##VIDEO ID:xtEwoMtUrWs## good evening and welcome to the South select board meeting for Monday what oh start over again good evening and welcome to the town of Select board town of southw Select board meeting for Monday February 3rd 20225 6 pm here in the land use hearing um present with me this evening is myself Jason prone s board chair Vice chair gaale clerk Doug mlin CEO Nicole Parker and assistant ceao naen signon this meeting is being held in hybrid as well and if there's anybody who is going to be recording could they please make it known I'm gonna be recording okay sorry took a moment next item item to new Pledge of Allegiance um Mr Dei to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all next item of business is going to be item three public comments is there anyone in the audience that has any sort of public comment seeing none is there anyone on Zoom that has any public comment no only once right seeing none I move on to item number four new business we' like to acknowledge and approve the donation of $1,000 from the Francis P NAU living trusts in memory of Helen NAU to be deposited in the library's gift account motion to accept that donation in honor of Helen NATO second roll call vote Jason Peron I thank you I Doug M yes new business item under a new business Item B is going to be discussed the vote and state appointee for Southwick Housing Authority Housing Authority debah harra hello Deborah you sure iow me is it electrified no not to my knowledge there you go there you go I do not recall go ahead so we've had a a state appoin position on the Housing Authority that has been vacant since um I don't know at least five years ago um and I've been talking to Deb about some things that's going on with the housing authority and she was very interested in being appointed for that appointee position and um talking to our rep and senator they both said we would make the endorsement for a person um and we can send it to them and Nicole says we can just send it right on to the governor as well at the same time so okay um Deb sent us a heartfelt letter um with her intentions so you want to just say a couple of tell us well um I've been on various boards um since I moved here and the one that probably strikes me the most is being I was on the board of the food pantry but now I am also a person that helps out there and some of our clients um expressed a need for low-income housing and on a personal note my nephew who has Ms waited two years to get into to Depot and then uh after he left it took quite a while for someone else to move in and I know that was probably because they had to do maintenance but it seemed to me like five months was a long time so I really would like to see how I can help ensure that uh more housing becomes available once I coordinate with people and learn more about uh what the committee can do and what they can't do having been on the preservation committee I know that there is money in the budget for uh low-income housing and I'd like to move forward with that so any questions for me three Shore Road by the [Laughter] way no you I mean you said there's money in the CPC budget and one of the things that's come out in this state is housing and I know several people both from that I dealt with in my professional C capacity and as acquaintances of mine one young lady being has two children and she's waiting to possibly get into an emergency shelter because there's no no housing for her so um I'm all for it especially if we haven't had a representative having somebody in place might be able to get us some of the who knows how much we might have missed out on right right so I feel like this position can the elected housing author has their duties that they do routinely and I think that along with the master plan implementation committee and that housing plan Deb can be a great asset in moving some of those initiatives along yeah I think trying to think how long ago it was but it certainly within the last about 15 years for sure that they reorganized how that housing authority was composed right it used to be all elected plus a representative of the member resident member and then somehow it was reorganized where there was a governor appointee to that committee because we had someone whose term was ending and it overlapped with that appointment I remember who the first I think I remember who was the first governor appointee to that committee and then I think it has been vacant for a while but I remember at the time it was under I believe it was under the baker Administration so we had just reached out to Governor Baker's office in Springfield and couple letters and it was done um so probably the best bet is to go through the governor's office in Springfield to to do it I no harm in reaching out to Senator baliga and or representative baliga and Senator Mark I always promote him but representative B if there is just another it's like an like a recommendation letter but um it's truly their important their appointment obviously that should be a southfi resident but that's that's it um Deb I have tremendous respect for you I I would wholeheartedly support you to do it um but uh I think that's the process to go through um so whatever you know if the position's vacant we should certainly have someone on there and have a full compliment on that housing authority because it does have an important role to play and I think more frequent meetings would be good too they've been kind of sporadic so not that I love meetings that's not what I heard just kidding so next steps for me would be do we assume we would vote to approve our our recom approve our recommendation I don't I don't even know if we need to I mean we can but I don't know that it needs to vote of the board because it's a Governor's appointment so just write up an endorsement to end I would put that in a letter to the governor tomorrow with her letter and you know that the board recommends that this appointee happen y so if that's a motion I'll make that motion that we have that letter sent ASAP I'll second motion there you go call V Jason perone High Doug Mogan yes okay thank you and we'll see where it goes from there yes thank you for volunteering thank you I I forward he's working with you on it all right thanks guys have a great night you as well all right item C seasonal population estimate for abcc okay so with our licenses um every year you send back the forms and we don't have any seasonal but we do have some seasonal licenses so there's just um I think there's just some uh misinformation that we just need to clear up for the ABC and when and there's clearly a seasonal population right there are campgrounds there's the Lakes there's um all the recreation that happens during the warmer months of the year and when you have a seasonal population you are able to have more liquor licenses so for every 5,000 people you get one off- premise license um with a seasonal population you get to I just spoke with Ryan Walsh the licensing superviser from ABC on Friday and uh you get to allow you don't have a quota for off for on premise so somebody could have you know um like the disc golf they have a seasonal if we had 10 disc golf uh places then we could they could all have season yeah so there's no there's no quota there but there is a quota for uh which is a package store uh section 15 so um we need to determine how many residents or how many people we feel we have in the summer or in the warmer months um I was going to do a small calculation but it's basically a guesstimate in my last Town um we had one big complex that did Summer Weekend um it was actually owned by St Stan's lysium I don't know how you say that lium uh club and they did Pocas and things like that on Sundays and now they're doing Friday and Saturday night bands and they comp they um determined that there were 15,000 extra people so they get three extra licenses so that's kind of how you determine how many um seasonal expected in the month July 10th about to ask and it it it because they this form says July 10th of whatever year so that's expected as of July 10th Midsummer yeah um and it says it's an estimate it is an estimate because you never know from year to year what is the basis like is there a time frame I mean do somebody have to be well so the seasonal license is April 15th to November 30 that is the seasonal license so in the town that I was in there was a there were two there were no more all alcohol package stores but they did have beer and wine so we had three seasonal licenses and they two package stores each got a seasonal license where they could sell liquor from April 15th to November 30th and then they had to put it away so that was how the package store worked interesting yeah so I mean in in our the calculation you said for every 5,000 for a regular license 5,000 extra people that you see you know to come in so again like I said there were Sunday Pocas and there were Friday and Saturday night um bands in this outdoor um Pavilion not on like w Park kind of thing so the rotary right there however many people they get let me just just to follow that up then is that 500 people for 10 weeks is five 5,000 people or you mean no in all oh we don't think we come anywhere near that number but it says inre resident population not that's what I was what's the determinate once again I don't think they delve too deeply with that and the because the in the town that I was in that had the you know 15,000 extra residents in the summer was not was because of a you know a pavilion picnic Gathering so you know Lakes summer homes campgrounds I mean there's there's a there is a possibility that there's quite a few so what I would probably do is just kind of see how many campsites there are you know how many they hold it's definitely an estimate you know um how many on the weekends or weeks you know before just an estimate before we dive into that let me just ask a fundamental question are we not adequately served with the off- premise lenses that we have today and do we make it an adverse climate by adding more I mean if look at the um I guess it's the all alcohol off premise that we have today and then look at the beer and wines we have today we actually went to court on one that we that a previous administration did not support adding an an additional beer and wine nonseasonal because we felt that we were adequately served and the abcc upheld the appeal uh and that's not five six years ago now that's all local the ABC leaves it up to to the your to the local jurisdiction right but they the appeal processes to the state so then you still have to go to Boston and the appeals heard and they upheld our our finding but I guess my question is five well first of all 5,000 is a lot of people considering population is 10 so you'd have to add 50% of the population again in the summer um and I'm assuming there's a significant even giving into the fact that there may be a significant Snowbird population that vacate Southwick in the winter and comes back in the summer but they count Southwick as their residents but even if you gave gave that number away and then say okay those are increased in the summer I think you'd struggle to get to 5,000 even in 3,000 the one that I the one that I'm talking about has a has a year round residency of 12,000 people and this doesn't have anything to do with campgrounds there there are no overnight accommodations so they really did just kind of you know do this guesstimate to be able to have the extra licenses I think and are you adequately served very possibly um there there I think there's somebody in the audience right now who has a beer and wine who would like to have all alcohol when they can which would be seasonal um for their own profits I guess I don't I don't know that it's an issue I don't know that we would maybe um you know have the police weigh in um I I don't know I and this is why I'm bringing it because it's in our submitt that we that we um submit every year um we there aren't it doesn't say SE that we have any seasonal yet we have seasonal licenses so we have to figure out whether we have you know we're going to yes they're seasonal and you know we're our quota right now we are at quota so there are no more regular licenses to be given out right so we lost one yeah so so this is this is it I thought I would we lost one the one extra that we always have had we lost it apparently it was G yeah apparently they gave it back Y which one I don't know but it was a um Santa he had he had all or he had beer one it was it wasn't it was I don't know I just know that there wasn't extra which happens and the ABC is not in the business of coming and taking it away and making somebody close yeah yeah so and it also happened to me in a town and they were like you know you're your quota but we're not going to take it away from you when they when this restaurant closed and we had another one and they let us keep it um I don't think anybody used it but um that was a different story uh again I was just trying to clean this up for this for the year so now we know going in what are we going to sa for seasonal um you know I and at first I did think we didn't have any seasonals in the paper like in our submitt but we do have two seasonals uh through the ABC so and it's dis Golf and it's something another golf course I think so they're seasonal so what's your seasonal population so that's all I'm you know are is am I going to say 10,000 so we can keep our seasonals and be done with it and then we just submit that and and that's what you know that's how so again the on premises are unlimited there's no Cota but off premise package stores have quotas of 5,000 or for each so I can do some more I can you know I I know I was just bringing this to you for the first time and um I didn't talk to anybody about it as far as the season is there been a like a interest on the season I me I know there's someone who's inquiring about something else but we that this for another day um but like I guess Mr M said do we have a need for it right now is that is that kind of what you're saying I don't I don't I just asking out loud because I mean I just was thinking through I mean I know the seasonal the disc golf I remember and um Red Riding Hood used to have a seasonal but that's changed hands and I don't believe that they have they're maintaining it now and perhaps Edgewood think might be the other seasonal because they do close in the winter the other one stays open and has events and functions all winter so um they have an they have an all and so the all when you don't when you are at your quota the all becomes um very valuable so originally I had thought that everybody just had all because we didn't have a seasonal population but it is it turns out there are two seasonal licenses that are only the April 15th and November 30th think will we bees is a seasonal so just the two seasonals so golf so um I I'll look a minimum this would be filled out as two fives y to own up to what we do have for those M Veo could you state your name and address oh well fact 33al and just do me a favor please just make sure you're acknowledged by me all right sorry um so yes so it would that would be that would be 10 and that would also give the board the ability to give a beer and wine in all alcohol from April 15th to November 30th so that's that that's the you know other side of the coin so if you want to digest that and okay go ahead goe if you have a question in your experience the other town did not have uh hotels or anything didn't okay but I think it had just been historically for 20 years that way I mean the the Polish picnic's been there since the 50s so so I guess my question would be is the ones that are seasonal but not seasonal if they became seasonal does that free up though it would but what I when I was talking to Sean on Friday he said you know you want to get your Council involved and you want to also get these these places involved say disc golf had an all like and I mean all all all year not a seasonal which I thought he had um that since we have no more that becomes valuable to them to be able to sell um even though is it valuable to them if they're only open in the warm months is it even worth it to them do they care so those are conversations that we would have with somebody who had a season who is open seasonally but has an all-year license they're they are holding on to an all-year license um if they're only open say in the summer say it was like Louis be or somebody like that who would close on the lake they would close in the winter um and they had a full license that would be a conversation that we'd want to have with them to give them a seasonal and then we' be able to have a full to have another restaurant in town or something that's what happens when you're at your quota thank you that was one of the things like I said I know there's been an individual looking and could be beneficial who knows anything further Mr Mo uh just at the mass Municipal that governor in her of the speech talked about this exact thing um and returning control of Licensing and numbers of licenses to towns yeah uh I'm not a betting man but if I were I'd bet everything I had against just because the legislature will never let go of the that power they Relish in that power to to regulate that I don't know that it's power of the legislature or if it's really the places out east that are at their quotas that they sell these restaurants for millions of bucks because they selling it with a license and if they become unlimited then those they were worth nothing and then and then you have all the you know was in her last year is it is it in I didn't see it in this one she definitely mentioned it in her speace so I know it was in and he's like yeah again if he was Boston was the only one that managed to somehow get that you can and if you really if you really go up against it you can ask for a special act to increase the number and for some reason if I recall maybe now with Zantos being defunct and that license reverting without transferring we always were plus one of what we were supposed to have based on population and every other characteristic we had one ex I'll call it ra but yeah long it was an extra now if that's gone but you're write special legislation I did in a town I worked and try to go for special ledge for five so there were two restaurants that wanted to open and the council said why don't we just take take a few extra that we have and our rep came back and he's like they don't want to just give you licenses just to have so take you know ask for the ones that you're going to use the restaurants that going to open and then if you need more you'll have to come back we're not we're not going to give you three extra yet I think it's a balance you have to strike a very delicate balance right for especially in a town of our size and population and you look at the restaurants that we had that have been successful over the years that had a license um you know we don't have like a restaurant District right where people are this is not Northampton people are not coming here to Dy in particular they will come to Tuckers I'll say um from out of town but not not from Northampton far right um so you have to work that balance to not to M and also to maintain the value if you will of those licenses and the values of those businesses so as folks either decide to retire or sell the business that maintains some level of value um you have to be I think you have to walk and not dilute that um and just not get overrun with and you know from a you know from bars and and that kind of thing I think it's a you know I think we're adequately served with what we have I mean you can drive through town now at 10 o'clock at night and bars aren't open the way they used to be Co changed a lot it did right um used to be you drive through town at even 5: to 2 in the morning there' still be cars in the parking lots of some of the establishments you don't see that anymore the restaurant business has changed the the the beverage business or the bar business has changed so the age of our bar patrons has well maybe that has something to do with it too I don't know right and and and maybe young you know maybe younger people don't go to bars as much as they used to they rather go to a friend's house and and and have you know a beverage or something else over there I don't know I'm I'm not a a you're not in that POS that too I just don't study it as much I just you know personal observation and you know looking at you know the beer and wine think we have adequate service and I think from a package store point of view we also have our population in town is is adequately served in our town um but and if we have seasoning and we need to be reporting what we have for the seasonal we we had those and we allocated them to truly seasonal businesses the you know the dis golf was one um and I think edgewood's the other because they do shut down for the winter um and I don't know what southw country club used to have prior to it being developed um but it's good to you know those truly are and you know there were other places that they're they don't really adhere to their license to the letter of their license the hours of their operation or whatever and that's kind of been a reality also postco you know we we've gone through this discussion where various bars and and other establishments are not open on the hours on their license just because the business doesn't justify it and I'm not one to go say well we should take that license or do something with it it's just the reality of what it is right and through all of the towns that I've been in we give them the full days and and nights I from 8:00 a. to 2 am except for Sunday if they don't want to be open they don't have to be but if it's Mother's Day and you want to be open for breakfast and have mosis then you have that opportunity even though maybe you're not open on Sunday so you know to have them have that opportunity is what we've always done just yeah it used to be read the other way though in in in this town it was almost read like these are your hours you need to adhere to your hours and we've got of we've kind of gotten away from it and I think it's a fine to me it's okay yeah right there's no reason if if uh some place isn't open on Monday because they had two patrons all day and the place is going to go bust trying to keep their hours up just to comply with the license you know posted hours on the license is it's pointless well in the package doors the same way where they can be open from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. every day and besides Sunday at 10: nobody stays home until 11 o' like no package stores anymore really you can but mostly on Sundays they close at five you know so it's it's really the discretion of the business I mean we I never got to that level where we you know made them stay open it was really the opposite where like let's let them be open when they can make money whenever that is I'll come back before we have to send this in at the March I think very good all right item D discuss vote request for projected cost for stere at drive and dit Circle Randy on there top Center there he is yeah how we doing today can you hear me yes sir all right uh so I guess I can give you a little uh background here so I think you have three letters in front of you two of them from DPW and one from planning board uh so if you were following along with planning board last summer there were some uh I think the residents on sterett and do it had requested the road to be accepted um planning board held a hearing and out of that hearing um well they sent a letter recommending Road acceptance um as part of that process I submitted a letter which you have which was dated I think in October um anyways identifying kind of where the deficiencies are with the road so there's quite a bit of a history here um which I try to detail in the letter there was some efforts about 20 years ago to rectify those issues but they never got to came to fruition so in the meantime the roads lingered uh this whole through whole this whole period so now that the planning board has made a positive recommend a to accept the road um in conjunction with a letter that I submitted in October Nicole asked me to provide some numbers some cost behind those items that I think would be necessary to bring the road to uh acceptable standards so I did that in the January 25 letter so I I don't know where your thoughts are on this um Doug I'm sure you remember Robin rad this to me is a uh beat me to it sir kind of a a mirror image of that project Y where the road was built it really never came to conclusion with the developer uh there was some substandard issues that had to be addressed and the developer the bond was released you know there was no funds for the town to finish any of the work so it just kind of sat for years and and and decades really um so that's the same really situation here with sto drive and doood circle um so in Robin Road actually I've been here about 11 years now when one of my very first meetings was with Doug you're probably the chair of the planning board at the time all the residents came in and uh you know they wanted to have the road accepted and out of that the planning board made a positive recommendation I went to town meeting I got a voted it was accepted at town meeting um there were some funds that went along with that town meeting vote not for the let say the road repair project not Road repairs but more for the kind of the legal paperwork that need to be done to accept the road you know Grant uh accepting the easements um RightWay plan uh AST plan things along that nature so if the I kind of see this kind of following the same path as Robin Road um at the time you know a residents you know the road was in very poor condition you know worse than than their Drive is now but you know the the feedback to the residents was you know yeah we we recognize it's a road that needs repair but you know it's may not happen right away they got to be patient with us and that's exactly what happened to the robin Road I think it took about seven years before we uh put a put aside some funds and we paved that um updated the drainage we did that work about three years ago four years ago so um I don't know what you know what have any questions for me I think I Tred to Le everything lay everything out in the letters as far as a history goes so Randy my question would be is this something we're going to approve and let linger for seven years again or you know I what's the time frame yeah I I mean if we do it personally I'd prefer to see some movement on it sooner rather than later if we can afford to do so but Mr Mogan you here for this a little bit longer yeah I mean this one is kind of an interesting duck and there is an absolute parallel to Robin Road here um the big difference is is that if you look at sterret and especially if you go on the town map and look at sterret and I think it's dit it uh you can see where that was going to connect to something else to something else and there was actually a subdivision plan brought in um I'll call it 15 17 years ago there was a subdivision that was going to come in that would have connected all the way back to Sunnyside from either stet or dwit there would be not impossible to do it from steret Just because the way the road was constructed in my opinion not according to the original plan it's way higher than it was ever intended to be raade wise so the ra the road sits up much higher it'll be tough to make that connection so they were going to try to get it off I think it's still wet um and the residents all then made a similar petition except to keep the road Private so that they wouldn't have that develop that's all said and done and over there's other development on the other side of starid and dit it now those lots have been closed off someone bought the lots that would have been the access to make that that right of way out to the other subdivision the only problem that exist now with steret Visa um Robin is it's too long it's too long under our current code for um you're not allowed to say Dead End Street no no exit street but it is what it is the residents up there are taxpayers when they bought their houses I'm sure they thought they were buying a house on an accepted way um the town's been plowing it and kind of maintaining it such as it is for Years anyway um and it probably is right and it goes in the queue as far as once it's accepted it goes in the queue for maintenance um and whether it's it could be seven years it could be 30 years from now Robin Road was this is where the parallel diverges Robin Road was constructed extremely badly worse than dit and ster it and um there was actually a hazard right the road was gone there was trees growing out of the catch basins it was part of it was special four feet in Into the Woods well yeah that too well the woods came in into the street but it was a it was a mess and that you know so it was the town did the right thing by by Robin Road um to take it and then reconstruct it we did you know they had to do some drainage work um in the right way and um with some easements but what you do here is and with history as a guide we also just finished this or in the process of doing it with a couple other roads in town that were the developer is gone dead disappeared whatever and we don't have the as builts um and or the conveyance of the easements if they never happened you have to allocate some money at town meeting for the survey and Randy is eloquent here and called it you have to allocate some money for the surveys for the marking for the taking the legal process and you do it as far as yeah the the re the road construction we're not going to obviously budget for that now that's going to get put into the the amongst the $35 million worth of work that we have to do just put that on the end of it there's other roads that have been in town for 50 60 years that haven't been done yet that need to get done probably before this one but I have no objection to to going through the process accepting these I think it's is it just St it oh it's St at end to St at end to it and go through the process to get have those accepted as as Town Wes well then once we can we can also use money to Band-Aid them when we need to correct and we've gone in there on an emergency basis for some things and you know and but this will put it in the chapter 90 you know road miles and everything else when you get those accepted and everything else and then you're able to go in there legally to to do repairs or whatever else you need to do once they're accepted as ways and you know basically um just last is you know this was part of this one was not one but all the other roads when I was on the planning board we spent a good 10 12 years Conjuring up developers and cajoling them to get their as builts in and get those roads accepted so whether it's Lexington and Liberty and Patriots and um even the one right off of Feeding Hills we actually found the developer from that Great Brook Estates and get those roads accepted we didn't go in and repay them we just got them accepted and now they're Town ways they're on the chapter 90 thing we're able to go in there and maintain them and keep them from getting any worse than they are um and that's beneficial to the residents that live on those streets and they they pay taxes like everybody else they should have the same level of services um and come to expect those level of servic and the liability release of liability because when you when that road stare into it every homeowner owns the street to the middle in front of their house so there's a liability issue there for those homeowners too um so I I would be much in favor of moving this forward to accept uh St it into as Town ways and sending an article town meeting motion are you making that I I don't know if we need to I think it's the planning board's motion to to lay out the way but if if we need to I'll it um what was it on here as or just discuss and vote so so vote to put it on on yeah on on this on the annual town meeting in May second roll call vote Jason Peron I thank Doug M one yes thank for the back must have lived on S no they um pack store on the package store but thank you for the background worries so disc that other new business um I have none at the moment SC um I just wanted to remind you to think about the scheduling for 33 if we can accommodate that request for either later or a different day Mr would you be opposed to postponing or canceling that date you get no argument information all right we're going to cancel the March 3rd okay thank you you are welcome Mr Wan anything new uh not today sir not to Old business item a is going to be for us to voting the minor equipment threshold Nicole you brought this up again I did last week we talked about it and um so we don't really need to talk about it again because we already talked about that but I was instructed to go back and talk to Carl about all of this because when I referenced the the $225,000 threshold in the code and then anything under that I think was item F anything under that was Department level it was like well let's go back and talk to Carl and Carl just you know kind of reiterated what everybody else said um that this is just the way it was um and just historically it's been the way it is there's no law for it there's no um do recommendation there's nothing that comes from anywhere else but the local level so I still feel like it's sty our day-to-day work and in the event that you don't want to move the threshold or if you would move the threshold that would be great but at least instead of doing like an a town meeting vote you know bringing it to town meeting because it's not in their budget we could just I could just bring it for the department head to the select board meeting and say we need to make this purchase um it's this much money can you approve it instead of you know if it's more than $3,000 it goes to town meeting it's just not it's just not conducive to our everyday work especially when there's a $25,000 threshold in on the code well as I said last week um I'm definitely willing to discuss it I have a again I have a number but I want to let everybody um else have their piece and I believe one of the other things know you and I and Mr Deee were sitting in your office a couple days ago and my thought process on the entire thing is that when it comes to wrangling these numbers with the budget numbers I would prefer something along the lines of what you you just uh recommended where if it's in the budget a department head can show us where they have the money they need to move it from here to here I I think that's something that we need to trust our department heads to be able to do um at that level um as far as stuff that's not in the budget I don't know where my other two board members sit on that I think a copy or failing is not something you really budget for every year it happens when it happens you might have saw that your copier was 8 years old and was having trouble this year so you're going to include that next year you don't always know that I don't think it's something you can plan for unless we have like computers we have a a recy not recycling but you know a replenishment of of updated computers and stuff but things like that you just don't know when that's going to happen you can't have that in the budget every year otherwise otherwise you're that's why I said if the numbers are you know depending on how you set your budget up if you got much money to move around in that that situation when this first came up I thought the $5,000 was very reasonable um given my experience in private practice it was reasonable I trusted my managers and if they failed me they suffered for it so I was in favor of the five I think we had agreed on five and then it was passed about again a second time and um we said we would address it again and here we are and I still felt like five was a reasonable member would it cover every copier maybe not depends on the copier and at that point it's beyond that and so the the vote that I haven't seen yet was to have as something over $3,000 go to town meeting because Randy was did find his the money in all the different divisions because they all use this piece of equipment um and it was still denied because it has to go to town meeting so that's really where I'm stuck is having to go to town meeting even if it's $88,000 if we have it in the budget and it needs to be purchased the the hurdles I feel are are just unnecessary or just too I don't think they should stop business because it's the wrong season for town meeting if it happens in June you're gonna wait until the next town meeting so can't you just do a reserve fund transfer and then the money that's in the budget would roll to free cash that they're going to allocate to it so you basically make it up at the end anyway you you encumber it via accounting adjustment and so if and and just to step back for one second this was a compromise between the finance committee and the select board from $5,000 to $3,500 so if we are going to change it I suggest probably during the budget hearings it become an agenda item on one of those meetings because then we can hash it out right then and there while both boards are in a joint meeting and we could come to a conclusion without either board usurping The Authority or responsibility of the other but just as a mechanism would be say it's the copy and Randy came up where he has the money in his budget but it's just not in the right lines go do a reserve fund transfer have Laura incumber the funds then at the end of the year when we do our modern Municipal modernization act transfers to to to move money around within the line items which we can do you would cover the reserve fund transfer with the exact same things that you said you were going to do and I think you're there anyway without having to go to town meeting perhaps I'm misunderstanding it but it it seemed to me that I don't recall us ever having to call a special to buy a copier for that low amount of money it seemed like there was maybe a process Gap and maybe under there's another mechanism to make it happen I thought it was a procurement threshold of of that $3500 to $5,000 whatever it was that we were looking to do so I'll leave it there but I think if we want to change it if we should change it in the way that we just changed it couldn't have been two years ago I think last year so so also correct not two years ago so we we should just do it in the same method that we did and it was we said one thing the finance committee said another we kind of compromised in the end and said okay 3500 it is and if we want to increase it I'm not opposed to it because we were at 5,000 bucks a couple of years ago a year ago let's come back to the fin give or take right let's come back and meet we're going to meet with the finance committee in a month for the budget hearings it could just be a topic for discussion on at that meeting and we can vote together to change it so is it a together vote I mean no disrespect to the finance committee I was on the finance committee for years too in my own town the select board sets the policy you get a recommendation from the finance Comm question right but what so the thing was that um I think we're getting hung up on is minor equipment so the accounting office is using this as minor equipment and when I said it's okay to use it out the other line items it's approved and it was like no it is not approved it doesn't matter how many light items you take it from this amount needs to go to town meeting so I don't know what maybe there's a misom I still haven't seen the vote so I don't know what the vote says but it was definitely um you know I was very confused about this so this is a select board policy according to what we're talking about here this is a select board policy yeah of of the definition of minor equipment which we I think we beat to death last week at our last meeting right what minor equipment is right and our threshold is $3,500 right so she so 3,000 so she wasn't allowing me to approve yes that's happened she didn't allow me to approve the purchase between these three line items that were different divisions because it's all under one DPW right so it didn't matter where it was coming from it was the fact that it was a that in her mind it was a minor equipment piece and it has to go to town meeting per the select Board of that vote anything over it wasn't a vote a town meeting to make the 3,000 we could have made it a 100,000 by our vote for minor equipment yeah and that wouldn't have gone a town meeting we could have just done it I think that policy needs to be I mean did here right right very as far as minor equipment you know we just need to lay that out that what you just said I think you and I talked about that you move it around in that situation don't have to go town I don't think it's a free license to just move absolutely not that's not what I'm saying that's what I just think we need to I understand no but it's appropriate I mean when town meeting approves your budget and then the responsible parties monitor that budget all year long but if something goes wrong if something goes wrong and he's taking out of sewer Highway which are all under water because it's all there and it's all appropriate and like but it was minor equipment and that's not going to be approved Mr Dee I saw your hand up Ro South we had a meeting last Friday pretty much productive and I thought we was technically as a toal thing it's not so much the statue like like we had talked about and um where I was comfortable and and I and I know I've been told a thousand times this last week that were an Advisory Board now which is wonderful um where I was comfortable was like you had mentioned yeah you know can we bump it to say five and honestly Joe if the select board approves it and have the finance Comm for for B and I was comfortable with that it's part of the checks and balance so it's got to get pumped up I understand that so is it going to be bumped up to M from minor equipment or are we going to get off of that snag that word that word yeah honestly I mean maybe it's putting that minor equipment line out in with supplies I mean that's a bigger conversation but something to where some sort of resolution to where we can just not take hours of our time to buy a copier and have accounting come in my office and we take 30 minutes when we have much bigger pressing issues than a piece of equipment that our DPW needs oh I'm I'm open to anything so I guess we could just bring it up at a joint meeting and then everybody can have that conversation simply change the word to electronic equipment in in minor equipment electronic equipment oh we're gonna go to places it's not I would not if we do something with that it basically needs to need just equipment because you have a lawnmower that craps out and you're you're you're in the same line you're gonna start playing the same game I I had thought about that when we talked about this the last time definitely no in the definition definitely no department head that we've given a budget to should not be able to come to us and say I need this here's my money can I please have it and we just sign off on it if we need that equipment we're not talking about going out and saying Oh I like that pretty new this or pretty new that you know it's I got the money can I buy it but as far as you're stating from the you know the business practice aspect of it it absolutely makes sense to somehow however we need to fix this wording and policy layout where that doesn't like you said that doesn't become a hangup I I you know a number to pick up you know I think dep picking a number I'd love that like you said let's sit in front of the finance committee we all sit together and see if we can come up to a magic number and then if we come back and we feel the magic number is a little too low we can go there again but that it is crazy if you know somebody's got to sit on it right now the way things are made out and get all this approval just to get something that's operational I mean my when we started talking about this the first thing I thought is light up an operational budget everything that falls if it falls underneath that parameter you don't have to ask you go spend that money and you don't have the money at the end you got to sit in front of us or Mr all of us and say well I don't have the money can I please have more no and unless it's something you need to operate you're not going to get it and you know this is why we hire you know the department has to to manage their departments if they can't do that well then maybe it's time to start looking for different managers that's part of their responsibilities is to know how and what to do with their money the right way without Los not having enough so you want to take a stab at rewriting that policy I absolutely can I have to see what the first policy is but I mean I do have some hope for when DLS comes too you know they'll help us with some some um comprehensive Financial policies and they will look at the code they will interview all of the people so you know that will help too but in the meantime I would certainly get something for the finance committee and for the select board for that joint meeting Mr Mr scale everything all set all right Item B is to discuss the nuisance bylaw and park and wreck bylaw um I'm still working on a few things that I'd like to um put together and send your ways um I I just sat down and fully read word for word um to stuff I still think there's in my opinion there's some overreach again um areas that I don't like but I'm taking care of those and reading them or giving Rec the things the way I would like to see them and discuss here um and that's just really where I am at that now I believe both of you were given the my initial draft that I I wanted to have everybody look at as far as the public nuisance I'd like honestly I'd like to see it these two complement each other which I think they very well easily can um I'm just going to draw on my professional experience um some of the and on that by all means there was plenty of good work and I'm not denigrating anybody for what they've done um I just think you start to get too specific too lengthy uh it becomes problematics people will literally hold you you to certain well it says this right here and you can't do this to me um I've seen it I deal with it on well when I'm actually at work and not out injured um on a regular basis um I just think um I would like to did you get anything back from counceling yet no not yet um I'd like to see the two really complement each other I think I agree with you there they could I think some wording changes and some condensing to uh some of the words I'm and I'm going to give you guys my changes obviously through M from Miss Parker a lot of it just kind of clarifies some few things that I think can be described a little bit easier this is like the street parking or Street no parking it was broad for discussion um but it isn't for us to decide because this would have to go to town meeting oh absolutely I I mean I'm I know I'm not the end that wasn't like the parking and that was our decision I'm not the end all be yeah absolutely because we're looking to do you know the bylaw and again I did consult with our PD and a lot of that is their recommendation well and some of their recommendations I disagree with so so I'm waiting to see your absolutely your comment and I don't know if Doug had any uh I have a bunch of notes I'm not ready to send them in yet all right so we hit on that but we do have a deadline for town meeting oh absolutely sometime in May I think yeah mck select board design as I mentioned I had reached out to miss CH in a email due to professional and personal commitments I cannot commit the type of time that I want to to make sure uh I represent What the residents of South Vick want out of that Master Plan implementation um so I stepped away from that so I guess we need to designate one of you two as the designate any interest in either one you don't say anything I'm going to nominate you in about one second I I will do I'll second that nomination I mean I was on the advisory and did a ton of work on it Mr although I was there with you every meeting I am that's the thing you both have had extensive in it I know you I'll do it all right only till May we can always decide again in May right and I may not be here so who knows so all right I'm fine the motion's been made seconded rall vote Jason BR I yes all right excellent other old business okay so I brought up the information regarding the CPC so what I'm going to say about that now is I reached out to CPC chair um I did a bunch of research I want to thank Mr deei uh who spoke with Mr baliga to get some ideas regarding uh some possibilities to look at down the road um representative baliga said that he's never seen it repealed and I I want to make this clear for everybody watching and listening I never wanted to repeal the community preservation act what I wanted to do is play with the numbers help the residents out some um I think the numbers that are in the current um legislation obviously didn't take into account the increase in median value of homes I think there needs to be maybe some room maybe to move around with a a a lower or higher exemption as well as look at that senior lower income exemption because I forget what I was looking at now the other day and I believe a lower middle inome person is right in the around of six figures and you know for a household so the I'd like to look at those things discuss it much more at length with the CPC everybody that's involved uh before I go anywhere further with this and that's where I that's that's my old business other old business Miss scale I got none Mr M uh I'll mention it again just so that it top of mine uh townwide cleanup is on April 26 those want to volunteer to help out to bring a rink because it's going to R like well by having the town clean up we'll guarantee it right on the second annual um and then secondly I mentioned it last week but I would like to uh with the board's permission send letter or an email to EDC to have them um as part of their activities to prioritize um do that looking to replace the medical practice that is vacating uh I forgot the number eight something College Highway um order closed in W I was going to tie that in yes Med Express is closing in uh in Westfield so that's another place where people seek out Medical Care all their actually locations are cling all of they can't staff doctors and it's a it's a national problem I actually spoke to my doctor about it and it seems that it has to do with the internships and the hospitals that take in uh interns and there's just not enough fruit put and people don't go into General practition specialized fields or where everybody's going I would like to send them a note because I remember remember um couple of years ago the then chair of the oh not the chair might have been the vice chair of EDC asked me kind of angrily like what would you like us to do and I might have used an expletive but I said get us a bleeping doctor because that was at the first time that that Medical Practice had left um then I think Medical Care and having access to affordable local um healthc care is critically important for any population especially the population of the town of Southwick yes there's an urgent care in grany Connecticut there's another one somewhere else I know it's a secret it's not really there it's it's actually a maybe it's a liquor store but anyway since we're on the topic right I'll tie it all together but you know there is one there and there's you know there's a couple others but they're not close um and I think it's important you know it was great when we had Dr King and his practice here in town which then begat something begat something then it was Noble then it got acquired by base State and then they moved to aguan and they also had an urgent care as part of that practice which cloth that was right at feeding Hill Center the Westfield one only by appointment and you got to be a base we're becoming a healthcare desert it it absolutely is going to be it's a real real problem and I think what's the other one that went bust is it Trinity or one of those that when I I I could be speak have the name wrong but there was one up in North End of Westfield just past the pike oh that was a TR they they didn't that specific location but that's also gone I think it's it's a real concern we have an aging population I find it you know I'm I'm not a uh person that studies the E economics of a medical practice but with the The Villages right next door I don't understand how a medical practice can't be reasonably successful there yeah but that's not for me to decide but I would you know cly suggest they research how to recruit 100% And I so with the board's permission like to send them send that to the chair to be read in public comments I will not be able to make their next meeting been saying that to my wife that like when this was like when Mr steinhardt said shop the town it's like I didn't start calling everybody like you said it's not so much a business as it is a staff yep issue so well and it's insurance billing and you know but this you know it's a national issue and you know not something we can necessarily solve locally but we could certainly try make a pitch right for some of it so anyway that's it for me sir naen anything no so that would do it for the other old business um next item is an item eight warrants we need to acknowledge payroll warrant number 2516 dated 130 2025 and the amount of $333,000 $120.8 and next item is item nine we need to acknowledge and approve the Open session meeting minutes for December 30th 2024 and January 6 2025 any amendments or reviewed I have not I saw them in the email this weekend I didn't get a chance to review I did so we'll just carry them did you review them already I did you guys we did December is a long time ago yeah if you guys are in agreement you can I did I what we have I I went all right so I'll make a motion to approve those minutes from December 30th 2024 and January 6 2025 second call vote Jason I thank and we said no exact right no motion motion toour that clock broken you today right I was I was concerned about asking you for the history I don't think you're Jed yet oh oh yes s Rollo vote Jason PR I I already voted