##VIDEO ID:Ff6xpk0Fo5U## this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers okay I'm calling to order the meeting of the Southampton select board for October 15th 202 4 at 600 p.m. if we could please stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with Li and justice for all good timing Stephen very good okay welcome everybody we are back our microphones are working tonight so we're back functioning and we have a full full select board um all right I don't see anybody here for citiz and speak um were you expecting someone Scott or um someone said they were going to attend but guess if they're not here or if they come after we can maybe swap it around but if they show up um we can deal with it but otherwise let's go into our presentation which is one that's been postponed for a bit uh Robert here Robert Floyd representing the cemetery commission so welcome welcome Robert Floyd Cemetary commissioner College Highway pleased to be here hello current priorities and activities we are addressing our magnificent trees an essential resource in our Rural Cemetery the cemetery commission hired K&J Tree Service to remove a dangerously leaning large oak tree look like about 30° in the back of the center Cemetery plus six large branches from the tree immedately South this alone costs us $3,000 more than our annual historic level funding funded budget of about 2,400 the town's pomy Meadow Road storm water runoff drainage pipe is fractured as I reported in November last year causing erosion to the northwesternmost bank and a deep gorge we anticipate that the town will need access to our section 11 once they take respons posibility for repairing this it also forces us to abandon 20 potential burial plots for the next 2 years leading us to consider different options to clear the area for the town we safely remove the grave there at an expense of $2,500 a disappointing development the Wetland scientist Ward Smith's visit revealed that the area adjacent to the Northwest portion of the center Cemetery de Johnson property about 80 acres or so is wet with hydric soils obligate Wetland plants and red Maples it was hoped to imagine a pathway from that corner to the Johnson property yet this is now a mood idea disappointing change in our plans I walked it with the Wetland scientists I know hydric soils and he just ored and or and even where it sloped up where he thought would be dry with hydric so there's no Pathway to approach that section from the cemetery we will research the areas off a Walcott Road and a potential for entering the files property to park near enia Johnson's land for posital burial sites so we're waiting for the season now where most vegetation is dying so we can visualize what might be there are plans to clear the Southwestern portion of the center Cemetery from shs and undergrowth of K&J Tree Service this will allow us to work with a landscape architect to plan the area for burials while maintaining a park-like environment our vision includes a walking oval pathway that is wheelchair accessible around the perimeter with a short driveway off High Street where the hearse can back up and will be locked when it's not in use they quoted $7,000 we agonize over this unexpected expense because it needed to be done to allow the landscape architect and ourselves to Envision what is possible for a park leg section that work may be done in the next week or two we have offered an Eagle Scout project to dismantle our old wooden fences and erect new black locust wood ones that will lasts for quite a long time budget spending status concerns we have been burdened with level funding for many years now we eagerly shift gears into a five-year planning stage which is new to us we are no longer financially burdened with mowing costs and can direct our resources toward necessary long-term projects any grants applied for we're open to applying for Grants we haven't applied for any but we're looking Personnel Staffing we have three elected Commissioners with extensive Cemetery background and experience and it's not a 9 to5 uh the other day somebody called me at 5 I was closing the gallery I ran over I wasn't able to solve the situation I called Judith she came over had the big map and we're there many times on the weekends which we love doing because we're volunteers um events planned for the next six months we permit our Historical Society to conduct their annual Cemetery walk in the cem center Cemetery which is coming up in a couple weekends we will continue with professional tree maintenance in fact we're having um a trece baret tree service come in this week to treat 10 of our Oaks actually nine since we knocked down one uh and there's a disease that affects the Oaks and you can tell when the lower bark near the ground so they'll be they'll be taking care of that I think it's about $300 treatment per o um w we seek volunteers to assist in cleaning the exoric gravestones to return them to the natural luster there something called D5 or D2 comes in gallon buckets jars you know and it's really expensive and you put it on a stone you don't brush it and let it set a bit and then you wash it off with water and it's like new so we've done it a little bit but we'd like to have volunteers to help us um long-term issues for select board consideration the cemetery commission requests a consideration of two acres at the new collegeway highway parcel for burials and a cremation wall which could provide a valuable new space for our services it is flat and dry and might be the quickest solution for some years we research green burials and look forward to introducing the option to the citizens of Southampton we're going to have someone from the association come perhaps address the public at the library suggested tools help us more efficiently cost effectively we will benefit from Grants certainly for future projects and we plan to acquire dedicated software to digitize her 300 plus years of cemetery records you already have that software you're getting no we're we're we're looking at it Chester has one we're going to look at and we're arranging for a zoom meeting with another software um manufacturer everything's done by hand meticulously but to convert it's going to take time but we're willing to do it sure great okay lots of information there um questions yeah start Cindy and we'll come on down go ahead couple of quickies yeah um in terms of green burials um I am aware that a couple of years ago I I I don't want to misrepresent this but I think krro Land Trust have you been working with them have you talked to kro it's not something they're looking at they're looking at a more of a open pasture field so we don't qualify but I did look into that years they talked with you about and I spoke with them subsequently when we're asking them about the IND Johnson property on the near the fils property okay so yeah no so it doesn't fit with what your Visions are or what they need I see okay we tried and then the second thing in the beginning of your report and I hadn't focused my head on it at that moment but um we we heard about land donation for the cemetery is that what you were talking about the Johnson uh property when you said it was it was wetlands and and yes oh that was specifically that area Johnson so it's the corner that abuts our northwest corner okay and for years and years since 2002 before it was acquired Yeah we believed we could somehow skirt whatever Wetlands were there I see and and have a nice pathway and have a burial here a burial there a country Cemetery not a clear-cut one okay and um we were shocked okay so this is the Enid Johnson or also known as the Huntley property right inid Huntley right the same thing right yeah and that was in 2002 that we acquired that 2002 is when the talks were presented to the Conservation Commission and the Water Commission and the Cemetary commission so what I'm understanding just to follow on Cindy's question the the pathway from the northwest corner that you were thinking of to get to the bigger parcel of 80 acres or somewhat that's that's where your blockage is yeah but you can the rest of the land part of the parcel of the 80 acres is still usable but you've got to get at it from a different way is that's what we want to look at and see if that's feasible okay so you don't know of any Wetlands up in that area I don't at this point okay so there's some of that land that's still usable okay I just want to be clear that's good to know okay thanks okay yeah well yeah let's just go down the road Dan um question is kind of a statistical question if you maybe know it maybe you don't um overall do you know how many acres we have for for Cemetery Land and of those like how much has been how many acres on the ENA Johnson's about 83 in the center Cemetery Center Cemetery I don't know the number of Acres we know how much we still have available I'm just trying to see where not much not much we we had the 20 that we expected with our new section uh there may be one here and there but we're uncertain you know there was something buried and there simply was no stone and maybe the records weren't kept well 150 years ago um we're looking at that Southwest section for a quick fix but um we don't know what we'll find there yeah you feel like you have enough to cover this year in the next year or we're good for um it's a good question we were I answer no I answered the question as I would have answered before this we were covered for about 2 years now we've got to scratch your head okay so our back's up against the wall okay thank you yeah yeah Ste Robert on behalf of all of us I apologize that the cemetery commission was not included in the solicitation of interest for 117 125 College Highway but my ear is certainly perked up would the chair please forward the informational request simple word document fill in the blanks okay you already said most of what we need but any details are helpful all of this will be a first draft of wishes that we will understand use in dialogue with a hired land planner so we're willing to get in line and you you just said roughly two acres what I heard you say two acres is we feel is sufficient we'll get that to you we would have asked more but two we we were comfortable with two okay good John think no I'm good truly there are wetlands throughout the Johnson parcel but there's a lot of Upland because it stretches from the corner that you've described well all the way up to your brother's property on middle Little Mountain Road correct yeah I've hiked it and we've gone officially on you know tour back when a lot of mushrooms more mushrooms I've seen anywhere it's amazing the whole mountain is very leaky so it that slow that's well put everywhere you'll be hunting yeah lots of spring but our our back's up against the wall um we believe we were comfortable always believing there was a pathway and our idea was to put one or two or three burial plots along the pathway encourage people to hike to walk and maybe put a bench where somebody could sit and then another pathway keep going up maybe two or three burial sear that was an idea that we had for a long time and Walter kinosi Associates when they did the study years ago they recommended that that was tough to get that name out MH okay so what about um just in curiosity for um the um I guess the cost of a burial plot these days have we cost of burial plot is 600 uh 150 changed over time or um 350 goes to the S of cemetery lot 150 goes to um upkeep is a better word for that I'm I'm not thinking of it right now and every penny we have in the account or two is going to be needed to uh work the new property wherever it's going to be and you've had enough funds in your in your budget right now to do the tree work that you've I mean you're done with the immediate we did we we we did um it's going to deplete our budget mostly for the year but this was priority we discussed it a long time and voted on it unanimously and the idea is to get something that works quickly so in addition to cutting down you've got enough money to cover the treatment of the The Oaks that remain yes you've got that money yes they suggested other treatments for the other trees we're going to have to put that off MH okay all right just quickly followup um in terms of of plots is this a because it's an old cemetery is this a situation where maybe a family bought six plots or something and only four were used or is are every is there is there a potential for to say I want to be on my family plot there's still a grave you mean hypothetically would it be an extra grave or two yes technically possible yeah um highly improbable because we've been on it and we know uh we've gone over the records one way or the other but certainly there's one or two or three maybe pop up but not a lot okay yeah but thank you for that's a good idea I just note for my own family that we think they're still available not here but well and by the same Tok I know from our own family plot down there that the initial layout the first the first site is not usable because of the tree roots so even though it was purchased as a cemetery you can't with it so there's you know all sort of considerations that and we love the trees they're unique they're beautiful many of them are hidden in the back um they're quite something the tree that we took down was healthy yeah but it was at an angle people didn't like driving under it and all the branches it had were over the old gravestones and we're responsible for the graveston so it was a judgment call we decided to take it down yeah okay good okay one last question southwest corner doesn't that drop off pretty yes it does to Cedar yes it does but before it drops off there's fairly flat land it's got a little bit of a ridge and then it drops off so you've got the durt road here's High Street you've got the dur Road and it's workable and it could be an oval where people with wheelchairs could could travel around it no cars yeah and um it's it's we can fit it to the shape of the land with the help of a landscape architect and we've had somebody put eyes on it and said it's possible but they needed to get all the shrubs and saplings and dead wood off the ground in order to see the train got it okay good thanks yes one more so is there any request for you need for funding to to to um figure out that design or that layout or is that something you already have the money and energy we can get by high with the the design but we'd have to come for funds to implementation okay for the engineer design and implementation you're working through your design now and you have F that okay yeah cool thank you cheers pleasure good thanks thank you much appreciate Robert thank you for the information okay uh with that let's move into our reports uh Scott Town administrator's report please okay [Music] all right um so a few things I know we're going to talk about the land use planner um a little bit later on in the meeting um we did have a meeting with uh superintendent brone uh and his financial team uh last week just to kind of start working together and finding ways to become a little bit more efficient um it was a good meeting but we're there's a lot of work to be done um so are they using our same software at all no there there's going to be some software differences between central office and the five other towns and you that's going to be that's going to be a difficult problem to overcome figuring out how everything communicates and avoiding double and triple entries and making sure things communicate so yeah that's that's one of the um the obstacles that we're looking at so um finished up the fy2 budget meeting just to get caught up on everyone's budget from last year uh we have a new employee today Tom Kennedy who's our new assistant Town account accountant um so he started uh officially today so that position has been filled um we also are ongoing with our H Hazard mitigation plan um we hope to do a public forum SL presentation uh to the select board for the November 12th meeting um we will have the uh Markham fy2 24 engagement letter this week uh got late Thursday that um that they will uh issue it and we'll be able to probably vote on it next uh next meeting selectboard meeting okay uh we also got uh installation dates for the uh green um green communities grant that we received so it's going to be um first one's going to be next week October 22nd at the library great and then it's going to be a little bit of a pause until late November just because of the booking um booking concerns for the um for the installation company but yeah we'll make sure that the library is done first this is the new light bulbs yeah this is part of that green Community grant for in making a little bit longer but yes in terms of when we rewarded the money it was before I came on select board like seven yeah yeah uh good uh and then the fire ventilation system should be completed today uh the everything's been installed initially with the electrician redoing the paneling then the actual company came out to install the ventilation systems and then the electrician was there today to finish wiring everything off so um it did come in a little bit under budget I have to talk to the chief to to figure out how much exactly uh but it should be up and running by tomorrow so and then the safe schools design was approved by the state uh last week um so this is our safe roots to school safe roots for school yes the uh future sidewalk improvement from Route 10 all the way up to gun Road Extension yeah on palom maroy Meadow yes yeah yes on palom Meadow here right yep and so we have a contract fourth coming is that that it with the state M yep great so that's moving forward and uh that's about it okay very good Are there specific issues that you hope to address with your counterpart in Miss Hampton uh education uh talk about the school system see if there's any ways that we can collaborate on some other core Municipal functions things like that sounds good I think it's a great idea y our uh recent conservation acquisition the garfinkle Menard land uh crosses Municipal border and there was substantial land from that land land owner conserved in Westampton through the efforts of kestal land trust and Masson if I got that correctly good yeah yeah that's great okay we're bringing that up yep all right let's uh we'll go in the opposite direction how about John for select board reports anything to report Ted school committee meeting nothing that nobody doesn't already know I'm good okay all right Stephen what's up what's new um tomorrow planning board and we're going to take the next cut at um language for revised zoning bylaws dealing with site plan review I think I failed to say those words at our prior meeting and yeah site plan review and site plan permitting okay yeah so that would be an amended bylaw potentially is that it or yes amended it's not new not there is a slate of new things I'll leave that for Dan to report on because I can't remember okay good oh uh Pioneer Valley planning Council had its um annual meeting on Thursday evening over at the Riverboat in South Hadley and they've uh completed an economic impact study on impact of the planning the regional planning agency so what do we get for our couple of thousand a year assessment there a very small amount of Assessments across the two dozen or so communities that are served but they have um the ability to attract state and federal grants and um then in turn those um generate develop Economic Development activities and multiplier so they came up with a great big number and we should be very satisfied with the investment that we're making in our regional planning agency is there a written report that they're going to give us or uh they did not have that uh for distribution and uh they did suffer a bit it's a lovely venue but it was entirely inadequate for the purpose the uh seating and Acoustics did not provide adequate isolation from the party next door there we go okay all right is that it that's it um the one other item add about the planning board which I'm not sure when this meeting happened in relation to our select board meeting so we might have mentioned it already was the review of the water supply water supply Protection District uh zoning bylaw so I just want to mention that we reviewed that the planning board um the other committee that met was the Conservation Commission we had a number of Rd uh RDI rdas nois uh certificates of conformance um that we reviewed um the important thing to know for it's also the Conservation Commission looked at the um the land use for um College Highway and had come up with at least some initial agreements uh amongst the committee uh for the for use of that land and I think we'll be putting something together a little more formal the chair will be if she hasn't already um and then there was an Eco Scout project that's being done for an educational kiosk um one of the projects so want to make sure I mention that on a particular Trail or um it's the one off of um it's clear water Woodland isn't it is it clear water yeah on Glend Road no I know yeah might be that one it escaped me which one it was I didn't write it down okay so I'll take your word for it it's a kiosk or a bench or it's a signage to talk about couldn't be three uhhuh what's that three kiosks by the eagle scout one just one oh at Clear weaer Woodland I believe oh CU I've been following the presentations I'm sorry okay good anything else how about housing anything um I didn't have a meaning on them all right Cindy okay on planning board um we are somewhere in the process of looking at short-term rentals yes and Airbnb type operations okay good um and I'm not sure where we're at our consultant is trying to get some reference material Forest so that we're not trying to reinvent the wheel good okay all right Cindy okay Board of assessors uh and nothing specific to report just kind of business as usual in terms of looking at um the various um forms and responsibilities of the board of assessors we do have an individual who has come to a meeting this is the third time and it's this individual appears to be quite interested in putting an application into to be appointed to the board of assessors I've advised her to send it off to Scott so hopefully at a not too distant future meeting the uh select board can look at that uh and she's seems to be quite eager about the whole thing um the next is the open space committee um we met last week uh we too are contributing to the land use form and I I have to say to Dean I I supplied the draft we were using to your agent conservation agent George and hoped that it's it realize it's all draft form and it's just kind of thinking in advance of having the land use planner come but we hoped we could kind of overlap a little bit with the Conservation Commission do you know if that's the form you got or you're not sure I don't know about that I can but I can look into it well it doesn't really matter it's it's just we thought some of the um open space committee goals and priorities would be pretty closely aligned to what the Conservation Commission might be wanting so anyway yes I was um sitting in on that meeting oh good I heard General appreciation for a joint submission yeah based on not having read what you shared the members were not sure of what they were agreeing to oh I see neither was there a plan agreed to for merging or bringing their comments to your draft it doesn't really matter I don't think actually cuz I I think it's just all an ongoing process in I I encourage you to pursue it with George the agent okay that be good especially when we get our L planner and that individual probably come to various meeting resistance but no initiative okay super then also we're uh we're continuing to look at the goals and objectives of the open space and Recreation plan we have discussed um kind of we we got an update from a representative from krro Lantos trust about the status of the Acquisitions for the mountain Waters project we had several members of the public attend including a chair of the uh selectboard came so that you know some there was some information there about what lands will close and what's happening and um what might be considerations for some of the the elements of the um Mountain Waters project um but it all looked pretty positive in in in Bridget's opinion and the other one is the Board of Health and there has been no meeting since the last time I reported on the board of health okay very good uh on my side uh there's a slew of meetings scheduled uh the bylaws committee advisory committee meets tomorrow afternoon uh in person there is the first kickoff meeting of the 250th anniversary celebration group uh sort of a brainstorming meeting it'll be tomorrow night at the um at 6:00 upstairs on the second floor meeting room everyone's invited there's several people that have reached out saying that they'd like to come people that um would like to come or can't come but have some ideas uh certainly more than welcome to to email them to me right now at ciles toown ofou hampton. org uh I do not intend to be the chair of this committee but I'm just getting it organized so we can hopefully get some creative ideas going so that is tomorrow night for the first time and there will be various meetings thereafter I'm sure uh the cost efficiencies meeting will be Wednesday next week via Zoom um Senior Center building committee actually meets this Thursday uh the public safety building committee meets on Monday and the grant committee meets on Monday so we're meeting doubt in about a 4-day period here but anyway lots of lots of lots of things to look at um Grant committee wise U both the chief and I attended or sat in on some webinars about the assistance to Firefighters Grant since we didn't receive anything on the air packs or the pumper tanker um and it was just it was a general thing you know Countrywide in terms of you know here's where some general weaknesses are in how people apply and you know things that you have to watch out for and if you don't check something then you know maybe that gave you a lower score what I did learn that I guess I hadn't really internalized is that the first stab of anybody's application is done by an electronic read and if you pass the electronic read then you go to a peer review if you pass the peer review then you go to a technical review so we're supposed to be getting a what they call a turndown letter um to tell us where we fell out and so we'll be looking to hear what that process was so that we can apply again because it's opening up again very soon and Chief foli and I have been talking about um I think we can basically work on it and update our information we have to you know get the U latest facts and figures out of the fire department runs and that kind of stuff but uh a lot of the application is going to be just cut and paste from last year as far as we know unless we get some other specific feedback that said you guys didn't have a very strong argument which I don't think was true so anyway um we will be awaiting our turn down letter very soon um the other thing that's happening um very close by is the um MVP the municipal vulnerability preparedness Grant process is opening up again there's an expression of Interest that's due very soon uh a couple of us I know Cindy and uh Britney gou and a couple of others are going to be attending a webinar just to hear about that um there's some some overlap with our MVP plan and our Hazard mitigation plan so I'm I'm relying on hearing some updates on what the hmpg has been doing to see if any of those priorities have changed and whether we you know might need to reorder some things but it would be good to try and put our hat in the ring for uh Hazard mitigation plan okay so it and the in the MVP plans are very very overlap overlapping I think you know both on disaster preparedness climate resiliency those kinds of things and so we'll we'll take a look um the MVP we are an MVP Community now we passed our planning Grant phase a couple years ago so we should be in the action Grant mode um but um we will'll attend this webinar on online and just hear what it is that we have to apply for and see if it's anything worthwhile for our our attention here but hopefully it could be so that's things that are kind of on Deck uh we have one person um two people came as possible candidates to join on the grant committee uh one is s said that they can't manage it given the uh work schedule that they have but another person is still hanging in there with us so we're hoping that we will um get through another meeting or two and then maybe also have a name to submit for um joining the committee officially okay that's about it um let's keep on moving here new business we have a I'm sorry oh I'm sorry um we have a warrant for the state election uh that we need to sign tonight this is obviously the election on November 5th uh I think everybody knows what's at stake presidential Congressional senatorial uh Clerk of Courts Register of Deeds register probate um and so Scott we will uh I think we need a motion please to allow us to sign the warrant I'm not going to read this entire warrant motion to approve the warrant as presented and authorized the cbles the post all right second second TR Cindy okay all those in favor I I all right motion is approved uh Steven stepped out so four to zero four well yeah four four votes yes Steven stepped out at the moment all right so we will sign that um the next thing we have is a request from the tech committee looking at maybe um I guess not sure if it's modifying their charge or proposing a new charge if I'm correct and Dan maybe you can help us out if you just move your mic up a little bit yeah um on this so this is um they proposed in our packages to um put a Broadband committee together of of potentially five members in town um and at least people with technology background um at least three of them uh and so we were going to just start talking about that tonight uh and I guess trying to figure out how this syncs with the actual Municipal Light yet plant board that many towns would create when they're ready to do a Broadband um scenario so you want to give us a little background as to how this got generated the background in all this is the technology committee had had been working over the past couple of years to to bring to vote the formation of a Municipal Light plant with all all in the goal and the aim to to bring um fiber fiber to the home uh a networking solution for for the residents in town um so the that technology committee has t taken it pretty far they taken far to get it through the votes but now the next step is trying to pair up with maybe a surrounding town like Westfield or South Hadley who has experience in doing these types of things and it's it's it's a it's a big project all in itself and something that we the technology committee felt should be its own committee so that was is really what why we decided to to move it to ask the select board to move it to its own group to to um to move to continue to move the the pursuit of fiber to the homes of Southampton uh forward so to sort of Branch it off from the tech committee the tech committee would still exist but this would be a a Sub sub uh whatever an offshoot well I think that's part of the discussion uh we weren't really sure if the MLP if that M group would become its own entity in terms of in municipal government and perhaps that's the way the the effort could move forward or if it becomes a committee for this topic I think we we need some guidance right okay so two things but thus far the tech committee if I'm not mistaken has already talked to whip City and South Hatley um what's it called South Hadley Light Gas and Electric yeah yeah and so you've had interviews with both of them you've got an idea what what each could present but you all have not made a recommendation yet to us to consider right or we we had not arrived at a formal recommendation or a final solution um we wanted to um leave that for this Broadband committee to take off I'll I'll turn this over to Scott but I'm pretty sure we you know the next step at some point and I don't how soon next is but since we have had the two town meeting V votes on having the possibility of an ml l p uh an MLP board would be the the formal structure that needs to be created and I believe it's an elected position am I wrong right it can be a couple different ways and I think the select Board needs to kind of determine which path they want to go um some communities it's an elected position where you have a you know five member board uh other communities it's just like how we have like our our alcohol board where it's actually the select board that is the MLP board so you can do it that way as well um it really depends which path you want to go our MLP really is only going to be talking about fiber so it's not like you're going to have electric and gas and all these other things where you might need a larger board uh to really you know do it on a regular basis um hopefully it's going to be something that we we set it up we negotiate with the surrounding community and we come to an agreement on providing the fiber and then hire a third party administrator and then work with that Community to actually install and provide the fiber so uh it won't be like a traditional MLP like chicke or Hoke or Westfield but has if I I disagree with that because I I remember strongly the conversations that we had and this was the MLP board once that vote went through there was at least in my mind there was all always the intent to move the street lighting into that unit if they could secure the funds to buy out from ever source so I I do I'm going to you know Broadband I get it that subject was already on the table when this was coming along don't have any objections to that but I do see the MLP board being much bigger than just dealing with the uh the fiber we can't get our street lights fixed in this town we can't get the street lights upgraded in this town you know that um so I I I think ultimately it's going to go bigger I think to initially start um and I know I realized I cut Scott off so he has more to say I'll stop but is that um I think we start by controlling it by this board this body becomes the MLP M temporarily until it's up and running and then we determine whether or not it's big enough that it warrants its own elected officials or if they should be appointed understanding how many vacancies we have in town right now that if we just make another board with more volunteers I know hard hard find volun I mean the challenge is I think that you know if we really need the the technical background which you know Dan I think has but I'm not sure that the rest of us have in terms of you know um information technology and and all the hardware and all that kind of stuff that goes along with this but back on your your point on the on the street lights I do recall if I'm not mistaken there was something along the way that as street lights um maybe it was just conversion to LEDs right ever source is willing to do it if we commit to saying status quo for 10 years and then they'll implement it over one you know 10% a year over the 10 years and then they'll just attach the cost to the current rate payers yeah so I mean I think there are some things to look at I know in the town of um we have the Town of Chester not Chester Field but Chester recently has been they've had a whole big discussion about selling um their MLP to eversource yeah and apparently they turned it down finally they decided they were not going to sell out to eversource so you know the whole management of an MLP is a little bit fuzzy to me quite honestly and I don't know what what really is involved so I'm I'm hearing I'm saying I'm not sure that I want volunteer the select board to be it right now again I think I think you have the Hoy Gas and Electric and you have Westfield Gas and Electric that are both MLPs um that I guess what I would Envision is that we control the boundaries of Southampton but we enter into agreements with one of those two entities to hold our franchise rights they both of them to one degree or another have the expertise on fiber already and they have the U electricity under control I think the Ling block as always is going to be where's the initial funding source coming from this cuz this won't be cheap I'm sure right so so then I would say because hyok has its three Commissioners and Westfield I think has seven Commissioners out there um so I wouldn't want those and they're both elected I wouldn't want those elected bodies having say over the Southampton boundaries right so we leave that here with this select board but they kind of treat it as subset and then I'm not that familiar with Westfield to the extent that they do anything in town right now but hoyo Gas and Electric Services the gas lines and the electric coming from County Road a distance into the community already yeah and I believe I think we heard at the the Westfield presentation they do some of the southern part of town they're in in the South part of South L as well um Danny we're going to add something and go back to Scott the one thing I want to add is you mentioned you know that the like I as a member of Technology committee have a strong technical background and I think that's one area where by having the technology committee trying to look into the issue of broadband where people like me struggle is now it's more of like a business case thing where we need to talk about how we can roll out all this fiber across the town and make it financially uh feasible so I think it's a it's a combination of not only the technical part but also the business part of it the skill set yeah okay Scott go ahead with your thought yeah I think the next step is really getting a a business plan together and figuring out whether it's you know financially viable for Southampton to kind of go forward and find the initial funding and and contract with one of the two providers uh or is it possible to maybe talk to some of the other ones and maybe give like the franchise rights to you know kind of slowly work into Southampton and kind of erase that border a little bit you know coming in from the Westfield you see those signs right up to the the Southampton border so why couldn't they just keep keep going you know what I mean so from a non-technical standpoint so uh so I think there's lot of different ways by you know ultimately deciding which way you want to structure the MLP board is is really the next step and I guess I'm I'm wondering through the ml that governs um MLPs if there are not some sort of standard terms of reference of what an MLP board's responsibilities are right so that we would be much more clearer than I am tonight at least in terms of what those duties would be even if we do contract with one of these two entities don't quote me I I think it's Master General Law chapter 96 there there's a whole chapter yeah just for me US lighting plants okay well we'll dig it up I'm sure we we've already done some initial research on it but maybe there's more too very highly regulated yeah it's I'm quite sure it's very regulated and so tonight um I think we just want to have this initial discussion I mean I think can just think about it we may bring it back to the um table and figure out I don't know if we're ready to have recommendations from the tech committee about which provider I mean those two providers had come to select board years ago frankly and then they've been to Tech committee and they're probably both just kind of hanging out there saying well are you guys ever going to make a decision so I guess I'm not totally clear on where we ought to go next I I know the tech committee is probably struggling a bit too to figure out what the next steps are right perhaps it's something with myself and Scott getting together and looking at putting together some type of what the proposal for the structure could be for this committee or MLP or and what they would cover um perhaps that's the next step that would be a good good start I think that would be can I throw out a couple other thoughts to include if you two are going to be putting your brains together and that is what would it look like what would it cost to individual people what would it cost to the town what would it get for it what would it replace those are my that's all part of the business plan I understand that but that's I'm just speaking as an ordinary terribly uninformed citizen uh and a you know potential user of these These are the I'm just thinking bring it down to the ordinary brains in town with me yeah no and I think that's part of how some of the presentation had happened I said it on one of those presentations where it was you know the town would determine whatever that fee is out to the residents that want to subscribe to it and not not everybody would need to subscribe to it you don't have to if you were happy with your Charter you can hang on to Charter or whatever you're using right now but should they decide should we decide to go ahead with this my understanding is that they would Li they would lay the fiber throughout town in case and whenever somebody is ready to join in it would already be fiber ready is my understanding on that um but we would end up setting some rates then you know some of that obviously goes out for Major borrowing and then you know whatever whatever money we're getting back in goes to help pay off our our borrowing is how that generally works but that's about as Lim knowledge as I have and I think there's one more thing that occurs to me technology has just moved so rapidly in my the last couple decades of my lifetime is this the state-ofthe-art or is the there another state-ofthe-art like really coming down the pike that we are we going to just put a lot of effort and money into something that's going to be uh sort of obsolete within a few years you don't have to answer that we will answer the the good thing about fiber is that by having those wires the fiber optic cable running between your home and and the networking uh substation is that you're you don't have to upgrade the wire itself to advance the technology so they've gone from 100 megabits to 1 gabit now they're on 10 gbits 100 GBS so as the as the demands for uh bandwidth go increase over time with our use of the internet um we we have putting that infrastructure in place of the fiber optic Network is upgradeable without having to replace the wiring so thanks Dan all right so let's let's say that Dan and Scott will get together and see what they can come up with for some more concrete information to present back to select board at a future date yeah done yeah you're done no no all right yeah go ahead yes I did have a question yeah sorry um I think John is right where we're at is uh really a fiscal and business analysis process that builds on the technical piece that Dan just contributed fiber is not obsolete it can accommodate our needs beyond that the rest of your questions Cindy I think really require the business analysis and therefore I understand that the tech committee would like a clean transfer to a board would the board have an interest or an authority over things other than fire in addition to street lights i' asked the question if the town installed um solar generating facilities on Town land might not come under the purview of such board and should we put that on the table for planning the technical governance again I wouldn't think that the tech committee would have a lot to say about designing the governance of the body to do one two or three things that require major fiscal investment sure so yeah I'm good with where we are thank you no good point and I think good point on the solar there too Stephen because over time we have talked about you know perhaps putting in a solar set of a solar panel somewhere in town here on town-owned property to help us reduce the cost of our Municipal indeed we have we we've actually had some recent conversations that got kind of to the nub of it and M I think that with our updated inventory of town lands and understanding the nature of the lands how large or small how wet or dry how uh what their aspect is with respect to solar um I think that uh is very much a current question good it's probably things too where I think right now there's fair I would I would venture to say there's probably some grant money out there too for anything solar and you know renewable resource kind of stuff I think there's there's funds out there to help us going through forward inventory of town Lance with that goal might be a MVP yeah possibly proposal could be could be okay okay all right thanks everybody all right let's uh move on so we have next a letter um basically a letter from the select board to the Senior Center building committee um nicely written I move approval let's just mention it to the uh so the residents know we're talk about so Scott you want to just put it up or should I just read it one of the um yep if we can do that do have or just hard copies I can just summarize it if you want oh this is the updated one yeah so let me just okay oh there we go there you go you're on top of it perfect yeah you all have the draft right yep y okay where is that yeah so go ahead you want to talk it through SC go ahead y so initially the uh Senior Center building committee had um offered the town $100,000 uh to site the new Senior Center on at the 117 to 125 College Highway property once we once we own it things kind of developed rather quickly um turns out the need for hiring a land use planner is probably number one rather than having the $100,000 go against the purchase price so they uh took a vote on September 12th to allow um that $100,000 to be used for uh the town to hire a uh planning firm for the land with that they wanted to just have a letter just kind of codifying the um I guess the intent of the town to provide them with the four to five acre so this would be a letter from the select board just you know confirming recognizing their vote and uh accepting it m okay anybody have any discussion well so a conversation was had outside of a public meeting well no the conversation all happened at the senior cting building committee where they discussed and then ultimately voted to resend the $100,000 to go towards the acquisition cost repurpose it it for the what is this land use planner land use planning but conditioned it on requiring us to commit to four to five acres M now MH is that the abbreviated version basically yeah and since remember we we were going to have the um the 100,000 go toward the the land purchase and then we of course got the nice gift so we didn't really need it there and in terms of the steps the land use planner is really the critical next step to even keep us moving forward without waiting for a special town meeting or some other source of of funding so this was basically a proposal to swap out the funding that would have been allocated for a certain purpose to ad just a different purpose and I and I get all that my where does the four to 5 Acres come from cuz I'm guessing that didn't get pulled out of the air so there's got to be something their feasibility study that's what their feasibility study has asked for in the Senior Center building feasibility study that was completed a year and a half ago so with the public safety complex that's about 5 Acres same on this one we've heard two acres tonight over here we've got other things for housing all of that is part of just the request but the idea is that they would be located somewhere on that property subject to the whole land use planning exercise right so if I go back to the what you refer the feasibility study uhhuh I I will find spelled out in there four to five acres I believe you will okay you've got a a square footage amount for the building so I'd be more comfortable with this letter if that cited that as the reference SCE because okay that's all I mean I get the other two pieces but we're at four to five come from why not give them 8 to 10 I see okay but yeah four to five as referenced as referenced in the okay we can we can modify that I'm sure or or even more more broadly because I was my these words were catching in my throat still are and um I I think what we want to do is support the criteria in the feasibility study without implying that they are going to claim a particular Fort of 5 Acres uh I that's not the feeling I got from the meeting so I'd like the writing to reflect that it will give full consideration to all the criteria in the fees four to five somewhere on the total somewhere on that total right as and I guess yeah how I'm yeah for for used to hire the land planning firm for okay it's close it's close it is but we're also I mean in my mind yeah I mean how many years did it take to get to this point we could be another 3 to 5 years out I hope not but we could it's could be all different people sitting in these chairs exactly and this is why we need to cify something which is from their point of view so 4 to5 as reference to be located somewhere sure because my again yeah this is PR the cart way before the horse but at some I originally we're two separate locations right in town now we're coming together I mean does it will this is a question that can't be answered right now will it make sense at some point in time to have the Lo two facilities located in such a way that it's a Common parking lot perhaps and that's that's what this whole land use planning exercise would help us determine I would hope right so if that comes up and it comes out to you can get you can get the the building of your desires but you really only need 3.8 MH I don't want to pitch and H us that's all all right I think we can certainly go back and reference the um M the uh source of the um this acreage uh is that is that the main anything we want to change or suggested Steven's suggesting somewhere on the par you have a suggested addition to the last sentence or so there um um uh to construct like John I wanted to lift up the feasibility plan and Link it to this okay and the feasibility plan addresses much more than the lot size yeah so no there's nothing specific that I want to call out um just that the final location is subject to a process sure it's not guaranteed to so subject to the land un land use planning process that yeah is about to be I think everybody gets that I think so yeah I mean but if we can okay so okay so with those couple of changes I trust your do we need to come back with that or are you okay for Scott to Tinker that and do that all right so then could I have a motion to motion to approve the letter and to authorize the chair to sign it on our behalf as modified here okay and and just provide us with a cop the sign copy okay second second Stephen okay any further discussion okay all those in favor I I all right motion passes thank you all right um next uh Scott you we've already talked about the audit engagement letter we'll expect that for the next meeting right for FY 24 yep yes we'll pick that up next time all right the next thing that's come up um select board you've all received this uh the uh designation of Lan use planner old oh missed that one hello I sced over that one I not yes definitely didn't mean to skip that one my eyes went elsewhere we have lots of paper in our folders here so um yes we've got uh apparently three entities that submitted their proposals so Scott you want to take it away yeah this is the exciting part um so thanks to Steph uh we were able to meet and discuss you know what our needs were with three different uh organizations berier design BDS and the Pinder Valley Planning Commission um each submitted their own proposals both Berkshire design and BDS uh on their own and Pinder Valley Planning Commission had teamed up with uh another local firm Dodson and flinker uh for their proposal uh last week uh myself Stephen and Randall Kemp Highway superintendent met to just review everything um and we had a a pretty lengthy and involved discussion on which firm to recommend to the select board to move forward with uh we each kind of looked at it from a different angle I I can certainly speak you know from the way I looked at the proposals uh one of the things that I voted they're all very confident all could do the work that we you know we're very sure of that um my own personal opinion looking at them I lean more towards the Piner Valley Planning Commission Dodson flinker and the uh Burkshire not Berkshire the BDS um quote mostly because both of them are local uh BDS sorry BSC BC I'm sorry um BSC BC group BC group are you calling BSC group local uh well they have a local okay um they're National but they have nationwide they are the biggest of the three they have a very local connection is they recently hired East Hampton's former planning director okay um and local resident as well lives lives within the area still um and Steve and I we were able to meet with him he uh was very impressive he uh obviously knew everything he was very familiar with Southampton working in eastampton a lot of the similar obstacles that they've had a lot of the things that they've been doing would would apply here so that that gave me a lot of comfort for um the Dotson flinker and Piner Valley Planning Commission again we would um you know we've worked with the Piner Valley Planning Commission in the past um one of the things that if we if the select board did agree with moving forward with that proposal we just want to make sure that the employees from the pioner valley planning commit commission are the ones that we would like to continue working with um we've recently worked with Ken Kia on the 40R uh project which is ongoing um so we would obviously want him to continue taking a role in that as well um he'd been instrumental in our update of our master plan as well a few years ago so from a a lady person a non- planner looking at the portfolios of each one um I thought the the Dodson flinker was had the nicer pictures and you know more Community engagement it it looking at just from someone who doesn't have that planning background what the final result was going to be um that that's where I was kind of looking from you know having an in product of what we could actually present to the town and and show where the possibilities could be you know where is the senior C going to be where's the Public Safety and what do we do with all the other land in between there and a lot of times visual will it has to be visual for people to understand that so I thought uh the Dodson flinker was a little bit better at presenting that than the other two MH and they've also done local projects um you know the Atkins Corner um they've done the Turners Falls Downtown Development they've um they've done quite a few municipalities across across the uh the state and they did the Turners Falls uh the Atkins Corner um things like the North Grafton uh Transit Village um the Linux greatway Gateway project uh so things like that you know this is kind of what I would Envision something that we would need uh to move forward into the next step okay they are the the most expensive they they did come in at $880,000 um but if you look at the amount of hours that they've committed to doing the project I think it comes out to about 12 or 13 weeks of full-time you know 40 hours per week uh so it's a significant amount of time um that they would have to dedicate to that which I think is reflective in the price so that was one of the things I was going to ask is the estimated time frame I guess I didn't catch that directly as I I mean without converting the hours are we talking a 3 or 4 month time frame to do this whole study you think or yeah it would have to move pretty rapidly I think both uh BC and pioner Valley you know they both know that we have a deadline to start moving forward with the the one onstop Grant and getting things ready for the next phase in our two Public Safety buildings right yeah the onetop usually opens up in February so Y for the expression of Interest correct that that is one of the explicit criteria goals that we've discussed with all of the applicants I'm delighted the three applicants that I suggested all were interested and submitted um their information um it's tough assignment because we're asking for public engagement and visualization and that's a really different set of skills than going out and doing survey engineering but we hope to get to a plan of land from which we could give or Grant to or designate for the public safety and for the senior center or with help put out an RFP for development of mixed use development if that is part of the vision okay so Dodson flinker with pvpc doesn't do survey but they're all registered l Cape Architects and I think we could even get to the goal that I'm talking about what do you mean by they don't do the survey can you explain that to me they um survey still means going in the field and looking at boundaries and taking measurements there you can also create a plan if you have the right credentials from existing plans and verifying that that all um meets at the end yeah and so a landscape architect can do that even though they're not a public land surveyor I don't want to get down in the weeds and there would a survey from them for them to work from already anyway right I mean there would have been I think what we have technically is a compiled plan yeah uh if you want to get technical about it but um BSG group might be the ideal group when we're looking for 25 % design because at that point we will definitely be out of the bandwidth of pbpc or even Dodson flinker so we we covered the the landscape and I think that we've seeded what may in the end be a good relationship with Boston survey group BSG and nothing to take a shine off birkar Design Group um they just I think underestimated our need despite the fact that I've worked with their principles in East Hampton U we we'll get her done yeah so so I I fully support um Scott's recommendation that we go with pvpc with Dodson flanker and so that would be as you said though provided that the pvpc assures us that the three individuals or at least the prime individual that's listed in this proposal is is part of the deal Ken Kya has to be part of the deal to man now do you envision and Peter we need to really identify who's going to be the face of facilitation yeah whomever is going to be doing that so that was going to be my question so do we envision that most of the community engagement will be on the pvpc side rather than or how how do you see this breaking out in terms of um they have identified who does what between pvpc and Dodson flinker but that's where I think we need to engage and one of the issues that Randall and Scott and I wrestled with is who on behalf of the Town provides some daily support uh you know Randall's been here long enough to Plate his rope and hang himself Scott's getting close um we certainly can't make Scott the day-to-day project manager and so I'm recognizing that keeping them productive and on the best track requires engagement from our side and that remains a challeng okay the one the one thing that I think that I I noticed that the um the basic where did I see it the basic cost proposal sorry from Dodson flinker somewhere I saw it I lost it um anyway the add-ons included um extra um engagement and and so forth Community engagement which oh here we go so it's basically 74,000 and then uh facilitate a public forum uh to review design Alternatives and then a second optional public forum to present the final results personally I I think for a project this huge and this important I'm in favor of as much public engagement as we can possibly fit in in the window so to me I would I would like to if we're going to go with these folks I would encourage us to go with the thank you entire package and and have the ad alternates just be there I think and that's we can't go wrong to to be possible huh whose numbers are these that's Dodson and um that's a proposal the PC doson and Flink doson and Flink thank you madam chair I wholeheartedly agree with that and that brings a full circle to who's the person that's doing that facilitation yeah because it's not a surveyor no no no yeah and beyond that we just want to be comfortable yeah okay well that's good so um okay well you guys have done your due diligence and and made your recommendations to us any questions s I'm on the public safety building committee and and so is Chris and um what I want to know is and maybe I'm missing this are they going to coordinate with the um the feasibility study Architects that have been working with us for greater than a year uh now granted the last I heard that the Architects doing that feasibility study hkt knew that we uh didn't have to be limited to the same 4 Acres that we thought we were limit to so they knew that would be difference but uh is is that in this proposal to work with and also to work with I I don't know if the um Senior Center building committee they also had a feasibility study done by a group a competent group you know I just want to make sure there's um coordination there and not overlap um I do appreciate what you said Stephen about who's or somebody said about who's going to be the day-to-day face somebody that isn't going to to interfere with the action of what has to happen here in the town hall and taking away from our professionals here or Randall down the street uh and um that we're in and and what I also want to know is they're going to be periodic sort of meetings Mee yeah I sort of see that meeting one you've got it up on the screen so there's looking at the same thing right so I think I think at least I mean I don't know the you know right now there's no current engagement with the senior center feasibility study architect firm I mean they did their both of those contracts are done pretty much but there there's at least the report that they can you refer to in tes one meet with the key stakeholders right so there's at least the the feasibility studies that they can refer to if we needed to somehow you know bring in those firms for you know a couple hour meeting I I imagine that could be arranged I mean I you know not promising anything but I don't see why that couldn't be arranged if they needed a face to face for something so that is pretty much you know I think part of the outline of what they've done here the one nine is very clear in terms of the various stakeholders all the work that Steven's been doing to get out this in initial expression of Interest I guess I would say the the interest form to the various committees um that is a is a big piece right there too so I think that's the Deep dive that Cindy's asking for to ground this with feasibility studies is in there at 1.7 MH and the whole task one of getting oriented before they go out in public they're only meeting with Town yeah officials board before we go out to the public um they'll have the opportunity lot of effort in getting them up to speed with everything we right so I thought that they actually detailed out that portion better than anybody else okay good all right and they also wrote some of these plans if you want to look at the housing production plan or the open space plan they know those cuz they wrote them so I I must be missing a connection here why is it that pvpc doesn't have pricing they they will be the lead contractor and these guys would be their subcontractor they they do have um the column right here pvpc uh staff average rate that's their staff yeah so the recommendation is to go with pvpc who's going to turn around and rely on this other firm for um assuming their Specialties right corre correct and by going with pvpc because they are our Planning Commission in the area we also don't have to go out to bid for this so that moves things further along well I mean I've said this previously in public forums and I'll say it again um pvpc has L us down a lot in certain areas yes definitely I agree I agree so I really don't have yeah any desire to get involved with them on anything so I'll just say that I mean if you think this is the first time they're actually telling us who they're going to partner with and if we really want to go with doson and fiser and we would go independently with them anyways and pvpc is just going along for the ride to get some extra money I guess but why do we need pvpc other than to avoid public bid process um let me answer that um Dodson flinker was on my list with caveat that they could certainly do the visualization and the public engagement but that they couldn't take us as far with zoning and the technical pieces of planning pvpc is not just convenient for reasons discussed but they are a direct conduit to State and quiz State assistance so it's the Colin Center and look where that got us I mean I'm just telling you it's we've been there we've seen that but I think that's why we were trying to make the point that Ken Kam who's listed in here on the proposal we want to be sure that he's with us he did the update with us on the master plan he's been involved I think in the 40R well the 40R but he wasn't on the um he didn't do the open space plan was he involved in the housing product no that is the 40 isn't isn't that the 40R the housing production plan no it's different they they connect but yeah but not that but anyway he he definely we know I don't know he he did the Master Plan update with us absolutely did a great job and then he'd been a consultant for a while he helped us with the open space and Recreation plan he did he did he helped us with that housing production plan I think so maybe a little bit I think I think the in answer to johnes John I think we have to realize there has been some turnover in the staff at pvpc over the years yes most of the staff Beyond Ken that are identified at pvpc yeah are relative go ahead I'm just trying to answer your question go ahead are relatively new um graduates of the Conway School who've had a couple of years either in municipal or Regional planning okay but the second thing is whenever you hire somebody whether it's to fix my stove or to do something big in town you know there's an accountability on our part that we we we're going to hold and I hate to say it but you got to hold them to what their contractual obligations are and on the time frame that they say they're going to do and um that's all I can say in answer to what you're bringing up John about don't you know don't deal with them at all which is what I'm hearing um well they they certainly wouldn't be my first choice yeah no understand we we've had you know certainly a mix review in terms of our work on on HR we've had a couple of things go through them that you know didn't turn out the way we had expected in terms of their level of deliverability shall we say I I think that just like we ended up with a vague commitment from the concom to work with the open space committee on this question we need to avoid being vague ourselves and we need to develop Clarity we can't get there tonight if not Randall if not Scott how do we have a point of contact that is yeah charge with keeping them accountable so so the the key person is the Kenneth K Kuma Kia yeah yeah he's one folks so this what they're putting in there the 187 hours is about 30% of the total job to be done and they're the lesser lesser cost of the bunch right K come right so I'd make a motion to approve the recommendation provided that we have written assurance that Kenneth Kia will be acting in a lead capacity for the entire project or the scope of this I second that there you you too okay Cindy and Dan both second okay any further discussion that okay all those in favor I all right good all right well this feels this feels good to that's a big step forward it is it's a huge step and thank you for all your work and identifying people and being part of the whole field to get it together here so we will um you know do a little bit more thinking maybe for our next meeting meeting about how we can be who can be that helping coordinating scheduling put people in contact with people on a side note when I first reviewed the packet when it came out and I saw Steven's name and correspondence I'm like he's gone off the reservation he's reaching out without the chair's permission we know no no no all good all good all right um let's see next up I just lost my paper sorry I an engagement letter no we I just mentioned that the audit engagement we're stepen mention I'm sorry Scott mentioned that we're um oh he did we we're squared away for that for next meeting for sure they're going to get it to us so the next issue is the proposed Gravel Pit located within the neighboring community of Montgomery and this uh just to let the public know um we've received a letter dated October 7th about an intended Gravel Pit on Southampton Road in Montgomery uh this is a letter uh from signed by I think 32 residents of Southampton if those of you who may not know the Southampton Road at the end of Russellville Road going up the mountain um half of it shall we say is Southampton half of it is Montgomery um there is a proposed gravel pit that is um been talked about in Montgomery it's gone to their zoning board uh it they were looking for a variance to um apparently um put in this commercial entity uh in what is now something zoned residential uh that zoning um hearing apparently was continued uh there has been no date from what we know uh as to when it will be brought back again um all I have done at this point in time is to respond to the letter um initiators who are Cheryl Arnold and Lisa Fedora I believe uh and just to say that we were going to bring it up tonight we had no further knowledge and discussion it was the first that we've heard about it and Scott has already reached out to the town of Montgomery officials to get a meeting set up to understand from their point of view what this is all about and how this would impact us obviously from the town Highway point of view we maintain a good share of that road it's a very windy curvy Road um and so you know I think um we want to at least hear more about what's what the plan is and um just understand it better so it'll come back to us at this point in time but I just wanted to it let it be known that we had received that okay any comments questions um I support all of that I'm astonished at the town has no written record of this meeting but good luck well and it's it's a little bit unusual too that when you have a continuance usually you set a date for continuance in my experience are apparently that has not been done so they they did not know the town clerk I believe answered you and said there's been no right no date set for the continued meeting so I'm not sure where it's just sort of floating with the zoning board of appeals or where that's at but um we will keep pushing for a meeting with the chair of their select board and find out what's going on okay good okay all right moving on uh budget process Scott any thoughts on next steps on there please um just work on the budget calendar I sent it to the finance committee and I'll send it around to the psych board as well just um probably tomorrow I'll also send it to the department heads just trying to kind of detail a little bit more uh with some specific deadlines you I'd like to be able to at least get the draft letter to all the department heads in the boards and committees November 14th um scheduling scheduling maybe a night meeting for all the boards and committees that you know they may not have huge budgets um but you know like the parks committee and Cemetery committee uh you know kind of introducing them and going over how planning um you know how the budget process is going to work kind ruce them to it um and hopefully on the November 12th meeting uh with the select board we can kind of talk a little bit more about guidelines and uh what our goals and objectives are for for the year um so just uh detailing it out through September September October November December and then January and February gets a little bit more um a little bit more to be determined uh I do have to reach out to the capital committee uh to talk about timing as well um but assuming the finance committee is on board it would be on the off weeks of Select board meetings we would start the um budget presentations and then that would lead us into March in case there's any second budget presentations um that we would need to have back so you know a lot of the bigger departments you know there's a lot of questions with um you know Highway and police and fire so we might reserve some time for that so January you're counting those as being joint meetings with finance and select board yes okay so the only it's an issue every year the I don't know that they're going to change it but statutorily Regional School budgets have to have the first draft by Valentine's Day Norris's budget cannot happen until the second vote of the regional budget so there's no way Norris budget is never going to be done in February we we try like he to make the April 1 deadline of the bylaw and we usually come in on March 31st so I I'm just throwing it out there right um good to know well that could be memorialized and schedule because yeah it's out of our control right well yeah at least for this year I mean I do think ultimately at some point in time we we be things should be able to work faster but yeah get a little more accountability for a m yeah okay I mean it is a big piece of the Town budget sure the nor section absolutely yeah but it would probably good to have at least a footnote or something there in terms of when we expect the school schol information yeah since we're blessed with having the town moderator here I noticed that there is an annual town meeting warrant deadline date in there that you presumably have consulted on or hopefully will agree with open no this is return on the request where do you go where you go so the open in January that's the call for right that's the call for articles yeah return in March yeah yeah it's still in draft form so we're going to ass for all the stakeholders I thought I thought you closed it later yeah that's in April in April which has to be X number of days prior to the ATM more finalized oh it's still TBD I'm sorry I'm sorry I thought you had a date there as well I think this is great and it's a work in progress obviously but well I think it's something too that you know we can get it up on our on our website and you know on under the Town Administrator page or where you think it's appropriate Scott so that you know people can understand that we we have a schedule we're going to try and follow this and do our best here so oh you actually why are you bugging me in October about something that doesn't happen till July well because yes yeah well part of it this process yeah so you have a draft schools budget in March so that's what's got to change then right yeah for for what John just said yeah credal okay yes all right any any thoughts and comments on that that's a good thank you good start and and I like the idea of having meeting with you know the department heads and then you know a separate meeting then with you know chairs of committees and so forth that are the ones that usually put in some some money uh requests anyway they may not be big money but at least they do uh some of the boards and and commissions and committees that do request funds in our budget that they understand this process too I don't think that's really been a good um Outreach effort in the past shall we say to to let everybody know what we're doing so and we're asking new things we are we are so okay um before we go into Old business is there any other business that can't wait until the October 29th select board meeting that anybody knows of no okay then we'll keep on moving how about old business uh Hazard mitigation Plan update Scott um recent meeting when the next one might be um so the next meeting is probably going to be the November 12th select board meeting with the public engagement and the presentation okay so the public would be able to follow that online or else come to it as well and be able to ask questions and yeah thankfully I was able to work with Randall to get at least not the password for the Facebook if at least have access to it I think the password may be lost forever um because it's registered under an old email from 10 years ago and in order to get the stuff you need to have access to that email and there's no way that you can get it um and try finding a number to call Facebook uh um so but but I'm going to hopefully when we publicize it at least maybe um do like a Facebook live so people can type in any questions that they may have yeah I think that would be really good I think that's uh that engagement with the public to chip in on that would be would be interesting to do I I think we can begin our preparation so that we're ready to turn on the camera yep sounds good find a that's moving along anyway so that's that's good um and as I say as you know if well we'll hear on the 12th if there are some changes that are coming up but uh that's that's good to know in terms of the priorities that had been established six or seven years ago now uh stormwise storm waterer Enterprise fund this is something that we' put some arpa money aside to uh have done how are we moving on that one um no movement yet just we we signed the contract and tyan bond is Ty bond is going to do it okay all right so there's at least the intent to move on that um anything on The manhan Meadows Bridge update this was the uh we we should be getting the engineering study any day now it's been about 30 days since we contracted with them so they should be um sending that over all right good um Capital asset planning I know we've taken up a bit of it under the uh cost efficiencies committee we'll keep on chugging there right now we don't really have a um Capital committee uh in place so cost efficiencies has kind of tried to help take over that a little bit with Scott to try and look at our long-term capital planning um and we'll we'll keep on looking at that we'll have a meeting next week and I know the uh department heads had given you at least their um their fiveyear or 10year um um Capital asset replacement plans right so okay and the land piece I've been in touch with um David as well as good Brad and have all of their information including David had a thumb drive so I've got the ability to incorporate all tax maps as well as our online GIS and we'll have one spreadsheet that will be simple to use that'll allow people to just click on a deed reference and pull up the deed we'll have them here in house Okay click on the cam ID and pull up the parcel in context using our own G is okay and it's about 75% built okay um what comes out the back end is in answering questions like my classic one don't doesn't the town own some land down on Riverside Road and the town owns six or seven Parcels down there each with its own story so to answer that question consistently we need to pull together all six stories in context and that's very current because of discussions about access to the greenway and blah blah blah yeah no that's good yeah no I think that that's fine I mean where we were stuck and I I was wanting a first step to happen before you spun your wheels on doing this in great detail was for Bradley and Dave to sort of be sure that their line their asset list matched but I think you've gone ahead with it and I think it's fine it'll there are only 80 Parcels oh yeah and or back and forth error checking I think it will be iterative and they'll come three or four at a time okay and so it would be great is to sustain this dialogue amongst the principles and educate our conservation agent as well because he's been assigned something like this but um hasn't approached it this way so I intend to work with everybody to refine the tool and and do the boring stuff myself and let them debate whether they've got the right code on the right parel or the right naming of the parcel or any of that stuff I know there were some things and that's where for me having an electronic copy of the deed that you can just click and read the Preamble and read the closing that this is meant to be for conservation and natural resource protection or it was funded by the state through the D Watershed protection um the State the town has been remarkably active in um tapping these public funding sources and now we have to remain accountable Y no totally agree so thank you for the opportunity no okay uh Surplus equipment disposal uh good news and bad news uh bad news is we had no bids on the first two lots that we put out for the old computers and like LCD um the good news is we had multiple bids on our Tahoe so it's over $1,000 right now oh all right over ,000 wait till we get to the crown mix We you took the catalac converter off of it right that's what they're buying better check that's interesting well that's great so Judy's got got started on this so we've got you know she's got the the system understood now to figure out what she's got to post but we've got you know the inventory done for all this excess equipment that's down in the basement and uh it's a matter of getting it posted along with Library and coas and others that have given us a list that we'd already approved at town at selectboard meeting as excess equipment so good Cindy question to Scott uh thank you for doing this because I know there's a has been a lot of stuff down there Judy well posting it thank you Judy um can you tell me what's going to happen to those old computers that nobody wants what landfill they're going to go to is there a way to do this in a very green way to destroy them yeah they they'd have to be recyle properly and they and how does that does it cost the town money to recycle them properly it does it's negative value for us it's going I was just looking on online today seeing how much about $510 per monitor okay um some places will'll take computers for free but most of them will charge I see and how many are we talking about approximately oh I I can there's lots couple doz 30 did the inventory down in the basement there's there's yes 30 40 there's old printers there's a microfish machine there's all sorts of stuff down there so I ask in part because I think members of the public are listening and that might be a question I would have the other question I have and in in regards to all this and I and I do appreciate is I know there's a storage area in the basement and as a uh chairperson of the board of assessors I've gone down there with our administrative assistant and thee her predecessor who has retired and I know there's just tons of stuff down there and I know me I store things and I look back and I go what what did I keep this stuff for and is there going to be some kind of a considered effort to determine are we keeping stuff we don't need to keep I I would like to get a dumpster well I also think there's also and I think our town clerk knows that there's needs to uh determine you know the the requirements for maintaining certain docu if they're documents like you know we have couches down there we have old chairs that are no good anymore um so basic basic equipment has been inventoried but files and so forth have not okay but by the same token there are a ton of files still left in the old town hall y that are tax records from the 70s and 80s town clerk assessor related but mostly I think Town Clerk and treasure related so should we get a dumpster we would want to include that as well we talked about trying to clean that out a year or so ago and never never got it going but that that needs to be done that's but the um the basic equipment stuff that's unless somebody's been throwing something down there recently um Megan and I finished that probably in it's been growing eight or nine months ago growing and it needs to be really clear that it's separated somewhere from what we've already tagged because we just change the lock on the door yeah like and make it so they have they have to get the key from you from your office the elevator goes down yeah um well so it' be it'd be tough well are you saying that somebody's brought their personal stuff in or something no no no approaching their offices accumulating all right things have a way to accumulate unfortunately but anyway most of the stuff is in what's now Art's office so that's that's where it is so that's why we want to get rid of it as soon as we can sounds good thank you okay uh FY 23 status of the audit audit status Scott um hopefully we're almost done I've answered all the questions I know Jen has answered the questions uh there's a few outstanding questions that they've contacted Bradley bout mainly uh balancing the um the actual Revenue versus the uh the budgeted amount so Bradley's working on that I wasn't here so I kind of have to rely on Bradley for that it goes back two years so um but hopefully we're going to be almost done and we'll have the engagement letter for 24 soon very okay green energy uh approval you mentioned that they're going to start on the library next week uh the 22nd to the 24th great okay and then the others somewhere toward the end of November the rest of that that's great very glad to hear that uh anything new about our E Street being on the chip project or anything there probably not I think we're just keeping it there just for a reminder if things are happening for us my move approval is sept minutes of September 3 2024 read through them and I have no edits very good okay yeah I know they're very very thorough I think so anybody else we had a motion in a second any comments no all right all those in favor I I all right very good uh we do have two select board meetings well one more select board meeting coming up October 29th and then November 12th and the 26th um so those are our regular select board meetings I I respectively request to be excused from the October 29th when I won't be here you won't be here okay all right no problem thank you for letting us know that um and then we will be going into executive session shortly U let me read the reasons for that um so executive session uh per mgl chapter 30A section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union Personnel Highway superintendent and town accountant mgl chapter 30A section 21A number three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares this is the Cannabis host Community agreement and mgl chapter 3A section 21A number 7 to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or Federal grant and aid requirements as will be to review the executive session minutes from March 26th and May 14th 2024 may I have a motion to adjourn this and move into executive session so moved second Stephen second by Cindy no no by Dan I'm Sorry seconded by Dan oh second okay seconded by Dan uh roll call vote please omra yes Johnson yes Laval yes Palmer yes FS yes okay we are adjourned at about 738 this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers