##VIDEO ID:i## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers so let us call the meeting to order meeting of the Southampton select board for August 6th at 600 p.m. let's stand with the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge alance of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay I don't see anybody here tonight for citizen speak so we'll continue on Scott would you like to handle the announcement or two there sure um thanks stepen first uh just want to recognize that um our town accountant Bradley oxen has um completed his designation as a Massachusetts certified public purchasing official it's um not a small task it it takes um a significant amount of time and investment to actually go through the multiple classes to get certified to study and actually pass the test so um that's really good news for for brwn great that's really good y okay and then uh celebrate Southampton is coming up Friday and and Saturday um hopefully the weather will cooperate it's rain rain or shine according to Tammy so but even so you can just grab an umbrella and enjoy it um I think they're trying to get a few extra tents as well so that if people are standing out waiting for food they don't get totally wet but we've had good luck for a few years so maybe we'll still have a few good hours but yeah so so Friday night especially though I just to look at the agenda real quick the concert uh I believe it's 6:00 um there's a grabb and go meal uh from the Congregational Church so if you're interested give the church a call at 527 11173 to order your grab Ando meal uh and then um the next day will be the main activities um starting at 10:00 at the church with uh dork dods talking about the church steeple and then all sorts of activities in the afternoon going from around 11 11 11:30 until around 4:00 so please try to come it's a great event lots of fun lots of lots of things to look at and things to buy hopefully there's a a big uh craft presentation this year uh there's got to be several booths of craft vendors there and uh a couple of food trucks with some great food so please try to come on down for an hour or so at least and join the fun plus there's a dunk tank which I know Dan's going to be in right hopefully he thinks he is anyway okay could sck popsicles I say hopefully cuz no one's talked to me about it so I maybe I just show up I don't know yeah well whoever shows up right exactly so very good so anyway hope to see a lot of people there it's usually a great great fun time so please come in spite of the weather and don't let that discourage you uh all right let's go on to appointments and resignations um let me just take the first one I was supposed to be for um Steven C as a new appointment for the fence viewer this is a one-year term um this is one that kind of an odd an odd position uh actually goes back in history I mean literally decades and decades if not more than 100 Years of history of why people had fence viers in small rural towns but it was more when we had a lot of stone walls and people had to worry about animals staying confined and all those good things um so over time uh Judy has reminded me that we've actually re appointed somebody on this on a yearly basis but when I saw the handbook recently which actually was for the first time um the handbook itself is printed like 22 years ago so um the new person who I've talked to would really like to have a clearer idea of what his responsibilities are and so I'm going to suggest that we pass over that until we can do a little bit more research and just find out if this mgl is still relevant to today or whether it's maybe been taken over by something else so we'll we'll put it on hold for now if that's okay with everybody and then we'll bring it back up whenever we get some clarity on it because it's it's a very old type position it's not the same as the Animal control officer um but it does raise a few questions as to what the person's Duties are and um so I'd like to let that go for a little bit and we'll come back to it we'll keep it on the on the pending list once we figure it out okay I think we just approved it sort of automatically without even really understanding what it is so I took the advantage of asking for the manual and it's like oh there's nothing terribly relevant and recent in that so let's move on to some other appointments then I'll make a motion to take as a package the reappointment of the following people to election worker all of which will have a term to expire August 15th 2025 Janette Brown Virginia Huntley Maran Hamill Jane Howard Mary Robinson Joanne Pierre Carol laass Patricia e okay we have a second please second all right all those in favor hi I make a motion to take as a package the following individuals for election Warden reappointment uh term to expire August 15 2025 Suzanne seabolt eileene Hamill second okay all those in favor I I okay and then lastly for the position of election clerk reappointment term to expire August 15 2025 Elizabeth grasty okay have a second second all right all those in favor I I all right very good that takes care of the Slate so we're in in business for the coming coming elections hopefully good all right uh Scott would you like to pick up on the Town Administrator report please let me just uh [Music] uh the first one that we already mentioned the Bradley's accomplishment is the mcppo um next is the uh the Wi-Fi has been uh physically installed in town hall um if you can see the points in here I'm not sure if it was in this room but um you'll notice in the hallway there's a couple different like white boxes so those are going to be the access points uh so the last part is we just need to have novas come in and and um actually activate it to the server and then we can publicize it and there'll be a public access point and then one a secure one for employees so great um almost almost done with that one and then we're going to talk about the fire department and getting them on board as well MH um okay one of the other things is we received some quotes for um the um repair of the concrete uh pad out in front of the the steps um this was back about 2023 it was actually approved wow uh Randall helped out to get a few quotes he wasn't able to get any the the first thing was you know I thought about maybe replacing it all with black top just because of the salt and the vehicles that constantly drive over it it would have been easier um most black top companies don't really do such a small job unfortunately um Randall was help me out and and he reached out to some concrete uh companies as well and uh I think he reached out for four quotes and and one came back um was actually for pavers and not concrete um so the first one the first option would be just to replace the three large squares which would be about $5,000 um which I'm not quite sure if that would really really help the situation just because the way that Randall in the highway department salts everything um you know there's cars that are constantly driving over it um especially on Friday people like like to pull up directly to the the Dropbox and and use that um so the other option would be to replace them with um a type of paver that is uh vehicle friendly and can withstand some um moderate salting probably not like we would see on the highways but um should last a little bit longer than in the concrete that was uh one option that that we uh that we were able to do so and that amount was that was a little under $110,000 mhm but we've actually appropriated more at town meeting mhm uh 16750 all right well why don't we go through the report and then we'll come back to that CU it feels like we ought to take a vote on that to get it moving one way or another it's been sitting around for a while mhm so I met with the pioner valley Planning Commission briefly last week and we'll probably talk about more on the the land use planning section um we also had a a kickoff meeting with tyan Bon and the sewer study and that that went pretty well um we had uh most of the stakeholders there um you know water department Highway uh select board myself um and tyan bond the eastampton received their award letter for the um the state 911 with our sh um Dispatch Center so they received the funding for that for this year great um for the land acquisition I do have a meeting scheduled with uh Katie our Our Town Council for Real Estate just to finish going over what's necessary to get everything uh completed um it should be a relatively straightforward process on the transaction part the borrowing we're going to have to talk about eventually uh but from that part the wetlands delineation is all set Set uh the title search should almost be done um and then from that it's just a matter of having the attorneys do the paperwork so um and then um Jody bell assistant secretary for Community programs for the uh executive office of Elder Affairs um paid a visit today uh just to introduce yourself and um kind of see what's going on at the Southampton Council on Aging so we had a pretty good conversation yeah she came all the way up from Boston so it was very nice to have somebody from the state recognize that Southampton exists and she found her way to Southampton and the COA and had a about an hour long meeting which was very nice just to get a lay of the land and what what's happening at the senior center so that was very nice to to have that contact that's the first I think that we've had MH in recent recent times that I'm aware of anyway good so um any questions or thoughts I I'd like us maybe to go back on that quote on the getting the concrete pad or whatever the pad out in front with what does anybody think versus the concrete versus the um pavers I mean I don't have a problem taking a vote but if if we already appropriated up to $116,000 I mean and the vote already there mhm okay no I just didn't know if people thought that it was better to stay within the cheaper side but I I'd like to take uh I think Scott's checked it out and this seems like an option the design I'm not known for my um style of fashion so I don't know if those are ugly or you know if those nice or the only yeah the only thing is I mean if if not to spend more money but you said this this proposal here would be around 10 give or take uh a little under okay so that in theory and we appropriate 16 yeah so that leaves six and I mean I I get that they're driver friendly but I would probably look at putting two polls in like just as two that to just let's prevent cars from even driving up there to start with right right well one thing we might think about in the future I don't know whether it's possible but you know people come up and you know drop off their their payments and so forth or whatever that and they drive right up to the mail to the box so this would avoid that but we might think about then also moving that box somewhere else so that it's not so you know they could access it easier is this the time to do it as part of this project so it might be easier to access it if it were not quite right next to the stairs although it's convenient for some but youbody do something like the post offices to drive up mailboxes you just you could do something like that I don't know but yeah just a thought but as we're doing this we might take a look at whether those boxes make the most sense right there I mean obviously that's the mail truck uses them as well so I don't know two questions uh one uh it seems like there's a large price difference between what we had estimated before and now is the same scope of work it's the same scope of work as here so we can hear you hear you okay that's my first question right for what we what we um approved at town meeting it's the same it's the same scope of work I don't think there was a scope of work it was just replacing yeah it was mostly for the replacing of the uh concrete pad and then looking at potentially if there's any cracks in the foundation as well which I I'm working with daavid can really find that many so the the real cost would be there so we don't have to do address the foundation I don't I don't I don't see so I don't think so my second question is that the person the the employee in town I Look to to in this decision-making process would be Randall did he weigh in on this at all and was was he in approval M yeah Randall was actually able to get the quotes he got the quotes he's probably the most sorry I missed that so I guess he did weigh in yeah okay so I guess what I'm hearing is we're in general agreement to go with these pvers that seem to be vehicle friendly and will take a reasonable amount of salting which we would do by hand anyway usually I think although there may be some that spills over from the truck when it comes through but I know we probably sand the stairs or salt the stairs as well and so some of that spills down there but um it would not be a large quantity obviously all right well I think in general let's let's get it get it done this is one that was approved I think at the end of uh 23 special town meeting so let's get that underway okay how about some anything else on that if not committee reports anything Sydney on your end start down that way okay thank you Board of assessors met today was routine business nothing particularly thank you particularly uh important to report other than we are still hopeful about one individual who's expressing interest in filling the empty seat and um made known that she might be available in September so we're moving in that direction uh I also attended a Board of Health hearing this was called um and to stay within the time required guidelines this was called by the property owner who was served a season deist order and this relates to um uh this person resides on Palmer Meadow Road um and had installed a very small prefabricated home I think like an A-frame uh in order to be an Airbnb uh and um came forward with some questions and interest in essentially wanting to follow the rules but needed clarification uh was directed to uh fill applications that had not yet been created for various things um I bring this up to the select board and we don't have to decide now but this is something we should be thinking about going forward at in this day and age I think this concept of an Airbnb uh you know could be very small little structure that's come in and put on a I don't know a slab or a hardly put just about put on the ground um I know I've seen them in other communities um might have a composting toilet might not have running water might have some other kind of drinking water opportunities such as plastic drinking bottles uh or other ways to non-potable water to maybe wash dishes or wash hands or something uh I I do believe our town needs to think a little more about how we're going to go forward on this whether we want to uh develop some kind of process make certain all boards and committees that might have something to say about it being planning board assessors probably our Public Safety professionals certainly our Board of Health building inspector Etc we too need to know sometimes when there's these extra um types of structures and frankly if there's going to be a tax on them it could be a room tax these these things are not clear at all and so I wonder um how we can proceed with that that's it's not a bad thing it's a good thing I use Airbnb all the time for for vacationing not necessarily a small place in the woods but it's still very attractive so I think we we really need to recognize this is going to happen we want to make sure people know what to do and that we're that they're complying with whatever we think are important guidelines and perhaps bylaws and I'm assuming we don't have that on the books now with a revised planning board zoning bylaws or anything for we've got accessory dwelling units but I don't think we have you want to comment Mr Mr planning board people I'll I'll say that at one point we were going to address include it in our bylaw updates we looked at that time and there was no current airbnbs in town so we looked at higher priority items so I guess it it's it's come back around again and it maybe now is the time that we get it um on the list of of bylaws that we need to add for short-term rentals good yeah maybe if at least to start per would think it would start with planning board but at some point involve other you know have a first meeting so you all can discuss what the options are and what other towns may have done and then that's a good idea there are include others there are there are bylaws from other communities if you sure I think Chester is one of them but at the appropriate time then invite other in addition uh the Board of Health um had not apparently been contacted in a timely manner and that's what led to the season assist order and little confusion about communication there and I know the board assessors had not been contacted and that was you know a taxable structure so I was confused about you said something about having to fill out a form that doesn't exist that's right yeah at the time of the hearing um the um I guess he's called the health agent Charlie keki was going to be helping to create a form in order to make the application for the toilet that's now being utilized on the property for a feature of the for feature of that not for everything it's only the part and then I think the Conservation Commission needs to know too because this property is right next to conservation land I mean just I think there's potential for a lot of things to be certain the various boards and committees know about it I don't know Sten was going to say why don't we you know maybe throw it back to you know you guys might be a starting point but maybe you want to get together a lot of people y see you're ready yeah I have a question for you Cindy do you think that it's a short-term rental bylaw in the zoning code that we need or is the Board of Health also wrestling with um the building code and standards that would be perhaps different for this use I I really can't answer that Stephen I really can't tell you exactly what for one thing our our um Health director was unable to be present at that hearing um she was unavailable uh I think she was unwell and um I I want to make sure that I can't answer it directly and so I think it's not right for me to sort of guess what they're really looking for but it might be a thought you know when you if this did come back up to planning board and with your consultant to talk about okay what what fits the best is it an Airbnb or is it a short-term rental and what are what are the differences this question about uh 30-day rental versus a six-month rental you know there were various questions that came out of Airbnb for a long weekend versus whatever correct okay y yeah yeah Stephen um you mentioned that the concom had not been consulted about Riverfront area and Jason ownership but did they get a building permit you mentioned also they did contact the um the uh building inspector yes that was and I believe at the time again I I'm not going to detail all of the things that occurred this was and and because I don't want I don't want to say there was there were communication issues all the way around and I think versus me um making a mistake and saying something that I thought was the case or perhaps wasn't the case I think it's better that I just tell you that this has to be looked a little more closely and starting with the point generalizing away from the particular instance correct generalize stand back become aware of this being a need for our town at this point in certainly at this point in town and if you captured that to take back to the chair of the planning board I put it up right now very good yeah okay thank you very much CU I don't want to carry that we're not going to re redo the hearing but thanks for bringing that to our attention Okay and the uh the third thing is uh open space committee uh there's only one quick thing to add to the announcements you made about celebrate Southampton among other things we're attempting to do is draw attention to our open spaces and we are holding at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning a uh Town walk on one of our conservation Lanes it's not unfortunately we didn't get it on the whole roster of events for this Saturday but uh that was noted by tamy W Tammy wus because I put her on an email list I think she was going to post it on a Facebook page at 8:00 a.m. we're going to be walking on wolf Hills Sanctuary rain or shine and I will leave the hike and it's a perfect hike for beginners it doesn't have to be you know it's only a 1.3 mile loop it's beautiful I walked it the other day uh and I've been in touch with Barry STL who actually owns the property so um that is something and if you just want to show up it's um I think right across from 110 foam Road um in our town it's called Wolf Hill Sanctuary 8:00 a.m. come early Saturday morning thanks okay sounds good is that it yep okay Dan anything um no technology committee meeting since last time uh important one from the Conservation Commission and talking around our our foot Bridge uh crossing the manhand um so that conversation came up again and as you all know we have a grant that would expire I believe it's at the end of the calendar year so the determination of how we can spend the monies that have been allocated to us through that Grant Grant um to best serve the town and also what do we do if say we there's there's more to the project than just the monies that the grant has has allocated to us there's also the talk about the the installation and the design around that installation that needs to occur so I I would recommend that we pull I would say a small Committee of of interested parties together to to get get a plan together as a town for how we're going to go about making this happen um it seems like maybe with the transition of the Conservation Commission uh leadership some things aren't obvious uh as to what direction we would need we needed to take so I think it would be best maybe under the under the select board I can pull together like myself Randall I think I can ask Art if he'd still want to be involved um and I can can see who else would be involved getting those people together and just come writing up what's the project plan associated with where we are today to where we got to get to to get this bridge installed uh that's my advice I know Scott you had had discussions with the actual engineer from the bridge company itself right yeah so that Scott should be involved in that OB oh yeah so I guess that's my first so my request the permission to form that subcommittee to get this bridge thing just call a working Committee just working committee whatever we want advisory committee just got whatever it can be yeah okay all right so I'll take that action to get that committee formed and give to the the select board or and Scott the plan that takes us from where we are today to the bridge installed yeah well and it's really a plan for conom more so I mean true they're the ones that have the grant so yeah yeah yeah we need to be informed but it's their for the town it's their action yeah no exactly um important topic that came up is um starting to have the conversation around a maintenance uh and rotation plan around uh the care of our conservation lands and the the trails and the Open Fields and and I think you'd also want to include the forest forest cutting plants and all those great things in it as well getting that documented so we can start getting that uh maintenance done on a regular basis so we're right now we we're lucky to have some great Volunteers in this town who who when they are available get are do do maintain these Trails but it is kind of at an ad hoc basis and um I think we need to put a little more thought around that so I want to make sure that the town is aware that that's something the Conservation Commission will be thinking about so um so they'll be pulling that together or yeah we're going to pull that together but it's an important thing do you want to announce the uh email address of the volunteer group in case somebody wants to join happens to be listening tonight yes it's called Trails 01073 that's trails with an S 01073 gmail.com if there's anybody listening who just wants to get receive notices of various work parties that are happening we always keep the Conservation Commission informed it's called the Trailblazers I think we should put that on our town Conservation Commission page we should talk we'll work on that okay talk thanks Dan cool uh the last one is the the planning board uh the important thing to mention is I I I had a chance to follow up with uh pvpc to see what the status of our s DL dlta grant that was awarded to us around uh the the bylaws around our water supply protection and uh the the Reformation of the bayac group which is a a Consortium of a number of towns that use the Barnes aquifer um so we're we're picking up that up in September uh to get that started I think uh Patty gambarini will be involved again and starting conversations with Westfield so is that Grant still active or is that that Grant is still active it's a new one I guess you can say brand new yeah mhm okay yeah so part of it is updating the town's bylaws for the so defining how we will protect our water supply and those zones associated with it um and that dat that goes back to getting any gas stations or uh other facilities install in town in a manner that is that protects our water supply but also allows us to have those amenities um and the other part of it is addressing the bay pack group and trying to get that reestablished so that we don't have different rules and regulations for protecting the same aquafer I was going to suggest yeah I was going to say that I remember from before I mean that that was a Consortium of towns that had to agree to things and for very reasons towns fell fell out over time and U so I would think that would have to be a big step too of just getting other towns on board to see if they want to reactivate the U the commission so yes so that action is with pbpc yeah okay very good those are my things all right good all right Stephen um planning board um Cindy's covered op face plenty uh but Dan omitted that planning board has scheduled a joint meeting with the Housing Authority for August 14th at 700 p.m. to learn about chapter 40 off this is a introduction educational uh program and uh I believe that we've now gotten a invitation issued to the select board the select board at a prior meeting had indicated um I'm sorry the select board at a prior meeting had indicated significant interest in also learning about 40 hour so um Scott may have the latest news on this uh last I heard we had a meeting but not a presenter uh I did reach out to Paul I'm just waiting for confirmation on who's going to actually be doing the presentation uh I'm pretty sure that it was scheduled for kin Kia from the pioner valley Planning Commission I'm just waiting for confirmation so okay and the date was the 14th you well we've had a list of hoped for um personalities to present but uh the chair of the planning board has not gotten confirmation from any presenter okay and what was the question sorry madam chair you're no just at the date I was just yeah the 14th yeah okay that's and it'll be at 700 p.m. okay and it has been noticed for at least the housing authority and the Planning Group okay we'd have to post it ourselves we don't have it posted yet but I know okay y all right good anything else we do need to confirm the presenter yeah no we'll leave that to very good MH anything else thank you all right John no my all my committees are in summer recess very good all right um just uh briefly on my end um we'll have a cost efficiencies meeting next week on the 14th um in the afternoon a zoom call as usual and then we did get word back on the Brun historical Grant which is the one where we were we had put out a request to do um get some funds for repointing the brick work on a large portion of the Old Town Hall current police station unfortunately we did not get it um there were 15 projects um competing for $650,000 and their funding requests were over a million3 um so there were seven Grants awarded but we were number eight so we are actually the first alternate officially we're called the first alternate so if somebody some other Town um can't get it done in terms of whatever they' planned uh we definitely get to be on the list um we're waiting they're supposed to be giving us feedback as to how we might have strengthened our application Etc so I'm still waiting for that information but uh they encouraged us even if we don't get in on the alternate route this year that we should you know continue to apply for it next year so it sort of Bittersweet but you know okay uh we at least made it in halfway on the list and I don't know what other communities were ahead of us or what kind of projects they were doing so we'll find that out in a bit but um that and then been checking regularly on the big one that we're really waiting for which is the assistance to Firefighters Grant um they are rolling these out it seems to be every Friday and I've checked for the last three Fridays and we're not on the list yet but I talked to uh Chief Anderson who had helped us write the Grant and he said not to get discouraged cuz they keep on rolling them out it's a slow rolling process so we'll keep our fingers crossed and see if we manage to get at least one of the two grants we applied for but two grants no yeah nothing yet so we'll keep keep hoping on that one do you have any indication whether one is more favorably received no we have no information at all nothing that's what frustrating but yeah congratulations for taking the big roll of the dice yeah well we've got it in there but it's you know we need a pump her truck don't know what what our competition is it's a you know it's a Federal grant so it's a lot of competition on that one but okay that's about it on that so on the agenda let's pick up some new business uh let's see Scott I'll let you take on this uh Council on Aging director recruitment mhm um so in the two weeks that I had mentioned forming a search committee I had posted the job both at the town clerk's office and on the website just because it's it's good to get it out there but it's a requirement of our B law to posted for a certain amount of time um and in that two weeks we did have a uh strong internal candate that expressed interest and did apply for the position um so before we kind of took the next step of forming a formal search committee and spending money on advertisement um I might make the suggestion that the select board kind of pursue an internal candidate first uh do the process and if that doesn't work out then we could expand um the search to external candidates and that's all acceptable to our to Our Town rules that we if we it's an internal candidate we don't have to do the same search and review process uh well regardless we have to post it and make it available um as far as review I it doesn't really differentiate between internal and external um if it was a union position usually there's seniority and you can bid for a position first but since this is a non-union position we're good okay thank you any comments thoughts on that I don't I don't have any objection provided it's done in short order MH you know whatever the internal process is a week or two it's just a slight delay if it doesn't work out right yeah okay I mean it seems like I mean we sort of went a little bit down that road with the with the fire chief right we had a committee and then we ended up going more with an internal candidate so it's not not totally unlike that in a way um I I just I think from an employee point of view or employer morale wise anytime an internal person comes forward they get the courtesy of the interview yeah and they get a truthful response if they're not selected why and what can they do better next time around to enhance but to bypass them all together when they've expressed interest is never a good yeah course of action right okay yeah no and I think it's probably a wise move to try that first before we spend money on recruiting and all that kind of stuff advertising so yeah I'm generally in favor of that recommendation okay yeah okay you you'll work on interviewing or figure that out with the COA or how that process so I'll kind of put together maybe a little timeline uh and some different steps that um we could use before you know and bring the candidate before the SE board and some of the other stakeholders you know the uh the COA board chair the friends uh senior cior building committee You' probably want everyone involved as well uhuh okay all right okay all right uh FY 23 status of the audit not sure 23 22 both or um 22 is almost completed there just um one little issue with uploading it to the federal website that I'm waiting for Markham to to help me with uh I did forward through the select board the uh the verbal um recommendations for the audit which I thought were actually a little bit more useful than the other uh recommendations that they put forward um but yeah it does show that we have some work to do um moving forward the on that list yeah so I mean I don't disagree with anything on there but I I just don't understand number 10 and I don't know if they've got yeah word in there so it's they recommend the town keep compensated absence schedule for the town and school so how's that different than our regular payroll where people are marking that they're on leave well compensated I mean I know in the new payroll system we put in place the acrs are there right I mean your your time's there is that what they mean just what's available but using the word compensated tells me someone's out and we're paying somebody else to do that job and how's that cost money like substitute teachers I just don't understand that one set yeah that's all I I might guess that it's if there's any type of sick buyback or any type of um vacation acral that at the end of employment that there would be a liability for that but that's only a guess Mark them yep which goes along with marking the time on the boat okay okay and I guess I I thought it would be like vacation leave or something like that so I totally read it differently okay that's be good to find out yeah I read it as paid time off where did we end up well if everything above that I mean it does make sense that municipalities are supposed to under gasby record um potential liabilities so if somebody separate on June 30th so many days are available V so would be the vacation I don't think we pay some contracts we do sick time on the teacher side so if if that's where they're going a line item on the balance sheet for reflection because some of the things above there with free cash and all that makes sense yeah well I think a couple of these things are a little bit challenging because again they're making these recommendations based on the audit from 2022 and obviously with all the various delays these verbal recommendations that were not part of the management letter are things for us to look at but um recommend time sheets be approved by department heads as far as I know that's should be happening but back in 2022 it wasn't and back in 22 it wasn't right but over now it's been correct over time so that's that's the kind of thing where you know I think they're probably as you try to you've got to actually answer these Scott in writing these are just suggestions just suggestions okay yeah Cindy so I I'd like to comment on that one I mean I'm actually going to raise a question about it so uh I'm the chair of the board of assessors and the department head I guess is our principal assessor and when he was the interim assessor somebody from the board of assessor the chair usually was signing his time sheet and now I discovered that he was told that isn't necessary that he can sign his own time sheet or have yep and that um I double checked this with the previous chair the previous principal assessors previously nobody signed their time sheets well that's what's being talked about exactly and I'm going to bring that up because he is also which is perfectly fine he's signing it for the uh administrative person in the office that's appropriate yeah but um if this indicates that they noted that department heads haven't had anybody else looking at their time sheets which is apparently the case here I I really strongly recommend that one and I kind of wonder how that's working with other for example the director of the library and Library trustees signs on that are they signing on it though they are but I I think this comes back to there is no formal policy on the books there's no bylaw on the books so it's up to interpretation so we should put something in place whether and it wouldn't be the the um well I mean you could put it in the handbook in the PPP book but that's only going to address non-union people um so it's almost like there should be a a b everything should be signed by the person exactly by the person I didn't hear what you said Chris what did you say select board policy select board policy but I mean I know at one point in time it came up with the Board of Health and so yeah that was another one chair of the board ofth Health signs the health director's time sheet I mean that those things have been put into place since I've been on this elect right this is kind of old news but it's you know things that need to get still corrected perhaps but that I mean that was one that I thought was already dealt with but maybe not totally and then a couple of other things I didn't totally understand John number seven like uh internal Student Activity audit should be completed uh for schools with less than 25,000 expenditures correct because there's a stay law that whens above 25,000 it's subject the Auditors have to test it okay below that they don't it's a dommin dominous act so the noris which would be the only one that would fall under here I think it sits somewhere between 52 and $4,700 and $5,200 a year okay is in that account but no but no one's done an audit okay I guess I wasn't sure what an internal Student Activity audit meant so that we do it instead of Markham and then but just going down a little right so number one I'm I'm believe uh Bradley's already taken care of that number two we've been asking for so that one hasn't been done yet because if we're going to we're going to need to borrow here at some point and if we have authorization already on the books that's going to limit how much we can borrow right so there should be a running list of this that the clerk has and the treasurer certifi across um time sheets we talked about that record Investments at market value that's best practices um right now probably what what's happening is they only get recorded on June 30th versus you know ongoing basis um we have a line of the incumbrance I I would suggest this isn't happening because last when we looked at the last budget or not budget but end of year numbers there's a line item there with I think it was like $27,000 in change for encumbrance we asked for the detail on what that was um it hasn't come forward although I will say this year when we closed the books in these reports he did provide much more detail on what the incumbents were in that so I again if we get all the way up to 24 I think that's been taken care of yeah um the formal indirect cost policy you said I think you're having Bradley work on a couple policy drafts or yeah and that's something that mostly affects the Enterprise funds um and it hasn't been updated in a while there's a best practice out there that yeah I think we're going to try to adopt for this budget cycle it makes it a little bit more more accurate well I think anything anything we need to do to you know again create if it doesn't exist a select board policy it seems to me that's the simplest way to go you know rather than I don't think any of this really requires a bylaw per se it's a it's a select board policy I would think and with the new website are't we posting our minutes after we approve them they're not on the website they're in in my town gov but they're available to the public we direct people to the right spot so they're available to the public yeah on that particular one if that one stays there it's just pointing it out to the Auditors that here's where you go find them right here's where they are yeah exactly so yeah it would be a lot to put everything there on the website as well as on my John go so so they're not on the website they're on my town go y Cindy question no so they're on my town government but they're not on the website the minutes not putting the minutes on the website no I see okay it no very good thank you no they're elsewhere they're they're very I got it thank you very U accessible to anybody who wants them but yeah okay very good well thanks for all that um and so then 23 where are we on 23 that was a sort of the close out of 22 Scott so how far along are they in 23 I know we had talked about too getting the engagement letter signed up for 24 24 yeah they want to get a little bit more done on uh 23 um before we do the engagement letter for 24 you want to get a little bit further um into that that process um I don't think much has happened since the initial request for information from Bradley and Jen um so when I got the impression I think when Tanya was here that doing the audit as soon as she got it it was only going to take if they if a few weeks to do it right I mean I guess it's by September they're going to be back in their rotation yeah so if they have everything that they need so I guess that would be worth following up on and not just assume that they have everything that they need but I think I would just recommend that you also reach out to Tanya just to say you know do you need anything else from us and you know I think that would be helpful but I don't quite understand why the engagement letter for 24 would affect anything but if she doesn't want it right now we'll put it off for another couple weeks or something yeah Stephen is the FY 23 audit being held in suspense while the questions from 22 are pending no those are those are all set the everything's been submitted to Markham with with the answers to the management letter it's just there's a technical issue about getting them up to the federal website they've already acknowledged everything and accepted them y so 22 is about to be finished and published yes yeah everything's except for the uploading to the the fa c.gov I think the federal website for yeah so journal entries have been approved or you starting balances for 23 audit yes yeah it should should be yeah mhm cuz we're still trying to figure out where we stand here in August of 24 okay next up green energy approvals are we still waiting on eversource uh just waiting on eversource yes and everything's been approved though except for the final signature and then uh been talking to the company and they're just waiting for the installation date once eversource signs off on it and this will be a it won't be eversource directly who's going to do the install I guess is the question is it is it their themselves or a company of theirs or um it was it's a designated Vendor by the state it's um so we don't have to go out for bid for the installation I guess that's my real question no no this company handles it uh they're they're they're specific for the U the state doign need them so once somebody puts their final signature on it okay yep energy resources usa.net okay all right well again I I don't know I just I know people may be on vacation for August and whatever but I just kind of like nudging you know I just I just we've had so many times where we sit back and kind of assume something is happening and then all of a sudden a month goes by and we're that much farther behind so there more we can do to shoot off an email or a quick phone call I would just highly recommend that um Wi-Fi installation I think you told us about already and we're waiting on novas to come back around on that one right okay good that'll be quite a novelty to have Wi-Fi in this building my gosh maybe we should have our fence inspector look at it all right uh next up Highway College Highway land acquisition update um meeting with KD tomorrow just go over uh final check of everything that needs to be done uh we should still be on um on target for closing before September 30th mhm okay can we ask hard questions in Open Session I was little surprised that we didn't have an executive session for negotiations negotiations for which this purchase this very same purchase has purchase and sale contract signed by all parties oh yes thank you last time I asked I got a no so it was not signed at the time of the town meeting oh town meeting no at the time the beginning of my concern okay and because of open meeting law and the sensitivity of negotiations real estate transactions we have gotten a very high level briefing not the Blood and Guts and it's a very very big uh commitment that the town took on right both at annual town meeting and special election to approve the borrowing the lights are bright upon us as a board of Select to do a competent job and a thorough job so um I think we need an acquisition subcommittee to assist the Town Administrator in um carrying out all the details on this very complex and very significant acquisition well I mean the the purchase and sale has been dealt with since the town meeting and that was I think available before the election if I'm not mistaken mhm and that's up on our website okay um so that's there in terms of the actual purchase and sale which was for 2.1 million am I right 2.2 million 2.2 2.2 um so that part's been dealt with so getting through through all the next steps working with legal counsel on finalizing everything that has to be done is reviewing title that's what Scott's working on with our legal councel and I think that's where it belongs he's the Town Administrator to do that I don't think a a subcommittee of us to help do that is going to be particularly helpful in my mind so basically it'll be the uh making sure the funds are available to transfer to law um we just need a certified copy of the town meeting from the town clerk um and then select board eventually would need to approve the uh acceptance for the deed prior to closing yeah so and part of it the more challenging part I would think would be the timing in terms of the borrowing and having the money available at closing and so that's what you're working on with Jen to to work out so those are those are things that I think are already underway with Scott and relevant people so I we've got very high level briefing and that really hasn't been detailed okay so with respect to the closing the acquisition per se I'm good the um that's a big first step to get through in the next before the proposal will be re floated when we get to the land planning oh yeah absolutely yeah yeah yeah well that's only two agenda items ahead so okay all right uh did I miss something or we we got the update largely in the town administrator's report right yeah yeah okay I think so yeah for the land acquisition or the planning colge Highway land acquisition update mhm yeah so just still on track for September 30th or earlier uh and that's still the plan so working with our legal council to go through all the checklist of what has to still happen uh just being sure that we've got the the uh title search complete is the biggest thing out of that Bunch probably right now and then working with Jen on borrowing be the two please understand I'm only trying to expand the team not to supplant our good profession you know but I think sometimes things can get done very quickly when it's a smaller team so I I I don't see a need to expand a team on this particular thing and when we get to land use I think that's a different story I hear you so this is a separate thing that I think it's totally in the purview of the Town Administrator that's what we have you here to manage for us so let's keep on that plan man Bridge update um you want to say a little bit more about the uh phone call maybe and so we were able to um meet with the um bridge I guess the engineer and the uh producer of the bridges the fiberglass bridge out of Pennsylvania um just get a little bit more information on scheduling and and what the time could possibly possibly be possibly be and you know to get their opinion on on how the abutments were designed uh and see if they might have any alternatives um one of the things that they did send over was some of the designs of abutments that they've used in the past uh of course the disclaimer is you know they don't know our specific site so they don't know the soils they don't know uh the flood planes or or mass DP regulations or anything like that but um I think it you know I think it might be something that we can use to maybe talk to some of the other Engineers that we've used in the past to kind of see if that might be feasible um as far as timing and the grant the grant does expire at the end of the calendar year um one of the one of the problems with the with where the bridge is located is it's an environmentally sensitive area so we can't install it at any time um the other issue is the time that it would need to produce the bridge so it's going to take about I think it was 3 to four weeks for the uh the engineering part of the bridge to be completed um and then put it together to assemble the bridge you mean oh the engineering part to to design it and then the um assembly the the produ and then the um shipping of the bridge would be a few months extra so we're really cutting it close in the November December timeline about potentially getting the bridge and using some of the funds um one thing that I talked to the Conservation Commission yesterday about was using uh $2,600 from the grant to at least get the engineering part of the bridge done uh and we would at least have that part done and whether we decide moving forward with the bridge this year and storing it somewhere or just having the designs for next year and reapplying for the grant and and doing a more of a robust RFP uh that that would be an option as well but either way we're going to have to spend some funds for the engineering part of the bridge so this would accomplish that okay so this 2600 would get us engineering plan specific for this m type of bridge y the the one good thing is that the quote really didn't go up that much um the original quote from 3 or 4 years ago was right around 84 ,000 um that was for a 75 ft x 3T Bridge um an updated quote for a 75 ft x 4T uh came in at a little over 88,000 so it it really didn't go that much um that much more expensive so for the additional foot width and um you know inflation the last couple years okay so my understanding is we've got money from the Grant and I think you said there CPC money is as a match most likely right for that so we no matter what we did if we were able to get this and get the bridge we still would have to go back to another Grant or some other source of funding to install it because we don't have the funds available to actually put it in the ground and we couldn't do it this fall probably anyway right okay so what conom think about that or when they uh they approved the $2,600 to go forward with the uh engineering okay draft I guess for the bridge okay so do we need to talk to mass Trails maybe about you know at least trying to you know are they would they be okay with us getting it but maybe not getting it all installed this year I wonder hopefully I mean I can reach out to them definitely um they did mention that you know it does expire till the end of the year so if we were able to do something before then yeah um but I don't think we would have the complete funding for the quar million dollars this year so okay and we'd have to go back out for some sort of bid anyway on the installation right so okay yeah it's really the the um the installation of the bridge really isn't there there might need to be the way he explained there might be some need to be some support in the middle for the installation part but the the real work is in the abutments is is how you hold the bridge up yeah okay okay yes Stephen the engineer has been identified or not yet identified um this engineer is part of the uh Bridge production okay the builder of the bridge do they have a copy of the chapter 91 license and does the chapter 91 license have an expiration date uh that I'm not sure but they do contract out with a Massachusetts engineer that would stamp it so um it would comply with all the Massachusetts laws sure it took years to receive the chapter 91 license and my understanding is that that involves issues that are outside of the concom jurisdiction and expertise it has to deal with a federal flood plane issues and the idea about putting an abutment anywhere but outside of the flood plane I just want to make sure that before anybody goes down that track they have a copy of the permit and as we look at Grant Horizons and need for yet money we don't want to end up with bridge on land and no permit to put it over the creek yeah yeah well we we've got a copy I'm sure of the the wet the um permit that could be sent off to that company yeah yeah I'm sure they they'll also have the um Wetlands um order from the concom that's the companion separate jurisdictions so what this gets us then is the engineers the principal engineer stamped approval of a design I mean they it's the actual design that for Bridge itself for the bridge itself yeah that's so that's the 2600 I guess yeah so I certainly have been on the outside of all this but I have been around and didn't we pay uh somebody named Collingsworth or something similar to that multiple thousands of dollars took a long time to get whatever he's the one that came in with it's going to cost a quarter of a million and that was only a few months ago what did we pay him for isn't he a he's a professional engineer he's a PE I know that was part of it what what was the purpose of his involv if anybody can answer that I don't know I don't know that was done at concom level and they they contracted out to get some thoughts about the installation I think and I think part of what we had talked about was okay we got that but it seems really heavy duty we know that right now we can't afford it and nobody had gone back to talk to the bridge company itself saying you purport to be able to do this these are supposed to be easily assemblable Bridges you've done them around the area and around the country is this unusual and what are we you know what are we getting for for what we've asked for so I think that was your discussion so um I was in on the conversation as well as Diana uh to talk about that with the bridge company just to get an idea from them as to you know is this bridge doable or is this you know are we maybe overdesigning something so a lot of people over the years literally over the years that had some involvement and I was at conom last night when Dan was desperately trying to take notes like an engineer and figure out where you know where you were going with this whole thing and I halfway through I realized it was too big of a problem to solve right then and there couldn't be solved right there yeah yeah okay so we'll get some information hopefully from these people and find out from there what the next steps would be but it's not to say that the Collings word thing is out the window it's just that yeah I think I was certainly of the opinion I think Scott too that we didn't want to just take that without going back to the actual Bridge Company saying what's the deal here you know we may have missed something it might have been an oversight on our part when we understood what this all entailed but you know let's be sure that we know what we're talking about first before we throw it out the window so we'll just take a another a small next step and see what that gets us okay I think the important thing to note there is we did fund the bridge designed to be tailored to our needs so that does not delay us getting the bridge within this calendar year possibly yeah so that's still on the table and we'll figure out the rest as we go okay all right uh any other business that can't wait until the regular meeting and then we'll go back into some of the other I have agenda items yeah well I just have one thing cuz I don't see it later on in this on the agenda um were we successful in making an offer to an assistant auditor oh um is it in process it is in process we've identified a candidate and wait assistant accountant you mean assistant account okay we hope to move forward this week okay that's all I have yeah so someone has been interviewed selected and basically yeah we hope to send them an offer letter in the next day or two perfect okay that'll be great yeah thanks how we missed that one on the agenda sorry um okay old business is there anything in that thing I think uh some of the capital asset planning uh we'll try and take up a little bit at the um cost efficiencies meeting um surpless equipment uh again I'm going to see if I can coral Judy long enough enough for part of a day to look at that and then the Cannabis we'll be talking about later on tonight in an executive session I think um Madam chair yes sir it seems that we didn't have a robust discussion about land use planning I thought it was on the agenda where did it go it is oh I'm looking at the wrong oh hello yeah the agenda got revised I'm sorry it's on yep it was right before any other business sorry I have an old agenda that didn't have that on there sorry sorry land use planning yeah zero College Highway Scott update on that one sorry um so so Stephen did put together a um a scope potential scope that we could work off of um I did meet briefly with Piner Valley Planning Commission just to kind of get an idea uh because of our relationship with the pbpc and and their state their quasi State status um I did meet with Kim Kamya and his assistant and they're going to put together a scope for us just to kind of review and that's something that we can work off as well uh but I think I want to try to arrange some meetings with some other companies like Berkshire design and a few other ones just to kind of have some informal conversations with them um to kind of work together get get an idea an estimate of how much it's going to cost uh one of the things that came up during the uh public safety building committee uh when we met with hkt um was how much that would cost and and Amy just you know she gave us a rough estimate of how much it would cost for the 52 acres and it' probably be over $100,000 um so we want to make sure that we're getting as much information right now before we jump into the scope and then do an official RFP um and a lot of stuff that Stephen had mentioned would be part of that um and then also with uh just to note his um mention of a new position of planner I think kind of coincides with this as well um that it's going to probably have to take a parallel uh path with this um but you know I think that's something that I've started to look at some different job descriptions from communities and put together some drafts uh very early stages about what could potentially be um a position like that um but I think we're we definitely would need um some help on the planning side for the town and it' be great to have someone on staff agre all right other thought yeah sure so I circulated this uh proposed scope of services um to a variety of public officials uh committees boards and U the intention was to see if this reflects what we as the town are looking for in terms of services rather than going blind to the professional world and saying tell us what we should do first second and third so this was an attempt to speak with one voice for the town I've not gotten any specific feedback except one good job um and I think that it's very important as we look at buying a suite of services that runs in two very different directions sometimes they're in the same firm and often they're not public facilitation and engagement is a key piece in addition to U drawing up a subdivision plan and a disposition plan for the town to deal with the parts and uh you know I think it's very important if that's what we want that we say it with one voice and we say it equally to others I don't know how pvpc might propose his scope without hearing what we need MH well I guess I don't know yeah that's a different meeting because that the other meeting with them is for the 40R right so we don't have anything set up with them on that it's similar about you know bringing up the public engagement um things that they've done in the past like you know some of the work that they've done with um like mson and other communities about public engagement they they probably wouldn't be able to do the technical part of it so they're more focused on the the public um consensus building and then they would probably have to go out and get another firm one of the advantages just because they are um the Quasi public we wouldn't have to go through the RFP process with them but we would still I mean I still think we need to look at all the options yeah so yeah so just my general feedback I mean I if we do this with pvpc this will be my third rodeo with them on the select board and the first two didn't nothing nothing came out of it it person related yeah yeah it it was a complete waste of our time and resources and and um they're just not equipped to handle it they um I I feel like them the same way I feel about the Colin Institute they're just they have a they have all these templates on the Bo On The Shelf and they just pull it down here you go this is it um as far as what to do with the land over there I mean I'm not opposed to I guess I'm I'm neutral right now and whether we should even be going down this road um but I understand why to do it but I think the the first thing that needs to happen maybe this is part of it is that we need to get we the five of us sitting here can't decide do what to do with this land we need the 6700 citizens out there to tell us what it's going to be to do now if this going down this R route will rule certain things out before they even start okay might do that but I think we we we have to get a lot of feedback and understand this and I short of the um Public Safety ability and Council on Aging you know those things yeah time is of the essence they need to get done um what to do the other stuff now that doesn't mean that this is not this is not step one of a 2-year M uh walk in the park then I'm all for doing it but no and I just to pick up on pvbc I know we've had our challenges especially on the HR side I mean no no argument there we did however use them very well and Ken Kia in particular with the Master Plan update a few years ago uh did a very good work plan with us uh various public sessions and surveys and all sorts of things to up our master plan and so Ken was really the one that led us through that he did a great job I thought on that so I think they they have their levels of expertise I think it may depend on certain Personnel But Ken also knows the town very well he's worked with the planning board before and and that's and that's the other thing what what does the master plan say right now right because that needs to be taken into consideration but I I have also found in my not as many decades as other members of the board here but of uh work life that Consultants they paid to professionally position your opinion in a way that gets sold you tell the consultant what you want and then they make the report look that way um yeah I'm I'm a skeptical but okay i' also point out that Ken comia yeah one of the principles at Pioneer Valley planning who you endorsed just now um immediately mentioned other resource is at Mass Housing Partnership and also at the executive office of livable communities um so I think that uh they ought to be tapped for information about who delivers who's been successful in bringing forward um either New Town New Village Physical plans or in the other case uh 40 R districts as we may get down the road and these issues come together MH okay yeah so let me add a few things too um when the update of the open space and Recreation plan was done a few years ago I don't recall the individual's name who was with Pioneer Valley planning commissioner it was a woman um she headed us in a very good direction was very experienced as it turned out our then Town Administrator kind of took it from that point and we moved forward so I will say in addition to your comments about various professionals through pvpc can be excellent it doesn't mean every single experience is not good um the second thing is um that I I going to say more than a good job Ste Stephen I really think that I read this through and I felt like this is a really good jumping off point to have you spend the time to create this document to have us I I get the sense that you're that you know we got to do it we got to make this work and I've been a part of a couple meetings with you that you know you've brought it up and it's a good thing that we're doing this and finally that we don't have a lot of other land we got to use this land so well so I'm just going to say more than it's a good job I I really think we need to jump off from this point where Sten and I think there's a lot I mean it's a good for me it's a good good overview and I would call it more than an outline but there's details I think that would still need to be filled in if it was a full scope of services rights it's a good conceptual thought of you know here's the the big lines of what we want but if I go back and look at you know the the rfps that we've had to put out for the public safety building or the Senior Center building I mean that is you know much more a level of detail that really entails some of the public engagement requirements and all that kind of stuff but that's that's part of what you would ask the The Entity to provide for you is this is the proposal but yes they have to know what we want right but you know here's here's how we would approach it and so much of what their answer to us would be is not only on the technical aspects but how they would go about it how many staff they would put on it Etc what kind of priority they would give it right so I think all of that is is really crucial to and in the informal stage we can look at the question of whether it's best to separately contract for facilitation and the technical land planning pie um it there there's reason to do it each I mean go with the specialist um but some firms have it all in some have it together yeah D um I may be confusing the two things you said Scott so I'd appreciate everyone's help in understanding this clearly um you also mentioned the pursuit of a staffed planner in in in your report um is this perhaps you also mentioned this this scope of work may be on the order of a six figureure number um is this perhaps an opportunity to to instead of contract this work out to um to use this as the first project that a staff planner would would accomplish um is it is it is it too much scope of work for one individual or am I tying the two things together in a wrong way yeah um let me Zoom back because thank you one of the people that I consulted informally to look at this scope said you're not proposing that you do this Stephen are you to be clear I am trying to assist the select board in responsible about this although I have a master's degree in planning uh I am not putting myself forward for this um I'm trying to put some meat on the bones about what what we're looking for and I think that it is not an appropriate first task for a new professional hire first we wouldn't be able to do that professional hire and the budgeting and so on in a timely manner and I raised the question earlier do you want to go to specialists in facilitation and very strong CAD people who aren't necessarily high up on the wage scale who can execute what collectively the town designs thank you for uh cleaning that up for me so Scott the next the next step from your point of view is to try and connect with Ken Andor some of these other entities and just talk to them about their experience and yeah just I just met pbpc just as to get a little bit more information on what they can do and and using their expertise just kind of point us in the right direction um you know they don't have the technical expertise so that's something that they'd have to subcontract out sure um but I I did want to uh look at some other options as well and have those informal discussions and hopefully Stephen could join me in on those meetings well and just to remind ourselves that we've got I don't know if they fit into the process but we've got the on call engineering firms that are on our on our docket that we don't have to go out and bid for again because we've if they have the qualifications to help us out there's three or four of them that are already you know on our on our list in town great or we might just a thought too to renew that on call thing I'm not sure when that comes up but we ought to renew that when it comes up too yeah Dan um before we leave the topic Stephen you you also mentioned that perhaps this is a this land use uh for this property is something that maybe that we would best serve the town by having a subcommittee that that helped to formalize the needs of all these groups and entities within within our municipality and their thoughts around this I feel that there's there's an effort here um is there some grp is it would it facilitate faster execution of this to have some type of group around not not the uh the buildings although we have groups for supporting the senior center and and uh other buildings on this property would it also help us to get this done to have a a group around the property itself and the use and structure of that property maybe I my my personal thought and I I'll turn over Stephen too but my personal thought would be that that's part of what this facilitator would help us do they would help us I think it feels like we kind of need that independent person to help orchestrate this and be a facilitator in my head anyway that you know we know we've got interest on Public Safety we've got Senior Center we've got potential housing we've got potential Parks we've got potential open space whatever whatever but I would see that as the role of this entity whatever whoever we call it cool to bring us together and tease all that stuff out and be that impartial traffic cop I guess I would say to help guide a discussion that is a productive discussion but Stephen well by and large I agree with you madam chair um I think before we go out with an RFP it'd be extremely helpful if we had onepage vision from each of the entities that have expressed an interest in this property um I'll take Parks since it's one of the least fleshed and it it doesn't exist I'm going to tell you how it might be as input to the consultant the uh Parks Commission is that the right title um met and endorsed this goal statement for parks at zero College Highway it's the um the Theodore pickle ball courts and we're going to have eight of them and a standard pickle ball court is X feet by YT and eight put in a formation will cover 2 acres and we need have whatever we need 14 parking spaces or 30 parking spaces so that the footprint is the Courts Plus the parking and you know you don't have to get to the level of the feasibility studies that have been done for Public Safety or Senior Center although those are plug and playay we could easily summarize we to use that I think yeah for the most we need to go all the way back as John said yeah what does the master plan say What are the mation steps what is the open space absolutely but the housing production we've got lots of reports I didn't want to pick on housing I think housing is um legitimately challenged to do this one-page overview uh because it's so blue sky um but I think that that's a piece of preparation that we as the engag Town officials can do to again help provide guidance to whoever picks this up and means to help us MH yeah okay all right any further thought on that I would volunteer to go around Robin to each of the Committees that have expressed an interest and see if we can't get this very high level no commitments just trying to articulate what is on the wish list in a way that a professional can absorb it more ready I wonder if what would be helpful would be to develop kind of a question there yes you know do that five or six questions saying you know try to focus on this and then maybe make that that kind of round because I think it's really in here and and I so I think that would be the a one way to to approach that because I think thank you you a lot of a lot of that stuff has come out in the two feasibility studies of what they want in that wish list okay so some of that is there so I'd be happy not only to create a blank template but to prefill it and validate it with people so that they're not freaked out by having to commit words to paper well let's let's have you go ahead with the uh developing the the questionnaire per se and do that part at least get that rolling okay in a question volunteer what a volunteer that's that's an awful slow start all right I'll report back on the 20th nobody's meeting in until then anyway the other committees are not meeting for another week or two well yeah I mean I think for a different purpose it's very very important uh intersecting Educational Opportunity on the 14th okay well I doubt many of them will have a chance to be together before the 14th so if it were ready to be given to them on want people to go on vacation to the 20th but if they had it on the 14th that would be homework for them to get get some thought back to their members terms who can be there yep that's great all right uh planning board isn't necessarily putting forward its own wish list but would be the coordinating body of sorts yeah well uh it could be if if it chooses yeah okay thank you all right let's move on to licenses and permits we have a couple um motion to approve one day wine and malt for Jenny Hudson of Southampton for conut Park Sunday September 8th 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for the purposes of a picnic second all right all those in favor motion to approve a one-day wine and malt for Thomas baruso baruso of Bona Springs Florida for conet Park Saturday September 21st 2024 uh from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for a birthday party and it should be noted that there will be a three-piece band performing all right only three okay can we have a second please second all right all those all right folks are coming from Florida to use our Parks yeah wow we're we're a world reown on the map I read my packet yeah that's uh not sure about all that but okay so we have a couple of other documents requiring signature tonight uh we've talked about them before so just a couple of things let's pick up the first one um think you've got in your package the Senior Center building charge uh revision that's in here somewhere I saw mostly the revisions are right at the very beginning uh that reflects I thought here we go Motion to approve it as okay presented all right any comment question or second first sorry second all right any comments or questions on that uh uh if not I'll take a motion to approve all those I mean all to vote all those in favor I I all right very good um and then uh draft gift policy are we SK are we skipping the warrant uh for the election oh yeah I don't well I don't have it in my package so Scott what is the um the warrant for the September 3rd election you want to read that I don't have it in my package um I know it must coming from right no we uh just got this um read the whole thing well I don't know whatever it is it's yeah we got to we got to read it for a motion yeah do you want me yeah or somebody can read it read it okay all right Commonwealth massach warrant for the 2024 State primary to the constables of the city of to the town of Southampton greetings in the name of the Commonwealth you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhab habitants of said city or town who are qualified to vote in the primaries to vote at Town Hall Senior Center 210 College Highway on Tuesday the third day of September 2024 from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the following purpose to cast their votes in the state primaries for the candidates of political parties for the following offices senator in Congress for the com Commonwealth representative in Congress First District counselor 8th District senator in general court Hampton and Hampshire District representative in general court fourth Hampton District Clerk of Courts Hampshire County Register of Deeds Hampshire County Register of probate to fill a vacancy Hampshire District here of fail not and make return of this warrant with your doings thereon at the time in place of said voting given in our hands this and it'll be today's date I assume and we all assign it if we agree city council or selectman we are the select we are the members of the board of Select Board of South Hampton move that we cause the warrant to be authorized and order the constables to post such okay that's what I second second all right all those in favor I I all right so be it thank you all right then the next up I believe is the gift policy Scott you want to run us through with the small changes that were maybe made on that from last time or yep uh there was just one error that um I believe it was in uh section A6 um instead of it was um substituting to the town to should have read by the town um that was that was it it's been on file with the town clerk as well and posted on the website motion to approve the GIF policy as presented all right second okay second by Steven okay all those in favor I I all right great motion to approve the minutes of July 9th 2024 MH on the regular meeting minutes yep second okay any any discussion all right all those in favor I I all right minutes or thanks okay we have um select board meeting on August 20th and chances are we have one on August 14th at 7:00 that may be the joint meeting with planning board and Housing Authority uh for those that are here and can attend uh we'll get that posted but we'll confirm with Paul demon first but I believe we'll be part of that U so keep the 14 on on your minds as well please um I think that's probably it so I think with that we're going to be do you want me to read them into the record for you uh sure yeah uh mam chair I I move that we go into executive session for the following three reasons mgl chapter 3A section 21A number two to discuss strategy sessions and preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union Personnel specifically Highway mgl chapter 38 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 litigation position of the public body and the chair so declares specifically cannabis host Community agreement and then mgl chter 38 section 21 A7 to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or Federal Grant in Aid rebbur Ms specifically executive session minutes of January 18th February 27th March 26th April 9th April 23rd May 1st May 14th and July 9th all of 2024 and further that the uh select board uh invite in the Town Administrator and our Highway superintendent and that we will not be returning to public session for any vote okay thank you we have second all right we have a roll call vote please lumbra I Johnson I Lali I Palmer i fs I okay we are adjourned at at 7:30 and we will not be returning to public session thank you very much e