##VIDEO ID:gbxim3ojO7g## 30 Now call this meeting of the manchest GU order um call Jeff y Brian yes Kathy yes yes John yes um the first item on the agenda um is public comment on non-agenda Isis is there anyone online there are people online I don't see anyone raising their hands okay um the next is the Chairman's report and today I have Chairman's report on source which is that we are going to ask to pass over two of the items that are on the on the agenda the first one is the one spyrock Hill update and I asked to have it put on the agenda because it's become a significant issue in town and I wanted to get um all of the Town employees who are involved in um regulating um that kind of act those activities together so that we could hear from them what they're doing what the law actually is I wanted everyone on the select board together to hear it from them in one place and in public um the owners have asked that they be present with their um attorney and their attorney is busy tonight so we will schedule this um the other thing that we are skipping over is the CST construction um um the start time request um discussing it with Mark glovsky who's the csp's attorney and Greg we felt that it would be better to wait until the planning board makes its takes its position um our the bylaw is does not clearly allow us to override there is no provision for us to override the by bylaw that's clear um Our Town Council has said that um if it were a major if it were a public safety issue but um haven't yet Ur uh so I have asked Mr glovsky um to come back after the planning board has made its decision on what their start time will be and talk to us um explain to us why it is a public safety you can wait and discuss that that that okay um we've listed the senior care update for six5 um I and if you want to go ahead and get ahead of schedule or because I think the people from the person from Senior Care is here say 6:30 that's the spyrock hill update oh it say mine says senior must have maybe it's just the view or should we um start with the consent agenda um are are there any items that if anyone would like to have removed from the percentage okay um in that case you motion on the consent agenda you have a motion to approve the consent agenda please have second second call John yes say yes yes yes yes there's you want to review the action list action items yes yes I skipped that you're right that would be a good okay is there anything so there's something I wanted to bring up to see if um there's any action the board wants to take we haven't discussed it previously um the website for the town was recently updated and it looks very nice you I sent Tiffany a note um I think it looks very nice and the team has worked very hard to delete old content that shouldn't be there because that messes up the search if someone's trying to search for something um but it's really important that the content and the pages be maintained so we have a select board page and you know I guess my point is who is accountable for the content on that page and um I I think somebody should be um and for the other boards as well I it's just not clear who owns it somebody's got to own responsibility for keeping it fresh and so I wanted to ask Greg that question or does the board need to get engaged at all in that so each each department head should be responsible for their departmental page um each committee the chairperson or doated person of that committee should be responsible for letting Tiffany know what changes are updating should be done um so it's sort of an ongoing process and um but that's the that's the structure so that's the structure that's good I I think it may be good for you to discuss with pany offline um what the process is for um kind of nudging people I mean from an operational standpoint I I think the maintenance of the website needs to belong in town hall and yes the Committees need to perhaps approve the content that goes out there or request content to go out there but there's a Cadence around uh keeping it fresh somebody's got to notice that something's old that type of responsibility I'm uncomfortable putting on volunteer boards because there's too many changes in players and and it's been my experience it should be run as a part of town operations type of thing so so um right so it's it's it's a process of You Know Tiffany but Tiffany doesn't know what the committee wants on and all right it's more of a um like a you know most places that I've been they they have a like a schedule or a Cadence around you know sending a note out to all the boards or departments hey it's time to update your page take a look there's a Cadence around that and I I I think otherwi we've got some pretty old content out there and we might want to set a better example for the rest of the Committees is this information past your desk or is it largely When Tiffany gets it it goes unless perhaps she feels well maybe somebody else should look at this right typically yes okay so I assume all right so most of it she probably say all right this makes sense okay perhaps after they we have a town election or a round of um or changes right um Debbie could just Rel is there anything else we want to add for change okay give the update everything's running smoothly they're getting ready for uh now the after school programs and but as far as uh we are now looking at uh CPC funding so they're looking at some projects that uh including the bath house at the beach uh what P can up we done at Sweeney Park the back side of the back Sweeney Park as new Fields um expanding that and some other items there but they're looking at that um they next I think they're going to start they're going to tackle naming fine Street fields apparently P Street field doesn't work so there's some new signage at the uh G of anyone's noticed it at Masano and at the to Sweeney and so was trying to maintain some uniforming La signage for all the town Fields going so that's what all of a sudden brought the discussion of pin stream you going to name it pin stream put a sign up there or you going to name it something else they'll they'll t is not to tack that Mi speaking of signage where are we on implementing the signs that we approved it's part of the wayf finding effort I had that same question in my head the other day um so I need to follow maybe that's something we could put on the action item list I mentioned it to Sean Johns curious of what's going on with that yeah I I uh I need to check in L track ofs je um a lot of us were at the planning board meeting last night but the um permit did pass for the breed Park and Morris Pier um one of the things that did come up was uh and actually Greg might want to talk about this um the edus the for the mass the new Adu law so there's an issue there I guess yes so um as part of the um portable Housing Act that was passed was pass legislative session um it U requires that adus under I think it's 900 square feet um automatically is a by R use that's across I think it's only in single yes in single family resident zones yeah it must be of byright use um in all communities so there's a concern that unless the town also has some policies around short-term rental that a lot of those there may be a rush to build adus that that serve that market which would sort of defeat the purpose of of uh of adu's Health with the housing issues that the commonweal has so there are two ways to go about we we could address it through zoning but you can also address it through General bylaw we we already have a general bylaw I thought we already have one that regulates ad that regulates short-term rentals but it's frankly very weak it it only captures rental that are six days or less uh okay um so it so most people say well I'm I'm mine's available for seven days or more we don't thus we don't regulate that um so there was concern that the town take some action and and update the general bylaw to to better address the use of short ter rentals and how they can be done um and last meeting I mentioned that city of gloss just adopted pretty rigorous um new bylaw city ordinance to um to regulate short-term rental and I think it's worth a look at that as a model that we might um draw from yeah I I fully support that I um I was going to bring that up as part of the um it's also an issue I think for the proposed NBTA zoning if that goes forth you know um Chester and other Seaside towns you know those extra units could be for you know shortterm rentals and airbnbs instead of the housing right for fulltime want it to be yeah the same issue so I think that's a great idea I just updating the general bylaw instead of trying to put some new language in some other place unless I think problems a timeline right I mean so the new law takes early February um so um you're able to move forward a proposed General bylaw change a little faster than zoning bylaw it's crafted adoped so we we could put that on a bit of a fast track um to get it ready for the November special town meeting I'm not sure that that's wise well let me let me ask a question um we this board has approved airbnbs right right based on our current regulation and again we're only capturing those people who are using renting for six days or less so there are other airbnbs in town that are for seven days or more and we can which currently we don't have don't have the authority to regulate there is a reason for that or partial reason for that is that there are still a few family compounds where there are several houses owned by the third or fourth generation yes and the they the people who use them are family members but they pay for it right and their third cousins right but I mean there should be a way to write the enhance the law modernize it and some exceptions for specific property we can create some exceptions and capture that issue I think no District isn't like matter yeah let's put this on for maybe the second October can we well I think we should take a look at it at the next meeting yeah I you're targeting one you're targeting the November meeting if if you want to do it in November then I think it would make the town residents feel better if we proactively try and address a very valid concern because I I think it is directly it it was brought up under the construct of the Adu discussion but it's very relevant to the NBTA zoning and I think it would make it more like my understanding is if we let it go past February we can't go back right isn't that the issue so so if we wait until the annual town meeting in late April so there'd be that period from early February until um the the annal town meeting where someone could apply for an a you get it approved and and the shortterm rental uses would would would not apply to them they'd be grandf followed in under okay then yeah I would really like to get I don't know how many I don't know how many applications you're get in that two and a half month period but I I think we're going a little bit beyond agenda and the the agenda I think fair enough so we can yeah we can put this on the next me okay um yes you want me to stay here is fine that's that's fine okay so um thank you for having me tonight I'd like to thank Greg the select board my name is Scott FR I'm the CEO at senior care and I'm kind of making the rounds in our nine communities meeting with the select boards as well as um upcoming the two City councils for rer and Bev which we both which we also cover um I met with Greg earlier this year to kind of update Greg on some new programs and services that we have at senior care which I'd like to highlight tonight can't presentation or I'll be here for I did want to to give a shout out to Nancy Hammond um Council on in the senior center um you collaborate with ncy on different things um and I'd also like to give a shout out to the First Responders here in Manchester they've been very helpful in terms of reporting people in need that reside in this community as well as um working with us with some of our Adult Protective Services cases as well um representing Manchester on our board directors is Jane manano and I know Jane is pretty active here in town and a good advocate for for seniors so I had provided Greg with a sheet I can't go through the whole thing of kind of statistics about what our activities are here in in Manchester um and and I gave Nancy Nancy stopped by the office last week and they gave her hopefully you all got packets you have packets all right very good um with some of our some of our brochures um certainly if you have any questions uh on anything that you see or read please just reach out to me time so new programs and services one of the new programs that um the executive office of Health and Human Services at the state level has implemented not only for um us through the executive office of Elder Affairs but also Department of Developmental services and Department of we're charged with identifying people who reside in nursing facilities I know you don't have one here in Manchester in our catchman area we have uh six nursing homes SL rehabs so they provided us with funding such that we have a full-time staff person who makes the rounds at the various nursing facilities meets with the residents and identifies folks that want to go back to their communities want to return somewhere in the community so we're tasked with trying to help them to do that um as you might imagine the biggest challenge that we Face the biggest obstacle is affordable housing um that's clearly throughout Massachusetts the biggest biggest challenge but I I like to let even though you don't have a nursing facility here in Manchester I do like to let folks know that um that that is a new service um that the agencies like us offer because you may have a resident that goes to Blueberry Hill or Sea Coast or or where wherever or a resident there um so I wanted you to know about that by the way please stop me at any point that you may have questions um Senior Care is uh we're very into consumer facing technology um we have received a couple of Grants one of which is from Addison gilbertt bubbly hospital and another from Mass Broadband Institute so we have a couple of Staff who are dedicated to the technology needs of of people that reside in vman area Manchester so for the hospital um the hospital Grant what we're doing is we are utilizing virtual reality um in targeting folks who are socially isolated lonely perhaps have um depression Andor anxiety so we run small groups um um we partner with a company called renav um who provides the the headsets so for people wear a headset and we have a technology Navigator who has a control panel um each of the participants see the exact same thing they can look all around um and what we have found is that is that people begin to engage with each other um the experiences that they can have are Limitless so somebody may want you know there may be a Comm interest which we try to find uh maybe you know the group is into visiting some sort of Museum in Europe um or they want to go see the home that they they grew up in um we can bring them right in front of their house um kind to see their home um so that's something that we're doing that's something certainly anything I talk about here is available to to your residents um typically we we do the VR groups um in housing or through the councils I'm aging um we have a partnership with a company out of Boston calls called Tech go home and what we do there is technal goes home has a 10 session curriculum that one of our staff was trained in and basically it's computer 101 so we hold we hold groups um throughout the area um it's 10 sessions the nice thing is at the end of the session um the participants get a first free Chromebook and in some cases one free year uh internet service as well if you have any residents who need help in the home um say with computer related issues or they can't get their printer working or they have some sort of issue with cell phones with their cell phone um our Tech na Navigator can make an appointment with them go to the home and and U try to help them out um another thing that we have have is something called care coach um care coach utilizes Avatar technology so we have deployed a lot of these especially during and after the pandemic care coaches a comes with a tablet that is pre-programmed um the tablet has an older adult can either choose a dog or a cat it's a touchcreen the Elder is in complete control of it and behind that tablet which they can move that room living room wherever they want it to be they can turn it on or off there's a 247 health coach um so there is not only verbal communication but also text as well um so what we do with care coaches we program it based upon a a person's needs so a common one would be medication reminders so at different points for the day the care coach um unit through the Avatar will cue the older adult to take their medications it might be reminders of upcoming U physician appointments or if someone has to take their weight on a daily basis or drink x amount of glasses of water we can program it um to do that the other um feature of it is a caregiver um can video conference in so the care coach tablet will ring and there can be face- to-face communication with a caregiver friend whoever we have found that that's very helpful for longdistance caregivers who uh you know want to check on Mom uh maybe they're in California but they want to make that daily call and I B mom and make sure everything's everything's going well what we did with care coaches we combined it with a company that we contract with called cedic and cedic provides cellular personal emergency response systems the old Lifeline units I've fallen in I can't get up press button technology has increased significantly over the years um such that um the person can leave the home it used to be that you had to be in the home you had to be within a certain range I'm dating myself here but you had to be in a certain range of the the unit that was in the home in order for the button to transmit to the unit that's no longer the case um so we offer that package of care coach and the personal emergency response system so we also received a grant from um the executive office of Elder Affairs relative to caregivers so the needs of caregivers um certainly increased during the pandemic um which exacerbated the needs of caregivers and we've seen that post pandemic so the grant that we have um there there are a couple things to know one is that we have relationships with many um um places throughout the catchman area just to name a few Essex Green Belt um bunch of different places that will have lunches for caregivers with a love one with dementia so place like The Depot Diner The Village Pancake House bport it's really geared toward caregivers of cabin theater we've shown movies like to catch a Singing in the Rain get people that that attend these nor sure Music Theater will give us free tickets um gler Stage Company kbn Museum the Zen Center in Hamilton and we also offer actually it's one of your residents Abby um offers a a evidence-based program called Savvy caregiver and it's a series of classes uh 8 to 10 classes per session and Abby follows the curriculum which you have to do to the U but it's geared to help caregivers of a loved one with dementia be better better able to care for their for their loved one um the other part of that which I want you to know about is that we are able to offer scholarships to caregivers um I can't recall if we've done any here I do not believe that we have but in any event we've done things like replace a stove of a person who who had dementia who had a gas stove and it was unsafe for them so we swapped it out bought them an electric stove manicures pedicure pedicures gym memberships um whatever is going to you know a day out of the house where we can get somebody to stay with uh with their loved one um to give them a little bit of a break the one thing I'll say about that that is caregivers will never apply on their own behalf so if you or someone is this videotape SP out to the community so if a Community member knows of someone who is in fact a caregiver um we have an application that they can fill out on behalf of that person um so why don't you too also know about that um Switching gears Home Care programs so we're charged by Elder affairs with implementing the Massachusetts state Home Care Program and uh there is a Workforce shortage and the workforce shortage specific to Homemakers personal care workers and home health aids and it was bad before the pandemic got worse during the pandemic and it has continued to be bad such that um people often have to wait for services which is horrible right typically when someone calls us um they're going to get our information in the referral Department we're going to take their their information demographics Etc usually when people call us there already in crisis or maybe they should have called us three months ago right um and often times they have to wait for the initiation of those three services we will try to put other things in the home to help uh relieve the stress and meet meet their basic needs but in terms of waiting like if you need a bath or you know someone who assists with a bath or something like that um there's often often a weight list it's getting a little bit better we contract out for those services so we have 17 contracts with different agencies that offer Personal Care Homemakers and home health aids what I really want to talk about is a state Home Care program called the Consumer Directed program in this program the older adult the recipient of the Care can become an employer so we assist with we contract uh Statewide a company called tempus is used which is the fiscal intermediary so they take it care things like payroll unemployment workers comp end of the year taxes Etc the first step is the older adult the recipient of the care or surrogate if they don't want to do it um becomes an employer at that point once that is accomplished um that person can hire whoever they want so they bypass the agencies that we contract with and often times it's a family member it's a friend it's a neighbor and often times it's somebody who's already helping them that person is is paid um somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 an hour um but the older adult is in charge of everything so they're in charge of training the person hiring firing scheduling uh making sure that they fill out their time sheet that goes to Tempest so that the person can be paid so we've really ramped up ramped this up especially during um during the pandemic continue to promote this as a a um you know a solution for Workforce shortage and the workforce shortage is not unique to our 24 asaps throughout Massachusetts um we all have different names we're on nonprofits um hospitals are experienceing this Visiting Nurse associations as well hospitals especially with nurses so I don't know where people went after the pic but they can go to work um so why don't you to know about that as an alternative to a traditional uh Massachusetts State Home Care Program um we have a pet program it's called stay Pet Services serving the animals you love um so we will do things like dog walking or if someone is hospitalized um we can go into the home feed the fish take care of the bird change a kitty litter whatever whatever might be needed and we also will assist with uh transportation of the pet to the vet and with lowincome Elders um we do have money that we receive from Meals on Wheels of America so we can help to defray some of the costs of Veterinary Care as well um we're ramping up right now with shine counseling right October to December is uh open enrollment for Medicare um we have a shine counselor at senior care um we take appointments he during October to December he'll be there three times a week you simply call senior care and schedule an appointment and and uh come to to senior care and get that counseling um I have some stats I'm not going to go over all of them but for instance Meals on Wheels everyone associate senior care with with uh Meals on Wheels so for the month of July we delivered 601 meals to Manchester residents um we have 47 people enrolled in one of our state Home Care programs and this is um we also have What's called the mar Corp senior which is another Federal program it's a volunteer-based program and there in FY 24 there were 18 uh residents of Manchester who volunteered in some capacity um at senior care to the total of um 1,68 hours of volunteer services so kudos to your residen who have volunteered um we also have a a through this americop senior is volunteer Medical Transportation so in FY 24 there were 19 round trips provided to Manchester residents to get them to their um doctor's appointment or specialist appointments physical therapy Etc um I guess the last thing I'd like to tell you about is that and Abby does this as well is that we offer something called dementia friends it's a one-hour one hour presentation on signs and symptoms of depression and kind of reframing depression in terms of how we we think and we behave and you know act around folks who may have some sort of uh cognitive impairment and we have provided this training um for instance in gler the mayor wanted all of the citizen facing staff to have this one hour uh presentation so we did it for them rockboard did um all of their Town employees as well as First Responders we've done First Responders in Hamilton as well so I wanted you to be aware that that's something that's also available to you folks should should you want that um in our home care program our various programs um in the month of July we had 75 residents of Manchester that were currently releas in July that we were servicing um I guess the best advice I can give to you is simply to call us um you know the majority of our services are free um you know we offer caregivers support groups via Zoom are in person um on an ongoing basis we've got that caregiver Grant the only program where there's a co-payment is being in the state Home Care Program unless you're on Mass health in which case there is no co-pay but I will say in the state Home Care programs is that we're very generous and it's based upon a person's income the state sets the amounts but we're very generous in terms of lowering the co-pay and the co-pay gets in the way of somebody accepting the help that that they need um we'll go as far as just say we'll just wait it you know because we know that they need the help I've uh I'll close out here I've I asked uh all the groups that I'm meeting with is what do you folks see as the needs of older adults in your community yeah well I I can I happen to be the interface person for uh Council on Aging and seniors here in town and and I'll say that their hot button right now is transportation and I was curious I have been in touch I don't know who your transportation person was but I spoke with them I don't know three three months ago find out what the story is the challenge you have is the challenge that so many communities have you need drivers yes and he said yeah in the summer it's not so bad in the winter it's tough because a lot of people go to Florida at least your drivers do so it's it's a problem but you'll take people lots of places and I know a couple of people who have used your service here say I guess your fiscal year you've done 19 round trips I know at least one person who has been among those 19 we always exploring new ways and I know that your focus is all on Healthcare okay so but that's the majority of the trips I think that that demographic takes and we're always looking for more choices and alternatives for uh transportation for our seniors but I'm in general I'm impressed with the long list you've got here that 601 did jump out at me for this Meals on Wheels is there a distinction between nutrition Meals on Wheels and just Meals on Wheels or by definition all of your meals are nutritious all of our meals are in fact nutritious and we we have U very strict guidelines at the feds set believe that on Wheels program which you know is Nationwide um so we have they have to be presented and cooked in a certain way and there has to be you know balance between vitamins and minerals and protein and fats and carbohydrates um our Nutrition department handles all of that so we do have a nutritionist onsite and staff who also does home visits and can do nutrition counseling as well well it's 20 meals a day I think that's pretty good that's a lot of people who are taking advantage of that so that's great I know that um Nancy and the Council on Aging they think this pretty pretty high profile terms of the programs that got down there it's advertised uh in their monthly newsletter which is here you're probably aware Etc so it's good and hopefully the programs continue to grow you've got an awful lot of medical transportation drivers during the pandemic they continued to bring people through essential appointments that and we honored them you know every year we have our annual celebration last week it was our 52nd and during the pandemic we actually honored them and the Council on Aging uh directors as well for the work that they did you know during the height of the pandemic these people were stars you know driving people to appointments we offered to to get them plexiglass for the back of you know the back seat yeah because it's their own cars didn't want them their own cars um they were super committed to making sure people got the medical care that they needed do you need anything for plus no I don't think so just spread the word um you know any any questions anybody calls like I said the the most important things is just call us you know figuring out healthc care is is so difficult um the other thing that we have to know is that U we have something called Options Counseling which is actually available to anybody 22 and over with a disability so that's the one service that we offer um for younger adults as well in short term the options counselor kind of lays out the options you know and sort of uh empowers the person to make their own own decision as to which way they want to go with respect either themselves or someone that they're carrying forth thank you very much I appreciate great than you much set the stage so our next toic is um potential land conservation deal that U meic County Green Belt has been championing working hard on we have Chris Le here with us tonight who's president of S6 green belt and can walk us through some of the details um it involves lands um in the eastern part of town the Long Hill area and uh some of the lands extend over into Gloucester so it's it's lands that are both in Manchester and in Gloucester um overall it's it's a $3 million purchase of land and uh placement of conservation easements on those lands to permanently protect them the requests that green Bel has before our Humanity preservation committee is for $250,000 to go towards um the total cost of that 3 million the other monies CH can walk us through those other funding sources um and so I know that um Chris has been before both the open space committee and the CPC oh I'm sorry the um Conservation Commission and the last night planning board all three of those boards or committees have voted to endorse the project um and just islated to be before the CPC uh this Thursday to talk more right against the NP zoning it'll be before that they're earlier I think um they're at five afteron they're at five and U the others at Seven's that s exactly exactly um so with that I think turn over CH I know that Mark Mark resic Town planner has been infinitely involved he walked the property area um and has been working with with Chris setting up uh meetings agendas and that sort of thing and do we have the ability to put his um maps on the screen uh yes and do have copies I you have copies in your we're also worried about the reporting and people who are here let me open it up and while I'm doing that you go ahead good evening uh Greg has done a wonderful job of introducing this but just for the record Crystal point and president of Essex County Green Belt I think you probably all know who green belt is but if not we're the land trust of Essex County we're headquartered over in Essex we own about 80 acres of land in Manchester and about 150 acres of conservation restrictions we've been a partner with the town a partner with Manchester conservation trust and others locally for for years we're an organization with a mission to conserve land as working Farmland wildlife habitat Cen resour res ources places that people can recreate um hopefully you visited some of our properties around the county all our land is open to the public free of charge um as Greg laid out green Bel has the opportunity to acquire 330 acres of land from dormandy that is partially in Manchester and partially in Gloucester so for those of you who've been in town for a long time you may recall in the late 1990s there was a significant conservation effort essentially the first phase of this project which protected 120 Acres of the Manchester land um Den Normandy who were now buying the land from was essentially the conservation buyer in that transaction and most but not all of the Manchester acreage was protected in that effort so 30 Acres at the top of long hill uh remains unprotected um with access from po Road after that initial transaction um that same land owner acquired another 180 Acres on the Gloucester side of the line from Boston and Maine those two Parcels together those those multiple Parcels but those that acreage together totals our entire project area uh as you are probably aware this this area um uh is directly adjacent to about 1400 acres of land that includes gler Watershed land includes cranberry Pond and and and a significant area that protects the headwaters of cap rook and Wolf Trap Rook as it as as we roll up towards 128 there's about eight miles of trails on just the land that we have under contract and that connects into about at least a 20 Mile Trail Network that's um exists before you hit roads so it's truly a regional resource um as Greg described Green Belt has the the property under contract for $3 million we been fortunate to amass a pretty significant amount of money already so we received a $1.1 million Grant from the state to the landscape partnership program that that will fund all of the land in both Manchester and bler um and we've we've raised substantial funds either through invitations to apply to foundations or other private monies that we've we've raised we're essentially down to about 500 ,000 funding gap between monies that we've raised or have identified and have a highlight the it where we need to get to that that um $3 million total purchase price um our proposed project structure is that green belt would own all the land so we would manage it would be responsible for maintenance and stewardship make sure the trails are cleared and there's good signage and appropriate parking forever um and uh in in Gloucester the city has agreed to hold a conservation restriction over the land that we'll own in Gloucester the late 1990s portion of the project that conservation restriction is and will continue to be held by Manchester Essence conservation trust but the request before the town of Manchester is whether there's a willingness to invest in the project and to hold a conservation restriction over the land that is presently unprotected on the Manchester side so about 30 acres of land at the top of lill that piece of the property by itself the conservation restriction on that Land by itself has been appraised and we've shared the appraisals with the CPC has been appraised by itself at $1.35 million so we're asking the town to consider an investment of $250,000 towards a conservation restriction that's been valued at $1.35 million um I know you have a lot on the agenda this evening and may have questions so I will I will pause there I'm happy to take questions or to go in to further detail on any and all of this so might be helpful Chris if you could just use the screen there just soort of outline sure what we're talking about here so we have everything in in red under agreement and I realize the map is confusing because of the lay the lot layouts so in Gloucester all of this acreage that is knitted together with existing conserved land that the city owns this is the to Line This Is The Rock line the railroad excuse me the railroad uh coer tras off of Magnolia Road Dexter Pond Conservation Area touch the screen m road comes up here yeah there are presently uh presently parking at Dexter Pond and presently two to three additional parking areas that exist that folks use to access the trail system in this part of lill presently so we would be acquiring everything in red the request would be for the town to consider holding a conservation restriction over this acreage at the top of long hill and a strip along the railroad tracks but this is the this is the main the main event um again because the map is a little confusing that just a reminder this that square is owned by the town so that was part of the initial project in the late 1990s I believe the town acquired that um potentially for a yeah what is that water tower I I don't know the full it was identified as a future site or another water tank and that has easements and otherwise so that's that's that would be un unaffected by the conservation project what is that long strip that comes out yeah um I would need to look back at my title report but that is just a that's a a parcel that is not owned by this owner that's a um it's either owner unknown or it's more research needs to be done to figure out who the private owner is like one of those old wood Lots most of these are I mean you can see what I me just the shape of it looks like some kind of right away or something like that but these are see these are all that same pattern these these are all these old wood lots that are stacked up together so there's a plan from the late 1800s that has this this entire thing is platted out like like that I guess first question would be does the CBC have the money so the answer that is yes is that going to affect things like s sween's that's probably not going to be good to this year's budget but uh certainly could affect I don't know how much U bath Renovations and again this is just the preliminary discussions I don't think any Nate's got involved as far as the the budgeting as far as they're just identifying what they have some capital projects having to address for your information generally we do this sort of thing at the annual town meeting um because there are lots of capital projects and and many of them qualify for CPC funds and it's personally makes me a little un comfortable because I have this much money right now um can you go ahead with the purchase if Manchester says we'll let you know in April so I should explain for everyone the the timing constraint and the reason that we're asking for the the unusual requests to um go to a fall meeting and that is that there's really two issues one we have a a contract deadline that is just after the first of the year that's that's one point the the almost the more important point is that the entire project needs to be closed before the end of June in order to use the state money so regardless of whether we got it an extension to closing with the land owner that we're buying from we still need to have everything closed by the end of June um the the challenge that I see um with us going forward and buying the property waiting for annual town meeting is that I I think it's a difficult um story to tell that green belt has purchased the property and then three months later we're going to Manchester town meeting and asking for money to help with that purchase um I there's there's no better way to say it than that that's just that's that would be a challenge so that would that would be a a risk that we would have to be willing to take and it would also I just think it it's um it's hard for us to go forward with a purchase without knowing that we have the funding line up and I think it's also a challenging um situation to explain to voters why they're being asked three months after we've bought the land so I I I think it's a I think it's a challenge I I I hear you loud and clear on the the discomfort about the timing and I appreciate that very much and understand that this this board will yeah I'm also un comfortable with the timing to be honest with you um two reasons one you know it's hard you've done I appreciate the education on what you're trying to do because I probably needed that anyway if we were gonna talk CPC funding but we usually get a list of things and part of um what I think CP you know the CPA and select board discusses out of all the good ideas that people have right um which ones make the cut so without knowing what else is a potential request for CPC funding you know how do I know this is the best use of of attemp funds why why would I endorse this over something else that may um also be worthwhile I just I don't know else is on CPS if I could respond of course that's that's a that's a fair question and and I think in um in in my world we're asked constantly um how how do you decide what projects are going to work on right and we might have a list of a hundred of the greatest properties in Essex County in rank order um but it's almost never the case that number one through come up next year right it's we we might have number 10 and number 17 and they're still really good and we can assess them on their own merits because we know that all of this work the timing of the bath house the opportunity to buy real estate when permits are going to be ready to do XYZ project it's both priority and opportunity and so with with real estate and this is one of the challenges you know I know a lot of communities have exceptions to their Norm nor most folks want to bring most towns want to bring things in the spring and that's understandable a lot of places also sort of acknowledge the the the realities of real estate is it's sort of available when it's available so so your concern is is is very well founded and it's also it's um I feel like in the the length of time that I've been doing this when properties like this are available there's a there's a need to sort of assess them on their on their merits I guess my other question would be what are other uses for the land I mean is it something that we would never use for another purpose anyway and that's why it's also a good reason to put it under conservation okay we don't so so if we were to purchase it or um I the land probably is it's highest and best use as is residential um and as you know that whole Colin neighborhood of pretty highend homes um and you could expand uh into the into those 30 Acres um I think that's why the CR appraised as high as it did um in terms of other pound uses given it's sort of distant location and I don't see other Municipal uses so so basically though if it wasn't put under conservation it would likely be it's likely use would be higher end homes yes that's kind should have asked my question and I think I would traditionally we have been using CP CPA funds for relatively small projects um and I think from my perspective I think it's better to use those funds for sort of Legacy projects um and I think this this qualifies clearly for that this is a a pretty significant Legacy project um and one of the primary goals in the master plan as as well as the CPC plan is to make sure we're conserving important land um we have a target for in the was it 9 square miles we have in town yes so the target is around 40% of your land mass okay and what are we at we're in the in the mid-30s which is pretty darn good right okay that's kind what I was getting at we're we're we we have a good conservation base of land already um sort of the national go that that current Administration targeted was 40% and many communities have adopted that as a goal we haven't formally adopted that as a goal we we state in our master plan that you know we want to make sure we're conserving important lands um we didn't put a numerical Target on that in the master plan that I'm remembering guess I should double check but I'm not remembering that we put a numerical Target um but we we talked about we had talked about you know wanted to increase our Holdings um so I understand this is out of cycle um but I do think it's an opportunity that it's important to to seriously consider when that opportunity is before us when does everyone have to get their rest into by the end of the year right yes yeah first of December I think is their deadline December so you be comfortable revisiting this the middle of December this is time meting what I'm saying but we have a better idea of what people are asking for I think who was saying is they're looking for our support to have this on the warrant for the November do need they want this in November that's what I think they're hoping they need to they need to close by the well they need to I hear I hear what an's and concerns out my question is that roughly a little over $9,000 an acre what do we get in return we're basically i' I'd like to see somehow the town maintaining about 25 to 27 acres of land that we can use at a later time as you pointed out I think that's not an option this is a purchase from a single owner who's offered it to the green that but then I whole I I'd like to explore what we could do basically $250,000 is a lot of money and I'd like to see some kind of return on investment right I don't know if Green Belt can then seed it back you know sell it back to us for a dollar with the idea that it's going to be that the town will maintain restrictions on the land but not put into conservation trust until such time as there we may need to put into conservation trust as a tradeoff with the state well you're not you're not paying full rate on the land to begin with well this the price has been established at right roughly on if you across the board it's little over I'm just think that's the we we started with Blended Blended we started with a purchase price and we've funded nearly all of it and the and the and so the request we're able to make to the town is a is a fraction of the value of the thing that you would be buying you're buying it for $3 million every 330 acres of land for $3 million correct $9,000 an acre right but the the you can imagine the landing gloss that doesn't have development access isn't I'm just trying to come up with a number that's palatable okay my concern and although I think it's been addressed for the short term is that we discussed last month that we can't expand Newport park because we don't have any land to trade the state okay for was it one by one for three three for one as far as trading typical right and we don't have any we don't we don't have that ability I would like to maintain I think working with green belt to hold on to something that we can use pardon I think the point is we don't own right okay well I want to know how we can you're asking how we can would that be something that you would entertain if we give you $250,000 we want the right to be able to I want I want the right I appreciate where you're coming from on that I I don't think that's a a an ARR we would we would want to do the funding from the state for the landscape partnership program is to acquire all of this acreage and permanently protect it so it's it's the purchase the purpose of the purchase is to not build anything not I don't care if I buy if you give me deed rights to W Wetlands we can't build on okay all right or you transferred with deep restrictions as long as there's no con a trust on it that we can then apply con conservation trust later on if we're looking to trade land with the state saying hold off on the conservation trust the time of purchase so we could use it as a card to play with the state lat I want to put something in the bank that make sense they all all it ends up in the same place anyway it's all gonna end up the challenge I think that that we have here is is the bulk the other funding has strings attached to it right so I don't know if we can work with those strings um we can we can pursue it a little further and Kick the Can on that tire just kick that tire a little harder to um you heard this last using the wrong metaphor here anyway I think from our from our standpoint so we've so I appreciate the consideration of the request that we made um 2.75 million of the other dollars are coming to this project to permanently protect the whole thing so that's the the challenge is the is that there is momentum behind that concept and I think the I appreciate where you're coming from on this but I think the logistics of that um I'm happy to think about further but I I might might not be again my point is if if you put a deed restriction that can't be developed short of a conservational restriction on it allow that hle land whatever it is of 20 or 25 acres that Manchester still would have ability to trade off later on down the road by putting a conserv by putting it to conservation trust again maybe this I don't know just we have we have other issues we have housing issues here well I guess that that what you're getting at is you know we are a small town right and we have lots of land needs and and the fact that we're over 30% conservation is really good yes it is personally I would feel a lot more comfortable if we had an actual Target what do we want to conserve um and then you develop a plan to you know to to conserve the amount of land till you reach your target we don't have a real Target that the town has agreed on it's it's a little it's a more it's more it's more vague than than concrete number I mean so the master plan identifies the Western Woods area the Gordon Woods area and this eastern part of town so this specific section was identified in the master plan as something that the residents wanted to conserve so those those are the three areas of town where it was identified that additional conservation efforts were desired we we stopped short in the master plan to my recollection of putting an acreage or or percentage number and so since since the adoption of the master plan um we've done the one parcel the um Christian Hill Parcel in the western Woods um that was a was a little bit locked away and not much could be done there anyway right so that was a little bit of an easier call yes is this if we needed land for something and somebody had the ability to sell to us that's a more difficult again I'm not advocating developing any of this land right no I understand okay I just want to be a use this land to develop something else later I have a question all of this land is owned by dormandy right yes and this is an all or none proposition that the Normandy is promoting or requiring in other words you either get it all or you get none of it we're interested in buying all of it he's interested in selling all it okay but it's not like you could go ahead with 270 Acres or 200 you want to get as much as you can yeah um and you've got this grant this I I don't know I mean the whole deal is 3 million my my other question is so right now you certainly want to get as much as you can but there it's it's not like black and white either get buy all 330 Acres or I'm not talking to you is that the situation if Manchester didn't F the piece so our our goal if what your goal is referred strategy is to partner with Manchester put this funding together obviously if if the CPC doesn't Advance this if this board doesn't Advance it if town meeting rejected it we would we would work to raise money from any other source we could find between that town meeting and closing to work to acquire the land we wouldn't immediately give up but oh when you say for other money sources I mean if this land is not part of that then maybe you need less money I think yeah we're not we're not we're not looking a carve pieces out of it I understand I understand my second my second question is you've got um a list of your Revenue sources but you don't have a list of your Revenue uses in other words you got three million bucks and this is where this money is coming from right that's our use we're buying all of the land for $3 million there there isn't you can't break it down 3 million is a check that's written to dormity that's the end of it we have a we have a a single contract that addresses all of this acreage $3 million purchase price okay so $3 million not only gets you the land but it also puts it in the conservation I mean conservation is something you're doing you're just acquiring the land and then you're going to turn around and put it into conservation right not completely following the question we we're are those two separate steps you buy the land I own the land we're going to buy and own the land and then the next day convey the next day the same day we're going to convey a conservation restriction for land that we own to Gloucester and if Manchester is a partner we would convey a conservation restriction to Manchester understood okay so the $3 million all goes to Normandy for the acquisition of 330 okay that's what I needed to kind of understand I thought there were other things like I'm paying the Normandy 2 million I got use $100,000 for the state to do something sorry no I I was that's a perfectly reasonable question that I was misunderstanding okay all right so I understand the number so it's $3 million and I understand it's difficult to know how much each acre is worth because these have different values depending upon where you are it's been appraised but it's not parsed out understood I mean and as as Brian was saying $250,000 I don't know how many in Manchester at the top of curn wrote how much money how many acres does that get buy some Wetland somewhere maybe cheapest land I can get as long as I can to have a Fel that at some point if we identify some other land that we can put affordable housing on but is buffered by current conservation yeah we got a particular problem that we're kind of focused on and I'm not sure that this is the solution to that problem I think I think it is okay question but the 250,000 I think that's probably the largest well you'll find out I think that's the largest request that cpc's had for any project in its 20y year history maybe um so we've been funding the afford housing housing yeah that's 200 that's kind of automatic every year for a few years but so we um assuming the state matches in that 20% range our total annual revenue on CPC is around 600 650,000 [Music] um um I don't know the exact number in the bank right now but it's it's in excess of the 250 um Jack just raised his hand so he may know that number off hand hi everybody Jack Burke CPC we have 450,000 in the bank right now thank you Jack yeah um what about other projects I mean I guess that's my concern is I don't want to I'm all about conserving land but is this going to take away from other projects that residents need so like I said with with 600 600 plus coming in every year and if we have 4 50 in the bank this would leave 200 in the bank um so that would give you 800,000 to work with for for FY 26 and and we have typically spent in the 4 to 500 range each year we don't foresee any anything going over that nothing coming that includes a $250,000 any to U Housing Trust yes yeah so from from if history is any guide I'm I'm not worried about um losing that 250 and and risking other projects okay that was that's my main concern obviously if if some other big project you know presented itself tomorrow um we you know that there's always that there's nothing on the horizon there's nothing on the horizon there's nothing in the works the have affordable housing because like I you know my big concern is our biggest problem is housing right now we're if I look at how much land we've conserved versus how much housing we have produced okay right are we've done great on conversation side conservation side and we have not done enough and so my personal preference was you know is there any way we could increase the amount of funding through CP the CPA funds to really get something done on affordable housing I know we're going to be discussing it again in a couple of the next is it November or something um that's my real hesitation here I'm not worried about you know the parks and recre stuff we do and all that other stuff but we are woefully behind on housing I don't mean to under under undercut that at all but frankly 250,000 is not going to make a break affordable housing project that is true um it takes a lot more than that I mean to really fund affordable housing we may have to consider increasing the CPC so charge you know that's a whole different topic of conversation Dev voting an entire year is worth of you know if you have 800,000 you know or use yes 6 to8 ,000 to bond right that's what I'm saying is is this taking the 250 out is that going to prevent us from doing something meaningful on affordable housing because the the chipping in 250k a year isn't getting us where we need and that's why I'm worried about losing even more because we're we're falling behind Okay so I think the CH that we're going to be able to increase the contribution to the affordable housing trust next spring it's not great um people have already questioning it yeah you you could use you could take okay half of those monies and bond and lock in that 300,000 a year for 10 year Vol this this particular project really doesn't affect that one way or the other I don't feel that it does I think you still have that option so even even if we approve this tonight it's still contingent on CPC passing it right C yes the committee has to approve it before it can go before the voters um and so it's and then you would have to vote to put it on the warrant we're not being asked to approve anything tonight it's more endorsing it as it goes forth to C this is to let us express our opinions understand where we stand the CPC will do what they do exact they will come back to us and say they want it on if if they improve it they wanted on warrant for no November 18th and then we get to decide whether that puts anything else at risk that we think is even more important um CH you mentioned as Brian had mentioned somehow using that land to leverage uh our ability to put land in conservation under Manchester's name rather than under your name under your name it doesn't do us any good other than the fact that it is is conserved land but you know the point that he was making and we're all here on the on the select board are aware of the challenge we have on that and you make some phone calls on that and find out how that might you you need land that's if I understand municipally owned but unprotected like not with a deed restriction not with a conservation restriction not committed to the Conservation Commission or anything else in order to to swap because you're trying to take some other land out of AR 97 is that y I was just about to explain that yes so right so for yeah for the reasons I've described I think this one is challenging for that profile but I um if you happen to run across something like that let us what's the amount what's the amount of acreage that you're should want probably under but you know today's information indicated that we we could probably do it without using that particular I understand that but I'd like to have five acres in our pocket I'd love to have 30 eggs in our pocket but there something I want to have so we don't have to go through this again you know yes you took a walk over Newport Park yes okay but as a developer comes in and starts to look at helping out he's might want to start uh that works over here okay with a developer mind said he's going to look at that and say but I do need something over here oh that's under conservation trust we can't even if it's 100t into the uh into the buffer okay to make it a a project that a developer can work with and I want to have that luxury be able to do that I understand it doesn't sound like this project is that I'm sure this project gives us that vehicle that's um have is there anyone online who wants to speak saw Jack's hand earlier I'm not I okay my suggestion is that I think we know the questions the opportunities that we wait and see what the CPC perhaps several of yeah um Mark do you have something you'd like to add um no I mean I think this was explained the project quite well I understand you're concerned about trying to got some land that could be traded I think it relates particularly to Newport Park there's a lot of development constraints on batland and the import out of house Hill property that's conserned so I think the opportunity there really lies within property that's already owned by the Housing Authority so we are in the process of having that surveyed having Wetlands delineated so we can have more information moving forward so I don't think realistically that's the property that you're going to probably try and get uh do just because of the condition of the surrounding land there so um it doesn't hurt to like you say for the town to acquire some extra land at some point in case there are other opportunities that we need to unrestrict for and do a swap in the future so again um it's a project that we work on work so I think without having a report from the CPC um we just need to come back at our next meeting and and I mean the concom I I when I first heard of this I assumed it would be a tremendous push to get all of the boards that have to approve it to look at it and approve it um but the concom is there the planning board is there the open space and Recreation is there um so there seems to be a lot of support in town for this and leave it at that we'll come back and and decide whether this is something that if if the come says CPC says if they want to spend the money then thank you app when's the CPC was that Thursday Thursday that's five spent a lot of time here how they get that little square there that is for a water tow an inch and a half oh say it's a little it's an acre or a little over an acre I I it's it's in that area well one to two acres would be my gu you Go's 25 acres I want to see your next return not my investment okay we we have we we have people waiting for us and we're we're half an hour late at this so thank you thank you thank you very much thank you very much 1.03 acres yeah right on thank you very much that's Square gets you please come in I'm sorry you're we're so late are we finally up you are finally up forgive me I have scrambled my notes and anywhere two candidates for the welcom committee Julie posi and Jen Simone say that yeah and and so they're here to uh to be interviewed and and see what you think there's one position no there are multiple positions there are multiple positions fine oh yeah definitely you're not fighting with each other no okay Julie could you start I'm I'm Julie okay yes what would you like to know I would like to know oh bit about you and why you think you are a good fit for the welcome okay well I grew up in Manchester moved away moved back about 14 years years ago my kids went to school here and and I've been on different committees throughout the town never on a Town committee that's different different board and committees Boy Scouts Church the community center and um PTA PTO I'm ready to K I'm ready to give my time yeah welcome back Julie I don't think I've seen you in a couple of years or so you're touch with my wife from time to time oh that's that's great to hear have you been in who's chair of the uh welcoming committee is that Leslie or it is I'm not sure if it's Leslie or um Christine Christine I wasn't sure Ste down oh okay all right Christine reached out to me and asked me to oh great I was I would was with her on the Boy Scouts we were committee members in the Boy Scouts for many years so good good so you had a chance to chat with her a little bit yes I actually um went and met with both of them already and they told me you know gave me the overview of what they're doing and they have an agenda for the ne for the meeting tomorrow night and St to other people to get them involved as well so all right any any any particular unique I mean welcoming is hey if you like to meet new people you're in so uh is there uh anything in particular that you want to kind of get involved with with this committee or just see how it grows help out it sounds like they they need help and they need bodies and I'm I'm willing to do that whatever they need done be a soldier great having a being one W wanting to participate is the number one one criteria okay I've known Julie for couple years appreciate her h on basketball I think uh she's well qualified roots of the Town go deep [Music] thank [Music] you so um again Jen deson and I've been here four years but I come from I have uh since the late 1800 early 1900s my great-grandparents were here my grandparents my mom here so I kind of found my way back here four years ago um and love it and I can never you can never imagine leaving so I've just loved it ever since I've tried to volunteer wherever I could and um I was on the Council on Aging for a time for three years um in a conflict of interest with a new job so I had to pull off of that but um I do try to volunteer on other committies you know T EG breakfast the 4th of July parade um I coached kids Girls on the Run um young childrenis the first spring I came here and I just I saw this on Facebook that they were looking for help and it's just right up my alley so can't wait to be part of it that's good again i' I've known Jen for a couple years walking dogs and start out uh she's been uh serving the pancake breakfast a couple years now so uh her commitment is do I get extra strawberries if we put s really getting cranky this year they got crankier run out of last year two years ago every year whatever I'm serving they seem to run out of yeah she does have a heavy hand she does have a heavy hand control now I know who to go to I am looking for a motion U I moved at the select board appoint Julie P the welcoming committee for ter to on June 30th 2026 second yes and says yes yes okay is there another onee move that the select board appoint Jen D Simon to the welcoming committee for a turn to expire on June 30th 2026 John yes answerers yes yes yes and yes excellent thank you for being patient thank you for your time all right back with the meeting tomorrow night tomorrow yes you need to come you need to come to the town hall and get saring when count clerk can SAR you where as official members I'll send you the info tomorrow then if you're going to a meeting you won't remember unless you have gone to the town clerk's office and G warning how late are you here to five you can still go to the meeting you just can't vote but you go to the meeting what time you open in the morning 8:30 and Thursday nights are open later yes yeah Thursday nights they're open later no I know I just saying you could you can always attend the meeting if you're not sworn in but you can't vote until you are sworn in okay so for some reason you can't get sworn in before the meeting you attend the meeting enjoy yourself and then Thursday get sworn in when they're hours are more amenable how late are you open on Thursday 6 one more Fridays are you open and you're not open Fridays no Mondays Mondays yes maybe these are questions May perhaps these were questions we should have asked before we appointed you we'll eventually get sworn in okay there you go thank you that supposed to be your question that was about Becky Jake's channeling and I for to do it out of side out of mind it's a good question to ask okay the next thing on our agenda is the Waterfront event permit discussion and we have a bullet point of so yeah looking for some input if you feel that these are the correct bullet points or there's ones you would add would you amend some of the ones that are listed there then assuming we get the right list can on more formal set of I think the only question I had was I think this was what we discussed at the um separate meeting we had with Chief it's Gerald Etc unclear on the sequence of events though um for the sequence of Permitting so would this permit be reviewed and by home um before or after the Coast Guard issues are permit or is it so this this would can we ensure that the co if the Coast Guard gives the final okay can we ensure that this permitting process is completed before the Coast Guard or does the Coast Guard have to give their okay before we would go through the time in trouble of issuing our permit I'm just unclear on the process is postard needs 90 days and we're asking for 120 days for that reason for that reason all right so we want to know 120 days so we can review it and then go to the Coast Guard and get them that 90day window is my understanding that's the way it sounded what what constitutes an event going to be L of I don't know the discussion was anything that's advertised so so I know that's yeah I could see where you're going but yeah that was the discussion I think right yeah I think because part of the problem is that the a popup uh event on a beautiful Saturday afternoon yeah there a bunch of recreational voters say hey let's get together how do you can't you can't uh you know it wasn't it wasn't five boats weekend I forget what the discussion was but but Bion and chief of Sher were pretty clear on what they thought the definition was I just can't remember what it is I think the first thing I'd like to say is what is an event is it just on the water uh or is it somebody decides to have a bonfire on Long on Long Beach no I think this is strictly on on the water that's all this supplies to and basically it's how many events might I'm not asking you to answer this how many events are there annually that you would expect to fall that the committee would expect to fall into this category how many probably one maybe two a couple of year at this point and I think that the one that we're we're drilling down on is not going to happen again well but there was the one for the prior year REM were two REM yeah and there there was the uh misery challenge but I don't know if that ever was come back that would fall into that yeah that would fall into this do and and I wasn't at any of the haror discussions on this but was um do other towns have permits did we ask other towns do you have permits and how do you manage this sort of activity I mean somebody must have asked gler because they've got their re Po and other stuff but I'm just wondering if they have a permit process and SK yeah what questions do they ask I I don't know blessing of the fleet yeah yeah so perhaps you could ask the H committee for to to do some yeah Beverly Gloucester I don't think probably has one I think Bion did ask but I don't what the answer I'm just not rec I'm not remembering the conversation so many weeks or months ago what I personally would like to see is um if we're in general agreement with some of the stuff maybe they ought to just draft the permit um know you call it um instructions or whatever because that would outline the scope of the type of event that requires the permit the 120 Day lead time you know if they kind of draft the document and then maybe we take a look at it um I think we were in general agreement we need to do something um I just can't remember some of the specifics right now what's well they apply for a coast guard permit there must be some sort of guidelines there I've never even seen the Coast Guard permit the main the main discussion we had here was because we are such a small town everything on this list is pretty dug on expensive so the really the purpose of the permit was to make the event owner pay for it all that's and so we know so we can prepare properly sta for it right you know because for instance what triggers an EMS detail right right how many bats is it 10 bats that and your Absolut right what is constitutes an event and then are there certain uh criteria okay we've hit this Benchmark now you're going to need right an extra boat coming down from from glass or an EMS okay so those are the uh things that we still have the the the purpose of it was really to put the onus on the event I understand to fund it plan it get the resources in I understand like the size of the event nobodys what's nonb owner transportation is a nonb owner transportation that was uh a bunch of uh Zodiacs taking people out to the raft from like from like running people from tux from tux then running and then uh so there was a lot of Bally shutle for basically sanctioned water shuttle shuttles okay right okay um so again to that point you might have if you would have Sav okay there were 300 boats there and it was four people per boat that's not necessarily true because there were a lot of people there that weren't on a boat right they were taking out other words this raft could I know that there was a band out there but the raft could support other people than just the band two water there was there was the r was overloaded that was the all right so non-bo oder Transportation that's not a one that's not a one-way plan that's like we take him out the guy leaves and hey hey it's your problem well that's okay and I think that was part of the problem because I think a lot of the r a lot of the zodiacs that may have shuttled two or three people out there probably overloaded well and and bring them back well they just come back and at the end of the day hey I'm done I'm talking my boat I'm going home and I guess it comes down to maybe a designated driver type situation oh that's you know I I went out one boat I came back on another boat yeah I understand that gu I was bored L questions here that are kind of gray no I think but this is the first I think we just took a first cut at this right appreciate that I my other another of my concerns is somebody looks at this and said that looks like a an annoying set of things to do I'm not going to do anything um and they just pass the word around where does it go from being you know a raft of you know a raft and six or seven of their friends into something that yeah this is back to the what is an event right and yeah I think we need a number we need a number but suppose somebody comes in in the middle of the afternoon and you're suddenly over the number I mean generally though those people aren't going to be all together right so you're not going to have 300 people Al together not on purpose if if if your number is 300 then that's a different thing but if your number is 100 you could or 50 that' be what 15 20 boats for 100 right yeah and that's not uncommon that's that's yeah usually an afternoon on the water with a large family there so it's that's so like I said we kind of went through all this and I just am having complete brain fog right now I I would like more thoroughly document the discussion we had at that hour and a half meeting or however long it was yeah because I think we asked all these questions um and I'd like to know what glester B okay and and what what exactly our we requiring that the town acquire um a jet ski there is a jet ski in Essex that I think it skips it yeah try it out for a while I don't know that you want to go into Capital at the very bottom resources it was one of the members brought up the fact that Essex does have a jet scheme yeah whether or not it was they were advocating to purchase one acquire one or at least try one out or borrow one to see how it works I don't I'm not quite sure where we didn't really discuss that what we discussed with just items and around um you know things that the event owners uh the event sponsors should make sure in place pay for and be you know it says penalty for an unper permanent event so I I just think the documentation of the discussion needs to be a little richer and more full bodied for so we don't go revisiting that discussion all over again I we need something though so we can like you can't shut down something now because you have no rules well that's what I'm saying we we went through all this the meeting Brian and I were at we went through all of these questions like I said I'm just having complete brain fog somebody was taking notes there and we should have a better representation of the discussion and decisions that were back here pardon sorry uh sorry did I wake you H can we get Carl Don in here at some yeah I S I heard cow and I was trying to see c car sorry thaty okay got it um yeah I think I'd like we we need to revisit this I don't think we need to revisit this one next meeting I would maybe have toing meeting fall time meeting um I'm not sure that the I'm not sure that's meeting no no but after this is not this is something that we over the win just but let's see it like the draft and result of the discussion already had if we do impose a 120 day waiting period Then sometime and we should have something on the books by March March yeah yeah I think a dra some kind of draft even just something rough would be good to look at you want to put this on the agenda item thing the action items action item early January yeah so that we get some motion and don't come up to March and suddenly we're starting from here and and have it done okay um the Franks pre trimming um part does the decoration of the tree says they can do it this this year but it's getting to be too big and um they suggested that they would be willing to take down the Friendship tree and put off the small tree and my reaction to that was not necessarily um the tree is a pound tree um think we should instruct Chuck that his budget should include and and I'm sure tell to tell him how many hours he spent trimming the tree 15 years ago or 20 years ago and maybe but don't take his his financial estimate on it yes um when they say manageable size that's kind of a qualitative statement do they have what is he planning on reducing it six feet all around or a discussion more like 15t and then outward um and and I have Tom's word that the tree will recover brilliantly from that okay but is that something that he should do before the lights go on this year or after this year the lights are okay yeah this is post so this is post this year so gives the tree many months to recover whatever it has to do for December 2025 yes speak um so the consensus of the board is that we trim it rather than replace it no mileage all right I will make a motion to that effect excellent I move the board recommend the Friendship tree to be trimmed at the town's expense second Jeff yes yes Kathy yes and says yes yes okay um the next is the town common slide pole discussion and um the place the exact place that it was on the diagram is very close to a staria that was planted by the friends of trees probably 20 years no couldn't have been that far in memory of Bill Salton doall it's a really nice tree and uh I think the place that we want that we agreed to would put the pole would interfere with that tree and my thought was that we could move the pole out toward the sidewalk that part of the lawn comes to kind of a v so that the the base and the lights for the pole will be be beyond the tree beyond the tree adjacent to the to the walkway so the base would kind of meet melt in with the with the sidewalk on one side of this and the walkway on the other and did our Landscape designer person have an opportunity to check this new suggestion yeah he he's fine we had actually talked about it when he was here um he was going with you you don't want to interfere too much with the church and steeple that's why he put it on by the triangle the other angle of the triangle that we're talking about we're still in the same triangle of grass um we're just going to the other angle so it's almost when you come down School Street you almost Run scho Street almost run into yeah yeah a little more in line with School Street which is an advantage I think so it's it's it's literally 15 feet up the street towards the intersection right okay I want to I want to revisit a comment that you made a month ago with regard to because I think we visited we we voted to have a flag pole correct I think a month ago to put it on the on on the town green meeting Town warrant on the town Town warrant town meeting you know to let the town have a discussion if they wanted to discuss it okay all right I'm he a lot of people why are we waiting all right so I I've got a question this is what I I I wanted to go back to to your comment because in that discussion Greg you had said well there monies and this would cost a few thousand dolls but there were monies for that so we have we have a general facilities account building facilities fund yes this would be DPW related yes yes yes okay and this would be in that category yeah I think I think we're in the $55,000 range okay all right if that's the case I I I would like to see us proceed and have this done whenever it gets done within a reasonable amount of time without necessarily putting it on the warrant and um I'd make a motion to that effect that a flag pole be erected second in a reasonable time second I think you can still have discussion sure um that's my only concern is that we be sure that it's lighted appropriately yeah appropriate lighting because that will be that will have an American flag on it that is up yeah 247 oh I forgot to mention I'm sorry um there actually is already a the law in the books that says PW Mia flags are sort of automatically permitted when you find the American flag in Massachusetts okay okay so it's it's it's not necessary that you make an official declaration you can still but it's it's not required because of the statute right okay are there any other types of flags like state or Municipal anything else that falls into that category is just the Mia P I'm only aware of that one so Council made me aware of that and I I don't know if we made the statement at the last one but this would be the official Town flag call right yes okay have any comment about I came public comment on um so what we're current discussing okay no yeah I'm fromo and I have talked to so many people since saw that discussion started everybody else and I personally um have a very strong feeling about the American flood because that represents in this country it's not just Massachusetts us here that's what sense that Rose parts that covers everyone it doesn't matter what color you have what race what sex you have anything it covers everyone so I'm not American I came from Greece myself first generation I always tell my kids and my husband I have to go out and americ flag up for the Fourth of July the um you know Memorial Day because I have great respect for what America stands for and stood for for a long time for not only here but for other countries and I don't understand why we have to please everybody who wants to put a FL for their own you know idea or presence in this country everybody can put the flag in front of their home gr their home property and the American flag stands for for centuries that we're here now he say change only the number of stars still the American flag and we have the state flag I think we can use that also on that point from what I understand but um why we have controversial people who want to stand with FL because of a certain way they are and who they are I don't think we should discriminate that's kind of segregation going backwards instead of going forward and be all one when I see the parade coming with a you know that monument that we have over veterans my father in the country I came from they have to go in service the men and I'm so I feel lucky that my kids didn't have to go didn't choose to go to a service here because they give their life you never know when you go if you're coming alive and that's what that monument and the flag of the P servs there it's not about Who We Are what we are what color whatever it's about what we have done as a country and these poor souls who chose to go to be in the military Navy everything and they didn't know if they were going to come back who in the world's name in this country or any other country has more done for a country than giving their life nobody and that's what it stands I cannot compare that with the country that I come from or the gender I am am or how old I am or whatever we cannot we cannot compare that with anything other than the American flight and the PW and the flight for the veterans and The Monuments they represent the country that's what everybody liked about America every time they have a problem America is first to give earthquakes Wars everything we do everything that's what we represent we don't presentent if I'm lesbian gay heterosexual yellow white or black it covers everyone I was talking with my youngest son who is now in his 40s also and he said sorry that's what yeah I I and a lot of people feel that but they say there is no point of going there to talk because they do whatever and I don't think that I think you're decent human beings you know what you're doing but you try to help in this situation that's what you're doing um okay is there further discussion on the motion on the floor maybe I just thought to clarify it to use current current budgets funds to erect a flag pole that will be the town flag pole in that particular location with appropriate lighting um period second all right Jeff yes ran yes Cathy no answerers yes yes okay thank you so that the street si [Music] yes are there other um on updates um I have one so Mark was still here um so I attended the downtown Improvement meeting the other day and Mark happened to mention that the planning board was considering um phrase a spearheading uh a team or task force to develop what they call a master plan for the general for the downtown um I remember conversations about that on some of the NBTA task force discussions because as they got into looking at the zoning they're they were think wow we we don't really have a plan just for the downt okay and we might want to think about you know how much should be commercial how much you know should we allow commercial entities to have you know apartments above them so there's there's no current zoning or or plan I should say to a vision for what the downtown should look like so when he mentioned it though he kind of indicated that it might be a strategy more for the General District not just the downtown so I don't know if you heard anything Jeff at a planning board meeting I um well I does isn't the MBTA the zoning is going to kind of some of that's going to work into that right but what I what I think what I the discussions around the mbto zoning have kind of um precipitated a discussion about things that are not going to be included in the npta zoning so it it it's we have may have a gap in our in our plan for the master plan right well so no Mark mentioned it at a meeting um so what I my personal suggestion to Mark was that you might not want to call this a separate master plan we have a town master plan right so maybe it should be um some sort of refinement or next level of detail because we don't want people doing something separate from what the master plan is is saying so I I suggested to him you know think about the language you use if you put together a team maybe it should be a task force to kind of look at something but what was new to me was the fact that they were they were they seemed to expand the scope a little bit beyond this the down town and include the General District um he mentioned possibly um you know some things they might look at is like swapping taking some residential lots out of the General District and putting it into a residential district so it was a broader scope than what I had previously heard at NBTA zoning meeting so I just wanted to mention it that it came up in a dip meeting nothing's been done um but I just I just wanted you guys to know about it I mean is that something that you wait till after the NBT plays out yes it was definitely yes it was definitely for after that right okay yeah yeah it's just that it seemed like a bigger scope than what originally had been discussed so um so Mark did mention at the end of the planning board meeting last night okay okay there's a brief discussion on it um yes he emphasize that this would be after NBTA special town meeing the General District is very large right it's is includes a lot of places that are fairly residential maybe it make sense and where it may have come from early in the nvta process before we found out what all the rules were we were trying to say trying to build a downtown that had required retail on the first floor and two floors of uh residential above and um the state allows that to be built but you can't require it as part of the EMP as a result nothing yeah almost nothing that's that's TR commercial in so real idea Focus study the General District and potential amendments to it he likes he likes a controversial town meeting that was it that was yeah yeah just uh one thing informal survey how many of you folks had filled out the Water Survey L who are supposed to and I know maybe some of you I took a look at it I was like all right this is the most yes Jeff my wife that I let his wife handle that work and it's in my to hard all right so I know what's going on here Chuck's had about you know he said out 2500 surveys he's got about 150 or 200 back this is what three weeks into it he's going to be sending out a reminder um really the key issue is is for houses built after 1980 he's not worried about the comeback on those and the EPA will probably give you a a pass on those because they know that they will not be lead pipes in those houses that does not a represent a cross-section of Manchester's housing stock out so we'll see how things progress but they're not quite as fast as he so I thought the requirement was to send it out is there a required minimum response because I did not hear that there's a the EPA is kind of playing this as they go but there will be a minimum response and truck will we need to know what that is yeah and he'll I mean he's he's got a plan to continue chase down people but I don't know if he'll get to the number he needs to get to so ultimately When J Project is under way that's when he's in each basement right yeah and can verify and get that data okay so uh he's wrestling with that the rfps I think no they have not gone out yet that was an EPA created survey like they right it was horrible I mean I'm just it was a hor you looked at it said didn't want to do it cuz you looked at it well it's just you know if if it had said when was your home built okay and if it has been more recent than 1980 then you're done that would have been a smart way to construct a Sur they didn't they didn't do that because that's that's the position I'm in I I don't live in a really old place and now I still got to go downstair I mean you know it wasn't well no I I I agree I I filled it out and my house is so maybe if Chuck really wants those of us who are in an easier position to fill it out he could um provide a sample if your house is um newer than whatever it is 1985 1990 whatever here's what you T here's what you put in there I mean realistically it goes way back further than that see those people he may go back because he knows in general what the he's got a database that will say when the house was built for those houses he's not going to chase those people well that's what I'm saying though but if it if if he's looking we need to understand what he's looking for is it participation is it a response or does he need the information to feed the EPA because how you deal with it depends on which of those response if he needs a response and give people the caned response based on the age of their house if he sends me something that's hey your house was built here this is how you fill it out have yeah that's easy to do right make it easy for people to do the right thing it was not his Al but but if he really if that's what I was trying to understand is what is the goal if it is a response and you need the homeowner to respond make it easy for the homeowner to respond we'll have to have to be continue to be continue um it continues to evolve EPA is putting on some pretty um High demands on communities about supplying filters to people until things are changed out Etc so check and I sitting down tomorrow to talk about all this oh okay you'll get more updat and then so we we can provide at some point we need a full discussion on the process so Point 12 and I accidentally blew off this we I looked at my dinner and said oh dear I look supposed to be someplace else um they're they're they're not in starting their budget work yet that would that's where we and they intersect they are allowed to run the schools all the way they want and I think you've all heard more about nbp own any rational human being everyone the uh I just wanted one more time is that the uh Friday Saturday uh SC you know uh and obviously what I found was let's see I can't I can't tell you who was there I can tell you who wasn't there all right and uh there were some new faces though yeah three the ones that continue to claim that there's no transparency no information yeah it'll be repeated as a virtual event you Thursday evening at 7 basically running through the same information Thursday is everything going on on Thursday they got like 15 things going on that's an busy day and all of this is also on the website they'll be placing all the information on the website so people can go out their Leisure we're creating some videos on each district and those will be um the website so um there'll be lots of opportunities for people to get information we'll try to promot that as as an option for people that's good and the administrator report a few items um first off the various RPS request for proposals that are out on the street so to speak um expecting responses from potential recruiting Firs help with my replacement those I due October 1st and potential interviews the second and 3D with the goal of having a recommendation to you at your next meting operational audits I now received all three I've received three proposals um me to do some follow up on those proposals to give a recommendation back to you um fundraiser for the senior center project those are due the 7th of October I know one one strong interest hope hope uple more materialize we don't have it out on the street yet but hopefully in the next couple three weeks we'll get the U designer selection as an architect basically exchanging plance for the for the Mason building so hopefully that will be going out soon as well um construction work continues uh you know the focus on Pleasant Street and Forest Street um some concerns you know when we do a bypass um have to do the bypass to provide the flow for water as the main piping is repaired or in this case relign um that's the same drinking water that everyone receives it's no different and those bypass L lines are fully disinfected and tested before they are brought online that all has to happen now sometimes when those are hooked up um there has been some disturbance in the pipe different pressure Etc so people may have some discolored water um and the best way to clear it out is to to run the cold faucet um for you know five 5 10 minutes sometimes not that long but it it usually will clear up by just running it for a short amount of time we've had some concerns about that and we we again try to get the word out that that's the case do we know how long people are going to be on temporary water for um up to two months hopefully a little shorter there um some staff updates I provided for you just FYI and um the uh after I already mentioned the website redesign obviously updating content is an ongoing effort continue to work on that um the police department had their re accreditation visitation from the uh creditors creditors and that went very well umle minor issues involving the training of our parking enforcement officers nothing that is not easily fixed um so we expect to uh receive accreditation of the threeyear period which is a good accomplishment for the department so that's good news so that I WRA up anything else that you want to talk about off no we don't is there another motion motion to Second all in favor good right I have a question