evening it is May 21st 2024 at 6:m I'd like to call the selectman's meeting to order uh roll call please Jo shank present Jo shank present CH deranian present um 1.2 if you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Al United States of America stand [Music] I'd like to thank all those in service both past and present and our First Responders um special shout out to the town and police there was a a post on the on the Town Police website in regards to uh finding a gentleman in the woods um with dementia with assistance from several agencies across the State um we did locate the gentleman and get him uh to the hospital and get him the proper help that he needed so shout out to everybody on the police force that did a great job with that that's why we have them in town uh 1.3 the meeting is being recorded and it will be uploaded to YouTube 1.4 chairman additions and deletions I do not have any Teresa do you have any no I do not have any so nope Eric no uh 1.5 review and approve the meeting M minutes for 3924 did we have those in there we didn't have those in there so let's pretend that's not on there um 2.1 nope we're going to do that afterwards so I'm going to jump right to uh section three with appointments of officials and Personnel uh we have several um Eric is you and I had had a conversation in regards to this in the past but if we are doing rehires they don't necessarily need to do a quy or a drug test unless there's anything else or how are we doing that yeah so so the way we have uh kind of worked it out is that uh as long as their laps their Gap is not more than a year it's more than a year they would have to Rego a Corey but if somebody's works all summer then do and works the following summer they wouldn't have to do it okay all right their Gap is for L want to cause any unnecessarily finantial burden on on the families yeah doesn't make sense for kids who are coming to do summer wreck program and they work for eight months out of one summer and then have to come back the next summer and have to do Cory's every summer that that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense so as long as their Gap is less than a year they should be fine and I just wanted to let the director know that I did look into that for you y um okay so we are going to start off with 3.1 I'll entertain a motion to amend the appointment for Robert garide as part-time Building Commissioner with effective start date of 5624 with the term to expire 6:30 2024 so moved second moved in seconded any questions on that um this is just a a clarification regards to the dates correct yeah this is a the the clerk's office uh came back and let us know that the Building Commissioner is one of the officers that gets reappointed every year and so like the police officers like the firefighters there's going to be a bulk reappointment that comes in in June and the Building Commissioner will be a part of it okay so all those in favor Mo yes Jo shank yes chanian yes uh 3.2 I'd like to entertain a motion to appoint Jack Murphy Shannon Kelly Asher shine as seasonal summer Recreation counselors to the towns and Recreation Department for the summer W 2024 program with effective start date of 61 2024 so moved second move second in any discussion all those in favor TR say mo yes Jo shank yes has t deranian new uh 3.3 I'd like to entertain a motion to reappoint Olivia Rowley Ryan Arnold Liam bindo Greta H heler um Bradley Sheldon Devin Peterson Heidi tallim taller David rahula Ava Leo Alana Rudi as seasonal summer Recreation and counselors to the towns and Recreation Department for the summer W 2024 program with effective start date of 61 2024 still moved second move and seconded any discussion all those in favor say mo yes yes CH six and deranian yes 614 24 I'm looking at a revised 61 [Music] okay so do we need to well um Teresa I'll I'll uh I'll ask to amend the motion for Alana Rudi Bradley Sheldon Greta hefler with effective start date of 614 2024 so moved second all those in favor of the amended motion Tre yes Joe shank yes chanian yes the rest the same uh 3.4 reao uh motion to reappoint Y8 Gant Megan Donovan as seasonal lead counselors to the Town recreation department for the summer rec 2024 program W Gant with effective start date of 6122 4 Megan Donovan with effective start date of 614 2024 so moved second all those in favor CH Mo yes yes chanian yes I'll entertain a motion to reappoint Kimberly casparian Evan shine as seasonal Junior operations assistance uh supervisory position to the towns and Recreation Department for the summer W 2024 program Kimberly casparian with effective start date of 61 2024 and Evan shine with effective start date of 614 2024 so moved second all those in favor TR Mo yes Jo shank yes Chan yes and finally I'll entertain a motion to appoint Jared Maro as truck driver laborer position at the highway department with effective start date of 520 2024 so moved second all those in favor TR say mo yes yes chess and deranian yes um before before we we go I just wanted to say that the director did submit to the board um a disclosure um by non-elected Municipal Employee of financial interest and determination by appointing authority um this is basically because um there is an employee that is a relative um and that the determination by the appointing authority is as appointing official as required by General Law chapter 268a subsection 19 I reviewed the particular uh matter and the financial interests identified above by a Municipal Employee I have determined that the financial interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the Integrity of the services which the municipality may expect from the employee uh is there any questions in regards to that no Mr chair yeah go ahead I said no there's no question okay no and you're okay with that I'm good okay ja yeah I I I think it probably just makes sense to to make a motion and have the board vote on that okay so moved second all those in favor Tes say mo yes shank yes jessan yes all right so that's stting the eyes the so we have um so you are all set with the Corey and all of that kind of stuff you guys thank you very much for helping us out it's a very very important program that you guys for the for the town um especially in the summertime um and I know that we have had some challenges over the last three years but we seem to be running in an open field right now okay let's keep it going but again it's it's been a pleasure working with you guys and if you need anything absolutely thank you so much than everything else is right yeah I got my copy back I don't know how you missed that but it's okay it's all thank you thank you so we had about quarter after 605 the appointment well want to do that again okay were we any agreement with that because I don't know how I got my dates just came out I printed just before I left my office 65 605 hey want this don't this is like the four condition of what we had to do okay yeah so it's 605 I'm sorry so we'll go to um the appointment with facility superintendent in regards to office space rob you want to come up and join us you don't have to if you want um the reason why we're here is it has come to the intention of the board that the Town garage is being used as an office breakroom space uh as well as garaging several Town vehicles um this Ford had instructed the Town Administrator to ask the facilities Department to vacate the Town garage area as office space and move into a suitable office space in the highway department this space in the highway department has been properly equipped with all the necessary Town assets to operate the facility department and is in close proximity to the shared administrator for both departments um it then was further discovered and reported to the board that the it connections are still active in this garage and when visually inspected the board found that this space continues to be used to this date as an office of breakroom space um this building is a Town garage which houses Vans trucks and small engine equipment and is not equipped for office space there is no heat there is no ventilation or bathroom facilities in this building because there was no ven ation from exhaust fumes generated by the startup and drive out of toown vehicles it is not a suitable environment for a workspace environment because of these and other possible safety hazards we have investigated this matter with our advisors and concluded the following at the direction of our labor Council it was determined that we are now directing you to vacate the Town garage as your office because of the above outline hazards and bring all town office assets to the space that was created for the facilities Department in the highway garage we expect that any and all office equipment will be removed by Wednesday March 22nd by end of day it will be um I will be requesting Guardian to eliminate all it connections to that garage at this time as well going forward this area should not be used as an office or a break room because of the safety hazards listed above you have any questions in regards to that no okay um and if you do have any questions or concerns you can bring them to the Town Administrator yep okay that's all we needed that's okay thank you uh 4.2 um 4.1 discuss Grant opportunity for fiscal year 25 um this is uh destination development Capital Grant um did you guys get a chance to take a look at that Teresa have you looked at that at all yes I have okay because that kind of fit into a little bit of what I saw on your um uh on your goals for for next year yeah it was actually kind of what uh enticed me to set those goals okay um the uh the application was I mean the information was forwarded to me um and I thought uh in lie of all of the things that we've been doing uh in the last couple of years to get some of our build in order I think this would uh actually fall right in line um I know that uh with our grant writer um she's has investigated a lot of um the uh the available grants she thinks this would be something that we would be able to be interested in the reason why I wanted to talk about it is if either one of you two would be interested in helping me out with um uh researching this with Aaron and seeing if we if there's anything that we can do to to further uh the stuff for the town yeah I'll be happy to help Teresa would you want to work with her as well sure so um the the way the grant is set up um the the process opened on April 22nd um and there's a deadline on May 31st and I know that's relatively soon um but I think opening up a discussion and uh finding out what we could possibly do we can set ourselves up for next year for this particular Grant because it's all with tourism and it's all of the things that we have been looking for to try to increase um uh to increase the uh uh I think by that that time the the church will be done the the old Harbor Fire Station will be done C Bridge yep C Bridge the uh the gis Mill all of that um the historic area would be revamped um and I think this they'll be able to do the marketing look at um targets that we could go to like um you know Bron Music Center um and and put out listings there so that when individuals are coming out for that they may stay a day somewhere locally and then be able to to check out the town stuff um so I would uh I would love it if we could get involved with h with a grant like that um this also I I think will be important moving forward because we don't have the town funds to be able to do tour ISM or marketing or whatever we're going to have to grab all the the uh available funding we can uh for um for these grants Mr chair yeah I had a question on that because I couldn't I just kind of browsed it and I'm not sure how deep it went into but is there a possibility that as well as the historic buildings and other buildings in the town that we could look at that Grant to possibly make improvements to the portability of the Swan River um yes um there's according to my conversations with the grant writer there are several different op opportunities that we could um look into that leads up to um this particular one um there are federal and there are state grants that I think we should be investigating and looking into um I'd like to be able to see if we can get some uh the heartt library um start working on stuff for the heart library to get that um up and uh running again um we had sent out an RFP and we didn't get any uh any bids for that so I think we should be looking with Town Administrator to work to see excuse me how we can um get that going again too um the there is a a committee that that um I know Eric was working on and I jumped in um it is the small town collaborative which is um something that U representative Margaret Scarsdale um had uh she had formulated this committee which is um a lot of the local businesses and um you know Administration that of here so Eric was on it but I'm on it and it's really to um see what we can do to bolster the um the visitors and the um uh you know the uh tourism Within this particular area uh and through that um Margaret has come up with several different opportunities that we could look into um I think in the past um there's been ideas that have been hashed around at the selectman table but there's been no no research or implementation on some of these things uh and I think the more that we get our name out there the the better chances we are of um getting some of these grants really some of the buildings and some of the the programming that are here um and that leads me to the to the next one um Teresa so if if I may go on the next one CH do you mind if I say something real quick y i I just wanted to mention kind of in in Open Session um uh how uh excellent a job I think Aaron is already doing in the short time she's been in this position I know that um you know everyone in the town is very focused on um on finances and how the town is uh spending our money but I I I I do want to say that in the short time that she's been here Aaron has already demonstrated an ability to to apply for her and receive grants some of which the town has tried to apply for in the past and and failed um so we're working on she's working on the mass Trails Grant she's working on the Ada grant that we have uh she's working on the community onetop Grant um and so I I just wanted to kind of give her a shout out she and Jess over in the L use Department have been working really hard really tirelessly on these grants that are bringing in you know hundreds of thousands of dollars into the town um for uh you know and and it's costing us a a fraction of that in their in their salary and wages so we're really it really is a an investment that the town is making in that position that's pay really paying off yeah and again I have later on in the meeting have um some I'll be touching upon that Eric with some some accurate figures so as usual you and I are on the same page um the the next one that I wanted to talk about um this is um an opportunity for Townsen to be a host town for the um map Humanities Smithsonian um tour uh in one of my state meetings that I went to last month um the mass Humanities um has a program it's called Museum on Main Street and I I added that packet in here for you guys to take a peek at Teresa did you get a chance to look at this one as well that one I just briefed though so I saw it but I did not get to read through it and completely okay so what this is um in with the state in conjunction with the smith Smithsonian Institute um they have uh tours where um this is kind of along the same lines as the the wall that heels they look for volunteer locations where they come in and they set up um the exhibit and the exhibit is within the town um for six weeks I think it is and then it moves on to the next location um the uh the host uh site receives a grant of $110,000 and that's to host the exhibit and create programming rooted in the community and uh we have to uh we the town have to uh provide $10,000 in kind so what our in kind would be is volunteers to be able to staff it um we would have sponsors to be able to you know uh provide uh any type of financial assistance if we need that um but it but again it's basically like how we did with the wallet heels we had a lot of uh organizations within town that helped support it we had a great amount of volunteers that helped us out with it um the deadline came up rather quickly with this since I I saw that so I had asked um the uh Aon our grant writer to um put in a letter of interest um and I did that without checking with the board and the reason why I did that is because the the um the deadline for that letter of interest was uh on May 10th uh so we got the letter in um it was it was a day late or two days late and we said that we understand that it was late but we wanted to let you know that we were interested so I don't know how this is going to happen we haven't made any commitment yet um but I did want to bring it to your attention you guys uh the um the exhibit is called that that is for this year is called voices and votes uh Democracy in America and um the the thing that I really liked about this was that they work with the area schools um so they bring the schools in and they do lectures and seminars um for the school they also have help you Market to get in um to work with like the veterans they also work with Council and aging so any of the other areas in town they would help you set up on different uh um special seminars that will focus on the same topic and then they'll be able to go through the exhibit um and it's all basically free to to anybody who would be interested in doing that um so I guess basically what you're what your thoughts are on that and you know I if you're upset that I I went ahead and did the letter I hope not but I did that just in case um yeah we're fine just wait see what they get for a response and we'll go from there okay so my my thought just off the cuff and and you know if when when the the dates are on this would be hopefully after um I was thinking if we could work with the Historic Society and maybe use it uh at at the if we could uh see what we could work with them um to have it at the old um uh the old Harbor Church uh when it when it opens up that could be I mean because it's a Smithsonian Museum type topnotch with the with the exhibits and you know they have uh some of them are are this is April starting April right yeah these are just some of the tour dates we whenever whenever we fall into it there's six host communities that they look at so we would be one of the six if we were chosen um and it looks like that this hasn't done up in our area for a long for a long time um and if not we always have Memorial Hall you know so it it would it would uh we have plenty of space in Memorial Hall to be able to do that and that would be a wonderful place for it as well yeah so thank you for moving forward with that all right 4.3 we you and discuss the set board liaison assignments um again this year I I really kind of did a lot of thinking in regards to this um I know that um um I had received a um an email in regards to um you know what what I what I think here in regards to um how we've done it for the past two years um I will say this um I did some research in regards to um the liaison assignments um and we only started doing um the liaison breakout according to the policy if it's only been been six years since we've been doing it so there's no real established protocol per se um I know that I have been working very closely with the boards that I've been working with um I know that uh each one of you um have been working I think the continuity um there are projects that we all are working on with with the assignments that that we are um we are working with um you know I have you know I I I know that um I will say this I think that this this board and the previous board has worked very hard um to to really be visible with the um the groups that we work with I had sent out a a memo asking for um some feedback on on what they thought for Liaisons and I got a lot of positive feedback in regards to um how the U you know some groups feel that they're they feel supported and other groups you know they said that they didn't know who their liais on was but we you know we all sent out letters and all of that kind of stuff um so I'm just going to open up the floor for comments so as I I think I made it clear you know I was and my final year here as the selectman after be in here in two uh two previous years working with the same lers on for the same set of groups um I really do not um feel like I'm I'm getting what I had out when I um ran for selectman which was that I would get to work with the different organizations within the town um I I had different vision and I would really have appreciated it if I would get to work with different groups within the town instead of with the same group for three years straight well I I just say that you know I think each liaison assignment should be based on some sort of qualifications or continuity of what's going on and I think the way the boards are broke up I think you've done a a fine job by you know keeping them that way I think think we're in the middle of a real crunch of a lot of things and as Public Safety there's a lot of big things I'm working on with fire police EMS everything and you know to start bringing somebody else in I don't think that's the right thing to do I think keep it the way it is and uh just for the record this is my second time I've been on and I never was under the assumption that we rotated it's up to the chair of the board to appoint the assignments where they got to go yeah and to that I just want to respond and I guess that's probably part of the reason I have issue with it um I think after serving the town for over 15 years and various committees School committees Etc and then on top of that serving my country for over 20 years um I certainly feel I've shown my qualifications to uh work with a semi uh military organization such and back to the fact that I was a EMS myself uh shown that I have the qualifications to be Advanced instead of saying in the same position year after year so well and I I respect that and and in part of of you know the the email that I did get this has nothing to do with disrespect and it has nothing to do with with anything other than you know I I personally feel that I want to work with the same group that I've been working with for the past three years um you know the the the way these were split up they were split up because of of the expertise and I I mean no disrespect to anybody and I'm not doing it um because of of any other other reason than we have you know I I just think this is the best way to do it you know and and I hear you and I and I understand it but you know I've really gone out of my way to respect both of you in in all of our our ways of moving forward um I I don't think the my intent is to to to be malicious or or nefarious in any way um yeah I I think there's a long leap chest between disrespect and malicious disrespect and I I'm sorry if I implied that I feel you're being malicious I don't I don't feel that at all but I do feel that not giving you know telling you that I have twice now last year I told you and this year I told you that I really have uh a desire because of my military background and working with semi-military organizations for over 20 years my background as a medical professional my desire to work with fire and EMS um and not being appointed to Fire and Police I think is as I said it is not malice but I think it is showing disrespect for my service that I have done well and it's not meant to be that way I will I I have to sorry Mr chair no disrespect here whatsoever but I've got also 15 years as a lieutenant at the towns and fire department retired I've been working with the police department and fire departments for the past 50 years in Towing and everything else so as far as qualifications yeah you have qualifications but so don't I building department I build homes so construction so I get it you know I I understand where you're going the chair is appointed this this way and I I don't I feel he's done the right thing um and I don't see it as being a dis disrespect Teresa and I'm sorry you feel that way my intent was my intent was not to disrespect you at all I think I've been more than more than gracious and in many different facets um there's been several situations where I've um not really have said anything um in regards to to that and and based upon just that alone without getting into any details um I I just think that it is you know it is what it is and I want to move forward if we can move forward certain [Music] okay um 4.5 4.4 no 4.4 uh select men's goals um I I Really Wanna want to let you guys know that we did we all did very very well I looked at what our goals were last year um and what our our our plan goals are this year and um this is in L of of what I was um talking to Eric about earlier um there were start with you Teresa um yours were determine long-term needs of all town-owned building and identify operations to move forward that's in process right now um seek federal and state grants for Town Projects whenever possible um you have been working with capital planning um your understanding of long-term and capital needs for uh for the town on being the chair of the you were the chair right Teresa of the capital planning um so that that is something that uh that has been achieved and continues to be um worked on uh you had review and update previous attempts to understand opportunities for commercial growth I think that's an area that we are slowly moving into um you also have continue to monitor the use of arpa funds to ensure that they're being used for the greatest benefit to Townsen um I think that we are doing doing a a good job with that um I'd like to be able to have um maybe discuss the first U meeting of every month to discuss have a spreadsheet for arpa funds and then we can discuss where we're at uh especially financially excuse me and then we can um see what we need to to put some if we need to reallocate if we need to look into a certain area or whatever we can move forward with that um you have continued to proceed with energy aggregation which we are moving forward our energy aggregation has been the municipal side of it not the um townwide but uh we are seeing benefits from the cost of the Energy savings that that we are doing greatly I mean this is to me it was amazing to see the figure years um and we'll see it more when we look at when we get the next BBA you'll see the energy costs have have uh you know is it's just been a lot more costeffective for the town um support the work of the affordable housing trust and the town Zing Housing Authority um that I think continues to need some attention um the subsidized housing inventory um needs to be looked at as well actually on both of those boards because I am on there um we do need to focus more on that for the state um and that's something that I think but it has it has moved forward um you've also had increased the value of town Services through reorganization um and sorry the regionalization which is something that we need to be moving forward to for this year that's very very important Teresa and you pointed that out which I thought was um when you when I first saw this last year um I was like yeah that but are we going to do that but I'm seeing more and more that we are getting more towards that and it's more than the couple of things that you put put on here um a couple of positions you you put in I think there's more um positions that we need to look at going forward um and I also like um having a public meeting and based on results publish a long-term plan for repair and replacement um of the town byways I think that's equally as important um I would like to be able to see us work um and it was on all of our lists the uh um how we're going to pay uh do the P management Paving management plan how we're going to get that up and running and working with more uh of the uh federal and state granting for highways because we really need to get some attention to our roads um part of that is getting grants for engineering because we can't afford the engineering and then getting it on Dot and then following up do and then finding funding for the paving and all of that kind of stuff so the more we can find grants so that was yours for last year which I think on on that we did pretty well um Joe yours and mine were kind of sort of the same um we had uh you had as number one improving it um we have um moved well we in the process of moving tcam downstairs and that will be solely running all of tcam out of meeting room one to allow the um the office up here to uh uh be able to operate the way they need to um we've made the enhancements within this room and also in meeting room two uh improving the Wi-Fi and tcam Connections in Gray Hall which is complete now uh and a new phone system um historic preservation was another one um so we just talked about the heartt library that I hope you Carri that over until to next year year uh gazebo restoration that's complete uh old Center fire station and old Harbor Fire Station we just agreed to have that with a 50-year lease and we're actually going to be getting some money out of that that we did more so than we did before uh in the historic bid Renovations so The Harbor Church the Gris Mill the CP Bridge the historic society's been working on that but that has moved forward um there was both on yours and on mine a public works consolidation plan um that's something that I also put on M uh that's something that I'd really like to look into um with uh what what we're going through right now financially uh in town I think we need to really look at how we're splitting up our resources uh within the town um with uh all of our departments and see if we can come up with a way to uh to be a little more frugal with that uh you also have Solid Waste Services and recycling which we'll be talking about later on um communication with the school board is something that we're still working on um and I also put that on for next year um uh the budget uh the budget process streamlining operations updating systems from a negative balance process um complete and finalize all outstanding grants funding requests and projects um so again yours was equally as as productive as Teresa's so I think we've we've done really well um and I'm not going to go through all of mine because um I have I'm going to put dollars to Donuts on the next section um because I wanted to um jump more on what Eric uh had talked about earlier in regards to not only at grant writer but um other departments that have been very active in Grants um so bids and installing wiring for it completed set up select board Chambers with media enhancements are completed um improve Wii Wi-Fi and tcam Connections in Great Hall that's completed uh complete new phone system done um we have uh in process prioritizing townwide software website and enhancements our websites are being um put together right now and that should be live shortly I'm looking within the next month uh for the new and improved website uh and continue to plan for townwide fiber connections to municipal buildings that's actually almost complete I waiting for for a a uh permit from the state uh there's one poll that's on the end of the driveway from the highway department I need a permit for them to climb that pole and to make an attachment to it once we have that permit we can attach that and then we can start working on building to building connections uh that will provide us with internet connections and hopefully that will save per building um right now we're paying a modem for the connection uh that once that win is set up we'll be able to to um eliminate on a monthly basis on all of our buildings so that would be a substantial savings um for us all the way around but it's one of those things where you have to really put in a lot of work in the beginning in order to see the fruits of your labor uh historic structure preservation like we said the gazebo's done um the fire station and all Center fire station are being completed uh organize and implement the Ada plan um the uh grants implementation we got the Grant and and they're working on it now um they've come up with a project list and prioritized it so that is something that they've done um the Public Works consolidation plan is something that we need to talk about um but in that consolidation was the building maintenance plan which um with the OPA funds it's in process now we're working on the pavement management plans um we we are there's been no progress but we are going to be working on that um and then the the trash uh the trash contract uh evaluate um um the u a town planner engineer position financially we just couldn't even look at that for um fiscal year 25 so I put that on the back burner um improving Communications through the school board um I've said that we've had some progress with that um our budget process um we are working on ongoing Communications regarding new software W I actually talked with somebody from the Collins Institute um we never uh we um I was told that we had software back in I want to say 2016 2017 from a previous select board um I was told that we had software with that after talking with the Collins Institute they offered once we finished with that Grant the grant was just for them to get us up and running and then we would have to pick up the software cost we never picked up the software cost that's why we never got the softare so software did not come as part of the grant the uh we need some more simple improvements to cash transactions within Town um and I think um we also are focusing on and I've worked with Eric about this to be funding positions that are sustainable within our budget rather than oper funds and that's something that we've been working on as well um I'm going to give Eric a little Kudos on this last one on the ask me negotiation are complete uh we have done the negotiations that we wanted to and we have many many grants that are in process um I have Community onetop share streets and spaces Mass Trails that's 16,1 140 green communities for fiscal year 24 is 199,900 community compact 173 384 um MIAA we got over 7,000 for that um for for employee programs and that kind of stuff uh empg which is the state grant for water safety gear uh that was $2900 the DFS Grant with a firefighter safety gear for fiscal year 24 that was $153 police accreditation Federal grant that was 10655 MOBA Valley Community Health had Airway safety grant for $99,000 uh the vfa grant for $25 00 the Ada Improvement grant for 110,000 the RDP Mass department grant for 10,000 uh the Greenville Bridge has a $500,000 uh Grant with that um Library incentive for fiscal year 24 was 27,825 project uh I will say that we just um got approved the uh upw um this is a grant that I personally have been pushing um since I want to say the year and a half ago this is going to allow us to have the Proctor Road on down to Edward Street is that right is it Edwards coming this way coming towards towards the harbor so the road to Edwards Corridor they're going to um they're going to engineer it they're going to do a study for it and they're going to come up with options to improve that roadway in that particular area and once we get that engineering then we will be able to apply for um a do to get that on the tips list so that the state would improve that Highway for us um and that's something that I know that a lot it it needs to be done on a lot of these things especially when you with a state road and then that intersection at Proctor is not only Townsen but it's also two other towns involved in that that corner so that's why we're having such problems getting that done um but we just got the approval in for that um and we also have a digital Equity Grant um that um looks like we may be getting it we haven't got an approval yet but uh I've been ask several more questions that would be able to get um digital uh to get Broadband to areas that do not have Broadband right now in town which I think is huge so to answer your question or actually to duve tail on what you said Eric we're looking at over um $1.3 million that we got in Grants for fiscal year 24 U going into fiscal year 25 uh for the projects that we do that has a lot to do with um not only the police and fire chiefs because they're the ones that put in for the grant I again want to duvail into what Eric said um aon's doing a great job as far as um uh the things that she is doing in there um the land use coordinator uh uh anybody that has anything to do with um uh these grants I appreciate your help um this is how Townsen moves forward this is how we are able to fund some of the things that we don't normally have the money for um so I appreciate it did I miss anything Eric uh I don't think so that was very comprehensive all right well I wanted to get that out because we hear of all the things that you know we we don't do this and we don't do that and I want to get it out to the public that we are working very hard on the things that we're working on and and I know I'm long-winded and I apologize but this is something that we need to do so what I'll do is um I'll compile all of this together and I'll pass it out to you guys um so that we can move forward with it perect any comments Teresa no no I have no comments okay Joe n all right sorry to be so longwinded forgive you um 4.5 uh letter of support for pedestrian walkbridge did you guys get a chance to take a look at that yes sir um are you guys okay with me signing that yeah yes sirely so I'll entertain a motion to approve the um letter of support for the walk Bridge grant for Route 13 show MO all those in favor yes shank yes T so I'll get that right over to Aon I can sign that tonight um 4.4 uh submit and discuss nop5 we're on 4.6 I believe right yeah 4.6 creation of Town Administrator search committee all right all right so Eric I'm GNA need some help on how we are gonna what direction we're going to go in all this um I wanted to give you my thoughts um in regards to excuse me how to move forward I have uh we had received two late um well not really late but two last minute did you guys get those who are they Veronica Kell and Todd molans didn't get Veronica you get those I did not get yeah I saw them I did not print them okay so what first off I I was very excited to have this many people the last time we didn't we didn't have a lot so the the selectman had to to jump into positions um my thought is to um uh appoint or or have the the the uh instead of having the selectman being involved in it I would rather let the town's people be involved in it and then we're going to see it anyway we're going to be able to to sip through um are you okay with that Teresa no actually I'm not um I had put my P my um paperwork in to volunteer for that early um and uh we've had on the previous selection committees we always had a Selectmen at least prior two that I know of we had a select me so I don't know why I wouldn't be considered this time my name in also but I think my opinion Chaz when did I didn't see your name Joe when did your show yours put in mine's been in let's just see we tell you it's in the packet all right mine was on May 6th and let's see when you put yours in mine was on May 6th and yours was on May 8th okay so you put yours in two days after I did I thought mine had been in before but because I didn't see when I had put it in I was told nobody none of the selectman had so they were mistaken that's that would be an untrue statement because I have it dated and stamped yeah I believe you I I don't have them in front of me but I'm not saying it I believe you I'm just saying what I was told I didn't know you had put yours in but anyways I would still like to be a member yeah my opinion I think we take and uh we stay right out of it as the board guys are going to come in front of us pick we got so many good names here we got seven eight names pick a group let them handle it bring it to us so nobody can come back and say prer or me or you are involved I think it just be cleaner and better well I don't think there's anything wrong with saying you or I or Chaz is involved that has happened in the past I also think we bring value whether it's you whether it's I whatever we bring value to the selection committee I I I think leave the I I I I respect that Teresa I I'm just saying that that's what I thought but if you want to be part of the pool I don't have a problem with that either yeah I definitely do want to be a part of it yeah I I just don't want I don't want people to think that you know it's been it's been um communicated to me that people think that I'm against you Teresa and I don't want that impression I'm not against you I'm not against anybody all right so I yeah and I apologize that if that's the impression that I'm spreading because that is certainly not what I'm what I'm trying to say but this isn't something that I truly you know feel like I'd like to be involved in and I hope you will support that yeah I don't have a problem with that so I I we can have all of the all of the individuals here um how how do do we want to do this as far as choosing we can do um um I think how we did before was uh we had there's five positions um and we put we ranked them in order of First Choice and second choice for each one that we thought would be on the board um and we can do it how you my one question was like how is the committee going to receive the application are they going to be uh dicted and the names changed out as candidate one candidate two or are they just is the entire uh is the name address location also part of what they received and then they just name thema name one and name name two or candidate one candidate two I think there's some real benefit if we just leave out names address phone numbers emails and uh just send to the committee the resumés with a uh like I said candidate one candidate to so on and so forth well we need to establish the committee and we'll let the committee decide what they how they want to do that okay that's what I think would be fair I mean that's what we did last not up to us to make that decision yeah we just got to pick the committee yeah I I I and I had I collected all of the resumes and I have them saved as candidate one candidate two candidate three there's 11 I think candidates I have right now per per your request I haven't looked at I looked at one or two I think two at the most prior to to uh you saying anything and then I haven't looked at any since then so yeah so I mean my my thought was how we did it last time was the committee was was formed we picked the committee and then the committee met and they decided all of the particulars um okay I put in uh the uh Town Administrator search committee with the mission and objectives and all of that gave it to the selection committee and the selection committee decided what they wanted to do okay so how big how robust do we want how robust do we want the committee to be this time so if she wants to be on it I want to be on it how are we going to do that we can't have two of us on it that's why I think instead of pick and choose one or the other would stay out of it well if you if if there's two on there you just have to post for it you have to post it and it would have to be a joint meeting right Eric yes if the if if two members of the board of slman were on the the search committee they'd have to post for it that does get a little tricky yeah because the whole reason to create a search committee is because um individuals that are before the search committee are not considered finalists and that means they're that they're the fact that they applied is not a public record it's not something that get revealed doesn't go out to the news it's not you know they're they remain confidential if they're not final once they're before the board of Selectmen they they become becomes a public record and so I'd have to ask we'd have to ask Adam as to whether or not if two members of the board were on the search committee if that would mean that these people would have to be considered finan let me know one way or the other let me ask you Eric if it would be cleaner and better for the town and the board I I know in the years past we we didn't have Nam so we had to put a select person on the committee because I just know the last one we because I was we didn't have enough we didn't have enough people that applied in the time frame that we had it we only did 10 days we had enough uh so if we have enough names here I I wouldn't have any issue with just a board of selectman stay out of it and let these seven or eight people pick seven I think and let them just put the thing together and they come in front of all three of us and be better that way we won't have no controversy I would have an issue with that yes yes there's two Water Commission they can't they can't so we' have to pick you know I mean that's my opinion we should pick what we got keep the select board right out of it make it cleaner better so when they come in front of us no one person has me you Teresa has a advantage of seeing her done where with shooting right from the hip on all of them and well that that's what I'd like to see well I know that I had um I had a conversation earlier today with one of the volunteers and who and it was Kelly Kelly and she is on another another board that this may be um there may be some conflict of interest with between those boards and she because we have enough people she wouldn't have any issues of taking with drawing her name I don't have a problem with that either I mean we got we only can have one water person so we have Todd and Jess Jessica so we pick one of them all right so we' have one we have Veronica we have Wayne Miller we have Laura shff either Jessica or or Todd Vicky Tidman Dave foli think that's five or six right there that'd be do we can how many can we pick Eric we had I think we had five before so because the search committee is a it's a appointed and created by the board of Selectmen you would just have to vote to set the search committee at X number people if you wanted to add more people I think five the existing one was five so I don't think you'd have to make a vote about the number if you want to do appoint five because the pre-existing search committee was created with five but if you wanted to say have seven you can say take a vote to make seven people and then and then appoint seven people I think it's totally within the purview of the board to set that number I think a five person board worked out last time right because I was sitting in on that so we got Veronica came in we have Wayne Miller came in Shi you put them all down Jessica foli we have my name take out Vicky Tidman Dave foli and Todd yeah how many you got so we can have seven individuals we'd have to pick between Todd and Jessica and you and Teresa but just leave me and Teresa right out of it I do not want to be left out if you're okay with being left out John Joe that's fine but I do not want to be left out you want to do I express my opinion um I think it's a cleaner better look that we stay out of it because I if I take everybody out that least six people we just pick five we just pick five just go to board of five so who do you have so we have to pick between Jessica or Todd we got Wayne Laura L Vicky and Dave and pick one of those two right I give a board of five and I think that's the right thing to do and I I once again I disagree and I do want to be a member of that board and I actually think as as opposed for having a negative effect I think it does say that we have a select m in there does say something um five people better easier cleaner any help to decision you're the chair you know where she stands you know where I stand I think a five committee search committee is a good good number it just keeps us out of the mess so if if we we have five individuals that are not Selectmen and they are not um they're not on on another board together so that would be Veronica Wayne Lori Vicky and Dave those are five people that that are I think that's a good rounded group [Music] um so I would make a motion that we have a five person committee first of all second I'll second that all those in favor pleas say mo no jo shank yes jaanian yes um I really didn't want to have to get it down like this but um um I can't make a motion I'll make a motion that well we're got to decide car to Jess um so I say first make a motion Veronica Wayne L schiffman Vicky kman Dave foli that's five people yeah that's my motion I'll second that all those in favor please say mo no jo shank yesan yes um so if you could please notify those five individuals and Madam Mr chair yeah may I make us uh can I ask you if somebody isn't able to uh fill their position that I can be the substitute I don't have a problem with that do you have a problem with that not at all so could you make a motion that effect please make a motion if one of the five we appointed can't do it we would use terer as the ultimate second but that would be just not if someone doesn't make a meeting just if they're not going to be part of it yes and alter yes all those in favor CH say mo yes Jo shank yes what's that right 4.7 um discuss additional phones for the senior center um Eric did you do you know what positions they're looking for that that are for these phones um I know we got the request in I I think I believe Sabrina might have it I I don't know off the top of my head who the the people are what positions are those phones for I think one of them might be Greg as the assistant um but I'm not sure who the second person is so while she's looking that up and the reason why I I position what is their position um if we at well I had asked um Guardian what it would cost to add two phone lines and then I thought we would probably need to have an extra one so I asked what it would be for four if we had four additional telephones um with four additional telephones would be an additional $90 a month um which works out to be $1,080 a year so do we want to incur more costs with this and internally can't they adjust their telephones to the individuals that they have I mean how many is this necessary for us to get two more phones with them I mean I I think it's probably worth uh now that we know the cost that's something that we didn't have when Elise made the request maybe we could put it off to the June meeting and have I have a conversation with her about whether or not it's more just a more cost-effective way to to handle the resources although I think Sabrina has something to say well I believe Jan so my my opinion Mr chair right now I think we are in the middle of tug a war of money and I think any additional spending right now I think we should just try to hold off until we can maybe get past what we're g do on June 4 11 kind of my I just I think if we can just get by June 11th and know where we are because you know people are already saying we got to tighten our belts and we're going to put on more phones another $1,000 worth of phone lines I you know not that they don't need them they probably need them but if they' gone this long can we just postpone this until we see what goes on with our budget because if we had to make Cuts I'd rather not spend $1,100 adding phones and cut somebody's hours so my my thoughts on this um Eric is that I would like them to give an to to make an assessment on who has phones right now and is it is yes the assistant should have their own phone I agree U volunteer coordinator I'm sure does a lot of work that they need a phone as well um but is there an extemporaneous line somewhere that they you know that we're paying for that they may not need um it could be in one of the um function rooms because I've seen telephones just in the function room or whatever do they do they really need a phone in that function room and can they use that that extension that's all I'm saying okay I I'll definitely talk to Elise about it all right in in the event that that again I agree with Joe on if uh I I don't want add something if we have if we have extra ones there that we don't know of and is there really a need for it for instance do they need two phones in the kitchen I don't know I'm just saying yeah we don't know I don't know I don't know where the phones are there but I think before we add any more debt tube a monthly debt I would really feel much better to find out where we stand with the override the budget because I don't want to add something to say we're going to cut it anyway yeah a fair statement Eric no I I completely understand that and like I said I think it makes sense to talk to Elise and and now that there's a definite cost to make sure that they're allocating their current resources appropriately righta you have anything to add no I'm all set 4.8 is the Markham contract that's all you Weare so we um uh sat down with Markham and uh discussed uh kind of a recap of our last year um this was I'm sorry Katie kazanin and I sat down with the representative to Mark Markham to discuss a recap of our last year and an evaluation of the services that we need going forward um uh so we had currently budgeted um $48,000 for a Markham contract for next year that was under the anticipation that Markham would continue to provide the same services that they had provided in FY 24 into fy2 based on our discussions with Markham um we negotiated a uh a propos contract that actually comes in at $35,000 is the is the um uh the anticipated cost it could actually come in in less um uh for uh fy2 however it does come with some caveats um uh number one and the kind of most important caveat is uh it comes with a scope of work that involves increasing um the scope of work on the assist an accountant in town um um so um these are things that uh Katie has been gradually taking on over this year and is now capable of handling on her own without markham's help um and so rather that continue to pay Markham to do them uh we thought it made more sense to change the scope of work to put those on Caden's desk um uh so the the um the uh uh the $35,000 is contingent on that increased scope of work for the assistant account so basically markham's GNA be doing a little bit less than they did for us last year and Katie is goingon to be picking up the slack on that based on quite frankly her you know she's she's been accelerating her learning in the in the accountant field and is basically able to handle a lot more than we had originally contemplated her being able to handle at this at this time period um so we are we compl compl that we're going to take the decrease from malol to add it to her and so we have an executive session to discuss that okay and 6.1 all right all right even I just don't I don't want anybody to be confused this this um this Markham contract is lowered because the scope of work for the for the town is is being increased so we're taking on more work than paying Markham less um it uh it allows for the the town accountant to have a little bit more control over the hours that Markham is um is billing to us um and uh the Town Administrator has kind of oversight over making sure that they're staying within the the kind of the the scope of their anticipated hours so realistically in the long run this will end up saving us money if she can take over yeah I mean I so I think I I it's it's projected if they bill out the full $35,000 my projection would be we we we just about Break Even in fy2 and then we'd start saving money in FY 26 we we have just for for a full transparency we had worked this out for um that we would transition Katie for three years wasn't it Eric yes the the goal was to transition KD over the course of three years and gradually increase the scope and the reality is that you know we Markham had been we when we when we originally envisioned this contract we had a a Markham uh accountant who was inhouse once a week shortly after we and you know we kind of set this system up that accountant then left the firm and we had a had a kind of a zoom relationship with an accountant so Katie's been having to deal with a lot of remote help as opposed to in-person help um you know I think that's been a that was a little bit rating um because it's not the same I apologize I'm doing it right now it's just not the same over Zoom as it is in person um um so we we talked with Marco about reinstituting some inperson time but also one of the the realities is that Katie by necessity was taking on more and more as the year went on um and is now more than capable of handling functions that we really didn't anticipate her being able to handle for another year or two um so it's good for the town because that means we have a person who's here all the time is handling this stuff um and it allows us to reduce our scope with markom um so I think it's a it's a it's a win for us because that means we have that expertise sitting in the department as supposed to over Zoom or a phone call away and I I I see some of the reports that she has done and come out with they're really in depth they're really good I think she's doing a tremendous job especially I think she's like you said Eric think she's a little further ahead than what we really anticipated and if we can get that department self-sufficient like it used to be it' be better for us I I am very impressed with her work because we Eric and I especially during this but this budget cycle have been asking her for reports and and she's been right on the game uh getting that information out to us as quickly as possible um I she's she never ceases to amaze me because the work that she does and the quality of it um but I also like the fact that um there are a lot of U uh finer details on certain things that um she will not uh she's not afraid to push back to get the proper information to her so that she can process whatever she needs to process and she won't process until she gets that and that's what we need and and she's she's been very good about that and I want I want to say this kind of out loud I think a lot of the things that have been happening within the accountants office that K's been responsible for are things that have been really kind of invisible to the board of Selectmen because they're problems that you never see yeah they're problems that don't happen because Katie catches them before they become problems and that's really kind of the the the most important Point um there you know she's keeping a much tighter lease leash on the Departments and making sure their budgets are stay in line so we're not going to be seeing 15 or 16 Municipal relief transfers at the end of the year I think we're looking at four um she she's making sure that the the Departments that that are that that people are getting in the proper documentation so that our audits are coming out better than they than they were before because she's got the background the backup already on file before she writes the checks which which is you know what you're supposed to do but it it's it's a it's I think the Departments are reacting appropriately to the heightened level of scrutiny that she's giving them um and they're starting to do things the right way which means at the end of the year we're no longer scrambling looking at money we are in a situation where there's only a couple of accounts we have to deal with and and it's going to be very short it's gonna be you know really really smooth sailing on the end of the year transition as opposed to the last couple of years when it was much more and no surprises like we've had for the past couple of years right right and there's something to be said about problems that you don't see and surprises that you don't get yeah I agree I'm good so but that again I did want to explain why this is only a $35,000 contract when we had budgeted it for 48 and the reason is because of a change the scope of work since the time we originally set the budget that reduced Markham scope and increased it assistant account right I'm good any questions Teresa no also up El that I'm good um so we don't read it do we need to vote on that Eric yes a motion to uh to uh allow you to sign the contract I think it's I think actually it has the signatures for the board so to just to approve the contract and then you can use your stamps or or it so I'll entertain a motion to approve the Markham contract for fiscal year 25 B moved second any further discussion all those in favor tros yes Jo shank yes chess xend deranian yes 4.9 discuss and vote on a one-year extension to Shaw's trash and recycling contract for fiscal year 25 you want to take a stab at this Eric this is a revision that we got in that corrected the title page to it we yesterday post after town meeting um I know Carla is on the zoom but I I'll do my best to explain kind of what happened which is after town meeting um uh and the the kind of the the discussions around the trash contract surrounding town meeting uh the Board of Health had further discussions with Shaw about both a new contract but also the the possibility of an extension and um in an effort to kind of give I think everybody more time to to look at um and discuss a new longer term contract Shaw's approached the town with a proposal that would um extend the current contract by one year for 8 $125,000 which is the amount that the bo the board of selectman and the town meeting had voted to approved for trash for fy2 in the budget that was voted on at the town meeting um so it doesn't change any of the parameters of the pre-existing contract so there's not a separate charge for tonnage um we're going basically just another year under the last contract at $825,000 for that year the goal would be to give the Board of Health Shaw a full year to come up with a better contract extension and maybe to explain it better to town meeting about what would be the next steps if that makes sense um this is actually in my opinion um kind of a relatively simple vote this is what we budgeted $825,000 it's um so it wouldn't be an increase in trash year over over what we budgeted and allows us just more time to sort out the trash situation with uh Shaws um over the next year just have a question suree so we have this a year extension and if the during the year the Board of Health Works with yours and they would like to again consider longer than a three-year extension because are that was already voted down on Town Town floor can it be brought up again yes could be brought up at a subsequent town meeting um a request for another fiveyear contract there are other ways to do that as well in other words you could have a three-year contract with two one-year extensions and right talk to Town Council and Town Council seems to believe that if those extensions were totally within the purview of the town and had no penalty Clauses that would still be compliant with a three-year contract rule um I wouldn't need to meeting vote and that was a question I got from a lot of the citizens why aren't we doing three year with a year an additional year and year extension instead of a fiveyear okay my understanding was the reason so the reason why they were looking for five was to try to uh uh um amortize the cost of toter over five years if there were two one-year extensions that were totally at the towns like we could decide or not decide to do it it wouldn't help them amortize the toter they'd have to put the cost of the toter within those first three years otherwise we could just get out from underneath the cost of the totter by canceling the last two years of the contract um so it wouldn't really it wouldn't really spread that cost over five years it would still be three years that that's something I think that if if uh I think there could be some creative discussions with the Board of Health and Shaws to try and figure out a way to get the toter and and figure out a way to get them over a longer period of time right and just so I have it on the record personally I would like to know how many people actually need to totas that are um compatible with Shores I you know I do not have a sense when I drive down on trash day that everybody needs new totas I think it that's personally this is just my personal opinion just making more waste in the town because now we have the tots we bought that are usable by sh and then having to get additional ones so I I'd like the the Board of Health and I will talk to them directly on that to consider what why the entire entire town would pay for new totas well I think it's important to remember that you because you only get one totor per week um and we're paying for tonnage we don't want people to H be able to purchase their own and just stick them out at the street and have chaws pick them up they'll only be picking up the ones that are the ones that are chipped that they that are marked as as the ones from the town otherwise people could just line up five or six and said and then kind of overburden the trash system so I think that's the that's the reason is because the in the next contract we are paying by tonnage and so everybody only gets one um I understand what you're saying which is there may be some that may be compatible but that I think that's a that would be a difficult without somebody going out to every house and figuring out whether that totor is compatible and figureing out some way to mark it in such a way as to note that it's this one for this house I I think you're that's just more trouble than just saying yeah we're just buying toter everybody gets a toer and I've never seen someone I've never seen one of these uh pick up your own trucks where um they allow people to use their own trash cans they're always ones that are provided by the municipality or the or the trash company thank you for that information sure I guess first of all Mr chair The Proposal that printed out it does say proposal Municipal solid waste and recyclable material collection and disposable with toter that's been changed that is not with toter correct I just want to clarify that second of all are we going to be locked in with this $825,000 we still have to find out what the override is going to do because if the override doesn't pass and we have to come up with the school budget money we're gonna have to cut money somewhere how are we goingon to are we automatically still going to pay that or are we going to change how we're doing this that's my that's my question I have here well that's the 64 million doll question I would say um my thought is right now we have um uh we need it I think the the most important thing is that this contract needs to be negotiated properly and it hasn't been um I would like to be able to see um some involvement with either the Town Administrator or one of the board of Selectmen in in the negotiations just so we're familiar with what's going on so that there's no surprise to to anybody um in in order so that um all voices are heard number one number two is um we are in we are in this is this will keep us in our fiscal year budget as far as what has been voted with the town so how we deal with it it's with in the budget and and we're balanced that's how I see it if we approve this come June 11th or 15th or whenever we have another meeting we we'll we'll get that hurdle when we get there right but we're not locked in is all I want to make sure is I'm not signing a contract that we can't cut this budget or we can't say all right we're not going to pay as a town because we had to come up with $1.7 million so are we going to cut the trash all right we sign a contract then does that mean we'll find a way the residents have to pay per household I just want to be up front of what we're thinking here yeah so no I'm sorry Joe did you I just want to make sure that we're very clear that if we sign this but I think my opinion I haven't been enough involved to know enough about this contract that we should sign it I think like you said excuse me I think we have to have a little more talk about this somebody should be chair or Town Administrator should sit in sit in on these negotiations so we know but I just want to make it very clear that if we have to cut $1.7 million out of our budget because the override doesn't pass that the first thing I'm going to vote out is going to be the 8 $25,000 for trash because we cannot decimate the entire town of Townsen all the services because the next thing everybody be right up by you know what that they ain't got fire departments not enough the police department the highway the roads aren't sanded the roads aren't swept I I just people need to know if we need to cut and I want to make sure that this will be able to be put out there at a way of doing it if we cut it 825 we signed in this contract are we going to divide that by the amount of households and that's what they're going to get bills every month or every however we do it to pay for the trash themselves your answer on that yeah so so we've discussed at a prior meeting the possibility of charging a trash fee to cover the cost of the contract entering into the contract would not preclude charging a fee for trash um which would free up that $825,000 for something else however if the board wishes we could vote to approve the contract subject to a review by Town Council that would uh indicate that the town could terminate the contract with no um with no cost at any time I can certainly check with with Adam about that if that's concerned I once again I think I stated this at town meeting I have never seen the contract other than that this just came to me there's been no input from the Board of Health to any of us to sit with us prior to this and as far as I'm concerned I am not going to let the Board of Health put the board of selectman's back to the wall without making sure we know everything about this contract yeah just to be clear and I and I don't mean to I don't mean to interrupt but the the what you're signing is not a new contract it's just an extension of the contract that was signed by the board several years ago so that contract and all of its conditions are this is just extending it for one more year at $825,000 this is not what we were discussing at town meeting which is a whole new contract this is just an extension of the prior contract that was already reviewed and signed by the board of Select just to make it I don't want don't want anybody to be confused by that right but this provides us an ability to have 12 months to work out a contract that a real contract but if we have to do this by this will allow us to be able to go past June 11th to find out what's happening with that and what we need to cut so that we can then make Provisions within that new contract that we're negotiating within that time period to be more comparable in fiscal year 26 is that what your question is yeah so we'll be able to if we have to cut this but we keep the service going but we have to build the residence separately yes I'm good with that I'm good with that yes so what we're what we're agreeing on is to keep the contract exactly the way it is yeah and the town will be responsible for fund for for for paying for it but we are also if we need to we would be able to charge a fee yes awesome but we would we would be one paying paying shots yeah and we would be charging a fee to to taxes correct that's good that us if we go that route y I'm good all right I'm good with that so all right so I would like to be able to to um be able to get in a in a in a way that uh either the Town Administrator or again one of the Selectmen are part of those discussions if we could do that Eric I would appreciate it we can send that request to the Board of Health to ask if the that they include either a member their liaison or the Town Administrator in any negotiations with Char I think Del liaison would be the one right so I just I I just want to say that I'm I'm willing to to put forward if if they're so willing um I also want to say that the Board of Health administrator is doing a fabulous job and trying to juggle all of this and I want to thank her very much for all the work that she's doing too I know that this is a precarious situation for all but I just want to be able to make sure that we get through this um and do the best for our residents um 5.0 Opera projects do we have anything Eric I didn't see vote on that oh do do we we need to vote on that yes you mean you don't have to but yeah the the request would be to have a vote to approve the one-year extension uh at $825,000 as uh described in the in the the contract document and you're going to talk with Town Council to confirm if we had to get out of it yeah okay so then the motion would be to um to approve the the uh an extension with Shaws for $825,000 subject to review by Town Council that the contract would be terminable by the town with no with no no uh no cost [Music] I have a concern with that motion though I mean what if the council says that this contract is you are not able to get out of it I still want to go forward with this contract well they wouldn't stop us from coming back and having another discussion on June 4th exactly so we could but if you if we put the forward the vote as you do it in the count count Council says no this contract does not have a an ability to release you from it uh without conditions then where are we with this vote if you put that in the vote I think I'd have we'd have to bring it back to to the board to have another vote right with the understanding that it is not termin terminable so if if cont goes into I'm sorry Eric the contract we're talking about is June 1st we're not coming back as a board to June 6 so what happens on June 5th if Adam says no I believe it's July 1 July July 1 okay thank you um that that'll give us some time Teresa that if we need to if we need to go back and forth it'll give us a month to be able to do that gotcha okay so so moved on Eric's there's a there's a motion on the floor and a revision um any further discussion on it all those in favor ter yes shank yes CH and thean yes I go on to ARA project now sorry chairman um I didn't see anything in that uh Eric did you have anything no I already Updates this meeting um I do have uh I did get off the uh off the the phone with the um concast just so you both know um I talked with their attorney in regards to the um to schedule um accounting wants a more detailed uh invoice from them to know exactly what they're doing before the um check gets cut as we discussed earlier um but he is reworking a invoice with all the details and he should have that either tomorrow or Friday he told me but we should be good with that so that we can move forward with uh uh getting a date to schedule so that we can move Comcast downstairs um Town Administrator updates and reports 5.1 uh thank you I I I've got a couple real quick um uh as the board had voted um to uh appoint Ross Perry as the uh interim Town Administrator um there was a uh in the in the SharePoint there is a a the contract Ross's what would be Ross's um uh new new contract for his second run as interim Town Administrator um this is consistent with the kind of the vote that the board took so I just wanted to make sure and get a vote from the board to to enter into that contract with Ross so if I may um we had um we meaning Ross and and Eric and I have um had discussions in regards to um having uh both Ross and Eric the first week in June um Eric's last day will be technically June 7th right and then uh uh Ross will be starting on the 3 uh we also looked at the balance that we have in the selectman salary line and um what's in that contract as we had before is it will take out June um he'll do the 19 or the 20 hours a week um for June and then we'll start with um we'll be okay until July 1 because that'll be in the next fiscal year um I don't have any problems with that contract did you guys look at it I did and see some of the updates I did y Teresa do you have any questions on that no I do not okay the the thing that I was most concerned about is his work with the um uh the energy aggregation for the town um that and that outlines the difference when he does work for that we needed to meet the same amount that we were paying him for that and I think this this lays it out pretty well um because that's very important and and the reason why we need to make sure that the minute um we do hire a new Town Administrator we have to reinitiate that aggregation contract with him because we're going to be coming up on bidding uh very shortly and that would be you know it could be as soon as the last of July um until the end of the year so I just want to make that very clear um and we're both hoping both meeing Ross and myself I had a discussion with him about about that it looks like we may be in a good position to negotiate a good price for the town's people good so he's optimistic about that yeah I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed I think we can yeah so the municipal aggregation would be within his role as Town Administrator while he is Town Administrator and and the town would need if if the town wanted to engage him in something else after his town administrative contract has been terminated that would be up to the board but I think it would be wise to try to keep him on to help with the municipal aggregation he's done a really good job right so I would we would just be looking for a vote for of the board to approve the uh the contract with Ross for nmta second all those in favor T Mo yes Jo shank yes CH deranian yes um so the the second thing that I I wanted to discuss was the um the um uh unified planning work program for fiscal year 2025 um I think this is something that Chaz you may have alluded to earlier but this is the um uh the uh the uwp uh we requested the the Route 119 Corridor analysis from Edward road to Proctor and Townson Road um so uh we are they're uh drafting a preparing a draft document with Associated budgets that be put out for public review for that um um and so we I'm excited because we got selected which is a a big deal for that program that Corridor really needs I think uh to be reviewed and and and and could use a lot of help um traffic-wise um and so the fact that we got selected for uh pwp this for fy2 when our our previous attempts to get this Corridor in a corridor study have not been successful I think is a is a h I'm GNA give all the credit to the land use Department Jess and and the the grant administrator with the prior Grant administrator and the current Grant administrator who kind of worked on this um so um uh this is going to be going on this summer um and and for the for for I'm sorry this I I take that back it's going to be starting at the end of this summer um and be going on for the following year um this Corridor study and so um I also Eric want to give credit to our representative Scarsdale and Senator Cronin for letters of support for this um we as the board of Selectmen put in a letter of support and I I know that mrpc said it was because of these letters of support brought our application right up to the talk so I I I just like I said I think it's really exciting to have this quarter looked at and you know hopefully they'll come back with uh proposals to to deal with some of the traffic issues and we know that Proctor Road the challenge that that intersection is even though it's not in Townsen the challenge it provides to Townson residents is real um and the fact that it it encompasses everything up to Edward Road I think uh it'll look at the high school traffic it'll look at kind of the the uh the the uses along that Corridor I it's just really exciting so I wanted to let the the board know that we were selected for that and and that was uh should be going on for the next year so it's a really exciting approval so that would be it for my uh Town Administrator updates Mr chair thank you Eric um 5.2 reports from board Lea zones I have nothing [Music] the I have um I actually have a couple um I've been very active as you guys know with the water department and with the water department um if you guys remember we agreed to join in a um I join in a lawsuit with them in regards to P um we have um there are four companies that now have settled um with the past lawsuit um there is uh these figures are not money that we're getting we're getting a portion of this probably a smaller portion than what I'm going to be announcing right now um but 3M company did a settlement of 12.5 billion um Dupont chores and CA was 1.85 billion and uh 750 million was for Tao fire products and uh ger German company BASF has settled for uh $316 million um these are all monies that go into an account that those who have joined the um the lawsuit will get a portion of it so yeah yeah this is gonna the the monies that will go in will go directly to the um the water department and they will be able to use that um they're looking to put it in um interest bearing accounts so that they can uh keep there's a lot of uh the once we get the the treatment plan up and running there's a lot of cost involved in maintaining it and keeping it going they're going to be flushing out the the um uh the tanks that they have in there there's chemicals that they need to buy you know uh uh there's there's training involved with their staff there there's all sorts of things and they'll be able to use the money to sustain the that particular Department um which is all the reason that we um we wanted to sign up for that to begin with um I've worked with the board of board of assessors in town properties um those were uh uh meetings to move things forward uh I did go to um the nishoba boards of Health had a uh a seminar last week I went with our Administrative Assistant um they were for breakout um groups um Sabrina went to two and I went to two different ones and and uh it was I think it was really uh really helpful they touched upon a lot of different things um there's a lot of things that are involved with the chova board of Heth that we don't take that we don't really get involved with so I'm going to talk with our community services coordinator to see if we can start um taking into consideration some of these one of them was I'll throw it out to you guys it was called a uh a village group and the village group is a private um all residents it's a volunteer and uh people who need shoveling people who might need their lawn mode or shrubs cut or whatever um they take in the request and they they find out uh who wants to go out and do it and they have you know people going out shoveling their driveway or shoveling their walk or whatever um it's a program that I'd like to be able to start up here it's all done it's not part of the Council on Aging but they work with Council on Aging so I thought that was pretty cool nice um Joe thank you for your work with the um moving forward on the um the maintenance and and assessments that you've been doing with the company I appreciate that that's going along well um we have uh um Eric had already mentioned the land use coordinator the land juice office it's just really nice to have that office fully staffed and up and running um they're very busy with a lot of the um U things that they're doing in there um the uh we have mjtc and mrpc subina submitted so we got those committees covered um MOBA Valley Tech um I've been working with their media and IT department um they're going to be providing more video content for tcam um which is something that is is the educational portion la so um we're in in Communications to getting that up and running which I'm kind of excited about um as you saw the Recreation Commission they're moving forward uh with the gym that's out back we're going to have equipment being delivered um I've I've got a talk with highway I'm going to ask if I can store it there we need a space just to store the equipment when it comes that's that's got to be out of the elements um let's see um I actually had a nice chat with the tree Ward he's uh he's pretty busy that guy yeah yeah he's very nice he's very happy with what's going on right now and and what he's doing he says that uh you know it's it's I have no complaints and if you don't hear for me we must be doing good he said that's about right um we're also um I'm looking forward for the agricultural commission uh or committee to start up um we did appoint um a a gentleman that's supposed to be getting on some volunteer forms um I'm also with small town collaborative the rural towns check-in um one's for the state one's for with Margaret Scarsdale which is to improve um the agriculture a lot of the things that we do within the town um which is really moving forward and I want to thank our representative for doing everything that she's doing for us in regards to that and then tomorrow I have a meeting with um uh the mark and regards to our shuttle transportation between here and Fitchburg uh we need to find a way to encourage people we've had all of these request to have transportation provided and we've had this transportation and the ridership is is relatively low so I don't really want to lose this so we need to find a way to Market it or some way to to figure out how we're going to increase ridership to that um and then finally with the um uh MBTA uh with Transportation uh the last meeting that we went through um it was a huge budget discussion if we think our budget is something that was quite the the budget discussion um but they are looking for more public input um in in our neck of the woods which is nice because they want to be able to not only help out the Boston Community but but for us out here and that's all I have Joe Public Safety um yeah Public Safety couple of things um Police Department had conversation with them things are going very well a little bit of an update they had their one person that the last hour hire is started the academy so they're very excited about that once he gets that out of the academy he'll have full staff but the sounds of it which is good he's working on the the new vehicles hopefully they've had a backlog on them but they think they may have a couple being able to come so that will be good for him uh other than that everything else in the Department's been running really smooth everything is good he's very happy the commodity is really where it should be and everyone's working with each other and he's very happy the open communication that's between the boards and the board of selectman so that's huge on that part our fire department um I've had conversations with them Eric and I have been working on uh trying to finalize a Union contract hopefully that will be able to come in front of the board and we can make some kind of decision but everybody over there is once again everything is working very well they're all working hard as a team the paramedic service has really been busy and I don't know if it's their very first but I heard that they delivered a baby the other morning so in route to the hospital so they're very proud of that so so things are good we've got a great great group of paramedics and EMTs and everybody so that part as well um the building department I've had in-depth conversation with the Building Commissioner he has a couple concerns and I think jaaz I open this up to you he had some questions about one of the Departments that you're part of and I told him I really I can't get involved in that so so I'd like to see if you could reach out to the Building Commissioner and see what his thoughts are and his concerns because that's the department I believe is under your privy and other than that you know permits have been going very well a lot of big things are going the Sterilite project that they're involved in some of the permits have already started to be issued so he he's very happy with the way things are running and that's about all I got okay so do you want me to reach out to him yes if you could reach out to him he would appreciate it you can see what his thoughts are because I didn't want to get into it because it's not my it's not what I'mma on to all right I'll appreciate it and I'll talk with him and we'll work forward all right that's all I got okay um announcements and Communications um I I have a couple when when you're done CH yeah go ahead okay um so the first one I want to mention is that uh Thursday the Honor Society for the high school is having a Memorial Day breakfast they are as always inviting all local veterans they ask uh to show up in full uniform or or at least uh military um uh cap or representation of your service um for that mil uh event it is at uh doors open at 8:15 and is at 8:30 as I said at uh at the high school and all local vote veterans are encouraged to come and the second one I want to uh announce is I've been working with Margaret Scottdale on an amendment to the hero act which is we're looking to streamline the process in which the uh candic plates are distributed in the state of Massachusetts unlike most States uh uh our state is the only state relying on uh a second medical review instead of relying on the VA review process um and that secondary medical review process takes about 9 to 12 months a backlog on work that's basically already been done um by the VA so we're encouraging people the this is tomorrow but the more state representatives that sign on Margaret is the co-sponsor of it but if we can have have you reach out to others uh that you might know or other people outside of the area that you might know in Massachusetts uh or any DAV or uh vso contacts in other areas of Massachusetts especially uh this evening early tomorrow uh because that is coming up for vote tomorrow that's it that's it thank you very much um I don't know what I did with it there is um I'm going to skip over um I will um we can talk about the governor's Economic Development Bond Bill H 4459 um at a later date maybe we can move that to June 4th please uh and I do have a letter from Dy May that I want to read in regards to Memorial Day Memorial Day will be observed on in Townsen on Sunday May 26 members of the towns and VFW Post Number 6538 and it auxiliary American Legion Post Number 199 and its auxiliary and Dav chapter 122 will attend the 10 amm service at the towns and Congregational Church as a body two parades and a band concert will take place in the afternoon all marching units will assemble at the VFW Park in West Townsen at one o'clock Pastor Jeff wette will offer the invocation at the memorial service to be held there at 1:30 before the veterans groups accompanied by the towns and Military band the towns and Fire EMS Department the towns and Minutemen company members of the clergy clergy clergy Town officials and numerous Scout Troops March East on Main Street to Canal Street flowers will be strewn on the water from the decorated boat during the memorial service at the Canal Street bridge in honor of those who lost their lives at Sea Pastor David jic will offer the prayer during the service at the bridge following the bridge service all units will proceed to the Riverside Cemetery from a memorial service Pastor juic will give the invocation the towns and Military band will play A Hymn volleys will be fired by the American Legion Post Number 199 firing squad and Taps will be played the parade will disband after leaving the cemetery to later reform at the Spalding Memorial School and towns and Center at approximately 235 the towns and Minuteman company will fire a salute at the B Centennial Monument monument in front of the school before the marching units move down Turnpike Road and to main Main Street Bridge those who lost their lives at Sea will also be honored during the Main Street Bridge memorial service with flowers being strewn upon the water from a decorated boat Reverend Dr Gregory Schmidt will offer the invocation at the bridge following the service at the bridge the parade to Memorial Hall for a memorial service Pastor Ernest Farrar will offer the invocation at Memorial Hall the parade will then pass around the common and go to the Hillside Cemetery for a memorial service where father Shawn mayor will offer the prayer the Freemasons of the grand of Massachusetts who will join the parade at the school will separate from the other Marchers at the cemetery so they may conduct a special memorial service at the grave of Henry Price the founder of masonry in America after leaving the cemetery the parade will move down Highland Street to Brookline Street and into the towns in common father mayor will give the invocation during the memorial service on the common which will be followed by the presentation by the Gettysburg address by a Boy Scout and Flanders field by a girl scout the parade will disband after the memorial service at the Civil War Monument on the common Town and's Memorial Day observances will continue as the towns and Military band plays a concert in the common beginning approximately 15 minutes after the Parade's conclusion patriotic music and songs of the various military branches will be performed before the towns and Military band concludes its Memorial Day concert at approximately 5 o'clock by playing the star spingle banner the towns and Memorial Day observances will be held rain or shine it is hoped that many area residents will come out and watch the ceremonies all veterans and active military with or without uniform Andor members of their families are encouraged to march with the American Legion veteran of Foreign Wars and disabled American veterans members and join them in honoring all deceased camarads um the towns and Fire EMS relief Association will offer hot dogs hamburgers sausages with peppers peppers and onions chips cold soda and bottled water for sale at the common throughout Sunday afternoon 26 May beginning at 12: noon so I am not going to be able to be in attendance I have a niece that has a wedding the same day and we've been wai waiting for this wedding for a very long time so I am going to that wedding in Boston but I've already let Betty may know that I won't be there this year but my my thoughts and prayers will be with everybody 5.4 next meeting June 4th 2024 at 6 PM uh review and sign uh I'll um entertain a motion to review and sign payroll and Bill's payable warrants out of session so mov second all those in favor CH say mo Jo shank yes Chan yes and I'll entertain a motion two motions one to enter into executive session pursuant to General Law chapter 30A subsection 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct contract negotiations with non-union Personnel in regards to the assistant accountant and also I move to enter into to Executive session pursuant to General Law chapter 38 uh section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares and he does this is in regards to the police Union overtime grievance and to adjourn from executive session and to adjourn to Executive session so MO second all those in favor CH Mo yes Jo shank yes chinian yes thank you everybody and have a safe holiday