##VIDEO ID:Tea1s06kGOE## I thought she was coming no she didn't give me anything I I printed out I'll go yeah iare I made you I'm GNA run up y I just need speakers as the audio and okay can someone on screen indicate that they can hear us twice Kathy can you hear us yes okay good thank you thank you um okay I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting of the shoots B select board to order today is Tuesday October 8th 2024 and this is a hybrid meeting um being held uh select board is meeting at the Town Hall and we have um four um individuals who have joined us um this evening in person and uh I just wanted to start off by introducing Abby Hernandez who is our new administrator secretary and we're very happy to have Abby she has um this is just her second second week so we appointed Abby at our last meeting and she started last week um so um ab's a recently moved to shutesbury and has three children in the um Elementary School range of Ages so um great to great to have you with us I'll um first go over the agenda and then um we we move into the um into the meeting so um first on the agenda is public comment um then we have two sets of Select board minutes from September 10th and September 24th uh then we will be meeting with the assessors to determine the means tested senior exemption percentage um then we'll have a discussion about the select board meeting room um board guide board up update uh after that we will set the special town meeting for November 19th at 6:00 p.m. then we had a request regarding the northern um Trail um study and a request for the select board support um at 6:35 we have a discussion uh we've been asked for a right of Entry the Army Corps of Engineers to gain access to lot 032 um then we have on the original uh agenda it said select board meeting room update but that was just um that was appeared twice um we have to do the election warrant for the November election and then um lastly we have Town Administrator transition plans and ta updates so we'll go ahead and get um launched in terms of um public comment uh for most of you I think have been at meetings before but what we do with public comment is ask that folks um keep their their comments to two or three minutes um we don't engage in a discussion during public comment it's simply a public comment period and um if something's on the agenda that you want to um address I wouldn't bring it up during comment um we will try to take your comments during that particular um topic when it comes up on the agenda assuming we have time um so um the first item is public comment if you do have a public comment I ask that you use the um raised hand feature and for those of you who are in the room you can do use your raised hand feature this is your new feature um uh so we'll go ahead and um open up for public comments Susie um I want to comment on the um news that Our Town Administrator is looking at another job in Sunderland and I want to mention that if you look at the agendas that have come in front of the select board meetings you'll see that there are an incredible array of tasks and a lot of them and I also feel it's significant that we live in a culture of criticism and um that takes time to respond to and I feel like that has taken a lot of time for all the people involved in town meeting in town government including Our Town Administrator Our Town Administrator does staff support and volunteer support and that is a very um demanding part of her job and I feel like we're at a change Point um so I recommend that the select board work together with the Personnel Board and the Town Administrator to review the um job description and the tasks that um are in the lap of the Town Administrator and um work together to review it and make a job that has um better parameters better workload and has a greater chance of success um for the big person thanks um other public comments going once going twice no other public comments okay um all right we will go ahead and move on then to two sets of select board minutes uh September 10th and September 24th both of which I think Abby you did is that correct yes good thank you um so do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of September 10th 2024 so move second any discussion any changes I I did go through both sets I didn't have anything um Melissa you didn't have anything okay um uh all right all those in favor of approving the minutes of September 10th uh please signify by saying I thank you z i ster I Carell I second set of minutes is September 24th 2024 um do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of September 24th so moved second um any corrections additions deletions no all set okay um all those in favor signify by saying I thank you s stalker I barl I and thank you again Abby um great start um the next item on the agenda is um for the um select board to meet with the assessors um regarding the means tested senior exemption percentage and um David Burgess is here who's our administrative assessor and is that is that is that your title you're you know he's he's the guy we um he and and Leslie are key people in the assessor's office and April you are an assessor correct all right um so we have an assessor here too um so uh I know last year David if I'm not mistaken was the first year that we did this Mees tested called circuit breaker exemption um and it's a an exemption that um eligible income eligible and age eligible it's income and age eligible um residents are able to take advantage of and I'm I'm just going to give the like really General explanation then you can correct me if I'm wrong but that with this um with this senior tax exemption um if you're you're low income and you are a senior um you can get a a bra a break on your property tax and whatever break is given and we're going to talk about that percentage tonight um uh is then spread out over is is put onto the tax rate so that to the residential to the residential tax rate um so that if if we were giving an exemption I'm just going to use around figure of $10,000 to those individuals who are eligible then that $10,000 gets calculated into the tax rate for everybody else in town is that okay so um I'm going to turn it over to you this was a really good explanation that um you provided to the the select board about where we are but maybe you could start by talking about um anything that I didn't touch based on um about the circuit breaker and then where we are with the tax rate okay well you cover just but R well it's just to add on a couple of things not CH okay uh tonight we're going to talk about a tax rate that we expect to be $15.99 a, which is done from last year was 7 nearly nearly um I can't give you that for sure no because we got process to go through we've got a to the Department of Revenue and we have one more piece of paperwork you can sign off by them and then we'll be talking about this classification Workshop the next thing we talk with because Gail has more last at the whole uh tax recap she started sh there so that's the tax will be going down um this year the um the circuit breaker the going circuit breaker significantly from the state 1250 20 2500 27 that's the maximum is that you can get per personate oh okay so that make a big difference on the um extion L uh last year you granted 100% of the of the uh oh we did did uh which this year roughly of this year's and you're allowed to tax rate can vary from 0 to 100% sorry 200% 300% 200% okay always in trouble with a two for some reason uh so basically the amounts that we're talking about we could be exempting are going for 4326 to 3468 that's a big difference yes uh if you wanted to keep the same dollar amount that there was last year that would be the 50% level my 75% level is 12 U slightly obviously 50% more is 12,978 the assessors did not make a recommendation because we were discussing between 15 and 75% uh I think we all combin the fact that 75% could be it but still uh the other exemptions you get do not go Bing they're not going to be any more but this off these people are already hurt considerably so this was offset them at the 75% so we we are talking between 50 and 75% MH uh at that 75% rate the tax rate for the residential class would go to $167 instead of $115.99 and as you pointed out this is spread over the people's tax rate it does not come out of the overlay so it's a d it has to be approved here before we go so um questionsa I have no objection exper to 75% that's that's I guess I would say that I I just had a question about the drop in the tax rate I know that's not what we're talking about tonight but is that because um valuations have gone up so significantly significantly and because we also personal property valuations up this year dramatically because we a huge increase from uh Power Company okay National GD it's also acing our new growth significantly yeah for this year so it's going the more goes the lower the rate yes yeah yeah that was just so what did you say it was 17 something why the power companies uh why go personal property okay and personal property them are the wires and all the work they do there has been significant increase the electric upgrade this year anything they take away they replace and that's all new GRS that's all new value so basically it's all coming from that somewh and half five million3 yeah so signicant and does that depreciate over time it will so we get a dee schedule from the power company the power company we rely on them to tell us what they're getting like the uh the last few years the rules have changed used to just taken that the value we I work with them and we devis formula where we get slightly more I see so little bit you good neighbors if you want yes yeah that's a big um we [Music] um so you said that the the assessors didn't make any re we're talking between 50 and 75 but didn't come up with a recommendation was the um bless it go ahead I have received input from assessors just in the office since the meeting and one comment was concerned that we try to hold this uh amount that we give has even as possible for prediction purposes over the years that was from the assessors since D was last in the office and since we've had a meeting and one other concern was maybe even consideration of a c in the future if the state circuit breaker amount Rises as dramatically as it has because uh we want predictability in the budget so I think I've stated enough of what two the two other members of the board had stated individually to since St was last office but there was no vote meeting okay I would like to have that I discuss this you always have control over that because we can go lower than 50 you so if you want to keep it level a dollar M you can M right right okay any questions or com I apprciate yes yeah that's great so last year we last year we did 5050 but it was closer to the 4,000 last year we did 100 oh we did 100 that's rightor closer to the was 8,000 yeah okay um okay I I can see the logic and trying to keep it not doing a great variation from year to year how do you guys feel planning is helpful okay we know we do that school we try to get it's not doing this so yeah I okay so do somebody want to make a motion um regarding the um test exception amount sure I I move we uh have a circuit breaker allows be 50% second okay is there any further discussion any questions from any of folks were here um okay we have a motion and a second to do the circuit breaker allowance at 50% um all those in favor signify by saying I make peace I stalker I I thank you very much for uh for coming in and for the excellent um explanation go at the same next year okay yeah yeah why not it work this year new numers yeah new numbers right exactly utility trucks roll I just I just have one other question how do um how do people find out about it like how do uh Property Owners well General we've advertised it in the little Bulet bulletin you have here uhhuh and they have until the 1st of day of August to the 31st of August each year to file okay and this year we have eight and I think all all one the same as last year I un one okay so U and I don't know if Les puts it anywhere else on the website or not no but number of people call um about their taxes send out the information it is all on the website it is on the website okay just wanted to make sure that that was available for people who you know if somebody's new to town and they don't know um so okay the qualif the important qualification for this one is you have to that received the circuit breaker credit on your uh previous year's income state income tax oh okay and there is also qualification for not a lot of assets not exceptional asset so there's an asset test as well as an income test and yeah the income no income test it's a circuit breaker if you follow a circuit breaker on your previous I I see oh on your income tax okay all right good all right thank you thank you [Music] David welcome to spe um so we're a few minutes ahead of schedule um did was Steve dalas coming see tried to comeing on that Tred to come okay um morning he was he was okay all right so then maybe will pass over that for now and talk about the guide board is that going to come for that who was Stephen I'll just texting oh okay we to text and see because we can we can wait how about set town meeting special town meeting we can do that and we also need to set a classification hearing for oh all right why don't we just go ahead and do that right now um probably do both okay set the classification here hearing we're recommending I know we talked about meeting on um November 6 the day after uh election day yeah but uh in conversation with Rita today about the special town meeting it seems uh important to meet on the four on the Monday is that possible is that possible so um part of the I was asking Bey about when the warrant would close for the special town meeting and it would be election day so we're having it on the 19th it would have to close on Election Day we're not going to meet on Election Day therefore I I my sense you're going to be gone for our next meeting and then you're back and that it would be better if you were if we if we finalized the warrant on that Monday um and that gives us the two weeks notice right and I know Mondays aren't great for you um whatever you know understand that's fine um that would be all right um Monday it's Monday no it's November Monday the 4th that's our meeting that's just change our meeting from Wednesday to mon I'm sorry yeah we're going to do it on Wednesday the 6 so meet on Monday November 4th and and that is the the classification hearing is about commercial and residential right whether or not we have a different tax rate which I don't think we've ever had had a lot of discussion yes a lot of discussion but but no we've never done it so um do you want to do 5:30 or 6 I don't care we the tonight's meeting just FYI was to accommodate um me so I appreciate everybody meeting meet at 5 I'd have to have a few more minutes okay but we could do 6 o' you know I'd like to keep the meetings as sort of regular as possible aren't guessing so 6 6 o' so 6 o'clock and that won't will that interfere Becky with any kind of setup here when does the setup happen that even oh we can still meet in the center there or we could meet in the we meet in there or we could it's not we could all be on Zoom we have okay cuz it's I you don't want to we could um the both rooms could be in set up you're right yeah we just need we just need a center of a room just we wouldn't sorry we'd have to be in the conference room up yeah because both rooms are used and what what is the setup for the election usually done during the day or in the evening it doesn't matter it's the set up it's probably in the evening but we're meeting in the evening right school um school for our meeting every time I've asked the school about a meeting space they have the preschool what used to be the conference room you can do it in the library um and I believe I'm I know on Tuesday nights they're doing pickle ball there now I don't know Monday nights um we could potentially use the library um at the school so I think they're I have a different idea I might not like it at all I was wondering instead of maybe meeting the Thursday before okay that is sorry perfect sorry I want my side it's not a meeting um oh Stephen is here all right I know Grace do you have something to add to this discussion uh regarding Halloween uh we're going to be having ear inperson early voting in the room that night on Halloween yeah we deed not okay well we're not the 30th does that work Wednesday the 30th when do you get back get 26 I think so yeah okay work for Wednesday the 30th so that's a week that's a week early and I guess if we have to do something we could do it uh is that is Wednesday the 30th okay so we're going to have early voting set up in that room from the 19th until November 1 first so let's see the 30th we're with the 30th we are doing it from 12:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. we can uh clean it up and put it all away so that you guys can have the room that evening we could try to um have our footprint be as small as possible so you don't have to put everything away you know we could we could only what you have do for um safety you know yeah okay so um so we're back to Wednesday October 30th at 6: p.m. that that okay okay tiet um better make sure do the classification all right we but that sounds good all right um okay yeah why don't you check and then we can just let me offer another thought this this is another crazy thought okay so what happens because I could adjust my work schedule the 31st what happens if we do it in the afternoon would that make it easier for David and the accessor before Halloween gets kicked off it was just a thought the [Music] May David we have a question Miriam did you have a question yes I think you're talking about when you're going to be closing the warrant for the special town meeting is that correct yeah yes we would be signing the warrant that's correct there is an effort um to collect signatures for a citizen's petition for the special town meeting so I'm wondering when it needs to be turned in to the town clerk in order to allow enough time for it to get certified and sent to the select board Grace can you answer that um for Mariam so if we were looking at the 30th what would the deadline be for the um for certifying a Citizens petition for the warrant so the deadline is to submit it to the select board okay not there isn't really a deadline for submitting it to the town clerk let me look at the calendar I would say don't you have to verify the signatures yes yes I do um there just isn't there isn't mgl that has a deadline that would apply uh looking at the calendar you need at least a 100 signatures for a special town meeting petition uh is that to have a special town meeting or is that for an article on the special Town that's for an article at a special time meeting oh I didn't I didn't realize no it's 200 for yeah it's 200 to call a special town meeting regardless of the select board it's 100 signatures to put an article on a special town meeting board that's a citizen petition and then it's 10 signatures to put a citizen petition on an annual town meeting I am looking at the calendar I would ask that signatures be submitted to my office uh by the 29th so two days before the day before the 30th um at least so that we have at least 24 hours to verify those signatures um but that would that would just be a be my request there's not it's not a requirement the only requirement is to submit uh the citizen petition to the select board by the time they decide on the warrant okay and Grace can I ask a question just to clarify those are signatures of shury registered voters not area registered voters just correct yeah and they have to be they have to be uh handwritten there are the uh petition papers are available from my office someone just needs to come and pick them up okay so so we're talking about having any petitions in on the 29th of October and the select board at a Wednesday meeting um uh finishing the warrant mam did that answer your question yes that's great and we're using a form that um is using the same template that's been used in a number of other citizens petitions in the last couple years so I think we have the cor form [Music] thanks okay um all right uh so we kind of got off the off the topic here but you'll let us know if David Burgess is available for the 30th I if when it gets back to you okay so we'll set that as tentative yeah go ahead I just wanted to alert uh the Personnel Board that they have a por present oh they have just alerting okay if you want to call yourselves to order they don't they didn't they don't they're not posted not oh you're not posted I'm just alerting them so they can try to avoid it okay an open meeting law complaint by not speaking to okay okay all right remind ourselves yeah I'm not even sure if we have to sub okay and if you can't take by [Music] [Laughter] [Music] we'll get the masking tape out um okay so the next item on the agenda is um select board meeing room and I know Eric has been taking the lead and Steve Delmas is here with us this evening too um the um this kind of started with board just talking about you know we've had lots of problems in terms of sound I think we've resolved some of that with some adjustments thank you Melissa and Becky um with adjustments to you know how we use the owl but there's still um lots that could be done in this um select board meeting room in terms of just sounds and um Aesthetics I guess you would say um so Eric do you want to just talk about what you know what you and Steve have sure we just we just met Bri Steve and I the other day to look at this room and what we could do to it to make it well just to spiff it up I guess you to for phrase and um also mean sort of to make it more Studio like that is to say that as we suggested like the sound is better and stuff like that um and we came up with a couple of ideas that could be done they of course it kind of you know veered off and like well what what do we do with all the records you know maybe brings po the record issue again a whole another that's whole another can but anyway um we did have some suggestions of things that could be done to this room I Steve do you want to just articulate what your thoughts were you're muted Steve so Steve is that chairperson of the sh fa building committee how's that is that a little better that's better thank you um well you brought up about the sound which I wasn't aware of but um you know I think one of the first things is to try and deal with the items that are stored down there which I feel you know that may need to be done but I think they could be Consolidated um re you know reorganized in a way to uh use up less space and then um they could be quote covered by installing some heavy curtains which would start to uh help deal with the sound um and then the other thing um you know the heating pipes with the black insulation on them are you know very noticeable not necessarily attractive and they could easily be sprayed um except for where there's a control which would you know by spraying them the same color they would have a tendency to disappear um and I mean you could always spend a lot more and encapsulate them I mean you know enclose them somehow um but that's that's going to be pretty involved um and they'd have to remain certain things would have to remain accessible as well um but I even thought you know right now the um the large screen um sits on a table and if that was on a say a mobile base that boxes you know right now there are boxes of files stored under it which would actually be good to still have in a mobile base toh keep it from being tipsy but it would allow you to adjust that and if the if you did have a mobile base you know some something that could be fairly simply constructed I think with some very simple doors uh that could be say brought forward somewhat and then the curtains could be drawn behind it assuming had the curtains and I think you know on two walls uh that wall and the wall that adjoins the storage room where the well is if that also had a curtain um that would really change I think the sense of the space quite a bit I think so thanks Steve um so the one um I think maybe the next step is um just preparing a a write up for what what we might do in here and then trying to figure out um what it would cost us so the select board has a small budget of what 2,000 or 2500 2,000 um that could potentially be dedicated to any work we did in here I know in the past there were volunteers who did the senior LNG that was the Alden with volunteers except the floor so all the paint all of the things that were taken out the the rug everything um including the Pod channel that we found in the floor with a cast iron steam plate um was fill in with volunteer but the only thing the four the four needed leveling and it was a bit beyond what the the capabilities of the group had but that was the only thing that was not done with um happy to try to get those if we want to E Yeah so if we came up with a um some general specs on what we would do and then figured out figure out what what could be done with volunteers and whether or not we need any outside professional assistance it doesn't sound like it from what we're talking about um but you know my one of my that wall um and just which I think must have had a Blackboard right is that um and that might take some I don't know sheet rock or something that or some sort of bulle board curtain behind a curtain you should paint it too yeah just um right so so I guess we could come up with with uh various levels of of work that we would do and then see did like the suggestion of them making that mobile so that room where more people we could move that where we needed it it's not is it attached to a bunch of wires back there no it's just the plug cord and then the this one one yeah no I think that's a great there's not a lot of so you're talking about something that rolls Steve like a that was my thought because then you know that could be uh brought forward if you wanted um if you wanted to then have a curtain go behind it when there's a meeting and then after the meeting curtain can come back and then it can go back uh into more of a you know we'll say a recess um right the wall the wall that you're talking about the one the isore wall you know with a little bit of um very little you know prep if you just painted it you know the same color it'll yeah pretty much disappear I mean if you're going to get up close to it then you know it being perfectly smooth would would be important but I think that it's almost at a point where you could just put a primer uh and a paint on it okay and we're we're not um concerned with any paint or anything down here right there's I'm just curious well I've learned recently that buildings but were built prior to 1978 they high percentage of lead yeah well there's I would just interject that um the highest percentage would be buildings built somewhere in the 50s and then um I'm not going to rule out the possibility but after 1950 lead started to uh be taken out of a lot of the paints you know latex paints came came on so um if it was 1950 I'd say high probability or before between then and 7778 a lot less it was built in 1950 this building was yes and yeah it's just more if we're doing any kind of um wall prep and any kind of sanding I would want to know that there wasn't lead paint there um because it's and and if there was lead paint basically what they do in um both sometimes in residential and in commercial they just encapsulate it so they St they stabilize it and make sure and that would then call for putting something over it we could also think of a whiteboard there too yeah we couldn't make it look better right we could have a white board or we could have that as a tool for us yeah okay um all right so need to test a little F yeah yeah and I think I I'm not sure I mean there are um there are folks who do lead paint mitigation but I think you might be able to get some a kit to do it I have my yeah to to just do the test um so you want to do that Eric sure it's very T I see stepen hand again Stephen yeah so I'm sitting here looking um behind Melissa at the uh the offensive wall and then I look at the storage cabinet to the right of it and then there's another storage cabinet roughly the same uh size over as you enter the senior room and I was thinking oh what if both of those were placed right in front of the offensive wall m there is a vent there um but I guess it could go on the other side and there's an offensive part of that wall behind that that cabinet this is already hiding something right so we need a few more fing cabinet yeah really yeah or the curtains yeah or the curtains all right well pretty easy to paint those fact yeah we can try paint what if there was L we just paint over would that encapsulate yes yes if you yes what I was more concerned about if you're starting to sand something in you're yeah it's already been done so here's my question you have to test for lead if you're not going to see it if let's say I feel better if we just test test it okay fine just so we know yeah for now or future anything yeah yeah it's it's it's a much bigger deal in Residential Properties but once you just start messing around and people are in the room on a regular basis if you ever have kids in here it just just do you know who would test for lead Steve or how would we how would we do that lead test um I don't I don't know of anybody in the area but I think you would just look under lead testing but they do I think have these uh little test kits you can buy at the hardware store and you swab it I think and it then starts to tell you if there's lead um if there's you know comes up negative it's not the definitive test but if it comes up positive then you know you want to have it tested but if it comes up negative that's a good starting point for sure right okay thanks um Michael did you have a question I had a comment actually I was just I came in in the middle and my ears perked up when you're were talking about filing cabinets so I think the two filing cabinets I think Stephen was talking about are ones that we reorganized last year for the planning board Becky and Carrie and I and so the two things were it'd be good to keep the planning board files together when they get moved and if the town wants to buy extra ones I'm sure we would appreciate that so just putting it in there okay all right all right well I know one thing um I've have have vowed to do because I know it's going to be fascinating reading is the report that I think Susie LED on um record storage and so I think there was a lot of research done and recommendations made and um that uh we should take a look at it um to see if there's you know as we're as we're looking at all of this about whether or not um any of it makes sense to store offsite or I know the Old Town Hall it's just again as we're kind of going through and and looking at the these many files here um I think we have recommendations about what to do so yeah we have to digitize the records it's one of the questions that comes up I think yeah we can have some more discussion after we read this but um yeah okay so I think we have a question and maybe we want to do the what we were just talking about first I thought was um Furniture to or or tables because I think I think the straight tables aren't functional for us three in a way where maybe having the um there's tables that are mobile you can move any types of configurations so we each could have our own little table and sit kind of so we can see each other um anyway that may be for the next step but okay was just apply to yeah um so just like furnishings and then I I think the big question you know once we kind of come up with our wish list um then we look at the you know what a budget it might be and how far our $2,000 gets us and then um maybe we do some step in the next fiscal year or if we think there's some immediate need um we of the finance committee um about a small amount of money de no we won't talk to the finance just kidding um okay all right so um I think we have a plan thanks Steve um and Eric for taking the the lead on that um okay so the next item on the agenda is is um just the select board guide block guide board update which I will give um so after the last select board meeting um I think it was the last meeting um we had talked to the um we talked to both the historic commission and the building committee about you know what about the construction of a gazebo over the guide board and um the the guide board is currently residing temporarily in Williamstown and I can't recall it's like the Williamstown conservation it's it's being um it's being restored our guide board that um sits in the middle of town and uh the town appropriate CPA funds um for the work to be done and um you know it's it's I think it's going to be a beautiful thing uh when I know when the historic commission first talked to us about it um what they had heard from Williamstown folks was you know we're restoring this do you really want it sitting outside um after we restore it can can you find someplace um to put it inside and um you know there was some discussion about um you know where it could be placed that a lot of people would see it uh there's very valuable real estate in our new library and I don't think anybody wanted to take any of that um Val real estate off with putting the guide board in there we don't have any kind of Museum in town the Old Town Hall is not uh open to the public um and uh there's really no place in town hall so the best solution was to put it you know back where it came from um uh on the on the town Comet so the um the historic commission went ahead and um did some preliminary plans for um building a structure that would um be over um the guide board and then the building committee reviewed those plans and felt that it would and I'm just going to generalize here that it would kind of overpower that the moving the guideboard and then putting a structure over it would kind of almost defeat the the purpose of having this guide board you know out and visible and [Music] um and something that you know everybody coming through town um could see easily if it were covered so I was kind of P pondering what to do because the select board um has jurisdiction over the town common so anything that goes onto the town common has to be um approved by the select board and um and we were I I guess maybe did I I missed that discussion at the last meeting part of it okay um so then I I suddenly had this thought um that you know if if we were not gonna if we were not going to put any sort of structure over the the guide board what what else could we do so I um contacted Steven smolski who is a town resident um who is a internationally known good scientist um and has quite the impressive um resume you know deals with uh all kinds of wood new old um failing um and you know does Consulting um from everybody from insurance companies up to the largest uh builders in in New York City and has done actually International work too and I you know I called him and I said Stephen you know this we have this issue we're having this guide board restored and um there's concern about its Longevity if it's put back you know where it was and um and that the Williamstown people you know had talked about trying to protect it in some way so he had he had a number of of ideas asked me some questions about um exactly what the Williamstown folks were doing and um and then I contacted um Mato pongalo who is chair of the community preservation committee who was who took and and also on instor commission and has taken the lead has been the contact person with with the Williamstown folks and um I spoke to him and I spoke to then Henry Gettys and also Bert Fernandez who we have um Henry's the chair of the historic commission and Bs on the historic commission and um what I communicated to them was that Stephen offered um to donate his Services um to take a look at the guide board um I sent him the information that we've gotten from Williamstown and I also sent him the um the plans for the Gazebo and he has agreed to go out and meet with the Williamstown folks they were very um actually pleased to to meet with him given his um his background and he actually had done work at the Clark Museum in Williamstown so he's um he's worked for a lot of a lot of museums and um and so he's agreed to do that and and they thought it was a great idea he wanted to see and then you know I asked if he could come back with some sort of a recommend ation to um say what would help sustain this structure over the long term and so he's going to do that and that's kind of where we are but I wanted to make sure that the select board was okay with um with moving ahead um Henry ber and and Matteo all thought it was a great idea um so I I know in our priv previous discussion we had talked about protecting it from above right but it's below St yeah well he asked me a number of questions and I said um I don't have a a set of good photographs and that's why he decided it would be better if he went out he met with them talked to them about what techniques they're using um looked at the guide board um because he's all about you know know making sure wood survives and and so he already had some suggestions just about flashing and and where the you know we at that place because he said the moisture from below is really your is you know kind of your first and foremost um concern but so that's what he would he would do um if everybody's in agreement that I think it makes sense yeah I think it's great thanks do that it doesn't make sense to me if it makes sense that um to the his mission yeah everybody agrees to it great yeah I me to proce yeah um and I thank you for volunteering yeah he was actually kind of excited because he hasn't he hasn't worked directly with the Williamstown people before but um you know you work with the CL uh so yeah okay yeah um um any other questions no okay you need to vote in any way I don't think so as long as you you guys are comfortable with it as I said I sort of covered the other bases um the other committees okay um so we're moving along to the special town meeting for November 19th 2024 oh okay Henry yeah hi there I was just curious oh I wanted to thank uh Rita for taking this initiative first of all but secondly I was wondering about the time uh the time frame uh I suppose this this information might get back to us yeah I mean Stephen was if if the board voted tonight he was going to throughout this week he'd already been in contact with the Williamstown people because he didn't want it to get and I didn't want it to get any further along because I know they've been stripping it and so um you know I just said I wanted after we had spoken and then that the select board was um was good with it that you know Stevens you know had gotten tentative times for them either tomorrow or Thursday you'd be going out there excellent thank you you're welcome um okay so let's see we have the special town meeting for November 19th we now just to make sure we're talking about the warrant closing on October 30th is that correct okay um and um Becky if you could just remind us what we have so far on the agenda on the agenda for the meeting meeting we have matalo Town citiz well it's the correct word is um it's a petition that is adopted in a town is it is it a town it's not a bylaw is it no it's not a by but it's a Grace is not there anymore just m it's okay I'll I'll remember but it's it's not just cuz when you it's a non non-citizen voting it's a binding citizens are refering right and citizens petitions are non I just it's a home rule it's a home rule petition I always think of so it has to go to the legislature too then yes right so there is a difference between what we passed at annual town meeting was asking this select board to write a letter to our legislators saying that we had done this okay what is being proposed now is a home rule petition we submit to our legislator saying pass this law that we have requested you to pass just for our town okay all right um so we have we have that and we have and we have the track the CPA funding for of $136,000 for the track yeah and we have the library has a correction to um about $1,000 correction and then some additional requests for I think that the assistance okay all right it's a budget request we have a police yes police right the first item okay and we have the $25,000 fund being established for private duty details and it sounds like we might have another citizens petition um that Mary mentioned coming up be five articles and then I I would add another article which um we can discuss more at a future meeting but um I think we are going to need to add um some funding into the town administrative line item um to account for um possibly hiring hiring interim and permanent but I don't have any kind of recommendation at this point but we would have that yeah later okay um all right good so we're all set with that um uh the next item on the agenda is we have a request um from to sign on to the northern rail trail what is it Becky it's um it's an I I know what they sure it goes yeah so they have to clear a number ofes but we are we are signing what a letter to a letter of support for the legislators who are trying to push this bill through okay so we were asked by uh Joe comerford's office to sign this letter of support and um yeah it would be a great thing if we had I used to take the train from um Gardener into Boston and um I always thought it was the best thing it would have been a whole lot nicer if I was taking the train from orange or you know somewhere up there at all a little closer um so that's great I know that they're pushing pushing this in the legislature so do I hear a motion um for the select board to sign a letter of support for the northern rail trail so move second any um further discussion I see Michael you have a question take quick question actually about the special town meeting but you didn't see my hand so I can wait until you're done with this sorry is it something F right right I know yeah I I just I was I was going up the yes curve so I lost a little bit you're closing the warrant on October 30th is that what I heard yes and it's the preference of the select board not to have a lot of items on because it's a special town meeting well I you know I guess we would judge it by what the nature of the item is and how whether or not it's appropriate for special town meeting or yeah it's I'm asking for eak because there's stuff about the climate leader program that we have to get town meeting approval for which we thought we would do for the annual town meeting because that made more sense but there's a grant that we could apply for that's due the end of November so I I'll I just want to check my facts I'll I'll communicate with Becky about it separately but thank you yeah if you could do that that would be great okay um all right so did I here was I we had a motion in a second um all those in favor signify by saying I I Dr I barl I okay the next item on the agenda is um providing a right of entry for the Army Corps of Engineers to gain access to lot 032 and quickly the background on this is that um in uh when we the Maryann was overseeing the due diligence on lot 032 and there were um test Wells done on I think they were nine test Wells or something like that done doesn't really matter but there was a test test well in um in the back of the property um which uh showed up some oil in the um in the test well and so it resulted in um D being getting involved when we reported it um so Maran do you want to take it from there and just tell the sure thanks um so you know quite some time ago now a year and a half ago or so or so we presented all of the data that we collected uh in the course of that environmental investigation to the Army Corps of engineer and they accepted responsibility for um for the uh contamination of the site and for the m ation of the site um and so they have um now hired a contractor to continue this work so on September 30th I met with representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers and the contractors that they hired to continue this en environmental remediation um in the area of the former radio tower they outlined the project scope and schedule and and um and I've shared the slides from the meeting with you um you should have that um the contractor will begin the process by reviewing all of the documentation related to the release updating the PIP and creating a set of project plans and that's all outlined in those slides that I sent you fieldwork is currently scheduled to take place in April and May of 2025 they are planning soil and groundwater sampling they're going to use a membrane interface probe with a hydraulic profiling tool that will give concurrent um readings as the borings are performed and this will inform the placement of additional monitoring Wells following um the initial site work seasonal sampling will occur um it's too soon to say exactly what phase of construction the driveway and parking area of the library will be in when the Army Corps site work begins um I've asked them to consider methods they might use to protect the surface that they'll have to drive over to get to the road to the back of the site I've also asked if they can adjust their schedule to complete the field work earlier um before the driveway and parking area are under construction that's really unlikely because of the whole Federal cont Contracting process um and so anyway you have in front of you a form called a right of entry and that needs to be signed and returned to returned to the core before they can begin work um and it outlines that they'll give us seven days notice before doing any field work and that they'll be responsible for repairing damage caused by their activities um provided there's sufficient funding um for it and um and also that the town has the right to withdraw permission with by giving them 30 days notice any questions one question I have is the um in back in the day used to access that radio tower by a Road off of P Hill Road um is that not an option you know so that that sort of pathway off of pelum Hill Road is well so there was um so that property is owned by UMass and then it leads to a foot path so that would really require first of all they'd have to get permission from UMass to go through their site and then they would have to um cut down trees and mountain laurel to make a path wide enough to get the Geo probe and a vehicle through um it's it is it conceivably possible yes um is it necessary uh probably not I think that they're going to be willing to work with us and try and put down some kind of protective uh you know surface below the vehicles um you know I even mentioned to them building a you know like a wooden kind of ramp um so um so I think it's too soon to tell because we won't know exactly what phase of the construction we'll be at because you know a construction schedule is just a schedule and according to the schedule now the subsurface of the driveway and parking area should be done but not any finished work and so that doesn't really seem like something that would that there would be a lot of damage um and if they put down mats like they do like we did over Wetland protection areas that should help or maybe it won't um so we'll have to see exactly when they want to start and exact and what the conditions are um and then in the meantime I am going to walk in I haven't walked in that other way in quite some time so I'm going to walk in that way and invite um the project manager from the Army Corps to walk in with me that way too before winter sets in um just so that we can see if it really is an option Maran I had a um a question actually two questions um the first is that the Army Corps took over the the PIP which is the public involvement can't remember yes public involvement plan yes so that originally was the town's responsibility and they're fully aware of that yes okay yes and um and also um because of the wetlands on the site I assume that they have a licensed upsite professional working with them is that correct so they deal yes and I I told them that they would have to that they would likely have to file an RDA with the Conservation Commission um so they're aware of that and I pointed them to the conservation commission's website and our Wetland our local wetland protction bylaw and regulations okay all right great and is there um is there LSP local cuz are the are the uh Army Corps people from out of state or are they so the contractor is from out of state um but the LSP who the contractor is working with is from Massachusetts um so the contractor is um let me find the name of the SDC Tidewater is the contractor and then they have they've hired or they have a contract with a licens Ty professional um who lives in Littleton Mass um and I'm gonna find her name um on this Kathleen Murphy she's the LSP so I think they have to use a Massachusetts LSP because it's the Massachusetts contingency program and they've worked with her before SDC tywater has worked with Kathleen Murphy um I met the project manager and um and the environmental scientist from SDC tiw and I met the LSP during this meeting great it would be good to get that taken care of yes yeah I do think it's going to be a you know a multi-year process um but they are responsible for it and they'll be managing the communications and the um you know the all of the requirements with D um and uh and and once they put in the wells um that you know that'll be one thing and then they're going to do seasonal sampling so it won't involve bringing Vehicles out there um you know on a regular basis it'll be seasonally and and then the sampling will just be you know taking water from the wells and then testing it um to to see if the levels fluctuate over time or seasonally okay um any other questions um so you need us to um sign the right of Entry is that correct yes yes yeah yes and if you do that so all three of you are there so if you I'll sign it and then leave it in my box I will um send it to the Army Corps tomorrow okay great do I hear a motion to execute the right of entry for the Army Corps of Engineers to gain access to lot 032 so moved second any further discussion okay all those in favor signify by saying I make I st ey barel I okay just go ahead and get my signature on here right now okay um so the next item on the agenda is the um election warrant which um the select Bo has to approve and Grace is there anything is Grace still here yes Grace is there anything um you want us to know about this election W uh not especially it is a pretty standard thing we need to sign and post the election warrant okay um we don't have that many initiative petitions this year is that it we no uh we have five ballot questions which is a pretty good number oh okay oh yeah there's four I didn't see five I can tell you just from just from handling all the ballots and and the envelopes and the ballots coming back in the envelopes They are thicker than usual oh okay all right um okay so you just need us to approve this is that correct approve it and sign it that's correct okay um do I hear a motion to um approve the election warrant for the November the November 5th 20124 um State national election right um 52 individuals not oh okay 52 individual St it's just yeah we can just call it the November 5th 2024 state election state election okay all right uh do I hear a motion to approve it so move second sorry okay um any further discussion no uh I gave Becky a physical copy you guys will all sign it you have it signing it as we speak soon as soon as we vot all those in favor signified by saying I I st baral eyes [Music] other thank you very much everybody very welcome okay I think we are getting to our last item which is um Town Administrator transition plans and ta updates good evening everyone that's just the other Pages here um so I have some news I um I have been I interviewed and I've been offered a job as the sundland found administrator a minut still no no it's okay okay it's on it's on um so the situation is a little bumpy at the moment because I had to release the information right away um like it will be potentially here um the the decision was made at an open select board meeting so the select board is also televised in Sunderland and so the news will was um available right away and um reported at least on one radio or TV station so it's a public it's public that I have um um been offer this job I have signed a a contingency that um completion of a contract um this will move forward I have not resigned from SHO yet because I have not yet met to review the contract so as soon as I do that my intention is to make uh make that known to the select board um as they've been apprised of this and then we'll be looking at a transition period I've asked for 30 days um from the first discussion that date um came out as um the day before elections and so being the day before elections I didn't see why so I pushed it out another week I'd like to not leave a race in chaos um so it's the final date that I'm looking at it ball goes as currently planned is the 8th of November as far as transitioning um I have spoken with Rita she has some ideas about the best way to handle it potentially live in interim and um we're talking about advertising I'd like to get it out in the MMA um as soon as issues are resolved I don't want to post something and find out that a job description might have changed it to some extent so the job description I think should be added to the agenda for the Personnel board's meeting on the 17th October 17th yes so it's um about 10 days it's a week and a half from today it's on the Thursday um that's not a good time for me I I think it would be good for the select Bo to give some input and and you're gone and I'm gone on that yeah um how often do you guys meet can I talk after at a Mee we don't have a personel board okay we don't have any Personnel Board okay so they have the meeting on the 17th yes um how about we'll keep with that so that maybe they can have some starter conversation to give you stuff okay and then at your meetings on you we meet on the 22nd and then we meet on the meeting 22nd the Personnel Board oh he's G well you know yeah unless you want to push it to the no that just keep going let me let me just tell you sort of some of my kind of thoughts and because I don't yeah I mean seems like they're really rushing this at a time when it everybody's not going to be available towards the end of October so you know I think what would be very helpful and I think we need to engage with the Personnel committee um but what would be helpful is if we could kind of work together um on any changes that um we want to make to the to the job description and not not think about advertising until that we've gone through that process um you know my sense just from talking to a few people um about the hiring process you know my my concerns are um you know we're in a very competitive competitive environment now for Town administrators um there's been um quite a bit of turnover and uh there at least um you know a couple of the larger communities out there I think Dearfield maybe or and Hadley you know looking for for Town administrators so um and we you know this is just coming at a time when we have like us being out of town you being out of town I'm out of town um town meeting the election you know a lot going on that for us to think that somehow we were going to be able to hire in you know for the permanent position when we want to look at the job description um is is way too ambitious and that what would make sense is to bring somebody in on an interim basis and then go forward and that's what you know a lot of communities I mean that's what Sun did a lot of communities do that because if you only give somebody you know if you can only give a short relatively short notice and that's totally understandable um the hiring process itself takes time advertising the hiring process and then if somebody has another job they have to give notice and so what we don't want to have happen is that we have nobody here because I don't think any of the three of us are prepared to step into Becky shoes that's for sure um so you know the way I'm contemplating it and you know wanted to talk about tonight a little bit is just that that is the approach we would take it would mean you know kind of going through two hiring processes that you know I think the first would be um relatively straightforward there are there are a number of people out there I already you know just talked to a few folks including um one of the Consultants who helped in Sunderland um about whether there are people you know lot who have retired who come in um on an interim would come in on an interim basis for for um let's say a two Monon assignment until we got through um the hiring process and so that was part of my thinking in um you know talking about an article for it uh for the warrant because Becky gets paid out all of her um vacation time that has been accumulated that was carried over and then accumulated this year so we're going to be paying you for you know a bit and you know we'll will be short in the Town Administrator um line item so uh and I think we're going to have to pay some more money that we're currently P um it's my it's my suspicion just from talking to other folks so all that being said um what uh you know what I'd like to do is kind of come up with a plan around meeting with the Personnel committee going with going through the job description and um and then putting together a um uh job description for an interim person and then at the same time Becky could be working on the you know we could we could be preparing for doing the the hiring so that's kind of does that Mak sense I think that's where lovely thought out it makes sense I think it makes sense I think it makes sense who who what's your vision of who would do be doing the hiring just a select board or select board would the person Bo or hiring for for what um traditionally for a major position it's um a larger a larger group four of five with the member included they do all the have search Comm intervie yeah you're going to have a full search committee they'll do all the interviewing until the last interview and then the select board would interview and then you make then you receive your recommendation uh from the hiring committee and then it's you determine whether you stick with that recommendation or not well in the case of sundland they had four people that they recommended so I mean they didn't have a search committee and um when I spoke with their consultant she said that was really you know she thought that was not great that they didn't it was a really kind of a a board that has doesn't have the depth experience and she said she thought you know they having a search having a search committee so I think yeah that we would have a search committee both both no only the St I don't see the the temporary position being a big um a heavy lift I think you know we would find somebody who we think and it'll be more like hiring a consultant right amount of time probably part time yes and you'll set the rate yeah handle that yeah yeah um so if that all sounds um reasonable what I could do is just maybe um write up and work with you Becky just coming up with kind of a plan yeah a together a timeline a calendar so we can fit in the advertising because you know you have this compulsion to start advertising right away but you want to be sure what you're stating in the ad is no you're right yeah no I I um I appreciate your um being really thoughtful about the the the timing and the consideration because I think Beyond um Beyond kind of taking care of all this stuff um it will be a lot of work for you and a lot of a brain brain Dum um I mean we we know some of the stuff but you are the uh you know you have a lot of the knowledge the experience and um you know we will appreciate your helping us that which I know you will um okay uh let's see I I have a couple items on my today report yeah go ahead um the first one that was not but is the Turkey Trot you to be approved by the select board still here did she want to brag about turke iess she I think um she did a wonderful job talking about it recently um the the turkey TR has grown from last year I think if you read the email that has recently gone out she's added over they now have 20 uh vendor sponsors oh that's great um commercial sponsors on top of wow so it's really growing it's going to be very exciting thank you um my other couple of updates are just um some comments on the not weed we um I feel like the not weed issue has been circling around the select board um keeps touching down and go jumping back up I uh at this point I've spoken with Beth Wilson on conom I know she was anticipating potentially um receive she had given RDA paperwork and to pami Shi and she had anticipated maybe there was going to be some activity there uh from the email we just received uh from from that group it does not appear they will be moving ahead uh with uh the actual work uh of going to comcom and pursuing this at this point um Board of Health I also touched Bas with they've had a lot of discussions they do not feel that they can commit to a a statement at this point U they've been asked to De you know this the situation as a hazardous situation U because of the gate um they're still trying to figure out what their role really is statuto and it seems to fall outside of it and um that's where they have come down so far um so that leaves the select board and um ideas and thoughts you might pursue I think one idea I had was potentially to go back to the routine we had used before where we um identified an area whether it's in Wetlands or not but a bad area um write a proposal get get bids in to do the work um I know kenderson's been our company helped I mean was the the person that responded last time with the best program and potentially have them outline what they would do what the cost would be and take that to annual town meeting so that the costs would need to be approved thenc con would have to identify a source and that would shift the discussion to a townwide discussion um which might might be a solution to help help people either get really invigorated and start ripping out all the knot weed on the road sides or um or find a chemical combination that they feel comfortable with using but it could take us one step closer to a solution and a way to address the problem yeah I mean that sounds great to me I I think because there's been so much discussion having a not having this board decide in the absence of you know the entire picture and town meeting would probably be the best place to do that so we proed [Music] proposal saying this is what we could do this is what it would cost here's how it would be done um then we could see does the town want it or not and if they don't then you know what else yeah that sounds good to me yeah okay great we work on that and um the last thing I was going to talk about is that mvp um we are we've received the grant for $222,000 we are exploring how to best utilize the grant um the initial yeah there's there's some problems that we've run into with the truck and the amount it'll do so we're exploring two other options and getting back to MVP to hopefully get them to allow us to move ahead with some alterations and that's it for tonight okay what about the cones the uh oh thank you ER what's on the all right the other item I wrote down uh so the fire Regional fire study is going to begin in phase two uh we did apply for a community contact Grant which we received uh $30,000 going to the Colin Center who will um hand the the next step of phase two which will at some point include public meetings um and the first kickoff meeting for the group of firefighters and town administrators from the four communities Wendel Wendell is wend wend Tu and we will U be meeting on the 23rd of October so potentially an update for thir okay and Becky I just wanted to um congratulate you um I hope that the uh negotiations go the way you want them to go thank you very much agree with that um I had a question are the are they going to Pilot the clickers on the 19th of November I asked Becky that um uh where Grace is there Grace are you there yeah yeah if you're there when Rita there you are I'm here I the issue of whether we could do clickers for the 19th came up I told Rita I'm concerned that we don't have enough time to to to do that test run with all you you're buried in but you're the one who knows that best that's not an answer that head shake uh so uh this is the first the question has been posed to me uh let me sleep on it and I will uh let us know let you guys know okay sounds good that's fa thank you Grace I'll take one more question I have to um wrap this up soon you yeah um what would be the procedure if a group of Neighbors in a neighborhood wanted to tackle controlling um with volunteer effort um a patch of not weight in the right of way I mean I understand that if it's in a resource area or buffer zone they would have to submit an RDA to the Conservation Commission but in terms of what the select board would want would they want just notification um would there proc I think notification would be great and yeah it would be um it would be good to good to know how that how that does yeah and Miriam I just want to be sure after when you put when it's p out typically the practice that we used before was to spread it on the black top in the summertime so that it would dry and then we bagged it in black bags yeah for the trash um is is that a similar followup I'm just you know you don't want to pull a bunch of of not we out and not do the Second Step so I assume you're going to do the Second Step um no absolutely there has to be you know it has to be dehydrated and it or desicated and then it has to be disposed of so yes all that has to happen could it be burn I don't yeah I think there's issues with burning but I'll confirm that yeah as long as it's really well dead it has to be desiccated um and you have to make sure you know that you're not leaving Roots around um that then take root somewhere so I think it can be you know it have to be burned according to whatever regulations I don't know if somebody had a yeah uh Frank you're [Music] muted can you hear me yeah my concern about the clickers is at the all boards meeting the moderator mentioned that it was a 5050 to where Frank yeah um yeah I don't want to get into a discussion of the clickers it's not on the agenda okay okay then um Can the let me ask you a question about this can the poll be published online so that people can see it they use this the town's website to initiate the poll why can't we see it what poll don't surve survey that was done the survey for the clickers that's all I'm asking because you're not bringing up the discussion that at one town meeting at the all towns meeting it was a 5050 and at the last meeting the moner spoke it was a 6040 I'd like to see that yeah just I'd like to see the data before it goes on to a a a special town meeting it it's this is not it's not a vote on the clickers it was more a test run to like show people how they work versus it's not it's not an appropriation to put the clickers into use it would be more a demonstration is positive that the town is positively going that way so why don't see where the data was first I think it would be a demonstration to see do people like it or not like it so people would be more in a position to know what we were talking about yeah if you voted a to if it came up on the war in a town meeting they can put just ask um okay I'm sorry I have to go so um do I hear a motion to adjourn the meeting move [Music] all thank you everybody thank you