##VIDEO ID:RxmFgwH9DmA## thank you everyone for joining today September 10th select men's Chambers 6:05 PM can I get a roll call please tresa a present Jo shank present can we stand for pledge of allegiance United States of America [Music] want to thank all the members in the um services are serving now and I have served thank you I want to announce the meeting is being recorded and uploaded to YouTube and is also going to be live on Channel 9 and is anybody else recording yes Chairman's additions and deletions Teresa do you have any I do not I do not thank you 1.5 we're going to review and approve the minutes meeting minutes for 87 827 24 any questions sa okay take a motion take motion to review and approve the meeting minutes from 827 2024 second any discussion any changes no I have none okay Sabrina was working on the 95 2024 minutes and she's had a pretty busy day today so we're going to move them to 9:24 that okay all right so I would like to if we could move 4.6 we need to vote on that all in favor say mo yes chank yes okay also I'd like to announce that if anybody has a question on a topic please be recognized by the chair before you speak thank you so now we're going to move 4.6 out of order as Kathy has a prior meeting and I'd like to move 4.6 to discuss the special election for the vacant Board of selectman seat and set a date for the special election so Kathy we're gonna give the floor to you all right so I'm suggesting in order to have the election because it's a um we're electing an office we need to have time for nomination papers so I'm suggesting um the date of November 16th and that will give me the required 64 days um November 16th is on a Saturday and I'm hoping we could have the election from 9 to5 okay um and I'm also requesting that we do not have uh mail out ballots vot by mail ballots because um at that point we'll be sending out two ballots one will be for the presidential and one would be for this and I'm afraid they're going to get mixed up okay and we'll be opening envelopes and it will have the wrong ballot in it or it'll have two ballots in it and aside from the fact that it's 97 cents per ballot and right now we have almost 1500 people signed up for vote by mail ballots for the presidential so I'm hoping that we can um op question because I know you explained it to me but I want you to say it out to the public the reason it makes sense to not have it during the general election is you would have to sign in twice can you explain that just a little bit that would be uh if we did it the same day as the presidential election number one we don't really have enough time the time frame's not right but we would have to have two sets of check-ins um two voter lists you could decide what what ballot you wanted or both ballots it would be very confusing very people understand yeah thank you very much K sure um so if we do this um that would mean on the 16th that would mean nomination papers would become available tomorrow and they would have to be back in our office for the board of registrars for certification on September 27th so that gives just about a little over two weeks yeah a little over two weeks to get um signatures of which we need 40 valid signatures so it's better to get 50 all right traca you have any more comment on that no so I would like to make a motion that we accept the time frame that Kathy has set the parameters that she has given there will be um if you weren't in town that you'll still be able to you didn't mention that yes absy voting would still be um good to go okay if you're not going to be able to attend the election just come in fill out an application we can mail you the ballot as long as it's done be five days before or you can come in the office and vote once we have the ballot all right so once again we'll update that I make motion to accept Kathy's proposal for the special election for the vacant Board of selectman seat don't move second any questions Teresa anybody I just want to make it clear do we need to vote uh separately or just he said as you condition so do we don't need to vote separately on no mail I think it would be best to vote separately because I have to send something to the state on that okay so this this V is just for the thing and then we'll have a second for that yeah I think that'd be clean okay I'm ready to vot shank yes so we'll move on to the second part of that vote um would you like to make a motion on that Teresa yes I make a motion that for this special election coming November 16th from SE uh Saturday 9: to 5: we are not going to have mail in ballots you can of course get an absente ballot as we would in any elections but we are not sending mail ballots to the home so moved second okay any comment on that all right ready for a vote TR yes Jo shank yes okay Kathy are anything else we need to discuss no I think that's it um we'll get this all into control I can enter it into the um system to get that work started and we'll be good to go all right right thank you for your time well thank you very much I appreciate you moving it up simple easy yeah it please all right thanks a lot thank you so 2.1 we have a 605 appointment with an update on the towns in cea the community electric aggregation plan is going to be presented by Ross Ross you there I do believe I'm here okay apologize we're a few minutes late but we had to try to accommodate the town clerk um Kathy rules absolutely thank you so this is an update on the community aggregation program um it's actually moving fast all of a sudden we spent the last six months waiting for the dpu to update their guidelines um good energy our consultant and I actually helped you know provide input to their guidelines the guidelines were finalized a couple weeks ago and then they said everybody that had previously applied would have to reapply well fortunately good energy had been moning the process so they were ready to go they resubmitted our application um I was afraid dpu was going to take their now mandatory 120 days but on August 29th the dpu said that the Townsen aggregation plan has been approved so that's a huge step forward um it's actually now getting very fast um they expect to go out to bid possibly um by the end of the month with bids due Tuesday September 24th at 12: p.m. so that's right around the corner we've got a little bit of work to do to be ready for that first we need to approve the electricity service agreement this is the agreement that the town will sign with the company that's chosen to generate electricity for the town this is agreement that's already been vetted by several other towns it's been vetted by uh dpu so I think there's very little that towns would would want to change or could change but they're supposed to have that agreement to me by Thursday and I'd like the board's okay for me to send that to Adam for his review okay when do we have to sign that contract by Ross the bid day the bids are due September 24th at noon unlike other bids where you normally have 30 days to to sign it you the board has to sign it that day that hour that's really sounds crazy but it's because the electricity Market it it's very volatile so when a supplier sends in a bid they've got they're looking for an answer within an hour so backing up to that Joe we envision having a pre-bid meeting um with the board to explain what we expect the prices to be and there'll probably be three options for electricity a base rate that has a little bit more green energy than the state requires a medium rate that has 20% more green energy and they high-end rate that is 100% green energy so when we meet with the board we'll be able to explain the details on those parameters and the expected pricing when we have an executive session and we're suggesting that be Monday September 23rd will a will be able to tell the board we expect these three categories of electricity service will be in the following price ranges I would hope at that point the board would vote that if we meet or beat those price ranges it would be okay for for the designated person to sign that agreement I mean you could schedule a select board meeting with the two or I guess the two of you on the 24th or you could authorize one of you or possibly your Town Administrator to sign the agreement if it meets certain parameters and that's what we would discuss in executive session on the 23rd so a pre-bid meeting um before the executive session an executive session on the 23rd to discuss the parameters of electricity that you will accept and then bidday noon on the 24th so this is seems fast but it's a chance to get the aggregation prices in place um by the end of December and that's when the winter rates usually come out and everybody has sticker shock when they see what the new prices will be hang on one second Ross yeah I'm just um I I understand the whole timeline and everything why would the going through the um um price range that that we're considering executive session just to keep the people that are setting the bid from knowing what we're willing to pay exactly if you tell them you're high number and they're watching they might come up with that high number when we hope they they will beat that number that's what I just figured but for those out there in the atmosphere I want to let them know we're not hiding anything like and after the prices have as after you've signed the bid the bid price there's a 30-day process to inform all the residents on what the the electricity options are to give them a chance to opt out if they choose to there'll be extensive marketing programs um I would expect a public hearing where we can explain everything to everybody so there's a lot of work to be done after the bid price comes in and it will all be very transparent and and that all the voters will know exactly what they're getting and and how it's structured right and I know every it's an optin option that we have but EXC it's op it's opt out opt out I'm sorry opt out but people like myself are not have already chose other electricity right vendors so we're not on automatically included in it so you're also going to need to explain how you hop opt in if you fall into that category correct yes and there will be a process to do that but you you are absolutely right for people who have already made alternative Arrangements they're not initially in in the pool um for for this aggregation but there will be a process for them to get in if they want to we're we're not trying to poach on custom customers that have signed up with other third party generators okay but we do want to educate them um how they can if they choose yes thank you so I guess my question Ross simplify this for us how do we move forward so we're going to have a special executive session on the 23d we're going to have a meeting we have a board selman's meeting on the 24th so what do we need to set up prior to that or what's well first is um I saw Adam there but I'd like to be able to have Adam review the esa the electricity service agreement ahead of bid day so that you'll be comfortable that it's okay to sign that agreement on the bid day so as soon as I get that agreement I would I would like if it's okay with you to send it to Adam yeah I don't have an issue with that do you Teresa no I do not all right so that will be fine send that okay and then where do we go from there I would suggest to pencil in at this point an executive session sometime on Monday the 23 which point we will explain to you H you know the proposed price ranges and you will I hope well you could schedule a meeting at noon on the 24th or you could just designate somebody from the board to sign for the town if it meets the parameters you can make that decision on the 23rd okay um so tra I believe you've been really involved in this correct correct um so my opinion would be that if we can simplify for everybody not having a whole bunch of meetings if we if we need to take a vote now or whatever but to have Teresa do what she needs to do to move forward with that okay so that will be basically the way I want to make sure I have the steps Adam's going to review the esa we're going to get an idea of the price range on the 23rd we're going to agree on that that price range and whether it's me whether it's Nelson we're going to if it falls in that price range we're going to say go on before noon on the 24th and we're not going to wait till uh 11:59 because things go wrong so the bids the bids are due at noon time good so we'll get them done September 24th yes so you'll have 30 minutes or an hour to understand what the bid says and decide if it meets The Pri the parameters that the board sets up on the 23rd okay so Nelson and I can handle that on the 24th to make sure okay and you don't unless you tell me when not to sign it no and you don't need to vote that now to authorize one of you to to act on behalf of the board but you will need to authorize that on the 23rd because at that point it'll be too late to notice meeting for the 24th because you require the 48 hours notice to comply with the open meeting law so you can't decide on the 23rd we really want to have a full board meeting on the 24th to review this that won't be an option at that stage so you'll have to designate one of the two of you at that meeting on the 23rd so we would do that on the 23rd and could we do it right now and just be done with it you can do it now would you mind doing that not at all okay Ross tresa is g to be your pinpoint person excellent great we still need to have so we should have a vote yeah we're GNA have a vote so I make a motion that Teresa work with uh Ross in regards to setting the parameters for the um Community electricity aggregation plan so moved second I just want to clarify those parameters are going to be discussed on the 23rd based on what's discussed on the 23rd right yes acting out the parameters I'm not setting them no so so you will be signing the bid if it meets the parameters that you discussed on the 23rd so Mo second she say mo yes Jo shank yes anything else Ross we need to discuss in regards to that now I think this covers the key things um there will be a lot of marketing going on after the 24th to explain to all of the rate payers exactly what's happening um so it's going to be moving fast which is refreshing after it moving very slowly for for a while well hopefully it will be able to benefit the residents of the community hopefully save them some money coming into winter with the pricing so I just want to thank you and everybody that's worked on that committee to get us where we are today great thank you Sabrina we've got what we need to do we're going to post for an executive session correct Y and do we need to discuss the time for that executive session now is it possible to move our regular meeting which is the 24th to the 23rd and then go into executive session on the 23rd instead of having a meeting the 203rd and the 24th I I mean I don't have a problem with that that's up to you as chair you can I mean I I think that I would recommend that we we change the 20 um fourth meeting Tuesday 6 of mar till the 23rd Y and we'll have an executive session and at the end of that meeting that you can do that all right so you that'll be fine instead of having two meetings I like that idea appreciate that Teresa um so do we need a vote on that we yes we're good right we're good on that Ross anything else for us that's it for on electricity that's it well stick around we might talk to you in a minute okay I'll be here thank you all right so we have a 7 o'clock appointment so we're early so I guess we'll just move right on to appointments of official Personnel votes may be taken 3.1 the appointment of Nelson mu as the town's procurement officer heren officer and design for handling Grievances and signat for Road opening permits a vote will be needed so move second okay any discussion Teresa I had one question seeing in my note is it doesn't mention enforcement officer isn't that part of this enforcement at what part so remember we ran into problems with building issues with lighting issues and we didn't technically have the town administer listed as the enforcement officer and we said I thought it was Adam that said we should have a designated Enforcement office Zoning Board of appeal issues looming escaping looming issues sure so um so all of those things are are somewhat separate from one another the way that it works is in some instances the enforcing offic sered for a particular bylaw zoning or general or a statute or statutory scheme is defined by by Statute it is in other cases it's defined by your Charter in other cases it's not defined at all which is why you would need to make a motion to make a formal appointment so for example with zoning ordinances and bylaws as a matter of state law zoning enforcement officer is typically the building inspector unless there's a contrary designation and so in towns and it has always been the zoning zoning enforcement officer has always been the the building commissioner or a building inspector um and that's actually specified as well in your bylaws you have a a non-criminal disposition section of your bylaw I just pulled that up I'm looking at it it says item a is a zoning bylaw the enforcing officer is the inspector of buildings you then have various other bylaws identified which can be enforced through non-criminal disposition you have business certificate compliance the inspector of buildings is the enforcing officer for that as well but there are others where there are different different enforcing officers so the tobacco regulation is enforced by the board of Health agent or by the police department and so on and so forth it goes on for a couple of pages here in terms of references and do we have any place where we need to say and when not designated at the he is enforce enforcement officer when not designated by Charter so I um you don't have that sort of a provision in your bylaws I don't recall whether there's one in the charter but I'll look the town administrator's Duties are specifically spelled out by Charter so the Town Administrator is identified as the chief administrative officer of the town and then there's a Page worth of responsibilities um that are vested in the Town Administrator I don't believe it gives General enforcement Authority with respect to bylaws unless it's specified so that it's something that you could contemplate you can't do it simply by way of vote if you're trying to designate him as the enforcing officer for laws you have to do that by way of a bylaw Amendment which to go to town we know I don't want to go down that clumpy or right today it can't be today but it's not it's a fair point and I can search more closely through the bylaws to see if there's any provision but I feel as if this might have been discussed sometime within the past couple of years because we've taken a couple of looks at that non-criminal disposition by law and we made some refinements to it uh and I think that at some point we had discussed a catchall provision that identifies the Town Administrator as the enforcing officer in the absence of a more specific Des I don't think we brought it toe okay so I make a want me go for Point Nelson as a town pean officer hearing officer and designate for handling Grievances and signatory for Road opening permits so move second okay any discussion me ready for a vote TR Shank yes okay moving on so 3.2 appoint Mary James chville to the Hisar District commission effective 82024 until 6:30 27 I have a volunteer response form here I think this has already been voted on there's letter that came back from Mary Janes stating that she felt we made a mistake in regards to her appointment she thought we were talking a reappointment um I guess I'm going to take the stance that I'm just going to stand by what was originally voted for so okay I do want to comment on that okay go right ahead so I just have a few questions so my understanding is that there is an open position on the board and we did vote if I look at minutes we did vote for a reappointment and I even remember asking you when you answering me was it a reappointment or an appointment so in my opinion those are two different things my concern is and is Kathy still here my my concern is I believe Adam maybe you can help me with this if we have only given you so much time to fill an open slot is that a correct statement like if we don't fill a slot if we have volunteers who try to fill a slot it that are open we have two open slots on that and we don't fill that I thought we had something in our Chata that said the community themselves cannot fill that position yeah there is a vacancy provision let me pull it open so if we don't vote this tonight it's my understanding that we lose the power to make that decision and that F power falls to the historical permission to fill that position with whomever they choose taking usurping I love that word usurping by the way usurping the power of the board of Select waiting for ad answer your question what I said I'm waiting for Adam to answer I don't really know Joe but that's my my understanding like we had ex I don't know how many days it is or whatever I do remember we've come across I think some of that so not into no disrespect Mary Jane but sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know I think seven 7-9 79 yeah I asked you that Cathy yeah your your Charter has multiple Provisions that concern vacancies we've we've come across this in the past so Bas on what we find I would suggest we seriously consider this but let's see what Adam has to say all right so the provision is 79 at subsection f it says whenever a vacancy shall occur in the membership of an appointed multiple member body so that would include the commission the remaining members shall forth with give notice written notice of such vacancy to the appointing authority in this case that would be the select if at the expiration of 30 days following the delivery of such notice the appointing authority has not appointed some person to fill the vacancy the remaining members of the multiple member body shall fill such vacancy for the remainder of any unexpired turn by majority vote of the remaining members the Town Clerk and the appointing authority shall be notified in writing when the vacancy is filled okay so the way I'm understanding that if we don't vote her in tonight then she the their commission can have a meeting tomorrow and vote whoever they choose in tomorrow night so I don't know the exact timing are we beyond the 30 days because you talk about today and tomorrow we beyond the 30 days already oh yeah right so if if the board doesn't vote to fill that vacancy I don't want to speak about her because it could anybody if the vot board doesn't vote to fill the vacancy with the with the the applicant that's before you then the body could meet as soon as tomorrow if you're beyond the 30 days and could vote to fill that vacancy whether it be with that individual technically they can't meet tomorrow if they don't have a meeting posted correct theyd have to comply with the open meeting requir second go ahead SA I didn't hear I don't [Music] have yeah they had two vacancies and so now they're down to the one vacancy two so where is your board you don't mind me asking where does the board stand Now who's on your board who's on the commission um myself okay Claire yeah um Julia start off and how many person is board seven with one alternate one alternate and and one opening that right do you have an opening in the alternate position as well so there's two two positions that are open and that's excluding the position that's been filled by Miss shiffrin okay talk about Teresa no I would like to make a motion that we appoint Jane Churchwell to the historic district district commission effective 820 2024 to 6:30 2027 a second motion now we have to discuss okay um just struggling here a little bit okay and Jane you've been a longtime resident really I don't want this to feel personal but my biggest concern I have is something has to change a little bit with the projects that are going on by the donor you know the donor's not real happy and I just think what we need to do if we move forward with this is we've got a gift that no communities probably let me finish please okay no community's ever probably getting no going to received and I am I as a board of selectman a resident of town I think we ought to be honored as to what the donor has given and I just if we move forward we just have to take a different stance of how we move forward with how the handling of the donor is being taken care of that's my biggest concern and uh you've been in town a long time you're a longtime resident you do a lot I get that I understand that but I've had conversations with not the people everyone thinks but I am talking I've had conversation with the donor and uh just some concerns if we move forward and we vote for this tonight I would just hope that any animosity that's going out there with anybody I don't care if it's the tree or the car or the parck L we all have to work as a team and work together and if we don't do that we could be in great great dire need of not finishing those buildings and with that said we don't need to get in anymore or any further Adams made it very clear if we don't do it they're going to put you on anyway and I don't think that looks good for the board you know I think we as a board have to somewhat stay together but I just want to make it clear that we are a community all of us historic district planning board all of us we all work together to do the right thing for the community so with that said Mo yes Jo Shen yes welcome back okay moving on all right are okay so see all right so we have a 7 o'clock so we'll get them all in here first but we can try to keep moving um so 4.1 discuss setup of a media section for the board meeting room I at this time don't feel we should take any action on that I I just I I more thought has to be put into that and I'm good with that I I agree let's take no action but can I just ask what are we talk when you talk about board meeting room you're talking about this room okay thank you okay it's on here I don't know a lot about it and I don't think it's fair that I'm not prepared for this so not okay okay we don't have to no votes no nothing just no action okay so 4.2 we want to discuss consultant contract draft with Ross Perry Here We Go Again Ross back on the on the front page here so I'm going to turn this over to Nelson to explain exactly what we're trying to do here y abely we hold on gentlemen you can come in can we hold on this and do this right away or we got wait can't okay we have it's specified o' Mr Shephard just so you know have 7:00 is what it time we have to do it at 7 yeah you're more than welcome to more than welcome come in take a seat well because otherwise we can't take it out we have to do it at Center we moved it okay thank you for understanding okay all right so uh the oh no no worries so the Consulting contract with uh Ross um you know is kind of like a he's working on two different things mainly um as he spoke earlier he's working on the community electricity aggregation plan so his services are still needed because he's still working to get that up and running um there's all the pre-bids as well and then the bid and then after that you still have to roll out the ual plan itself so that's going to take um you know considerable amount of Ross's time to get that up and running and the second piece of um the consultant um contract is um assisting mainly myself the Town Administrator as well as select board members on um you know various issues and topics that you know um I'm not especially familiar with and you know Ross would have a lot of historical insight and knowledge into it as well as helping out the you know select board so we would love to um employe Services um in that regard and we're hoping we'll get a contract in place for those set Services I just like to add a little more and Ross correct me if I'm not mistaken one of the reasons I've asked to expand that scope a a little bit other than the aggregation electrical aggregation is unfortunately the board is kind of just two of us one of the members is no longer here that has had a lot of input on a lot of projects that have been going on that Ross kind of knows about you're new you don't know about it so I am hoping that we put this in so that you can have him helping us and also helping myself to make sure we move forward in the right direction tra you have any input or any say yeah unfortunately I do you know it's nothing this is not personal this is not what I am just real concerned on the dates especially the op with the objects of trying to save down money now and having a contract that goes all the way out to June 2025 if all possible I would like to see this to be a 90day contract and I don't know contract law so it might not even be possible with the an extension if we're not caught caught up but by December we should have the third selectman should be elected so uh things should be back in there we don't know it might be somebody who has a lot more uh knowledge uh of the town and and how things work and I just think at a time when people are asking why didn't we cut this why didn't we cut this I think bringing out a contract to assist uh basically for assisting the town Town Council all the way to June might be needed to June but I'd rather end it after 9 not end it have it for 90 days and extend it after 90 days if we find we still need it well the contract States Consulting and until on June 30th 2025 or until projects and other assignments are concluded but how does assistant approve uh say like I said you can have that also that same language in the DAT be December 10th which would be my preference I think I think June 30th is even even with that caveat that they can say assignments have been concluded I think that just makes it so hard much harder to say you know we don't know we no longer need your assistance you know we no longer need your your help on this project I think it's much easier to extend a contract than to say um we're cutting you off because it's done we no longer need you Ross there correct me this is also in regards to the aggregation that you working on and do you feel that by and I have no issue if we we set a date but I don't want to set a date if we're not going to be 100% done with the program that you have been working on for the past several years so help me out with that so the aggregation we are hoping to have it finalized by December or January but I think December 10th might be early um but that what that program has sort of a built-in finite period to it when we have the aggregation underway my involvement tapers off to probably zero and and that will be determined by when the pro you know when the program goes live as far as the Consulting to the TA goes that's a case of when Nelson or a member of the board calls me I will try to help and answer if they don't call I'm not billing you for that time so that is sort of regulated by yourselves as to how long you need me I think it might be helpful if I can help during the budget season and preparation for town meeting but again that's up to Nelson and the board to decide whether they want to call me or not if they don't call me there's no charge thank you Ross um I guess Trace some my my biggest concern is the member that we lost has put in so much time into the community and has worked due diligently on numerous boards numerous projects that are going on within the town right now and I'm gonna be quite Frank and honest I ain't got a clue what he has been working on because if the doesn't come in front of the board that we have to act on I don't know and I think we would be doing the town of Townsen a an unjust by not having someone such as Ross that we can go back on Nelson is new to this we didn't we didn't hire Nelson with the two-person board we hired with a full board with a chairperson that really had to handle on everything going on in town and he put a lot of time in and thank him for that I just don't have that amount of time or the knowledge of all the it and everything else going on and I really feel and I I understand where you're going Teresa set a date this isn't thousands and thousands of dollars this is just to protect the town of towns in to make sure Nelson and myself and you Teresa we don't do something wrong or go array here and I think for Nelson to even be offering to help and a you know give his assistance I think we need to sign the contract and I personally feel I need his help and um I just think we got to move forward and sign it and and I'll make it very clear that as soon as I feel confident or we get re reorganized on the board and there's a new chairperson that comes up or if I stay whatever be the case then we can eliminate the one part of helping the board on that but he has to stay involved with the aggregation so just explain to me Joe how is that different than let's say we bring it out the contract out to the end of the year and at the end of you know in December we say oh no we're nowhere close to where we need to be um let's extend it another year how did what's how does that sign a contract and if if there's some kind of a problem we come back I just think it just easier to sign this we know we have them if he's not done with the aggregation we don't have to come back into a meeting vote everything again you know the least amount of meetings we have to have to keep voting and redoing things is the proper thing I feel and Ross has done the town of towns in a huge huge favor by filling in the amount of times he has and I I can't thank him enough I've been on the board at different times that he's been involved he's a hardworking person he has the best interest of town of Townson and I really think I think it's the right thing to do TR okay and I'm certainly not arguing that um that Ross brings value uh the one thing then if we're going to go forward with this as I said my concern is objects and my concerns been been transparency for the longest time here so I've already U talked to uh Nelson and others uh people about this I'd like to see and it is an easy way to see you know we see the warrants we know that uh Nelson called on we got charged $100 last month and that's all it cost us was $100 last month so moving forward I have no problem passing this but I want to make sure that we get a lot of transparency that people can see this you know what it's costing us how often it's being used how much it's costing us by the programs that are available to show not just for the because not just for us believe me it's not just for us how we're spending what we're spending on you know trash bags Stu but that's that's not the topic we're talking let's keep to the topic of the well I do want to know I don't want just Ross to make 15 call phone calls at $100 each every week I want that transparency I think it's there if you read through it it has a breakdown of how it's going to be charged and yeah but I didn't see a limit well at this point I'm going to tell you I don't think I I I I don't want to put a limit on because nor nor do I so that's because I need his help and I need and Nelson needs his help but I want to know I want the transparency behind he needed his help 15 hours in this month but next month he only needed 10 hours the next month he only needed five hours and so on so then we can see that it's it's working as we expected to work and we're going to see it anyway it's in the Warren it's going to be there and I don't think Nelson is going to take advantage of it and no nor do I think R is G take take advantage of it I will be honest with you I will reach out to him and I've had conversations with Nelson and we've discussed some issues that neither one of us had an answer to it but Ross has the answer because he's been involved so how do we he has me and him have to first figure this out and if we can't I don't want to be limited say oh gee we're only going to say we can have them for 15 hours if we need them we need them unfortunately that is the Heart Break of what's going on when you lose the chair of your board that has been so involved that has done so much and has just thrown on you and me three cent I I tell you I don't know about you but I think we we' be absolutely full if we don't move forward right but we're also in a town with a million dollar $800,000 deficit we're a little foolish if we don't put parameters around an expense can I make a suggestion um so Ross you can hear me as well so um paragraph three or section three of the contract is entitled compensation and uh paragraph a or sub paragraph a says um second sentence consultant will invoice the town Town monthly do you submit itemized invoices Ross yes so you you might just vote with the amendment that that sentence say the consultant will submit itemized invoices monthly as opposed to just stating invoice monthly that provides the transparency because you're going to see on a month-to-month basis he got three calls on this date he got one call four days later and you'll see the billing and so you can monitor that on a monthly basis and if you see that in your in your estimation he's taking too many calls from Nelson or he's making too many calls or he's doing too many things you can ask you can ask him to explain and you can I think I so what do we have to so do we have to change this contract and just make a motion or what should we do with this right so you would you would just amend the second sentence in paragraph 3A so it's 3A 3A the second sentence which currently reads payment uh which currently reads consultant will invoice the town month yeah and you can just replace that with consultant will submit itemized invoices monthly sove second okay so Ross are you okay with that yes absolutely as as I explained I've I've been doing that now for the last time I was a consultant I would submit itemized um explanations and also if you don't call me I don't answer don't charge I mean it it it's up to you and Nelson or Teresa if you don't want to call me that's fine no charge so I'm I'm going to be calling you because I've got a quite a few things that are on my plate that I have no idea and Nelson and I have talked and I am going to pick your brain to do the right thing for the top so hang on Sabrina you will going to correct that contract do we can can we make a vote that we can sign I can do it y so I'll make a motion that we um uh approve the contract uh agreement uh dat dated um September 10th it looks like which uh will begin September 10th and end on June 30th as amended to uh line um section c line paragraph a to submit invoice um excuse me um itemized I itemize invoice some mov second all in favor say mo yes shank yes now do we have to make a motion to sign this contract out the session or how do you want to handle that because it's going to have to be retyped up so I'm going to make a motion that we signed this contract when it's been updated and we sign it out of session so Mo second CH say mo yes Jo shank yes we all good with that y all right we got five more minutes and that was we're on 4.3 thank you everybody have a good evening boss thank you very much don't lose your phone all right let's just do 4.3 zba mandatory referral 43 Ryan Road um so I recommend that we uh leave this in the hands of the Zoning Board of appeal to act accordingly uh no action might be required based on changes in the law but that will be up to them to decide I second that so do we need to sign this no so it's just leave at the discuss of the ZB all right that leave at the discretion zba okay say mo yes Jo shank yes okay so now four we still got we're moving right along here so 4.4 clarification of a special town meeting approval regarding 94 fitzburg Road storm water easement I want to clarify clarification this is to clarify that comcom did approve on 828 the work to extend the drainage outfall pipe into the Wetland buffer for 94 fishre Road a town staff member misspoke at the 820 special town meeting and indicated the work already had been approved the approval had occurred on 828 in not before the 820 special Town meetings so my again I leave this at the discre of the plan planning board um to file for any their action we have to do action nothing we're just clarifying okay so all you good with that Teresa I'm all start with that no vote no nothing all right 4.5 discuss a laptop for the Town Senior Center Transportation administrator lead van driver I'd like to take no action on that at this time okay yeah I don't think we know enough about it and I think I'm gonna have Nelson work on that to get a little more information um we just we don't have that extra funding right now but Noels will you talk to them find out how they would like to fund it bring it back on the 24th yep we'll do it okay you all right with that I'm all right with that 4.6 we've already moved up all right 4.7 vote on the towns and chatter changes okay I entertain a motion to accept the subs changes by the state legislation to the towns and Charter including certain substantive changes they there to recommended by Town Council all as now Incorporated in the draft of house number 3728 as sent to the town on September 4th 24 so moved second comment any discussion NOP Tes Mo yes Jo shank yes okay I think we're ready for our guest and I just make a quick run yeah thank you gentlemen come on in action little break in the action have a seat stand I know how many people you got thank you for coming Chief see you thank you I see you you want us to filter in around filter on if you would please I didn't expect this big of aowd nothing like being put on the spot have to move to the great okay it's okay we ready 7 p.m. we have a hearing we want to present and recognize Deputy Chief William Elliott for the years of service and we like to present a plaque from the board of Selectmen black St five of 24 for the dedicated 4 six of explanatory services to the town of towns and Fire EMS Department the town of towns and hereby recognizes Deputy Chief William Elliott for this [Applause] Milestone need to list of names of people who knew about this nobody nobody knew about this Joe no for the truth of it I think everybody in this room on the department knew about it and uh we had operation name on this that uh Mike rley was responsible for so Billy thinks he's here to witness a contract which I thought was crazy enough to begin with we do crazy things in Townson so we just want you to know and appreciate this and I just personally want to thank you I've worked with you and under you and it's it's a great honor of 46 years of service yeah thank you do enough I have I have had the honor to be here with a lot of we have every thank you very much I'm good thank you thank you everybody for coming hang on here Elliot yes get the two brothers want to thank everybody for coming appreciate that it's well done thank you guys thank you thank you thanks a lot good to see you hopefully we did it right hey man we're not hiring you H so now we lost that train where we're at 5 right 5.0 all right we back in session we all go all right so moving right along work sessions votes may be taken 5.0 oper projects at this time I'd like to not take any action Nelson and Katie are working on an update that they can give us to exactly where we stand what's involved and what projects are being done correct uh and on Friday morning I actually have a um video call with our consultant uh Jennifer Thompson over at Capital strategic solution she's sort of a consultant on all the arpa projects so I want to meet with her just to get a lay of the land of what project we have going on what kind of um assistance she can provide to us and then I'll be meeting with Katie um next Monday morning to go over actual ARA fund balances and what we do to close things out very good the deadline's coming up all right tra any comment on APPA no I do not all right we'll move right on down to 5.1 Town Administrator updates and reports you got the floor thank you um so most of my time has naturally been devoted to the P you throw program spending a lot of time from you guys um you know Master the zero the the the bad contractor so I'm devoting a lot of time to that but um I did earlier this week uh have a kickoff budget meeting with the um Brad Morgan the superintendent of the north MX Regional School District over at the high school um the PE ta was part of the discussion as well as the ashb TA um so it was a just a kickoff meeting for you know the f126 um school budget um not they don't they don't have any solid numbers to to provide to us um but I think it'll be a good idea to invite their finance and budget team to our fincom meetings when it's budget season time um I understanding is um they have not been part of that discussion in past years um but they expressed the willingness to make their presentation at one of our um fincom budget meetings when it's budget season to go over um you know what they think the upcoming assessment might be to towns in so I think you know having them here um in this board I think will go a long way to understanding their process um uring that there's no surprises you know late the budet season so we're looking to those uh budget meetings we're probably going to have them on a regular basis probably once a month maybe more frequently as U it's you deep deep into the budget season but at the moment we're probably looking during they do twice a month just so we usually meet twice a month are you saying we all meet together twice a month or just do once uh no uh the this this working group where you know the the three town Tas are meeting with the school so we're probably at the moment meeting once a month so members invited is that what you say no uh there is a no it's just with the the um ta of all the three town don't think it would be to have everybody in they're thinking about having a really big Forum where um might be at the auditorium at the school there um they um members of public would be invited they were also considering inviting it might sorry it there might be some benefit to see if they want to do go early presentations to finom I mean they start twice a month and like I said usually around January so there's 20 plenty of opportunities if they like to and I know it's odd because they don't have a lot of numbers but at least get them involved in the process with inome might might help as well or in R of that you meet with them and then you report to fome what what you here at their meeting or do me on the lays on which income you my report but at least if we get the communications going in January it will help things my my opinion is I've sat through this would make my fourth budget process and we always come down to the school budget always creates a problem the school committee they don't have enough interaction with the finance committee and then we're all on a scramble so I would like to see Nelson you working with the other town towns and their committee their school committee or whoever they're bringing in for their budgeting to get some heads up have some regular meetings so at least we have a better idea instead of it's always the last minute with scrambling to figure out what they're thinking correct and I think I think that's the right way to go my opinion so right now it is early but you can at least it's my opinion your opinion that you can just at least the consensus of the board is they would like to see them a little more involved at an earlier age in an earlier stage of this than the last minute and we we can't stress enough either that it's like we keep saying you know we don't the school district against you know part of the problem with the school district is we have so there are so many unfunded mandates and the and the funding process for a Regional School District is so convoluted we really need to work with our state senators our state representative to look at that process and and clean up that process because they truly will might not know until a month before they're working their budget what their funds are going to be so you know this it you know we really have to like back it up all the way to the the Senate and the house and getting uh a better uh uh transparency on what funding is available for the school desp and that and that is correct and that public for that I mentioned where um every you know all the public would be invited from all three towns they were um hoping to invite the the local politicians our state reps you know because they're the ones voting and um attempting to fund these these bills um so we want them to to speak to you know the parents and the constituents regarding it so all we can get into a room of anybody of any importance that we can hash this out talk about it come up with some kind of a census prior to the last minute Finance committee's been under the gun for the past four years that I know we all try to work we have plenty of time at September let's start talking about it let's move go ahead okay um first of all we are planning we would like everybody to have their fiveyear plan in place this year there's been few that have done we do need it the other thing is I know we always blame the school but it's not all the school it's us it's us yeah we don't do it a combination bu just have to be presented earlier sooner everything has to be done in a more timely man absolutely I mean those I mean I can remember one day it was like two hours before the meeting we a meet yeah oh yeah need to on that y anything else Nelson uh the last thing I wanted to have a discussion on was how tomorrow night's um P throw public forum is going to be run okay just so we can come to a consensus on um you know the agenda you know how it's going to be laid out um so you know I think you and Teresa are going to you know speak in the beginning just overview of how the night's going to go you want to lay down some ground rules um and then you know I will speak you know um with a PowerPoint presentation with a few slides Irene um nasty p will have some slides as well from the state's point of view you know because they have a lot of experience implementing these pay you throw programs and then once the general presentation is over we are first going to answer questions that we have received from the public regarding the program and then um whoever is in the audience we'll get them lined up in front of the microphone then we'll take questions one at a time and I think we're going to limit each person to about two minutes maximum that they can speak um but the question and answer session is strictly going to be on prelam that's going to get implemented and how it's gonna work you have any concerns on that I think that's I don't have any concerns I just want to make it sure that anybody watching this tonight that we set the expectation that we are going to do our best to answer all those why questions how did we get to this point what's green what you know why didn't we shut the library whatever other ways you know we'll we'll figure out ways to put that on web pages and whatever to answer all those questions but that will not be the focus of tomorrow night tomorrow night we are we are like the Italian race car driver what's in front of me is all that matters okay we are not saying we're very anading s we're not going to do we're going to work on all sorts of ways to get those type of questions answered for you but we will not be answering those tomorrow night tomorrow night we want to make sure everybody has an opportunity we have a plethora of questions that came in that we have an opportunity to go through all those questions answer all those questions everybody has a chance to come up to the mic but we're not going to accept somebody come up into the mic and say well why didn't you close the library or why those questions will not be answered tomorrow I'll make it very clear tomorrow night's meeting will be as a selectman's meeting it will be post hosted as a selectman's meeting and it will be run just as we run these selectman's meetings uh the chair will moderate it and it'll be very clear what our Focus will be for that meeting so without getting involved too much of what we're going to talk about tomorrow night I think we've explained exactly to the public where we're going with that anything else Nelson on yours that's it okay 5.2 reports from boards and liaison Tera if it's okay with you I would like to just go over H skip over this right now because of where we are I think we have to figure out who's going to do what until we get new board seated so we are not going to handle anything on 5.2 5.3 we have a couple announcements I'm going to do one up front and then sir will do the other one um announcement of the decision of the planning board for 108 Pitsburg Road I'm just going to read part of it I'm going to read the notice of decision notice is hereby given that the a age restrict stricted Development Special permit site plan review special permit and storm water management permit SM 20242 according to the town and bylaw section part two general bylaws chapter 85 npdes Phase 2 storm water management in part three chapter 145 zoning bylaw section 145-40 d24 14526 14533 14542 and 14562 pot 5 regulations chapter 175 planning board chapter 175 art versus Storm water regulation was granted on August 12 2024 and I'll just say what it is to Phil Kamar dman LLC for a storm water management permit age restricted Development Special permit and site plan special permit for construction of three new two family residents dwellings and the renovations of an existing two family to create a total of eight age restricted units construction of driveway and walkways designated common open open space and storm water management infrastructure so with that said that is just the findings of the public Heron we have also Reed late that's why it's not on the agenda but under public notification and I'll turn this over to Teresa okay uh there's been questions out there with the closing of Nela Valley Medical qu question uh Medical Hospital Medical Center uh how do you get your medical records if you want to get copies of any of your medical records this includes Radiology Labs Etc it's very simple you just go online and it gives you all the options whether the email facts or do it online and all you have to do is to go to nishoba meded that's nisham med.org and it you it walks you through the process but you can receive all your medic medical records to transfer if you need that information to be transfer I'm also going to try to see if we can get this posted down stairs because we can if you can scan it um but if you didn't if you're looking to get that information that's how you would go about it thank you ch all right next 5.4 next meeting next meeting is a public forum on 91124 in the Great Hall at 7 pm the next meeting after that is on 9:23 we're G oh y 23 yep sorry sorry next meeting will be 92324 at 6: PM in the selectman's chambers all right 5.5 review and sign payroll bills warrants out of session so moved second yes Jo shank yes no executive session do I hear a motion to adjourn the meeting motion to adjourn the meeting at 720 second say mo yes so shank yes thank you everybody for particip in and hope clear see you tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall