##VIDEO ID:eXLWQ9UMqG8## I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you everybody for um accommodating this meeting I know it was um not scheduled and I appreciate you making the time at 4:00 on a Monday afternoon we have one item on the agenda it is a memorandum of agreement between witty Tech in Northern Essex Community College shared campus working group um there is going to be a um vote required on this and I would enter before we begin any discussion I I'll entertain a motion to accept the memorandum of um understanding and sign it is there a motion motion to accept the memorandum of agreement and sign it do I have a second second Motion in a second all in favor I discussion no discussion yeah yeah we're going to discuss before we vote aren't we I'm going too fast sorry okay thanks so we have a motion in a second now we'll have discussion okay so uh Chris sanza is here this evening he's from northern Essex Community College um in your packet you should see um a letter from Lan Glenn who was the president of Northern essic Community College um along with a copy of the me memorandum of understanding this so the public is aware of what it is this is about this is in reference to uh Whittier Tech in new uh Northern Essex Community College exploring a shared campus to solve the Whittier um Capital issue that we have bless you um and so um this is an Innovative solution that combines the two of them higher education and high school public education um so before I entertain any questions from the board could I ask Chris to come on up here and give us a little thank you so much thank you Tracy and the elect board members it's a pleasure to be here tonight um and just to kind of echo what you already heard uh we are exploring a potential shared campus model between wher Tech and Northern Essex Community College we believe this presents um a lot of solutions potentially speaking we're currently studying the matter um but we believe it solves a few problems especially including affordability which is a big piece that we understand from our 11 communities that are part of this agreement that's Now 50 years old um long and short of it is we really wanted to get this to Showcase to the Massachusetts school building authority the msba that we still want to be in their pipeline because if we get kicked out of that pipeline it could be years down the road and we want to explore different ways to find new capital needs um across different uh backgrounds so uh access to higher education foundational money state money um to be clear this model has not really been done across the country everything that we're studying right now part of why we've invited UMass donu Institute to help study this is no one's quite looked at it from this lens before so um working between dcam with which is the agency that represents the division of Capital Management for the state working uh locally uh across the ha and of course the entire 11 communities we understand that um we can provide a potential creative Innovative solution from um again a capacity perspective from an affordability perspective we have just under 100 acres on the campus of Northern Essex Community College that we can work with um so as you saw I don't want to repeat a lot of the points here but um the biggest thing that you should probably know is that we do have strong support from the governor and lieutenant governor who have been heavily involved and trying to encourage us to have these kinds of communications across the different municipalities so um but it's important that we come out here and talk to you all to make sure we can solicit your feedback and um I'll just pause right there before I go into the whole Spiel because you have the whole packet in front of you about what we're trying to do and the thing I will share with you is we have two other board of Selectmen uh meetings tonight um we did get some successful signatures we got it from um the three Mayors mayor uh uh Gove of Asbury uh and we expect to collect it from mayor Shan Reen of Newberry part and um mayor Barrett of havil um this has been challenging times to get us all on the same page since a tough vote at the beginning of the year so we wanted to make sure that especially from the different uh municipalities that have the top elected official being their mayor um that we could get their support and we do have that so uh we feel confident that almost every Community is there we're working on it but uh we're very uh happy to take any questions and to make sure as we go along this entire process to stay in direct Communications with you all as well too thank you um are there any questions from the board you said yeah the haval mayor uh Barrett has is is is going to or has signed off on it and is on board with it yes sir yes yeah before we started we um for for the public to to know and for this board I think that's aware um it was a tough vote that happened earlier in the year um but the two Mayors um in question um really had taking strong positions on that it was important to us to start the conversations there about understanding that this is a non-binding agreement that this is just a showcase to the msba which could represent a significant chunk of the bottom line Bill to keep us in mind um that we'll do better of cooperating and showing up the meetings and and working together and they seem to understand that so we are confident we'll be collecting the signatures this week beautiful I have a couple more questions but I'm I'm willing to take turns if anybody um well Jeff thank you Dan did I miss how the msba uh study was going to be paid for the msba study itself is part of the wher tech previous submission so that's going to go along with the previous agreement not necessarily no um it is technically a it's a revised agreement because it's a new shared campus model between wher Tech so they visited us about two months ago typically speaking I had the pledge of working for the City of Salem the city of hail um city of Gloucester as the chief of staff as you probably know the msba takes many years to be very thorough for their modules to that end um what was submitted previously was revised we only expected two or three people from the msba to visit our campus they showed up with about 13 14 uh State officials to review personally every classroom to see how we could for the short term have shared classrooms how we could have things like shared facilities shared security a lot of cost savings they want to see that firsthand so they understand that it's a revised submission but it's technically already been paid for by the Whittier Tech earlier vote so what we're paying for at Northern essics Community College is this study by the UMass donu Institute they're they're they're helping us basically say what are the demographics where are the jobs going to be where is the population changes going to be so that we can put this together as a package to get that money for the local state maybe even potentially Federal support at every level and um by combining forces like this we have the most amount of cost savings that we can get so if I understand you correctly um the original submission that Whittier gave to the msba when they started the original process that has been updated or it will be revised once we be revised yeah okay and and part of that revision is the inclusion of this mou they very much wanted to see that the 11 communities are actively working together and if there's any cost Associated to that that's going to be born by Whittier correct as of right now it is technically on paper but we know that ultimately speaking a regional agreement the one that is in place right now would likely become irrelevant if there was a new shared campus system oh that yeah that's in the future but for this specific revision if there's any cost Associated to any work that's being done that's going to be borne by Whittier like if there's any updating to any you know schematic design yeah between there's there's and also Northern essic is is happy to work we've already put aside a significant amount of money for the umon hu Institute um for Capital cost to help cover to study this so between us yeah we would cover that okay so to be abundantly that that was the question the from Mass is going to be covered by wot also so there will be no Mass Johnny he was covered completely by Northern essics to be yes so there'll be no request of the town of new for any funding at all absolutely not not in any way shape or form nope we're all going to cover that Bill thank you Jeff I'm going to go on to the next lety do you have any question yeah no and not that we were negative or that negative intuition could be passed along it's just the fact that I want no surprises understood completely understood Bill do you have any questions well um I want to give you some statements of why I like this but I want you Chris to tell me if I understood it correctly okay so take it as a statement and a question at the same time yes sir I mean I I'm this I believe this expands access to education and I'm certainly in favor of Education it's an opportunity for for for students at at Northern etics you guys have an open enrollment shared campus you don't reject anyone everyone's accepted okay and this I believe you stated this would possibly increase enrollment by about 300 students at least we we project at least I mean just so will understand since 2019 Newbery had 49 applicants to whia okay 12 were weight listed and 36 were accepted so this in itself could be an opportunity for more Newberry students to go into Whittier if that's what they choose to do I think it's good for newy taxpayer especially me there has the potential for new and different funding streams rather than the old 19 67 agreement cor that agreement would not pertain to this endeavor if it moves forward IT addresses um the need for a new whia infrastructure I think no one denies that wiia needs infrastructure um but it also to me possibly avoids a Triton versus wiia competition for funding in the town of Newbury which was a significant issue at the time we voted for with you um having the support of Governor Healey uh is huge because to me it creates a new model for Career and Technical education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts so it's a feather in their cap to support this because it's Unique but it's also similar to many other and there are other models in the country that exist that your outside company is is exploring that's correct which is good um I think it also has it's an opportunity to reduce operating expenses because when you combine the two functions so to speak there's a lot of synergy due to redundancy of Staff okay so that could impact what what it cost the town of Nuy to support it on an annual basis and I mean and frankly this is is non-binding that's right so I mean to me it's clear that that this is very worthwhile endorsing and sending on I did I Mr M Mark I I'm GNA enlist your support on my road show here because you got everything correct and then some and I just want to stress again um from every level of government we're technically a state agency this is a uh quasi Regional entity but really a local based entity being Whittier Tech um there is support and interest from every level we've been working with Senator tar the different reps uh Kastner Don Chand um obviously lieutenant governor the governor's office lieutenant governor especially being a former mayor herself is very much likes to get into the policy side of this but she also has some experience with other SX Tech of the background and the bylaw so we understand it's going to be a challenge and it will take a long time and the msba unto itself takes a long time to review the process as you know and so this just gives us a chance to have even more Capital potentially into the mix and doing something frankly exciting and Innovative that no one else has really done to this level and I I just will share that this is the same Administration that gave us both Mass educate and mass reconnect which is allowing people for no cost to go back to Community College again for free to upskill and resale um the trades across and and other occupational areas that we think are in critical need and this could potentially allow us to um really invest in education in ways that we haven't from the whole journey and and it's a very exciting thing to be a part of and it does affect the price tag as to your point of facility security shared uh staff resources Etc um it's a win across any which way you want to look at it and it's non-binding thank you Dana do you have additional I I do I I the msba if they you said you we have amendments with the msba in place right now from the from the original request whia does wi whia does yeah right yeah um am I can I assume that until that gets cleared with the msba that they are back in line for possible grant money that we as towns will not get a a capital Improvement request until that unfolds is that so I can't really speak for the submission for the wer Tech submission under what they originally proposed a re a revised um would your Tech NE ECC shared campus model is what we're trying to do is just to basically include ourselves into the legal Le of the paperwork so if this didn't happen then you would probably be back to the original game plan of whatever I just want to you mentioned Triton too and um you know I witty witty is you know they were talking like a $800 million upgrade sure do they have shortterm plans for making the their campus you know usable and reli iable over the next several years cuz that's what this is going to take well that's that's not relative to this that's a question know but I'm just I'm I didn't I don't I don't even know if you know the answer if you want to answer no yeah and to to be CID I don't technically represent the superintendent was here that's that's fine it would be yeah I I this is only only he's only he's from Neco the working group yes sir who who's going to who how are we going to form the working group and who's going to be on the working group and how how are the towns going to be represented in the working group thank you for asking that so we actually we've had different types of stakeholder groups in fact we had a working group today and so that included people like mayor Gove uh Senator tar but we've also had people from the Harvard Workforce project to talk about economics we had our um donu Institute friends and so um people have written books about economics people who are Ted speakers uh about educational that's one group there's another group that we're doing onetoone interviews and so if anybody of this group would like to be interviewed by um donu Institute we had Neil Harrington as one of the Town managers being interviewed um I believe one of the city councilors in hail um basically the UMass donu Institute unto themselves wanted to have different stakeholders representing business education economics uh Workforce Labor uh labor groups themselves so they they have a whole process that they decided to do with different groups um we welcome anyone's feedback and so the other thing that we had and we've already had two of them I believe actually the last time I was here we had one simultaneous to our meeting uh a public session where anyone can drop in on a zoom meeting to offer their feedback we think it's important that big and small everyone has a voice and we don't ever want to hear that people didn't know about this we don't want to hear about any surprises we believe in strong Communications I've had the pleasure of meeting with some of your uh colleagues here um but we're also sending out emails smoke signals carrier pigeons whatever we can to Enlighten people about the process that this is going to take which is going to take a long time and frankly um to be clear on behalf of President Glenn who said it here himself we don't need to be doing this but we do believe that every child has an opportunity to do uh the the most good for their Community with this proposition and so we're trying to offer a path that has never been done before by asking for your support today for a non-binding resolution for something that will allow us to get to a better place it doesn't doesn't unless you to do anything to that end um whoever wants to be part of the group is welcome chrisop I can just add you also have an excellent website that you're responsible for would you Tech exploring a Shar campus we talked about this before here I think Alicia gave us the web address that talks about the schedule for these public listening sessions it has it list St of the 20 names of the people who are on the Planning Group right now Senator power is on there as well um it's it's pretty comprehensive and and um it its content is is great it has key dates coming up in in the in the future when things have to happen so it's very informative and it's available on the internet and again we welcome anyone's feedback about best ways to Enlighten folks about how to get involved um we know everyone has a busy uh schedule we know it's an election time of year and so getting people to pay attention to something that has uh potentially great consequence we understand that that we want to make that we're welcoming all the voices that we can uh because we think we are we could potentially offer a compelling package that will do something that will save the taxpayers a lot of money and offer a lot more services back so whatever we can do to help get the word out we're going to be happy to help with you with whichever way we can communicate around that any other questions no uh Jeff um does the msba because our scope our familiarity with it is Elementary and high school but am I to understand that it also would participate in building new community colleges and maybe UMass if they were state schools so we're we're technically separate from the UMass system we are affiliated with them as a quasi sister school I guess you could say um but yes this is why it would be potentially Innovative is that they are understanding that we have a lot they would have to work with dcam the other agency responsible for State Property to help enable this path so again the governor sent uh the CEO of msba to meet with us as part of that last meeting they understand this Vision they understand that that would might require some legislative changes in order to make this happen so it's a lot of work on a lot of different levels and but the understanding is there that we want to get the best bang for our buck but the msba would be a significant source of that funding that meeting by the way is in December if if otherwise that's 14th thank you yes exactly right um I have a question about timeline yes so December 14th the msba meets assuming that um the vote goes the way sure we all would like we all hope um what's your next step after that so we would have to codify my understanding is through our internal processes like through our Board of Trustees would have to vote to approve a path that was presented by the five report by The umon Institute they would have to offer a recommendation of yes you should go for this um they would have to give us that report probably around the time we go to the msba I think it's more likely than not that that would be the case um and then we would have to work with msba to develop a module so they have a on the msba website they have a module timeline process that I got from uh Cara Cosmos who worked at Tech so she's actively working on a proposed revised timeline so I don't want to speak at of school no pun intended about um the specifics on that but it would definitely be years I mean we're looking at a timeline of nothing realistic in any way shape or form through all the legislative processes and internal processes would even be happening until at least two or three years from now so okay it's a lot of paperwork meetings approvals and finding the ways to make this happen so okay um and when do you expect to seat this working committee and when do you think they would start meeting so we want to get all the signatures first and then we can talk about how we can best align so I my understanding is that different members uh that I've had the pleasure of seeing some folks at or they've been talking about the regional agreement have been meeting so it's just a matter of making sure the right members are invited in but we are happy to host so as you heard I I have great connections with different municipalities there are potentially other retired uh officials that might want to be invited in to help moderate because um the biggest thing that we've heard to be clear is uh the capital needs of every Community the very real needs that um they have to to help support their Community get through their everyday needs and so until we get us all into the same room to talk about the short and long-term capital needs and how we can kind of um pivot things for the short and long term across the different phases so that might include for instance um again it's just as a HP hypothetical the selling of the Wittier Tech land unto itself if they were able to work with us and how can they do hybrid classes with us so that's just a scenario that's not necessarily you know me saying that that's going to happen but that's I would think that's more likely than not so that's why um the first thing is we have to Showcase to the state that we're all playing nice in the sandbox um which is what this piece of paper is in front of you tonight and then we can work on the specifics about how we can come together better timelines and how we can better plan ahead as well too so I'd love to give you more specifics I just can't at this time that's okay I understand any other questions um I see that the Town Administrator is uh asked to sign and all Town administrators and the Mayors is that how um so the vote would would ask that uh the Town Administrator sign on behalf so in the case of um let's see here grovin grovin asked that their acting board chair Jason uh naves was the person to sign on their behalf we're happy to adjust this language to the appropriate person um but we in that case it's because I believe there's a conflict of interest so I think there was a reason why what's the tener of the board I think we should leave Tracy's name to administrator yeah I I um I I I had a question I do too for Tracy I guess is do do you need our approval to sign us well I certainly wouldn't want to sign on behalf of the Town something as important as this without having voted the I just want to say I appreciate being invited here and being able to be part of this so I I think that was a good call but that's really all I have to say about that the meeting I I will say though I you know having participated in in the meetings leading up to this um with selectman Deo there it's a a groundbreaking um proposal and something that I think we're all very excited about being part of so um I can only see wins with this project and signaling to msba that we're on board is going to be the first step to getting them to invite us in so and I love the fact that you have open enrollment and there's no ad process I think that's huge well we believe that our next great chapter is by um really understanding that everyone is going to need all these different trades and skills going ahead and so everyone you know I think years ago when I was growing up we poo pooed uh the trades and I don't know why I think it's the biggest sin of my generation is that we created this environment such that we for some reason turned our nose at that stuff I don't know why we all need handy people we all need electricians we all need plumbers we all need cabinet makers we all need these skills and then if not they're going to go to another part of the country or another part of the world and so if we can have homegrown Heroes and enable a affordable path for them to be successful and to work and live here the cost the way that they are it's it's going to be an impressive thing if this all comes to fruition but we're excited about it okay so um I guess you don't have the motion there do you Ju Just to um vote to direct me to execute the memorandum of agreement yeah so let's instead of I think I said sign so let's amend to um uh direct the Town Administrator to sign the memor understanding let Bill do it if he can it's not because he's done so much work on it I'll second make that move want me do a I'd like to make a motion that we move this memo of understanding forward by our vote and allow the Town Administrator to sign endorse it for us forward to be our representative there you go well yeah just to sign this um I don't know about the representative on the working group this is just to sign this she she is representing Us in signing that representing the town of newb correct okay all in favor I any opposed any extensions the motion passes thank you thank you for taking your time hey I look forward to uh with you all a lot more ahead and I welcome any feedback good B and different because communication is King and um I'm here to help however I can big or small and I mean that sincerely so I'm looking forward to getting to know you all a lot more and we have a long road ahead so yeah all right I'll entertain the motion to adjourn motion to adj Second all in favor I I