##VIDEO ID:sqguv15koRE## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers all right I'm calling to order the meeting of the Southampton select board uh for December 10th at 6:01 p.m. if we could stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance please pledge of aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you okay all right so do we have anyone here for citizen speak for an issue that is not on the agenda tonight not seeing anyone okay so we have a little bit different order of events tonight we're going to start with an executive session and then after that come back into open meeting so um I'm going to read the reasons for the um executive session we're going to start that at couple minutes at 6:05 thereabouts do we need to leave um I'll read this and then you can you can leave during the executive session sure so the executive session uh will be per mgl chapter 30A section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union Personnel this is related to the highway superintendent and the town accountant so with that could I have a motion to go into executive session and we will be returning obviously to Public public meeting um I'm going to guess we might take um no probably no more than a half an hour yeah maybe 20 to 30 minutes 20 to 30 minutes I would say we would be back in public session so moved all right second all right uh all those in favor I I I I all right motion's approved so we will temporarily adjourn from public session and move into executive session and we will be back on in roughly 20 minutes I would guess okay thanks board Southampton select board is back into open session at about 6:49 um hopefully our recording will be starting again momentto um but let's uh here we go okay so we are back in Open session at 6:49 and we'll continue with the agenda uh appointments and resignations would someone like to take them as a package or separately um I two two separate things make a motion to accept the resignation of Terry and hog open space committee effective November 20th 2024 okay second all right and I'd like to comment that I want to say thank you very much to Teran hog she was part of the open space committee for greater than a year and made some suggestions and some contributions and um thank you Terry an all right all those in favor I I I all right approve make a motion to approve mark C casses new appointment open space committee threeyear term to expire June 30th 2027 second all right um chairs the open space committee I will tell you Mark casses has been attending meetings has an extensive background I hope he'll stand up and say a few words just about his background and I am wholeheartedly thrilled that he's interested in uh in joining that yes joining our Mark CES 19 fmer Road just briefly um I'm very interested I've been active in other committees been uh eight years on the whing river and conserv board previously I put together the Grant and the conservation restriction and the negotiated with the town for the uh Wolf Hill property um Janet Brown CR U monitoring some of the CRS in town whining River I'm now on the lands committee for Cal Land Trust so I can also form a bridge there um and very interested in the area to mention the greenway committee The Greenway committee so Community preservation committee which we you're on CPC CPC also so and we'd love to be on the committee so good right good thank you Mark all right do we have a motion we have motion second yeah and second all right all those in favor I I all right so be it you are approved and as you know you just have to get sworn in yet again probably for this committee but uh you'll be up set all right y thank you thank you very much um moving forward uh Scott how about Town Administrator report all right so we had uh the results of the sewer study uh last week and we had a meeting with Ty and bond um Stephen um you're actually I just before I forget you're going to have an invitation for Monday for the land use planning um which kind of go ins siid with the uh sewer study uh but a couple of the takeaways are um according to Tha Bond it's feasible from an engineering standpoint to uh get the sewer get the sewer down the uh the green way to the designated Village which is around the zero the 117 to 125 College Highway area and kind of extends all the way into the North School area um we do need further technical assistance to move forward on this uh so this was just a feasibility study there's still a lot of uh lot of work that would need to be done uh by the engineers from locating pump houses to you know how much would a grinder be for each house to you know where would they I forget the terminology but you know where would be able to locate different treatment stations um there's also would need to be a very large public Outreach and citizen feedback which we'd have to again have the technical assistance for um something that right now we wouldn't be able to internally do um but just to see if people would be interested or not in having a a town sewer especially in that Village area um it is going to be an investment of you know upwards of 20 plus million doar which is is big number uh and there's a couple different ways that the town could look at funding it obviously the first one would be have third party federal government state government funds coming in um to defray that as much as possible um the other one would be do we look at as a townwide initiative or do we uh look at it as a third option where people that would be tying into the sewer would would pay for it or a combination of all three um so that's what we're kind of looking at um financially that's the most difficult part for the feasibility um so the other part of that is you know how would the future operation and maintenance be I mean I think the Italian Bond estimated is going to be about $30,000 plus doll a year to maintain the infrastructure and all the the different things um and then there's also the legal areas we still need to work on uh East Hampton has been very uh positive um but that's up until a certain point where we actually signed the intermunicipal agreement and they're on the hook for it as well uh so even though it's been positive there is a lot of legal work and different areas that would need to be worked out um so that would be one of the next steps so really the next step is looking at you know potential funding how does it how does the sewer interact with the land use planning at the uh the new College Highway land um what are the legal obstacles and also you know obviously how we're going to pay for it um but then also the public Outreach and the technical assistance so those are really the five things that we need to look at moving forward and and the I thank you thank you very much for your leadership on this I think the other piece is the return on such an investment is uh looking at problems that would be ameliorated opportunities generated um so that it's not just a a a unilateral cost um some of the return on investment may be difficult to exactly quantify but I think we need to keep that in mind that we're trying to solve problems and create opportunity not just spend money on infrastructure right thank you uh we did have our first weather event of the year and hopefully it'll be the last but doesn't look like it'll be for this week um as long as there's no accumulation of snow I think we're good to go uh but yeah we we do have new um provider for the sidewalks so randle's been reaching out to the different town departments making sure they did their job correctly and so far the the feedbacks been positive um preliminary budgets are due December 19th uh I know the cemetery commission was working on theirs today uh Library already got theirs in and then this Thursday we're having a department head meeting and I'm going to be uh going over all that make sure everyone gets it in on time so I've been reminding people um you know it's just a preliminary budget so they not going to be 100% perfect there's going to be a lot of different areas that we're going to be changing and switching but we need a we need to have a starting point um and then from December into January I'm going to work at the individual departments to refine their budget a little bit um there's a lot of things that we're going to be looking at to maybe consolidate uh for example facilities maintenance uh you know currently we budget our custodian for uh hours at the library then we budget for hours at the police St then we budget for hours at Town Hall you know maybe we can look at having one line item for maintenance and having you know one line item for the custodian salary and if he needs to spend more time at town hall because of an election or and less time at the library or more time at the police station because of an incident then it gives a little bit more flexibility and it doesn't necessarily impact the the budgets of the library as much so it's really providing a service to our different town departments from one one area um the compensation study is complete uh which I'm going to be asking the select board to adopt later um for the first phase later tonight and then the hazard mitigation plan committee is going to meet actually met today um sorry we had the eversource representatives in just to talk about um the levels of service and uh you know how they do vegetation trimming um and a few other things and I am drafting the letter to eversource as well that was requested last meeting uh to get them in to uh talk about some of the other issues and then we have uh hkt Architects are meeting with the police Chiefs uh this Thursday as well um so we're hoping for them to expedite the process um so that we can have a special town meeting to request OPM and Architectural funds for the uh Public Safety complex but we can't do that until we have a better sense of how much a reduced footprint will be okay good anybody have any questions comments all right if not we'll move on briefly to select Ford report apps John start your in school committee stuff no we're meeting tomorrow night for the school board um we've started through the budget process there'll be a joint public meeting next week I think on the 17th where the superintendent and the business administrator will host an online uh Zoom meeting where the links will be be able to be shared afterwards because it'll be recorded Zoom meeting not in person I think they're going to do both oh okay um but the intent is instead of having 10 meetings around the budget we're going to go down to six where the first meeting is informational only so to present to all the finance committees and select boards and town administrators at once so everyone's getting the same information um historically the superintendent had to go on the road show and it takes four weeks to visit all the towns to give them the information so by time you get to the end it's already changed um to try and streamline so moving forward with that the forensic analysis at school dep is continuing to work for forward and um assuming that we can do some reclassifications in that it it all looks favorable to Norris at this point um that uh funds that were charged off to the general fund really should have been off the grants and some of those grants are still open so it's a matter of reallocating and then drawing those down to replenish the general fund so in theory there should be a one-time boost to free cash coming up um to recognize all those ppb is meeting next Thursday um Capital committee hasn't met and I forget what my other one is school no school's meeting tomorrow night so that's it good thanks stepen uh planning board is meeting next Wednesday night and we've been looking at a number of um solar permits uh individual residential installations that nonetheless because they're ground mounted have their own process and we may be looking to create a more clear process and maybe a little less honorous uh for ground ordinary residential scale ground mounted uh but I guess the chair and um shared with the chair of the planning board uh communication from every Source uh or the facility sighting board that at a large scale battery storage is contemplated for neighboring community of Westfield and I trust that the chair will be bringing draft letter before the board so the entire board can support that letter of concern um this would have some potential impact uh on the barn safer which we all rely on for drinking water right yeah there was a public hearing apparently that happened in field that we were not at least we didn't get the notification I didn't see it at select board and I don't believe planning board got it either so um we just want to be informed of that and I know the planning board chair is having the planning board consultant take a look at all the issues that were presented and and um sort of help outline other questions and issues that we might have from our side and put something together the responses are due on the 20th and I think that will be before our next meeting so we'll have to just circulate something on that um before the next select board meeting but I trust and implore the chair of the planning board to bring it before the entire board and not act unilaterally well I think as soon as yeah as soon as the consultant finishes his work yeah I think that would happen um I think it's fine I think it's fine Dan go ahead oh yeah the one committee to report on is the technology committee um this Friday I'll your mic up a little bit sorry apologies I'll meet with Scott to talk about the uh how well how we'll move forward with the Broadband so look forward to spending time with you on that Scott and another topic we had during that meeting uh which I'm sure Scott will be addressing is the the cyclings for replacing of our laptops and desktop computers and making sure that we have a the ability to get those upgraded those things mentioned thank you um so I'm oh you got more um you got a meeting coming up yeah we have a meeting com out for comcom okay yeah all right yeah Board of Health um met last evening and they they've been um had individuals who are Property Owners come before them to talk about concerns regarding the building of um tight tanks the um concerns regarding sewer Etc so the health agent has been really quite busy making site visits making recommendations and some cases put putting orders on in place to protect the environment um very complicated set of circumstances they're also very concerned about their budget and um the U completion of the budget and they're trying to collect all the data they can regarding the use of the health agent and what can be collected on and what perhaps they cannot collect on for the you know the services provided by the health agent so uh that's complicated um I will say I did speak with the chair and um she's desperately trying to think of ways to provide the right information and also um make the presentation for what is needed we Ted about different ways she might approach that um the um Board of assessors uh really is just kind of clipping along doing their usual uh review of chapter 61 applications looking at exemptions um and um uh really tightening up a whole lot of I made the same report in the past they're just working really hard at making sure that things are being caught and um we're waiting to hear from the individual who's going to do a little more research regarding the Hoy Waterworks titles and policies and agreements Etc that have been in place we don't have a report on that yet finally open space committee um has turned out to be kind of an active period of time I've been receiving phone calls I got an email today from somebody that is interested in um offering the town's the first right of refusal on property that may be of interest to the town and is current currently in chapter 61 and um also a couple of other properties where we expressed interest in possibly conserving these properties in the past and at the time the property owners weren't quite ready to talk or here and now they are so um those things were still keeping in mind the open space and Recreation plan and um it is a very busy committee so that's kind of it def okay all right and for myself just announcing out meetings that are coming up um um got senior senator building committee on the 12th at 12:30 that's an in-person meeting here at Town Hall the public safety building committee will be in person on the 16th at 4:30 here at Town Hall uh master plan implementation committee will be having its quarterly meeting on December 12th at 700 p.m. and the main thing that's happening is that the grant committee is working with Chief foli on the assistance to Firefighters Grant this is again trying to put in in the application for the tanker tender uh truck pump truck uh and also the uh SCBA breathing units um there'll be two separate applications um not sure the total amount yet we're getting new quotes but these are due in early this year they're due in December 20th so I'm going to be locked down trying to focus on these and getting all the facts and figures right and trying to improve our narrative I think we've got a little bit of feedback from another Chief uh in East Hampton that told us the kind of things that the computer scan looks for cuz we got bumped out after the computer review never even made it to an in-person um peer review so hopefully we can do better this time U but there's a lot of facts and figures that go into these federal grants so um we'll be focusing headstream on that U all week basically and uh my goal is to get it in by Monday next week four days ahead of the deadline if all goes well because there's always computer problems at the very end and the site crashes and everything else happens so that's kind of it all right so that's yes go ahead um unless Dan uh who serves on the Housing Authority a Housing Authority will meet on Monday at 6: p.m. uh they're down one or more members uh certainly would be great to have incre well okay maybe they're not down members I'm not meaning to give an official report what I'm excited to report is that they continue to have guest speakers from affordable housing developers and we've looked online at Several of their projects and I I trust I believe Sierra is working on scheduling site visits so that um the housing authority and perhaps the public can see examples of affordable housing that's been built by our local developers our local nonprofit affordable housing developers that we might consider it for South amped in in a more tangible way uh not entirely out of our own imagination but in dialogue with what is currently being built very good yeah thank you yeah thank you you reminded me that we put a post up on our town website about looking for volunteers for the Conservation Commission Conservation Commission Conservation Commission is the one that's needing volunteers right and I I will say one more thing I did have and I'll put a call out again um I did have a very good meeting Scott and I this past week with two people that are interested two candidates possibly for the affordable housing trust which as you know we actually passed the bylaw we got the Housing Trust uh put up at town meeting and it's been kind of on the books for a year now but it's been very hard to find people that are willing to volunteer particularly looking for people with good Finance background real estate um those kinds of things social work as well but especially Some solid Finance background and so we had a very good meeting with two people and uh there's apparently a third one in the wings that might like to talk to us but we're going to wait off until January uh to have another meeting but we're hoping that we'll be able to stand up the Housing Trust somewhere within the next few months and and really get that going and that'll help out the whole process as well okay let's keep on moving on thank you folks for being patient tonight we have our first agenda item under new business is the greenway updates regarded regarding especially the equestrian path and I think we had had a little bit of information about that before but come on up and fill us in and uh tell us where things are with that and what you'd like us to do about it tonight hi everyone Aaron toer a par Meadow extension uh chair of the greenway committee um so brief remarks on equestrian use specifically so over the years um we have had equestrian use as a topic uh of for the design on the current um space between Coleman Road and Sheldon for the uh design work of the project I believe this came about from the uh previous owners of the Farm King Oak Farm uh but over the years with developing work with tyan Bond as well as moving in of the new uh owners at grindstone Mountain uh We've really found more reasons to to not accommodate additional equestrian use uh in this space uh primarily for safety uh additional perming work additional environmental impact um there's lots of reasons not to do it we've also uh reached out to grindstone specifically for their feedback they do not have interest in pursuing additional accommodations so specifically for us doing our due diligence uh we wanted to present to you that we will abandoned uh research for additional accommodations specifically for for horse use uh parallel to the paved Recreation path mhm okay and um this sounds like a wise idea I might say I remember reading the original report and it sounded nice on paper but then in reality you know you think about it with people in in bikes and everything walking by and a parallel horse path you know just spooking the horses and I you know unless you made it farther away which is going to increase your you know the amount of property you need and then then some sort of a barrier perhaps between the two P two two trails to make that not as visible or a little bit more soundproof to the extent it could be this sounds like um an equestrian path was a nice thought but practicality would not seem to make any sense so I would tend to uh share your your opinion on that but anybody else want to make a comment or two I'd like to actually have a formal vote from select board so that we know that that this is where we stand as well and that allows the greenway committee to on recommendation of the Greenway committee I recommend that we uh formally terminate consideration of equestrian use um as a preferred use or an allowed use on the greenway second sorry send second all right any further discussion questions anybody all right all those in favor I I I all right I think I think you've got the green light from us so I think we'll drop off the equestrian path and uh right let you keep on moving with the greenway committee and Design all right thank you thank you very much appreciate your time sorry for waiting so long all right so and then I think we will I know you had talked at one point about us um getting involved with the the next phase the Beyond Sheldon's phase toward Westfield and I know there's interest in that from Westfield and the state and I think we'll try to find some time um probably maybe January is to start some of those discussions and see what needs to be done that's going to be a whole different kind of process that we got to go through I know yeah Mark you want to say something sure yeah just I I think there may be three areas that select for import may be important one is what how to proceed with uh phase two south of Sheldon's both the politics and the specifics and the timing of that the second is parking near Sheldon's whether at least to try to do D due diligence to try to find something there since that was one of the first requests is that U for the Sheldon not want people in their parking lot and uh we can that can come up later but we've been trying to do a little background on that and the third maybe the grindstone Mountain Farm is using a piece about a quarter mile of the um current rail bed not the bed but next to the rail bed to access a part of their land which is under APR which is not that's a new use and not what we'd probably want and it's an issue they need to cross a stream bed they don't have access to but it's the town's going to need to figure how to interact with that and okay good to know thanks for the heads up yeah okay very good and I think under the current current Grant though you're looking at some possibilities of parking down at Sheldon's I thought we had allocated some money in the budget for that because it went to APR so that was not funded as far as I know and and it's more than there one family who owns the land nearby and not sure if they're willing to but at least to do do due diligence to approach that all right sure okay we can talk about that more good thank you very much appreciate that all right thanks for the updates okay next up uh Scott we've got a couple of arpa applications so just a note um just working with the town accountant just to confirm everything for um the most recent amount that we have for arpa money um so there is uh $35,000 that uh Bradley does feel confident that we have in there after numerous spreadsheets and reworking everything um and then we have an additional $ 58,60 uh that we received back to arpa money from um from a grant that we had applied for uh and that money would come back from the state so we we essentially put forward the money first from arpa and then it came back to us we clean water clean water trust money that's currently being used for the culbert study at the highway department there's a few other areas of potential uh arpa money um salaries uh with the school department as well as an additional grant that we uh fronted the money and are expecting to get reimbursed for but there's some um questions about whether that goes into arpa or perhaps General funds so that's it's really a whole new thing for arpa at this point winding it down no one's ever done it um so we're expecting a lot of guidance from the federal government and we we definitely want to be careful not to overextend what our budget is fora and then having to P back so we're kind of walking a fine line right now I think we we know our total amount that we got from the 1 mil8 something or other um and so I think what we've done is as we've seen the 35 that Bradley's talking about is related to projects that have actually finished but didn't need all of their money so that's money that is kind of recycled if you will back into the pot to be reprogrammed and that's where this 58,000 came back in that we had to upfront the grant money now that's been reimbursed To Us by the state so theoretically we ought to be able to spend it again um before we have to stop spending but you want to you want to still double check that but I mean we can we can do a couple things parallel because we won't be meeting again on this and we need to make all these decisions or decisions on uh spending any more sorry obligating any more money by December 30th so we do have one more meeting before this um to do that but deadine to uh the definition of obligate that's um the federal government had released a little bit more guidance on that so we definitely need like a purchase order or a contract uh or something we don't need to actually spend the money but we need to make sure that we have you know legally binded method to spend it so okay um so that that 35,000 that Bradley identified that is um I remember the last time that we brought this up I thought it was like 32 sitting over there in the bottom column of that spreadsheet I thought we used it as a place marker to do something else we use 31,000 we approved for the railway study the the sewer study so this this is already taken into account that so it was 66 or so right okay yeah there still is some and then um yeah and so I we'll come back to the school in a minute I think let's let's go through these but I want to sort of be clear on terms of what I think is happening with the school as well but go ahead Scott on what you would like to present uh so the the the first um application is for uh permit link software um one of the deficiencies that we have in town is communication between departments especially in like the land use planning um everyone does a good job given the resources that they have in cooperating and giving information unfortunately that we're kind of limited in in that scope there's only so much passing a piece of paper around to be signed can do to all the different departments and we have so many different stakeholders when it comes to land use planning um everything you know obviously the building department the health department for septic we have the highway for curb Cuts historical commission for Scenic roads and and you know tree and rock walls tree Warden we have the planning department we have the assessors uh that need to be up to date on everything we also have uh the Town Clerk and then the town treasure where nothing should be issued if there's taxes or outstanding money that's owed and conom and concom yeah exactly um historical commission Greenway so there there's just all these different um things and and we also rely onot volunteers so our planning department our planning board is all volunteers our conservation we have an agent although part-time you know they do a lot of work planning and health and so we need a system that can bring everything together not only to make sure that things are approved um and everyone knows about it uh but also storage for our documents so that we no longer have physical paper but making things uh that are easier to access everything um and then also to make it easier for the public to apply for a permit so they don't have to come down to town hall under certain hours to apply for a burn permit at the fire department which is actually when I forgot to mention the fire department um making sure that their their sprinkler systems and smoke detectors are are inspected um so the idea is to use software to kind of fix some of our um communication problems and customer service issues and storage issues um it definitely won't fix it just by having the software but we have to invest our time and our money and actually using it the appropriate way uh one of the systems that one of the goals I'd like to get to is if you look like for example the town of ammer um they have although they use a different software than I'm proposing is on the same basic thing so they have one landing page for all the different inspections so whether it's fire inspections or rental registration or license commissions uh building permits if you need to reserve Town property um planning department has everything their health you have all the from body art technicians backal sales licenses uh 19 plus so everything's all there and everything's electronic and virtual so that they can access so the public can access it but then also the towns can share the information uh what we have currently is permit link um through the building department and just the building department right now um it cost about $4,000 to have this and our building department is online um although I think it could be utilized a little bit more we have to get our inspectors on board and a few other things and kind of push the public into using this uh one Community just to give you an example like for example East Haven Connecticut if I wanted to apply for a permit for the fire department uh bear with me let me just log in after you set set up a uh account um fire department oops select um I'm not going to actually apply for this person but you have to you have to select a parcel uh that you're going to be doing it for um oops I'm sorry select and then next and then what it does is all the different permits uh if you need a carnival request it charges you have the permit fee up here at the $10 um you could do a carnival ride and then and you essentially would be able to fill out the form online take payment and it would process it to their whoever in Spec or Carnival in connec I have no idea what uh but essentially we would also set it up so that if someone did request for a carnival uh we make sure the building inspector would get it and they would start the process but then they couldn't proceed without the health department signing off on it or the planning board to make sure that the carnival is in a properly zoned area uh so it communicates automatically and sends out all the information to all the relevant departments so realistically if we're going to use it for like a building permit um right now we use a piece of paper that goes to the different departments to make sure that everyone's signed off on goes a highway for curb cuts and planning department before Ron issues the certificate uh here we can actually expand this so that you know we had problems with historic roads so we can make sure the historical commission knows that you know there's an address at 123 Main Street that is looking to build something and if it's outside of what the historical streets are then they don't have to worry about they just click approve but if it is within a historical difference uh historical district um or if they have concerns and they wouldn't hit approve and they would be make sure that they're communicating with the building inspector before they issue it um so it kind of slows down the process a little bit but it also makes all the stakeholders aware of everything so right now with our current building permit people online me I would just put in online and I'm I'm going to get my permit what you're saying on the on the receiving end here our building inspector still prints out a piece of paper and then it walks around to everybody yes to eventually sign off on yeah before he really issues the the permit so right it's quasi electric but but on the other hand there's been what I'm hearing in this proposal is that you can't move forward until each everybody signs off and it's an electronic decision-making thing in terms of not because I know we ran into a problem with an Airbnb application that it was it was appeared that people had signed off on it but they hadn't and it was concerning and and the great thing is like if you're going to install a new pool so the building inspector could approve that but it would alert the assessors to make sure that they properly update everything and then the health inspect Health Department to make sure that there's a fence around it lovely um and then maybe conservation to make sure it's not within y Wetlands or something like that or environmentally protected so that's the idea but it also makes it easier for the public to access this and um you know depending on what form it's just like filling it out it's free to use you just log into it and depending on what the form is it would look um home daycare inspection things like that and youit I don't want to trigger it for these people people on Aaron road but um but that's essentially how it would work um the other good thing about it is it stores everything by the parcel so uh address or parcel number so if there's a septic plan that is submitted it stores it into there and then all the users would have access to it so they could see the plans for the sprinkler system they can see the septic plans they could see the certificate of occupancy they can see the curb cut from the highway department so they can just look at it instead of going all these different things they can see everything all at once so your pro your program that you're recommending integrates with our existing software that we just upgraded uh it not with Vadar Vadar is a separate software but we currently use permit link for just the building the building yeah if we were going to do like an wholly integrated system we'd have to upgrade to like a munus system which has permeating software in it so this is exactly what I wanted to explore thank you uh you explained at the lead that we currently pay $4,000 a year for a software license that allows the public to initiate a process which thereafter is a paper process and does not generate a public record that can be viewed MH by a concerned citizen nor any data storage that would benefit any other department right or any both in the initial crosschecking of comments in the initial and in the historic I suggest that this is making use of something that we already have paid for do you need additional funding for additional seats that multiple people can use so the 4,000 would stay and we build upon it is that yeah so the two things I want to just address is how it would actually impact all the different departments and how we actually pay for after arpa there we go um so the first thing you know we do have to pay a setup fee uh to get all the forms in thankfully with permit link they have hundreds of different municipalities so we're not Reinventing the wheel if we do need a custom form for something specific they can do it but it's a little bit of an additional cost um and they have a list of things that it could initially include um from the fire department Health Department the clerks with dog licenses conservation highway so these these would be the things that are public facing so the things that the public would um actually see but in the back end they would allow additional users so it could be like the Planning Commission could get a you would have a user ability to log in and access the same thing with assessors they may not have a form but they would still have access to it so it's kind of like the iceberg so this is just a tip of the iceberg uh for that part um so given that the setup fees would be excuse me so it is about a $31,000 investment to get everything set up and you know we don't need to do everything all at once but you know for example the clerk's office um is $7,000 and then conservation is $7,000 um how we pay for afterwards is there there's a couple different ways uh obviously the first way is that we just absorb it into our regular annual fees now the annual fee after we get it set up would be around $113,000 and that's including the building department so it's really an additional cost of around $9,000 um there's a couple different ways we could just absorb the cost um we can adjust our fees accordingly so that depending on the amount of um permits that we normally issue on in a year would help offset the majority of the costs and then the third option is with permit link they actually could do it per use so they would actually charge a fee to the permit user and then recoup the money like that so that's kind of a further conversation how we would do it and we'd have to bring in um the permit link um Representatives actually talk about that part how's the Building Commissioner currently using it are they collecting the I'm assuming the only reason we put this in place was to collect the fees online so are we passing on the cost currently no right no we are I mean our our rates are just our rates so there's no built-in I I imagine um given the amount of activity we are at a positive with the amount of fees that we charge um but no we don't have this specific into it and that's something I want to talk to during budget season too I didn't see a schedule for the planning board are they included in setup there are perhaps more forms needed than we currently have I didn't notice the department there uh I when I talk to the representative planning they don't have as many uh so I think it's something they they might just throw in or include planning doesn't have as many as like the um like the fire department what about liquor licenses since we're spending a half a meeting on them today uh that I wouldn't recommend just because we only have a certain amount of we have very few so the setup fees would not really make it um you know worthwhile yeah what about rental of the park pavilion and so for you of the park that's what I would like to get to electronic for that where we can take the form and pay for it and the sports fields that that too and what about taking land out of chapter 61 it would that I mean we've talked about there should be some sign offs of departments on that is that could that is not really a permit it's a notification process yeah there is that first first refusal that circulates to the four different boards right mhm we we can incorporate that but uh for this setup it's just for the permit uh applications yeah so that's kind of that that'll be like the starting point the control everything and then as we can kind of add on to it we can add on to like the Pavilion Rentals things like that so we can can pick and choose out of all of these which which permits we actually need right I mean well these would all be included it's the package for the fire B package the package for the health department so by Department right yeah yeah I see so like the clerk's there can you scroll down a little bit I just want to see Tom clerk scroll down Tom clerk right there so dog licenses which are what $7 or15 a DBA application I think that's $100 but other potential I mean it's like but we got to get $2500 annually I mean and I notice birth certificates aren't there but a dog license is I I don't know I I don't think it's more than $20 so you're talking about we'd have to have over you know well plus business application you know I don't know if the business doing business those are dbas though only if you're not registered with secretary of state so my my guess is I mean part of the due diligence would be how many dbas do we currently have and I'm just as an example because although in hoyo a DBA is $100 I don't know but that's a city I don't know if it's different in a town but even if it's 100 but a dog license is only $15 or $20 so I'm just thinking the number of dog and we know how many dogs we have we know how many licensed dogs we have in town right so all of a sudden are we making in this particular example are we making this $15 application to cover the cost is now going to become a $50 item what about marriage licenses copies of things yeah that's all that would all be part of town clerk as well yeah mhm so I mean we definitely don't need to do the clerks I mean this I think the core is more in the L use well and I don't want to pick on the clerk I'm just it's it's a spot where I I happen to know the rate some of the rates but um and it may not be efficient for a town our size to do that um it may be better just to keep it the way it is um and then you also have the convenience to the cust customer as well to be able to do it online so we have to kind of and I would I would just say I love the idea and going there I don't think I I know I don't love the $31,000 price tag but if it's I mean if it's a one time it's one time but um I guess I before and I'm happy to stay on this subject as long as everybody wants but I guess I'm wondering what are the other as of the existing arpa money if any that are before us tonight M CU two others yeah uh so the second ad ask is um for some ADA compliance um it's to I got a request from the specifically the Council on Aging to look at um moving forward some opening of uh self-operating doors which we we don't currently have um this would just be as the C if they work now I'm I'm familiar with this before in my previous employment we were not in compliance with the Ada and we were forced to comply with uh the count counter height and door you know automatic door opening the problem was within a year we were completely renovating the town hall so we didn't want to spend $1 to 15,000 per door to rewire everything just for a year so we actually uh bought similar um products like this and they actually they work pretty well um for the use um more better than I actually thought they would but um what the money would do is we would get four of them just to kind of try out and see if they they work especially in the higher uh traffic areas the the bathroom doors for the Council on Aging and the bathroom doors over here um they are self-installed so you know Dave our custodian would be able to install them um including including because there's got to be power and then that's a great thing so it's not connected to the power supply the um the module on the door has a battery in it and every time you normally open the door it regenerates it recharges the battery so if using our existing labor you're really saying it's $3,000 a door yeah there's no extra cost no permits need to be pulled and then the door openers are are Wi-Fi to the module so if you press it you just Mount them to the um the side and you press it and then it would open it and are existing upgrades to the Wi-Fi infrastructure within Town Hall they're going to work well this this would just communicate directly with the module so the button just communicates with the with the uh uh door opener kind of like your remote control for your garage and so it would be on the the three bathrooms and then the door from the senior center into this hallway here so and it would just be able to see if they work you know how we like you know it could be that they we get a lot of complaints that maybe they're too slow maybe um they don't open enough um you might only buy one to start with or something like that yeah I think the the four three to four you know one to four depending what the like 40 well are you are you leaning towards 4 based on your earlier conversation that orders have to be placed before December 31st I mean that would yeah we don't have enough time to get one install it see if it works to then get the next three right but I suppose we could buy four install one if it doesn't work we could return the other three and get money back for free cash MH I'd support the purchase of four yeah I think those are the four that crazy like a fox okay make that in the form of motion yeah and then we got one more I'm going you want and the third the third Opera is one that I put in throw a party are you recusing yourself pretty much um am I recusing myself well I could yeah um basically from the the 250th anniversary group uh as you know we're trying to get get a few events planned uh we had a very um sort of a Prelude to possible Town Town spirit and events with the tree lighting the other night we had a great turnout the other night um but starting with um I don't want to give it away exactly but New Year's Day is going to be the kickoff for everything uh starting with the 250th anniversary we're looking to have a sort of a major event I would say pretty much every month with some smaller um smaller events so presentations lectures whatever it may be uh during the um during the week perhaps so we're working on a calendar and we'll be meeting again on Monday to sort of finalize that but we would like to put forth a request to have some money we don't know how much we need we're trying to get as much volunteer um activity as possible but I think that we're looking at trying to hire a band at some point in time uh for one big expense and that's you know probably going to be more than we think uh we may need to rent out some facilities but a lot of it would be upfront publicity some banners um something you know Flyers advertising the fact that it's our 250th etc etc so I've just put in a flat amount for $55,000 and I'm willing to take anything but I guess my question is I'm not sure how we can obligate it Scott that's where I really don't know I have nothing to put it against right now we could uh we could sign an agreement and then put into a separate account just like we do with some of the other um public event accounts that we have for like flowers or put it into a put it into a gift account yeah that wasn't me that wasn't what was that what was that question down there it wasn't a question I mean I just don't know what yeah I mean if to the extent to the extent we can put it some can be counted as as reserved that's one thing because we still don't have to spend all of these things until we got two years to spend it yeah I'm I'm pretty I'm pretty sure there's an mgl that allows us to establish a 250th anniversary fund yeah we can check it out so you could you could allocate the funds into that Reserve account we can check it so there's three so 5,000 12,000 and what 40 or 31,000 Plus 44 44 so first year of annual and then 31 setup right so you want to take each one individually I'm I'm willing to do whatever anybody would like want to take the very first one the um permitting software one that was 31,000 setup and then 13,000 for the first year is that right mhm 31 plus 17 31 plus 13 13 13 would be the annual cost so that's 44 you put forth I think is it can I ask a question about the current permit software that's only being utilized by the office of the building inspector are we are we sure that it's being used to the Max and that it's I'm a little concerned I'm I'm like John I guess I don't want to spend a lot of money that we're not too sure about I think it's a great idea but uh I am hearing that even just just getting people used to Vadar is turning into a learning curve for people and um I wonder if it's a little too soon for the permitting software this really lovely permitting software that clearly has a purpose but are we ready for it in town hall I hope I'm being clear on my point I did have a um a meeting with a lot of the stakeholders planning building um Conservation Commission treasurers to kind of go through and introduce into it and uh everyone's all the key stakeholders are on board they really like it okay does Does it include any training yes okay good yeah yeah I think we'd have to allocate some training for it for good to know and it's a lot simpler than Vadar yeah I'm certain of that I'd be supportive of this only if the planning module is built out fully and in particular that it allows us to share with public information that should be public facing um you know the more sophisticated applications where we're doing a public hearing we are not providing a transparent process and I provide my qualified support for your proposal so this would be basically permitting software it has nothing to do with like abatements or all of those kinds of things that would be at the Assessor's level right it's not those kind of forms it's it's a permit for some some something yeah okay could anybody like to make a motion or where we at I think I'm ready to make a motion that we support the proposal to purchase this and utilize this and um I I say yeah that's my motion okay so this is the permit link software yes it's expanding the use of it to all the relevant departments I'd like to um add a Amendment if um that motion is uh going and that would be that uh the software be implemented so as to provide public facing information for anything requiring a public hearing okay second all right any further comment discussion all right all those in favor I I'm voting yes for the amended motion okay oh I'm sorry did we have we yeah we had a second by Dan sorry yeah okay on the amendment on the amendment yes Dan that was yes it was yes okay so we have two two eyes Stephen i i i i i no no okay I'm going to vote I so motion 4 to one uh just for your this is just from the East Haven Connecticut so this is just a um quick so this is all public information so if you log in all this stuff I just picked a random parcel um so this is what it would you could do you could actually see it and then have the planning stuff here and it's all public you just need know parcel and to download it thank you so it is so you probably need to get out of that so you don't trigger something with those poor people in East Haven Connecticut no this is public information so they just bought $20,000 worth of solar panels who said we wanted a car honey really I'd uh I'd like to make a motion to authorize the use up to $12,500 of arpa funds to fund four units for ADA compliance within Town Hall second okay that should provide enough for shipping so 12,500 you say yep okay um any further question discussion all right all those in favor I I I all right motion passes like make ition that we authorize the release of $5,000 from the arpa funds um upon um confirmation by the Town Administrator that he has discovered a legal and appropriate manner in which to reserve those funds okay for the use for 250th for the 250th anniversary of the great town of Southampton all right second all right second by Cindy any question further discussion all right all those in favor that cheap I all right and the first motion was sorry it was 30 it was 44 correct 44 thank you do we get a credit for the current Year's license Fe let's go we'll keep on moving we'll keep on moving okay so uh arpa compliance so there's just one one thing I just wanted to bring it to people's attention so we can probably um oh dear now I just lost it shoot hold on hold on do you mean ADA compliance uh no this was the um people isue about the um the extra funds for the school um we had originally when we when we had approve the school funds we had gotten them through last school year um that was the intent was to go through the school year and we've discovered that a couple of um uh a couple of teachers have been paid into this current semester this current two three months this fall semester and I could pull that up if I had it in my hand which I did a minute ago um they are still within the total amount allocated for the four projects at the school because they didn't end up using all that they probably were going to do for uh teacher training meetings um or staff development I guess it was um why can't I this kind darn it so I think we still have about $115,000 um available out of of that money as well that would be added at the pop but my question was I think at this point in time we've got monies that were spent on teacher salaries for the special ed mostly the par professionals actually um for the August to November time frame um recommendation on my part would be to Let's revise our decision- making allow that to be used spent as it has been uh rather than having to reverse that set of entries with both the school with Bradley um you know they they're still positive we've still got $15,000 in the um yes can I make that in that that amount I can explain this better in a second if I can oh I just had it hold on that was the initial roll out professional here we go I'm sorry so the the total roll outs um we had three different Tres each for the Behavior Uh analyst special ed and the pair of professionals and then one flat some for school professional development so altogether we had awarded of those four projects and they were amended a couple of times for uh um the next school year uh we awarded $331,500 688 33 spent so couple of them had some overages this past semester um but when you add it all up there's still 15,8 2627 to the good so they're they're still within the full amount that we actually allocated to them um so rather than going back and reversing a bunch of entries for teacher salaries for this past quarter my recommendation would be that we just amend our decision to say okay we we're fine with it going through November of of 2024 uh or whenever that I don't know if the next pay period is December we got one more pay period payroll I mean we could make it just through December if you wanted to and just say okay whatever is but then arpa for nor School stops as of the end of December and they're on their own to cover these positions does that make sense and rather than having to go back and have everybody reverse all these entries so my motion would be to amend our decision making on this to allow for the school expenditure for the ones that they've already incurred especially for the Paras um par Educators um through school sorry the special ed par education people through December of 2024 second okay thank you any further Clarity okay glad you made the motion all right all right all right all those in favor all right thank you all right we'll just do that I think that's the easiest way to go thank you thank you um classification plan so Scott I think we're back back up to you again maybe so we are um slowly but steadily uh wrapping up everything in the Compensation Plan uh this started about four or five months ago uh we were able to identify about 15 comp comparable communities based on industry standards that we were able to get uh some pretty decent statistics and responses from to see where uh the current schedules of r are but also the actual salaries for each position uh we're able to take that data and organize it into a pay chart that better reflects the market um the other thing that we are able to do is uh myself and two independent people were able to review the different positions uh using a a scoring method a point factor system uh that took into account education and knowledge experience accountability judgment complexity supervision required contact confidentiality supervision responsibility and complexity of operations um the end result was you know we agreed on most things we were in the ballpark with each other for the remainder and then there was a few different areas that we were completely uh at odds with so reviewing them I was able to kind of take the data go through a little bit more and come up with a classification chart for exempt and non-exempt employees uh tonight I'm just is asking the select board to approve uh the first thing which is the um the classification of our exempt and non-exempt employees um exempt is our salaried or department heads non-exempt would be our hourly employees um this is just based on the position and not the person or the incumbent in it um this was you know was done through the point factor system and each each position was assigned a grade uh there are a few qualifying things I just want to point out um so the exempt classification chart does take into account contractual employees and elected officials uh although it is more suggested than a um actual requirement um so for the elected officials they do need to go before town meeting and um the town meeting would have to approve their salaries um and that would not take in that would not take in effect this year um and it also wouldn't impact the uh current salaries of ta police chief or fire chief uh but we are negotiating with Highway superon and town accountant and this would provide a range to negotiate their contracts with them uh one of the things that we look at when you look at the schedule is we do need to do some additional policies and procedures surrounding it but the idea is to move everyone to what we consider right around Market um which would be on a step seven um and the select board was thinking about 90% market so that's our our Target for everything uh we do have $20,000 which we put aside to implement this um we were looking at uh the first pay period of January to start this and this initial round would just be get get just to get people into the wage scale uh there would be a little bit of additional money where we would then be able to discuss what step that they would be at um one thing I want to point out is that this does have a merit based uh part of it which we'll have to do some policies and procedures around but the idea is to get a comp competent person with uh the market-based experience up to at least step seven or market so if we have someone out of college maybe not a lot of experience brand new they would generally start at you know a step one um if we have someone that's competent you know 5 to 10 years experience they would probably start closer to the mid-range um we do need to implement a performance system or at Le revive it uh and anyone that you know is performing really well or maybe they have 20 30 years experience or they you know they're doing really great at the job they get new certifications uh they'd be able to go past the Merit based into uh step 8 through 13 um although steps would not be um guaranteed like they would be in the lower ones um so this does require a little bit of a change in in our processes for this uh one thing is we have to look at changing our philosophy fees around pay um our previous structure was not the worst but it wasn't maintained um the other issue was it had 18 steps so it would take forever so for someone to reach what would be considered market and it also combined both exempt and non-exempt uh this is something that year after year we're going to have to look at uh this year in January I'm going to ask the select board to kind of look at Market data and decide where um where the chart should move for cost of living adjustments for um the upcoming July 1st or FY 26 and then uh we'd have to kind of maintain it every year just so it's just like a car if you don't do your regular oil changes it starts to Break um so the idea behind it is also to award Merit but that's a little bit further down the road uh so right now we're just trying to get a basis for everything uh over the next 6 months I'm also going to be looking at all the different job descript itions and redoing them so this is going to be very fluid nothing is set in stone right now um it it is going to be a lot of work but um you know this could hypothetically change um so depending on how the job descriptions are you know it it we going to have to rescore everything and then double check everything so right around July August uh for the non-exempt this is what it would be for the non-exempt um it covers pretty much all of our hourly employees except for one stien employee which is our animal um the veterans uh inspector so the veterans is currently Cen and we're going to be converting that into an hourly employee uh and then we do have some just some um Library employees that are like on call that we would have to address later at a later date but this is all of our core hourly employees here and then this is the um the new pay schedule for that and it comprises 10 steps um and the idea is to get to step 10 would be market and every year you progress a step uh as well as adjusting it for Cola so if I understood correctly the on the schedule so say you're at a a step three right now but you're saying that for July next year we would be adjusting that schedule so that whatever the the step three was at $253 or something that won't be the same amount for step three next year is that what you're saying right so step 10 would be considered market and all the previous steps are based on a certain percentage so we would adjust if most towns are giving like a 1 and a half% increase so we would adjust step 10 by 1 and a half% and then redo the previous scales So in theory if you start here year one and you've been here 10 years in the same position you get up to your step 10 and you you never move off step 10 but step 10 adjust the annual cost of living adjustments if so awarded [Music] right and you'd like to put this into effect in January you said the first payroll in January January yes yeah we have some additional money um you know it's going to cost right around $155,000 to do the initial adjustment and then we should have some additional money to kind of look at where people should be placed in the in the steps part so the first part is just defining the positions and then the second part is looking at the people in the positions okay so you're looking for us to approve the classification charts and the pay scales tonight that's it on a generic level sort of yes and then I'm going to come back in a future meeting with the actual adjustments for each position that I I'll have a big spreadsheet for you okay so this is not by any means the first time that we've seen this or had an opportunity to dialogue with you about it so I want make sure that the public understands that this has uh been as as Scott introduced uh developed by him and independent reviewers and department heads over a period of months and the select board has been along for the ride um with that said i' like to commend our new Town Administrator for doing all this work it is um his Forte but it is beyond what you'd normally tackle in the first year of your uh tenure um I I for one greatly appreciate it and I'd be pleased to make motion to approve um the exempt and nonexempt classification charts and the corresponding wage scales okay as we discussed an executive session um just prior to this public s okay a motion by Steven and a second by Cindy okay any further comment discussion question okay all those in favor I I all right believe that passes that gives you a green light Madam chair go for it a little bit yes sir so just taking everything into consideration tonight and and it just dawned on me listening to the TA speak we we believe we've got 93,000 in arpa funds we've just voted to commit 61,000 ,500 I suggest that instead of going to the 15,000 line item in the budget that we have set aside that we take the F first 15,000 from arpa and spend that and then that way if it happens to take longer for us to do the true ups and adjustments that line item is still sitting there for us to use and should we not use it by June 30th it will by default fall out to free cash uhhuh as a suggestion okay so the yeah the amount you needed was around 15 or 16 was that right yeah right around 15 if what they understand we only have two weeks left to commit arpa funds right yeah but you've got a sense of where where these would be but yes yeah yeah all right well that's an interesting idea because then that would that would be sure that we could we could actually do this and and still save some money aside if we needed to for MH I thought these were salaries next year starting in January right right so you can use the aror funds it has to be expended by December of 26 26 okay committed by December by this December yeah we two years to spend them so that would be fine yeah are there other requests waiting in the wings you don't have to get into it but if you've identified I don't know if there's any other arpa request I well I would second that motion we talk uhhuh all right so I think would you like the motion now or under any other new business uh no let's go ahead and do it now sure then I I make a motion that the first that the up to $155,000 needed to uh write this andj that we've been fighting for so long um first come from arpa funds second all right all right and I would just say that Scott I'll ask you to fill out a an application form and still direct the TA to do so okay for salary adjustments first and then uh should we need more it comes out of the money that we put aside in the budget anyway right yeah and feel free to add uh you know F uh numbers in there too to help offset the budget but yeah okay uh up to $155,000 do I hear any approvals here all those in favor I I all right let's let's do that that's a good idea thank you I have one every now and then stretches our money a little bit thanks very much that's that's a good idea I think that's fair okay um sewer update I think we've heard what we heard originally I don't know if you had any more to say about that Scott I think we're I'd just like to put a fine point on it the next step is to take the feasibility study to um not only the public because we do want to make sure that uh the public is um seeing the benefit and and once to move forward with exploring this but um to secure funding to do the design um so that we can actually narrow in on the specific cost and simultaneously address legal issues uh but we've uh taken the first step on time under budget and uh let's take the second step and just to say the information um if it isn't already it will be posted up on the uh T website we've got a new new page for special projects so basically the land use planning the sewer study and the 250th anniversary are all going to be under special projects page on the town website so that's getting readed and we'll get that done within the next couple of days to get that all posted up there so keep looking up there for information okay all right uh Springfield materials recycling facility extension multile this is a new it so this motion to receive and refer to the highway superintendent yeah so this is um a 5year extension to the um or no yeah M 5year extension processing Fe 2.5% annually per ton okay so the material recycling facility is where our transfer station trash is transferred to MH um every category all the recyclables and all that stuff and what percentage increase in cost does this um it is I believe it's a 2 and a half% increase for the next 5 years and then a 1% annual processing fee adjustment based on the prior year it's remarkable move approval second all right questions thoughts C discussion um and Stephen asked is this all recyclables so I I know that this whole concept of recycling is really complex as to what should be recycled what color is it what quality is it does it have a certain kind of symbol on it let me tell you I'm no expert on this and yet I really am wholly in favor of protecting our environment um I guess we can't you know dispute that this has to happen we have to send things places but I do know that some communities are getting a little proactive about ways to cut down on what you buy where you put it how frequently do you use it do you have to keep throwing away things even if they're not meant to be single use um I I'm bringing this up because we really have to this is another phase in this but we really have to be thinking about this um and I also wonder and I don't know the answer as to whether things are put in the recycle bin that have to be separated out and should be someplace else like maybe even in the ground because they're you know compostable kinds of things um I don't know the answer I guess we have no choice I know that this motion is just to pay the bill but um just letting every member of the public know that it's something we have to get a little more sensitive about in the town of Southampton I see a nodding head over there thank you very much I hope we're all nodding our heads on this one but compl completely agree with you I would I would say that having been exposed to half a dozen communities in my adult lifespan Southampton with short staff is doing a solid job solid managing Solid Waste certainly a creative and and and dedicated effort to both educate the public and to have the best outcome with our waste I think we've received awards for diverting yeah and I think we've done a lot especially with textile most most recently keeping textiles out of the landfill and out of the you know that but I think you know just just for I'm thinking the public realizes this but things are labeled very very well in fact there's been increased labeling on every section of where things are supposed to be put uh at the current transfer station um and in this contract I mean we do get penalties if things are mixed in incorrectly so if we have a contamination fee charged to us because something was put in incorrectly you know that that comes back at us so please follow the directions of the transfer station attendance in terms of where things go and if you don't know ask first so that we can avoid those kinds of problems too can it be elevated on website sure I think that would go directly the kind of thing that cind is talking about yep MH sure okay I think we have a motion and a second could we vote please all those in favor I I all right did I hear Cindy yes yes you did okay I'm sorry thank you all right thank you motion passes thank you um federal grants policy Scott I'm going to turn that one over to you yeah uh so this would probably just be a first reading because it's rather lengthy but this is part of uh um we we in our fy22 audit we were suggested to adopt a f Grant policy and I assume that's going to be a suggestion for our fi23 AIT as well and 24 uh once we get to that point um so this policy was actually stolen from another um auditing firm that does Municipal audits um and basically it it's not a lot of fund reading a policy that has a table of contents let's just put it that way uh but it is pretty com hensive in how we handle the federal money that we receive how we uh process everything what's allowable how we follow the the procedures from the federal government the town accountant has to confirm that we actually have the the account coming in the the money coming in and what the audo requirements are and it also does um reinforce our procurement policies which we also have to look at on a townwide basis too so not just for federal audits so uh I think this is just an introdu an introduction and if you have any time for reading over yeah winter break so what what I'd be curious at I'm all for first reading let's not take this up until the middle of January but between now and then I'd like to know how the end if we adopt this how the end users what their feedback is does you know is the town accountant going to say well page 73 section 4 paragraph 2 doesn't work and here's why then let's be mindful of that m but I think if we give 30 days for the stakeholders to say could you actually implement this if we rolled this out what are the barriers and then we could maybe tweak based on that mm good idea okay yeah and I think it is important for us to affirmatively commit to what is Law and regulation but uh if beyond that it's also good practice subject to implementation concerns yeah it's great to have policy yeah okay so we'll just treat this as the first time around take some time to read it and then we'll pick it back up probably in January and but what you're suggesting just ask for feedback from those that would have to implement and treasur office and whoever has to implement this how anything that they see as a as a problem uh from their point of view that would be good to know okay good all right uh holiday closing policy this is coming motion to approve the second reading of the holiday closing policy as amended previously okay any discussions this will go up I believe it has to still be posted for 10 days on our bulletin board before it goes into effect but um this was to talk about um half days on Christmas and New Year's and the day before Christmas New Year's and uh Thanksgiving I believe um did we have Thanksgiving in here yep yep yep okay the additions were just for the um the concerns of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve um so I did put a little chart in I see okay clarify it okay so we'll just um no I like the visual it works well tidy this yeah just put this up and it'll be posted on Lucy's bulletin board for 10 days and then we can put it into effect so um we have a motion I think we had a second all those in favor all right thank you very much that'll save us from doing this every every year um 2 250th anniversary uh just just briefly uh we're going to move forward on a meeting again on Monday evening but we'll be slowly getting some information out right after that meeting in terms of our events we've got a big big thing happening I think on uh New Year's Day uh right at noon time we're looking at uh I I will announce it because it is going to it's out there already uh we've got a couple of volunteers that would like to ring the church bells here 250 times wow and at midnight at noon oh so in between the Rose Parade and the football game and you know after you've had you know uh a little bit of you know coffee after the you know New Year's Eve party Etc but and I have been told and believe me these are two people that have done this they say it's not a problem and they're telling me it's going to take only 15 minutes okay there so I was like okie dokie so I think no is a wise idea I think 15 minutes at midnight would to the firing range so the idea is um that we would just kick off the year and kick off the 250th with ringing of the Bells and then we're planning on um probably some soup and artisan bread or something at the church so uh you know the ringing of the Bells would come on in and have a have a bowl of soup and a piece of bread and that's kind of starting the whole year off and then we've got a couple more things that'll be coming up and I'll I'll put those out a little bit later but um so that's that's the idea we just want to you know have a have a fun thing the community can get around and come enjoy and you know get to know your neighbors a little bit I mean I think a lot of us all kind of stay in our own little circles sometimes and we don't know you know who lives on the next street so I think the other night at the tree lighting that was an occasion to kind of start that process so uh any other business that can't wait until the next December 23rd meeting and reminder we'll do a zoom meeting on the 23rd same time any any other business that can't wait to then all right then we have a whole bunch of licenses and permits here these are if there's no objection you want to take them up as two packets yeah let's take the alcohol license uh renewals first and looking at all the paperwork everything has been submitted all the paperworks here payments have been made um I think Judy's gone through and verified all of these things so we're we're good to go with this so yes make a motion to approve Alcohol and Other annual license renewals for the following Camp John alcohol common vular entertainment Co-op devices Pisano's restaurant and pu alcohol common V vular entertainment Co-op devices Southampton Country Club alcohol common vular entertainment Co-op devices tenken alley Lounge alcohol common Vic entertainment Co-op devices bowling alley West Lake Gourmet alcohol and common Vic I'll get that right by the end Pure Foods Market alcohol common Vic Glendale Ridge Vineyard alcohol common vler and entertainment Country Liquor alcohol only Smitty's Package Store alcohol only Southampton beer and wine alcohol only okay you have a second second all right second by stepen okay any questions comments all right if not all in favor I I right motion to approve the common Vic licens renewals for the following individuals anytime nutrition bashista Orchards Big Y Cumberland Farms Dunkin Donuts Sheldon's ice cream second okay second by Steven no questions okay all those in favor I I very good thank you one question yes sir uh to the ta's knowledge anybody that had a license currently not renew or is this everybody I believe that's everybody everybody one would have gone out of business Mikel we're still waiting on the um legislature for the additional uh all alcohol license Y no news on that sub yeah okay good all right next we have up Personnel change form what's what's the definition of a sorry license renewal isn't that where you can obtain food and consume it on property you have to be able to sit down I think it needs the seating requirement does it not like a minim minimum number of seats I have to look into that one what's jumping out at me is Subway is not here and there's three tables inside Subway question and it's only because my this extreme gentleman to my left just pointed it out to me he was too afraid to speak up yeah I think I think it has to be a place where you can sit down and eat and if it's a minimum number though but um yeah we can certainly double check maybe not everybody has put in their come on their things on time so we might have a couple of these on the 23rd as well okay okay good to good to know we can double check yeah just to say that you know maybe Judy could just do a quick double check on anybody that we lose that you know somebody didn't renew then or didn't get in touch with her just raise a red flag there but uh yeah okay very good about that uh for PCF motion to approve Emily Musa Library change of hours increased up to less than 20 hours a week second all right uh and so this is what we the rationale here is to increase the hours reflects the increase in circulation and the retirement of substitutes okay so this is one person who's picking up extra time due to the fewer substitute staff that's on board okay uh and the salary why is the salary is the same 1821 per hour correct okay and up to 20 hours or is it less than 20 to keep it non-benefited yeah okay there we go less than 20 okay all right I think I heard the motion correctly we have a second sorry yes you did y okay uh who seconded sorry steephen Stephen okay all right all those in favor I I all right and this will take effect uh January 1st apparently the way I'm reading this okay all right um let's see uh any old business uh Stephen any updates on things storm water Enterprise fund or the Broadband committee I'll just take them a couple at a time if there's anything um nothing on stormw waterer Enterprise fund yet I know we're still waiting for tyan bond to schedule a uh a kickoff meeting for that uh Dan and I were going to be meeting probably two F I'm sorry Friday uh to talk about next steps in Broadband okay uh manhand Metal Bridge uh I do need to request in the state um to see if they will provide us at least a temporary um extension of our grant if not expires December 31st but we do have the um plans for the bridge itself done we're waiting for it to get stamped by the uh Massachusetts architect and then hopefully we can get it at least ordered and if the state can give us a little bit of a leeway uh it does mean that we have to look for other funding sources for the um installation or the for the abutments on it right exactly um but it'll at least be a step in the right direction um Capital asset planning um we have a few volunteers I'm trying to coordinate with the Chiefs to do the public safety which I think Reggie was going to do Public Safety and then we have one other yeah Bob is going to do Highway maybe if I don't know if you've been in touch with him I think so yeah and then we still need to volunteer for down hall but the idea is just actually take the lists that we have go through it and actually match everything up and see if there's anything that is missing or not missing um additionally I met with uh last week our insurance provider a lot of the list that we have for insurance we are fully insured for everything but a lot of list that they have are not up to date because of a software transfer um so for example like Randall's truck even though we have that insured it's not showing up in the list debt and that's because it won't be until January where they send out a new list so we are we were using that to kind of look at everything and wondering why things were missing right right um okay so we are working on that um and then the it I am I met with art again today but we are looking to do a cap a it capital planning for um a lot of our software and yeah other things so it may not fit technically the definition of capital but I think we need to start looking at that okay um Judy did sell some additional equipment um she's having fun at the front desk isn't she it's fun we just make her a 40-hour employee we said all these budgets how much money did she make this time if if it's not nailed down she's selling it so be careful the important thing she's not recycling it yeah um this get fine so if if you do look in the basement there's actually quite a little bit of space down there oh well it'll get filled up party so we are slowly but surely uh moving things and um we hope hopefully someday it can actually be some kind of a usable space not just for storage um but yeah was good we're yeah there was at least what $9,000 at least total last time I think last uh last week she sold I think it was about $4,500 truck well so we're maybe into double digits now very good um FY 23 status for closing up we just got an email today just on a few different uh items that are outstanding uh Town account needs to finish those up and then we'll be be on to 24 uh green energy we did have one light out in the COA uh so I'm testing their customer service uh part of it and they seem to be pretty responsive for that uh for noris school I'm still waiting just to see when they're going to be able to schedule it and hopefully it'll still be when the the school's out um and then nothing on E nothing there okay very good all right um so we do have just for our calendar um Zoom meeting on the 23rd of December and then our regular scheduled meetings will be in the new year January 7th and January 21 so that's all we have for information and business tonight as far as I know so I will take a moment Ste all right hi hello you guys are in a hurry uh we're we're adjourned at 8:20 tonight thank you very much um apparently e for