answers that like what other towns experiences have been that we could get and and in short order yeah so we need answers from other towns we got several questions to ask of kayada and Nancy if you could check with your other drivers and say hey is a six to9 thing for one or two days a week how can we work out something like that and see how that works certainly we can get in touch with various seniors and said there is going to be rides available in that uh three-hour period that there wasn't ride available you know for one or two days a week because I I'd be interested in seeing how that might evolve um wherever folks may may want to go and you say Brooksby or you know visit visit a friend um I understand the challenge where you know you got a only one person or two people on a bus data deals with that on a regular basis and one of their comments was is they are shrinking down the size of their vehicles because they realize that's a challenge it is and we've got what 14 2 14s two TW two 12 and and and one eight that's going out as right okay so yeah they're big vehicles for like one person but Kate has been experiencing that challenge we did ask that question with regard to S6 or hamilt and then they say yes sometimes it's only one or two people in the car so so uh do you want to other revisit this in a month or yeah yeah you want to put that down for a month September and then by that time hopefully we'll have the's uh a survey of the other towns and who's responsible for it yeah okay I mean we can make a decision and say we not we don't want to implement it until the first of the year or something like that any questions or comments out there yes ma'am yeah my name is p linol stre and um first I want to commend Nancy for doing a fabulous job with all the medical appointments in rescheduling and rescheduling for the town residents I know um she primarily um takes care of medical appointments she goes to Manchester loster danver's peid and I think that's it but the medical appointments maybe I'm wrong and um I wasn't aware that she does other activities for people I've never seen it posted in the paper and I don't think other seniors know about it either so maybe that would be something to do is say what other activity she provides for other than medical appointments if somebody calls and asks a question we answer it ask the question that's all I can say well I think it would be good to provide information to the public on what you offer in in a general sense youan in a general sense in addition to the newsletter and what's in the cricket and lost times I have never seen those activities posted outside of medical work I I mean they're there we send them to all and it's it's about going to the vet and all the stuff well um I mean that would be a great thing to know for seniors yeah plenty of people call and ask Pat I don't I you know we they call and ask all right I'm going to keep an example of a a senior uh we have a 90-year-old lady she just uh had her 90th birthday and she was hoping that she'd H hang up her car keys on her 90th birthday she lived in Essex for several years she belongs to groups over there and she also um attends on a regular basis um definite activities over there and she would like to continue she uh wanted to hang up her car keys because she didn't want to cause any safety issue down the line as she travels through her ninth um you know gener 90th 10 year decade for ninth decade with all the wonderful things that can occur and surprises she has no way to get there to keep up with all these activities and she was hoping uh the select board would have voted her kada um and unfortunately um this is where we're at P the woman is my husband's cousin okay she's been Transportation by the family and and she through the through the chair please all right that's enough yes please all right so um that's an example of one of the residents in our town um safety is an issue for seniors um if they don't have alternative transportation as they age in place look at the news you turn on the television look at all these PE seniors running into buildings running into bodies of water etc etc if they had alternative transp ation maybe they would have taken it um another thing last Friday I went on a trip to Rockport um with the van and we were told pickup time was roughly around 10:15 and we would return roughly um around we would be in in Manchester at 2:00 so we said fine we'll see all these shops when we got to Rockport we were told pickup time was going to be 12:45 so we never even got to see the shops on Main Street and people were really upset um they said Gee if we had cater we could have done cater and seen all these shops and had 45 minutes extra and still be back in Manchester at 2 o'clock um so I don't I don't know what that deal is okay Nancy you're aware of this or well no I'm not I wasn't I wasn't told that that happened so that's if I know I will ask the driver what happened and why why did that happen so if I'm not there I don't know what's going on my my last conversation with him was Friday morning before he left and I said give the ladies a couple of hours so that's anyway seniors want to remain independent they want to go when they want and where they want and kada does offer towns outside of what we provide if they want to go to the movies when they want they can go you know if they want to go to Salem you know wherever they want to go that's that's why we're talking that's really bottom line okay uh I don't know right make it quick because I am okay in summary as elected officials for all senior residents in the town please revisit this very important Transportation alternative we're not asking to replace our Council on Aging we're just asking to complement it and this is to Pro promote safety Contin personal independency for all seniors in the town also the cost is awesome it's like being offered a blue plate special at a complete markdown rate thank you for listening and for your time and I did speak to Essex presidents I do go over there to the senior center and the senior residents I've talked to they love it they said sometimes it's not exactly on time but they do like it a whole lot okay good all right thank you yes another comment sure I'll try and make it quick here um we've used man service for years and years and she has accommodated us every single time I'm talking probably in the last 10 years with my wife's appointments and all that she's probably done 300 trips for us and that's not exaggerating so the thing is uh she has taken us other places too okay and she's right there she said well the drivers are busy I'll take you in my my car she's picked her up picked us up in her personal car it's a wonderful service um but of course we all like a little more you know if we can get another service as well but I wouldn't want to have another service in a with Nancy and uh I don't understand why there can't be two but we wouldn't want anything to happen to the service that we have now because I'm very pleased with it okay thank you for that to that point I don't think anyone's has any intentions of getting in the way of the of Council on Aging what we're looking to do is supplement and offer you know wider ranges and options expand there a good word yeah stand at a revenue neutral rate more or less so good so we we have kind of a to-do list I think uh Greg of just a few things and we can revisit this in say a month yes and see see see where we're at see what the story is but yeah Nancy did the point about the afternoon check with the other drivers because I'm really curious about maybe adding a few extra hours that really there is no service for any for anybody at this point in time it would set us apart sure good um any other questions I think we're set with that world yeah okay thank you very much thank you thank you y thanks okay next item the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting presentation so yes that's a big deal so for the uh the eth year due to the very excellent work of aricon and mville we've been awarded um certificate of excellence from the governmental government Finance Officers Association gfoa um and it uh it really is a good Benchmark and an honor for us to receive this award um it it Awards our annual financial report anual audit typically has a bigger name than that is comprehensive report um but we do have it online as well so it is available for anyone to take a look at it it it does provide a lot of information both on last year's expenditures and revenues but also a 10-year Trend our indebtedness Etc um but I think it it's it should be reassuring to to our residents that um that we are U following proper procedures and and accounting and and keeping track of expenditures and revenues Etc and that we're presenting it in a way that that meets um some pretty high standards that the gfoa probates so um nothing more to do than just make that announcement and uh make it know and Kudos again to Andrea for her hard work and working with our auditing firm um to put this together every year and we certainly hope we'll be receiving award number nine as we put together this year's report is this when it says the eighth time is this what over what period this it's an annual is this eight years in a row yeah yeah is is this a um you said it's available online is this is different than what we get for our town meeting yes right it is different it's much more comprehensive it's a deep dive yeah could could you send us the link I mean I'm just yeah absolutely I would be interested yeah didn't didn't we get hard coffee yeah we have we can we do have hard copies as well okay I'm pretty sure I have a hard copy yeah I don't I'm I'm not aware was this some sort of a formal presentation or is this just something that comes in the mail it does come in the mail yeah nothing more formal than that they do send us a plaque which is nice but uh uh but yeah it's it's it's basically a letter you submit yeah you submit the report and they review it they have a I believe a three-person team reviews every audit that they uh review for a potential award so this is the process okay well certainly congratulations to Andrea and her small team yes small But Mighty to is correct yeah so was there any recognition within certainly the towns on the website but within say Town Hall here at all or anything we haven't done that but we should we can yeah it's uh one of your staff be appropriate yeah next one is this wday so okay all right surprise I congratulations again Andrea that's great so she's really set a high bar for herself I mean it's gone she has yeah that's great okay um next thing is uh appointments and we have some committee appointments that we have to make um this evening and as we all know this year is probably a little bit different than past Year's because we made a concerted effort to kind of reach out and find new folks that might be interested in participating in the governments of our of our community so um I think we've exceeded our expectations because we had a lot of folks that raised their hands and uh so we've had to make some difficult decisions I think over the last few months because we had more folks than we had vacancies and really in past years that has not been the case but um that's that's where we're at this year and so we we've had to do that and we've got three different uh committees here that we have to build um build positions for and to that end one of the one of the things that we did last last at at the last meeting was that we had folks that we didn't necessarily know they were new folks and we didn't necessarily know who they were and we had really had to go to our committee chairs to find out what their thoughts were with regard to all of the applicants because they're the ones that were closest to uh their incumbents and uh had spoken with some of the new folks which we were just meeting for the first time when they uh when they came by for the brief interview so uh we'll start with bike and ped and I guess uh Cathy is the um liaison for the bike and Ted committee and what are your thoughts and the chairperson's thoughts Etc yeah so I spoke with one of the co-chairs and um they were thrilled to have four applicants who are highly qualified for the three open Physicians um and um basically uh I'm going to give you their top three but the fourth person who's not selected they really would love for that person to reapply in uh in the next cycle because they're anticipating another opening uh because there's another multi um term uh incumbent who um you know so there'll be another open call for bik and ped next year so they really would like the person who's not selected tonight to reapply um and also attend the meetings um in and just get to know more about the team so the the three that they recommend are um reappointing Terry kman um appointing an guy because she's been participating um as a valued member of the team kind of ad hoc she's been uh contributing quite a bit um over the past six months or so and uh Peter chobanian uh because he brings um School connection with of the people who left vikin ped um they had a connection to the schools and and uh you know they were looking for another parent to kind of fill um fill that role so he is a is their selection for the third slot and so that leaves Christian uh gal with uh without an appointment uh this time around but they really were impressed with Christian and would love to have him uh join the team at a later date and certainly encourage him to um call into the meetings and learn more about what the team does good would you like to make a motion I will I move that the board appoint Terry cman an guy and Peter chobanian to the bike and pedestrian committee for terms to expire on June 30th 2027 second any further discussion Jeff yes Kathy yes Brian yes an yes and John says yes so good those three folks um I guess that will come from your office uh let them know what the what the story is great thank you all right the next uh the next committee is community preservation and uh I chatted with the chair co-chair chairperson there was in touch with Jack Burke and uh see who is it um McDonald McDonald yes okay and um got got their thoughts um we've got three three folks for one position two new applicants and uh one one incumbent and um all of them Jack Jack and uh Jack spoke quite quite eloquently with with all of them felt they all were were highly qualified I think that uh he felt that he wanted to get some some new new faces in on the uh on the committee at least for this uh this current year and has uh recommended Rosemary Castello um who would be a a new person to that uh to that group for this slot so she's she's got some background especially in historic preservation having worked worked in that area professionally and she also happens to sit on the historic district commission so um uh Rosemary would be the person uh the incumbent Woody Kelly and I see that Woody's here and Woody has been a a founding member I think of the CPC uh has been has been an active in that group for a very very long time um and we certainly thank him for all of his work but there will be new opportunities because this is a um this is a position that is an at large position um that would that would go and would certainly look forward to his contributions uh again soon so and also the other the other person that had applied was Donna Brewster and uh she she presented very strong credentials here there are opportunities for many other committees here in this town in this in uh in town as well there are probably about a dozen openings that are still there but uh we'd encourage her to take a look at that or also the community preservation because there will be slots that will be coming up in the next year or so so um I'd like to make a motion to appoint Rosemary Costello to the community preservation committee as an at large member for term to expire in June 2027 second okay any further discussion Brian yes Kathy yes Jeff yes an yes and John says yes okay and now um Harbor advisory committee Harbor advisory so I talked to caryle D the chair and he has two incumbents that want to get reappointed uh Philip Ley and Steven laa and uh he's been very happy with their performance thinks they're an integral part of the team with everything they have going on and uh he would like to see them reappointed um and I wouldn't want to break up a committee that's working uh Tony uh is a very strong candidate and I hope that he will hang on and you know we'll fit him in there somewhere along the way um so I would make a motion to re reappoint Philip Ley and Steven ler to the har advisory committee second okay further discussion um I'm just going to suggest that uh Tony Dolan um might get in touch with Sarah kraton on the Harbor management um I'm sorry I can't come up with the full name of that group but um it's not a group that's formerly uh appointed by the select board and um they have important work to do when when do they meet do you know but they they haven't met over the summer they're waiting for some additional work from the Consultants from UMass Austin but I think they're they're targeting a meeting in September so can we reach out to Tony and maybe suggest that to him okay great that'd be great okay um yeah I'm trying to think where are we we didn't vote yet yeah any further comments an nope okay Jeff yes Kathy yes Ryan Yes an yes and John is yes okay so that takes care of the three committees that are up now I don't know there other committees that are pending Greg or we'll stay tuned stay tuned um we're getting there are some vacy still a few boards okay we'll have um love Debbie and Tiffany do a summary of what's still available the website really needs to get updated it's it's yeah they were working on that today okay uh good all right select board goals and priorities got here somewhere where get sent out to us and this was uh aist of activities that uh came out of our discussion our strategic planning discussion of a month or so ago um and we agreed that we would um pick amongst ourselves responsibilities for handling 1 2 3 4 5 seven different seven different areas I have a um question yeah since we have some guests here waiting would it be possible to switch the items on the agenda so that we can talk pickle ball first they've been very patient they have I learned a lot I learned Civic lesson action okay pickle ball followup is what it's so and so yes yeah so at at your last meeting you um had reviewed yeah last meeting you had reviewed the the results of the measuring of the the sound because of the new barriers being put in it's see a pretty good decrease um in the noise emanating from from the courts so with that you went back to the 8 to8 time slot and and not locking the courts and so you wanted to have a quick checkin to see if during the last two weeks there's been a rash of problems U with the extended hours and and not locking um we we had two police reports filed one was a noise complaint from just excessive yelling from the courts during the during the open hours you guys got to calm down and then there was a uh uh someone still playing after 8 o' one one evening and uh so in both cases the police came um and the noise situation that calmed it down ball ball noise no I don't no that's correct I uh I can speak that I know that I probably swing by there on on the weekends uh three or four times a day because I have to move my car uh and uh I park right at the and I can't hear anything you know and if the if cars are coming you don't even know there's anyone there so I I'm I'm very pleased with the results and uh I'm happy I don't think they uh the pads look that bad yeah we went on uh one of those longevity bench walks uh Wednesday and the route Cheryl took us right by the pickleball courts and I didn't realize we were that close until I I looked up and there they were so I mean the sound you could hear anything and they were be don't play so it was really I think they had a really great solution we did we you get one email from one of the neighbors to to say that from her perspective that it is significantly reduce the noise that's great she she appreciated that the impact is the quote is the impact is minimal from our home and we continue to support pickle ball courts so um they seem to feel certainly that the the noise was reduced and we don't get that many emails pickle ball or anything else hey this is great so can we say this over now this is can we officially say we're done yeah is the one that asked that this be put on the agenda so I just wanted to know if an had any other yes yeah yes yeah I like a slight change in the signage so that I know it says that you're not allowed to play after dark or you're not allowed to use car lights but could we now that um right Sunset is earlier and earlier could we make the um hours 8 till sunset it says 8 to I me okay just want it to be clear that you're not that people can't drive up and shine their headlights in and and play until 8 when the sunsets at 6:30 uh yes Mar Maran five Ocean Street um Maran no Maran I forget what my name is um you remember what you're gonna say yes I remember say so they did change the signage because I was part of changing the signage and there the big there is a big sign now that does say 8 to8 um I mean of course they could always change it but um one you can't you can't drive on and um Shine Your Lights into why you have p that are that would be blocking it it's just physically not possible and it's never happened yeah and then that's never been the issue so um and it's only going to be getting darker and darker so I mean we we'll see what happens I think 8 day is probably fine when you say Sunset nobody keeps track on when the sunsets I just say I can't see anymore right 8 to 8 to eight certainly eight is a hard cover and then next June Sunset would be at 9 o yes and you're still out of there by 8 that's right so so there's no glowing the dark balls right no not yet I'm taking that to the manufacturer all it was all of you sorry GL all right we got the we got the goals and priorities I don't know if people have favorites here pay attention yes talking about L yeah I'd like to stay with MBTA zoning and there's there's another topic that didn't get on this list which is um the relationship with a school district uh that's not an immediate I mean it's a constant priority and I have been involved in that I'd like to stay involved with that okay all right so we should add you're right we should add that uh Perpetual topic I'm interested in the TA Recruitment and either budget and finance or facil fa ities planning I'd like to do I don't do budgeting very well if you saw my uh checkbook uh so you can have that I'd like facility planning so y okay Bing here already yes that's good Jeff do you have any favorites here I don't have any favorites but I'll do uh emergency preparedness okay I do housing diversity yeah what else is there uh there is climate resilienc climate resiliency yeah I'll do that idea of climate resiliency is putting a sweater on turns tonight all right global warming guys take the sweater off talk to the Farmers Almanac about that okay so I think that was pretty easy so um we've got everything did you get that all down Greg needed facility plan Brian's facility planning Kathy's je preparedness that is going to be budget and finance and Jeff's climate resilience so in case of emergency we're going to Jeff's house yep the plan I suspect we'll all interfere with each other a certain amount as well yes yes yeah okay that's that's great that that went pretty quickly uh Lea on updates Ryan got anything you heard it I spoke with uh Cheryl earlier and the only thing was the uh uh the only thing that seems to be percolating and now this this is over although I'm sure we'll continue to hear things about it but uh talkx some record uh getting ready for uh basketball now School transitioning from playground to school after school I believe that Cheryl is looking to hire someone else uh to help with the after school program and then uh yeah so I think you know box and Rec is a 12- month uh yeah it is endeavor she's getting into a difficult time where she's going to start to lose people a lot of people well I think every small business in town is looking at that relies on kids is looking to lose a lot of kids all right well good uh and you have any comments in your liasing 100 miles at sea or [Laughter] wherever um no okay all right Jeff I'm on the planning board side of things the last meeting there was a um meeting with the blasting company for cell signaling and residents and uh there was a lot of concerns there that took up a good portion of the meeting um there was a little bit of a lack of communication between the blasting company and the residents but looks like that's getting resolved um and they're going to send out text alerts to people that want them and uh well not pre-blast inspections now but blast inspections of homes for people that want those uh there's a lot of talk about atwat ab and uh slowing down traffic there uh and sidewalks first no sidewalks um then after that there was talk about conditions for the special permit to expand the uh Reed Park floats but that didn't seem I thought we're were going to have a special permit but they didn't get too with that this this meeting ran late it was at 10:00 by a time so the it took most of the time I think yeah so I think they're pretty much out of steam by the time we get to that point so maybe that should be something we'll the next early on in the next agenda yeah that's what I was thinking um on the hbor advisory side there was some good uh conversation in regards to implementing uh permitting for functions on the water and uh criteria for that so that's in the works basically and that's about it good I knew the planning board was busy they got the for sure all right Kathy um yeah nothing new bik and ped meetings tomorrow so I get up in there downtown it doesn't me for while so okay and for me uh the seniors were on the agenda tonight continues to be their Hot Topic transportation and um I don't have anything on the DPW they're starting their work on Pleasant Street which is in my neighborhood so I have a daily update on that fact an hourly question on DPW stuff um somebody asked me if there was any um plans to replace the water M further north on School Street like are they going to be doing more work north of where they already did the work they already completed on School Street towards 128 like um to M Street okay so further towards 128 yeah yes so is that do we know the time frame around that or um so it's part of the CST um so late late fall okay so it's not imminent but like late like another couple months or so yeah while was here yeah sh it's still summer sorry cold this morning so maybe late fall they would start that Stu is is that school street or midd street I'm sorry what was that um I thought that was crossing 128 and going Mill Street and Forest Street that's what I thought I thought forest was involved not Mill not well and not school right they have to go they're completing they'll make a complete Loop oh so yes they're coming up forest and Mill but they will go from um where it crosses 128 to to CST they'll keep coming up Mill to school and then back down school to connect um so they' got a loop which is a they plan B if there's a problem right well it'll improve service significantly to I think the water service will be uh the pressure will be where is it going to cross the highway there's there's an there's already an underground what's the word I want conduit at M Street right oh Forest it's um it's towards Forest yeah but but it's it's um it's right before the the sharp band on midd stre like when you come down hill then you turn right there little Bridge yes exactly so yeah there's an existing sleeve under under 128 and that's big enough to put both water and sleep oh that's pretty big sleep yeah that's that's good yes yeah there's at least two sleeves there may be three so there'll be no additional work to there's no digging okay other questions or comments from leaon um just out of curiosity um does the work on the um water man and Sewer Ms Crossing 128 have any dependency on the permit that the park that the planning board is working on no there's not that's separate good you're up Greg agenda yeah so we have the minutes from 8 85 and then um again melin is is looking for your fug she's online here um to approve a food truck for the November election and looking to do the same location you did in the spring or at least had approved for the spring okay any questions on the consent agenda and I will make no Brian yeah well jeez I'm sorry me out you did you did it not me I move that the select board approved the consent agenda second any further discussion Jeff yes Kathy yes an yes ran yes John says yes okay Teresa congratul Tera you're all set thank you very very much yep okay uh Greg your report yeah so a few things here a couple additional ones I wanted to update you on as well um first for for town clerk um situation um so today was Diane's B's last day with us we wish her well as she moves on she'll be becoming the town clerk in wam where actually she came from so she's going back to the home Church um uh we do have an interim uh retired town clerk able to help us out for the next three weeks here her name is Pat Brown she comes she's most recently was retired from from norport um so I I would like a motion from from all of you to approve appoint Pat Brown is our interim clerk second okay further discussion on Pat Jeff yes Kathy yes Ryan Yes an yes John is yes thank you all right starts when uh she starts tomorrow so um luckily that all came together today so I was I was uh getting nervous but was pleased that she could help us out um great and um so at your next meeting I will present to you um the recommendation for our new town clerk we have someone who has agreed to come on board I'll have that all for you at your next meeting so optimistic we're able to move forward pretty smoothly was was that a tough search or I mean those people are out there um we were not flooded with applicants but we had two very strong applications in addition to some others but we had two very good ones so I was pleased with that so that's that's where we are with there um elain person has has been started last week helping out so she's she'll be a full-time presence in the office um and Pat will be a few hours so few times a week keep everything going and of course we have the election on the third the primary election is the third and Pat will be in charge of that and we have a very good crew of election workers so anticipating a smooth a smooth day there as well um yeah Jeff updated you on on the blasting uh conversations that took place uh Chief mcne continues to do um a lot of good Outreach to the residents when they have questions and that's been very helpful um couple of other things that are not on my written note here but um John you mentioned the operational audits we have um we have three different consulting firms that I'm talking to um hope to um again at your next meeting present a final recommendation for you on that so that should get underway in September and U we'll get rolling on that um in the water department so there was everyone received the water meter replacement notice should have gotten that in the mail over the weekend no no so this is the question I asked when Chuck proposed this but those of us who do not get paper bills right how are we informed I got nothing I got my email from the system saying I owed you know money yeah so that's coming from your Association is it no no no no let's see I get an email from the system we use what's it uh City Hall system City Hall systems yes yes so let me follow we we need to figure that out yep how many people are like you I mean I don't know so I get an ePay request from um you know the city hall systems I don't see any attachments with a letter but this is what I was concerned about yeah interesting the uh that that was an insert in bills yes the uh my landlord he subdivided the units we each have to pay about we get our quarterly bill but he sends us the quarterly bill which I think is illegal he divides it no we're separately meeted oh you're separately meet he's what he does is he separately meeters that's the only way he can charge uh water he can he can if it's separately Meed yes okay but by law what he doesn't do is I'm supposed to see the bill not just the statement I'm not going to piss and moan too much about it but so that I didn't get one either but then it was a shock Jeff when it happened yeah I didn't think it residentially yeah as long as it's second muted does not does nothing here I'm on the system okay do a follow up on that nobody forwarded my mail to me mailboat didn't visit you passed me right by so in the next couple of weeks there'll be another um flyer going out on a different topic um which is in regards to um inventory of the pipe from the curb stop where the town oh stops that's where our responsibility end and then the line feeding the individual property individual home lines um so EPA is um mandating that we do complete an inventory of what those pipes are composition what are they made out of this is all about lead yeah lead pipes it's all about lead pipes so if they cast iron sewer coming out are they going to try and make you replace that so what's the idea behind that so identifying the the lead pipes they and so they are giving um funds to help homeowners replace those loads to do or to do some mitigation I'm not I have to more details some check what the mitigation levels are um but I know that we've received dollars from I think it's from EPA um to help with removing removing replacing blood Lage but it would be a separate contractor digging from sidewalk in yes yeah is there a specific um age of building range where that might be more likely to be the case as opposed to you know something built after like 19 before 1980 or you know something correct yeah the flyer will explain something that I believe um and so anyways there'll be another another fly going out asking people to fill out a a short survey well that I might get if they just send it to every resident but if it's you know I already got one water bill but it was electronic so I didn't get that F this is going to be different this is this doesn't involve billing anything billing I guess you're in trouble I mean you don't get the uh so if I so this will be a separate this isn't going with the bill right but it's not going to be explaining what we missed the last time if you throw it out you opt out yeah that you understand I understand opting out I I understand throwing out could could they put a second copy if they're if they're doing a mailing to everybody in town could they put both notices in it yeah that's that's an idea easy an easy solve yeah let me see I think I think the other one was a postcard oh okay so I think that was their goal but let me let me follow up on that that makes sense so so if it's a postcard then yeah a chance to do that but maybe we can um provide a small note about a link to this this one on that postcard or something you're you're going to ask people to pay for something in need they everybody needs to receive that letter right you work on that so that that'll be coming out in the next couple weeks to everyone as well so you can keep your eyes out for that and then lastly I had on my list here just to talk a little bit about scheduling so September meetings um so your next meeting falls on Labor Day September 2 um and then Tuesday the thir is the election day um it's not uh it's not prohibited from moving on Election Day it's just it's gra upon to to compete with election day so we were looking at possibly meeting on the 4th uh which is Wednesday okay the har committee's meeting then but that probably doesn't make any difference uh I I can do the fourth I don't I definitely don't want to push it to the next week I'm going to be out um vacation from the 7th through the coming back on the 11th so I could do the Wednesday I could Wednesday either Wednesday or Thursday yes yes I have no problem with the fourth F I'm I can make the fourth work for I could make the third work I can probably arrange to get to the polls before 6:30 yeah you can do the third if you want I'm fine keeping it the third yeah love to keep it third I'm okay with the third if it was you know November 4th the big presidential election I would frown upon that this is a state primary and we have early voting right yes I I'm early voting is starting this Saturday in fact yeah so I maybe we can keep this all right I'll keep it on the third right thank you yeah got so then your next scheduled meeting would be the 16th but you're not here I will be away at that week the dub running it but we can make up the following the following week because it's a five Monday month so we're skipping 16 next week anyway well he still won't be back he's back to the 23rd of the 24th or whatever do I'm back the 22nd yeah so I could do the 24th was I'm avoiding Monday because that'll be the yeah yeah I can do the 24th oh what the heck I'm okay with that I mean the meeting after that in October is two weeks later so this is right we got a two we Gap somewhere you're going to have a two we Gap somewhere and so we're making it before that rather than after that okay be a little I won't be as much help with preparation for the meeting so okay so when is um so our next meeting though is then the thir the 2 so why don't we see what the agenda needs to be for the meeting upon your immediate if we if we have a good sense of it I can put a lot of that together before I yeah [Music] well that's still a ways out yeah it's more than a month out so just make note we need to think about that yeah just you know if um all of you through a and Debbie you will be perhaps lean on all of you a little more to get the materials together for that for that meeting make it a heavy prep meeting okay so the third and the 24th that's what's coming up other things good motion to adjourn sorry I was just going to ask what was going on with changing the status of the Harbor Master changing stat oh the classification classification that's from like two months ago oh is that on our action list I think it is so I don't I don't have anything new to report on that okay will Mee I think I think we had it scheduled for the next time I I thought you mentioned it in your in your letter but I imagin that's on the schedule for the third 93 it's on the schedule for the third so it's there and not jump the gun here yep all right we have a motion on the floor yes yes yes what yes yes yes yes yes I think even Jim voted yes I think that's your name okay thank you very much for putting up with meally great when's your ETA H uh um I think I'll be back on the 25th or 26th of August um I'm coming back early because the Portuguese Water Dog Rescue Association has found a dog that they think would be good for me so I'm really happy coming back I won't come back for you guys I will come back for a dog you should stand okay all right okay bye y bye bye