##VIDEO ID:R8FanNqF-SM## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers there we go okay all right I'm calling to me calling to order the meeting of the Southampton select board for October 29th 2024 at 6 so 1 p.m. if we could all start and say the Pledge of Allegiance please could please stand the flag is behind you I pledge of flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands Nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you okay all right is anyone here for citizen speak or open time for the public that is for not not an issue that is already on the agenda I think you're probably all here for the poll hearing as my guest okay all right any announcements from anybody select board wise anything coming up off hand um we have a hearing that is supposed to start a poll hearing that's supposed to start at 6:05 so let me just start a minute or two early if nobody objects to that can we do that yes all right I think we've got the principles that are here so let me read a couple of things here so we have a petition petition for a soul Source pole location uh by the board of licensed commissioners of the city of Southampton Mass okay eversource and Verizon New England I request permission to locate a line of poles wires cables and fixtures including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures to be owned and used in common by your petitioners along and across the following public way the address is 33 manhan Road and the purpose as stated here uh eversource is requesting permission to install one fully owned pole one 36 in concrete Silo with pad top one padmount Transformer and a pair of three sorry 3 in concrete incase conduit and primary cables approximately 940 ft long on manhan road this pole will be located approximately 20 ft off center line of Road and be placed approximately 50 ft southeast of the existing pole 25 Number 15 the conduit cable what and cable will start at this new poll and cond continue Northwest will end in the proximity of poll number 45- 4-1 the new primary cable will be used to provide service to 33 manhan Road the current service to the home is from the right of way and is currently an aerial trespass so with that I sort of didn't formally say but I'm opening up open the public hearing thank you opening up the public hearing a second I all right all in favor I I all right we are open sorry so just pretend I just read that now got ahead of myself so the um poll hearing is open uh and we have our Representatives I think representative from eversource here yeah come on up please introduce yourself and we can uh put up whatever on the screen that you need here Scott's got the the map that you have provided I guess good evening Jason Ferrero lever Source um yeah pretty much what you just read we're like to install a poll and then uh single face primary cable to feed a customer at 33 manhand Road okay now I think just for purpose of History um we had this come before us sometime several months ago and at the time there was an issue with manhan Road being declared a Scenic Road in town which we verified it is and I think we directed you to the planning board what has happened in the interim they made it uh pretty clear that we weren't going to be able to trim the trees that we needed to to move the pole line at the planning board did you go planning board no I did not someone from our office did um he's no longer with our office but yeah um so we came up with the new design to go underground through the roadway so none of the trees are Disturbed and um yeah okay can you explain a little more so this is you're cutting down no trees no cutting down any po no trees Going Underground you're taking an existing pole we we're adding one pole to add a singlephase riser on it putting that Riser into the ground going to the property 33 manhand Road 9 putting a pad Mount Transformer there and feeding that property and the length of it is at 940 ft approximately 940 ft yes so when it can I ask a question yeah please go so I think I know the answer but just tell me the 20 ft off center line so that will be off the off thead the pole itself the pole is off the road in the shoulder inine with the poles that are currently there okay and then the burial will it the burial will follow the curve of the road or no it'll be um in that travel Lane in the travel Lane traveling Northwest um and then cross the road to go into their property okay you want to um on the map here if you wanted to just show what that is here so at the corner so the existing pole is where since we have the map so the existing pole line runs here mhm this is going to be the new pole and then we're going to run a primary cable down this side of the roadway and then cross the roadway to the new padmount Transformer okay okay yeah Dan please yeah have you uh reviewed this with the highway superintendent since she'll be uh going under his Road no this first and moving on okay Ste you folks are on the planning board and I are on the planning Bo having talked about this at planning board they somebody from eversource came I'm sorry I'm not hearing your question entirely someone from eversource come and talk about 33 man hand at some yes as Dan implied several months ago with a different plan the original plan so um again I'm not a lawyer but as I understand the zoning issue with the scenic Road the process begins with planning board and then comes to the select board and um you know we've we've got a hearing open tonight we can hear but I think you're in reverse order and I would suggest that on the way to the planning board you do consult with the highway superintendent um because he's pavement guy and can help us understand whether or to what degree there is an impact to the scenic road but a new poll I think U puts you categorically into the scenic Road review MH cool all right any folks from the public that would like to speak for it and we'll have go for and then an against so for yeah one up Justin Violet I live at 34 manhan Road where the aerial trespass currently exists um people continue to mention the scenic Road aspect of this I think it's fair for people to know if nobody's driven on the street more than half of the road has utility poles on it with wires that has to get trimmed whichever source is actually going to be trimming it cuz I had a guy sitting in my driveway for 10 minutes unannounced didn't get out of his truck until I approached him he was not in the right way I called ever Source they told me they didn't know what was in my driveway who he was but anyway the scenic roadside of it it kind of gets old there's polls halfway up the street it's not like there's no utility polls on the road Russellville Road is also a Scenic Road there's utility poles all the way down Russellville Road M the scenic Road part of it kind of getting a little old another thing to mention just a little old but it's it is it has been designated for a number of years as a sen it is and I understand that but half of it the polls are in the road the other thing to consider which eversource wasn't eversource of the time it was witho back in the 9s they moved poles that were in people's property in right of ways onto the street even though it was a Scenic Road at that time as well mhm and they stopped where two new houses were built and the rest of the polls except for I think one that got broken in one of the storms there's two poles in my yard that are from before the ' 50s MH um so that infrastructure is going to need to get upgraded anyway but just something to consider if the planning board's looking at it there's a lot of stuff in the news ever source is getting a lot of money to upgrade their system and reliability of it so being the stop to doing any sort of work on the road should really be considered how come this short stretch is not on the road that electricity is very important that feeds the whole Yol Dam that's the reason it's three-phase it's priority that that power stays running if you were to drive down our road you're welcome to come walk in my property I'd prefer you reach out to me first and we can take a look and you can see how hard it would be to get to those lines in an emergency um so it's just something really to consider for Public Safety that's all okay thank you question so are you in are you in favor of this new proposed plan yes or no in just putting it underground I think it's a large waste of money we know what the roads like there the road's very it's all ledge you see ledge coming up through the ground there's a drainage ditch on that side of the road um you almost have to be on the other side towards the river in order to do it um there's a couple CTS that run through there as well that they would have to cross through that area but I just think for the infrastructure and what it would cost to do the work and in the long term ever source is going to spend all this money Verizon's also going to have to run a line and they're still going to have to replace like I said there's Old Wire that runs through my property the rest of the way up to the dam there's Old Poles M so it just seems like a waste and I think it's a it's a good opportunity and just more of a conversation um to be had with ever source so you're you're indiffer to either solution as long as there is a solution put forward yes okay MH I just want to make sure that that you know people are behind and we're spending our rate payers money accordingly right yeah well I think as you mentioned Crossing you know culverts and whatever else I mean that's exactly why the highway super needs to be involved in this discussion as well I mean we're doing a survey right now and assessing all the status of the culverts in the town and so you know he definitely is a a person to be consulted on this too so yeah thank you I appreciate it thank you next up yes please man uh when we did this last time I was one please introduce yourself Constance Rod I am one of the people that had the street designated a Scenic Road back in the day um I was against what they wanted to do before because of the trees coming down um I think this sounds a lot more reasonable than what was presented before um um frankly eversource and Verizon have more than enough money to put this underground um I I can't see um why it wouldn't be something that would be okay aside from the fact that it if there's ledge you know whatever you know the the logistics to doing this obviously we don't know it yet because they haven't checked it out but concerning we had it designated a Scenic Road not for anybody else other than the people that lived on the street we had a beautiful Street one day we walked up the road and there were like 60 trees that had marks on them that they were going to get cut down and my my previous neighbor and I we went what and we called and they were I mean they were literally going to take down more than half the trees on the street and we just went this is we have a beautiful Road you know I've been there since 1980 um you know maybe I'll be there five more years maybe 10 maybe two I don't know um I just can't see deating the street to put in wires mhm on the other hand people need what they need I can totally understand why he would love to get those wires out of his property if it was me I would like them to be gone as well so so you agreeing with us then I'm agreeing that eversource and Verizon have enough money to do the right thing and to help you guys out as well MH never been against helping a neighbor M okay you know you guys had a meet with me pleas please speak to the select board when when they were building their house I had to come to a meeting with them so that they could go through the brick wall for their driveway mhm um I almost wasn't going to come today but I was babysitting my grandkids in haydenville and my daughter-in-law got home early and I was literally driving by at 6:00 I wasn't going to come because I I feel like I'm the only one here you know it's a beautiful beautiful Street it has not been maintained by the town which came up before there's so many dead trees that should be cut down it it hasn't been maintained but to me this sounds way more doable than the other so I'm I'm for this as opposed to what was proposed before but if something else is proposed that can make put the lines in for Bru get the lines out of their property I would probably be for that too you know it's it's we all have to live on that street at this point and I know personally I'd be really AGG if I had you know like you said you had a fire yep get all who needs who needs that thank you all right anyone else yeah go just Lan Turon from 22 manhan Road you say that again please just Lane Turon 22 manhan Road uh I'm for uh uh moving the poles to the street because it would clean up all the dead trees we have there the new trees will grow as soon as we can clean up that grow it's like a walking Time Bomb there you don't the one a trees going to fall on your head so if they're going to spend money why don't they do it right and have the poles up there for Bruce and whoever else builds a house there you know be easy for them all the poles be running down the street and the trees will grow back and nobody will ever notice it and at the same time we will clean up in our backyard all the poles and wires in the backyard that's no place for uh poles and wires in the backyard it should be on the like every like everywhere's else my understanding though of what's being proposed is not to do any cleanup of EX existing wires and whatever all they're talking about is now instead of cutting down a whole bunch of trees on manhan road to get to 33 they're now going to go underground which again has not been but it'd be more feasible just put the poles on the street right okay instead of going underground that's what we're saying we're willing to agree with that that would open it up for other neighbors and want to build other houses it would take care of Bruce at the same time it would take care of everybody I see except for a few trees that you know but they will grow back you know okay thank you point thank you all right yes next hi Bruce kums 33 manhan Road I came in a few minutes late so I didn't catch the beginning of the presentation but I'm it looks to me like the plan has changed from what I saw uh 6 months ago or whenever it was that they had the prior meeting right cuz they were going to be cutting some trees down in front of my property at 33 manhand mhm and it looks like that isn't happening now I wonder if someone could MH move the picture around and MH uh show the mailbox and the entrance driveway entrance yeah that's the driveway entrance to 33 Main hand to the left is a mailbox then we're going to be cutting a couple of live trees down further south from the mailbox and I guess that's not the plan now so it sounds like right now what they're talking about is not cutting any trees but putting in an extra pole a new pole down at wherever that curve was in the in the middle of my property MH now that Services uh my property mhm so they're looking at putting in another pole and then running a line underneath the ground digging up the road and putting in a an under underground conduit in line for 940 ft under the road is what we're understanding tonight and one of our questions was and our Highway superintendent has just walked in is totally blind to this whole issue I have a feeling but yeah one of our concerns was that no one has talked to the highway department about digging up the road to also get a line down underneath the road as well as going to the planning board since this had been designated a Scenic Road so isue Madam chair I happy to listen to testimony from concerned citizens and and the Butters but and and those served by this proposal but it is out of our jurisdiction at present because it has not yet been to the planning board and we've already discussed that the planning board would seek the input of the highway superintendent MH so this is all good it's just wrong form yeah and it looks like the planning board has got a meeting on the 6th which is basically a week away if so if I could yeah for the record so under M General law 40 section 15 C governing Scenic roads including restrictions of Maintenance repairs and Paving no tree cutting or stone wall removal without prior written consent from the planning board repairs maintenance reconstruction or Paving work on a cnic road cannot involve cutting or removing trees are tearing down or destroying the walls public hearing must be held by the planning board prior to the the public hearing at the select board so I propose that we continue this plan this public meeting or poll hearing for four weeks can I continue can I continue speaking before you cut off my uh well it's up to the chair but I'm making a motion making a motion that we that we postpone or continue this public hearing for four weeks to allow the planning board to do what they're required to do under General law and then report their findings to this board so that we can act appropriately excuse me have a motion on the floor I need a second second all right okay further discussion I'm I'm happy to hear so now we can have some discussion go ahead okay um Can someone from evera show on the screen where the underground is going to be uh put and perhaps move the yeah and the existing poll that's this I've got a color photo York this might help you okay so this is where the new pole would go yeah and then it would bury the line all the way up here this is the pole currently servicing your house okay the underground it would pop out just before that and then tie into your house so there wouldn't be any change really in the front of my property other than where it's coming out of the ground so it's okay uh so can I so so just Clarity so you said the that pole that's currently serving his house would be removed good okay um I just wanted to uh emphasize what a couple other people said that there I came home one night and there was a dead tree Laying across the road uh just south of my driveway entrance and I called 911 and had the police come over and I couldn't quite move it myself cuz it was much too heavy but the the two policemen were able to move the dead tree over to the side of the road and push it to the side on the opposite side of my property and there was another tree that fell down on my side of the property in the same general area which fell down and that tree is also laying on the uh the Riverside of the property those two poles dead poles should be removed because they are going to be obstructing the snow plowing operation and so on uh by the tree Warden or the highway superintendent whoever regulates that that work and also there's a dead tree in front of the property and as you come up on the on the right side the first house that would be the tree Warden that would be in charge that should be removed as well that's those are my thoughts thank you thank you all right so we have uh a motion on the floor and a second to continue this hearing John you said for a month well give them four weeks I mean four weeks to go I mean like I said there is a I believe there a planning board meeting on the 6th which is timely we also have meetings oursel again on the 12th well we're just because it's a public hearing that's advertised we're required to name the date tonight correct we should so so I the I'm hesitant to go two weeks out if somebody can't make a scheduling event right just in case we can't make it on there um for the planning board or whatever else for everyone in the audence we can't do anything until we get the recommendation from the planning board right yeah we appreciate so so we have meetings on the 12th and on the 26th so let us continue this until November 26th uh that would be my uh at 6:05 a specific date to continue this that allows every source to go before the planning board consult through the planning board they'll consult with the highway super and uh then come back to us and we'll be sure to get it on the agenda for the 26th okay if they're ready okay is that okay with everybody all right all those in favor all those in favor first I I thank you yes now now who want to give us permission to cut the trees is that the plan board or the select board to cut the trees um probably going to want input from the tree Warden yeah the tree Warden is going to have to take a look at some of that too so it's going to be those departments that coordinate together I would assume planning board and tree Warden you know if there's some disease trees that are really causing issues then that may come to the attention of the tree Warden to take a look at that and see what he recommends um and obviously if they're on your own property that's a different story than if they're on Town property too so right okay all right so thank you folks we will continue this on November 26th and in the meantime Jason if you would please impress upon your colleagues the need to get on the agenda we've got two folks here on the planning board so they can bring it forth to the chair to know that hopefully ever Source would contact us in time to get on the uh or contact planning board in time with Graphics thank you okay thank you very much folks appreciate you coming appreciate the input thank you all right I'm going to run to the conservation Comm thank you Dan Dan's running to a Dan's running to a conservation committee meeting for a minute and then he'll be back when he's done with those that set of agenda because they need a quorum for their meeting so we will continue with the three of us John Steven and Chris and keep on with the agenda here so thanks everybody uh next up we have a um Town Administrator report and we go with that for Scott uh the town clerk wanted me to um just announce that excuse us please uh that so far we've received 668 in person voting uh for the November 5th election already and um anecdotally a significant amount of mail and ballots so we haven't counted those yet but um it's it's been pretty busy the last uh last couple days I know she had said at one point she' mailed out like 2300 yeah ballots so if a good share of those come back in they will be very busy in the reg's office in in the town clerk's office rather M uh so the good news is that the uh first part of the LED lighting conversion took place at the library uh everything's been uh set up uh cleaned up and operational and we're going to be starting I believe the police station is next on November 22nd um okay it might be town hall for the 22nd so I'll double check that but next is uh police department and then town hall for the conversion so great good to see that we are still waiting for just the contract from pineer Valley planning uh commission just to start the land use process so I've been I've been bugging Ken to get over ASAP um I would like to have a all boards committee um virtual meeting for November 14th we're trying to schedule it uh and that's just to go over maybe 15 or 20 minutes worth of budget stuff to kind of prepare for the upcoming year um EXP what the process is um and it's also an opportunity because we haven't really had all the boards and committees together for a while so it might be an opportunity for everyone to maybe exchange some ideas and and get some um do you have a time for that yet or not yet not yet we're going to try to probably around 7 okay we're going to try to make it virtual okay thank you uh we are just waiting for the Pure Foods to go before the legislature so the governor Healey uh has signed it um next week we have a technology kick off meeting with the executive office of Technology services and security uh we hope to be able to do a a cyber resiliency review for Southampton as well as a few different um technology audits especially around the email and that type of security we've had a few incidents uh but the idea is to uh set us up for uh the January 6th Community compact infrastructure grants uh we're going to have some pretty significant needs coming up in the library uh highway police and fire um Library and fire are probably the worst off right now uh especially with network security right um the public safety building committee recommended moving forward the additional hkt uh proposal for uh additional Design Services which is before you in the arpa application and uh we've had two installations locally um we've had the council and aging storage shed everyone everyone's seen that and the uh air transfer uh system has been installed in the fire department so okay great some progress going good any com any questions there some good good progress on various fronts here so glad to glad to see a lot of that happening so um there's a long to-do list as usual but nonetheless uh thank you for keeping that kind of front and center on the on your page here for us as well okay how about a couple of uh select board reports John something anything so I um met with uh PPP be met and those items will come up later on tonight on the agenda okay um but we did have what's not on there I report out is we did have a conversation um about the from the members that were in attendance that um the general concept of looking for a way to uh change the bylaw that uh governs PPP B and move towards a more HR department individual should the budget be able to support it there was no um no resistance to it at the meeting so that was positive um and then we I also uh attended an ADC meeting all district committee meeting on behalf of the schools and we are we have developed and are now implementing the first annual review of the superintendent that it will be a year-long process so that's positive okay that we have a superintendent to evaluate yeah okay all right good and that's it all right good Stephen um is a little mixed up planning board is looking at um short-term rental bylaw whether or not um to move forward with such a thing but um that's kind of the use and operation piece um there's also a separate issue about what constitutes a um an overnight structure temporary state structure um and that's back and forth with the Board of Health but these issues have come up recently and they're being addressed as best we can so just a question that there was a Structure on I think it was on pray meta road is that still under discussion or yes I believe it is that's one of those okay all right um I missed the greenway committee but Cindy was there so she'll report on that unfortunately trying to attend Conservation Commission meeting but it wasn't held for lack of a quarum right um so what I can report in Dan's absence that's the mixed up part is uh I sat in on Housing Authority meeting okay great presentation from Valley uh Community Development Corporation and uh I think it was their executive director or Executive Vice President for development and excellent uh perspective on what a community faces when they're looking at doing affordable housing senior housing what the process of Engagement and refining our goals might look like um they were equally clear that they're not likely our dance partner and the wave finders because they already manage the elderly housing across the street um is an oddson favorite so we need need to think about how to move forward with such a project where we don't uh end up directing the development MH okay yeah and I know there's probably other things on the Housing Authority just from what little I know for the property down on College Highway that the um yeah but that is ready to go they're working on a Wetlands issue and I know they're working on a language for an RFP to put it out for for bid uh I know habitat is interested in that and waiting on on on that information so hopefully they're making Headway on that I know um Sierra wasn't on was working on that it was discussed yeah good okay um so Cindy Palmer is off uh tonight she's not here so we won't have any committee meetings notes from her and Dan ran out to a concom meeting just now so that they could have a quorum and he'll be back as soon as that's over just from my end um mostly just a little bit on the grants committee U many of our other committees the um Senior Center building committee the Public Public Safety building committee um bylaws committee all those are going to be meeting sometime in the next couple weeks but nothing extremely new to report at this point in time uh the grants committee um we did get our turndown letter from the assistance to Firefighters Grant as to why we didn't get the um um air packs as well as the P pumper tanker um as mentioned the the report um was kind of vague but then they sent us a little bit more information the the screening process for these grants because it's a Federal grant it's Nationwide they had some 7,000 applications um so you know we we were uh somewhat in there but not really because there are three stages to it one is a computer generated review and then if you pass the computer generated review then you go to a peer review you pass that then you go to the technical review we were kicked out on the computer review on both cases on both grants so uh Chief faol and I met we've looked over the application we're updating some of the basic facts and figures in terms of the fire fire calls you know Staffing a lot of the you know the statistics that they need for the application it will open up again uh supposedly sometime in November uh and we're fully intending to apply for it again and we've got a call into the rep for our area to talk about um any advice they might be able to share with us in terms of keywords that the computer might be looking for um because I think a lot of those things you get kicked out if you don't put in the right phraseology on things um keyword spam now yeah it's just uh you know it's it's one of those things that you don't really know how you what they're looking for in that regard um and anyway we're going to try and get more information on that and be clearer uh as to what else we might do to improve that but we fully intend to apply for that again um second of all uh we have the um MV VP Grant the municipal vulnerability preparedness Grant the action grant part which is what Southampton qualifies for now because we are a designated MVP Community uh won't open up until the spring but there is an expression of Interest that's actually due up on November 1st uh however again I've talked to the local rep uh for our region and he's willing to just have a chat he said don't don't worry necessarily about filling out the form it's not required it's again just a suggested um Step so that you could get feedback from the program so that you know where you might kind of lay your your emphasis when you actually do fill out the full application to that end I sent out uh just a chart from the original MVP plan that was done in 2021 to the several of the members that were on the committee at the time and asked for any thoughts and input as to what would be the next priorities um one of the main ones that was on there was a high priority was the Culvert assessment in town which Randall is already undertaking with Ty and bond through a different Grant mechanism um but that one is being done and then uh I've gotten feedback from two or three people and so we'll take that into consideration and when I talk to the person just sort of sound out a few of those things but they're related largely to Norris with the possibility of doing something for uh generator HVAC cooling heating Center kind of theme seems to be another kind of highish one on the priority list from what I've been hearing if there's others I'm more than willing to hear that we've got plenty of time before we actually apply but um a lot of them were I I don't know for example if the program would fund a generator so I mean that would be a question are they going to fund equipment or or not so we'll try to find out that but I will uh have a just well hopefully the phone call is supposed to be this week uh to talk about that so we will um at least get our our name in there southampton's on the radar for this um Regional rep for our western Mass uh area so that's at least a step forward on that regard but then the big news I think is that I think I told you a few months ago or a couple weeks ago what I time flies around here but we had applied for the Brun historical grant to get a grant for the repointing of the mortar on the brick work on the Old Town hall/ Police Station um we were one of 15 but we were like number seven so we were the first alternate and basically they felt that we had a good strong proposal but it would be better if the rest of that town hall was in other kind of community use so they could be considered an economic anchor for the town which you know we tried to make the point is that's where we'd like to go we'd like to have the building still be preserved and stand and be able to use it for a future Community um venue of some sort to be determined uh so we were just the first alternate so like we I think we were actually probably number seven now that I say that so we figured okay well so be it well I got a phone phone call and an email yesterday that apparently I don't know whether the program kicked them out or they dropped out but a community has dropped dropped out of the finalist list and therefore as the first alternate we are back in so we will be getting the $96,000 grant to do that and they are going to be scheduling uh a site visit out to come look at the Town Hall and see what has to be done so that was a very very pleasant surprise had no clue that we would even get there so that's a great great thing that we're trying to get that one done so probably the work I'm sure wouldn't happen until the springtime it's going to take a while to find the right historical preservation company to do a lot of the work it's got to be very specific to the to the kind of mortar and everything else that they use for that brick um because it is a historical feature okay so that's basically the news which is pretty interesting so $96,000 more for grant money which we'll take any time congratulations yeah I know total total surprise y um okay so we have some new business and I think uh probably the first thing up since we have our folks in in the audience we were going to put it a little bit later but I think we have our here from Gil Farm Road right okay all right so we have the first uh situation up here is an application for an appeal of driveway width at sixgill Farm Road and this is from Ivan urgen is that right and why don't you come on up and tell us a little bit about what's going on how you doing um my uran I am building my house on six Gill Farm Road um about a year ago I met with Randall here for the uh curb cut permit for the driveway uh he walked me through it he told me what I need to you know have drawn out for him to keeping his records for anything underground to make sure that everything is to spec um on the paper here that's the one that I uh Drew up and submitted to him um for approval on there we have the driveway coming off of the road at 15 ft wide and that was about a year ago so now we started doing the form for it uh probably a month ago and we finished uh poting the concrete on top like out of the garage and then Randall was there about two weeks ago now doing an inspection of the road or doing whatever he's doing on the road and thankfully he was there cuz he uh paced it out and he found that it was wider than what I was reminded is uh is maximum is is 16t 16 ft I believe right yeah and the way that we had it formed out just to match the driveway slab that we had poured on top to the road was like a comfortable 22 ft uh so it's definitely over the maximum that is required for the permit um he did inform me that there are ways to kind of get around that like maximum which is just having a narrow point of it being uh 16 ft or less even though that would look pretty goofy if just a random part of the driveway could taper it down I we could taper it down um so as of right now the forms are just there uh at 22 ft wide uh we could you show us where it is on the on the map area I'm not I see the 15 and I see yeah so right here um gone up as 30 ft from the garage we ended up going uh 34 ft from the garage uh cuz we had more fill to use up cuz it kind of tapers down off of like where the house is uh so we have about 34 ft off of the garage and probably we wi in the here a little bit too cuz we're doing dark house so we can kind of just play with it but then we make a mistake like this and don't realize that we made a mistake until somebody helps us out and corrects us so yeah so it's 34t and it just goes just like this uh goes to 22 feet wide and then it tapers off at the road um so I mean the way I understand it that R said you can literally do it 22 ft and then just do 16 ft it look goofy but we could get around that like loss or that rule um but obviously we would either rather have it down to 16 ft so it's uniform from the top of the slab just kind of cut in and then do the same thing with the like the arch off of the road um we do have it um banking so the water run off doesn't go towards the house it goes off of the house or from the house side of the driveway into like the grass uh it is banking from the top of the slab by the garage to the road uh he's concerned about water water runoff which is understandable he showed me pictures of like some houses that have like a pool and during the day it's fine it's water but then half the year it's ice cuz it's when New England got a few of those around town I think yeah so I I understand his concern for sure um uh he said that either way we go about it if there is a problem it would be on me to amend right um so I'm hoping to see if we can get it uh uh appealed to be 22 ft wide as is all right um and this is coming to selecto because this is a driveway regulation that we wouldn't necessarily have to give our approval to but uh could we have Randall maybe come on up and U thank you I um give us your thoughts about this this is not an unusual thing that we see so uh not many people choose to to go this route so um yeah Ian summed it up pretty pretty well of how why why the width of 16 and so so basically um my concern when we developed the driveway regulations was um creation of excess impervious surface cuz the more impervious surface you have the more pavement the more runoff you're going to have and uh we're all trying to get more water to percolate in back into the uh Barnes aquifer what the regulations were designed for though in my mind was longer driveways mhm so if you can Envision a longer driveway that's you know 16 ft wide at the maximum and then it goes up to a parking area by somebody's house there's not really much regulation on how much you can use up by your house it's mostly my my purview is driveways so in cases like Ivans you know the house is relatively close to the road MH so the parking area bleeds towards the road if you get what I'm saying do you you so it is an area where I've seen people just kind of neck it down to 16 feet but I while Ivan and I spoke at length about this you know trying to come up with options he's been very easy to work with um and you know exploring necking it down to 16 at some place so it you know passes a straight face test of complying with the driveway regulations if he were to do that it's it's not really going to be significantly less runoff which was the spirit of the regulation mhm um so that's that's kind of where where we're at so the okay yeah so this is the the plan submitted and then when when you did the the walk out or the inspection where it's saying the forms are up yeah the forms are up I could see it was pretty wide so I pasted it off already been poured no okay no no so instead of 15 it is what 22 22 22 and is the Surplus going towards the left of that picture uh I don't know I don't know for sure you mean is it like banking away from well is the extra width oh close to the house or on the away from the house on the outside does comes down pretty pretty close yeah it comes it kind of comes closer because uh because we have like we changed we we change actually this is this is a little bit outdated of a picture because our driveway is actually kind of back here now so we move again we're building it ourselves so we can kind of play around with the PO print a lot uh it's fun to do but then you run into this but um so um our driveway is our garage is like kind of back here now oh yeah you can yeah so this is almost flipped um so uh we do have the slab on top which is for which is also uh banking away from the ground gar door so that water doesn't run towards the toward the garage runs towards this lot towards this grass area um and then I would say that it's it's probably closer now because um because if you just kind of can imagine this not being here we kind of have this lab and like a little walkway starting right here so it is a little sorry it is a little closer to um this side of the house cuz can't I can't read the the gr is it great which way does the property grade go uh it runs like this way yeah the whole road kind of goes like this so here it's pretty level um and then right at the edge of the driveway it's a couple feet that's relatively level and then it goes down towards like where the water hement is so this this whole area kind of naturally ran down like this um we' have like the driveway slab banking towards that for the run off from the garage away from thear doors and then the driveway slab as well as is like as we have a plane with forms it's sloping to push the water sloping toward the it looks like most of it's going to shut off onto the LA left this property is or is not subject to Wetlands are you involved with them at all so because you would already know if you're in building there invol so we didn't see we had we had no Wetland restrictions and on like any Maps there's no Wetlands around there's sewer right here yeah so show us on that where where you're talking about on that one yeah so this is uh yeah so this is the lot obviously before we cleared it so this uh this is I think for the water for the water main that was done so almost right here is like the driveway mm and here it's lower than the rest of the section cuz they probably leveled it for their water main Loop that they did um so it'd be like over here the the lot itself pitches down like from from basically the end of our lot to here it goes further down to and you've got one one house to the to the side of you going in that direction theying there yeah okay so then Randall based on the spirit of why we created this and the intent of this regulation what's your recommendation so I really I really struggled with this because we've been pretty consistent with 16 feet however I do think there's some credibility to the argument that necking this down to 6 feet is going to make no appreciable difference in the runoff so if you're asking me which way I would lean I would lean towards are you asking me that maybe I should I would lean towards approval because I think what this has made what this has brought out is that I need to put some more thought into maybe Dimensions square foot I I just don't know where to go with think of several places in town where this regulation needed to be in place and where I wouldn't do this but it's where all the the entire Frontage is sloping towards the road and you can see those driveways where it's all washed out at the bottom and then we get the dirt trails but it doesn't sound like this sounds like it's sloping to the backyard or the sidey yard there's drainage already there it's not going to the road it's not a primary Road it's a second secondary Road it does have a slight slight grade towards the road but you know eyeballing it it looks like the majority will Shed off onto you know uh parallel with the road if you get my mean right yeah um cuz what you're trying to avoid is any any runoff down onto the road and creating especially icy areas during the winter and all that stuff right so but Ian and I discussed it either way if the driveway creates runoff that creates a nice it would be his responsibility to remediate that I have a question sure Ely yes okay I understand the argument about the 16 foot Criterion being maybe not perfect um but there are a couple of things that I'm aware of and I want to ask whether they apply in this case uh one is somewhere in our bylaw and I'm not going to be able to cite where there's a maximum impervious area limitation for single family lots and I don't recall what that limit is I don't know that limit either that would be a zoning question I zoning bylaw it is it is a zoning question so uh I I didn't want to um question standing or whether this is coming to the wrong body but we also have storm water bylaw when x amount of disturbance is created um I understand it's a different Builder here than next door but next door looks like it would meet the threshold for needing a storm water management plan which gets reviewed by the planning board I believe it's over an acre Ivan do you know how big your lot is92 AC so the the lots are built in such a way that they're I mean it's the reason why we have nine Lots on subdivisions Amish farming yes y did you it's the reason why we have nine Lots on subdivisions too so okay okay so um be aware of the zoning code because the select board does not administer the zoning cut so between you and the housing superintendent who I've never met um The Building Commissioner have a housing superintendent Building Commissioner Building Commissioner I would defer to your judgment but uh mind what's written and let's follow a process if that's indicated this is the process any waivers come to you I think it we passed the regulation in 2017 and this is the first waiver that's ever been requested so yeah I mean we updated a couple years ago the total impervious area in the not yet um rendered plan do not but this would have had to come to planning board already at some point right not necessarily board I think just or to the Building Commissioner somebody it's the planning board would approved the sublots and then any buildings on there would have been approved by the Building Commissioner yeah correct to get the permit mhm okay and then you come along with the curb cut this is why you're the Caboose well actually we we've changed that procedure we approve this waiver given the fullness of tonight's discussion and the particulars of this um unique circumstance okay I have a motion by Steph could I have a second I I'll second it and then if I could just yeah maybe offer for clarification of the motion that we approve it based on the recommendation of the highway superintendent and his belief that this by approving this we are not we are still honoring the intent of the reason why we have the process or the rules in place of the regulations for the was a very friendly amendment I accept that that way when the house across the street doesn't want a 50 yard okay dri so the motion has been slightly amended um so we have that and uh all those in favor I I I all right so we go for it thank you thank you very good thanks very much appreciate it good luck welcome back Dan all right right Dan has returned to the meeting at 6:54 thank you thank you all right so shall we uh just keep on going down the agenda items here in order way all the way through barthol want to pick up uh Bartholomew next in order there you want to go with Bartholomew okay everything you never thought to know okay let's go to the Bartholomew annual review and just for everybody watching this is the uh company that basically manages the town investment funds I don't know Scott if you can put up anything on the Y I mean we've got 100 I would know it's 128 pag yeah some page report which we won't bore everybody with but maybe we can talk about it a little bit um we've had this company for a good Dozen Years apparently um and if we get down to the pages where it shows some of our trust fund um results I guess for the year uh I think it was around was it page 50 or there I forget uh where did I see it sor more there that's open there's some up above there before that yeah hold on well I think what I'd like to do is um however much time we want to spend on this but I would like to forward this to the finance committee okay to uh review in opine take a look on okay that would be good I think yeah I don't think we want to spend a lot of time on it here tonight but I I do think you know we we have a yearly review of our financial investments in town um which you know we had had the bartholomy rep come and talk to us I believe it was last year or the year before one of the other uh to give us a status about how our money is being invested in some of our stabilization funds uh Etc and if I could find the right one um are you up with it yet not yet uh hold on two seconds here uh so it does give the detail we will be putting this up on the uh the town website as well we'll get this up on U probably on the treasur page or whatever um going around uh where did I see that hold on well I can try and summarize it if you want but there's three there's three different pots of money right I sorry I think I 151 Scott sorry sorry sorry way off go down to 15 15 1 we've got the cemetery trust funds for example just so people know what we're talking about Cemetery trust funds the conet wildlife conservation trust funds Hazel Young conservation trust uh there are Library trust funds from Noah strong Dorothy conet Maran lons Julia bonic there's miscellaneous trust funds three of which I believe are the alers Whiting Street Harriet Chapman Lydia surl and then conut park has a fund Sheldon Academy fund and then the community preservation account fund so there's there's a set right there and there's more but just to start with those um and then uh that's all on that page so I don't know what we can show over there may not show up very well with the U that screen on there but um we've got funds that have been uh it shows how uh what the beginning market value was for example so for example just as just take one let's take the cemetery Perpetual care uh beginning of fy4 is $16,493 and at the end of fy2 24 is $132,800 so this lays out the beginning and the ending market value according to how this has been invested right now which doesn't show probably a super high rate of return well and so this is the general problem here with this first of all it's it's 128 pages and the first 100 pages is is lack of better words propaganda minutia so by the time you get to this section which I would say it's a couple Pages before this uh because this is an internal document this is an Excel spreadsheet that both P will does their own calculations um but the statement before that is the one that shows um the historical market value and performance this is this is the trust funds right so this is all donated money that has come into the to the town it's not tax dollars and the balance is a little over $3.6 million they've had this money for 13 years 9 months as of the date of this report and the annual rate of return over that period of time is 1.55% yeah and 1.55 when we have access and by the way they charge us 053 to do that so we really got 1.02 M just over 1% and earnings on this now some will say but that's earnings so that's good and except for the past 2 years if you had your money in a bank you're probably getting 10 basis points and they'd be correct on that however this money is allowable because it's not general fund money or tax dollars to be invested and optimized similar communities one of which I started in 2009 so I called the city of hoyo I called the gas and electric I called the mass clean energy corporation I called the town of West Springfield I called the town of Ison metal to see what they did over the same period of time M the hoyo stabilization uh is 11.49% instead of our 1.55 now we hoyo did have to pay um 35 so they realized 11.14 rate of return now on a on a trailing um period since Inception hoyo has seen a 97.5 4% increase compared to our 2.67 1.55 * 13.9 months right secondly the OPB trust trust same thing their charging is 053 now that one's been a little better because the um I didn't actually do the math and I have the papers here I shared with Chris I'll I'll give Stephen and and Dan a copy um but we're getting 11 47 and the other communities are getting 14 or 13% so 3 3% full better for future obligations that we have I I there's a third Fund in here called General funds now my understanding of Mass General law is that you're not allowed to have General funds in an Investment Portfolio the exception would be Treasurer notes and it has to be the mature date has to be less than 365 days so you can't do a onee CD has to be less than that you could be rolling it however putting money with these folks means you're paying them fees to manage the money that could be sitting in a bank and I go back to the bank because the mmdt the Massachusetts Municipal depository trust that every Treasurer in the Commonwealth has access to and the general law says you can keep unlimited money in there if anything goes wrong the Commonwealth will reimburse you 100% for those losses the average rate of return in the in the period of time because we've only been doing it for 18 months that we've been using that money has has been 5.67% with no fees M well so big difference I I get the said it and forget it the these accounts were established prior to the current incumbent that's there now sure but this is clearly just a set it and forget it I don't think this has ever been put out to uh ask for qualifications comparison we've ignored it and I argue that we've lost an opportunity to gain over a million dollars well especially this past year where the interest rates have been quite favorable um the other accounts that are in here and I was going to question too as to why was a general fund line in here I didn't understand how any general funds could be invested in here but the other things that are in here are the ambulance stabilization operating stabilization and capital stabilization funds those are in there and those have done some well I'm not sure that much better but somewhat better um if you take all three of those together um they were 600,000 at the beginning of the fiscal year and end up at 1.4 million at the end of the fiscal year but we did add money but we put I say we put in money to see to determine the performance to increase those funds so yeah Dan um so uh I believe you're suggesting that we pass this to the finance committee um perhaps they could come back to us with recommendations as to what to do with yes absolutely but just for the for the record though because we have an elected treasur collector it's up to the citizens to to drive this argument we can send to finance and they can agree with my findings or independently or do whatever they want to do separately we then have to go to the voters and and the voters would have to pass the proposed bylaw that I suggested two months ago to establish a trust in investment committee that the treasurer would then be required by bylaw to follow mhm great yeah because we may or may not want to continue uh in this Direction I mean if we've got other options out there and I don't know that we've really fully researched other options that well and obviously other towns other cities are using somebody perhaps besides bar you or the mixture of funds and mutual funds that they're investing in is just a different set of portfolios but nonetheless I mean to have a a wide variety of of uh earnings between that and what we're seeing here is is um pretty noticeable so well and I I think specifically it's important that we're talking about we have right wrong or indifferent we have 13 years of results yeah it's it's hard to argue we this isn't just a year oh we had a bad year you know 2023 was off okay 13 years yep so do we we don't have a meeting coming up with fincom probably but hopefully whenever we do have have one or maybe they could have a meeting I know they've lost their chair recently so they probably do need to meet and uh new chair if the chair wishes as as on I can reach out to them that would be good I think we should do that and uh we we're going to need them on board pretty soon anyway as we talk about budget issues and so forth so that would be good so so let's um do that so this is more just informational but we will uh we'll have it up on the website too so people can take a look at it it's like I say get through the first 100 pages and then you might get down to information that would be relevant for you to look at but it it's it's especially important I think for several of the communties like concom and Cemetery folks and everybody else these are the investment funds where you know the money has been given to them donated to them has been invested and for the most part I believe just about all of them have conditions in their trust where they can only spend the interest earned and not the principal right so small small interest is why they're always saying hey we're out of money we don't have money to do these things right and then the other thing is I did not see in there I definitely did not see the water reserve and I didn't see any transfer station reserves those funds should be invested in some way not sitting in a in a checking account good point right and and as of the last audit the water Reserve receipts were three a little over $300,000 mhm okay so that's a question in terms of where the water and uh transfer station receipts would be very good okay so with that I think we'll we'll on but thanks for that information and thanks for that brief analysis um that's very very useful um okay I think uh let's move on to arpa things we're at the end of the month we haven't talked about arpa in a little bit Bradley has sent out his um Financial financial report and uh We've also got quarterly reports in which everybody thanks for everybody who has active projects still that is turning in their quarterly reports uh that might have gone out separately today in an email from Judy so you can see everybody's quarterly report but that is what helps us understand if the project is pretty much on track about to be finished whether money's all been spent or not um we have um gotten a lot of Headway I think with where we are with the actual status of funds we had at least um it was some $332,000 that was available um at one point in time which allowed us to then go back out and put forth the $31,000 request for the sewer study uh and so that um was why we want to keep track of these funds so that as any new projects come forward we know what we can we can work with here basically um so at this point in time uh just to say a couple things on this and then we'll have Scott going into a proposal that he has um we have several projects where there's some small amounts of money left over uh and then we have uh I think we have about $8600 8676 of those projects that have finished up that have got some little tidbits of money left here and there um 500 bucks here and there $20 here and there um um $3,000 in a couple cases uh and then since then if you all recall we've got the um the storm order Asset Management Grant uh which is uh Randall and tyan bond are working with that if you recall we had to obligate the full amount of 140,000 but 84,00 ,000 of that is reimbursable to the Town based on the percentage and and of work that has been approved uh that tyan bond does that has been approved by the state I believe right um at this point in time of the $84,000 they put in a request for reimbursement of $ 58,60 we have received that uh as of October 21st so that added to our 8,000 we've got about $67,000 right now that we know is available and that is not yet fully reconciling this the nor school projects that we're getting close we're we're getting a lot better we're we're very clear now that they um they had hired a uh behavioral specialist company rather than a person which we hadn't been aware of so Bradley's catching up with a lot of that um math on that and so we'll know about that better and I think from what I understand on the grant that um uh the storm water Asset Management Grant there should be another TR of reimbursement to be done as soon as tiin bond gets to some percentage level uh and that'll be about another $25,000 so just to say that we'll have somewhere in that $80,000 range easily U for reprogramming and again just to remind everyone that has to be reprogrammed before the end of December onto other projects they've got still two years to spend it until December of 20 26 uh but we do have funds available and I'm pretty confident in this set of funds of the 67,000 that we have currently available from expired projects plus the first reimbursement on that Grant so I'll shut up and I'll turn it over to Scott who has a proposal for us yes um so in regards to the the public safety building committee uh they voted to move forward with hkt who did the original feasibility study um obviously a few months ago when we had the cost estimate it was probably in the range of 30 to $40 million for uh the proposed public safety building complex Construction Construction um they the committee voted that it wasn't really cost feasible at that time so they wanted to go back to hkt uh go over the design process again in a much more uh smaller scale um hopefully you know the Chiefs uh fire chief police chief myself and a few other people we kind of went over the existing plans to see where we could cut off some of the square footage in and we think that we we definitely can achieve that and still have a very functional um facility but with the concept design being that it might be expandable in the future um so although the original hkt proposal was looking out 40 and 50 years in the future I think we're kind of trimming it down a little bit to be more focused on what our needs are today with expandability in the future so essentially a smaller footprint is what we're trying to look at exactly so the good the good news is hkt they've they've had a lot of experience with Southampton so they've already interviewed the police chief and the fire chief they've been working with the committee for a while um they're new cost estimate is a little bit over $55,000 uh to come up with the conceptual design uh which is about $30,000 um and then they use a third party for total project cost estimate which is something that we're going to need to go before town meeting uh and that's going to be about another $115,000 that's really where the bulk of this redesign is going to go um there's about $30,000 left over in that account that was originally appropriated for that that we can use towards it and the request would be to use uh 1ou uh $17,500 uh from arper money to make up the the difference so that would bring us to about $55,850 ah okay yeah we may need to double check that figure then um that's just what through their contract and what we paid out so far so we still haven't completed that that contract so in that AR in the report that I gave you um through my my uh what I found was that there's a remaining balance after we fulfill this current contract obligation of uh of it'll be about 25,000 25,000 because 14,000 we owe once it's obligated $1,110 in the so you need the 14 plus the 17 so we need uh a little bit more than 175 motion to approve I would TR would trct that motion I propose a new motion motion to authorize up to $32,000 of arpal funds to be used 17 plus 4 up to 32 yeah all right that should be more than but yes let's yeah be sure that we have taken all that to consideration very good thank you okay so motion to modify that um figure for up to 32,000 and obviously we would only put in what is actually needed um second by Dan I heard yep any further discussion thank you Ian for that input all right all those in favor I all right so be it so we will modify that that'll be an amendment to the existing arpa project and we will um modify that and then you can double check those figures in terms of what's been spent and just keep in mind too that it's not just the money that's been spent that's been hkt money but we had money for other things that were related to hkt from the appraisal I think and um couple other things that I can't remember now so what I did is I reach other rally okay provide with everything through the ARA expense account okay and then whatever we paid through with that I subtracted it to what we still owed all right and it came out to about $14,000 so we had short of that last payment 38,000 just like what Scott had said 38,000 but we still owe hkt based on their current contract about $14,000 okay very good okay we got that clear now thank you very much okay good and if folks um I really would encourage you to take a look through the um the Opera reports Judy's got a um the quarterly reports Judy's been keeping a good spreadsheet in terms of the um the reports that are in and projects that are complete and then everybody has been turning in their narrative so I do have that um in terms of the uh figure that you had there Ian yep exactly okay so for Ping that y with the 32 that leaves roughly 35 34 of the 67 um I'm I'm not proposing anything tonight but I would suggest that we keep that in mind to um close out and true up this compensation report for the shortfall which is depending on which version we go with oh we could we could need another eight or n, just thought for a minute I I was hearing you talking about paying Collins I was like what no no no no no we need a few more dollars just to write the ship across the board all once okay that's that's a thought yeah so at this point in time um I would just say that you know to the extent we have any other needs and proposals coming in from various Town departments um I think we'd want to get something in before the end of November so we could take a look at it at the end of our November meeting if at all possible so I would go the other way I would say no new request the select board will clear all this up when we go through the budget process okay all right versus you know let's just put it the bed because we get a request and it's not going to be done until 25 26 and we're past the point and we we award it yeah we can we can award but what happens if they don't do it or they it comes in less and there's Surplus money I'd any request that a department had because we already shut the public off right any request the department have has hopefully through the budget process there can be a separate column and we could address get in time through the budget okay if we can work it on it in time that would be fine because you know we just have to get them reapproved or re re obligated by the end of December because I mean one area might be we know of at least three positions parttime full-time whatever within the town yeah that you know we probably can't start them all on day one but if we could use arpo to Bridge and slowly intergrate one two and three over a 2 or three year period valid points okay so we know that we've got this amount money toward this uh study to be able to finish this off we've got at least some 30,000 left out of what the balance was I was saying and that is not still counting some there may be some small monies left from the school um and then uh hopefully the reimbursement of the other 25 or something coming back in okay very good good point John thank you on that that makes total total sense okay anybody have any question about the ARA figures quarterly reports in general I think we're doing pretty well trying to keep track of um everything and we're documenting things as well as we can I will update the arpa application list and get that one U Back out for people as well um okay next up then would be Markham fy4 mhm um so included in the package is the uh engagement letter for f24 um they do have a cost of 49,000 which is $22,000 more than what their currently charges for the FY 23 budget um there is a little bit of uh I I have to reach out back up back out to Mark and just to double check to make sure that the the federal audit audits are going to be included or not um but this should hopefully bring us up to date once we start for moving forward right now that 49,000 though does not include any federal audits right I don't believe so no that would be another F Well last year it was 5,000 I think they were saying 5,500 this year if they had to do a federal audit no it's 10,000 but no they did 5,000 for the school and 5,000 for the town last year so it was a single audit and Ed decided that he had to split the invoice in half and that Norris had to absorb it within their budget and not U out of General funds in here they put 5,5 so I don't know how they figuring it so anyhow but so I think at this point in time we're kind of right now I think we're going year to year we have not gone back out to look for another audit firm and sign a three-year contract and whatever I think we want to get there we don't know whether there's really other audit firms out there that would want to pick up Southampton or not I guess I'm personally feeling like I'd like to clarify why something changed from 47 to 49 but if that's what they're quoting us we need to get the engagement letter signed um well I don't know I I I'd like to just get through this one year I think and then you know as we're you know if we sign this then then figure out do we want to either just go with them with a three-year contract or go somewhere else or whatever I also think it's important I I think we're too late to the game now I think we have to sign this to keep the ball rolling but I also think that our house is still a disaster we don't have revenue reports I mean we're about to close October yeah and we only have June 30th we have two fully staff functioning departments I don't know what goes on here you got some departments you know similar size there's two and a half employees or two employees running it here we've got more bodies than that we can't get the reports and it's well this is a new system or I sent it up there there's a lot of finger pointing and we call for them people to come in here and one is appointed by us and one isn't so the one appointed by us shows up gives us one answer then we question it later on well no that's over here um I think we we still have and I think progress is being made at least what I see in the emails about the finance team meeting and building and getting up to speed but my God 90 days we don't have any numbers next thing you know you know I our volunteers are going to be coming in here saying what's what's my budget how much do I have in CPA and all this we can't tell them totally and it's very hard to run the town when you don't have up-to-date revenue reports especially as we start a new fiscal year we're already the first quarter of the fiscal year is gone and we have no clue where we are with Revenue so and we're about to start budgets how can we even if we don't know what we're currently doing how can we even figure however we have to do this kind I mean you and I talked about this too I mean whatever we have to do I mean somehow with the existing staff that's there we've got a you know I understand there's been a learning curve with Vadar but we can't enter a budget season where we don't have a clue on the revenue situation um the only reason I know that we got the money back on this grant that was under randle's prview is because I know that you had filed the reimbursement and I asked the treasurer if we had seen the money yet and it came in in October 21st so it just came in in all fairness but nonetheless I mean we wouldn't have known that for another 3 months probably if we keep on this schedule so I'm not sure what the answer is but somehow we've got to get these up to date to your point Chris I think the department heads whether they're appointed elected or or hired whatever they they should be they need to step up communications M we can sit here in a public meeting but we can't go to them as a group because that violates open meeting this is our only place Avenue to speak we're speaking I know they're listening I know tomorrow morning everyone's going to be watching this meeting instead of doing their work and hearing us talk draft an email send it in as a correspondence here are the obstacles that we're currently facing Andor go have an honest conversation with Town Administrator so he can be their voice to give to us cuz right now it's silence coming to us and and but my frustration is going up no frustration on this end absolutely so okay so we have uh sort of variation on that one but I think uh did we vote on The Markham yet no motion to award the contract for one year for fiscal year 24 to Markham for 49,000 authorize the chair to sign it on our behalf okay a motion by John could I have a second stunning yes second by Stephen okay any further discussion all right all those in favor I I all right that's approved thank you we get that signed tonight um any other business that can't wait until the November 12th meeting like we PR not for me no okay we'll go on to other other items here um any updates Scott on the hazard mitigation plan I know we're having a public meeting coming up soon yeah uh we're going to be having the public meeting on November 12th um there should be a flyer that's posted online on the Facebook page with a link to the zoom meeting uh we'll also try to do the Facebook Okay live and uh provide a separate Zoom link as well under my government My Town wonderful so the public can chip in on that and and hear what's being U proposed and then ask will there be a way to ask questions during the meeting or or afterwards on Facebook or on on the website or yeah I'll take uh questions in advance and uh either through Zoom or Facebook we can we'll be able to ask some questions that sounds great man so uh that'll be on the sorry on the 12th you said or uh uh 12th 12th all right so we'll there's information coming out on that we'll get it out to the public uh if you haven't seen it already we'll get it on various uh social media Avenues uh anything on The manhan Meadows Bridge update with the uh design on that one I've been in contact with the company with the engineering report for the actual bridge and it should be this week um they got a little bit delayed um but we're hoping to have the final plan this week great okay all right Capital asset planning um I know you're still working on some ideas of um sort of a a capital asset um planning book if you will um cost efficiencies did meet last week but we didn't have a quorum so we couldn't really get into um discussion on on this but we do have the um updated assets from Highway and police uh that we'll go back through in terms of those vehicles and other equipment um and then hopefully in our next meeting we can or there'll be actually I think we had voted on a subcommittee to um work with Scott um a couple of our folks with work with Scott to try and fill in some facts and figures but we also wanted to have a couple of members of the committee uh go around and just do eyes on at the various two or three departments and just double check what was on the inventory and be sure that we all were in agreement with what was there so that's ongoing and then that will move us forward in terms of at least um trying to understand what what replacement needs we have Etc coming forward uh we don't yet have a capital committee I think that's I think they kind of I don't know that anybody got reappointed nobody came to us for reappointment I don't oh I did that came so we may have to figure that one out too um that'll be on next meeting if we have to work on that one Surplus equipment disposal uh Judy's been working on posting things for our uh auctions um we've got a ton of old computer type stuff it stuff down in the basement and uh there's been a couple lots of monitors and so forth and and printers I believe that have been put up um nobody's bid on them so after 2 weeks they will be able to be disposed of uh one big news we have is uh um Chief illingsworth had put forth an old Chevy Tahoe and believe it or not we got $1,600 for it so that's probably the best we're going to do on the entire auction for anything we have laying around but no any of the vehicles we probably you know have more hope of probably bringing in a little bit of money but most of the computer stuff computer stuff and the microfish and you know various other you know whatever that a paper dryer and God knows what else is down in the basement I'm not holding out any hope for so it'll be a question of then of disposing of all of that stuff once the two we time is up don't don't you just love the irony we have to go on the worldwide web in order to auction off micro fish exactly and you know we put a minimum bid of a dollar and still nobody will bid on it right whatever okay so we've already talked about green energy um and those projects so I'm very glad to see those moving forward um I'm assuming nothing more on the East Street or any of the tip projects okay all right so let's go down into personel change forms we've got some pcfs here uh John would you like to sure I'll do them by uh Department sure motion to approve PCF for Leon Moren fire department firefighter paramedic $224.79 an hour part-time on call as needed and uh motion to accept the resignation of Joseph Wier fire department effective 10824 okay I have a motion by John could I have a second for the two fire department ones second Steven okay any discussion all right all those in favor I I I all right for the motion to approve for the Council on Aging Andrea barus Baro barois volunteer coordinator temporary increase of hours going from 10 to 18 hours weekly and also a motion for or as part of that Pamela conet COA program coordinator temporary increase of hours from 14 to 24 week um that's the motion second all right and just under discussion the reason for that is they're trying to um maximize they're short a person at the moment uh and they're trying to maximize the hours of operation so this would be until somebody new is hired is that the idea well it's only proof for 12 weeks Max yeah and also so not the trigger benefits sure exactly okay all right all those in favor I I I all right and then lastly a PCF to accept the resignation as of September 23rd 2024 of Barbara Thompson from the library okay all right Motion in a second all those in favor I I I all right thank you all right next up we have some permits here U make a motion as a as a packet the first two uh both for the friends of the Edwards Library one day wine and malt one permit for November 6 2024 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for a Paint and Sip and then another one on November 12th 2024 at the library from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for Paint and Sip second all right motion by John second by Steven all those in favor I I all right and then lastly we have a request from Susan Scott uh for one-day wine and malt November 20th 2024 at the senior center from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the Southampton Women's Club meeting second all right second by Steven all those in favor I I I all right very good next up Steven we have some warant for you oh yes bear with me I don't have my glasses warrant W 25-13 the amount is $259,100 $873 193 next up is PD 25-14 the amount is $ 58,59 lastly W 25-15 the amount is 1,615 3260 okay thank you very much you're welcome all right we have three sets of minutes uh one older one from June 11th 2024 one from October 1st 2024 and one from October 15th 2024 and I would just note that as we take a motion and vote on these um Cindy's our clerk who would normally sign these so we would actually if we approve them tonight we'll have Cindy sign them when she gets back um I just have one correction uh small tiny one on the June 11th one I think the name is garfinkle not Garfunkle it's not Simon and Garfunkle it's garle property um so there just a little we can do is to hand typo whatever if we need to do oh that's a good cat it's the only one I think I didn't see anything else so uh complete sets of minutes so we have U motion to approve all three sets as amended okay thank you very much John and could I have a second second all right Dan second all right uh anybody have any comments I think they were all pretty pretty thorough very good all right thank you very much all those in favor I all right motions is approved for all three sets of minutes and we'll have Cindy sign them when she returns uh we have uh select board meetings coming up on November 12th and 26th that's that um and I think we will be therefore uh next up we're actually going to be going into an executive session and let me read the reasons for that uh four executive session mgl chapter 30A section 21 A1 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation with non-union Personnel if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating portion position of the public body and the chair so declares Highway Union mgl chapter 30A section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-un non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union Personnel Highway super superintendent and town accountant and then mgl chter 3A section 21 A7 to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or federal in grant and aid requirements executive session minutes October 15th 2024 so with that I would like to take a motion that we adjourn public session at about 7:32 and move into executive session and we will not be coming back from executive session so moved second all right all those in favor roll call please Lumber ey Johnson i l Valley ey F's ey okay we are adjourned at 7:32 and we'll take a a minute or two break thank you very much e