##VIDEO ID:_Bdp1JAUA4M## huh M this is I'm sorry Melissa that Rita's video is record she's having trouble her video is on and I don't see that oh um she may have to engage her camera R does your laptop have a um we can't see you I don't know if you're intending for us to does your laptop have a sh shade across the camera doesn't want us to see no right oh we'll get you a Sher PA sorry that's all right he's a moderator he's just standing up um kind we're trying something else we're trying to decide what works best so if you'd like to you can pull up to the to the table if you want or in this area there wherever you like to start you started I start yes you start the audence there we go yeah it's hard to know the hybrid me so this is I don't know that's the that's our boss [Music] yeah it seems to catch the voices better when it's not on the table which gives a little rebirth right so yeah yeah know that's been an issue when I remely you know just trying to figure it out I mean hopefully we can s of clean up this room so it's better it's a it's a studio basically is that's what it is yeah least have that as an OP I just texted Rita that we couldn't see her on camera I don't know if she's intending for us to she may notay okay okay um we just figuring that out so um shall we call ourselves to order sure could you have an extra cop agenda the only thinged was that Grace needs the special election vote from for the not to to limit her hours5 for the nov because otherwise we have to do 50 [Music] hours okay right thank you okay all right um so we'll go over the agenda uh first we have um a public comment and followed by the review of our minutes by the select board the town moderator and town clerk discussion about uh the question use of clickers for voting um consideration of an appointment for land use clerk followed by an a consideration of appointment for admin secretary uh select Bo um receiving a resignation uh not we mitigation what's the best way for us to proceed uh review of historical commission Kazo presentation and building committee we regarding their proposal uh the Google Calendar I'm going to wait until we have read in full um okay so we'll the minutes actually we don't have any okay so no minutes okay so that'll go next um and then um for us to vote for in inperson um voting hours for the November election um with the town clerk's office and then Town Administrator updates and I think that's it um um oh I think there was a select new date for select oh I'm sorry I miss straight over that no that's okay yeah um so let's open it for public comment is there anyone in the audience that has public comment I would like to share anything on screen or in person okay all right hearing none I'm gonna okay so Rita says she can't see any of us Rita can you hear any of us I see you lesie I'm just checking with do real quick does she need to text me I I don't know uh lesie go ahead I'm gonna go ahead sorry about the lack of light let me move around a little bit but you can hear me right yeah yeah and did you read the statement that I sent about how foolish and toxic it would be to use life liate anywhere in town this is something you sent a while ago right not just very recently like last week or something yeah I sent it in let's see who this is hang on call from son okay just one of those funny calls um did you read it Eric yes yes great great how about you Melissa yes I have okay yeah so I'm just curious where you guys are on with this because it's toxic it has no green value it's um yeah R good idea I'll go outside um and I know I guess I'm just making a comment so I'm reiterating that I don't I don't want it used anywhere in town because it's not healthy and if you think you're just going to do it on knotweed it still goes in the air and last I heard Schoolhouse Road was on the list to be sprayed but 's no knotweed on the road it's further down in the pelum area and so I never heard anything back about that so I was like do you guys know where things are we have a discussion a little bit later in our agenda that um we're going to talk about what our talk about what the best weed way to proceed is so we haven't discussed it as a select board so we can't answer you until we've discussed it this select board okay well I look forward to hearing more I know there's been lots of videos and lots of people in town with much success either hand pulling it using pigs or uh goats less expensive and definitely not toxic for anybody so I hope you will consider what I said and that we are a green Community or at least supposed to be and I find it quite disturbing that you're even discussing it but I hope you'll discuss it and have have your um your moment where you're like how could we do this to the citizens of our town reduce their health thank you thank you L Mary L hi yes Mary Lou conka I live on wendle road and I too am very very concerned how this has even become a topic of conversation um not only will this Roundup go back into the air it's going to seep into the ground and the best I know every single home in this town is relying on groundw we we have a well that's part of the attraction of moving here and you know I I I want to put my good faith into you who making the decision that you will get what I don't know what you call that a moment of something clicks and you just go forward with the decision you know in your in your heart of hearts and you don't allow such a thing in shuber thank you thank you Mar um Mar um I don't know if you can he me um I Heard um some mention in a previous meeting that there may perhaps be a second special time meeting fall um do you know if that's happening and then I can't hear we can't hear you Mariam okay I'm sorry um doing the best I can I have covid um is I've heard that there may be a second special town meeting do you know if that is going to be the case and if so when heing me of November 19th November 19th it's not official yet the select board has not officially adopted it that's the proposed date we can anybody else have no minutes so we will push those to the next meeting um and next up is the moderator and town clerk discussion about improvements of town meeting question of clickers being used for voting so for those in the audience there um that the town was looking into um by the thought of our discussion on improvements of 10 Grace is here too I see grace on there seems to be some sound interference from somebody I'm looking now um I think I think it's okay go ahead okay so um so I I'm not sure you know if Grace has some things that she'd like to say but uh my my intent uh this evening is to uh talk with the select board a little bit about some of the options that I think are available to us both presently and in the future uh to um remove some of the barriers to uh to participation in town meetings I I think you know you you probably know that's been one of my my strong interests you know ever since I became moderator to try to get more people involved uh in uh in making the decisions in town that are made at town meeting so um so I wanted to discuss four things actually the uh the electronic voting or clicker uh study group that um that met for um much of the past year um and some of the um the outcomes of that I wanted to also talk about a couple options that we have presently to U make our town meetings a little more efficient that are in the um uh in the options that the select board has available to them uh and then looking ahead to the Future a little bit um just uh you know what might be coming down the road and how the town might need to prepare for that so those are the four topics that I wanted to discuss so the first one electronic voting um you know I I had a good group of people that did some really good work uh we talked about this one other time at one of your meetings um we did that survey that uh came up with some surprising results as far as I was concerned I I thought that uh the use of uh town meeting clickers would be a fairly popular thing it wasn't necessarily clear you know whe whether there was strong support or not uh so I uh did not feel at the end of that that I was in a position to propose anything in terms of uh you know an actual purchase of a uh electronic voting system but I didn't want to give up on the idea uh just yet either and um I think um I'd like to explore or I'd like the select board maybe to consider exploring a couple options for just getting more uh more of a feel for uh just how supportive the town uh is uh to use uh electronic Electronics in our in our voting um couple options for doing this one would be to uh and both of these would be non-binding uh I just really want to you know kind of uh gauge the the uh you know the feelings of the town right now one would be through a a non-bonding ballot question uh that you know people could actually vote on which is probably where we get uh you know some of our best turnout uh in town so I think that might be uh you know we we get a lot more people involved you know or participating than we did in our survey the other would be uh in an actual article uh that we would have at uh probably the annual town meeting I don't think I would um propose it for a special town meeting just because again I want to get as much feedback as as possible so uh so those were a couple options for kind of taking next steps you know to kind of gauge the interest of the of the Town Becky did you um had a question my question go you want to respond to Grace first I that would be good want to take Grace sure yeah Grace is on the agenda as well uh grece did you have a question about what Paul has said at this point or do you want to add in to that because you're part of the discussion too so you don't have to raise your hand necessarily yes I wanted to add to that um I've been researching non-binding policy POS ballot questions I'm not and at this point I don't understand how we would phrase clickers as a ballot question it doesn't seem to fit with the definitions of what a non-binding policy question would be on a a local ballot um that so that was that uh I have I had a conversation uh couple months ago with the president of the Massachusetts moderators Association and one of the things that she said was very useful for herself and for other communities that she's worked with was um bringing clickers in for uh either just one town meeting a special or an annual or doing sort of a mock meeting using the clickers and that that gives people an opportunity to uh use the tool and form an informed opinion about its use um so I think that would be a really good idea uh we've got we know we have a special town meeting coming up probably in November probably on November 19th um I expect that we might need to have another special town meeting sometime this year so I was thinking that uh it might make a lot of sense for us to reach out to one of the vendors that provides this service and ask them if once we know when we have a date for a special town meeting ask them if they want to come in and uh give people an opportunity to use the tool and decide whether or not they like it my question um was pretty much on the n on the nonbinding ballot question Paul I was just wondering how that would work and when you would propose doing that uh yeah I I don't think you know we could uh think of doing it this fall you know during the the election uh so I don't know I haven't really thought that that through fully yet is just um you know thinking of options that you know we we could uh we could explore you know to to just get more more public feeling about about it so so yeah you might be open to Grace's idea of doing a test at that would be fine yeah I I just you know I worry uh you know my main concern is turnout and you know I don't know how many people would turn out you know for for a demo like that be great if we could get a couple 100 people at least I don't know if we would we might get you know 20 or 30 in which case I don't know that that really would give me the confidence in knowing you know whether the town really supports uh you know purchase of a system or not excuse me ask a quick question you said it was not clear that there was kind strong support do what's what like what are we talking about here like 5050 6040 one of the numbers roughly yeah it was um I think maybe just a maybe 6040 you know in that range support versus non-support there was some strong sentiment you know that some people expressed about you know traditional town meeting procedures let's not get away from that and you know that's a strong sentiment you know in many parts of New England right now but the writing is on the wall I think in many towns and they know that you know not only are we you know moving uh into the you know electronic technical age but uh um you know even things like and this was the last topic I wanted to mention virtual Town meetings remote voting those are on the horizon and you know we we need to be thinking of that that possibility that's coming down the road probably so um anyway um you know I think the idea of the kind of romantic notion of you know this is the way it's always been done in New England we got to stick with it I I don't I don't think that argument is going to uh go very far so so anyway I'm you know I'm open to any uh any options you know I wanted to bring it up to the select board to see you know how you felt uh you know even about you know uh clickers in general I mean if the select board's not really that much in favor of it then you know we may not want to pursue it at all so um anyway I just want to get some conversation going tonight uh or at least get us thinking about about what next steps might be I do I I do enjoy the whole whole fashion of D meeting but understand that we have to go forward in some way maybe a clicker is the little step that doesn't give away the whole old fashionist like like remote and will eventually uh disband the the notion that we have all learn to love about to meeting right getting together and and doing the business of that day um um I I so that's you know I think I I think Clippers are a good idea in some way for for the voting piece you know I guess I I would say lean not the opposed but I would lean against them only because uh I just I just don't see like it's that I mean it would save time I suppose but I mean how much time is it going to say what's it going to cost what what's the cost benefit here you know I can't quite see that yeah um that's that's all maybe I could I'm not I could be convinced I I will say that yeah I I think the real Arguments for let's see if Rita has any comment oh I'm sorry Rita yeah um I have used clickers not not that I initiated but I've been at um workshops where they've used clickers which were um very effective in terms of uh immediate results um so I'm I'm not I'm not opposed to it I think it might yeah I think it might speed things up and um I think the anonymity for some people would be um a positive thing uh I I don't I wouldn't support it for the anonymity sort of part but for the the speed and the ease and getting accurate counts um much more quickly so um you know one thing to think about kind of with your suggestion Paul is whether or not uh you know we could we could try it at special town meeting even if it's a smaller group of of people and I think we'll get a decent turnout um is to have some sort of like mini training right before the start and then try to try to use them and see see how it works so I'd be I'd be game for that but uh I'd look to to Grace and Paul to decide you know rather than some sort of mock meeting where yeah I don't think you get a lot of people just turn out I see Grace's hand as well I am so I was originally very ambivalent about clickers I have since come around and I have become really convinced that we would really benefit from them I think we would save a lot of time actually because it takes a lot of time to count votes and record votes and then sometimes we have to ask people to raise their hands up again and that those minutes add up quite significantly so the time thing is a huge thing and when we ask people what do you not like about town meeting the number one thing I hear back is it takes too long so if we're talking about trying to encourage people to attend Town meetings making them shorter I think would go a long way but that's just one of the reasons I mean we recently our last special town meeting in August we had to do because we had to revote a vote if we were using clickers I would have been able to pull up a report with the full vote tally log and we would have been able to have documentary evidence that we had a 2third majority even though we missed that bit in the moment at annual town meeting so if we had been using clickers we wouldn't have had to have an additional special town meeting I think those reports are super super useful I've been getting a lot of requests recently for statistics about uh annual pound meeting turnout and voter participation and we just don't have that data if we were using the clickers because of the software that comes with the clickers we would have that data to provide to people um those are all reasons why I would really like to start using the clickers it would save time we'd have an exact vote count for every single vote we'd have pre uh we'd have automatic reports that we can uh print out that can upload to the website that people can use for their research um and I I I have gotten to the point where I'm like that's worth it for me even though this is going to mean a big money change for my elections and town meetings budget and even though it would uh you know me and I would have to do start doing you know logic and accuracy test testing before Town meetings which be be a whole separate new event that would be very interesting to add to my workload but all of that stuff is is standard for towns that already use this kind of equipment so I'd say two things one is um just to play Devil's haboc get I mean I I use computers Electronics all the time they don't always work and when they don't work it's worse than it's worse than having the thing that they replacing I I would say that the other thing is all this talk about I mean I haven't heard any numbers that I mean does this cost $11,000 doeses this cost $20,000 what what's this cost probably in the 10 to 15 range yeah significant money so that's all oh yeah not not cheap so anyway that's all I still remain saying I could be convinced but I'm just trying to play Devil's a as much as anything else okay so I I think I'm hearing you know fairly uh General consensus at you know maybe organizing trying to organize a little demonstration um you know with the vendor maybe at some point either at a special town meeting or or outside of that you know might be uh The Best Next Step Grace and I could work together on trying to set that up maybe and then um you know then we can go from there to see how you know that may convince everybody or may turn everyone off who knows I I remember the I remember the mention of rent them to not necessarily own them yes so there may be some but it would be best if we can get the company to do a demonstration oh no no I was just kind of going with Eric say not an outright necessarily purchase there there is a yeah option okay so what you know why don't I work with Grace and we'll see if we can set something up and we just stay in touch on that right so uh I agree with grace that the um you know one of the big complaints about people not wanting to come to town meeting or stay uh is because of the length of the meeting so uh quickers might help with that but a couple other things that we can do that more immediately that that could help with that one is that a lot of other towns do not uh actually uh verbalize the Motions themselves and as you know you know the select board you read all the motions and sometimes they're very long with all references to state laws and regulations and chapters and everything else um people glaze over you know through all of that so uh what a lot of other towns do now is print the Motions in advance I I knew that get your attention Becky and then um and then just say I move that uh you know we approve article 3 as written in the warrant uh or in the list of of motions uh I think that could be a you know again a substantial time saer I mean it might save an hour over the course of the meeting but that's something um the other thing that a number of towns do now is they separate their uh their Town meetings they have a spring and a fall meeting spring meeting deals with all the financial matters the budget stuff and and you know things like that fall is when they will discuss bylaws you know planning uh uh planning board motions and uh you know miscellaneous cleanup stuff like we always you know we have special Town meetings for that all the time uh we could just have a scheduled fall town meeting a secondary town meeting so it would shorten it would basically divide our town meeting into you know into ch um and also give the opportunity to you know do some of the cleanup stuff uh you know that we use our special town meeting or what so something that consider again that that's something the select board sets the uh the you know the meeting date and time and the place and the uh and the warrant for the meeting so this again is all you know within uh your uh capable hands to uh to make those changes you know if you chose to do so and then the the final thing that I already mentioned was you know just looking ahead uh you know it's pretty it's pretty clear I think the mass moderators Association in general the people who' have been around for a long time the ones that are in tune with the legislative uh uh you know committees and so forth are all feeling that you know virtual meetings of one form or another remote uh you know expansion of the remote aspects of town meetings uh is is coming down the road so um in a small town like shutesbury that could be a really big change because it involves you know lot lot more of electronics um and you know uh security cyber security all of that you know comes into play there uh and and I will mention that you know already uh remote there are remote aspects of town meetings that are allowable you know some towns if they have too many people have to divide you know the the group up and and have you know some people in in a different building even sometime so they already have you know the the communication networks to be able to do that that's already allowable so um so I think a lot of legislators see it as just kind of you know the next step is to let people stay at home you know maybe and and tune in from there so so I think that's the way you know um some people are thinking and and it's probably you know something we're going to have to Grapple with probably before too much longer but you know presently state law do not allow for you know that kind of of virtual participation I do see Grace's hand up [Music] and I just wanted to add um in regards to the idea of splitting the annual town meeting uh and maybe doing one in the fall or you know splitting a financial meeting with a business meeting um I would also be very supportive of that idea I think historically the reason we have had town meeting and annual local election on the same day and in the same place has been the idea that it increases turnout for both events however I think that with vote by mail the majority of our local election voters are voting by mail and so that argument isn't really holding true that would probably be the most useful thing we could do to make annual Town meetings shorter and more accessible to people um if we did you know basically if we did the budget different from the exciting stuff is kind of the easy way to explain it um so yeah I I think that that's something that shsy has you know not been interested in in the past but I think that with vote by mail and you know other changes in the opportunities people have to vote in in local elections now we should explore we should revisit this idea so yeah I just wanted to second that mention did you want to chy minut at all last question no I I agree I think it's worth exploring so it's something we should do over the course of the balance of this fiscal year you know and prepare for next year Becky you had a question and I forgot I'm sure there'll be opportunities with that poing back up yeah um Paul was there anything else you wanted us to start thinking and that's it you know I'm I'm more than happy to continue conversation about any of these topics if and when you'd like to I appreciate you bringing them to us early so we can start thinking about them I do app all right thank you PA and Grace um let's move on to the consideration appointment of the new land clerk um so tonight um we are entertaining the position of a land a new land use clerk um we have Mato pangal is in the zoom audience he's he is the candidate who is coming forward um on Saturday he met with the chairs of the three land use committees um um zba was John Thompson planning board was Nate Murphy and um concom Beth Wilson so we had about an hourong discussion and interview reviewing all of the different aspects of the job um reviewing U Matteo's uh Vari and um extensive work history which also includes um an amount of clerical support work at different organizations that will be especially helpful and has ever driven curiosity um and wanting to learn new things I think um will help develop out his knowledge of wetman over time and and our zoning bylaw I was hoping we would have um one of the chairs but they are not uh in attendance tonight so I will share with you that there um the result of the interview was a glowing recommendation to the select board from all three chairs of the land use Sports to hire um Mato penalo as our Town's land C okay hi Mato does the select board have any questions we'd like to ask when can you start that's my question would you like to answer that question M yeah I I I can start um certainly the the daytime hours and and um most of the evening hours pretty much right away um Becky and I had talked about possibly having a little bit of a onramp period uh so Carrie could show me a bit about uh the day-to-day operation that um are already in place in the office and Carrie has um promised two sessions two hour sessions with um Mato I suggested we wait till after tonight to set them up she was very anxious to do it when I reached her um so tomorrow or later tonight um um car's going to reach out to Mato and they'll share emails I mean share texts and and establish a schedule that will work for both of them and Mata we usually one of us usually asks what interests you in the position um I know we're going backwards a little bit you've already met with the others but can you just tell us and then those on camera what interest you in in doing this for Town sh so um in in 2021 when my family bought our house and knew that we were going to be living here in shutesbury permanently I was eager to seek out any opportunity to get involved and contribute to the community so serving on the cultural Council the CPC the historical commission and knowing that I had the the flexibility in my own schedule and time as well as that sort of um deep interest in contributing to the community and helping out my neighbors however I could when I saw that there was a need for somebody to fill this role uh and that it in some ways aligned with some of my work experience in providing executive assistance support uh research customer service things like that I thought it would be um a good use of my time R I saw you unmute your did you want to ask yeah no I was just gonna add that um uh I've had the the real pleasure of of working with Mato on the community preservation committee and um he is detailed oriented thought ful uh committed and I think he'd be a great asset and whatever um I and he he always knows where to go he's not afraid to ask questions and I think that's a really important um Quality to have in somebody who's coming into a position where there's a lot of information there's a lot to learn and I have absolutely no hesitation that um that Matteo would be great at this so um I think it's you know it's would be a great hire for us do you have no I I I everything I'd say go okay I do see a member of the public does my fellow selectboard members mind entertaining a public comment okay U Maran welcome Matteo um I'd like to just ask um this is that's been for land cler past since you are somewhat new to Wetlands um regulation willing to commit to uh going to MACC training workshops um in order to get up to speed one of Matteo's first questions was um about professional development uh within the position to help um learn more about um the we so I I think he's already has that on his um agenda to accomplish okay all right thank you um do I hear a motion from anyone I'll make a motion that we approve U Matteo pongalo as the new land use clerk second okay are there any further questions or comments no all in favor frell I do I M PE O'Neal I thank you mat thank you to welcome uh the next thing up on our agenda is the uh consideration appointment from the new admin secretary so we have um Abby Hernandez has come forward and gone I have interviewed Abby and then Rita interviewed Abby um I think she will be a wonderful addition to our staff um one thing she had not yet experienced were minutes um but her ongoing work uh she does a lot of writing um she does um for marketing purposes but she I've received a number of writing samples and they are very good um so I imagine that should not be um it'll be a new a new thing for her but not an obstacle um I'm afraid tonight um Abby is responding to a medical emergency um and cannot be here um I we were just figuring things out um late and now I'm not hearing from her again so I'm sure that's the situation so I'm hopeful Rita can call upon her and and speak to to Abby and this in this role Melissa okay for me to speak um uh so as Becky mentioned I had um a long interview with with Abby last week and um I was impressed with her um her knowledge she's very techsavvy which was kind of exciting uh knowing that that's just something that um at least you know I'm lacking Melissa is probably our our Tech person on the on the select board but you know she had already taken a look at um the town's website and and had ideas I mean she had a lot of uh a lot of experience um as Becky mentioned with with marketing with um you know direct Outreach uh she has um great composure I think she'd be a good um good Public public face as well as very detailed oriented very well organized kind of all of the things that I think in um a position like this with there are so many moving parts that uh she has a lot of a lot of skills she lives in town um you know she has great availability uh so yeah the the minutes part of it I had absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in terms of her um ability to um to do that to to understand you know how how you take minutes and how you record minutes and put them together um so yeah she's I think she's she's a wonderful candidate did did she happen to um she has customer service so I imagine she has um did she say whether she had dealt with anyone who might be unhappy with the news they have received or anything like that yeah so I I talked to her about that I you know talked to her about um you know just just disagreements and and people who have uh differing opinions and I think her experience in um in Texas I mean she she cited in particular her experience as a believe it was an assistant school librarian working in a in a library in a school in Texas where um they had banned about 600 books and I won't go into any the the details but um I felt like she had a really good thoughtful um response just in terms of um listening to people and that um that people want to be heard and uh that was it was very thoughtful we we got into a little bit more of the book Banning part of it but I won't go there um so uh I think she's yeah I think she'd be she'd be great she has a lot to learn I mean I did talk to her about um the necessity of having a base of knowledge about how town government works and things like open meeting law so forth and so on um and she was very comfortable with um her willingness her ability and willingness to um to learn what she needed to about town government okay okay do I he motion I'll make a motion to appoint um Abby Hernandez as the new administrative secretary for town of shutesbury second okay any further questions or such all right um All In frell I doer I make peace O'Neal I thank you Rita for sitting in on that interview app that um next up um as a part of procedure um we have received uh our Highway superintendent's resignation so the select board has to officially vote and receive that resignation um do I hear a uh motion to accept Steve Sullivan's resignation from the highway superintendent so move you're muted we second um all those in fav stalker I phell I I um all right so on to the not read mitigation um and how best way to proceed so we've we've met with the um not Beed I forget the name of the group um and we've also had some emails and such and um a petition about the use of of um round up and and such so um what do you two feel is the best way for us to go forward and and process or I was pretty clear that whatever we do I mean I certainly have my own personal doubts but it Mak sense to use it but that's another story but that um we want to have a real uh view from the entire Town's committees that would have anything to do with this what I mean the Board of Health the Conservation Commission obviously not work people mean but we want to have we want to have we want to have a real um if we use if we do use flate we want to have a real you know whatever you want to have a background that says that it's okay to do or at least that the majority of those committees I just mentioned are in favor of it it's not it's not it's not a decision I feel comfortable with the select board making itself hey this is what we're going to do that's that's that's not going to work people are just people are going to be upset about it very for good reason yeah I I concur I I um I don't know where um things stand with um with the proponents for this spraying with their conversations with the Conservation Commission and with the Board of Health but um I agree with with Eric and I know that there's a lot of um public concern and legitimate public concern about um about the spraying so I think we need to we need to to Circle you know Circle back with those other um with those other committees to understand what their um what their positions are I mean we're not um yeah we we need more information okay and how do we want to engage we want to engage the the not task force or do we want to invite the Board of Health and conom and not lead task force together to have that conversation in a meeting I think we need to hear from the from the Conservation Commission and and the Board of Health I'm not sure I I think we I think the the not weed um spraying proponents could be a resource as people who are against it might be a resource but I think most immediately it really is hearing from the um any deliberations that the Conservation Commission and Board of Health have had regarding spraying yeah I think if in fact we move forward with this we want to be I guess unification that I'm talking about we want to unified we want the board to help oppos to it we're in favor of it you know it's we should all it's controversial people have should have a voice of what goes on and that's all [Music] so how do you want to proceed do you want me to talk with bom and Board of Health and schedule them at a meeting for a conversation with the select board or do you want to some of the videos from their recent meetings I know they've met with the the task the the not we folks recent both boards Board of Health and concom do you want to review those meetings first and then I we we could do that or we could directly ask them what their thoughts are on this you know now they've discussed it with the task force it may be individually right as a grp committee maybe we just ask them the question on what they feel like and present their their ideas to either in writing or they could come to a meeting I suppose you know asking directly what what their um their committees what their committees have thought and right does that sound like it just ask them directly rather than trying to piece it together yeah I would I I would have them come to a meeting okay would would or would I'm sorry would would uh would you suggest the next meeting the 8th of October if they're available or we want to make sure they' had time to discuss it within their you know right okay so I'll feel it out when it would be appropriate [Music] yeah um I do see miam's and maram [Music] maram did you have a question or [Music] comment no her microphone's on maram if you're speaking we can't hear you oh there you are we can't hear you longer give her a clip you hear me now can you hear me now okay I'm I don't I can't breathe very well and can't talk very well um I appreciate uh the desire to have this discussion with the other boards I think it's a great idea um including we so doing not poition sounds great um would hope that perhaps um you would give us an opportunity to discuss from the perspective of the people who who signed the petition we have um I believe over 120 signatures from people living in shutesbury that's a large group um I a small percentage of Voters but it is a large group to speak up about issue I don't think there is a pro-weed Lobby in shutesbury or pro-invasive species Lobby um I don't think anybody is advocating for doing nothing so um it would be great to find a path forward that unites people and can capitalize on everybody's energy and commit and encourage select board rather than just looking to other boards for guidance to remember that there are some procedural issues that really fall within the select board's authority to come up with including you know what are going to be the regulations and standards for employees using this material if you're going to have spray what PPE are you going to be requiring or training for your employees to protect their health what notification will you provide to Butters um labeling or signage will it be to protect people going along the roadsides so that their dogs or children don't stumble into areas that have been treated and get exposed to glyphosate there's a lot of issues that really are um about the select board's Authority not these other boards and I would just encourage you to be thoughtful about that thank you thank you very um Jill hi uh thanks for the opportunity can you hear me okay I just yeah I just wanted to say I um you know I I work uh with the smart Soler shutesbury mailing list and we have a a lot of people on the list and um I know that there would be a a strong uh turnout for people if there was a if it was being considered to um do a sort of non um toxic or pesticide oriented approach like a hand pulling um we could rally people to um volunteer for that so you know if there's some way that we can help with that effort to um so that that would be considered as an option or more seriously considered um we'd really like to contribute our efforts on that front to avoid using um Roundup or glyphosphate thank you je okay all right so our next step there will be Becky will reach out to the the them and invite them to a meeting once they've discussed in their in their okay yeah all right right uh moving on to the review of the historical commission gazebo presentation and the letter we received from the building committee regarding that proposal um for those who may not have been there or remember we had the historical commission came to us and had shown us their proposal for the guide board Post in on the comment and a a pergula what were we calling [Music] it gazebo Gazo gazebo Pera um structure to go over that and to pres uh protect the guide board from weather um of various types um to protect its restoration and we received a uh it was um given to the building committee to talk it over and they had given us a letter um in response to that proposal and and I think um Frank again from the building committee is here Frank is here is there anyone else just and Henry GIS from historic is here all right uh Frank do you want to summarize what the building committee had had proposed um [Music] here hey um General summarization of the the buildings committee was it didn't fit size and everything else it just didn't work for us uh as presented if it was presented differently we might look at it differently was presented it was too shter you know other concerns and we didn't get enough information they only presented the Gazebo there are other ways to protect this uh sign board so wanted more proposals I guess or you know you think out of the box and other things but the the Gazebo didn't work for the buildings committee okay um um I was also attending the building committee meetings and just add to what prig said I think the concern was that they felt that the Gazebo group um originally proposed with no sides was awkward architecturally the size of it was it was very heavy at the top and it took away from the guide board itself and it was very close to the top because they were trying to protect it more um but visually they uh I know they had building committe had concerns and the other issue was the second thing that they presented to the um select board and Henry's here he can describe it but it had plexiglass sides on all four sides to further protected which was a variation of a of a concept that the uh building committee had brought up what the building committee had brought up was the potential for enclosing it in glass just glass so that there's some an example up in Montreal that Jeff wacken bush had just seen and so they were thinking they were just suggesting that they didn't think the solution that's on the table is working look for more solution you know keep working on finding one that you're happy with because the second proposal they came back with was with the plexiglass on the sides of the building there was a lot of concern about the wind in the winter time and the storms and how the the Plexi class might become problematic and might be something that needs to be engineered because of the wind loads and the things that would change um potentially damage the structure I mean it would be awful the whole thing came down so on top of the guideboard so those were the observations I heard at the building committee and I'm happy to see we have Bert Fernandez here now along with Henry two members of the histor commission I yeah I just have to sign off I'm sorry okay good night good night good night um Henry and uh B did you want to weigh in on what the um conversation is at at this point well I uh again uh I appreciate our colleagues on the buildings committee's concerns uh we on the historical commission feel that we've done our homework uh We've pretty much exhausted every possibility uh but however that said you know I'm always is open to uh you know a solution that may be out there uh the point being that our main concern as a historical commission is the preservation of the object given that we spent a fair amount on renovating it uh you know the uh recommendations that we offered uh were certainly some of them were actually generated by Professionals in the conservation uh field uh you know this is again the option really of putting it in glass is is is very Pro problematic uh the folks in the at the was Williamstown art uh Conservation Center uh pointed out that this would create all kinds of moisture this is not a good idea uh the uh whether or not the plexiglass will hold uh is a matter of of uh trying it out uh you know we did have a professional architect design this uh Gazo and uh at least uh look into the the various angles and potential for visibility uh you know I suppose he could be wrong uh but uh you know if y'all want to hire another architect to figure out what to do about it uh I'm all ears we are all ears uh at this point everything has been volunteer uh but I don't think this that this architect who did the work for us is going to be available to do that uh again as I said uh the uh given that the the uh the artifact will be returned uh in about six seven months we do have some time to mul this over push it down down the road and uh you know that maybe there there is a solution out there I'm I'm wondering if Frank mcin has any anything that he might propose uh beyond what was uh generally stated at at that meeting when I say generally I mean it was fairly General and there were no specific proposals you know that that would in in any way Advance this project um I'm I'm a little a little I I wonder what the concern is here I mean you know uh we're looking at Aesthetics the ex you know what it looks like uh before we've even seen uh the potential for what the professionals here have done to create something that would be visible and again this is uh is it a question of maintenance is this going to cost a lot of money to maintain uh this is all was all very unclear uh so in conclusion our main concern is Preservation of the object uh you know and and short of having some kind of structure over it uh and again I'm open to any I'm all ears about any other potential solution here uh if it advances that great uh you know we've looked into to U the Massachusetts historical commission uh actually prohibits creating a replica of of this of this uh object uh or you know in any case strongly discourages that I mean that seemed to be a solution but we can't do that apparently I mean uh if if we do we'll have to deal with Massachusetts historical commission uh which is aware of what's going on on the common right we have certain structures there that are are on the list of the Massachusetts historical commission uh that said we can as a commission we' be willing to pursue the possibility of actually creating a replica up there uh you know there are there are some there is some uh some wiggle room here where a replica might be possible uh despite the the opposition from uh the the historical Commission of [Music] Massachusetts any questions there my my question still is and and I could be completely wrong on this too I guess I'm going sticking butt tonight but but uh what if he did nothing I mean the thing was how old is the thing was sitting there for all years and obviously I know we just spent a lot of money fixing it but if you divide that by the number of years the thing was out there they didn't when they built it this we didn't design it so it have a roof on it I mean Zeo over it what if you just did nothing and then in figur in 30 years you got to rebuild it again or whatever it is is that am I crazy to think that no okay no um there there's so many things that are out there historically that that that are in the weather and you have 300 years later they're still there so you know no I don't think you're crazy to think that um I don't know that we have a solution tonight no I I think the purpose of the letter from the building committee was just to say that what they've seen so far they would not you know they would not recommend and that they're very hopeful that the um historical commission will you're looking for solution [Music] yeah Henry yeah uh I guess we're not getting through uh the object was deemed valuable enough to to renovate thoroughly by professionals it is on the list of artifacts with the Massachusetts historical commission uh we tried to do our due dilig by following the guidelines of secretary of state of Massachusetts the Massachusetts historical commission to renovate it if that's too difficult to understand well you know as a commission uh hey let's put it back out there and and and see how it works you know my my point was simply that it worked before for 120 years or whatever it was what why are we changing anything now what's different now yeah the point point is that it had deteriorated quite considerably uh I guess you hadn't had a chance to look at it before I know that I know it has but so it'll deteriorate again in 100 years and you fix it again in 100 years or whatever that's all well the funds that went toward it uh were were uh targeted funds through the uh the uh Community preservation Act it was legitimately funded in that in that way you know we're just trying to do our job as a historical commission it's different from having let's say any other historical artifact and trying to preserve it [Music] okay um I do see question Mary hi L conka um a former historical commissioner and I think well in the very beginning there was consideration of um a gentleman in town Mr Groves who preserved it before he put it back into a readable you know um painted he's a a very uh well-known Carpenter and I I wonder if that can be something considered again um because it certainly is worth preserving but what I think's Happening Here is it's just costing us too much so thank you for letting me talk thank you Mar um okay so so we're at a point where we have to do a little more research for maybe something that's a little different um we have some time um you said six six to S months right Henry before it comes back that's correct if I might respond to the last statement quickly okaye is that a yes yeah thank you Bob Gro did submit a a proposal but all he submitted was a total cost we asked him to submit a detailed uh outline of what would be done the materials and everything else and and he never did okay thank you H we never heard we never heard back from him cor point of correction please can I okayi go ahead then we're going to move on a but by then we had already moved forward with the Williamstown art Conservation Center and so it was really um we trying for two years sort of chasing trying to get a quote from him you know he did submit something but um you know it wasn't way we could have considered it so okay thank you Mary um I guess more more to think about that this particular uh topic more thinking caps creative ideas all right um thank you Henry and Bert and Frank for coming we appreciate it um next is the select board new date for certain meetings uh that fall on Election Day Christmas and New Year's how interesting we fall on all three um so when would we like to look at my calendar when would we like to um meet on those days what days would we like to pick instead although re is not here so we'll make them tentative and Becky can you ask her her feedback sure all right so November 5th do we want to do the six six is good with me six [Music] um so December 25th well luckily that is on a Wednesday but Christmas Eve is on that Tuesday do we want to um maybe skip a week in our meeting schedule or a week ahead maybe do it a week ahead but that's put in two meetings back to back the fincom is on schedule right now for which well like if it's not the 25th it must be the 24th no I mean days I think you guys are on the 31st 31st so you moved yours right we yeah so 30 we're on a different day in that week I think it's the second actually 25 and 7 be two we'll be on the 3 take care I don't have right but you didn't go into Christmas week I know that ours is on the 31st so ours isn't the week of Christmas we have one on the 31st right new year new year we have a New Year's Eve meeting New Year's Eve meeting make New Year's Eve party so the question is I think the only options that week are the 30th Monday well or the second maybe the second that's going to be a popular meeting since it's the only one in the week I'd say the second's good for me we could change all this later too right but thank you so you know I think I want to say in some years I believe believe if we didn't need a meeting we did cancel that one at the end yeah we we we you know um unless there's something urgent that had to be when's the last meeting in December before that the 1th 7th 17 17th 17th yeah if we met on the 30th that sound there was more after that or is it just the it's just a thought um but meeting on the 30th kind of would cut it so then our next meeting half would be next meeting would be uh the 14 cuz that's going to be a really slow week actually what the 31st week um yeah [Music] all right so you want to go with the second right I think so yeah we can make a we don't have to make it a long meeting we can make it you know there's anything urgent we have to yeah have to do right cuz people will probably be away on are yeah right somebody sure most likely they we just make them both but plus they're Wednesday easy so somewh easy to remember Tuesday it's Wednesday it it's Thursday it's New Year's day except it's Thursday right good point yeah New Year's you know I mean New Year's Eve party or New Year's Day you know celebration [Music] um yeah I guess yeah have it have them t you know for yeah we can always change I mean November 6 is pretty good I think that can be solid yeah yeah next year the holidays won't land on [Music] Tuesdays it it'll be another year before we a couple years before we deal with them affecting again so all right so just let R know and if you had conflicts with any of those okay okay um and then we have the select board vote for early iners early voting to meet a minimum of the 25% of toks hours for November is oh Grace you've H out with us thank you yeah so the the only update I have about this because we did this exact same vote a month ago about uh is I did finally get an answer from the secretary's office we can't vote once to set my um mandatory minimum in person early voting hours at 25% of my usual business hours but for all elections in one year but what we can do next year at the start of the year because next year we only have our local election um what we can do is we can uh vote at the beginning of the year to uh set the mandatory minimum for I'm not making any sense oh you keep following you keep going you're almost there I'm trying to be very specific and it's too long a sentence at this point um so we can't do one vote per year but we can vote in one meeting for as many elections as we know are coming up so you make multiple motions right so I'm proposing that going forward after this year because this is the last election we have scheduled for this year but in the future when we know we have multiple elections we'll have one meeting where we do this vote for multiple elections that makes sense you are making sense okay that Mak sense my first not make sense so I guess um do I hear a motion to set the inperson early voting minimum hours for the town clerk for the November 5th election to 25% of the town clerk's usual business hours so move I'll second that does that make that made it sense right for you Grace okay all right all in favor stock R make piece of Neal ey thank you're Welk you and our last topic of the evening Town Administrator update okay so I don't know if you all felt like spreading your wings tonight when you came in especially in that area there are eight boxes of face Shields now gone uh oh out of our building do you recall that Board of Health delivery of 10 bo, face shield can I ask where they went don't ask don't a thousand people showed up and each took one yeah nice no that didn't um but um I piggybacked on the libraries um pickup to cmrk they had a um arts and crafts swap here on Saturday they had about 20 small boxes of stuff left over that um cmrk was going to pick up and I got Maran to add my collection and the kitchen I guess they had moved from here into the kitchen but they're they've been taking up room for a bit but now they won't just go into the trash they'll get a new home and hopefully useful to somebody um the um the other thing I can mention is is uh Steven doas came from the building committee and I've been telling him we are having trouble getting out the front door if anybody has experienced that it's been stiff um he actually um Devin our Sergeant de peler had done a really good job moving the plate on the door to to make it so easier to get in and out and then Steven went in and he found the area where he um used a knife to clean the a piece of the plate and now it works much much better so that's all I hadn't noticed that's all very good I noticed it um yeah it's been especially um for some elderly people like me if right but um and the last thing is we got I don't know if you all have seen it um Michael De sent forwarded an email that um he and Beth Wilson both received an inquiry from Bruce deadmond it turns out uh Michael knows Bruce deadmond uh Bruce is on the am um Conservation Commission and he is working with an amoris group called The Fort River Watershed Enhancement group and they got an $8,000 Grant and they are are eager to meet with some individuals from neighboring towns um belter Town sh fa Le I think I have to get um oops Amis p p shs fa ERS F having a CHS so they want to do some brainstorming with this group of people that might have some knowledge about um their town and about um The Watershed that's why they asked Beth she's already Works in ERS but they knew she knew about the Watershed but they were asking Michael as a member of the um ecap the energy uh climate action committee and he was feel feeling a little on the fence about it but he he says it's he doesn't think they're going to commit to doing any no they're not going to be committing the town to anything but wanted the select board to be aware um he didn't want to participate without the select board's blessings um that that would you know he didn't want to be in a position where people thought he was representing the town without support um it's a one day workshop scheduled at this point that he'll be attending and Beth will be attending and then they'll share the ideas that come out of that meeting and he asked me to present this to you because he couldn't be here tonight so does he want to vote or something where we say yeah or just an acknowledgement or that it's okay with you you all that you part that they participate yeah yeah I think it's fine for them to participate okay they're not committing to anything and you know there's all that process if we if there's something that comes out of it we want to do so I don't think there's harm yeah great so um I'll let him know and okay he can bring back information when they learn something um and that is all I have for tonight's the four towns meeting on Saturday just just a just just a reminder yes I had forgotten until Becky reminded us yeah I was like an early reminder was worthy this week cuz that's I I have went back to St this prior and I found the email on the nth so you know yeah Saturday in person in person at 9:00 a.m. and I think that's and I um posted for finance committee select board and school committee because we're not clear on what's going to happen and if there's an opportunity to talk between the boards we make sure that do that that's okay so we will see everybody there all right um do I hear a motion to adourn so move right all favor start the ride than you so I thank you everybody for coming thank you thank you