call our regular meeting to order um we have to go we have an executive meet session scheduled I will move we move into executive session discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining as an open meeting may have detrimental effect bargaining for of the public body and the chair so declares relative to AB clerical Union collective bargaining agreement and the conduct strategy and preparation for negotiations with non Personnel namly the Town Administrator with the intent of returning to open session upon completion of our executive session second I also think you're probably gonna have to speak a lot louder than that or we're gonna have to turn off because I I think they that's the Fe we got before Karen R TR I keep telling them we're gonna have to shut off the air conditioner if you don't speak up only one guy though he doesn't he doesn't speak I guess I read I read that that they have a problem with the St State FL prosecu yeah it's both sides but the uh mostly the uh States I didn't hear it did you make the vote um who seconded it I did Mike Mike Jeff yes Justine yes David yes I'm yes so we are in executive session appre so we'll open tonight's meeting and the first thing we'll do is stand and um say the Pledge of Allegiance as we always do want to join us Al to the United States Amer stands na godible andice thank you first our business is to read the um remote meeting script given us by the governor and says as a preliminary matter this is the mainor select board I am the chair Christ Silva and permit me to confirm that all members in persons anticipated on the agenda our president can hear me I know everyone in the room can we have one member who is um participating remotely this evening so let me just make sure that he can hear us and we can hear him Mike can you hear us I can hear you can you hear me yes we can thank you very much good good evening this open meeting of the mainor select board is being conducted via Zoom the speakers and some speakers on the agenda will be participating remotely and the chair or meeting manager may also allow for the public to provide comments the select board would like to hear public comments and if there is further action that is required by the board the chair or meeting manager will add the matter as appropriate to a fourth coming agenda depending on the comment the board May if they are able within the confines of the open meeting law respond with information as opposed to needing to deliberate on the matter please note that while an opting for remote attendance and or participation is being provided as a courtesy to the public this meeting will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast the individual attendees unless otherwise required by law according Please be aware that other people may be able to see you so take care not to screen share your computer as anything you broadcast may be captured by the recording all of the meeting for this evening all of the documents for this evening's meeting are on board docs with the exception of our executive session notes and materials please follow along unless we note otherwise we will now turn to the first item on the agenda but before we do so let me um cover some ground rules for Effective and fair conduct of our business and to ensure that we have accurate meeting minutes I will introduce each speaker on the agenda and after they conclude their remarks the chair will go down the line of members inviting each by name to provide any comment questions or motions please hold your comments until your name is called further please remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking please remember to speak clearly and in a way that helps generate accurate minutes for any response wait until the chair yields the floor to you and state your name before speaking board members wish to engage in colloquy with other members please do so through the chair taking care to identify yourselves or items with public comment after the members have spoken the chair may allow public comments as follows we will first ask any members of the public who wish to speak to identify their names and address only and once we have a list of public commentators we will call on each by name and afford three minutes for any comments public comments for public hearings we only be accepted in person per open meeting law we do not have any public hearings this evening so we don't worry about that and um now first item on our agenda just happens to be public comments do we have any public comments in the room this evening do we have any public comments online this evening okay we move on to the next item which is our consent agenda would anybody like to make a motion in regards to this week's consent agenda I will move to approve the consent agenda item a as presented authorizing use of digital signatures if approved second um is there any conversation would anybody have any questions or concerns about this item which is special permit and the main cultural Council Cultural District committee for the Summer music series July through August 2024 which is again a annual um application so it's in the consent for that reason like any questions concerns Noe I'm all clear with this all right anybody in the room no glad to have it back yep all right all those in favor Mike yes yes yes Justin yes David yes and I'm me yes good luck with the summer series I hope it never rains [Music] um next up Greg you want to kind of lead us into one number five the donation acceptance of a um Memorial bench for the rail trail from Joseph M mckendry yeah exciting but I I just that's the McKenry right so I Joe Michael earlier y there he is okay um good evening welcome thank you would you guys want to just um tell us tell us what you're doing what you so my father passed away not long ago he um you know both Mike and I are lifelong uh residents and mayard both went to mayard high school participated in wavm and the band and you know sports soccer all that kind kind of stuff track um and uh yeah my father loved the rail trail um and especially as he got older um had you couldn't walk as far as he used to be able to do and so he would have loved to have a place to sit down so one as a as a way to sort of honor him in a place that he loved to be and also kind of as a nod to sort of the need that he had and then I'm assuming the need some older folks may also have is we would like to donate a bench along the uh the rail trail um and uh this the spot that we were looking at is um she's not far from the uh kns of Columbus um um anyway so that's that's kind of where we're at with it and hoping that um we can uh we can do that okay does anybody have any questions for either of the mckendry uh comment uh I just want to say how wonderful it is that you would be honoring your father in this fashion um and recognizing you know something that he loved to do and is indeed uh something I think others will benefit from and um to know that I think you guys will have a great solace in knowing that uh his memory will be in on the rail Trail where he love to be and it would be a useful item for others to use so thank you very much for the donation and my condolences to you all and your family on your loss thank you and thank you for saying that I really appreciate it thank you very much I I do have I have one question and I Echo most of Davis's comments as well um I really love reading your letter to us um it was very meaningful and and it very nice um I was wondering if you knew what kind of bench you were going to donate is it going to be wood is going be metal is it going to be is going to be anything on it color anything like that or we not you're just kind of getting the approval first and then coming back or yeah so I was going back and forth with Justin DeMarco and um he I think there's a consistent bench that is kind of a standard bench that is throughout Town um one thing we'd like to have is just a little you know on it that that has his name and um you know has like a little quote on it um from him I Justin's got all the information um I think Mike do you remember what the quote was I think yeah it's uh rest a Spell encouraging people to have a seat for a few minutes there just rest a spell that that was a saying something he lik to say so yeah I think we're going to do that quote and his name and then um the year of birth and death I believe it's I think it's black metal as if I recall I think it's black metal with wooden slats I think they're um Mike do you remember the ones in the ones in the ones in town are all metal all curved oh okay like like in um Memorial parkor Park they're all they're identical they're all identical okay all right perfect okay any other question no I'll add my condolence is alongside everybody else I walk by the section all the time I think that bench will be a wonderful addition and a touching tribute so thank you uh for the donation and then for your message as well awesome thank you thank you just one comment from me um there's a bench in the railway station in Flagstaff Arizona for my brother-in-law and so I appreciate the value that this kind of uh donation feature can add to both the families involved and and to people who passed by so I I think it's a great marker thank youate that thanks Mike someone like would anyone like to make a motion I will move to accept the memorial bench donation from Joseph McKenry to be installed on the aset River Rail Trail as presented second all right um all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justine yes David yes and I'm a yes thank you guys again for the um generous donations to the town and the rail trail and um we look forward to celebrating you when we um open it thank you so much really really appreciate it thank you so much thank you very much thank you thank you all right looks like we have a an appointment for the um cultural Council and then some reappointments for boards and committees would anybody like to make a motion on the first Cal Council appointment is he here tonight she here tonight I'm she right she is she brought her own security too you don't mind I saw I saw him coming together all right um would somebody like to make a motion to um approve Bri Edwards to the cultural council with a term expiring June 30th 2026 I will move to approve Bri Edwards to the cultural council with a term expiring June 30th 2026 authorizing use of digital signatures if approved second please' been you've been triple approved already um all right does anybody have any questions for Bri regarding her appointment to the cultural councel all right um well we certainly appreciate you volunteering and um there's no questions I'll ask for who well can we just we wrote through the application so WEP sentences and um so I appreciate the opportunity to serve the town and the artists in mayor um and work with the committee members as you see I'm an Arts professional um I often serve on Grant committees or artist selection committees for residencies have been involved with producing exhibitions and also commissioning public artwork um and I'm new to town um I'm a homeowner mother and this is really an opportunity for me to better understand how culture and planning are working together um although I understand the Mandate of the Cal council is pretty clear but from my own personal perspective interested in how cultural planning is part of the the conversations that the town is having so um it's really an un okay any did that pump any further questions engineer who teed the C council at one point I appreciate the line about being the daughter of an engineer than you thank okay anything else all those in favor of the appointment Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes David yes and I a yes so thank you and congratulations and good luck and the only thing you have to do is um sign in and swear in with the town clerk at some point before you attend the first meeting as a member thank you I think that's it thank you very much thank you all right on to the um B reappointments to boards and committees do we need to read each name Greg this is an annual reappointment process obviously I'll take all the credit for all the hard work that Wilson did um in researching uh in the appointment database um who turn it was so you can see in board do long so great this is ex we don't have to read them indiv we can just name the list the list I would say the list in the notes okay would someone like to make the motion for um B reappointments to boards and committees go ahead go ahead DAV I will move to reappoint board committee members for terms to expire June 30th 2025 and June 30th 2027 as provided authorizing use signatures have approved and we do not need to read the names I don't think so it's it's a publical and second any questions about anybody on the list or any of the list all right all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes DAV yes you know I a yes um so you those folks are all reappointed and thank all of them who are volunteering on to number seven which is a special permit for Aron LLC farmer Winery application for the mayor farmers markets Mr chair I think this is not the first time but I think it's been a while since we've seen Mr pal so can you reintroduce yourself what you want to do sure this uh NL pal I'm the owner and uh wine maker for AEP sellers uh we're a licensed Farm Winery based out of Westford uh Mass with uh Vineyards in Lancaster and and South Dartmouth um we produce a variety of Premium wines focused on exploring the Tero Wars of of Massachusetts um we're seeking to join the mayard farmers market this summer um as a Farm wine vendor um and off offer our our wine for sale does anybody have any questions for quick question is there um is there serving at at the uh farmers market or it's just sale of the of a bottle we would be offering samples um as allowed under the the mgl legislation of up to five 1 ounce samples of wine per customer um per day line several times my wife will be in line it will not be there but yeah um so little just little Tas things um no by the glass sales everything's bottle sales carry out right yes okay all right um any other questions for no now you are aware to the question I did ask you are aware police have suggested that they have no issues as long as only you are serving yes yeah okay okay um would anybody like to make a motion on this um special permit Farmers Market move to approve the farmer Winery license for no Powell aona sellers LLC to sell at the May Farmers Market on Saturdays June 29th to September 28th 2024 from 9 am to 1M and authorizing the use digital signatures have approved second thank you um any further questions all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes David yes and I'm a yes so um Good Luck no thank you and um there's anything you need let us know luck thank you very much we will see you there I'm not a Winder but I'll still see him there yeah all right on to the next item which is the um Metro West partnership I see Mr n here so we're joined this evening by [Music] Jason theor partnership the town has been a member of the part for many years I don't not um and he'll do a better than I am but we we is in my office stff been grateful to be a member of this partnership um staff and he himself are strong Advocates and partners with us and rest of us in the partnership the regional advocating to the state for our various needs and and goals and Visions in fact including uh the very recent day at the state house uh and I had a number of staffs we were able to attend and it was hosted by Jason and team at partnership and um Senate President ter po spoke and repblic for there and so it's so I think it's a great relationship we've had it's probably the most I can give you credit for but he he has a presentation okay thank you Greg and thank you to members of the board for having me my name is Jason palich I am the executive director of the 495 me partnership and to answer br's earlier question mayor has been a member since the Inception of the organization back in 2003 mayor was one of our original 32 communities we now 36 so just by way of background and we have a slide I apologize for using my phone time myself I'm going to try to close to five minutes for requeste go on and on and on I know you got a big agenda tonight so I want to keep this as ASC as possible so we go to the next slide just by way background the 495 partnership is our regional Economic Development organization our mission is to lead the advancement of the 495 metro west region is an exceptional location for people businesses and communities our vision is one in which the 45 Metro West Region will a sustainable economic growth well stewarded built and natural resources and diverse transportation and housing choices because we know that together these things make our region Des place can you hold on for one second take your time we're not gonna throw you at the end of five minutes and it's much easier for us to stand understand if you're going at a more normal Pace you don't have to rush for us so man so take your time you'll be so disappointed to know that he's my normal speaking all right speaking that's fine but I I the sense that you might have been rushing a little and and there might be people that there might be people that want to hear what you have to say and they might not have caught up so no worries would you like me to redo any of no no no not that quick I will I will keep back yeah no no but don't worry about the phone and the time take your time it's I think we're all interested in you know because we hear a lot about the 495 Metro West partnership and it'd be nice to hear what you have to say so feel free to take your time if that's the speed talk at have at it thank you I appreciate the feedback um so we are the boal W partnership is a public private collaboration we are a stakeholder Alliance we're an alliance of businesses municipalities other organizations that partner together to Foster sustainable economic growth in our region we have a full-time staff complement of two people usually at present I'm actually hiring for that second rol so the fulltime sta compliment is me plus our Co-op student from North Eastern so we are a small But Mighty organization uh with a relatively large volunteer board of directors which I'll talk a little bit more about shortly the organization has been in continuous operation since 2003 uh want to bounce to the next slide so what are we talking about when we talk about 495 Metro West how do we Define the region so if you look at the presentation it is that purple region which I know like you describe as a large Diamond to the west of Boston we are 36 cities in town we go as far north as Westberg All the Way South to fo Pro rent planville on Eastern Frontier is Na and Wayland And we go as Far West as two and three in rton the region is home to roughly one in 10 residents of Massachusetts the region uh has grown substantially over the past few Generations between 1970 and 2020 the Region's population grew by 49% for comparison purposes Massachusetts as a state our population by 24% so this region is growing roughly about twice as fast as the state has over the past two generations the region has become increasingly more diverse between just the 2010 and 2020 desial consensuses the percentage of residents identifying as white dropped by 10 points from 83 to 70 73% the region also has exceptionally high levels of educational retainment 61% of the Region's Workforce of the bachelor's degree are higher compared to 45% for the state 29% of a graduate degree compared to 20% of the state it's a very highly educated region when compared to Massachusetts and Massachusetts as we know is highly educated State thank you the region is a technology and Life Sciences Hub industry clustered higher concentration of jobs in our region and state include it and analytics biopharmaceuticals and medical devices our unemployment rate has been consistently lower than the states and unusual for a suburban area we are an importer of Labor what does that mean you think of sort of a stereotype of a suburb people live in the bedroom community and commute in and out of the Central City for work in fact more people commute into the 495 Metro region to work than leave the 45 Metro region for yor so we are a net importer of Labor our housing vacancy rate has consistently been substantially below the state rate know that Massachusetts has a housing crisis that is much more pronounced 295 Metro West but from a commercial and Industrial real estate standpoint our commercial and Industrial real estate price per square footage is substantially more affordable than inside 128 Clos in Boston and Cambridge go to the next slide I won't dwell on too much on our organizational history but how what was the Genesis of the partnership how do we get started by the 80s and 90s this region had already started to see substantial growth both in terms of population as well as growth in economic importance to the state however the region can not been thought by Regional leaders who have achieved sort of a distinct identity Boston and Wier and Springfield as cities were having their needs met but a lot of regional leaders including in the business community and in the regions State Legislative delegation as the 1990s Dawn felt that the region did not have a significant enough voice in policymaking or Economic Development over the 1980s and 1990s number of smaller organizations focused with similar goals most notably the 295 technology Corridor but by the end of the 20th century the decision was made to try to combine these organizations into one to increase their voice so in 20 2003 these organizations were all going bounce to the next slide uh as a result of a feasibility study all of these organizations were combined into what we now call the 495 Metro West partnership so we were founded February 2003 so just over two decades of operation our leadership structor I mentioned that we have a very large board of directors my board is about 52 two voting members another 30 who serve in an advisory capacity as well as a select group of the Region's legislative delegation who also serve in a non- voting Andis capacity so our board me can be fairly large events with about 80 80 folks uh in the room that board why is it so large it's designed to make sure our different stakeholder groups all have a seat at the table so there are seats for Business Leaders in the region there are seats for municipal leaders in the region seats for economic development officers higher education institutions Chambers of Commerce uh some of the regional transit authorities and others to make sure that all of those voices are heard at the table and it's one the partnership makes decisions so if you want to move to the next slide so obviously we are by by a staff compliment we're a pretty small organization with a pretty broad goals so how do we make sure we're using our resources as effectively as possible in 2022 we adopted a new fiveyear strategic plan that established that we were going to focus on five things the first of which uh operational efficiency and Effectiveness had to do with making sure that we're using internally our resources as effectively as possible but there are essentially four areas we focus on in support of economic growth and before I Nam them I just want to say that sustainable economic growth is our overall goal these next four things are things we specifically focus on to support sustainable economic growth the first is transportation we are significant advocates for the Region's Transportation needs because obviously a robust and reliable transportation network is the Cent to support economic growth natural and built resources uh Water Resources being a particular challenge for Metro West we have a number of communities that are with strained Water and Sewer capacity and of course we know that those issues are essential to supporting economic growth housing we'll talk a little bit more about this in a bit but housing has emerged as the most significant economic threat to our region we are a very affordable place for businesses to locate in but we are a very expensive place for folks to live and then finally Workforce Development a number of our employers our larger employers are for the first time since the pandemic struggling to higher it's a tight labor Market need to make sure that companies have the human resources that they need to be here because it is the people that tends to draw businesses to be here in the bir place so this is a very exciting coming few weeks for the partnership because there are three big resources we publish each year all of which the 2024 versions are going to be published in just the next few weeks uh the first is our strength and numbers report this is a brief two-page document we put out each year which is just overall talking points that folks can use uh when talking up the econom IC advantages of 4995 Metro West they include a number of the points that I've already mentioned to you this evening including the fact that we have more affordable commercial and Industrial real estate including the fact that we have the Highly Educated work fors and so forth each year we also publish specific demographic and economic profiles of each of our 36 cities in TOS I've got a picture of Mayers from 2023 but again we are waiting actually for one updated data State set from the state Bureau of Labor Statistics to publish the 2024 versions We put these out each year for each of our 30 36 cities and towns they include your population your town educational entainment commuting patterns where folks commute from where they commute to housing information occupation and industries and more and then finally our 495 Metro West employer survey this is something we do every year in conjunction with the Metro West economic research center in Framingham State it's a survey of the Region's employers who assess their attitude their Outlook with the region that is actually the 2024 version is being presented to the board of directors at their meeting tomorrow and probably be live later this week we want to bounce to the next slide which going go briefly through two of our our more significant issues that we focus on those are transportation and housing so since our Inception the 495 metrist partnership has been one of the principal entities advocating for the transportation needs with 495 Metro wrest we put Transportation into three buckets roadways commun Rail and Regional Transit authori why those three buckets none of the 36 cities and towns we serve are served by mvpa bus or subway service we have no subway service our bus is are from the regional transit authorities they are not nvta bus service so when we talk about Transportation those are the three things we're talking about among the work that we do on roadway projects is we are the principal voice advocating for the state to make investments in what we know to be significant roadway needs we were the voice pushing for the state to redo the interchange between 495 pight which you Mo down to that area you know that significant four-year project is underway that is the second most expensive Transportation roadway project in State history but up in this NE of the woods is another project we advocated on that tends to get a little bit more attention if you commute on 495 South and need to get on to 290 West we may know that that ramp is now two lanes instead of one that was another significant priorities of our of our is finally done we recently in 2023 completed a project at stakeholder engagement where we tried to identify uh what we consider to be priority concerns for roadway issues over the coming decade it does take many years of advocacy to get the state to make a very expensive investment in these roadway projects some of the ones that wound up on the list of The Interchange of I5 rout 9 in westro uh but also the route two rotary West coner is one that we identified as a particular traffic choke point conquer is actually not one of our municipalities we do know that traffic from that rotary has significant impact on W we want to go to the next slide commuter rail I mentioned is another significant issue of ours our region is served by three Rail lines obviously in this portion of our region the Fitchburg line uh is the one that serves our region we are significant Advocates to make sure that the state is investing in Tomo rail infrastructure incl including regular investments in things like signals and switching little things that are necessary to try to prevent delays in the system we were also Chief advocates for trying to adjust the commuter rail schedule to be uh less the old schedule of front loading trains in the morning and having them be in the evening to be being more consistent in spaced throughout the day so that somebody may be wishing to commute on the commuter rail could know that they could get a train back quickly if they had if they had some sort of emergency we're pleased to say that that is something that happened during the pandemic but also trying to get the state to make more Investments to help address parking constraints in some of the Rail stations because we know a proposed to be able to take the rail that got to be a to get out of the car go to the next slide regional transit authorities are also significant for us as I mentioned again our region is not served by any nvta bus or Subway the regional transit authorities our region is served by five of them um most significantly the Metro West Regional Regional Transit Authority but obviously mayard uh is it's technically in the L one of our biggest issues is the lack of connectivity between the regional transit authorities you cannot get from one region one end of our region to another on transits uh and and that is something that we consistently try to push not only the Regal transit authorities on but also the state to make the investments in the rtas to make that necessary I like to tell the joke could you get from Miler to Hudson on public transportation and most people are tempted to say no the answer is actually yes you get to mil Center take a fix gr bus to Framingham change buses get a fix GR to mro take two shuttles and get to a particular neighborhood in Hudson this is not something that somebody looking to access public transportation for work could do so in addition to make them trying to fight Mor connectivity between the rtas we have identified Route 85 as kind of a missing north south connector the the rtaas are really designed to move people in and out of simpal cities but they're not really designed to move people within our region just go to the next slide I mentioned that housing has become a a really significant concern partnership when I started I started in this well a couple weeks before the pandemic if you would ask me then what our number one economic threat was is I would have easily told you Transportation traffic congestion and certainly we still have our fair share of Transportation issues it is now housing the reason that so many employers want to be in 495 Metro West is an addition to the more affordable commercial and Industrial real estate for a highly skilled Highly Educated Workforce that they folks can hire from unfortunately this is becoming an increasingly expensive place to live we are seeing large employers that have never struggled to hire in this region before that are in fact in this region because of who they can hire struggling to fill roles our business Community knows that the housing front is part of that the partnership this we did not have a policy plank on housing we are in the process of developing that now but we are certainly already pushing State policy makers on the need to make more resources available to help cities and towns develop not just more affordable and Workforce housing but also a greater diversity in types of in terms of types of hous units I'm going to go to the next slide we're the regional Economic Development Organization for our area that is an official state acronym called redo this is actually a competitive grant program that we compete for every year it's not something we're guaranteed if to demonstrate performance and compete for this title every year but we are the official reading Organization for the 495 Metro West Region there are 12 of these organizations across the state and the system is specifically set up so that we don't really overlap there's a different one for each region some of the work that we do under this program is just traditional Economic Development work what does that mean site selection and retention so if there's a company that's interested in coming to the region we'll work with them to identify a site or a personal or help them navigate whatever needs they have in coming into the region if somebody in the region is considering growing in the region or you know it might be considering leaving we'll offer similar Services we will make make introductions between business members of the business community and appropriate points in government that are necessary for them to get questions answered or to help move a project along and we also it's important to note um we are not a membership organization it's part and Par being organizations we provide these services to any business that reaches out to us you don't have to pay a fee to receive these Services you don't have to be a member of anything receiving Services provide these services to anyone who ask and if we're not capable of providing a service in the house we will refer them to someone who can and then lastly just to wrap up I want to note obviously we have 36 cities and towns and I say that I love all of them equally but VOR is one that we are especially fond of uh as with any organization how much a municipality gets out of an organization depends on how much they want to engage with it mayard is certainly one of our more engaged communities so mayard does hold one of the seats on our board of directors as a common misconception that all 36 of our cities in town get the seat on the board that's actually not how it works but mayor does at present have one in the form of Mr Bill ner who in addition to being an Engaged member of the board also serves uh on our monthly planning and economic development working group every month we convene the planning and economic development officers from the regions 36 communities just to get together and and coordinate and talk with one another it's a little bit like therapy finers but mayor is an active participant in that our region State Legislative delegation we have 28 legislators we have eight members of the Senate and 20 of the house but a subset of that six of them serve on our advisory committee representative Hogan he's a very act active member of our advisory committee and then finally I just want to note uh in fy22 we had a fairly unique one time and and to head off a question might be coming know we don't expect it to happen again we had a onetime opportunity to attach local econom development projects to that redo Grant as a result of some pandemic investments from the state there was extra money in the redo program to enable cities in towns to do onetime quick turnaround Economic Development projects they had to be completed within a year when we learned about this we put out notice to all 36 of our cities and towns most were not in a position to move that quickly either because they Wen staff to do so or they didn't necessarily have a project ready to go but mayard did and mayor was ready to go and so thanks to that we were able to secure just under $100,000 to support improvements to the River Street parking lot and we were very happy to be able to do that want just uh go to the next slide we often get asked our scream of funding so uh some of our funding comes from that competitive State Grant of the redo program but we're also supported by what we call investors I mention we're not a membership organization we don't have the pay to be a member of the partnership but we do have major Employers in the region who financially support the partnership because they support the work that we do I'm proud to say again you don't have to pay money to the partnership to benefit from our work these companies invest in the partnership because they believe that they benefit from the work that we do screen there you just see some of those folks and with that I happy to take any questions or comments that you may have and I did slow myself down but I went way way beyond my five minutes okay okay um does anybody have any questions for uh yeah I I have a couple of questions or at least one hello thank you for the presentation um I'm not sure that I could repeat all of your information it was certainly very thorough and detailed I appreciate that um just one question are you familiar with the municipal vulnerability preparedness program and just wondering whether that has any impact on the kinds of programs and and projects that you guys work on yes indeed we are the 495 mest partnership is a proud member of What's called the MVP advocacy Coalition so I mentioned that there's a couple of different issues we focus on one of which has to do with build and national resources uh helping cities and towns managing Water Resources helping cities and towns prepare for the impact of climate change it's very very important to us we use our public policy voice uh to Advocates to policy makers at the state level for increased investment in the nvp program those who don't know there's two layers to the nvp program there's the planning Grant and the action Grant proud to say that all of our all 36 our communities have done a planning Grant a much smaller subset have done an action Grant so we know that there's a lot lot of work left to be done we are right now I mentioned the MVP Advocates Coalition we're part of a coalition of different organizations across the state including some of the riverwater sheds uh pushing the state to make a much more substantial investment of $100 million per year in this program we are hoping to see that happen through an environmental Bond Bill if not in this session in the next session it will be very important priority us okay right thank you very much yeah I mean I'm I'm definitely interested in any organization that promotes Regional approaches to to some of these types of issues and problems so to know that this resource is there is helpful so thank you very much my quick comment um is you look at the map of member communities and you know I was studying it and it appears to me that we're in a unique situation here in mayard with the exception of larger communities that are our East namely whand and Native um every other community within that network has either un vment or inclusion on 495 or as an immediate abutter to a 495 Community out of all of the ones that are in the network mayard is the only one that is not essentially there as I say there's a couple that are that are so one of the difficulties that we have is our location so I do believe the transportation is a huge issue concerned for mayard in order to try to get our economic uh engine running and getting more people here in order not only for our restaurants and whatever but for the middle to generate businesses that can generate people I know you guys that I know that but that's the frustration I think that in mayor that we have to deal with and try to find an answer to to find how to get people here in a quick fashion because nobody wants to drive 20 minutes uh from 128 or from 495 to get to where they're going they want to get to their place quick so I guess it's more of a statement than than I but what's your reaction to that I'm sensitive to that concern so I happen to be a shrewbury resident which is one of the other communities that does not have does not actually touch 495 the highway and of course we're named for 495 because of the corridor but obviously that's not per se literal to the highway it's the economic Corridor certainly when the organization was founded maned along with other neighboring communities felt like it had something to gain from partnering together with these communities we're certainly proud of that maner this part of our Coalition in spite of the name we do try to pay attention to all of the major roadways that feed our region so obviously there's for5 there's also the towards the center of our region 95 all the way to the South Route two to the north we make sure that we are paying attention as much as possible all the major transportation routes where there might be bottleneck or choke points and in particular I think that mayard has been we served by the way RTA got set up across the state where so many of our communities are on the edge of RTA service areas and so public transportation is largely um what individual municipalities and senior centers have managed to C together to serve we do a lot of work with actually your state representative representative Hogan in trying to secure funding to Pilot new and innovative ways for the RAS to connect with one another and support programming to try to get them out of the mindset of bringing folks in and out of the Central City with low for the LRTA framing again for the nwta and trying to get a system in place where we're doing things like demand response service which aren't just the old school fix rout bus service but are affordable ways for folks to get from point A to point B so certainly mayor is one of the minority of communities that's not on the highway but it's certainly not the only one we've got a couple of uh little I call them corners of our region that don't have that Direct on the highway pie and prob sensitive to those shury does have to9 we do indeed anybody else well yeah thank you very much we appreciate it and um thanks and thank you Bill thank you Bill thank you for your time thank you very much to community electricity aggregation program Mr chair so s can hi everyone I'm Sally Warner um I apologize I'm working uh abroad right now so I can't be there in person but um uh so I'm here to introduce um so Marana Patton is here from Mass power choice to give a presentation about Maynard's upcoming proposal for um mayard Power Choice our community aggregation plan and um with her presentation tonight that will open up our 30-day comment period um and there's information on the town website um about that there's some flyers posted around um if you have comments um about the proposal so we look forward to hearing from everyone and um yeah I'll stay online for questions but Marlana can um take it away with her presentation in the packet yeah which one is it this I think it's at the bottom M public meeting that's it okay all right we're ready Paton Sally said and actually I'll I'll mention that um our CEO paer is also on Zoom so we can probably answer all your questions um but I'm from Mass power Choice which is just to clarify for your consultants for the municipal aggregation program that the town is working toward launching and our role is Broad reaching to help the folks get the program set up folks eventually take um the town out to bid to get prices and Supply contract and then Management program once it's up and running so we're just kind of an extra set of hands in a lot of different ways um the reason we're here tonight is because uh this is a regulatory requirement this step um in order to get approval from the Department of Public Utilities which regulates aggregation programs mayor has to develop a couple program documents the chief one is called an aggregation plan and then there are some mailing materials as well um that are sample mailing materials about notifications about the program those have to be submitted to the Department of Public Utilities for review before we do that we have to make them available for a 30-day period of public comment so what I'm here to do tonight is to step folks through the basics of what's in that aggregation plan in a way that's a little bit easier to understand because that document is really written for Regulators it's not really written for the public so this presentation takes kind of the Core Concepts of that aggregation plan which is a very high level governing document and breaks it into what I hope is digestible chunks um and then at the end of this we'll be kicking off as Sally mentioned a 30-day period of Pon and afterwards we'll be able to move forward with the regulatory um so uh the opening slid is it's an electricity program by and for the town of mayard so I always like to clarify this is a municipal program this is not a program from my company um this is something from the town for the town um so this just this slide just repeats what I just said this is the public comment period that will extend until July 8th and information about how to submit comments is available on the municipal website and also on the to choice.com um so next slide what is this program it's a municipal electricity aggregation which is a mouthful um so the way to think about that is it's a group electricity purchasing program and it's also an alternative to all the marketing that we all get from electricity suppliers which is in the mail or sometimes over the phone so it's a transparent regulated alternative to those private offers slide so why participated why participate there's a few things in it um few benefits for the community a big one is new options for the supply part of your electric bill so if you're not already familiar with electricity Supply and electricity Supply options the program like this impacts the supply charge portion of your electric bill not the delivery charge portion so you're going to get new options for that part of your bill um another one is stable prices so when you don't have a program like this and you just have eversource prices for the supply part of your bill their prices change season and they can really be impacted by seasonality in the electricity market so for example a couple years ago at the beginning of the Ukraine war everybody will remember that ever sources prices went really high that this part of the bill this is five part of the bill that's fik when you have a program like this though the town's going to sign a longterm fixed price contract so you're not going to be subject to seasonal spikes and prices you get a lot of stability with that you do have the potential to also save some money compared to ever sources prices the town's going to be hopefully negotiating competitive prices so that's also an um a benefit I just have to offer the caveat that we can't guarantee that the town's prices will always be lower than eversource prices and that's because eversource prices change all the time they change every six months and we just don't know what the future prices are going to be but in general most Community about 80% % at least have been able to save money through a program like this it's not a lot you're not going to go buy a house in BAH with the savings but there are modest savings possible and then the third big benefit is more electricity from renewable sources as a large customer the town is going to be able to specify the electricity makeup of what the town is buying so as part of that you be able to say we'd like more of the electricity we buy to come from renewable sources like solar and wind then you're getting from eversource next slide so I like to get out in front that mayard power choice is not going to be a replacement for eversource it's not going to change who delivers electricity to the town and that's because eversource has a geographic monopoly they own the PO and the wires so if you live in mayard you are never Source that's just not something you can choose but you can choose your electricity supplier which is the company that buys electricity and puts it on the grid for you and so that's what's going to happen with M or power Choice you're going to be able to make a choice in your electricity supplier if you go to the next slide it can help to understand when we're talking about what this program is is that there are actually three ways for consumers to buy their electricity in Massachusetts the first is if ever Source buys it for you so that's when you have that seasonal six Monon changing price that I mentioned a moment ago so this is also what you have when you first open your electricity account with other source they're providing it with two Services they're always going to deliver it like I said before they own the PS and the wires and then they're also going to buy it for you which is called buying it and when they do that you have something called basic service and basic service is the price that changes all the time your second option is you respond to one of these private offers that we're all getting and when you do that eversource is still utility and they're still sending your bill but when they calculate the supply charge part of the bill they're going to use the price that you got in that private contract and then the third option is if the city or town so in May's case mayard signs a contract with one of those private companies that the community can benefit from so again Ed source is still the utility still sending the bill still call them for flight to go out but when they calculate the bill the supply part on the bill they're going to use a mayard price to calculate it so that's what an aggregation is and that's what mayard power choice is so we go to the next one so this is a picture of what I was just discussing for those who like pictures so this is what basic service is so before the program launches and you haven't signed a contract you have eversource supplying and delivering your electricity so that's the left kind of twoth thirds of the picture and on the right we have customers receiving electricity so that's the default we' always have that to go back to um on the next slide is what it looks like with the program in place so it's really the same diagram the same picture and the right twoth thirds are exactly the same eversource is still delivering your electricity you're still receiving it and there's no interruption in that relationship between the customer and eversource at all what we have is the supply is no longer handled by every Source that's now an orange color and that's because there's a new entity that's going to do that that's going to buy the electricity put it on the Del next so I mentioned at the beginning that one of the big benefits of this program is new choices so the program designed to actually offer consumers three choices compared to ever sources so on the screen here we see three on the left side and if we start on the far left we have mayard standard the town has to choose one of the to be the one that people get enrolled in if they don't choose one of the others it's called the default so that's what Mard standard is going to be and the town's intention is to include more renewable energy from renewable sources in that default then is coming from ever source so I'll add that state law already requires all the electricity that's sold in the state to have a minimum amount from renewable sources mayor's intention is to conclude a little bit more than that the amount that's going to be included we don't know that yet that's something that you guys will decide based on price once you're able to get through the regulatory review process go out to bid and see how much it's going to cost there's going to be a little bit added there then there's going to be a 100% renewable option that's Manor 100% green that people can elect but they're not going to get it automatically it'll cost a little bit more and then there's the basic option which again is something that people can elect that's going to give you the amount of electricity from renewable sources that's provided by law required by law but no more it's really the same electricity mix you get from ever Source you're going to get a Manor price for it so those will be the three options they'll have three different prices and all of those three will be fixed long-term prices and that will be comparative eversource which has this minimum amount of renewable energy required by law and a price that changes every six months as part of these prices I'll also add that the town is requesting authorization to charge a small to include a small fee in the price which the town can then use and put toward program management the town is not obligated to implement this fee it's just the town's asking for authorization to collect it if you don't ask for it you never have the opportunity to collect it so it's an authorization and then the town again can decide down the road whether or not to include this small fee in the program prices so next slide right so here's what it looks like on the bill um you can just keep tab because I have this little animation there we go so as I mentioned before it doesn't impact your delivery charge th the supply charge and this is where we pay for the electricity we use not for the delery of it I'll add that ever Source doesn't make a profit on the supply part of the bill they make their profit on the delivery part of the bill so they super don't care if mayor launches this program and everybody participates they're not going to put an asteris by anybody's name and say your account's participating in this program we're going to turn your lights back on last it doesn't work that way they make all their profit on the delivery side and the supply side is where this program comes in so that's where it's going to you're going to see it on the bill it's going to impact that price um and then next slide please um beyond that you're not really as a consumer going to see a lot of changes these programs run pretty invisibly behind the scene and your primary relationship remains with eversource the same as it always has so they're still delivering your electricity you're still calling them if the lights go out they're still sending the bill um you're still paying them you're not going to get an extra bill as a result of participating in this program and if you're eligible for any discount like a loow income discount or fuel assistance fuel assistance those discounts will not change either you can still get those discounts on top of participating in your power choice so next slide so how does participating work I keep saying participating how does it work it's going to be really easy for most people because by law the program has to work with an automatic enrollment mod specifically anybody with ever sources basic service so that anybody who doesn't already have a contract with an electricity supplier themselves will be eligible for automatic enrollment when the program launches now that doesn't happen without you being informed of it so there's a notification that goes out in the mail mayor doesn't have to pay for that notification your electricity supplier will cover the cost of the implementation of it um but a notification will go out in advance before it happens with all the information about the program options prices renewable content and how to opt out if you don't want to participate so you have this automatic enrollment model if you do nothing you get enrolled in that standard default option but if you don't want to participate you're going to have a 30-day period where you can choose not to so participation is never required so next slide so some common questions what if I have already signed a contract as an electricity supplier so I've been talking about basic service what if that's not you what happens when the program launches you're not going to be automatically enrolled and you shouldn't be you have a contract but you can participate if you want to you just have to take a step to do it and it's going to be really easy you can just call on the phone or uh go on the website and submit your account information so you just have to take a step um if you have solar panels or you participate in community solar and you're getting on Bill credits or you're getting an incentive payment the nice news is there's no change you can do that and participate this program there's no change to how those credits forens payments C another question is as I mentioned load and discount F assistance no change there budget billing is one area there is a change I always like to be clear about this so budget billing is when ever Source estimates your use for the next six months based on your historical use and they charge you the same amount every month so your bill doesn't fluctuate so if you participate in program like Meed power Choice there will be a change to budget billing it will no longer apply to the supply chart part of your bill it will only apply to the delivery charge part of your bill so the supply charge would start to fluctuate every month based on your use so if that's important to you having it on your total bill then you would want to op out of the program and again that you would have the opportunity to do that so what's the timeline so this is um this is the big picture and you'll see on the very far left the public vote is the very first thing that had to happen which mayard already did took the public vote um to pursue aggregation and we're in that first blue bar that says aggregation plan development so that's where we are now you can see the next step is the big green bar the regulatory review process and we have zero control over that um so we'll submit everything to we have to have a consultation meeting with the Department of energy resources and then go to the dpu and the dpu is the body that will review and approve their program they you may have heard have had a very recent history of moving very slowly however they're trying very hard to be better and we're very optimistic that vard's going to benefit from a lot of work that's been done recently around new guidelines that will dramatically accelerate through new process so this feels like a good time to kind of get in the gate it doesn't feel like you're going to be languishing for a long time so I put on here four to 12 months um my my optimistic guess is it's going to be on the shorter end of that but it's not something we can control and it doesn't have anything to do with the complexity of mayard program mayard doing exactly the same thing about 180 other communities have already done it's really just a question of the but so once we get through that then mayard can go out to bid and get electricity prices and renewable energy prices so not until that process finishes can we actually figure out what everything's going to cost and when the program is going to launch so we get through that process we go out to bid you get prices and we know now how much everything's going to cost and when we're going to launch the program and then we start a period of public Outreach and education which includes that mailing that I mentioned that notification to anyone that's eligible for automatic enrollment it's also going to include public information session social media press release so all of that's in the aggregation plan and we'll help St you guys through them and then once that's done program launches um so as I mentioned how you're going to get more information about six eight weeks before launch you get that notice in the mail there's an announcement there's a website that's already available so mayard power choice.com is going to ultimately be the home for detailed program information we'll manage that for you folks there's a lot of regulatory requirements around this type of information and so it's easy for us to stay on top of that and keep you compliant and you can already go there now to get information about how aggregation Works um to get information about just the steps in the process and customer support so my company actually provides Frontline customer support and we're already willing and able to talk to folks who have questions about it so you can also call the phone number or submit a question by email or the online form and talk to us so that's already up and running um and I think that's yeah so this is the screenshot of the homepage of the website um and our customer support number but if you remember nothing remember M orow choice.com you can find all there um and then the next slide is just a reminder that it's the beginning of a public comment period that goes through July 8th um and you can download the plan document at the municipal website choice.com or go to copies and get your information on how to submit written comments on those and that's it I'm happy to answer questions do anybody have any questions start I do uh you Justine you wantan to go first no I I actually don't have any question oh okay uh couple public comment section you spoke up at the end um is that all done online or is there a public meeting how is how are public comments received relative to this program and what's the purpose of the public comments section is it so people can say I don't like it people can say yes I do like it and that should affect the decision that might be made on an executive level what's the purpose of yeah so to answer your first question public so the town has set up an email address and also US mail address so written comments can be subm submitted either electronically or orun US mail um and the purpose is to provide feedback to the town about these draft documents so some people may want to write in and say we think this is a great idea and we really want to advocate for more renewable energy something like that or some people might want to right in and say we think this is a great idea but we don't want you to prioritize renewable energy we want you to kind of rethink how these program options are or maybe somebody wants to write and say I don't think this is a great idea so this is an opportunity for the public to provide feedback to the town and at the end of the public comment period the town can then decide how wants to deal with those comments and whether it wants to make changes to any of these draft documents before submitting them to State Regulators andl okay thank you uh my second question is um probably a third of the way in um you talked about a fee uh concerning to me because whenever I hear fee I think well who's getting this money and what the heck is it for I knew nothing about a fe as we were going through this process is the town going to be expending employee funds in order to operate this Al and if not what's the fee so that this is to begin with it's up to the town how to manage the program managing Consultants we do typically carry the majority of the load but there is still some effort required by the town there are for example always going to be people that want to come to the town instead of a consultant for help um we try to put our phone number out there there but there are always folks who are going to be more comfortable coming to town staff um there is going to be engagement needed from time to time um around regulatory requirements around um Supply procurements those kinds of things on a periodic basis um so it's really up to the town to decide how much of an investment the town wants to make around those in some communities there are staff members that spend a lot of effort trying to do Outreach additional Outreach beyond what we support to the public around these programs with optup campaigns or trying to get the business Community involved things like that so that's really something for the town to decide what like how much staff time you want to invest in it but generally the consultant carries the majority of the loan with with regard to the fee this is something where it's keeping your options open this is not something that the town has committed to collecting or is required to collect but if you don't put it in your plan it's just never going to be available to the town as an option to look at in the future so you have to kind of have it in the beginning that the dpu said yeah you have the authority to do it and then the town can decide when it wants to if it wants to to say okay yeah we'll start including this this in price but is not something that's in any way committed it's really just trying to keep their options open for the town okay that was pointed out in previous presentations that we I'm wrong Paul rtion mentioned that the last time he was here so we we have heard about that yeah I if I had it didn't hit me as it did tonight um you know I've gotten a lot of feedback from people um concerned about the optin aspect of it and I understand that that's not the or opt out aspect or however have you want to phrase it um and I understand that that's part of law that's you know if you're going to enter into it this is the way it works I also understand the value of the opt out program in order to negotiate you have to know what you've got as a base you can't just say well we're gonna have people we don't know how many work on us so I understand that aspect um but I am concerned uh about it and I I don't want to lose I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water and say no we don't want to fee but I don't want to fee because I don't people are going to be you know we're already stretched many people in manner I don't want to adding fees to anything Y and definitely you're not committed to it it's just putting something in there to keep all the options open it may be that many years down the road this becomes something so it's not at all a commitment it's just let's make sure the town has all the options available okay thank and who will be taking in the so I see on on the website that it's um it looks like the vated power Choice email um or the mail to the sustainability committee so once you get all the public comments then what are those comp and I might have missed this are they compiled in the document and circulated are they who because you said the town sees it but I'm not sure who the who the town is in that Cas so I just yep I I don't know actually who's on the receiving end maybe um Sally Sally May know who's on the receiving end of the comments um yeah I'm I'm receiving or I have access to that email address and have been checking it so far we received two comments via the email address and compile them at the end of the public comment period and then compile them and then circular how will anyone see them or is it just something for just the sustainability committee is it something for just the select board something just for the Town Administrator um I guess we can if if um I was imagining it being for the sustainability committee to decide the ways that we maybe would want to amend the proposal to dpu um but if it wants to be seen by a wider audience I can compile them and make that available we could post them on the website too you know the public comment appears in here are the comments I yeah I was just curious how it worked I haven't I haven't seen the public comment section things so I wasn't sure who was getting it or how sorry lot I did do question did Mike any questions um yeah I have a question about the the opt out um system in with other towns are you aware of what kind of issues people have raised for those who choose to opt out and is there anything that we can do to uh help better educate those people who have the questions about optin now um so you're you're kind of asking like why why do people out or that kind of thing what what's yeah what's the data on you know is is it a significant issue or do most people just not pay attention and just go with the flow which is why it's always op why it's out right well um I I would say it's not typically a huge issue in most communities um most people say in the communities we parti we we we run or managed we had like 65 to 70% of the community accounts wind up in the program um there are always accounts that are going to be on um competitive Supply contracts already that will be eligible for inclusion um there are going to be folks who are just uncomfortable with being made aware that their local government has made a decision for them a lot of people just don't like that when that's brought to their attention ention they don't like the concept of an automatic enrollment even if the price they're getting is you know more competitive they're just uncomfortable with it so um for those folks the opt out option is there and and it's 100% fine it doesn't endanger the price of the program um and then there are folks who are going to be worried that this is going to be a replacement for eversource or it's going to somehow Rock the vote there that's a lot of the calls we get into customer support are people who say Well I'm familiar with ever Source I know what it is my billing set up they've never you know they've never treated me badly I don't I don't want to rock that load and for them we really explain that they're still an eversource customer that's not changing and eversource is still delivering everything same as always it's just that they're getting a better price more competitive price for a part of their bill um but that that is one of the concerns that that makes people nervous but that's a concern that can be addressed with education to think if there are any other um other big ones but those are the those are the big ones there are also a lot of folks who will do a knee-jerk reaction and talk up and then back about later and talk to neighbors deal okay thank you s appreciate anyone else no I just want to thank you and the parag team and and Sally and Priscilla for and the rest of sustainability committee for your dedication a lot of work has gone in into bringing us to where we are today from the beginning of that 30day public comment period I think if you um look at where mayor truly took a vote on that bar it was always back so you know going back to uncovering the public boat and taking a look at some of the aspects there um just a lot of good work so I'm looking forward to seeing the benefits as you described ear the presentation come that being said perhaps you could read the motion I will move to approve the initiation of the 30-day public review period for the proposed Community electricity aggregation plan as presented thank you sir thank you any further questions one quick question um okay are businesses excluded businesses are not excluded the programs for residents and businesses um as I mentioned most large businesses typically get better competitive pricing um on their own through private contracts but the program is honestly open to any any need elri sorry apolog thought we moved I thought it was in the wrong room it's okay it's a long day the end of the day um all right so um any other questions David anyone else Mike no all right um all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justine yes David yes I a yes as well thank you very much for the presentation and the 30-day period begins thank you thank you thank you very much hey can I give just a little bit of feedback on the website yeah I think that I think when you click which website there no our website okay so you click on the news flash and the comment period comes up okay then you have to click on the major power Choice then you have to read down like more than half the page to figure out how to do public comments would you like that the top yeah or like bigger or something so thanks all right now we're on to item number 10 the 6163 Summer Street reuse committee yeah good evening well we are here tonight to present our final report to you we've been meeting since you appointed us on the 7th of February in 23 um I guess to begin with I I could thank everyone who helped us during these 16 months including uh you folks certainly um our leaz on mic has been to many of the meetings thank thanks to him um Greg Bill nza Steve Silverstein and many of the Town ball staff as well as many of our fellow citizens from committees like the affordable H cross planning board um other boards and committees um also we'd like to thank uh MPC um Don by the name of Alex pman and gwan park who um offered their technical assistance expertise and organizational skills we put together a townwide survey focus groups interviews um and also I would be remiss if I didn't thank we started out with seven and immediate seven members immediately lost two we're up to five and we are now four stalwart members to uh to give you this report tonight and I think it's been a very challenging time consuming um effort but this has been a great team with very Talent ented generous people who gave them their time and talent so thank you kadisha you're we're going to be joined by Lindy gear who I believe is on the road and hoping to find a Hotpot uh somewhere to join us and Andy and Brian berous who was our chair for a long time and had to leave for um some promotional opportunities um and we want to thank Brian for his his great leadership during the time that he was our chair um I've been asked just to make a few comments and then I'm going to turn it over to my C board members this complex is unique in maned and to man's educational and cultural history uh and in the memories of so many who attended school here if you know that facility the original building was 1916 the high school 1924 the junior high and then the George Washington Auditorium in the middle it's um embodies the grow and educational aspirations of our town beginning in the early 20th century going forward it's a very classical building we think we be preservation and I think that's a feeling that many of the developers we spoke to many of the groups here in town people um townwide survey um folks really feel that building should be preserved if not the facade um it just only the facade um as you know most recently it housed at space when all the schools been relocated to the great Ro campuses this property is listed in the Maas which is the Massachusetts inventory of historic property properties and it is a National Registry eligible property it has the pedigree it's quite an interesting um property and complex so what we'd like to do now is Kish we'd like to discuss our methodology and presenting this report to you tonight um and um we would also ADV point turn the program over to Andy and Lindy we hope to would discuss the five options that we're presenting to you uh tonight and then each one of those options we will also offer qualitative and quantitative um considerations for each one of those options and I think Steve sunstein will join us at that point I'll turn it over TOA thank you good evening uh the group was very intentional about our process we have ology our investigation started with site visits history users as well as the maintenance we study the main production plans Community Development plans going in and conducted preliminary interviews with Town officials we had 10 options we reviewed last June community and the Butters and we got comments from everyone they put stickies up on charts and we wrote that up and we developed a chart to evaluate financial needs and financial implications as well as the cultural benefits and this chart was going to be used to refine the options as well as show the um the the way to manage and evaluate each option uh the options that we got from expecting the 10 options from community members then n DC our Consultants came in and tested those options in focus groups over several months we met with developers Builders Town officials housing experts and artist groups then we also um MPC conducted the formal surveys online and by paper from that our group ref find our options using the cost benefit analysis as well as cultural and historical analys and we develop the five options for the final report and that's our methodology I think we want to turn it over now Andy's online um there he is Andy's going to be discussing our five options with you and also talking a little bit about what we consider intangibles those things that are prized by people the historic value the educational the the um the things that need to be considered um the impact on sewer and water the impact on traffic um the placement the zoning issues those kinds of intangibles and then hopefully Steve can give you a brief summary of the benefits of each one of our options to the town we feel strongly this property should be returned to the tax rows um and so hi alen hi everybody hi board thank you so much for your time I'm Andy morline at 123 Summer Street uh I'm off off site today um I will be presenting our selected options for reuse of the old fower building with a brief overview of some of the considerations we have pointed out regarding each of these options in your board docs you will find a more detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis but for tonight I will just share a summary of key qualitative points so things that we really think you need to pay attention to um we thought about our charge as we thought about our charge we saw two apparent approaches renovation of the existing buildings and Demolition and rebuild a new one case for renovation is obviously the iconic and familiar value of these buildings another plus is the opportunity for historic renovation has for historic tax credits an enticement that several developers said may be necessary for a profitable project each of these cases there is an opportunity to request the the um each of the cases with the renovation There's an opportunity to request an RFP a some sort of a mixed use partnership to include a senior center or a community center as a possibility in our survey with residents they preferred keeping the facade of the buildings one of the concerns about renovation is the limited parking on the site as it's configured and any changes might very well affect the amount of green space in each scenario where the building is preserved zoning changes will be required which will add a lot of extra time demolition has the advantage of an energy efficient new building new construction could still be designed to evoke our existing buildings and emphasize the small Town character of Summer Street with a blank slate you'd have the opportunity to have parking and green space options open up but of course demolition means the loss of our Landmark school no historic tax credits and significant demolition costs which is and also a waste of materials value uh all that brick and all that building would just go to waste um next slide Please Mr Wilson thank you considering Renovations we appreciate the town's proximity to downtown walking distance is really a big deal in fact for all but one of the five scenarios we found housing was a compelling reuse of this property now I'll discuss our five options individually artist workon condom because this option may seem unfamiliar we added a single page description in your board docs but briefly these our suggestion is artist owned condos a condo association that owns the building and maintains it for work only non-residential with a deed restriction on future resale of individual condo shares this option has a familiar level of Neighborhood Impact everyone seems comfortable with the past 23 years of artist use including the art gallery and Acme theater it also keeps the building open if we required them to have open gallery outs during some parts of the year just like it was when it was Art Space we do recognize this renovation would be extensive but it would not require all the bathrooms kitchens and interior walls of a residential uh development it would basically maintain the classroom rooms as they exist be sprinkler systems and new heating system a lot of the improvements that a that a developer would recognize needed to be done and the town would require um these sorts of improvements are substantially lower cost than uh than housing and it speeds the development timetable the challenge of this is of course finding a champion for this sort of a project um it's really especially if we're going to shoot for an out a not for-profit realm outside of the profit in the profit realm would be a challenge this option adds no housing stock um so that anyway we had several discussions about other commercial possibilities and the possible interest in and impact on this location besides this application we could not find any compelling reuse that included commercial development so mixed age housing an example of this is the recent buil building at 42 Summer Street I think we're all pretty familiar with what a mixed age housing would look like or would be like how it would act on our town um with this there's still the because of our high mandated affordable percentage of 20 to 25% depending on whether or not a developer wants to do condos or rentals any Housing Development would positively impact our affordable housing stock Mator School small school class size would not necessarily be negatively impacted by a development at this a housing development at this site a few added students could actually help spread our substantial per pupil costs at this point points to consider are other housing projects in the town that are in the works and this option has the expectation of more traffic on Summer Street on the other hand our next suggestion senior housing for ages 55 and older would likely add less TR traffic than mix stage housing um we all understand that re recent census indicates that mayor's population is aging seniors often find smaller units in town walking distance from downtown are appealing this sort of movement from their home to a smaller apartment frees up housing stock for new families and that allows the town to have growth of course you also need to consider that some research shows that seniors Thrive best in mixed age settings are two scenarios now that that require demolition are pretty straightforward thank you um the resulting homes would blend well into an existing residential neighborhood on Summer Street and have gentle or no impact on traffic and H and town Services these two options are the only scenarios that could be built by right in this General residential zoning dist District all other options will require Planning and Zoning regulation changes planning board approval and need town meeting approval and that's assuming that the developer stayed within all their by right uh rules um for example in the oh no um so uh townhouse design or a shared building we are thinking developers would seek one two or three bedroom of tow houses comparable to those at Deer Path or Oak Ridge there's always the possibility of an RFP request for a pocket park with the repositioned George Washington kopa as a centerpiece um again these objects these options are subject to inclusionary zoning regulations you know the stipulate stipulated 25% if it's for rentals or uh 20% for privately owned units um so we're always going to be getting the the value of in of uh low-income housing support from any of these options um for single family homes the site would likely accommodate six perhaps nine homes and really irregularly shaped lots and still fit into their by right um they could get up to 13 single family homes if a subdivision is created which would of course require extra um approvals all subject to inclusionary zoning regulations for affordable housing so we'd still have that inclusionary zoning and added affordable housing this committee very much appreciates all the support we've gotten Bill NS or minicipal Services they have provided us with a lot of informational support but we do not have the expertise to weigh how each of these scenarios might impact the town's coffers and again that consideration was key to the ReUse committee's value system so um Steve Silverstein is here and he offered to help build a really cool PowerPoint that will allow a flexible analysis of some of the costs and values to the town for each of these suggestions we have presented he has prepared the next slide and will inform you of his conclusions Mr Silverstein take it away please please thank you very much I performed a cost benefit analysis and it's a rough guide it's not hard and fast uh it's basically an economic model um that is founded on assumptions so I tried to use uh to do as conduct as much research as possible to make sure that those assumptions were well founded but they are assumptions so in practice when shovel meets dirt things may change uh with all that said cost benefit analysis just generally put it looks at the value uh in today's dollars of streams of Revenue uh and costs that span multiple years so what we're essentially looking at are what are the benefits to the town and what are the costs to the town of doing scenario one two three four five again just to reiterate this is not from the perspective of the developer it's from the perspective of the town so for example major benefits the primary one is tax revenue uh but also in conducting research fairly good to me here into this job uh one of the major drivers of benefits is from uh our water and sewer fees and bills so the annual subscription an annual water use uh annual uh sewer use and I have to really give uh kudos to Department of Public Works Mr dear and his team for helping me out with this and I I did uh give them a lot of hassle to come up with some of the uh the calculations that were used in this model um costs the primary cost and you'll see how this factors into some of the results uh was education and that's you know cost per pupil which for mayard according to State data is about $20,000 a student so for example with the uh the artist Studios you know there there's no educational cost associated with it but with mixed housing there are there's an assumption so i i b into the assumptions that if not every unit was occupied by a family family in mayard one5 of all uh of the housing stock has is a a Family household with the school AG children uh so cost education was the primary cost driver but then also Public Safety and I had to fiddle a bit with fost to Public Safety between those who are in the zero to 55 demographic and those who are 55 and older just because data shows that for seniors there's more of a call on uh Public Safety Services so basically the results of the cost benefit analysis um it's essentially a go noo and not that if it's a the highest number if it's 100 it's you take that over the the scenario over a five right it's more if it's above one it should be highly considered so the artist work only Studio was uh was the highest at five um then we have you know descending order the senior housing for age 55 and and older numbers here so it was 5.1 for the artists 2.6 vers housing single family homes was two and Town Hall houses was 1.6 roughly equivalent uh and then mixed age housing was the only one that fell under the threshold of one so that's to say that the costs outweigh the benefit of uh using this the old F School uh as a place for mixed age house with all that said there are limitations to the model it's only as good as the assumptions that are put into it things could be missed uh that could be human error or that could be something that CS over the you know the course of discovery of this process um so you know one of the major ones one of the major problems with cost benefit analysis is that you if you can't quantify it can't really consider it so that's why this is really complimentary to the qualitative work that was done by the team and it's important to consider the two of those together so none of these scenarios even though the mixed AG housing was under the one you know seem to have more cost than benefit could really be thrown out without looking at the the whole picture um but essentially those are your results you know you have four out of the five scenarios that seem to be economically uh practicable from the town's point of view um that will at least yield benefits uh over costs uh that are you know greater than a one that that are in a ratio greater than one uh over the next 30 Years which is the timeline that we looked at so that's on short of it that's our presentation I will be happy to try to answer any questions have any I think there's a lot I mean it's there's a lot more for us to um read and consider that we don't see in what you presented tonight like behind the behind the scenes which we'll have to kind of um you know look at each as individuals and then discuss as a board at another meeting and then but certainly if anyone has any questions for um this evening for for anyone part of the group anybody have any questions so your intents to discuss at a subsequent meeting well I think I think if there's any questions tonight we'll answer them but there's a lot of information behind um the numbers that we probably should each take a look at and then have another discussion and a subst meeting yeah I don't I don't think that's one by me yeah there's a lot of I just think there's a lot of um data behind this you know behind what we're looking at tonight and I appreciate everything that you guys presented tonight but in the packet there's also a lot of other stuff for us to consider we want we want time to read the 115 page report yeah I thought you were bringing that and reading that tonight oh no it was gonna it was gonna Ral whatever Justin has to say to me I may ask question relative to um the artists work only spaces Andy when he when you made your presentation and thank you all by the way you each did wonderfully um Andy when you made your presentation um you commented on that it might be difficult to find a Buy in person you know some I forget what word use champion champion for it um expand on that a bit because the are we Pie in the Sky by thinking that a that we'll find a champion or is that uh um more realistic than what your the word when I hear Champion hopefully we'll have one in Boston in about for three weeks but that's the the best of all you know so it you have to be really good are we gonna get there are we gonna are we gonna be do you think we'd be able to find a champion to lead a artist Stone team together I have not made any effort to try to find out if there's interest or enthusiasm for this amongst the Arts community and whether or not someone would rise to trying to pursue and build a collective of people that are willing to spend a few thousand dollars right off the bat to put their hat in the ring to hire a developer to maybe put some numbers together and then to take that out and try to find 50 artists that are willing to buy their own space I will tell you that I know artists who have done that I know artists that work very hard to try to find spaces a commercial space does not have a sense of community that a place like our space had and um I'm not convinced that when we take 84 artists and we a all of a sudden they're down to 15 or 12 that we are serving the the need um we know that in conquered the umbrella the Emerson umbrella has has far exceeded its ability to to meet the needs um whether or not the purchase is appealing to very many artists and to 50 artists which I figure that's about how many Studio spaces there are in that building is a challenge and you need to find someone who's willing to invest a goodly amount of time to do it I spent a year and a half on this or a year on this working at just looking at what the uses for this building are generally I have not put that much time into looking at what it would take to look at it as an art space um I'm just being very practical um it's a beautiful use of that space that is you know copesthetic with the neighborhood and community I think that there are lots of good reasons to do it there I don't know whether that would include an Acme theater reenactment they would have to buy a space would it include a senior C Citizen Center or or a um you know a a community Gathering space that's possible but the town of mayard would have to buy a space for this to work people buy the part of the building that they want rather than rent or um turn it over to somebody for part-time use or whatever it gets it back on the town all right thank you we did a lot of our documents final documents I think there's eight8 10 12 of them and hope that rep for us a lot of material there we've offered several of us um to help you know with that process if Steve would like some going forward yeah I would say all from my perspective this group shouldn't disband and run away because we're gonna need you for part of our part of our ongoing discussion I think as as we contemplate and think of things you spent a year and a half working at and might have the ANS to some of the inquiries we might add [Music] um I have a comment and a couple of questions if I may um first of all I just want to thank the uh the members of this group for what is countless hours that they have put into this um and it's been a huge Challenge and they have embraced it with a sense of seriousness and commitment to the ideals of the town which I think is really commendable so I thank all of you for for what you have done it's been many months um and and a huge amount of work on your part and and it's voluntary and and so that speaks volumes to to your contribution to the town so thank you very much um one kind of a detailed picky question perhaps um on the cost benefit analysis and Steve you may be the one to to address this um I noticed that the uh the mixed age housing option comes in as one where the costs outweigh the benefits and I wonder if that has to do with uh you mentioned for example the cost of of students at about 20,000 um per student um is that simply a matter of putting whatever you might say let's say five kids $50,000 for a cost onto that or is there something more sophisticated about that analysis that that isn't clear at this point because it seems like a you know a huge chunk to to put that option as such an un favorable Wai yeah it's essentially it is that I mean it's a large amount of money per student um there's I would anticipate I'm sorry go ahead because I would anticipate let's say there are I don't know 10 units you might get five or 10 students and those students uh adding that number of students wouldn't necessarily require the district to uh higher additional staff unless there are some particular special education needs involved um so I just wonder if if that sways the um the the presentation of that beyond what might actually be a cost to the town so it's I mean the the cost benefit analysis is a rough rough guide right it's a oversimplified assump uh economic model that attempts to as best as it can collect what are the pros and the cons quantify them given the amount of data that we have you know in general not for this you know specific cases so if you know students XYZ and a join perhaps the costs of adding them into the mainard school system won't actually be $20,000 for each month you know maybe there's some economies of scale that are reached but you know that's the more specific you try to get with these models the more more you know torturous they get and then I personally try to stay away from fabling too much so it is as simple as just saying one student $20,000 and assuming that based on the rest of mayard that uh in the mixed housing which I forgot how many units it is 45 or so maybe it's 08 that you'll have four yeah you you'll have about four or five students that are entering the school system and that really weighs compared to the benefits that you're getting which are for you know use of water uh the hookup of the the building to the sewer system um which is which is a onetime fee uh and then property tax or in this case if it's renters you know it's property taxes is mitigated because you're you're you're paying on the property tax in the entirety of the building so really I mean and it's also quite close at7 it's close to one so there are some certain things you could do to the to try to push it over the edge but I did some of what's called sensitivity analysis and mixed use the mixed housing was the weakest of the five options but you know you could get another person in the room who could design a different model and they can come to different conclusions that's just the the nature of these okay thank you and and finally um this is kind of an outof the boox thought maybe just wondering if the uh conquered umbrella um Association the organization there um I wonder if they would have any interest in investing in like a satellite Post in mid and whether that would be something to consider I spoke with the director there um you know they have no experience at all with a condo setting they only have experience with rentals um they're heavily supported um you know uh I'll leave it at that I the millions of dollars that have been brought to their plate by a single donor is is quite spectacular just say that okay thank you thank anybody else have any questions no no questions if I um want to thank the team for the thorness that which they did listening on there's 115 pages of of backup material um just showing all the individuals they talk to from the developers to town staff to Residents um really impressive presentation and especially for a building that has existed for over half of the town's history uh and with a significant emotional attachment in town uh and this Anchor Point of the Cultural District certainly worthy of of the level of death that you went into so I really appreciate this and uh I think it it sets up as successfully as we can possibly be for the next stage we look into that RFP and look for to engaging that conversation soon so just thank you to this team thank you thank you do appreciate it contracts hello to both of you all right is first contracts actually so um for the you know context and for the board the public um is building at 115 M Street right there on the river and the agreement that we have with them as authorized meeting is to allow for Access through the town parking s next to next to the pharmacy and then go into the back the rear of building at the same time Town's interest is so this is actions over the we also have joeo us from counil meeting through negotiation the so this is two kind of two AC one this Lang is provided from Town Council and attorney those joining us um so it's coverage between Town staff attorneys development and here we are um but as I said this is sort of like followup to the opiz yeah because I feel like we've already done this but obviously there are Chang town meeting approved the EAS we already did but we already s stuff I thinko haven't seen the actual the contract and then you authoriz that to start there's like multiple yeah there's two easement agreements just yeah one is for the prominade or whatever and the other is for access in the lands they are you know we are are letting them have access um to through the the property the town property and because allow property which will include them maintaining Landscaping so you've got to where where I and I don't know if this is the proper venue for location for the question uh I'm concerned about the fact that that retaining wall still hasn't been built and I don't know if it's supposed to have been built yet but as I as I go to the dry cleaner all the time and I look out there I'm just [Music] waiting no no I'm talking about on along the river um I'm waiting for the heavy rainstorm that slides it down suddenly we have a flood problem and I thought so to you know we're doing the best we can to to maintain but what what his responsibility for the for the retaining wall is so okay um the reason the retaining wall is not being built is basically a back and forth between McDonald development and eversource where eversource uh is saying yeah you could Build That Wall but if you touch our pole and if anything happens to it since it's on your property you've assumed all liability so he's fearful that if he builds a wall and something goes a Miss then he's going to owe that ever is going to sue him so heat is is waiting on eversource for the his Corporation is waiting on eversource to come and remove this F which is a proc which is something that has been in process for years at this point since 2018 and eversource has been uh challenging to work with uh we have actually tried to apply pressure from our side precisely because it affects I don't want I don't want to sign something and have that now become Town property and now it becomes the town's problem when ever eversource doesn't doesn't cooperate Etc and then we have a disaster with the with thing falling in I don't want to finalize anything until the things built and history history with I don't want to get into it but you know other history has me concerned that perhaps certain aspects of the project may not be completed so I want to make sure it's completed before we finalize anything and sign off on especially in a very very sensitive spot environment you are not we are not taking over the routine W it's the pr what that's basically meaning is that and and we're not owning it it's an easement to allow public to access through um and so let say that that ring wall slip and fall or something like that which hopefully it won't because get get the design where where the town is very confident in it but if something were to happen to the retaining wall that is on the McDonald's um they are responsible for paining it that is not on the to you we we don't want to take we have enough yeah and I I don't that and that's what I don't want to get us tied into where suddenly it become well you know it's ever Source they're delaying it so now we have an empty space with dirt and and a this point um we are doing our best to kind of help process along work trying our best to work with eversource yeah um even though this is more A Private Matter I mean there is our even and we would like think everyone in this town would like to see this project complete including the McDonald um and so we have a few backup plans um and one of them is you know going to be that the ball has to be completely redesigned that's going to cost a lot of money they have to come back through permanent State have D concerns about it too where we're concerned with no so so that's part of my job as agent is to you know ensure that we are you know maintaining all um legal aspects of the you know the maintenance or of the construction and so through talking you know I'm I'm very close with my cols at D um and we are doing our best to figure out you know what we can do with the erosion you'll see that like there are copper dams U put in big white bags um we have them basically put in like two little ponds so that way you know the comes down it doesn't to the river um at the end of the day the the solution is the retaining wall and that's why we don't want anything he could potentially do would cause more damage to the area than they actual retain the very building retain very invasive obviously to um so you know we're just trying to keep impact to a minimum um while you know I'm I'm down there almost every day um we are we're keeping a close eye on it the state has been down um you know we're all doing our best but uh to be clear none of the eroding conversation the PO conversation the state conversation the the respon responsibility here is either helped or hindered by this SE correct that's what I saying you were talking about ACC yeah but it's a good point and I think you're right to bring it up because this is further sort of formalizing the relationship that we have with the AFC who happens to be I think you're right you're not to bring it up um but contextually as je pointed out Andy correctly this is um this is like part of the greater SCH and and the greater scheme authorized by town meeting is to allow access if and when the time com J Des okay for whatever it's worth we have uh an agreement by email that something will happen the next two to three weeks from ever Source but as one of the previous speakers said they're a monopoly and something will happen they started the process uh they installed a guiding poll which was a new poll next to a poll uh but then that was probably in January can we or have we put any legislative pressure on them as with I believe um there is some strength in the regulatory agency within our legislative delegation we have not yet we can talk about that that's a good we've gone only recently gone the route of putting our legal teams pressure on so yeah okay all right so this really doesn't affect one does not affect the other would anybody like to read this lengthy motion pursuant to article 8 of the October 10th 2023 session of the mayor special town meeting I that the select would accept an easement from mayard Square LLC to allow Public Access from Main Street to the aset River Rail the as River Trail through the property known as 115 Main Street as described in the easement from mayard Square LLC to the town of mayard and shown at as the prominade Ean area in said eand and authoriz a selection to Grant an easement to mayard square LLC to allow egress into the town parking lot adjacent to 115 Main Street and for the planting and maintenance of plantscaping along set entry as described in the easement from the town of Mayor to mayard square LLC and shown as the Landscaping Maintenance ement area in said easement and further authorize the chair Christa Silva to execute and enter into any and all documents necessary to perpetuate the acquisition of said property authorizing use of digital signatures if approved second any further discussion on this item all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes David yes and I am a yes okay next up is violia Water waste waste water treatment fac Facility Services Here Comes Mr violia all right Justin good evening jarco Public Works director I plan on beating Jason from 495 so the count is on five minutes starting the contract in front of you is for the operation maintenance and Management Services um to manage our wastewater treatment facility as the board may be aware we have had a ling contract with yolia Inc um to manage our operation and prior to that was W so over 10 years we've had Contract Services managing my treatment facility we have um our current contract which is a seven-year contract started in 2017 is ending June 30th 2024 um and uh on the annual town meeting in May of 2023 we put forth a control article to request um authorization of the board to execute a contract term of no longer than seven years that contract term limits our previous contractor was a 5year guarantee two onee extensions not a typical for industry standing service contract like this we initiated an RFP package a comprehensive RFP package and we um received three interested parties um but unfortunately on the day of the RFP process where we actually received our we received one and it was F North America um we are not disappointed with that we've had a good working relationship with violia um but like anything else there are territories and districts and is not a typical for corporations Solid Waste service contracts like this that kind of stay within your region um based on RFP we have um we have awarded that process because we only met all of our criteria we did adjust and modify a lot of our criteria for one our previous contract was increasing uh contracts limits on maintenance pricing um verys stering golf we upped their pricing thresholds and we um we finalized a lot of recent policy changes in the Wast water industry to make sure that applies and is advantageous to those processes moving forward so we are happy to present to you today um contracts for our Wastewater operations maintenance and management of the town's wastewater treatment facility to be North America um for a term of five years with two additional onee extensions you have any question I know does anyone else have any questions for Justin is just a renewal right no this is a brand new it's it's a another a seven year contract yeah is there a reason you don't go for longer than seven years absolutely so I will tell you in marel we had a 20-year contract for um Waste Management Services and it was the worst thing we ever did but it was in the time that procurement processes were um were pushing throughout the Commonwealth for long-term contracts for stable pricing for proper budgeting but in industries that have extreme changes in policy terms longer than even seven years become unstable that's why you're starting to see Solid Waste contracts reduce reduce reducing the policy changes St what happened in Maro was we uh we saw price in commodity on the market 100% below the unit cost contract get um so it's one that I would advise to the board as a whole Massachusetts procurement law really kind of Narrows in this a reason why the board has the authority for three years you have to go to town meeting for more I advise most of our contracts to not exceed okay any other questions would anyone like to make a mention I will move to approve the contract theia water North America Northeast LLC for the operations maintenance and Management Services of wastewater treatment facility of the wastewater treatment facility effective July 1st 2024 auth res use digital signatures of approve second any other questions Mike any questions NOP okay anyone else here all right all in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes David yes I me yes thank you he's still here I okay okay let's go y all right so this is the last extension of our current contract for Hing services so this is actually a c contract we have it's our Lo last extension offer U opportunity excuse me um we want to execute that last extension as the task force is still working through its processes and programs um we've made significant strides but this is part of the reason that when I brought the original contract to the board which was really a oneye with two oneyear extension was to allow us time as a community to work through our programmatic approach for our future Sol services so with that said this is the last extension of our current contracts that will bring us into July 1st uh 2025 um in that time frame we anticipate as a task force to provide uh recommendations to the board and we are hoping to have those recommendations to the board prior to the conversation for control mission for special town meeting as part of our process may involve some town meeting Authority um so that we have two opportunity meting meeting prior to exec so soon hopefully yes okay kind of faded you know how those committees the longer they are start to fade anybody have any questions to Justin about trash is is the um processing included in this or is that that's a separate that willor yeah so that on the other just to your point was a 20 year contract that has major Ben our Tage is 77 where the average Tage is so that's one where long-term contracts were viable yeah um but yeah that ends in 201 so part of our discussion Task Force if you remember part of the pitch of our recommendation a couple years ago changing our program was to align our Hall contracts with our with our commodity contract which is really our ton be contracts so at that time we have a new program launch but it sunsets at the same time so that we can have a better understanding do we have a combined contract in the future or do we pursue two simple contracts very similar to what you hear about the commodity Market aggregation where you're on the supply and distribution think of this in the same in we have a poer which is like distribution the supply which is like the typic is the opposite of that sometimes it is advantageous Financial to Brak contracts up other times is we'll review that but we're trying to align all contract and program changes the sunset of okay thank you anybody like to read the motion for to se I the extension with El Harvey and Son's Inc for collection and Hauling services for a term ending June 30th 25 as presented authorizing useal signatures second any further questions all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes D yes and army yes thank you Jus I you're saying jus all right um so now we're on to the um apme local 173 cler Union Mo MOA myself um and you know getting some guys time have been negotiating with theion mid months so this this contract period covers the current FAL year and then two more years um it has been long time coming but I feel like for the most part it's been quite collaborative and really um I really do appreciate the hard work and presence and maturity that um local sens3 has put into the new here it's a lot to ask for any of the employees to really represent a significant di of our Workforce um CL Union includes a number of the people that do all the work every day in and out it's not the par heads it's the people who are are seeing the customers who are working at the library that are being Pleasant to everyone even though they're paying the bill there it's and I and I very much appreciate them and B partnership that coming to the table I highly recommend this SL board um approve this memorandum agreement and memorandum agreement um is highlighted but it will be incorporated into the greater colletive um and we have calculated costs I have full confidence that we can the burden of this in our budget that's my recomendation okay would anybody like to make a motion in regards to the contract for us I will move to approve the memorandum of agreement MOA with the asme local 1703 clerical Union for July 1st 2023 to June 30th 2026 as presented and authorized use the digital signatures in the group second um Mike any questions in regard to the clerical contract no I'm all set thank you okay anybody here we discussed it earlier with executive session um vote Mike yes all in favor okay Mike Jeff yes just yes David yes yes and yes as well so um thank you both for all the hard work in getting this done and thanks to everybody that uh has agreed to accept the new cont Green Middle SCH building project is next and the only update I have is that our um latest submission has been approved and will be U put into the mba's ProPay system cool was our budget we revision a budget submission revision request was approved by msbn will go into the system for payment per Sarah of the masal buildings organization yes anything about it um next item is the um Senior Center committee you want to talk about that one the one US of the board my office received a request for information dra from representative of the senior Cent uh seni committee um however I just before I to recommendation to forward or not I I believe that is what I will do is get um this direction to the board consideration of this request for information I just I'm not asking I just my head around it yet um that being said um time to time the board likes to see me and I and I think it's been you know I I don't I don't remember how long the sen committee has been established but this is a not an insignificant um request uh that the committee has asked for my support and I'm chief officer so it is within my authorization to do request information and request information is a non-binding document is just it just says what what might be out there we want to might have le this space um but that being said it that information could really let itself to a greater conversation and I I I this evening I'm asking the board to consider if you like to hear from the seni committee as to what is their place what is an R RI blend itself to where now is did you get so the way you crafted that you said you received an R from a member of the senior cent They drafted originally yeah so does that mean that a person happened to draft it or does it mean that the senior center committee decided as a committee to move forward and present an RFI to you great question I'm gonna look to the two M we will let you know after Thursday um I think has even been something that's been re I have not seen where the documentary question has been approved by the gr okay I do believe that te group didn't authorize a subgroup or a smaller group to create such a document okay there's also some discussion as you saw via email right to you and I I think I forward it to you because I'm on the I'm on that committee about about a about the potential for them to seek a article at the special time meeting looking for funds for a lease well you have to have a lease before you can seek the funds for the lease you know to to have a dollar we we we just can't do an article I don't believe in the hopes of we need to we need a a source of the funding and we need a lease document with dollar amounts to to request an article at town meeting so and I don't know that they have either of those things unless they found them in the week that um Stephanie and I weren't there we know there's a me there's a meeting there's a meeting Thursday night and those are a couple of questions I have the same questions we asked here here what's the what's what is that RFI going to look like and by way how are we going to how do you ask for a lease when you don't have a source of appropriation A and B you don't have a lease to get um Financial numbers for my followup to that would be and then what's the plan for the next year and the next year in the next year because I I don't think we can just yeah it's not a good idea start these we have to have a we have to have a followup plan for the for the you know future but anyway that's are but I it kind of goes back to my point and I appreciate your clity Mr chair because if you're gonna talk yeah then maybe that's the report you on next Tuesday I was asked by somebody uh on the committee if they could come and make a presentation on the 11th and I said no I said not only that I said not only no what there were going to be no public comments on the 11th it's going to be a discussion amongst four boards that the public is going to be able to to view and listen to and you know I said that it is an item on the agenda that you and I had kind of put out there and then we have um some other changes to the agenda that will request to be me and I haven't even I haven't I was doing stuff to get ready for this so I haven't really um considered that yet but I'll get we can talk that later we'll do that yeah in the next few days before it has to be posted by by we'll know by Friday so yeah it's on our agenda I I put it on in case the board you put it put it in the town Town Administration report we're not there okay okay that's what I was refering to later oh right okay you wish to get because the board on that particular topic the board had argu so I was just yeah all right but so what I'm hearing Mr chair is that let's see what happens on Thursday night come back to come back to this body yeah okay um all right so that's that for the two um reports from the senior center on GRE meow we have ERS would anybody like to read the um Motion in regards to this week's correspondence I'll move to accept correspondences a through e as shown uh and and I will move to approve proclamations and recognition of James Parvin and William Fallon achieving the rank of Eagle Scout authorizing use of digital cat and approved second um any discussion on the correspondence items this evening I would just wish to make one comment on the passing of bill colen um I don't know how many of my colleagues had the pleasure to know bill um he was as those of us who do know him um really loved mayard loved the library in particular um and his involvement in working to get us the new library back when he was uh he was on the library Board of Trustees from many many years but his involvement in that process was instrumental in getting there um and getting it completed and then even afterwards um his involvement with the library was um was really incredible so manard has lost a to use a phrase the term that we used earlier a champion for the library and uh somebody who loved our community and uh it's sad to see that he has left us great okay um motion made and seconded re can I can I ask a Qui question I guess yeah sorry um so the I'm just really quickly looking at the Boy Scout uh Eagle Scout PT of Honor yeah so the PT of honor is going to be on the 23rd Sunday the 23rd I had to get creative about this because I didn't know if you wanted I didn't think you would have the proclamation both on the same day yes so I was like I'm gonna to split it up because you can't you can't have the same day I agree but I'm wondering can we do one for Monday instead of Saturday because that way they when you present it they actually have either that day or the day after as opposed to the day that already passed love it so I I would uh I would advise you to amend your motion to to prop as sure so excellent second right and then we'll figure out if anyone who can go to yeah on the 23rd were you all invited in the letter right there yeah we've not received an email individually but they're not but this one we hope you will join us yeah in honoring them on Sunday June 23rd correct I believe it says at 1M at the up top it does say that yeah top topag yes yes okay um all right so um motion has been made and seconded does anybody have any questions further Mike no CL set okay all in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justine yes David yes and I'm yes um ARA so very good so it's been a while since we um probably because almost all the money goes towards the large but um there was there was not not all of it and so um it's been a while since we kind of did an update and this is what I'm providing this evening so off money directly allocated to the town and I that's a little confy because the town has been there different different couple of proper resources but the the the money coming directly to the town $3.3 million um you can see the chat spreadsheet how the breakdown the orig intention again was mostly give to water supply improvements um and then have some left over so to speak for so um that's still the case um and you can see the rundown here so a couple things I wanted to update forward with was one we we didn't hire a public heers so we we had plans to spend the money on a health director he but that it took some time to come you see when the ACT spend got downlo and you'll see an fy2 that's only for half this this but it's it's a great it's a great help to sort of supplement our budget overall by use it's appropriate by the way arpa rules of arpa Chang since it's Inception until now so now you just categorize any use of AR money as revenue recovery so they can be pretty much any but we happen to focus in the in the for the most part in the main like the primary goals of our which was infrastructure improvy also for Broadband but that CL so um uh let me just keep going down the list okay so um one of the one of the state arpa applications arpa allocations U from speaker protm representative Hogan was $150,000 to support but there wasn't quite the final the final contract is about and then um going down a little bit old Mar old Mar public water source study that was $3,000 that's that's already been sort of validated going forward um that 3.3 $3.1 million based for as well um we've been using money uh for a couple years now for Zoom um and then here's the two I want uh um sort of fly by this this evening the storm utility Grant supplements so um we got a you know you heard the last meeting from Sarah nelin of of BHB about the EA grant that we apply to but wasn't again quite enough so um my office and actually the two gentlemen that are here now um this was this was the scheme you came up with was sort of like post that g $15,000 from to sort you know get the full amount that we and then lastly the um Town Hall upgrades so we've had the same phones in town hall for a long time and they are Cisco phones and I don't want to ask how long they've been sitting there um in a long time so um I found out that uh there's a better way of doing things and it's called a hosted Network which is I don't know if y'all using but but we no I don't sorry so it's um sort of like the new way of how offic and it's um mainly online so you're it's like a server based cloud based system if you will and it's the how Sy you're doing things the the best part is they'll come at a balance of what we're already paying so right now we pay um a number of you know we pay Verizon we pay uh an outside management to to manage the infrastructure points um anyways we can do away with almost all of that and then just move to this one hosting system it's uh it's sperm that I was recommended they did to car car it's called Harbor net on the S so um but there's a cost so the installation cost $25,000 after that it's it's um I think pretty much to the dollar Uh current cost already pay for our phone services but there Hardware changes or is it all done to the computer say that are there Hardware changes or is it oh it's both that's good question so it's you get a new phone and then and we we actually we had our department meeting and show the different FS that people could choose included within this price this is the installation cost yes and then after that going forward it's pretty comparable like I said almost but this this is um and I think it's well worth it I think I think we it's been a long time coming and it's again it's not just the phones actually it's a hosted Network so it allows you to check your voicemail online you get an app onto your mobile phones it really allows for sort of like modern business if you will it's like fully really remote diffic and uh Department I think pretty excited about it I think it depends on your position about like how much you're sitting a desk how much you need but at least it Lees us that direction that's I'm looking for the board sort of bless this the board the board blesses this use of again last couple of months it'll leave $72 on the table Jus says he can spend that tomorrow I I believe probably okay but this this this is I think a good use of the like I'm like I'm maybe I'm underplaying it but I think of all the many many many considerations and uses for prop money I actually think we've done a great job most of it is going towards the weth which is well do and I think the rest of this are more than just okay um anybody like to make a motion I will move to approve the allocation of AR funds as presented second any further questions for anyone in the room all right all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes Justin yes David yes and I'm a yes all right thank you good luck with the phon um we have one set of minutes I'll move to approve the meeting minutes of May 8 2024 as shown authorized to use the digital signatures and approv second second okay any um conversation about these minutes all those in favor Mike yes Jeff yes just yes David yes and yes all right on to um ta report that's me CH so um as usual I encourage everyone to take a look at the T report got some pictures in there but um couple things I want to highlight and then I would like to ask the Bo's Direction when it comes to the J meaning would so but um weekend events that time year so it's a lot of Fun open holds out Town Offices will be closed on juneth which is June 19th so weeks um and then um the long serving Town vet service office that Wayne Stanley re time um he's a great guy to go to I mean's he's committed he might be down there tonight hopefully not um but that's a significant change and then uh we do have a new Diane in the in the front off Diane Mont Mon Mon um she's she's the assistant treas and yeah great so ex okay um so bar any have questions from the board I think I I to ask the board if the board would be willing or wants to even touch on the proposed June 11th meeting I I had I had crafted a draft agenda based on the input that the board had given at the last meeting and I sent it out to the chairs um to say like this is what the direction before gave and we got the feedback so um one in particular was a proposal to do actually no I'm not even getting into it if you don't want to talk about it we have to so it's up for the board are you what do you want to do do you want to stick to the proposal that you did last time and just to generalize it it was sort of like give allotments to the four bodies like a lot some time four bodies with with an understanding that the capital planning Community needs of f guess my question is what's topic great question so that particular um proposal had said it was related to schools okay but that that was not a school committee member that that offered that proposal so I don't I can't I couldn't say maybe that's maybe that's for you to decide so maybe you want to give a direction what to to might be I mean if we stick with the what we were thinking of wouldn't whoever proposed topic two have the opportunity to give that presentation during their committee time perhaps um julan P pleas it's up to you if you want to entertain sure yes Julian hi Julian hi um yeah yeah so I just wanted to like preface I put topic two because if I'm giving I I um recommended to give up the finance committee time um to give more time for capital or the other topics but I didn't want to say like the select Board gets no time or the school gets no time because then there would still be three three potential topics um so that's why I just generically said topic number two so the finance committee doesn't really have any uh formal presentation or discussion to lead so you just want to give up that time that we had allocated to you yeah we we felt that it would be good to have a discussion and we thought it might be less confusing if there was maybe one or two topics at this meeting rather than every single board having a presentation we wanted to make sure there was time for discussion so that's why I time by the other two or three group um so whatever time of 15 minutes was there give five minutes more to the other three and and uh and be done with it but um otherwise from my perspective I really want to have a discussion about priorities in this community and that's uh I just I yeah and this well it's there's there's nowhere on the second one where it says anything about the um select board have any any discussion so well it doesn't have anybody other than Capital plan yeah so right that's why I had topic number two because I didn't know what the select board topic was um this well it's not it's the we've invited the capital planning committee this is not their meeting you know there there are four groups who have a um very vested interest at least in my opinion in the finances of the town and that's what this meeting is about and that is you in your committee as a fincom the school committee the select board and the newest invitee which is a capital planning committee but it's not their meeting so you know to David's point I think Natasha in the school committee as her the chair of that committee are going to have certain items or articles that they'd like to discuss the select board certainly is and I know that the the capital planning committee will want to give us a a um maybe perhaps a more robust presentation than the um other two you know the school in the um select board because we kind of do these things together all the time so we we have a little bit of an idea what they want but I'm certainly willing to um allow the capital planning committee to go over time if they feel they need to to get across the information they want to get across but it's not their meeting it's a select I think it was my misunderstanding that I thought this was going to be a meeting focused on the capital and the prioritization and the future planning for those needs um it's all I think it's all of the um the the financial considerations that that the town has with with short term long term with I would say Chris a stronger emphasis on Capital than before and the inclusion which is why we invited yeah right and we're giving them a little bit more time correct and totally line what ch said and and um you know I I had a couple other I had at least one other group that wanted time during this meeting and and make presentations and I said no this because the four groups who volunteer their time on a on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to um you know work on um the finan of the community and and the policies of the community are going to have the time to sit and discuss the things that we all think is important Julian did you talk to the capital planning committee uh independently about them having more time yes they came to our meeting last night so you I thought that this was uh I thought this meeting was focused on Capital so I guess maybe I missed misunderstood what the purpose was I think it's because I do think it's important you know especially thinking back at first I had I completely forgot what we talked about two weeks ago um but I but I do think it's important for the select board to have you know that that Jeff you were going to do you know kind of a a condensed version of your comparison communities um and things like that because I think that that's something that even in the joint meeting in January in February we don't get a chance to actually everybody who's at the table does get a chance to see that so I do think that that's actually very important um to kind of just get out there and then maybe you know our our goals and PRI our statement from tell me to you know incorporate some of that in there maybe I can do that I hadn't plan but I can do that I can keep it trated too relative to some of the the other presentations so I was still planning on doing that and I AG like to do no I see I see Natasha's hand I was just waiting to finish with um the conversation J are we done Julian do you have more any other concerns uh no that was uh that was just one offering so like you said this is the meeting you called so yes so I'll get with I'll get with Greg and and look at the agenda and see if we can figure out a way to make it um you know more along the lines of what you're saying and maintain the um things that we were hoping to get accomplished from this end um as well and then put out that agenda by Thursday or Friday which will give every other committee the time you want post their meetings because everyone will have to post their meetings so that's not technically so you can post one agenda everyone would have to post minut do okay so but but at the February meeting we each had to open a meeting correct so it's depends I think through practice people generally open the meetings and you should sort of like take a role because that's just sort of like for the minutes of Lo but but the the posting itself just has to list who's get so board school committee committee C I assume I assume we'll have to read the governor script um version a version of the script yeah yeah just to make it clear even though like there's know my understanding is I think you this fair you're not expecting um public comments right so I I would still I would still just you know part of the script of that talks about how you're still going to continue to me you technology I think it's a good idea to sort of like C your basis to explain second and okay and so my my thought on on public comment is when we discuss it at this meeting at the start and suggest that there we're not accepting public comment I think the there will be a comment made by me that anyone that has public comments in regards to something discussed at this meeting should bring those public comments to the next board meeting of the of the you know the appropriate body if it's a select board issue bring that to us as a public comments if it's a school bring it to the next school committee meeting as a public comment and and have that further that discussion that way otherwise we could be here for a very long time um Natasha your hand up there I yes thank you I I just wanted to um clarify that the school was asked to do a presentation it wasn't anything that we volunteered to do or we we advocated for time I know that we uh as we're talking about next year or future planning we were asked to put together some data now that we have contracts that have been um finalized and we may have some more rough numbers that came up in our budget subcommittee meeting and uh Peter in particular was one who mentioned about maybe the school should put together some numbers to um as a basis for what so I just want to make sure that is the context of how the school presenting came about it wasn't that we were demanding time in any sense of the concern but it was more that we um now that we had some more finalized numbers for contracts that had been approved it might be a good time to put some rough estimates assuming that other expenses would um kind of stay the same and then the other aspect I wanted to clarify is that the school committee um has and the school department is very much uh not in favor of the peer Community presentation that has focus on the school aspects because there is a lot of debate on those communities as it relates to how they were chosen for educational purposes so I I know that was um clarified very much in the budget subcommittee meeting in the past we have been able to collaborate on the towns that were chosen to make sure that we all felt comfortable that they represent Ed similar or comparable to mayard not just for um um dollars but also for education and programming and we just didn't get that opportunity to do that in this go around from February so that was where that feedback of of focus on the educational spending or the for prior years felt not fitting for this conversation maybe another one though I do agree it is important to have at the conversation thank you I I do think it's important that we have it for this conversation so and I know Jeff has put a lot of work into it so but obviously you're you're welcome to your comments at the at the meeting um and also and I do know that also I think that when we talked I don't think you were here at the last at our last meeting but when we brought it up as far as presentations it wasn't necessarily that we were asked I don't know who asked you to put a presentation together but it wasn't we were asking it was just more I I think the intent was we wanted to give the opportunity for each board to speak so if the school committee has something to say or the finance committee or the select board and capital planning clearly because they they have a lot to say um that we just wanted to make sure that everybody felt that they had that opportunity to be heard is the um I guess the question the school committee had was the the idea of was any topic felt very too unstructured and I know prior to leading up to the revision it was really um capital and operational were the two topics and whatever presentation around that would be those were the two themes I think as it was Revisited it was more of any boore or the we board and any topic and that felt a little bit is that really kind of too vague and that is that going to be effective for any type of uh purpose and function so I that's where we I don't think was ever that loose in in that regard I think it was what what what are the what what are the topics or topic that the um school committee thinks is most important to them going forward and that's um more the um discussion in the presentation what you know what item or items do you guys as the school committee in in Dr H or Brian H what what are the things that you see as um you know most important to the school committee going forward and those were the type of things that would be discussed not any Loosey Goosey any Topic in the world yeah Brian and uh and Wayne are working on like a two or three slides that's what we had going into a very high level of this is what looks like yeah yeah that was it I think I think I think it'll work all right thank you okay I can Dr to I'll be there I'll you know where um H okay thank you that's all I had for my thanks no no I don't have any does anyone else have any questions on the town administ is lovely report this month it's phenomenal all right okay okay good pictures this mon all right um so chair report I I I just want to say that I was I was I wasn't here for Memorial Day but I did get the opportunity to um read David's words and um as usual they were Stellar I just want to thank David for that as usual um he's the uh he's the Memorial Day guy and I appreciate it and it was a great job and I've heard from several people the same thing so thank you for that David thank um for me I had the um I had the pleasure last week I believe it was Thursday of attending the um friends have remained seniors indoor picnic which was on a bright sunny day and they could the way it works out right if they had it Outdoors it would have ped but it was it was a great um event um kudos to um uh Chief Lawless and the fire department because they came and they brought about I think were six or eight guys from the fire department they came and um help the uh seniors to you know get up and get their food and bring it back to the tables and kind of you know serving a kind of a weight capacity but that was so that was kind of a nice event and some nice things said at the beginning by the members of a couple of the Committees that um typically are involved in those things and then on Friday night I had the opportunity to be present for the um opening of the Relay for Life which was at again at the Elks and kind of in a combination of walking indoors and Outdoors and it seemed as though they had a uh a pretty good event and according to the conversations there they have raised in the 20 years that they've been doing it $1 and A5 million dollars so that's a pretty impressive thing for you know such a such a small town um to put those kind of numbers out there and that's it for me so U board reports Mike uh nothing asra for me other than just to reiterate your comments about uh David's address the other day at the Memorial Day sermon so thank you D him I P him on the back for you all right that's it sir yep all right thank you um Jeff same for me thank you David and for the organizers for for the Memorial Day Parade fantastic job for you Justine nothing for me other all right thank you David yes I'm I'm the uh the gap between us and getting out of here two things I want to wish mayor High School seniors congratulations and good luck and remember your roots um and never forget Maynard um and always come back to us and we know you'll make us proud secondly um I think everybody was notified if you hadn't been um Sally duer as you know did not run for re-election or um Library trustee position and uh she is leaving down government essentially for after many many years of dedicated service and I believe that there is an event at the sanctuary on June the 12th to honor her time here at mayard um I'm going to do my absolute best to be there to uh recognize I served with Sally at least six years on the board here um and uh she's a friend of mine and mayor will miss her contribution although she'll never go away and I don't mean that in a bad way s if you're watching yeah her and I she had the same birthday that's it that's great okay I want to interrupt one second I want to go I want to add one more thing to David's congratulations to the mayor High School seniors I also want to congratulate the mayor students that graduated college graduates of 2024 because they are the ones who graduated during 2020 and they made it through the 4 years um since then and I am ridiculously proud of that group so on them as well yes um I would entertain a motion to um end the meeting adjourn tojn second move second all here to Mike yes the rest of us yeah yes