good evening and welcome to the select board meeting for Tuesday May 28th 2024 time is 6 o'clock P.M we're here in the select Board conference room newly painted at Town Hall this meeting is being held in hybrid fashion both here and on zoom in attendance tonight is myself Doug moglin Vice chairman Jason Peron clerk Diane Gale acting ceao Chief Robert Andis assistant CEO naine signon and Lisa Anderson is in the room if we could first start with the Pledge of Allegiance Lieutenant banish could you lead us tonight I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you six o'clock we'll start with public comments uh this is your opportunity if you have anything that You' like to address to the select board that's not on the agenda tonight now is your opportunity um we'll start on Zoom first if there's anyone on Zoom please use the either the hand raise function or just go ahead seeing and hearing none is there anyone in the room with a public comment tonight M I assume you're going to come sitting and for this okay with that we have one two three four interviews scheduled tonight for the position of Lieutenant with the Southwick Police Department um and we're going to start with uh Sergeant Roger arduini first now Mr I will be recusing myself from this very well thank you [Music] [Music] sir that oh okay so what would you like to wherever you'd like sir okay how are you I'm good you got a water you're good to go right yes I think I'm GNA need it this time there's only 11 questions okay some of them may be harder than others just kidding okay we're going to have 11 questions and then you'll have an opportunity to ask any questions you have of us okay or make any statements you'd wish to make okay and we'll go from there okay and then um this is going to come up under old business later on tonight I'm not positive if we're going to make a determination tonight or not okay fair enough yes you ready to go I'm ready you want to go first sure we're just you know how it works I think we're just going to read them in order and rotate rotate we're going to pass back and forth they're not going to rotate okay we're gonna volley all right so have you prepared yourself to become the leader in the south of Poli Department well within the past several years I've gone to every training that I can possibly go to I've asked to go to leadership training I have have I went back to college I got a degree in criminal justice for a bachelor's degree I got a another a uh master's degree I also got a certificate program in police leadership and policymaking I have worked hard at basically Rec classifying my position to a Sergeant's position coming up with the job description I have I'm basically the backup for Aus to Lieutenant banish right now so I'm the one that would enter information in there I think I have a strong relationship with the court in the area several different courts I have taken on a lot of extra duties that have been given to me the past few years that you know the lieutenant or the chief would be normally doing and I ended up just taking these duties on myself and and working hard at at doing a good job and completing everything that I start what are two faults or weaknesses in your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those uh my weaknesses would be um trying to think I mean sometimes communication for me can be a weakness you know as far as getting my point across to certain people uh I think that public speaking would probably be something that I would have to work on you know I'm not the best public speaker but I think it's something that you know with certain training I could work on it and be more comfortable doing things like that and did you have strength also was that or just weaknesses just weaknesses it's weaknesses okay and it's it was more along the lines of your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those my current duties I would definitely do some kind of cross train because as it sits right now when I try to take any time off from work I come back to a pile of paperwork on my desk and I really don't take any time off I'll take a day here a day there and the reason I do that is because I don't want to take a week because if I was gone for a week I would have a very difficult time coming back to work and being able to catch up on what I have and we have a certain Sergeant Paul miles who's leaving soon and he was the one that took up my slack when I wasn't there he was the one that was able to send this information to court he could do some records requests for me and it's just something that I I feel needs to be taken care of so I don't feel punished when I take a a day off from work and that's specifically in my position you know that's something that that's tough for me to do I mean even when I was in the hospital for 4 days you know in the emergency room I was still answering emails and texting and trying to get things done that nobody else knows how to do and if you had somebody else that knew how to do the duties that I do it would take a lot off of me as far as you know not being held down on to being there every single day thank you I just have a followup on that you you said communication getting your point across to others can you explain that a little bit I I think I know the emails are great as far as just sending out blanket emails to people and sometimes I don't always have the time to have somebody come in and explain everything to them and I think that's something that I need to work on is send the email and then call the person in so I can you know talk to them and explain everything to them better I mean the email is a good way to track to say yes I did it I sent it to them but to have somebody come in and speak with you is a better way of doing it okay thank you was that my flip flop as you turn again or no you get okay what was your greatest failure and what did you learn from the experience uh I think my greatest failure is when I was when I didn't get a sergeant position that I had worked hard for and I didn't I didn't get it and I didn't badmouth anybody I turned around and I said what can I do to make myself a better candidate next time and that's when I did the extra training I signed up to go back to UMass I signed up you know with two kids and it wasn't easy to do and I finished a a master's degree in a year and a half and that's how I dealt with that which I felt was a failure at the South Police Department I mean I just worked as hard as I could to make myself the best candidate every single time for any position that comes up I look at the the requirements and then I I look at the preferred and now I'm the preferred candidate for these positions because I check every box in the preferred candidate listing Sergeant what are the three what are three of the most important values that you demonstrate as a leader and please provide an example of each of these in practice okay number one would be Integrity I mean that's something that every leader needs is being able to be honest with everybody being the person that they can come to to get an answer you know being somebody they can trust and that's the Integrity part of it number two would be explaining things to people like having somebody come in when they do something improperly as far as anything entering property if they do it the wrong way I'll have that person come in sit with me and I'll go through the whole process with them how to you know place it into evidence how to track it how to release it everything and by doing that I think people that I work with have respect for me because I'm actually showing them how to do my job you know and that's part of like the cross training again where it's nice to be able to ask somebody to do something for you and and you know that they can do it without my help um on the third I mean just myself is is basically training everybody to do your job when you leave I mean that's something that I think is important to have people ready to take over your position if you leave if you have an issue if you're not going to be there it's something that you have to build up within the department to cover cover you when you're gone I mean that's something that I feel is important to build basically a reserve bench of people to be behind you when you're not there thank you please describe the role of technology in law enforcement um it's definitely changed a lot and I mean it's something that once again I mean I can say I think eventually we're going to have cameras I think the whole state is going to be mandated to have cameras at some point and for me being a supervisor I think they're a good thing now I think it's something that 99% of the time it saves the officer from a false accusation where you can go in and watch the video and say well this is exactly what he said without any going back and forth it's just it's a fact and just I mean everything's computerized now everything that we do is computerized you know whether it be sending reports to the court whether it be uh writing your own reports at the police station everything's done on a computer now where not too long ago I went through old reports and everything used to be handwritten and the work wasn't as good as what we can produce now with the technology that we have I mean everything is better the prodes are better the tasers are you know we have tasers now which we didn't have in the past we just went to H better sights on our rifles and on our handguns Technology's changed a lot even since I've been there as far as I would say when I went through the police academy I remember people saying that you're going to be recorded and I thought to myself you know 20 something years ago we're never going to be recording in the town of South but who's going to ever record us but now that the Technology's gotten that much better we're recorded almost everywhere we go you know we walk into a store we're recorded you know it's just and I think I think that's a good thing good as a leader in the police Department you must often build support for goals and projects describe a situation that demonstrated your ability to build the necessary support well I would say just I mean I have a project now that I would like to take on but I think I've built up support in our department by going forward with writing a grant for a bhn person to be in our community I think everybody behind me supported that grant that I I wrote and I completed it and takes a burden I think off of us as police officers because we've been the clinicians for the past 30 years in this town where now we can kind of rely on somebody else to do that kind of work for us and I think I gained respect from the people that work with me that that's something that was really important to do for this town I mean I did get backing from anybody that has dealt with it has been pleased with how it works out you know when it's something that you know it's very simple to do we get an email I get an email address I put their information who it is where it is what the issues are and email it to BHM and they will either send somebody out immediately or they'll send somebody up on a followup you know shortly after and I think it's made it's freed up a little bit of time for the south of police department and the officers that are on the road thank you please describe the processes and considerations that you would use to maintain officer morale and to avoid burnout okay I would if I was a lieutenant I think to maintain morale I think I would come in sometimes on a 4 to 12 shift and and ride with some of the people and you know coming on a 4 to 12 some some night that I have time in full uniform ride with them see what they're doing see how you know we could help them by getting equipment or anything that they need I think that's something that would be important I think that would build morale or even you know on a 4 to 12 ship stop in with a pizza or something like that you know bring them something to eat maybe that would build some morale you know I I think to get people together is something that's important and we've kind of gotten away from that because all of us are so busy right now I mean every single person at that police department has other obligations and it's not easy to make time to do these fun things that you know my father's generation did when he was a police officer in this town you know they used to be able to do a lot more you know softball tournaments and I know that Chief Lis he's definitely done you know good with that with having softball games and and I think it's a good thing to get the people together like that and I I think that maybe another thing to build morale would be for us to have an easily accessible program to deal with a a mental health issue that somebody in the police department is having something that's easy like have right now to contact bhn somebody's having even if it's not an issue but to be able to talk to somebody because all of us have been we've been through it all over the past 20s something years that I've been here 25 years and it's just it's overwhelming after a while and to be able to go I think talk to somebody you know even off the Record and I I know we do it like in roll call we to talk about it but I don't know if that was enough to make somebody feel more comfortable after going to some of these incidents that we go to I mean the average person doesn't have to see the things that a police officer has to see in their lifetime I mean they might see one you know we're going to see a few every single year we're going to go to these life-changing events for for another family and I think going to talk to somebody would be good for every individual in the police department follow up on that sure what about the midnight guys no pizza for them well there's no pizza places open at midnight unless I went to Westfield I guess no I just think it would be good for me to come in and ride around for you know even even an hour or two on each shift to see I bet they'd like it if you made cookies I can't eat cookies anymore so can you provide an example of where you took the initiative to propose a new program modify a policy or practice or similar project and how you went about it well if I just did the V example but I'm going to say when I basically took the whole evidence room had somebody from another Police Department come in with a PowerPoint show me the correct way how to log everything give everything certain areas in the property room and it just it it has made a big change I went through through probably 200 uh pieces of you know paper with about 50 on each sheet and me and Kirk Sanders sat there for about a year and a half and went through every single piece of property saw what we could dispose of you know we were able to dispose of a lot of drugs that have been sitting there for years there were several items that I mean we had a car in our property that had been there for 20 years you know and it wasn't where it was supposed to be but we got permission to dispose of it you know that was I think one of the highlights of when I got promoted was to take care of that room and fix it and now if somebody comes in and says oh I need my cell phone back used to be boxes in there it wasn't I mean there were you know 25 boxes in there that had just numbers on them and you have to look through every box to find the piece of property now when I go in there I have them set in certain areas be shelf a box two so I can go shelf a box two and I know that piece of property is in that box and I can just hand it to the person and it's tracked that way goes from me to the evidence room to that box and I can look it up on the computer and it tells me exactly what it is so as a follow up I take it because it says here was your proposal implemented and did it have the desired results it was yes there are still a couple hiccups here and there that I think it's more of an IMC problem because for some reason on one of the sheets it has returned to owner and some of the guys are still returning it to owner there but they're not tracking it the correct way that box really shouldn't even be on there but I catch them because I go through every month I print out the whole report of everything that's in that evidence room and if that just says that we have the property and it's not in a specific storage location I know that it wasn't tracked the right way and it's missing and I'll ask the person where's this piece of property oh I I took that number by mistake I don't have it here you know and then I go in and say number was taken by mistake and we can we can uh Delete the the number and it's just it's the right way to track things there thank you how would you create consensus and shared purpose in a situation where all parties originally differed in opinion approach and objectives to basally chaos yeah I mean I think the best way to do that is just talking to everybody in having the knowledge that I have and be being able to expl explain everything to them and say this is the right way to do it if you have an opinion on doing it another way I'll listen to you you know and if it's just as good or better than what I have then we'll go that way but I want it to be known that before we make a decision it's going to be the right decision you know even if mine isn't perfect and somebody's a little bit better than mine I'll go with theirs but we have to come to an agreement and make it the best decision possible for for the police department I hope I answered that correctly because I wasn't sure about the question that was good thank you the needs of the officers the department as a whole and all other agencies must be met in a thorough and timely manner please explain your processing and organizational skills that will ensure Ure an effective and timely response when faced with multiple concerns and deadlines like I do right now I have a lot of stuff on my desk every single day before I leave on the night before I gather up everything that has to be done the next day I make a list I put it on my desk and that day the next day when I come into work I work on that list the whole day and check them off one thing at a time and I get 99% of the time I finish everything that list unless something comes in such as a call that I have to go on that takes me away from my desk for a while I get that list completed almost every single day when I come to work and that's just something I've done it because I have so many different things that I have to do in my position that if I don't stay on top of these every single day it gets backed up and it will never get finished and that's something I do because certain things I I don't have to do them that often but I still have to do them weekly or monthly and I just have to stay on top of doing them every single day you know just a followup to that do you currently have a backlog uh right now I do not have a backlog I mean I do have a couple like for tomorrow I have some longer reports that have to go to Elder services and I do have some DCF reports that you know I have to have to go out and some of these can take 20 minutes to do other ones can take hours to do there could be a person that has 50 reports that needs to go to DCF and I have to go through all these reports and certain ones I have to take things out of you know and it takes time you know we can charge the person if it's over two hours you know we can charge them we can charge the lowest rate of an employee that has access to these records most of the time we don't because I just take care of it do it for these people you know I mean I mean sometimes we do have ones that are so large that I can't do and it can be I mean some of them could take you 80 hours to do a records request that could be 80 hours and I just I can't do that right now so I will you know send them an email in return saying this is going to take me 880 hours to do this job and if You' like it we need to check for this amount of money before I start this process and if if they do pay then I'm doing it you know and and I have to do it after hours or you know there's there's no way around it I mean we have to do it anything that's a uh Records request has to be done freedom information act you have to do it okay thank you uh this one me again right are you a believer in Cross training to fill gaps and I know you just you talked about that and for sucession planning yes I mean that like I said before it's something that needs to be done it's tough because we're still a smaller police department but for me I mean Paul miles is going to be he's going to be tough to fill because he does a lot at the police department and like I said he was the person that was my backup when something had to be piece property had to be released Paul could go in and release it when there was something that had to go to court Paul knew the court system and he knew how to you know print the reports send them to court electronically file everything Paul knew how to do that I mean it's something that you know if I do happen to get promoted I will work with whoever is going to take my position and work with them on doing everything and then we have to put get somebody else ready for that you know that's the followup question is how might you expand those practices yeah we have to get somebody else I mean it would obviously have to be somebody on dayshift because most of the duties that I have to take care of are on dayshift and you'd have to train them to basically do just about everything I do in my job because there's stuff that's time sensitive and it has to get to certain people by certain times that's all 11 sir that was 11 okay you have any questions for us I don't I have a I guess a closing I mean I didn't I didn't write anything down but I mean I'm G to say that I've lived in this town my whole life you know I grew up in a a nice neighborhood there were 30 kids around my age that I wouldn't trade it for anything and I chose to live here because I wanted my kids to have the same childhood that I had growing up and living in this town you know I think I've proven myself at the police department within especially the last probably eight or nine years that there's not one job that I am scared to do I'll do anything for that Police Department anytime a task has been asked of me I do it no questions asked I I do it you know right now I do a lot of the I mean I do the firearms background checks there's just so many different jobs that I do down there and I'm not afraid to take on more even though it makes it tougher on me you know I when I go to lunch I go home I grab something real quick and bring it back to work and I eat it at work you know I don't even really take a lunch break I have enough time to go home and grab something and bring it back in and that's it and I'll sit there during my lunch break and I'll work and I can say that I've done everything that I could have possibly done to make myself basically the best candidate for this position you know I work every single day I went back to school in my 40s and got a Bachelor's degree and then I got a certificate program police leadership in policymaking I have I went back to school got a master's degree and I just think I've done everything I could possibly do in my power to be the best candidate for this position and I do have some ideas for future projects that I would like to start and complete you know as a lieutenant if I'm fortunate enough to get this position and one of them would be I just did a project for a college and it was on policies procedures general orders and I was going through these and some of of them are just they're outdated you know they need to be they need to be redone some of them you know some of them are from the 90s that I mean I went through one and listed my father and there is you know having the deer yeah my father's been retired for 20s something years but that's a project that I would like to take on if I'm if I'm able to get this position and I prove myself where I can start a project and finish it and this is something that I would like to start and finish you know I think I would you know contact an accredited Police Department review their policies and procedures and maybe work something out here where I I'd have to go through them all because they're not going to all fit in with the southw police department but I think some of them would you know and I think that's how I would start the project well like I said I've done everything in my power you know I am the preferred candidate here and I exceeded even their preferred candidate you know I just I've done everything and I think I have a good working relationship with future Chief banish I think if there is an issue and I think that if he's doing something that everybody in the police department won't be happy with I think I can talk to him and I think he'll listen to me you know and I think we'll make a decision together anything else no thank you very much okay thanks thank you than well done you next Sergeant never don't underestimate looks neat compared that's not bad I can gole I wrote four words this time that's so it's like an architect I just you must skip good afternoon evening evening oh my goodness how are you I'm good I'm good yourself very good okay we have a list of about 96 questions super it's actually 11 and we're going to take turns asking the questions okay and at the end you have the great opportunity to ask this is Rogers pick um to ask any questions you have of us make any statements you wish to make and we'll go from there okay sound fair let's go let's do it do you want to start this time no okay how have you prepared yourself to become a leader in the South Lake Police Department um well several years of working hard um I've been again I'm trying not to send repetitive from our last but um you know I spent the last 23 years working very hard um I've been very fortunate uh as a police officer working for a small town um I've been afforded several rules throughout the police department which allowed me to gain experience in several different areas of law enforcement a lot of police officers don't um don't have those opportunities uh because of the size of the department um there's not so many specialized units uh to spread the wealth you might say um so yeah just uh you know having the opportunities to work in uh all these different areas Sergeant what are two faults or weaknesses in your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those uh my own personal faults or weaknesses in your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those weaknesses in my current spot um again the South Police Department were a rather small Police Department um so there's one detective um having just just working myself in that office I'm subjecting myself to several different situations you might say um that are probably less than Pleasant um it's kind of a lot for one person to take um you know you even hear comments from uh detectives from CPAC state police detective Bureau you know they're like God you handle all these cases yourself and so I think one way to rectify it is to try to break that up a little bit without actually hiring or putting on another detective uh finding areas where uh either another sergeant maybe or a patrol officer could assist say with motor vehicle accidents the fatal motor vehicle accidents or unattended deaths or things like that just to break it up a bit so one person is handling every single situation you have another one um I mean off the top of my head I mean you know it just goes without saying uh you handle so many different situations it just comes down to to being that one person in that office um so I mean as far as a detective goes but yeah that's it great what was your greatest failure and what did you learn from that experience greatest failure um wow I mean being a police officer you're it's it's you never see the same situation twice it's you're always learning um you know maybe in different situations that you handle it in one way and then you you know when you have time to think about it uh you kind of think well I could have handled that differently um I don't think I can actually pinpoint any one particular failure um just there's just several different ways where I think I could have handled any given situation a bit better what are three of the most important values that you demonstrate as a leader and please provide examples of each of these in prac um dedication um work ethic I think one of the greatest ones um I can talk about is uh my time as Kine um being a canine Officer it's something that you can't just you know you train once and let it go it's a constant a continuous effort uh as far as your training go to keep your your K9 partner up to speed um I put a lot of time a lot of effort into that that went on for 10 years um it resulted in having one of the best canines in the area um Jack and I were recognized in several different things um obviously narcotics our biggest narcotics hit uh back in 2014 but it's uh yeah dedication to termination um um one of the cases as I enter the detective Bureau was the crest you case um it was a rather large b& with uh quite a bit of firearms cash tools that were stolen and it was just the constant dedication and and just paying attention to what was going on um I mean we broke that case by finding a socket that was for sale on Facebook Marketplace it came down to distant socket so the persistence and and just not letting it go um you know it's just things like that is you know the hard work dedication please describe the role of technology in law enforcement oh that's a big one technology um as you all know I mean we all know technology is evolving each and every day um and one of the biggest things that we're facing in law enforcement is not only with with with technology evolving so are the Cyber crimes um these bad guys out there are find each and every day they're coming up with a more sophisticated way to steal your identity to break into your bank accounts um they are doing this in a way where the banks themselves um cannot keep up with with with Security federal agencies are having a tough time a lot of these crimes are being done from other countries overseas trying to track these things down is near impossible um it is almost near impossible for state and local uh police departments law enforcement agencies to try and help you um as Citizens in the town of Southwick you reach out to these federal agencies and they just cannot handle that workload you're working on much bigger cases um because of this it's so as as Technologies evolving um so are these crimes I mean it's and it's not yearly or monthly it's daily um what is Big today is even bigger tomorrow and it's just it's it's incredible as a leader in the police department you must often build support for goals and projects describe a situation that demonstrated your ability to build the necessary support I am a very self-motivating driven person um I would never ask anybody to do anything in the police department that I'm not willing to do so when we have projects or events whether it was at the Police Association um pretty much lead by example um you know you show others what you can do with a little bit of hard work and try to motivate uh each and every one of them um maybe a little push here push there to get the fires going um but yeah lead by example you want to add some specificity to that I mean you know we're always we're always doing different projects um you know we we we had a a young family that lost a house due doe a do a fire and I just felt terrible they have all these little kids um that they lost everything so we started a drive um you know we get a trailer start putting things on social media and before I know it others were joining in you know other officers were were jumping on board um and we created we we pretty much rebuilt a house or filled up another house with all the things we collected so again just leading by example just having the ability to drive people or to get them motivated thank you please describe the processes and considerations that you would use to maintain officer morale and to avoid burnout morale is you know morale is a top priority um I think I mentioned it before where growing up working in a different trade um I worked for a an employer um two brothers and I absolutely love the job um I love going to work I quickly found out though they argued um and the arguing would get quite intense um and it really made a miserable place to be after a while and and I kind of found that out as I the longer it went on and I I said to myself you know I would there's nothing worse than having to go to work we all have to go to work there's nothing worse than going to work and being miserable all day and every day um so I said it years ago if I was ever in a position where I held my own business managed a group of people or was some kind of a leader that I would never ever let that happen um to do that you know communication um Chief Landis has you know he's set the bar pretty high uh I think morale has never been higher in our Police Department right now um you know just just staying in tune with everybody listening to everybody um you know listening to their ideas trying their ideas you know not having well it's my way my way is the correct way um you know my way is not always the correct way I don't always have the correct answer so the willingness to listen to people be considerate to them and uh yeah just can you provide an example of where you took the initiative to propose a new program modify policy or practice or a similar project and how you went about it um well projects you know um for quite some time um I have been uh front running our our our Fleet of Cruisers uh it started with just helping uh well back then it was Sergeant Bishop uh with maintenance and turned into taking over the whole program um you know always looking for ways to improve our Fleet uh with techn technology the latest and just overall the appearance um so staying on top you know creating you know we we've got a lot of compliments in our Cruisers they're sharp looking and they're they're well sted they're well equipped with all the latest uh technology um it's great for the guys we hear it from officers that come from other police departments or others that visit um are very impressed with our equipment um so I work very hard keeping that up to date um you know and just uh going back to K9 K9 was another one um it was just a program that evolved again with technology um using the the latest gadgets and and all that but uh you know taking that that program to the next level and which I think we did so yeah so as a followup probably around the K9 was that your proposal to bring a can9 to the town no no that came in from officer Brewer Joe Brewer he was our very first K9 uh the program was very new back then um they did a great job getting that program started um and you know Joe and I we still talk um we trained with Joe all the time and he was always pleased where where I brought that program um but I had a lot of support from the staff you know because it takes money you know there were always we had we had gift accounts but it was always uh you know money in the line in in the budget and I was allowed they allowed me to take these Pro take it to the next level um most of that was just training and hard work so you thought it had the desired results then yes what do you think was the biggest benefit of the K9 program um well I mean we had a lot of success uh Jax and I you know we were very fortunate uh Co you know and and not that Mike in general not speaking bad um about their program they don't do anywhere near as much narcotics work but you know Co really changed that it it changed the way we did and of course the Geor Floyd uh incident changed everything for K9 uh there's a lot of towns that are that are afraid of the liability and things like this um but we did a lot of Narcotics work I had a great dog he was a great tracker you know we had some success stories catching uh you know I actually observed a couple of guys that just seemed out of place on my on my off time in Westfield um I actually called W PD and of course I kind of got myself into it without knowing and phone L five minutes later and they requesting a k9 um Jack actually tracked these guys down and found them I mean it was just we brought it to that level where our services were always requested and we were all over we traveled thousands of miles throughout western Mass and Beyond so it was a great program we had a great time I'll never forget it thank you for that how would you create consensus and shared purpose in a situation where all parties originally differed in opinion approach and objectives well you know again I think everyone's opinion matters um bringing everybody together listening to everybody being considerate uh depending on what we're talking about or what we're working on or where we're trying to go um you know just keeping that transparency there um yeah just communication you know it always comes back to communication listening being consider it knowing that you're not always the one you're not always right your idea is not always the best and needs of the officers the department as a whole and all other agencies must be met in a thorough and timely manner please explain your processing and organizational skills that will ensure an effective and timely response when faced with multiple concerns and deadlines well um that's actually one of my strong suits um again I've always always been a very disciplined a very self-motivated person um the downside of that is I'm I'm not a very patient person person so when there is a goal or a task at hand uh whether or not it's a something that is done rather quickly or it's a project that's going to take some time I am always motivated to to get it done I I I don't like unfinished business um again that's where I kind of you know people may consider it or or consider it some kind of type of a micromanaging I don't see it that way it's you know I'd rather I'll take it on the task myself just to get it done but lead by example um you know let's let's let's do it now by the time you the time it takes for you to to debate it to talk about it to argue about it we could have had that task done takes longer to right left-handed it does I can see that are you a believer in Cross training to fill gaps in for succession planning sure um you know I believe anybody can do any job um everybody has certain uh talents um that they're they're good at uh Carpenters can build houses you know mechanics and fixed cars um in the police world you know as long as the training is there and somebody's willing to put in the hard work and they're willing to be trained and they're willing to to um to put the effort in I believe anybody can take on any job um as long as they have that drive or the willingness to learn um if somebody shows that willingness to learn you know you go with it um hard work hard work should be rewarded um you know we need self-driven officers you know it's just it's kind of it's that kind of a a job where one can yeah come in 8 to four and do their job and then go home and there's several there there are severals like that several people like that um but you know you always look for that one guy or those people that are willing to put in that extra time and that they do it without complaint they do it because they want to do it and that's what you know being a police officer is a lifestyle it's not just a job it's it's more comes from inside so how might you expand that practice and would you try to recruit the people who are doing their eight hours show by example make it interesting make it fun um nobody wants to do something that's boring or something that's miserable uh create an atmosphere that's I wouldn't say entertaining um but making it something somebody would would would like to do something that enjoys to do something where they're not going to mind it come they're actually going to they're going to they're going to like to come to work um they're going to like to be involved in that project or or that job or that or whatever we're working on but yeah just making it you know again I don't use the word entertaining make it fun work can be fun sometimes right Doug absolutely first time you ever called me Doug in a straight face dougless I'm sorry I should be worried my God it's been a long day it's been a long week but yes well Thomas we've reached the end of the questions wow okay so do you have any questions for us or is there anything you'd like to add um I don't um have any questions uh the only thing I I would like to add again we've heard it before but um I do I keep going back to my time and experience here in the last 23 years um and I I I'll say it and I'll say it time and time again I have been very fortunate and I'm blessed blessed to have had these opportunities these these different roles I've I've been able to to serve uh within our Police Department there's not a lot of police officers that that are afforded those opportunities and I think having them has has G given me the the actual uh the knowledge the experience the real lifetime uh experience um in all different aspects of law enforcement that gives you the the knowhow and the ability to lead others um I've said said it before and I'll say it again you know as we as we grow as we get older our leaders our mentors um are leaving um with with Bobby leaving it's actually pretty big with me Bob and I have worked together since I was just a young rookie I've learned so much from him and now he's leaving I don't know what we're going to do um I hope he's gonna have his cell phone when he's away but um but I'm confident I've had a great teacher and now it's an obligation to pass that on to the other officers um so you know I I really believe after 23 almost 24 years of this this uh this job that I'm ready I'm ready to do that onward and upward absolutely Mrs G I am just finishing those notes and I'm good with my questions well than very much thank you very much done sir have a great night thank you Thomas thank you see you sir good or take a break I'm good okay if you are I'm good continuing in the alphabetical order of things Sergeant Michael tager say it's getting warm what's that did you say it's getting warm did you say it's getting warm no I'm I'm timing you we're doing good yeah 34 minutes the first one 32 minutes the second jeez about that very good now I'm gonna have to drag it out you're not we're reading faster we know the questions now absolutely and thank God they're not six questions like last timeone SM that was crazy you had to take notes after notes after notes just to answer a question no one did I noticed that yes that was part of the test how are you sir welcome back hello there Sergeant tager how are you today I'm okay how are you we're good we got about 11 questions for you actually not about exactly 11 questions for you unless there's a follow have 11 questions for you once we get through those questions you'll have ample opportunity to ask any questions or make any statements that you'd like to make fair enough fair enough you got enough water you ready to go okay Mrs Gail all right how have you prepared yourself to become a leader in the Southwick Police Department throughout my career um I've always strived to do um the best I can and be as Dependable as possible um that being said I've started my um journey to this um in kindergarten I drew a picture that said um I want to be a police officer with a police car on it um but in all seriousness I um figured out early in my high school career kind of like what I wanted to do um we had a police officer that was in our church um very nice man well respected in town um great mentor to me and um I decided to go for criminal justice in college received my bachelor's degree in that um during that time I did a internship with the ports of Police Department of Ryland where I was later hired as a full-time police officer um I met my wife in college she's from out here um so ultimately it what brought me to he um at this point um so education would be one my ability to organize things well complete tasks in a timely manner be that dependable go-to person for my superiors and things like that and be a trusted person that if something's told to me that they can stay with me or if a task needs to get done or someone needs to be told to do something I've shown that I can do that uh I've always volunteered for extra duties starting with u child seat and Elder Affairs offer in Portsmouth um coming up to here I helped with uh creating forms um so we could report things such as sudden deaths things like that uh I first became a defensive tactics instructor to further myself and our officers um to help the citizens here and make sure that we use the correct use of force deescalation skills and things like that starting in 20110 or nine um and then 2013 I became the one of the Department's Firearms instructors um I furthered myself in that becoming a lead which is able to teach an academy class so I can go and actually Teach an academy class firearms and get them certified as a police officer through that as a sergeant uh I was now in charge of the field training program training our new officers getting our officers um that are field trainers make sure they're all coordinated reviewing their daily observation reports um getting their attendance in we also have an Aus program which is now the post certification I've recently took over the Firearms portion of that for lieutenant banish where I put the attendance in for everybody I make sure that all of the qualifications are in and submit that through them for our yearly certification uh I think also my ability to develop relationships with people I've really worked on that and I can joke around with somebody or we can be serious it depends on what the situation calls for and really they get to know me I get to know them and that happens with everything with our officers with students with citizens if they feel comfortable and really feel that you're engaged with them you'll get more cooperation overall that's pretty much what I have Sergeant tagert what are two faults or weaknesses in your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those my personal two faults or weaknesses in your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those I would say for my weaknesses personally in that it would be making sure that we're putting down and writing when one of our osters does a good thing out in the field and things like that I'm marking that down um as well as ensuring that I'm keeping on task with what I need to do at the same time um sometimes things get a little bit jumbled and um when you're over taxed and knowing how much you can do or can't do you need to take the time and really sort out what is more important what was your greatest failure and what did you learn from the experience I would say learning to I say take rejection with Grace um there was one time where a promotion was done and I didn't take it with as much grace as I should have um and I believe I had this conversation with someone um and I learned a lot about myself how I should hold myself to my standards and not allow other people or anything to determine who I am or how I behave and I really put a lot of my energy back into my task that I was tested with at that time and went further as far as I could to put all my energy into something positive what are three of the most important values that you demonstrate as a leader and please provide examples of each of these in practice okay so three items that I would like to as a or I do as a leader I believe our community policing is a huge thing to demonstrate um I like to get out and you know Park your Cruiser walk through Big Y walk through a store go up to Wally Park when there's a game going on um if you're on day shift go through the school and other things like that really get out there and have people see you and I tell my officers this is what I'd like to see not just car Stu not just this we have to do a whole bunch of things that really develops our relationship with the town and its citizens um another one is admitting when you make a mistake and owning it Lieutenant banish and chief alenis can tell you that if I make a mistake I'm on the phone with them minutes later or if I feel that something has gone not the way I wanted to I call them right away and say this is what I have or I'll ask for advice and things like that um and how I teach my people to do that is to be reflective when we have a scene if it ends well great it usually does because um how we work with things but we also reflect on how we could have done things better and what we can improve on um a third is um being direct and having people know exactly what you expect of them and I believe I show that by having a distinct set of um requests that I have officers do on a daily shift and I allow them to have their input as well back to me if they see something else that they would like to do as well please describe the role of technology in law enforcement it's come a long way from the call box walking up post to mdts and getting things back it's had a positive negative effect I think because as much technology we have you find people then a lot they were newer that if you don't come in um if you don't have the technology available to you it's like oh my God I can't do my job where sometimes it's paper and you're just relying on what they give you in hand if it's active or not um it's a great tool to have you know we have as much information as possible if it's used correctly I think um just like everything else if you're not using your communication services that to their best it's it's I think it's as good as you make it um as a leader in the police department you must often build support for goals and projects describe a situation that demonstrated your ability to build the necessary support uh with the the school district itself um as the SRO uh we had a few things and tasks that needed to get done one was the uh emergency response where we need to have evacuation or lock down things like that so we had to get everybody on board um some people or some of the staff wasn't totally on board with it you know it's one of those things it's a scary thing to think about but they found that we had training for all our teachers a lot of concern was are we going to get written up or things like that if we don't do it correctly and that's not what it was about I'm explaining the situation to him really going and seeing different school districts in how they did it I brought that information back I talked to teachers in dist school districts that were already implementing it and asked them how they felt about it and what helped them get past the nervousness of possibly being um written up and things like that and I brought that back to our staff and spoke to them it was just developing relationships too the first thing I did before even starting that was I went in and I developed relationships with the admin this school itself's admin principles the teachers so they knew me well before I asked anything of them I think that's a big thing because if you start a relationship on a negative you will it'll be very hard to make it a positive on that one we also had a stop the bleed I was in cul and that some people were very nervous about stopp the bleed and put going Hands-On with things like that but we got everybody in the school district done without any push back at all because they saw how much work was going into it how much how much effort I put into it and my Zeal towards it really influenced them to really go up and Beyond to help themselves and it helped if anything happened outside school to their children they realize it would help their family members as well please describe the processes and considerations that you would use to maintain officer morale and to avoid burnout I think a lot of that comes with just like we were talking about mental health um you have a lot of practices that the nptc has really focused on this year um they were recommending um Rejuvenation rooms for I think there's a different term for it but um where every now and then you can go and you can sit down reflect have a cing room things like that um another thing is um making sure that people have all of the things they need and debrief after situations um I think a lot of people do better with talking some don't um but I think that's a a big issue with that one we need to foster a different style because there's other officers on duty including myself that we trudge on and we move on that's just how we've learned to do it and we need to be acknowledgeable or cognizant of that the new officer and different people deal with things differently we need to um give them the tools to be succeed whether that be a um sism which is the U someone that's on a police or fire department can come in and talk to us and be brief afterwards or at some point um maybe getting a consultant that's a licensed psychologist or something like that they can come in if they really need help and push that forward so we don't have a month or whatever of them sitting in fer and we really get them help they need things like that I think that would help a lot with burnout good can you provide an example of where you took the initiative to propose a new program modify a policy or practice or similar project and how you went about it I hate to harp on it but I'm going back to the school um I started that whole program from start to finish with lockdown to re reunification with parents um part of that was the go bag system that are in each room here and in every school classroom office space where Auditorium and such where during a lockdown or emergency there are life saving measures in each bag to get that's no worries and order to facilitate that I had to work with representative Biga to get grants we uh ended up getting $150,000 in Grants which went to go bags and updating every school's security system where now they can be seen in their remote from the police department where we can see everything outside which was the for us in emergencies we can see everything inside as well and it was a uh a lot of task I asked for a lot of help and it's funny you brought that and bring this up because I was thinking the other night driving around about uh my friend Jim Ash he passed away recently and he's the one that uh with the letters on that he worked for the school and he did it on his own time with nothing to expect on the go you satisfied with the results of both of those here how would you create consensus and shared purpose in a situation where all parties originally differed in opinion approach and objectives I think that comes down to really communicating and and giving your view but also respecting other people's view knowing that you can't be as arrogant to think that every way that you do things is the right way just because you don't get to that same spot the same way doesn't mean it's not correct and if you try to do everything yourself you're going to have very little cooperation I find I believe if you allow people to have their input come up with ideas and if it meets this the purpose that you want it to meet and people are good with it and you have input and cooperation go with it the needs of the officers the department as a whole and all other agencies must be met in a thorough and timely manner please explain your processing and organizational skills that will ensure an effective and timely response when faced with multiple concerns and deadlines well I think my organization is is fairly good um I'm in charge of the fto program I also in charge of the reserve and I have to do my patrol duties as well so that comunes with approving reports getting to the lieutenant reviewing dos things like that so it can be viewed I'm making recommendations being on the scene making decisions there as well you have to be able to divide and conquer on some things you can't just sit down think you're going to get everything done in one time because as soon as I sit down just like these past few nights I'm getting back up and going on the road because sometimes there's two officers me and one officer or there's three depending um recently we've had some people out with pregnancies and stuff like that so we were at full staff for a while and it was great I was doing supervisor stuff it was awesome and now I'm back on doing my normal Patrol duties with my other officers which is uh keeps me in check too um but I think it's just being able to to delegate some stuff as well and really get your tasks in prioritize I think prioritization is just a huge thing on that one and uh really keep a note or log of what you have to do I find the more you take on the less your brain can remember I never really got it until now I know how the chief feels are you a believer in Cross training to fill gaps and for succession planning absolutely um I believe we've kind of demonstrated that the current chief and the chief before we used to have one to two fir instructors now we have four that way I was out injured during one of our major upticks with um our new Pistols that we got and if it was me and one other person we couldn't have run that program so that's one of the things where I think we're really moving forward but there's other places that we need to do that with um that comes with computers it comes with um your drones it comes with um your dive team and everything like that but it's all about who we have for volunteers how much money we have assets and all you know becoming a drone operator No Easy Task you've got to become the FAA certified and things like that so you have to pick the right people and and it takes time but I think we're getting there slowly but surely yeah as a followup to that How would how do you think you might be able to expand those practices so you just have to develop a plan on um one is when the trains are available so we have to start out and selecting who has interest in it when we're going to um be able to get them into a class and once that happens um we got to look at um our staffing and things like that to make sure that we're not burdening our staff anymore because we don't want burnout because we're sending people everywhere and burdening everybody else just to get one thing when we have some people already so there's a lot of as aspects to that okay U before we get to the last part I do want to thank you for giving me the uh statement of qualifications to ease the select board's burden in reviewing applicants qualifications that how you meet the minimum preferred requirement for lieutenant position I I just wanted to call that one out my pleasure that was special thank you my mom always said I was special um that completes the question part of this deal are there any questions that you have for us or anything else that you'd like to add I don't have questions um there was one thing I was watching the other day and I don't know if anybody knows the author Shelby foot he's most notably known for the Civil War Trilogy that Ken a video on for PBS and um he said an author sees what he intended to put and what he has put on his books and I see what I intended to put and what I put on here and I realize that there's not everything about me is in here not everything that I am capable of is in here um but just say like everything else whatever I am chosen to do or am doing I will always do to the best of my ability for everyone great thank you very much hold on sir thank you I talk faster I have but one sheet of paper left I have one letter left alphabetic Sergeant Michael West cut I have to refer back I see that in my chair for the new official end for this uh it's on the agenda for later processing sir but he's getting quite good at this I heard he's taking his act on the road and doing it all over the Commonwealth sergeant like call you cheap or whatever that works Mike how are you welcome back you want sit in front of the wherever you'd like sir Spotlight yeah to sit in the phone you could sit wherever you want sir all right you're not very decisive no I am it's good Sergeant how are you tonight good sir you ready I am okay we have like 11 questions for you that's good and then you'll have ample opportunity to ask any questions of us or add anything that you'd like to add that you felt that we missed um or make any other statements that you'd like to make sounds good you ready to go yes sir all right Mrs Gail okay how have you prepared yourself to become a leader in the Southwick Police Department so since I started with the Police Department actually even before that I started with the uh fire department I was there for 10 years um worked through stuff there came over to the police department work my way up to the Sergeant's position um always taking on extra roles between the K9 dive team medical um fto field training officer it's always been adding up um I went back to school I just completed as of Thursday I completed my master's degrees in public administration congrats so that was all accepted Thursday I'll have the paperwork I got a letter today for you EXC from the uh School saying that I'll have the actual diploma um and that's with a tract of Criminal Justice Administration um so it's always been furthering my education doing whatever I could to go to the next step can I ask a followup sure why did you leave the fire department to come to the police department they weren't fulltime back then so I've always kind of wanted to go police um back in high school I did a uh wasn't in internship it was a week-long program with the State Police Junior State Police Academy through the VFW I went there for a week and ever since ever since I know I've always wanted to be a cop um the fire department was nice got me that kind of that side step and work my way to here perfect thanks thank you what are two faults or weaknesses in your current administrative duties and how will you work to improve on those so I think one of the biggest faults I have right now is I wear a lot of hats so I'm divided quite a bit between K9 dive team medical being on the road as a supervisor um trying to balance all that the great thing about it is working with the younger guys the upand cominging people of the department they are ready to take over those positions and my training and experience in them can really benefit me in helping them take over my roles that I've had um another weakness is I try to make everybody happy um and as a supervisor sometimes you just can't make people happy and you got to go with what what has to be done and uh I've been working on that quite a bit and if you have to speak up you have to speak up and tell them what you expect what was your greatest failure and what did you learn from the experience greatest failure um that's a tough one greatest that's one you gotta think about um a recent one was there was a young man on the department um and I didn't approach him how I should so even with my kids I'm very this is what it is you know this paper is not good we have to rewrite it I should have taken softer approach with him um I pretty much said hey you know we need to go back through this report but I told him it was not good and it instantly he shut down and it was very hard to get back to him and talk to him like Hey this is why it's not good um and I think that put a little wedge between us for a while we got over it and I think he sees my side of it and I see his but I think just how I approached him was a failure on my part not recognizing that he needs a different approach to another guy I think that's a recent one that I've had what are the excuse me what are three of the most important values that you demonstrate as a leader and please provide examples of each of these in practice um compassion um Family First and just honesty um compassion you do what you can to help not only the people you're working for but the people you're working with but the people out in the community um so you got to do what whatever you can even if it's a burden on you um we me and my family have Tak taking somebody in in hard times and it was great I met the person through or met the child through work at a tough call and we were able to take them in um that's compassion family is important above anything else if guy needs help with his family or whatever's going on you got to go help them um and they know that all my guys know that that family comes first if you got something going on at home take care of that first because it's going to bleed over to work and everything's got to be good um was see I said honesty so if if you're not honest in this job you don't need to be in the job you have to be able to back up everything you do and everything you say um without honesty and integrity you you don't belong in police work so I'll never stretch anything I'll never go beyond what actually happened please describe the role of technology in law enforcement technology is huge um and it's not just like all the bells and whistles stuff stuff um simply our computer systems um we're getting better but a lot of times our guys get frustrated with just our just our equipment that we have just the basic equipment is lacking um it's just that little frustration just builds and builds and builds um some of our computers take forever to log in and then you have to log into four different accounts to get one thing done um so even just the small stuff builds up but other technology we would love to get plate readers uh try to get keps these stolen cars coming through get a heads up on them um helps us identify things if we have an issue some of the systems we looked at um like the flock camera is great but it's really expensive we just found another one at the last show we went to that kind of does what flock does if we have a major incident and we need to look for a red car we can get this camera system and just type in red cars with bumper stickers and it'll filter out all of the traffic and now we can identify that red car and hopefully get a plate or anything else um we just found a system that does that for Fairly cheap money and it's something that we may be able to write a grant for so that's what I'm kind of that's an angle I would love to play um try to do a Homeland Security Grant I've talked to the homeland security director on it and as long as we get a couple other towns to write in with it I could probably write something in the next Grant cycle to get us each each town a couple systems and go from there as a leader in the police department you must often build support for goals and projects describe a situation that demonstrated your ability to build the necessary support so like one of my things is the medical Department we've always been able to work together and improve keep improving on it we started with hey I had this idea of getting quick clot I went to a tactical medical class and then we were able to bring in we got our hands on a a package of it we were able to reach out and go to Noble hospital and get approval by our ER Doc and actually get it written up so that we could start using it um quick clot is for like stopping bleeds turn kits that kind of stuff but the quick clot is actually packing the wound so to get that implemented we had to go through I had to jump through a bunch of steps I went to the training we brought it back through the department and then we had to get approval through medical control to get it back in we've always worked on improving medical um and that's one of the big projects Mike Bridges is my assistant in it now he is more than capable of taking it over um but he's worked with me quite a bit to bring more upto-date medical equipment and scenarios to training and put it out in the field and the guys have really taken to the Tactical medical portion that we're offering now please describe the process processes and considerations that you would use to maintain officer morale and to avoid burnout so I think one of the biggest things that I would like to improve on is communication over everything that I have seen people complain about it's usually a game of telephone right now we have an open door policy which is great anybody can go to the lieutenant anybody can go to the Chief and ask them a question the only thing I see with that is that person comes back and gives their side of the story um what I would love to do is what the fire department does they have a group huddle where one of the Command Staff or both of the Command Staff every morning or each roll call goes down for five minutes hey what do you guys need how's it going today how's your family what's going on that I can help you with to improve your job so I think just that interaction will help morale will help everything because literally it all boils down to communication every gripe that I've got a little book of gripes that I call it every time I get a gripe I write it down in my cruiser every one of them comes down to communication it's something that a guy misconstrued or was brought back from somebody else and they can't believe why this is being done and instead of just taking care of it it just festers and where if we could just go down and talk to him it'd be a lot better off can you provide an example where you took the initiative to propose a new program modify a policy or practice or a similar project and how you went about it so for our dive team um one of our biggest problems is our Lake you can't see anything when you dive in it they're not the best not the most Pleasant thing to dive in um we always have to call in somebody else for Sid scan and imaging Imaging so that we know where to dive to locate any victims or anything else underwater um what I did is research different grants I wrote a grant through Homeland Security and was able to get a $60,000 ROV unit that does sid scan it videos everything it's got lights it's got everything so now we can help us and help communities around here um we got a small team that works it and anytime there's an issue we get the team out and we can go out and assist other towns and ourselves and locating any victims how would you create consensus and shared purpose in a situation where all parties originally differed in opinion approach and objectives so law enforcement isn't a democracy unfortunately um someone's got to take charge but you have to consider all sides um so depending on what it is you have to see where each person's coming from and if you're talking within the department you have to talk to each of your guys see where they're coming from what they need and honestly we all work together very well once we see each other's side we can work we can work it together very well we do this a lot on the street a lot of our domestic calls a lot of everything else we're literally they're being peacekeepers we're talking to both sides and trying to find Common Ground that's all we do all day long 90% of the time the needs of the officers the department as a whole and all other agencies must be met in a thorough and timely manner please explain your processing and organizational skills that will ensure an effective and timely response when faced with multiple concerns and deadlines so that's the biggest thing right now like I said I juggle a lot and I get it all done being able to narrow that down um into just focus on we have our training we have all the Lieutenant's responsibilities being able to bring that all together um the thing that Rett uses the programs that he uses is great the calendar invites so that everything gets charted I think we can use that quite a bit and really chart everything down and put it together um it's just everyday work you can get it [Music] done are you a believer in Cross training to fill gaps and for succession planning yeah cross training is huge everybody right now we have groups of guys that wear multiple hats and we've got a whole new crew of younger guys we everybody should get something um we have to find their strengths their weaknesses build on their weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths um all of our guys have a lot of potential they have a lot of desire and we can easily we can easily train them up to what they want I know the chief and the lieutenant put on a email not too long ago asking what everybody wants to do we can follow up on that list and really start narrowing down and getting people into those programs even if they're just backups for now because eventually those backups take over okay that's all 11 was that the fastest I don't know I have to check with my timee keeper do you have any questions for us or anything that you'd like to add so I wrote it's only like six pages long so it should only take like 10 minutes we still got time on you I think I'm just kidding that's been done before I know take your time I began my service to this town and its residence in 1999 when I became a volunteer firefighter in EMT I served in that role for over 10 years before as they call it I switched to the dark side those years of service on the fire department gives me a unique perspective on responding to calls and planning for major events helping with the coordination and collaboration between agencies in 2006 I began my work with the police department and became a sergeant in September of 2019 as a p Patrol Sergeant on the road I have direct supervision responding with the men and women of this department to calls this direct interaction with the officers has given me a different perspective as a supervisor and has also shown them how I respond and expect responses to calls on top of working Patrol I have always taken an extra responsibility within the department I am currently in charge of the medical program K9 program and dive team I'm an fto and an instructor these positions have given me a look into the budgeting procuring and management of department personnel and Equipment through the K9 program and dive team I have traveled throughout western Mass and Beyond I have responded to and worked major incidents and operations and have networked with multiple agencies including State local and federal I have also been able to offset the cost of these programs through Grant writing to date I have written or been a part of writing grants totaling over $200,000 um much of which came through Homeland Security with my experience in these roles and working with the upand cominging officers of this department I am confident in the officers who are ready to take over these positions and it gives me great experience to support them in their new roles I have also served the officers of the department as a former president of the Union thankfully I found people to take that over and currently I am the president of the Association as a union president I was involved in Union negotiations which gave me a behind the scenes look into the interactions between the town and the union it also gave me a a view of how officer complaints and recognitions are identified and investigated by the lieutenant as the assoc association president I am working on bringing the department members closer together last year we started the kids Christmas party in conjunction with the fire department and this year I'm hoping to start a yearly picnic at the end of the summer for everybody to enjoy while doing all this I was able as of last Thursday to officially complete my master's degree in public administration with a concentration in criminal justice Administration um thank you for taking the time to interview me and the other candidates and I look forward to hearing your decisions copies the anything else you wish to add that's it well thank you very much you did an excellent job and congratulations on that degree thank you lot of work okay I'm going to propose we take a five minute recess and come back and we can get the whole whole pan back together in five minutes e e e e e e e e e okay we're coming back first thing is we're going to acknowledge payables warrant number 24 27b dated 513 2024 in the amount of $435,500 40 and acknowledge uh and we're going to table the minutes from 5:13 and exact session from 5:16 and 522 until our next meeting uh with no objection if there none none okay okay next order of business is to ratify the agreement with Nicole Parker as chief administrative officer for fiscal year 25 to 27 and approve a three-year appointment through June 30th of 2027 um and subject to uh final review by labor attorney I believe the start date would be June 17th I need a motion please I'll make the motion second it's a roll call vote please Doug mogin yes Jason clone yes than G okay um we didn't really have a meeting in Open Session to discuss this so um we're going to designate one select board member for an economic incentive project um I have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow and then after that meeting I can report back to the board and we can if necessary designate one of the select board members to work on that project it is not a some ginormous industrial project before uh it gets out of control just okay so do we need to I well I kind of designated myself because I took a meeting for objection so no objection okay uh and then as is customary after elections the board typically reorganizes itself so at we are at that part of the agenda right now um so at this point I'd entertain a motion to uh select or appoint a chairperson to the select board for the coming year I will make a motion to elect Jason as the chair I will second the motion roll call vote Doug mowan yes I'm gonna abstain Dian gaale I okay uh it was also customary for folks to move their chairs around if you'd like to do that we can Mr chairman we can just hang for today we don't have to play musical chairs right now okay the agenda is yours agenda is mine all right so I guess now we have to assign select with members to Capcom LEC and the other duties uh Mr chairman we have to elect a vice chair oh I'm sorry um I guess we need to entertain a motion to elect a vice chair I'd like to nominate Diane gaale as Vice chair of the select board and I will second that motion roll call VT Jason Peron I uh Doug I DK I and I guess now we need to make a motion to appoint the clerk of the select board I'll make a motion to appoint Doug are you wearing that shirt underneath no I not I will so second that motion roll call vote Jason Peron I thank Doug m i all right signatures delegation for payroll and payables Wars well now we're on the capc oh I'm sorry assign select board members Capcom lapc and other duties so Mr Mogan I'd like to make a motion to keep you in Capcom second roll call vote Officer Jason I the other hat the other job than go I Doug M and I um we need a motion to appoint someone to LC do you want to continue in that role I will gladly continue on that role I'll second that no you have I'll make that motion I get to second them now you get to second now this will take a while and roll call vote Jason Peron I thank ell Doug Mogan I and what other duties were on that list usually is there a list I know in the past like liaison like the PD and stuff like that like it's Public Safety was it can someone check that from last time around I know there's been other ones yeah popped out so so see so next we need to Warrant signatures for delegation for payroll and payables ODS do nominate the chair to sign the payables warrants yes I'll nominate Jason to sign the payable warrants and the payroll warrant and the payroll warrants second and I'm just going to abstain so no call vote Jason Fon abstain thank Ali Doug Mo I all right authorized chair to handle year end Municipal modernization act transfers between line items and fincom reserve request through 6:30 2024 need a motion um we have to go back to one in a second then so I will Author I will make a motion to authorize the chair to handle Municipal modernization at transfers and income requests for through 63024 second roll call vote Jason Obin van G Doug Mogan I now we need to authorize chair CAO for hiring approvals and all other Personnel actions below department head level a motion I'll make that motion Doug M second roll call vote Jason Peron andain dang Doug Mogan I we need to acknowledge the police fire review of White Street safety for continuous no parking science Chief any sort of update on that I did notice that it's not 10 inches to 14 inches oh tyo sorry about that but this has been reviewed some Doc space down there and uh the road um if you're all fairly familiar with is extremely narrow and doesn't really allow for on street parking um fire chief also went down assessed it there are some parking signs right as you transition onto the beginning of uh White Street but they don't continue I'm not sure why that happened at any point in time it should have just been something all the way down to the end of the road there is no exit so uh we're requesting the board to um support for public safety reasons uh you know no on street parking at all um to to the end and uh I spoke with the highway uh superintendent um Brown who you know they'll they'll do the rest if if this is something that you guys would support does anybody like talk to the residents is it going cause any sort of problems or anything like that a lot of them actually would um would like it I mean they understand that it probably would create a hardship at times when they have guests there is some places that you still can park but um I think also with the additional uh population that are utilizing the docks down there it's going potentially could create an on street parking issue so we're trying to get ahead of it looks like they all have pretty decent length driveways the residents there yeah some sort of property continues to this side of the street it does bring up a concern conservation wise you know when you start parking the cars on that that close to the water's edge like some do um I you know that's just something uh you know conservation is going to have to address that becomes an issue but right now we're dealing with the street well this car was parked illegally on the street too I know I had it toad I had to walk back too it was for illustrative purposes he was sitting in it you just can't see I see it was idling I have no problem with it I and none either is a vote necessary as Road Commissioners or or is this just think we're just I think it would be an agreement I mean um may not hurt to have that on record well I would entertain a motion as Road Commissioners to approve the no parking signs on White Street I'll make that motion I'll second the motion roll call vote Jason perone I Doug m i all right so we need to next approve the handen county sheriff's department Marine unit members to be added as Southwick Reserve police officers in accordance with the mo MOA between the town of Southwick and the hamen County Sheriff's Office see attach lifts of officers there nothing particular just housekeeping just to keep up our current agreement that we started a few years ago with the Marine unit to uh help uh on the lake to fill some the voids that we you know because of Staffing that we have problems with and they certainly want to keep doing that yes I see them out there quite a bit so I would entertain a motion to approve the hon County uh Marine unit members to added to the reserve police force we make that motion I believe you have to read their names Mr chairman okay all right so we're going to approve the addition of Sean Hemingway Jeffrey anger Nicole Sadi John P Harry Hill Anthony Aken Mark G John mcaro Crystal Sanchez Richard patri Hector Perez Shan mcleland jerck kopco Peter sackrider Christopher Grimshaw Ross hanky Andrew porer William Kennedy Tor Sullivan Joe Assad and Marcus Edmund and now entertain that motion I'll make that motion Doug Mogan will second a motion roll call vote Jason Peron I Doug Mogan I so next we need to approve the request for Robert dandis and Jeremiah Cain to be considered for appointment as Traffic Control Officers tcos effective July 1st 2024 I have no problem with that oncoming Chief B I did actually submit a addendum to that today status change for chief L from uh his original intent of the TCO to becoming a reserve instead Jeremiah K would say the trafficing fall traffic he's aging out right yes so there will be a new one next week we'll do it without or do it now you can make two motions all right we will make the motion to approve uh Chief L Chief Landis as a Reserve officer for the uh uh oncoming Chief vanishes request once we actually see it I'll make I'll make that motion I'm gladly second a motion uh Jason Peron roll call vote I Dan I Doug moan I and we would like I'd like to entertain a motion to appoint jeremi Kane as a trative traffic control officer effective July 1st 2024 make that motion Second Jason phone roll call vote i d i Doug moan I congratulations thank you sir I think it starts now I didn't say the date July 1 he has he has other obligations until then we'll see thank you for catching that Mr Dei next we need to approve the request for sergeant Paul a miles to be appointed as a Reserve officer effective June 9th 2024 I make that motion gladly second the motion roll call vote Jason Peron I I Doug Mogan I we need to acknowledge when approve the chair to sign the cdbg grant extension um do we need to do anything where your name is on you you could designate the clerk to sign okay because my name's already PR printed on it that's G to happen for a couple of months so we need to acknowledge and approve the chair but we actually going to have the uh I'm going to make a motion to have the clerk sign this second roll call vote Jason Peron I I Doug sign same thank so we need to I'm going to make a motion to have the clerk uh sign off on the chair or excuse me sign off pvpc agreement between the town of south lake for the fiscal year 2022 2023 a lord make that motion second roll call vote Jason perone I than Ian next we need to approve the deposit of a $10 cash donation into the library gift account I would entertain El motion made second roll call vote Jason Peron I Dan G Doug Mo next we need to approve the hiring of Mayor mayor alos I got so here and there so um but then get Tain a motion to approve the hiring of yes mayor May Alo or alos whichever it actually is um to fill the temporary summer library page position for 18 hours and start date the last week of June I'll make that motion second roll call vote Jason Peron i d Doug moan I next we need to approve the promo ad for the graduating class of 2024 to be published in June 15th Edition of the Westfield news for $80 to come out of the select board gift account I know this is a thing that we normally do so um I would entertain a motion I'll make the motion second roll call vote Jason Peron I I Doug Mogan I all right approve waving the fees for RDA and signed permit for 49 South longard Road to have the three TRS removed from the shoreline for Conservation Commission and those are the those TW trees and question that have we've been talking about for a year or more um and they were a topic of a media story this week so today yeah Mr chairman this has been gone back and forth between uh police chief the harbor master myself this board um and various iterations of the Conservation Commission over the last couple of years uh And discussing this with uh miss poer a week or two ago um the conservation was kind of hanging their hat on who owns the land or who's responsible for it under the deed it's the people of the town of Southwick um certainly the select board are indeed members of that class and they felt the Conservation Commission felt it would be a conflict for them to actually submit an RDA to themselves so therefore the select board is going to I'm uh suggesting that the select board be the applicant for the RDA itself in order to continue this on behalf of the residents of the town of Southwick to put this in front of conservation to um take the next step to having those um unwell trees uh taken care of and this is to wave the feas and they are going to wave the fees because the town itself being an a well I will make a motion to wave the fees on that RDA for the train removal and submit this to the Conservation Commission correct and sign the permit yes I'll second that motion roll call vote Jason Fon I I Doug Mogan I next we need to approve and sign the Commonwealth of Massachusetts DCR grant for the hydrilla project grant for the Lakes Mr movan I'm going to make a motion that uh you sign off on this since you're on this one as well I'll entertain that motion am I on this one again uh only no mind email contact manager motion for the chair to sign second roll call vote Jason Peron I than Doug Mogan I is this the um do we have the official on somewhere it's on it's on the counter this is for the hydrilla right yeah and this is a Federal grant coming through the Commonwealth I believe see all right so last action item is we need to approve the Southwick Animal Control shelter donations for 12200 $ from here D Cormier Weathersfield Connecticut for $25 a defo Westfield Mass $25 A and S Fairley Southwick Mass $50 D and G ganel Westerly Rhode Island 50 g Keon Sarasota Florida $500 R Kramer Feeding Hills m $100 e levit souck Mass $100 C and D Pacha orlandoo Florida 100 L and T Stapleton Southwick Mass 100 e samansky Enfield Connecticut $50 and SNJ vmar Southwick Mass $100 make a motion to approve those donations Doug Mogan second all call vote Jason Peron I I Doug I so new business so new business we need to approve the application for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of water resources for cyber security improvements in the amount of $27,700 is around here somewhere right online question on this there are two in our folder with two different amounts but the application appears to be the same application just two different amounts and the one on the counter to be signed is is the May 14th yeah Mr Brown's on it's the uh the $227,000 item that's that's so this is the higher of the two okay 25 is on the counter though Jason okay thank you Randy Randy just want to give an update on what this actually is in case people are interested yeah I don't want to go into too much detail for security reasons but we do have some equipment that is at its end of life and through this grant we're looking to replace that equipment through this cyber security Improvement Grant with MP and I would entertain a motion to approve the application for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau cyber security improvements in the amount of $ 27,7 6510 I'll make that motion Doug Mogan second scoll call vote Jason Peron i d i Doug Mogan I next we need to approve the fiscal year 25 transfer station sticker rates can I ask one cleck question regarding that cyber security Grant yes sir there is a space for one person assign would that be the chair or Mr mlan I guess that's going to be me now since I'm there so this one's on this one is not on the counter right now the 25 is on the counter all right so back to approving the fiscal year 25 transfer station sticker rates raising fees I mean it's pretty cut and dry Randy I mean c went up yeah I gave you a little synopsis of the revenue and expenses for the past it looks like eight years or so uh last year there was a fairly substantial increase in the rates that was primarily due to an increase in our a new trash contract um so they're every year they you know if you're looking at this trans the solid waste division as a whole you know we run in a deficit and that deficit covered by the by the general fund so the question I usually have for the board is you know what what would you would you like to see that deficit reduced uh and if not then this year you know we can expect to see maybe a 5% increase in rates uh but if you would like to further reduce that deficit then you should discuss uh a bigger increase in the rates I can't reduce them both I I have a suggestion I'm all yours at 5% the regular fee would be $168 I would propose just going to 170 a flat amount 170 and I would like to see the senior rat stay at $95 did you do the math no no no I just would like to see the senior rate stay at that it is currently a 40% discount that would make it a 44% discount believe it where it is over the regular race we would see oh sorry go ahead yeah sorry and I would propose changing some of the one time special Fe as well looking at some other towns um the large item permits um televisions and monitors we currently have 20 based on other towns that go up to $50 large TVs $50 I'd say 35 based on other towns mattresses and box springs 30 refrigerators freezers dehumidifiers they are in the $30 to $40 range I'm sorry to $50 range and I would make that 40 propane tanks $10 based on the neighbors neighbors who do not have a town trash pickup and tires uh many of the other towns do truck tires at a higher rate so I would propose 10 for passenger and 20 for trucks and larger I did not do the math because I don't know how many of that is but but the one off bees could help that was the one thing that came to my mind when I saw that and that can help keep the seniors where they are perhaps we sell uh just so we sell more senior stickers than we do regular stickers each year we sell about 1,200 senior stickers and maybe 9900 to a th000 regular stickers a year uh as far as those large item permits go the cost that we have in there basically cover our cost um so if the mattresses cost $25 if our if our fees $2 that's the cost of the town is $25 that's how they're all set up I would still raise them based on the going rate in other towns if it were me that's my suggestion Randy we don't I I know it's quite crazy to ask but we don't have any sort of estimate on any of these tele I mean I know it's going to vary so so there's no way to really tell on that one I don't in front of me I don't have the number of permits that we sell on each of these categories yeah the you know the TV at $35 is still less than if you take it to the place in Westfield it's $45 minimum there to dump a TV I know I've done it a number of times is this something that we could table and some more background on and get your numbers down where you make a decision I kind of would want to get just to play with the numbers so we know what they are he's Randy how when do you need to have those rates set so you can have your everything ready at the clerk's office because July 1st is not that far away I was hoping to have these set tonight so we can start selling next week I was thinking but our next meeting is third right what people want want to start buying stickers July 1 technically right yeah I was just looking at mine as pulling the dump this weekend um Mr chairman I don't have a big issue with any of it the only thing I I would be really careful with tires because those tend to end up in the wrong places at the wrong time if you make the prices uh you know prohibitive and a lot of this stuff to be honest with you but um yeah I mean that's that's probably you know the reason why some of these prices are where they are we just went up on tires last year so I think we were charging $4 per tire a year ago and then we just went up to the the $10 Tire last year Randy we don't get anything back for like when we recycle the TVs and all that stuff that's straight it costs us there's no recycling on any of that stuff there's a there's a per ton fee it's a per ton fee on all these items our tires are per each we do um tires we do it was more for convenience purposes the large and the small tires um sometimes people go online and they'll they'll pay for I could could see someone trying to pay for a small Tire online but then they bring a large Tire to the facility um I I wouldn't hassle over the tires I would leave it at 10 if you buy into the rest I have no problem making the change I'm just I'm just like I said they're set up to to cover our expenses nothing more nothing less but entirely in totality it runs at a deficit total yeah yeah if you take everything else out yeah yeah these these are our vendor costs I'd second in their motion no I I I think you're fine I'd second in the motion and I'd leave this sticker alone you want to leave the tires leave the tires at all the others as so TVs monitors 35 don't to make this in a formal motion then sure okay you said leave the senior rate you agreed at what it is okay so annual sticker fee I'll make a motion to have the annual sticker fee be $170 senior rate stays at $95 televisions and monitors $35 mattresses and box springs $35 refrigerators freezers dehumidifiers $40 propane tanks $10 and the rest remaining as they AR second roll call vote Jason Peron I Dan Doug m i oh Mr chair do you mind if I say something real quick absolutely go ahead uh not to um go backwards here but uh the White Street discussion about the traffic signs I'm pretty certain that requires a public hearing have to do a newspaper for no parking signes my research is that yes and I need to schedule public hearing fantastic he uh next me theule probably gota let him let the CEO and acting CEO figure out statutorily how long it's got to run in the paper and all that stuff I believe it's two weeks I guess we're carry that under old business cable the uh that right the parking signs and get that figured out once we need a public hearing thank you Randy all right so now we're on through old business so this one I was excited about he we're going acknowledge that we filed the mass dpu for the South Lake Municipal electric aggregation program so it is now filed with the state um and now it's just a matter of going through the proper channels out in Boston getting kicked back to us and then the plan can get up and running hopefully they're saying maybe September October so that's that um I know you were kind of work in the South Pond Four Seasons things a lot um just an update they had discussed this briefly at the last Conservation Commission meeting um most of the commission I think there was a an email sent well right um most of them didn't see where this was under their jurisdiction to have another site visit and dispute the state line as as we discussed as well you got to have it surveyed um so I I don't know where we want to go with it there was one member who said he could go if we decided we were going to have another field trip but I I don't know what we're going to be able to do I mean I read all the different red Brownstone this and granite this and that everything seems to line up but I you know this seems to be kind of a a back and forth between everything here um yeah I I mentioned it's I don't think it's our jurisdiction to um have a battle over the state lining either so if I may as the police chief and Public Safety concern of that location because I've seen it from both sides it might be and you're familiar with it as well um I think what's important here being that it is a state line Our concern is jurisdictionally where are when we respond to a call there um so I think it's important to truly know find out where that state line Falls just for that reason alone how it affects the beaches there after that then there'll something there'll be a Fallout um I think it's important for um M Mr molan and Jon as well to put some eyes on it to truly understand what we're looking at so I think a site visit for with the four of us would be worthwhile and even the first selectman again because he was familiar with the project that happened when uh they were looking at put that dra I actually have to make contact with him about the lpp thing anyway so could take long but I think it'd be good to actually be there yeah I if you want to get a date from him when you contact I'll reach out to Mr Mo and figure something out um I know Mrs jury's not back in the country until June 1st or something anyway yeah and I don't think she needs to be involved with I don't know this part of it anyways just gonna move over here well shifting gears suddenly um I had the opportunity the great opportunity to meet with each of you one onone and thank you again for all that time you spent with me is very helpful and then these questions puts a different light on it and how answered them I think I have I I don't want to delay the decision but I think I have a little more digesting to do on this and evaluate the whole picture now so unless you're ready to debate with me your picks um I mean I can no it's a lot to take in I want to go through the notes again and I'll and watch the videos of the interview again and um I think I'd be in a much better place for a little more difficult two at a time to to weigh in contrast so I know you sweated through it today but look they all had to go home and change except for sergeant [Laughter] tager and Sergeant Westcott sorry so um I think I would appreciate just a a t more time to do that final next agenda yeah covered yes next Tuesday all right next Monday next Monday okay see you all then all right thanks all right COA director internal and external postings done interviews and Next Step um so the chief and I have identified some candidates um we were hoping to possibly do a phone screen or a zoom call with each of them assuming they're interested before we moved anyone forward but that's up to how many applicants did we get there was quite a few of them um I would say at least 30 oh my goodness um not not all of them had screen some of them out yeah not all of them had the required qualifications you got a few phone calls to make then I would like to make some phone calls and see she's still interested and and then even um just get a feel for I would have no problem with that and who does the next interviews you no does the COA also are they are they joint interviews with the ca or we do you're the appointing authority okay you certainly can okay involve them in whatever level you'd like all right so that's carrying on [Music] okay alphabet sou the hsic highspeed internet committee intermunicipal agreement for the W Westfield Gas and Electric for all right the ISP I don't I got the other ones internet service provider okay agreement signed by select board next step for process awaiting Town Council recommendation process to activate the Municipal Light plant board uh Mr chairman since we kind of went right through new business to Old business um I'll take this opportunity I was informed this afternoon that the town was granted a $250,000 uh grant for the municipal fiber portion of this thing so that's an additional uh money coming in that'll help interc connect Town buildings and town facilities pump stations um sewer pump stations the town beach Wally park the boat ramps and all of our Municipal builds including the library um the schools in the cemetery we had applied for a total Grant in uh in cooperation with the Southwick tall in Granville Regional School District um but they only granted it to us as the town of Southwick so but $250,000 that's a a great addition to the project sure yes it is and we'll go back to the other topic so I'm GNA double back since Mr Mogan informed me that I skipped over that to um new business from anyone on the board here so Diane I don't have any new business there was enough here m m I shot my shot that was it right nen anything no I have no so now we'll go back to marijuana dispensary under the old business and dates to remember okay dates to remember 67 deadline um been going back and forth with a couple of very interested applicants this past week over the holiday weekend at midnight um so has been Cole got him involved and at midnight o I can't imagine emails emails trading emails um and just ring a couple of questions with the planning board and coordinating things so moving along some very active applicants very good so we Mass General the 6161 a 61b WR of first refusal policy review we have a joint meeting on the TW June 2024 have we come up with an actual date on that I don't know I wasn't scheduling it I I think saying not I think we're waiting to hear back from other boards what their available dates were was the last I knew okay so reach out to that needs to be firmed up um Mr sheal Mr the T-Mobile Hometown grants application review authoriz Pursuit have we had a chance to talk to Mr she yet it did and he mentioned uh to me something I meeting with him tomorrow as well but we had he mentioned something I thought we were talking about a canopy then you somebody else thought were talking about Wi-Fi it's the wifi it's the Wi-Fi y all right I'll follow up with him tomorrow basically we're looking for uh all I really need is a what it would cost to set that up as far as interior and I'm not sure if you're the corporation that is over there yeah um does that type of install stuff or um but I just need that that data to slot into there so I can finish up this rant application and then just get the interested parties to sign off I need five tenal members different groups and whatnot so gotcha that's all I need on that one um so select master plan implementation subcommittee members we'll get to that for the um next meeting no probably even after that when we get to the appointments because that should be we just mentioned to have that on the group and I do have to tie off with Mr dowy to to close that out we're so close okay propos plan to incorporate buildings and grounds Department under DPW were you working on that well we had we made it was a kind of a a general idea that I brought forth we had one take on it from the DPW director and we've had some discussion about it and then we had a presentation that our I don't know if it was two or three meetings ago because we met a couple times but uh at our last public meeting where we you know we had the interim buildings and grounds director com and discuss it I think we should schedule some time in a in a future meeting that before 9:00 that uh as a board to kind of discuss how if and how we'd want to proceed on that with those departments here or that's it's up to the chair I mean i' like to get the input from the did we determine we need a legislative act or something I think eventually I think you could do it on on an interim basis but we would need a legislative act if you were to add another division essentially to to DPW if we can make that happen why don't we try and get them all here for the next meeting they who they that would be the DPW and the buildings and grounds and I don't think that that's it right now right and park and run I thought that was not in this it's part of the buildings and grounds cross cross and then we have parking W here as well I have no old business myself um the scale we do need to carry we we tabled the uh souin one day liquor licenses last time going need to pick that back up for June 2 before June 29th that's it um nope I one other sorry and before you know things get nearing the end on the lpp I just wanted to suggest that rather than a member on our Conservation Commission I think Suffield might want to create its own Lake management subcommittee to its own Conservation Commission they already have members on our Lake management that are the they are the segue maybe they need to recognize them on their side and and have them be that voice rather than members of our conservation it is matters that relate to that issue and it isn't then matters that relate to South Lumis Road street but isn't or isn't the fact the LMC is an advisory subcommittee to this board and we wanted subfield residents on it to get their take on it and thaton lake is a jurisdictional body of water in the Commonwealth it's not in Suffield curious what their appetite would be to do it what is the purpose of them being a member of our Conservation Commission what's their appetite for that the lake yeah I get it so no I I I get it I'm just thinking out loud because I think I think frankly there would be it would be more appropriate or it would be as appropriate to have some a leason to the subfield Conservation Commission because jurisdictional work to a wetland even though it's across the border could be impactful to the congan lake which is located in the commonweal versus the other way around um well it's a good discussion I mean there was and there was they still have not presented this uh until their June meeting so conservation yeah actually to their select board it got pushed back to this coming month um so I will be at whichever meeting they're going to put it on and I'll address some of these as well all right um that was it for me Mr M A couple things one U Mr chairman I just was perusing and was in our general mail tonight and there's the conservation minutes of May the 6 um a resident of Berkshire Avenue was opining why the select board members were discussing the lpp agreement with Suffield without representation of the Conservation Commission members at the meeting uh the reason I I just read that it caught my eye because the lpp is within the conser conservation's jurisdiction the agreement with the town of souvi to which you're now representing the the the town of Southwick along with some members of the conservation and the harbor m was merely a was a financial agreement between the the town of Suffield and the town of Southwick in order um to have the uh encourage compliance with the lpp itself residents of Suffield were always able to and and still can if they wish to uh sign up with the lpp and pay the fee themselves directly if they don't want to be involved with the agreement um that was a firstof its kind agreement between the town of Suffield and the town of Southwick to to bring uh much needed Revenue into the lpp exceeding any Revenue that had ever been generated from the town of subfield before and I believe it aided with compliance with lpp in general and I'm glad to see the successor agreement has additional monies in it but um I don't think we were doing anything the implication that it was somehow un toered I think is far off base and it certainly was our purview to create an intergovernmental agreement between uh Southwick and subfield it's a for that um I want to thank the legion the VFW uh the buildings and grounds um and Lisa Anderson for pivoting at the last moment when the weather uh became threatening yesterday it wasn't just the rain um I saw some conversation about this uh I personally would have gladly walked down College Highway in an absolute downpour uh to honor our veterans um but there was a forecast of significant uh lightning and um I for one would not want to have that blood on my hands and also in recognition of some of our veterans um who are not as young as spry as yourself so um I want to thank Lisa and Mr Anderson for coming down to town hall uh early in the morning yesterday and setting up the auditorium so that we're able to have that great event um honoring our veterans uh at Town Hall um when the weather turn and I I noticed that a lot of other towns surrounding towns also did the same um and I also want to congratulate the Southwick police and fire Association I heard you guys had a great event apologies I was out of town but I heard it was a great event and a good fundraiser for for the associations and glad the weather cooperated for that um and I talked about the we talked about the trees on North Pond and we talked about the grant for the municipal fiber so that's it for me sir I'll just congratulate Doug for being back on the select board as well yes congratulations Mr M thank you I think I am but one member as a chief land said you know you were maybe that I'm not sure how they did it chance of lightning within three miles you're you're off you're off the you're off the flight line so we did right so knew it was coming but we had it it was the right decision to make but she knew anything I'm good um believe we have to go into executive at 9: right we can go into exec any time soon all right that will be the end Mr Sure Mr Dei clarification so signing Authority tomorrow is we have a warrant for tomorrow morning to be signed the chairman has been designated to sign change oh payables Warren or a payroll or I saw it on I will hang on to tonight this say delegation pay and payable yeah it's both we did both every Tuesday or Wednesday you'll get a phone call all right Tuesday or Wednesday well I guess if we can go into executive session at any time that will be the end of the public session we will be going to Executive session and I will be looking for a motion to go into executive session pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21 subsections 2 and three and chapter 214 section 1B labor Council litigation matters and strategy for collective bargaining with police Union Coalition fire I a fpw non-union staff and clerk Union upcu executive session re mgl chapter 30A section 21 subsection 2 and 3 chapter 214 section 1B and exception number two move to go into executive session to conduct collective bargaining sessions but non union personnel and to not to bring conven an open session moves to go into executive session to conduct contract negotiations with unit Union personnel and to not reconvene an open session declare that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the body and to not reconvene an open session exception number three move to go into executive session discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and that the chair moved to go into executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel and to not to reconvene an open session move to go into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and that the chair declare that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the body and to not reconvene an con session regarding chapter 2114 section 1B A person shall have a right unreasonable against unreasonable substantial or serious interference with their privacy and the supremor court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce such right and in connection therewith to award damages I'll make a motion to go on Executive session second I'll second roll call vote Jason p i than