watch that video of a stretch oh I don't watch like an hour recording progress [Music] morning e can everybody hear us somebody yes thank you I think we're good okay Clear My Throat um uh good evening everybody um you are attending the shsb select board meeting today is Tuesday April 23rd this is a hybrid meeting um currently with us in the uh downstairs of the Town Hall are Eric stalker myself Rita frell listen make pce O'Neal um Becky Torres and then we have three folks in the audience Jen Rowan um Susie moer and Tom Seer I don't know if you could hear that I know when I turn around I have to speak to the L so um so there might be more people joining us and as they do we will um let you know that they are in attendance um so the first item is for me to go over the agenda um we have public comment as we always do um then we do do not have select board meeting minutes from April 9th so we are going to pass over that uh 5:45 we have um concom members resignation and an appointment to the Council on Aging uh 550 we are going to discuss the fourtown meeting that happened um this past Saturday regarding the regional school budget then at 5:55 we have um select board interviews and concom appointments and 610 select board response to open meeting log complaint then the moderator is going to give a report to the select board on um the electronic voting study group 6:30 review annual town meeting Logistics then we have a proposal for um an EV charger from Livingstone and um we'll be getting uh an update um about that proposal then we have a perkov Franklin Regional Council of government spog request for letter of support for um dirt road toolbox MVP Grant application that they are submitting and um uh last but not least Town Administrator updates is there anything that is unanticipated Becky yeah we have to do for tonight so no no MVP MVP vote or anything no not required okay so we'll go ahead and and get started with public comment um if you have a public comment I ask that you use the raised hand feature which is at the bottom of your screen and and um to keep your comments to um couple two to three minutes maximum and um just as a reminder public comment is not a time when um the select board engages so if you have questions we're not going to be answering your questions during that time period but we will just you know register um what what you're discussing and uh take a note if it's something that is on this evening's agenda okay so we are open for public comments and that goes for anybody anybody else who's here it's not just folks who are participating remotely no public comments are we seeing everybody everybody's up there right yes okay yeah let me just I have 15 okay that okay not hearing any public comments um we will move on um so we have a um resignation from the Conservation Commission from Robin Harrington who um is going to be leaving shutesbury moving out of town and uh fairly fairly soon so she determined that she could no longer um was not even going to be available for the balance of her term which expires June 30th um so I think she felt that it was appropriate to um hand in her resignation so um any comments or do I hear a motion to accept Robin Harrington's um resignation from the shutesbury Conservation Commission I'll make a motion we accept your resignation from the okay is there a second I'll second up okay um any discussion just to thank her for her service I mean that would be discussion comment yeah I don't know how many how many years has she been on the Conservation Commission three oh well two years and 10 months oh okay I thought she was on when earlier okay I don't um all right all those in favor of um accepting the resignation please please uh indicate by saying I make PE of meal I stalker I barl I and we have a um recommendation for an appointment to the Council on Aging of Jessica May piece and Jessica I see you are with us this evening y I'm here okay um is there anything you want to um mention about your interest in the um in the Council on Aging um so I work with a lot of elderly doing various things from cleaning houses to personal care and I'm pretty knowledgeable in in resources because I took care of my mom and Graham and I thought it would be kind of beneficial to have a little bit of my knowledge on Council on Aging great and is anybody else Martha you you're on the council aging correct she yes I am CH okay and and um the the council and aging recommended Jessica for this position exactly for all of those reasons she'd be a great resource you know we need um we need people on the council that um have that experience and also are well known in the community so we're very happy that she's willing to join us so hopefully we'll prove it and we're happy too so thank you Jessa Jessica for your willingness to um to serve um I have to obain okay I think is there some there's a little bit of relation here so I have to abstain from all right so do I hear a motion to um appoint Jessica make piece to the shsb Council on Aging so move and I will second um all those in favor signify by saying I stalker I barl I soain okay great and Jessica thank you um for your willingness to to serve my pleasure appreciate it um okay the next item on the agenda is the um report on the fourtown meeting that happened on Saturday morning um in person in ammer um I um was sick so I did not I attend Ed via Zoom via Becky's um computer but Melissa was there in person Becky was there um Susie I believe I was out of town oh Susie was out of town so at least um two or three finance committee members were there I'm not mistaken I think everyone except for Bob and George five there were five incom members and Susie four sorry okay so four um so this is a a long and kind of complicated story about the regional school budget um this year and I haven't followed it as closely as um maybe Becky or Melissa have uh just the quick synopsis is that um the school committee voted a budget then there was a lot of public outcry because it there was something in the neighborhood of 1.6 million doll that um was going to have to be cut which meant a number of positions and um the school committee was going back to reconsider those cuts but the town Administration and the town of ammer the Town manager everybody everybody had sort of different um different positions and the the last budget that we saw and this has been a little bit of a moving Target um there was an 88.2% increase and so our finance committee spent a tremendous amount of time you know pouring through the numbers looking at the impact on the the town's budget and came up with a proposal to um approve a 6% increase and um because of the the the timing is very awkward um lever has its town meeting this coming Saturday we have a town meeting um we also have our town meeting on Saturday and I don't the pum is sometime in May um so maybe I'm going to leave it at that because I I at the end I was unable to hear what what was going to happen what the next steps were there were too many people talking at once um so I don't know Melissa or so um and Becky can help too because we were um both there but the next step seem to be um that the school Regional School communs are going to meet tomorrow they said Wednesday yeah Wednesday um and to to talk maybe maybe a budget um if there's nothing settled we uh the towns will either have to reconvene in the special town meeting to address Budget or they we can keep the town meetings open so we won't know until after that vote um but they collected information from you know what the what the individual towns thought they could do so that was you know Doug Slaughter collected those comments to hopefully come up with a compromise um and I think can you talk to the yeah put this down I'm Not Gon to close it because it shuts down the meeting I have to remember um so shury came in with a very well fought out um strategy about the 6% they had had a five point something number originally but the 6% this was not brought up at the meeting but it's important to shoots very the 6% was actually the amount we would have paid under the 100% statutory formula if it had been used on the requested budgeted amount by the regional school committee so we were reinforcing by choosing that number that that's the formula that we want you know we continue to support and we understand that others would have paid more um but that's why it there was a that was the underlying reason the 6% was supported um okay so shuberry announced in the discussion that they had come to a 6% % as a compromise then there were breakout sessions and during the breakout sessions leverick came up with 6.1% as what they could afford um so we were starting to coales at least two towns were coming close together um Doug picked up on that um shutesbury had informed him of the six% so he had listed that amount 6% for everybody on the chart so people could see it during the meeting and then um then pelum spoke and they represented that um they were going to stick they their fincom had recommended 4% they were willing to go higher next year but they were saying not this year then ammer spoke and said their finance committee had not hadn't voted on it I know they had they had been thinking and talking about it for three weeks but they had not come to a vot I think they they didn't their Town manager had stated publicly that he supported a 4% so if the council um goes with a finance if their finance committee recommends 6% their Council has to vote at least 2third to override the town manager proposal of 4% um I think it's in the realm of possibility that it might happen that's the big quandry of on Wednesday what happens after that it might be that ammer is meeting right now and voting um so we'll we'll we'll learn more tomorrow and keep everybody updated but hopefully it's settled because if it's not we're open-ended in a probably won't be able to close town meeting so so that was my my next question if amorist doesn't approve this 6% then um then we don't have a we don't have a regional school budget well actually the the purpose of the school committee's meeting is to vote the 6% okay so if they vote it and they make the uh percentage adjustment to the assessment formula and we make that adjustment as well I believe it's on track it it's on track because then the other two towns just have to up they will or they won't but at least there's an opportunity for the regionid school to have a budget if ammer I mean if pel and ammer um come on board but I think that was what doug was talking about was coming out of the Wednesday meeting with a new vote from the school committee that we could align you know that could back up our vote okay town meeting so we could go ahead at town meeting even though the Town Council might not have that ammer toown Council might not have voted we could it'll be down to the wire someone in the question so what about the warrant article that's about assessment not just the budget no no we're talking about only the assessment article only the assessment article that's it currently says 88.2% that would have to be corrected to 6% yeah and that would be on town meeting Flor yes it has to be no matter what and that's four or three T have to approve the assessment the method yeah yeah so it's conceivable we could vote on Saturday but then have to come back and revisit this at a special town meeting if if it all blows up if it all blows up yep okay and then there then he went through some urg to get it done by the end of the scho end of the fisal year is if not then the state is pressures you to get it done quicker yeah right does the state puts you on a on on you go into receivership right okay I don't think anybody wants to do that I think my biggest concern um for Saturday is you know is somebody's ability to get up and explain this in a way um you know maybe this is going to come up so the budget the budget hearing PA finance committee the budget was moved to the third article okay the budget was moved to the third article but we have a we have a um a session to review the budget tomorrow night yeah okay so maybe we want to just will somebody be explaining this yes and AJ has I think has spoken very well to the issue okay and he's been keeping the finance committee updated because he follows all the regional meetings so I think we'll we'll be in good shape with somebody knowledgeable to present okay all right so it comes up in in article two around the formula the assessment the assessment and then article three is going to be the budget the whole budget okay that should be um fun um yeah any anything else we we the town of shury needs to do in terms of a followup um I think we're just waiting on them yeah now it's up to amers in F okay all right um very good um so we are just about on scheduled here the next item on the agenda is um for the um to review of the candidates for the Conservation Commission and um hopefully we can do appointments so originally we had um one vacancy and as I mentioned with the resignation of Miriam defont and there was the balance of um her term which runs through the end of June 2025 um then we received a um resignation from Robin Harrington so we actually have two um vacancies um um for the the Conservation Commission um one of those vacancies um one of those uh individuals would serve um just till June of the end of June of of 2025 um the other and and I'm hoping we can do it there's two months left effectively two months left on Robin's position but if it's um if it's doable what I'd like to go ahead and just do the next appointment um stting next year yeah for the next fiscal year are you saying you don't want the person to start in may no start in may but then just it's like but we're appointing them for three years plus two months okay and and that will should that position should be on the um the annual appointment l so it'll reconfirm when we go through the annual appointment right okay but it's good to make it clear to people now okay that okay um so um we had a um uh a recommendation from the Conservation Commission who went through a process of um uh sending out questionnaires to um the prospective um candidates and just a couple of things I want to note is um this is an appointment by the select board um and it's done solely by the select board there's no joint um meeting with the Conservation Commission obviously we take their um opinions uh seriously but it is um unlike because it's an appointed position and not unelected when we have an elected um position vacancy during the course of the um in the middle of a term um we do joint we typically do well we legally have to do a joint meeting um with the board so for example with with the with the planning board that is not the case um with appointed boards um so we had three three people who um expressed interest and they are all here joined with us tonight and I think it would be great if you guys could come up to the table bring a chair yeah be wary of the W yeah no tripping your guys back will be to the TV but they will be able to see your faces because the camera will follow you and and this is a ation amongst amongst us so um yeah so we just want to introduce um to Bob Bob douas have you met Melissa um you know Becky Eric and Tom SE um and Jan browan um Lissa and and thank you thank the three of you for um Coming um this evening I did have an opportunity um to speak individually with with Bob Tom and um Jan because I just felt like I wanted to be able to kind of get to know each of you a little bit more and it was um I must say it was uh very heartwarming um to kind of see the the level of um interest and and commitment um to to serving on a um on the Conservation Commission so I know I just I had just one question for each of you I think Eric had some questions I don't know if Melissa does um and do you want to lead off Eric should I ask the one question to every how you do this sure you can do it whatever you had one question that so I guess one question would apply to all of you and that is that you all live at Lake OA which is obviously sort of a Conservation District if you will very active one potentially active one do you see any conflicts with that or what what if there were conflicts with that would you would you step down or would you how would you deal with that well that's that's a super easy one for me because I think the uh health of the lake is in everybody's best interest and uh we should all take an active role in um in analyzing the lake and seeing what what is best for it okay Tom J we have regulations follow so we should be able to follow there even though we live there okay um I'm thinking it goes both ways I'm in a position to know a lot and so I can be informative um about real life at theate and of course there are regulations about a concrete conflict of interest or something so that's not really a choice the way I see it um so I don't know if that would be such a disadvantage though that's a reality for many reasons okay um so I had a question for let's start with Jan we go this way um so um given previous concerns that you have voiced about the Conservation Commission and you have been a um a keen Observer I think over the last couple of years um do you feel like you can work with with the current Commissioners um and uphold and support the newly adopted regulations and bylaw yeah um I worked half my life in natural resource conservation so Wetlands protection is was part of that and um so I really respect what the Conservation Commission has been trying to do and um I think what the individual Commissioners are adding to the group is laudable and I'm going to work as hard as I can to get up to speed and be able to contribute to the group great thanks um uh Tom do you see any foresee any potential conflict in serving on both the planning board and the Conservation Commission given the potential for projects seeking permitting from both the boards as one one one project being before both boards right um I don't know the full extent but as far as I'm aware it doesn't by necessity pose greater risk of conflicts than um not being on two different town bodies at the same time and I know it's allowed to be on two different bodies people are currently and whatnot but I wholly recognize that that puts me in a position that maybe other candidates aren't in and um there's always a spirit of you you know equity and whatnot in town so good thank please thank you um Bob you stated in your questionnaire um for the concom that you have an interest in establishing a responsible balance between natural preservation and sensible development in your opinion what can Town boards and committees do to ensure that that happens you know I I I think um I think there's a whole education component that would be very very helpful both for uh um the the citizens we get the town again we we really spring is a wonderful place and and it is a wonderful place because we have these really super protected wildlands Etc and I think um educating the citizenry about that and um that the uh these conservation regulations are really for for everybody's benefit um and uh kind of all rules that we can we can live live by and um uh as as is the case in many New England towns all the easy places have been developed so that kind of like leaves the hard places it leaves one piece of land next to the Wetland a piece of land on the the the Rocks Etc so um there will always be that tension of of being being able to to put things in and I I really think the the Wetland protection act the shet spry W protection bylaw are really common sense ways to help guide people toward that desirable goal good thanks um my question is actually for each one of you um it's one that I tend to ask a lot when there's an appointment so um off sometimes you're asked to make a decision that is against something that you may be personally believe in although the work that the commission or a board might um need you to make a decision otherwise can you give an example of in your work experience or committee experience currently where you've had to make a decision that's against your own personal beliefs for the better of a of a great or good or a town in this case it would be the town obviously but you're not necessarily talking about something in shoots no just in general and so so lots of times in in doing things like this on committee work we have to um set our own personal beliefs aside to do the work that's best of of the committee and have you had experience doing that in your work lives or in other ways in your lives that and just an example of how you might handle that I'm sorry I've certainly had that experience so yeah in my past uh jobs we would work out grants and which project was the best Grant and I might see one as being better than the others but you know you have to take into consideration all the stuff other people bring and and go with the flow once you know the consensus is reach yeah it's something that um you know when I'm in my job as a conservation agent to I'm walking your property maybe with with some of the other agents Etc and um the Wetland protection act reaches out 100 feet away from uh Pond and so on and uh I know that that uh 100 foot and an inch will be become developed so that's a that's sad for me to walk through a forest and and say Hey you know this is this is this is going to be this area is going to be developed um so in in my heart I I love the the forest and and I also know that it will be developed but it will be in uh developed in keeping with with the laws that all agree to I'm think I'm thinking of um uh committee I was on a few years ago for employee review for a whole department it was an academic department so that included mostly lecturers and professors and uh there were so many nuances that came into the matter as well and U it became important to respect the regulations by far um but also history and finding sometimes what felt like compromis but we never went out of regulations and that was The Learning Experience for me is that we can still to some extent you know with some compromises uh Encompass a lot of people's wishes or a lot of history that might not appear so a straightforward Eric do you have I'm okay I can I can ask questions or not what I'm fine I'm I'm good I feel I've gotten to sort of know all all three let see you have anything else you want no I'm I'm good so so um well is there so we have two positions open and we have three three candidates um as I said one of the positions is um uh for essentially 14 months so it goes for you know from starting upon the appointment although when somebody gets appointed they have to be sworn in and get all the background material so um I don't know when the next meeting of the Conservation Commission it's Thursday night it's Thursday if they have a quorum right but they probably would somebody get conceivably get sworn in and could start right away yeah okay depending on their personal schedule I don't want to okay all right so that's so we we can take it we can take it one position at a time or we can um have a you know maybe maybe it makes the most sense to do yeah start with the 14 month with the balance of the um of the term for Mar and defont so do I hear a motion or do you want to do the three-year one you guys decide 14 month you want to do 14 month okay is there um all right I will make a motion that we um uh appoint J the 14 month conservation is there a second second um further any further discussion questions [Music] okay um all those in favor signify by saying I I ster I farell I okay do I hear a motion to for the three threee plus TW month um position um for the shy Conservation Commission and we are nominate bobos for that position is there a second second is there any further discussion okay um all those in favor signify by saying I make I stalk barl I so I want to thank all three of you and I want to um uh you know say as I said from the beginning um it was really very heartening to um to to have the opportunity for for me anyway to um to hear from you and I I learned a lot um and I really you know I I appreciate your time and I I think I said to to Tom afterwards that um I should do this more often I think we all should I you know it's it's just um I think you you in in particular probably I asked you some things I didn't ask um Jan or Bob um gave really good just you know it was beyond the Conservation Commission it was sort of about more just in terms of governments and um so I I appreciate that um very very much and I appreciate your willingness to serve so you were you were a a good candidate I think Jan's experience and Bob obviously you know it comes with um he could be he could be our our our one person Conservation Commission he's not going to be um but um thank you um all three of you Tom hi um just thank you as well it's been a great process yeah okay I think it's a great out a great outcome yeah good thank you I appreciate it that's very gracious and thank you all very much and don't forget your daa does and we do anybody in pay to my house I was trying to get rid of daa some people forgot some people forgot so so they're on the table um help help yourself because I got hundreds and hundreds of them so again thank you all um you need to get sworn in as soon as possible um Bob I don't know if you're going to be around but um we can work out are you going straight back tonight uh no oh so maybe um the town clerk is in at 10 tomorrow morning okay if you're still around that would be perfect you could stop okay I'll make sure she's yeah there isn't anything strange in her schedule now I told you that yeah I would not be able to make that oh okay I'm I going back straight tonight but I wouldn't be able to be here tomorrow to yeah yeah okay you can do it another day um again um thank you I do see one hand I don't know if we want to take questions no not taking any questions yeah thank you very much thank you thank you and helping us with our our setup when we have people here visiting work that well yeah okay I guess process question Amanda did you did you have a process question um hi I kind of I noticed that Mary David's hand was up for a while so I just I know if you didn't notice since she's from the concom I but I I don't even know if she's still here so I just wanted to bring that to your attention this was an interview process um with this with select board it wasn't um it wasn't public process so thank you um okay the next um item on the agenda is the select board good night um select board U responds to an open meeting all complaints um I'm holding back I I have written one document and um I'm having it reviewed and we'll bring It Forward at the next okay so we're not we're not dealing with that tonight not tonight um I will be making sure I have a meeting set for during the town meeting I'm going to set it about 10 minutes ahead of the town meeting you you're having aough for the select meeting okay just a a short one at the right at before the town meeting begins possible if you guys can come just to in case we need to meet on something on oh I see so you're just doing that in case there's anything that comes up that we need to address before 10 meeting yes okay so we'll be the select board would be meeting at the elementary school out our table okay around our table okay so so it's posted it's open to the it's open to the public okay us okay all right um okay so um the next item we are a little bit ahead of schedule um but we have the moderators report to the select board on the electronic voting study group and I know I saw oh there's Paul Lions welcome Paul great to go thank you good to see you all I thought I had 10 more minutes so uh I was trying to quickly finish my dinner and clean my teeth a little bit but anyway I'm here um and um I'm here because I just want to give you uh all just a little update before town meeting because uh there will be a short presentation at town meeting about the uh recent activity of the uh what was originally called the electronic voting study group uh but more recently has been uh renamed the town meeting clicker study group uh that was a request um uh By Grace banish actually because she just didn't want any confusion about what this was really all about it's not about uh like voting in general in the town but uh only about town meeting votes so anyway um Paul yes I just have a question so this is not a click it's a it's a clicker group well I guess that's open for discussion but uh it's a a click discussion clickers so anyway the background is um you know some of you may remember uh probably a year or so ago when we were talking about uh possible uh fund uh options for uh using arpa funds I had come to you or or suggested that we um consider uh buying a electronic voting setup for Town meetings uh so I've had an interest in this for quite some time you know I I'm in contact with other moderators all the time and I know that a number of other towns have gone to uh electronic voting or or town meeting clickers uh with great results and and um and I thought it'd be some something that we should consider in town um but you know knowing I had a bias about it I I thought I would get the perspective of other people so I had put out a call for um some uh citizens to join this uh study group I got uh seven responses and and I was happy to appoint all of uh those seven people to this ad hoc group uh basically to advise me the town moderator uh on if and how to move forward with uh with this idea the goal of the uh the study group was to do an objective assessment of uh electronic uh clickers as an option for shutesbury Town meetings um I feel that I really lucked out I got a great group of of people that jumped right in and started uh doing some pretty extensive research uh mostly about the experiences that other towns have had uh with electronic voting uh Gathering data on data on the options for example renting versus buying uh different vendors what they offer what the approximate costs would be and so forth um and the group decided that you know we really needed to get uh some feedback from town voters uh to to see how people felt about it but first they they also felt like some basic education might be uh needed so that people would understand exactly you know what we're talking about here um you know some people hear electronic voting and and they think oh good I I can just stay home and and you know vote remotely uh or you know I can vote for my favorite select board member you know when when they're up for reelection uh but that's not what what this is so um so the group decided to put out a fact sheet uh which some of you may have seen it's posted now on the town website um along with the survey uh that has also um been posted and been publicized and so far I think last time I checked we had about 103 responses I think on that so that was encouraging a lot of people provided um some like verbatim respon uh information at the end some comments uh in addition to answering the the questions that we had so we're getting some good information from people um so that's basically where we are at right now the the group is still collecting data um we'd like to be able to uh get a better handle on ballpark cost estimates um in the relatively near future if possible but first we would kind of we thought we'd wait and see what kind of response a survey got and what kind of uh response we get uh at town meeting uh when we provide that uh just short presentation um Mark Hawkins will be the uh person doing the presenting uh at town meeting um uh maybe along with some help from some of the other members on on the group I will be taking more of a backseat you know and and just letting the uh the stud group um kind of run the show at at town meeting at least so that's pretty much where we are uh that's what Town's people are going to hear pretty much a town meeting but I want to make sure you folks heard it beforehand Paul can you tell us who was on the study committee uh sure uh Grace banish is actually on the uh committee uh Matteo Pango Gail fly Shaker Wheezy hul I mentioned Mark Hawkins already uh Sylvia Ratt is on the group and Erin mcgurl was also uh a member initially but um she came in with some different kind of experience in electronic voting um and decided that um you know this really wasn't the group for her she thought it was going to be about something else so um that leaves us uh that leaves like seven of us I guess all together right now great thank you okay so people can still answer the questionnaire until I think the deadline was Thursday is it you know I'm not sure I think Mato might be present here he wants yeah okay yeah yeah and you know if if people you know at town meeting say oh I didn't know about it you know we we'll certainly extend that I mean we're just interested in getting as much data as possible from Town's people okay question um Amanda do you have a question for Paul yes hi thanks um I'm just wondering where is all the stuff posted on the website I'm looking for it but I can't find it yeah this this is not an official Town group I went through the Attorney General's office to make sure that I was on Solid Ground uh the mo moderators have uh the authority to appoint uh advisory groups to advise them on decisions that they uh ultimately can make moderators decide how votes are going to be taken at town meeting so um so the the Attorney General's office was pretty clear that I was in safe grounds to not actually have an officially appointed group that would be subject to open meeting laws and so forth um that's been really important I think for for the the group to be able to really work efficiently and quickly because we didn't have much time before town meeting so that that's why you're not seeing anything Amanda on the on the website but you know I know you'll be at town meeting and you'll hear all about it and you can maybe ask questions at that point sure um I thought you said though that there was stuff posted that's why I was asking oh I'm sorry I misunderstood thanks for the other stuff that's yeah I I thought that was also important information um yeah I think if you go uh right to the um the site uh that has all the information about the town meetings uh there should be a uh a clickable link right there to the survey as well as the handout okay all right and and if you can't find it let me know and and I'll make sure that I I get those links to you okay was there a town announce about this too or no no I'm sorry there was not a town announ he only went to next door okay is that right Paul it I that I got it to did you do a town announce looking for people yes looking for people right but but I haven't there hasn't been a town announce with the um the links to the uh to the town website I think that that was on next door you hear me oh yes okay I don't I don't oh okay I see it okay thank you gaale did you have a comment we set a t announcement that uh posted the survey URL inviting people to take the survey no that wasn't a question D no it was that was my question I thought I thought that was the question my question was did he put it out originally on Town announce when you look for people or was that just St no no but I was I was asking about the about the survey itself that it went out on Town yes oh okay again I'm sorry I misunderstood so yeah yeah Gail had had put out a town announce about the survey yeah okay that's what I thought it's just if somebody was looking for it and hadn't received it um they should look in their inbox assuming they're signed up for town anoun right or go to the town website of course right okay um I was gonna say the handout itself has a QR code as well as the survey URL so you can go from that too okay good thank you um thank you for your work on this and we look forward to hearing the survey results at town meeting all right um the next item on the agenda is to talk about annual town meeting Logistics so we're not going to be at um in the back field this time so so for Logistics we're back at the school we've been working with the school to get all the setup uh in place um we will need a little bit of help on Friday afternoon if anybody's available uh four between four and five um and it probably won't be a lot just um just to make sure everything's in place and that um we can assist the town clerk getting all the elections um materials over there all the all the signs and get make sure everything's in its place that the podium is set up that we've got everything up on the stage um we're going to be back on the stage with the select board to try to open up more space um I think the con the biggest concern going into this I think is um we've had so much room to spread out in and I think people have been very comfortable um we only had about 200 people at the um wintertown meeting and it felt crowded um so it's going to be an adjustment I think for everyone there will be food available the library uh folks are at it again um so there'll be plenty of food uh for um breakfast and then sandwiches I believe and with any luck we'll be done before it's dark on Saturday is not right but it's um it's a long agenda I mean long warrant as Paul is well aware um with some very challenging um regulations that are important to review and they might go quickly and we might all be out before 2 o'clock and that might be a good thing so hopefully there'll be resolution in the budget and the budget won't be a logger Jam for people um but I think there's less Logistics this year being down there because we we have help custodian and most everything is you know we have to move the microphones down there but we're going to get assistance through um the the woman who help that helped last time is going to help um set up all the microphones and we'll have we'll be in good order for Saturday morning so beyond the group that's here in this room now does it make sense for us to put out a a call for other helpers or is that going to be too much that I don't think so no the finance committee um regularly pitches in um I this is on Friday afternoon on Friday afternoon i s if I can't come yeah I think we should be fine be in good shape all right good um and what time do we need to be there um so we're going to do a meeting at 8:45 a s board meeting at 8:45 yes so if you're there at um 8:30 that would be great okay and then you'll get the best parking too right you mean we not gonna have our reserves St um okay the limousine can't show up right right right all right um so the next item on the agenda is a proposal from um well we've had a proposal from Livingstone I actually printed some of this out because it's kind of confusing so um we were approached by a company that um proposed to the town that we have um that that they install two EV Chargers um one charger at the um all right two two chargers at the Town Hall and I believe two chargers at the new library um site and my understanding is and and Eric probably he knows more about this than I do so stop me if I'm getting this wrong but that there's a there's a lot of money out there um that's being made available to do EV Chargers and to do these charging stations and lingon is an approved vendor for the state of Massachusetts um to to do this so I guess this the State National Grid they've all they all have access to some federal money um when we originally talked about this um or the original proposal I was under the impression that um that these Chargers came free of free of charge um they no at no at no cost um to the community and um you know the the library is is very interested in having them there I think it's been part of their um plan from the beginning so we're at this juncture where I'm confused now because I see um a a proposal which Now talks about $118,000 um which is quite a bit of money and that would be to put um that's the cost to put two Char cost to us the town of shutesbury to put two Chargers in um at the library and then it would be an additional $118,000 to put two Chargers in at the um at the Town Hall the total cost was or the total project total project value according to Livingston um is $438,000 um so that there's um all kinds of wiring and infrastructure the equipment so forth that added up to that 438 um they get a big discount from the utility company of um 320,000 leaving a balance of 118 so I know our energy committee has discussed this Eric has done um some background research and maybe somebody can explain how we got from no cost to now $118,000 and sort of what the um where do we go from here where does the the library um building committee want to go is anybody nobody's here from the library okay I think we have to find a different deal because this one clearly will not pan out with the new numbers which I was told verbally had not changed but didn't we have we had the original proposal was yeah was was no cost we got the zeros right it's like Zer big decimal point or whatever so this was yeah this was quite quite a surprise yeah right yeah um and unless there's some hidden explanation that I I've reached out to him but I haven't heard back yet but I just sent them that email um this morning so is this a you know for the library I mean the town obviously could foro having two Chargers here especially if there were a couple of chargers at the library does the um mblc um would they would they pay for well these are superchargers that's why they're so expensive they're the really fast ones and that's why it would have been wonderful to get them for free but once the once the amount of money I think once we went into the new year they kept pursuing us but with the same line but the facts are in once they sent the quote well my sense is I mean these are class one charges as you suggested the real fancy ones I mean I have a class two charger at home that I use all the time probably C about 2,000 bucks right no they were giving them away so this is a totally it's a totally different class of charger it would have been real Overkill but if it had been for free yeah that's right I see and I think even in the um yeah so I can't wait to get my answer back from him because there's a big gap between what they were saying and what they've always been a little Wiggly too about like what even when they even when they were three quote unquote was like well what if they break on year three well that didn't it didn't quite become clear to me that that would be free so um it's always been a little shaky I think to me I know I don't want to put words maybe gaale can speak to it but but eak sort of looked into the charging thing and they they raised a point which I think is a good one which is that if you live in town and you have an electric car you probably have a charger any anyway at your house um you don't you probably do not rely on highspeed Chargers in town other words I mean they'd be handy to have I suppose I mean you know I come to two-hour selectboard meeting I I have an electric car I guess if there was electric car charger here I could use it but it's not essential I mean it's not like I I don't see that it's not it's not it's a good thing to do maybe sort of to encourage the whole electric car thing if that's what we're trying to encourage but I don't I'm not I'm not sure that there's um there's an essential aspect to it and I know that um when eak looked into it they were just and I don't want to again put words in their mouth but I think there my sense was they wanted to look at other things that are more beneficial to the town like putting solar on the roof of the highway department was what was being discussed that night um and just because that's something would actually benefit the town right away dingo we get the money anyway so do you have you spoken with Maran or about about this I did ahead of it ahead of getting the quote so I haven't talked to since I got the quote and we need to um because she she had some stipulations of what thing she would need but for her purpose the difference between a 2,000 and a $200,000 charger is doesn't it doesn't matter so I think and now we switch to searching for Chargers that are um more appropriately and Grant funded and less expensive yeah I think that my understanding was National Grid had had a a grant program that the library could apply to for charger so it just it sounds like going down this path doesn't make any sense okay thank you Livingston but we'll we'll we'll take a pass on on uh spending $118,000 um okay the next item on the agenda is we have a request from the Franklin Regional Council of governments for a letter of support um for their application to the municipal vulnerability program for a dirt road toolbox so what is it big toolbox yeah um so they're going to focus in on culverts and first they want to put together in the they want to two-year Grant they're making a two-year Grant proposal the first year they will go um to the communities and do observations go um work through different typical problems like putting in a new CT what are all the um permitting issues that go along with that and that to help new highway super they're putting together box so Highway superintendent can have some guidance on projects that if they're new or if they come across a project they haven't done before um this is the young man Ryan who's working on this grant um is actually doing a project in shutesbury for the next uh six months we finally are getting our culbert project um through Frankin County in progress we've been waiting about 10 years Walter kept telling us this was going to happen he' talked to Ryan but we finally got all the top of the list and it's actually going to happen this year so they're going to inventory all our culverts anyway they already I was at a meeting with um the furog gentleman and the highway department earlier this year so they' developed a rapport with the department and they chose sheets Berry because um they feel like they'll they'll be responsive and helpful and they can work with um you know they can work with our Highway Department as they take their ideas for the toolbox and Implement them and then have record of the implementation the implementation is the second year of the project so they're hoping to get the Grant and then work with the town um to to actually implement the issues that they want to help educate superintendents the reason shs fa first paying on to their attention was the Culvert on lendel road um it was it's an ex you know for the price and the work and that was done it's an except exceptional model except um so they were hoping to be able to really focus on that and help other towns be able to do Culverts for 25,000 instead of 500 or a million dollars um but the rules have changed um the guidance from DP has changed so our Culvert couldn't be done uh the way it was done because there's some changes in the sizing um that would make it not possible to do that anymore but that's how we came to attention so so they want a letter of support have you drafted something um they sent over a dummy um that I just received and I will um have that ready for you guys to sign in the morning okay all right sounds like a good idea as long as they doesn't put our MVP application in Jeopardy the first thing I asked and she said um she called that and um MVP and verified that as a submember on a regional contract it would not negatively impact our main um our main application okay because the town is planning on applying to the municipal vulner vulnerability program y this week y okay okay um do I hear a motion to um approve the letter of support for fog's MVP Grant application so Mo second all right any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I make you Sam I stalker I Carol I okay is that time Becky 10 administrator updates I have one thing to add to your list and that is emergency management team I did oh yeah you did great minds um we will be put um I've been working with uh Lenny a bit and had a good conversation with our two Emergency Management folks um Lenny and Kristen we're gonna they're they want to set up a meeting for May with everybody I don't have a date yet they're trying to pick out a date this is Lenny's Lenny's in charge so Lenny's in charge but he is on the main person he is now what do you call the the director and she's the deputy director okay but I think what the most one of the most important things about the emergency management team is working together and um I think that's where it has to start and getting it back on track is you know we have to focus in on it um but that will happen after town meeting right now uh this past week and a half we've had a lot of um pest activity we're doing the final round of testing for the year so there has been a great deal of um testing going on we just received about 20 lab reports and more will be happening this coming week and when those reports come in where do they go they are um reviewed first by the LSP they come into our office my office um and I have to get letters out to everyone including the lab reports as Geneva was doing so each of the so so this is reports on individual results for tests yes all the prepass testing outside of the Town buildings are for residential homes right okay so when you say this is the final round does that mean we're done testing or we or we'll have to wait for never done testing no I know that what I'm trying to say um what I'm trying to say that the 500 foot thing is that we at the the end of the 5 or some of these reports come in with we could it could expand the C could expand it that's my point yeah and the last results we got in the last round did expand the circle and and added three new um poets that had to be installed in houses that hadn't had to have filters until the new reports came in so the testing is critical because things do change and um the regulations changing on pfoas is is it's a big one yeah because you could have a reading under six and still have to get a filter each point well I guess we're putting filters in anybody that has but it's even more extreme with the people so do we do we have money do we have money to pay for all those filters yes at this point we do we still we still have that balance of that 135 or 150,000 the 150 the 136 we already went through and we're in we're closing getting close to the end of the 15 okay that we just got and then that's the reason for the town meeting warrant asking for another 50 yeah okay okay gasoline gasoline [Music] um gasoline we still need to we haven't Advanced from we got stalled on not being able to put one of the wells where um we had hoped for so we're still trying to figure out a new location because the septic is right there's a septic count on and you don't want this test well going in you can't put it in accept it is so we need a new location for the gasoline while still Jeff to decide what he wants to do he was talking about going behind we almost have to go behind the house and I think it's too far out of the range but the good news is on past that the library water new well test came back next great oh that's great yeah which is and that was what a six was it 600 foot well yes yeah that's that's great news there one good thing about that yeah um we have the building committee is still um busy working on projects we had two of the members here at uh Town Hall are many had piping insulation around them that had all it disintegrated and fell off and um the members of the building committee got new appropriate material and have replaced it all and we're back in business on our Min splits which is great and they also looked at the Old Town Hall um lesie is fearful of going into the building anymore because not being able to shut the doors again um we had a situation one weekend where they weren't shut um where the building committee has found someone to replace the sill and that's going to get fixed that's um another positive thing we've been getting ready for annual town meeting um people are pitching in helping making copies thank you Susie um thank you Susie and um car's been very helpful as well so it's you know people are pitching in making things work the annual Town report is in the final stages it'll be should be ready printed on Friday um Greg Colton has done a excellent job and people only about half the reports needed had had been received when I took over when after Geneva left which I was shocked that it was that low yeah it's always hard but that was low um so people responded well I've gotten most everything in um and we're down to just um deciding on the cover whether we're going to put a moth or an eagle yeah whatever just a cover um are there any uh any report on on candidates for um the administrative secretary I have nothing I had a pretty strong nibble I thought I had somebody very interested and um they're on hold again because they don't have any daycare for the summer months so any if you know anybody okay um and Carrie how much long is Carrie are we advertising for car's we haven't but she's she's been really supportive to um to Beth Beth was back in today things are I was letting that go for a week or a month or two so they'd settle out and they're in good shape and things are rolling right along so um I'll push on that and the admin secretary after um and the MVP Grant application the MVP Grant I'm going back to the narrative and the counter and seeing if what changes that um might be more effective at this point so it's in and waiting for tomorrow I should have a I have cost for the lightning F-150 um but what models are available I'm not sure are the right ones so um but they don't have to be available I just need right pric right we need we just need the the dollar amount so the MVP application would be for for solar it's for 47 Kow of solar on the library on the library um as designed um to be Net Zero and it will have um for it we failed last time because we did not have battery backup in the plan we can't fit battery backup into the building um and so we are requesting a lightning um um an F-150 Lightning Ford pickup truck to act as our battery backup and that was actually suggested by by my MVP rep okay [Music] um Innovation uh is supposed to help you know put the grants over the top and I don't believe I look through the grants I don't see anybody else done this yet so all right okay so we're going for it and you indicated that you do not need a signature cor from us you can you submit it on com or something yeah I have to go into com and upload everything online okay okay and if that Grant fails where does the library stand with Sol on SOL on their roof whatever well it'll depend on the bids that come in yeah they are closing the Gap um but they have just gone out to bid and that'll be the real story when of the do you know when the bids are back do that she said five weeks so it's not going to be till May 30 you have a question in the back just checking is the pickup paid by that GR oh yeah and and does the library if it doesn't get that Grant Library have to do battery storage to no no so NC is not requiring that there be battery storage correct yeah it's it's the MVP that requires battery storage y okay well we'll keep our fingers crossed that we make it this time yes and I also uh wanted you to know that I put in a de Grant uh for Culvert engineering and permitting for the Culvert at the mouth of the Ruggles pond dam so that went in a week before two weeks before yeah not rles I'm sorry dadly build okay oh okay I know I was yeah I was thinking you were so the so this is a department of energy resources de and this is a there a town Culver there and the dam is privately owned owned but if the the the plan and and I know that um Lois Brown got a grant to do some engineering around what is it like removal of that right yes so at the same time if that dam was removed then we would do c work yes okay um because they're talking about removing uh the upper portions of it which would open up which is basically removal which would turn the flow from a narrow channel to a stream so it would be so we would we would have to deal with the yes we got to do okay so supporting I I think yeah they're in support of these two projects could go hand in hand very well and then could we apply for MVP money to do that call yes and that's what that's what the second what that project I also reviewed with MVP the MVP rep because you could review too and I we viewed that in the Solar one with him and that he found would be really good if we combined it with any c work in in Leverett because Regional grants are very well receiv received and also the private MVP also surpr supports private entities so working with the co the dam and the private ownership there it would also add a great deal to our grant um so next year's Grant I think would have a lot of potential great okay anything else mosa Eric um we're good we meet again in two weeks well Saturday well oh Saturday we meet on Saturday and then two weeks from today May 7 May 7 okay very good will be hearing that yes I'll do that okay great do I hear a motion to adjourn so moved second all those in favor signify by saying I make I do I arol I thank you everybody for attending this evening thank you to our in-person attendees too for