##VIDEO ID:219DelYOoVg## okay now it's six o'cl will you join me with Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to the flag the United States of America and to the for stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all good evening and welcome to the town of Westport um select board meeting of Monday October 7 2024 um under Mass General Law chapter 38 section 20f this meeting is being recorded um I have several announcements um today just want to remind myself we're not going to Executive session today I have a few announcements um the first announcement is our next select board meeting will not be two weeks from now our next select board meeting was rescheduled to the 28th of October due to um absences so we're going to have two in a row so we're going to have the 28th of um October and then the 4th of November uh and then we'll be back on our every other week's schedule so no meeting in two weeks um unfortunately we continue to lose um prominent West Porters we have a few people to acknowledge the passings of uh tonight the first one is um Alfred Martell Alfred Martell 96 passed away on September 28 he was the loving husband of Edna buoya Martell for 57 years Alfred was a graduate of Westport High School he served his country honorably in the US US Army during World War II and participated as a peacekeeper and Occupied Japan Alfred was a longtime teacher in the Westport Public School System teaching science at all levels of middle school for over 36 years our condolences to the family I didn't know him but does anybody yes I had him as a teacher very very nice guy articulate always well dressed um he he was up up the VFW I saw him probably a year ago so even at uh 96 whatever he was he was still a still active great guy yeah so our condolences to the family we also want to acknowledge the passing of Beverly Hancock um Beverly Hancock was the wife of the late Thomas Hancock who we recognized I think at our last meeting um she passed away on September 29 um they had celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary um they enjoyed family visits locally and in Florida were frequent visitors to Foxwoods and Twin Rivers casinos um Beverly worked at the Westport town hall for years she eventually moved on to trusdale hospital in Fall River and worked as a medical secretary so our condolences and sympathy to the Hancock family with another loss in their family anybody know Dorothy or Beverly just with Tom yeah and then um we also want to acknowledge uh Norman NATO Norman was 87 he passed away on September 30th um he was the husband of re Rita Nat they were married 63 years um he is a longtime resident of Westport he enjoyed woodworking animals and tinkering with electronics and he was also a great guy his son nor Jr runs the sled uh works at the fair um the family asked if we could recognize him just because he was a long uh time towns person and all around great guy see him around a lot so we're hoping we're hoping to stem the tide of a loss of long-term West bers here I have just a few more um announcements so one of is I just want to remind everybody or invite everybody um the new playground is opening uh the grand opening for the playground is going to be Sunday the 13th at 1 p.m. um I didn't check rain dates or anything so uh check rain date is Monday Monday right the rain date is Monday okay so uh it's a three-day weekend coming up so um check out the playground Sunday the 13th they really did a a wonderful job it's a beautiful Playground now um should be beautiful in Saturday oh okay Val Val tells assures us that the weather's going to be well Sunday she assures us the weather's going to be great for the playground on Sunday um I also um heard from the Animal control officer earlier today um he asked me to remind um the people in town that we've had a lot of rabies cases this year we've had a lot um and um he in fact just dealt with a sick coyote um today so if you see an animal that appears to be aggressive or very sick um please pleas contact the Animal control officer or the non-emergency police line we do have a number of rabies cases so that was all the the announcement I had anything else we should mention before we get going here I don't think so okay um the first item we had on the agenda was a public hearing it was an application from Lydia gner for an all for an on premise seasonal wine and malt beverage license for PVS LLC doing business as partners Village Store at 865 Main Road Westport she has the applicant has requested that we continue this hearing to October 28 at 6:05 so moved second um is there any discussion was there anybody here that wanted to speak on that matter okay all in favor I I say junan we continue that hearing till um the 28th I don't know what that noise is the machine okay um we have a request from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to give notice that it proposes to acquire an agricultural preservation restriction an APR on property located at 1047 Sodom Road and a request has been made um to a reduction of the 120 day notice period so we've been advised that um the select Board needs to take two actions so um there's something we have to read into the record here which I will read in a moment and then um we would have to um discuss discuss and approve a reduction of the 120-day notice period does that sound right to you Paula okay so I'm going to read the things that it says here that I'm supposed to read um the select Board needs to State the Commonwealth is considering this acquisition to protect in perpetuity the superior and productive agricultural resources by preventing conversion to other uses and then to read the notice Below in compliance with General Law chapter 7 c section 37 the Commonwealth Massachusetts acting by and through its Department of agricultural resources the department hereby gives notice that it proposes to acquire an agricultural preservation restriction APR on the real property identified herein for the purpose of protecting in perpetuity its Superior and productive agricultural resources by preventing their conversion to other uses the application received by MD indicates that the property is owned by Joyce P Sylvia Trustee of the Joyce P Sylvia revocable trust 2021 and consists of partials located at 1047 Sodom Road in Westport as approximately represented on the attached Maps the APR May Encompass all or parts of the area shown the current use of the property is primarily for pasture corn and hay following the recording of the APR the use of the subject property is limited to agricultural use as more particularly set forth in the APR document the general laws chapter 184 section 31 and the regulations of the department 330 CMR 22 at SEC um so there's nothing for us to approve on that part but they are asking us um for a 120 uh reduction of the 120 day notice period so when this happens we have to give 120 days notice um so they've asked for a reduction in that is there anybody here who had came to speak on this matter okay anybody on the board have any questions that I probably can't answer anyway yes go ahead I believe this property is the one that is going to be given to the town and Ross Moran had made us aware of this a little while back um property AB buts other other Town owned town or land trust owned properties and if you look at a map you could with this piece of property walk from Westport Woods it would be kind of a tough walk but you traversed some other properties and reach this part um so that lines up very nicely I I have no problem with the motion as that's here but uh I was wondering if anybody knew why there was a reduction to 60 days from 120 obviously there must be some urgency to doing this I think this may involve the Conservation Commission also but anyway I just wanted to mention that that's what it's all about that was my question as well I did didn't see a pressing use of the property that would uh precipitate waiver but with no one here to speak on behalf of that proposal it's hard to uh in my opinion do a waiver today yeah so just to um tell the people the so the the letter that was sent to us says um because the Department's priority classification of this farmland for protection we ask that your municipality agree to reduce the 120-day notification period to 60 days to expedite the process the closing for this project is a time sensitive matter and therefore ask that you agree to wave the 120-day notice period but you're right that's all it says so do we want to wave the No period or we want to have them wait the 120 days well speaking for myself Madam chair since I've had some background on this I trust the the opinion of Ross Moran and I would I can assume there's good reason for it this wouldn't be before us if it was so I can see voting in favor of the motion but I don't know how others would feel we don't really have the full background and that could be bothersome to some people yeah I'm fine with the 60-day notice period but do we need a motion or we would need a motion to reduce it from I'll move to reduce it to 60 okay second so we have a motion in a second to re uh reduce the 120 day notice period to 60 days for the APR is there anybody that wants to speak on that anything else from the the board all right all in favor I any opposed so that's unanimous okay um we don't have any license and permits tonight from appointments and resignations we have a request from Ronald savaria to appoint Christopher Brewster to the shellfish Advisory Board is there anyone here for that so we did get a letter asking to appoint appoint Mr Brewster let's desire of the board here I'll move them second is there any further discussion all in favor I that's unanimous so we have a request from police chief Christopher Dunn um who can't be here tonight so going to ask the deputy chief welcome thank you so we have a request um to appoint Brandon Anton effective 1123 Christopher Rosa effective 11 1124 as full-time police officers and to appoint kayn D's effective 10:15 as emergency medical dispatcher e911 pending background checks and testing so you want to talk to us about that thank you for coming yeah absolutely no problem me um so Mr Anton here in the middle um valuable experience to the town of Westport um he started as a f police officer in uniform division since 2021 he's a resident of fall is currently married with two children and if approved the proposed as you stated before effective start day will be Saturday November 23rd and there's no additional funding being requested at this time to fund this position excellent anybody have any questions but is he good to go he's got all the credentials he doesn't have to go through any Academy or anything does not so he been through a fulltime Academy have to is background check psychological which is recommended every two years saving us money then very good is he is he our first out of town appointee I think he might be yeah so you're the first you're the first non-resident West border um so somebody just told me somebody just said your mics aren't on but your mics look green to me so Val I don't know if they I'm not close enough to uh you should be close enough um so uh so you've been a full-time police officer you're transferring from Fall River to hear anybody have any questions for the applicant you going to do an individual or let's do them one by one so that we make them all anything you want to say before we before we I have nothing to say he's SM I'll move him second any discussion all in favor I I welcome AB board um or welcome AB board in November thank you thank you we have Christopher Rosa so Mr Rosa currently working with the Fall River Police Department the uniform division uh since 2024 he just graduated the Plymouth Police Academy he's a resident of Westport and if if approved the proposed effective start date would be Sunday November 24th um Mr Rosa does not need a psychological evaluation because he just went through that process it's good for two years the only thing he would have to do would be a successful background check that would be it are we taking him from Full River too we are sir water be going up Manny all right all right I'll move him also second any discussion anything you want to say for you honestly I'm honored to have the opportunity and growing up in Westport it's I'm looking forward to every step of the way so I appreciate it well we're glad to be filling out the ranks again because we were getting pretty short yes indeed all in favor I I that's unanimous and then we have Kaylin D thank you welcome aboard kayin so we're currently have an opening for EMD 91 dispatchers we have a candidate to fill that position Caitlyn da she's a Westport resident uh the chief respectfully requests that she be appointed as a full-time EMD dispatcher subject to the completion of any prerequisite training so she needs to go for the EMD training she sat on the desk with dispatcher Sarah Beth carvalo already and has done some time on the desk and just needs to finish up that training how long does it take now for the training for dispatches truthfully uh I know that there's a 40-hour class that they have to take for EMD and on top of that there's additional trainings that I don't know the complete yeah I think I it was three days is quite significant though yeah okay all right I'll move her second is there any any discussion did you want to say anything nothing no I hope that you're a person that we never have to talk to because it be on the other end of an emergency call so we don't want to have to deal with you but we're super glad you're there um is there any further discussion all in favor I that's unanimous and did you have a couple things you wanted to share have a couple Shameless plugs but first when they come in tomorrow when can they come in tomorrow who they obviously they're going to go see Denise Denise okay so they'll come up here tomorrow late morning early afternoon see Denise get their papers then go down to the clerk's office correct okay to be okay perfect um so we posted on our website on our Facebook page persons at risk registry so what we're trying to do is get information on individuals that may have um wandering Tendencies um elderly that have dementia potentially or medical concerns that they may wander away from the home or anybody with developmental disabilities that may wander so we have a form that you can fill out online and you can also include a photograph of that individual so in case something does happen we have that information at hand immediately so we can disseminate that to our officers that's available on our Facebook page on the town's website as well um there's a link to it on the Facebook page to get to the website as well so that's that um on top of that we work closely with the recreation um Department they're going to be having a Halloween happenings over at the Adamsville Conservation Area on October 20th from 12: to 2 um Wednesday October 23rd there's going to be a trunk retreat at the CAC that our community outreach unit will be involved with and also Saturday 10:26 there'll be a touch of truck at the library from 2: to 4: and then Friday uh this coming Friday myself and the chief along with officers won fristachi officer fenes and officer Mack are all veterans or currently serving they'll be joining us with the veterans at the VFW on State Road to enjoy uh coffee with them on Friday so time that it be in the morning I believe it's 9 9:00 a.m. I saw on Facebook it look at your coffee with a cop that you just had had pretty good attendance I was hoping that uh um Jim Jim thank you Jim was going to be here CU he he grabbed some swag so I was hoping he was going to have it with him today so we could plug that too but no how often coffee with the cop it's a national coffee with a cop day it happens October 4th like 10:4 that whole like cop lingo like 104 little buddy so okay that's why we do it on that day it's National Coffee with the cop day we ended up pushing it off a couple days just because we had people tied up on that day so we couldn't do it um it was at Le and as always they've helped us out with donations so they donated all the coffee that day all the pastries that we had that day um they're huge huge help for us um in partnering with them in the community and food drives and such so we we thank them all the time all right thank you that's it anything else for thank you for coming thank you problem thanks having us thank you good to see you the next item we have on the agenda is request um from Michael burus the town planner to reappoint David sprogis um sprogis to The Climate resilience committee um I've been on that committee with him he's participating I think we just forgot to put his name in Good before all right I'll move him second is there any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous um we have a request from salty Breeze Inc to approve a host Community agreement for recreational marijuana business located at 260 State Road good evening everyone uh so Brian Carney introduce yourself uh Brian Carney here with salty Breeze representing salty Breeze um we were just here a few weeks ago uh where we submitted our packet of information to you all uh our proposed host Community agreement was going in front of your legal team for final review which we signed last week and I believe that is what is up for discussion for you all to sign as well tonight so um we have a note here from the Town Administrator that was reviewed by Town Council and uh Mr Dutra did you have anything you wanted to add no I still have some reservations about the proposal but uh I do have one question tonight there was some concerns by the fire department uh expressed at the planning board hearing have those uh uh concerns been addressed [Music] um remind me I'm I'm not uh specifically aware of what you're referring to my understanding although um no one's here from the planning board that many I'm sorry that there was they they wanted to see they they weren't satisfied that that that in terms of uh fire regulations or traffic or whatever that it wasn't being fully addressed that I'm not aware of because we the last step for us for the planning board was to get a full traffic study done okay um so we had that full traffic study done uh we did communicate I know with the fire department with the police department I know initially there were I I I believe I think I know what you're referring to there were some initial concerns uh that were addressed um and I think it was only after they were addressed and the traffic study was done that we were passed by the planning board okay so we had a chance to review this we reviewed this agreement already right so they we it was just the final touches that we put on it right um does anybody have any questions is there any comments from the public all right so what's the pleasure of the board uh just I'm going to restate the concerns I had at the last meeting um we have had a number we have even though uh we only have one uh dispensary in town we have an of a space of less than about four or five miles starting at the Fall River Line going into Dartmouth uh we're going have if this gets approved we're going to have four facilities the market um has decreased substantially and this facility will be located immediately adjacent to the current licy in town and I remember when I was on the board last time we uh held up a license for a number of years uh to a um beer and wine permit request from the gas station that was located immediately adjacent uh to uh Harry's Harry's had objected uh to that uh we had we had I think it was at least five or six years before we ultimately approved that license and I think this is a good precedent for this situation where you have a business where the market has begun to shrink a in terms of uh the price and in terms of uh the anticipated demand that existed when the legislation was changed uh we've seen a transition in terms of legal uh use of cibic from medical to just general public consumption for adults and so I'm not sure that the ability to uh Grant an additional license at the town to the town from the town exists at the current time that's my opinion I will vote against it I think I'm trying to understand so I think that the town is able to have two facili we are able to have to and and we were able to have another beer and wine permit when we Deni the uh gas station adjacent to Harry's and then we also have a situation where we have a very limited zoned District for this type of retail activity which I would have uh not voted for had I been on the board at the time so I I think the board has made a number of decisions over the years that have a frustrated the existing operator in the town A and B have limited the ability of Town's people to have access to it because when I was on the board previously you did have the ability to site uh a dispensary and I believe on or near the village which was another commercial District in town I do want to just point out that we are in receipt of a letter from Coastal healing asking that I'm not going to I'm just going to overly sumarize it but basically asking us to revisit their uh host Community agreement given all the legislative changes that have happened um so we we are in receipt of that correspondence it was in our packet I I read it as well do anyone else have any concerns with yeah I mean I disagree with that um again when all this all this was cited in that area when they were looking to put one down the Village um this was all with public input and where this Zone was set up so um I mean I I I have to disagree with you that we we're going to vote against this application when he's he's done everything he's supposed to do so I I will vote in favor mam chair yes uh I'm I'm in favor of it because because of really what Mr Sor just said this applicant has in good faith done everything that one should do came back here another time because we were not satisfied last time not so much because of um salty Breeze but because we wanted legal review uh I believe people have a right to do business and I'm not sure I understand how this relates to the uh Harry's uh but anyway I hear that but I don't think it's compelling to me to use that for this anyway so I think they've complied and I think uh and we'll take care of coastal in due course per their request so I'd be in favor of a motion to approve M Madam chair and I I think that situation at Harry's did did we not vote that Harry's now has that license no no not Harry's the West G Westport g i I don't think they didn't no well beer and wine yeah yes uh well Harry's has beer and wine and he was concerned about another establishment right nearby and Westport gas now has beer and wine no they don't no I think not yet yeah they want to get special but that's the route they've taken but they have been they have not had the license for this came before the board I mean I I've been off the board for six years until April and this came before the board the with that uh back when I was on the board previously yeah do we have a police write off on this recommendation so we're just approving the host Community agreement not um that's all we're doing yeah but if it was suitable that's what I was wondering um well the planning board has all signed off on it and I'm sure they would have gone through the do we have was there other paperwork with the like police recommendation I don't think last time we had the police sign off and everything on Coastal make sure security yeah well security still has to be in place oh and and I Believe coastal's come back and and have some of those some of the more stringent restrictions removed from them not that I'm aware of but it's not impossible first time I think yeah I think the initial application multiple steps we had took us years to get through planning board we came back multiple multiple times and so did the other one but I'm still concerned that our police uh went through the security issues there was no police input at all uh I know there was communication with them but I wasn't aware of any security issues um in terms of cameras and the security plan itself that's all regulated by the Cannabis Control Commission as well at a state level okay um so what's the pleasure of the board do I have a motion I'll motion to approve the contract the host Community agreement with salty Breeze second so we have Motion in a second to approve the host Community agreement is there any discussion on the board is there anything in the public are you seeing none all in favor I I opposed I'm against I so we have three for and two against congratulations you business it all right I do want to um put um the request from Coastal healing on an upcoming agenda so um Paula can you work with them to coordinate the appropriate date for that I on the next agenda on the next agenda on the 28th okay um action 4B we have a request to improve the employment contract for Westport firefighters Association local 1802 um we've discussed this in executive session a few times um the contract includes a 3% yearly Cola and a oneyear 2 and a half% increase for training opioid interactions and phone and this is consistent with the guidance that we got in executive session um who was that was the you were the one yep I'll move it second we discussed is there any discussion this is what we last talking in exective session right is there any any further discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um we have a request to transfer $660,000 of the local American Rescue plan act arpa funds to the Fire Department salaries account um so the contract that we just approved did require uh we don't have the budget to cover it um so um we've looked at a number of options and um we the Town Administrator is recommending the use of local arpa funds um to allow to pay for the retroactive pay um this would eliminate the need for special town meeting um we have about $350,000 in local arpa funds um which some of which we've designated for the Fall River water billing but we do have enough in there for 60,000 to cover it so basically it's we use the arpa funds if we if we can't use the arpa funds or if this board chooses not to use the arpa funds for that then we're probably going to have to have a special town meeting to appropriate the funds I'll move it we still have it second so we have a motion a second to transfer $60,000 from the arpa money to the Fire Department salaries accounts do we have any discussion on that all in favor I I that's unanimous um we have a request from christop Leonard the director of marine services to approve the opening of scallop season on October 12 2024 they've given me a lot of grief about how I say scallop in the past and we don't have them here but anybody have any concerns or no it's a Saturday correct that that it's opening weekend I I think it's a Friday yeah it's a Saturday or Saturday Saturday yeah I'll move it that we had them change it to Saturday so families could take part second is there any disc discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous we have a request from Jim Hartnett the Town Administrator to approve the contract for stem sites Cloud software for cemeteries um $347 the contract will be funded with $30,000 from CPC funds and the balance from the operating budget that's 4,750 from the operating budget this will replace the existing Cemetery website and provide additional mapping data storage and work order for the cemetery Department this is a recommended proposal by the reviewers Michael BR brard Betty Slade and myself yep by yourself that's uh Jim oh Jim Sorry by myself reading I'll move it there was a lot of info in the packet on it so second is there any discussion Madam chair yes I was just wondering um the there there are Perpetual funds for the cemetery and I was wondering if uh and I didn't see anything about this if we could use that or would it be preferred or is it allowable for this purpose as opposed to using our town monies and I don't know how much is the breakdown here is we're not talking a lot of money either way yeah well so the the CPC already um appro or already funneled $3,000 over there so go ahead my understanding is that the Perpetual care fund is provided by uh people and families who current have sites in the graveyard so I I would that's an administrative expense I would be very reluctant to approve an administrative uh cost for the funds coming from the Perpetual care fund yeah Jim has been looking at this pretty close I mean I'm sure if it was something that he had some other way to pay for he would have found it so I think this is what he's recommending well in either case I support it I was just bringing that up asite point just IA all right um so what's the pleasure of the board I think we moved it did we move it already Yes we move it you didn't vote we didn't vote did we move it okay all in favor I I that's unanimous these are hard to keep track of I got to figure out a better system uh we have a request from Board of Health member Donna Amaral to approve the opioid settlement funds advisory committee missall you need to come up there do you want to come up here not necessarily but I it's easy to hear you oh I'm an old cheerleader you'd hear me yeah um this is to approve the charter which was why don't you shut off the other mic so we don't get feedback in case thank okay this is to um see if the select board will approv the charter that I sent um that's on the agenda so so the charter um is in your packet um Jim had a couple of um very minor edits did you see the edits that he had I did not um so oh actually they're not all it's not minor okay so they were minor Ed except the membership that so what Jim is proposing is um it's hard to read with the strikethroughs here um two um members of the community um one from the fire department one for the police department M um one clinician one um individual with lived in experience um and then he's got select board member a Board of Health Health representative and a school department representative so how many is that 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven eight nine so that's nine so I think what he's done here is reduced the fire department from two to one and reduced um he he changed the local government to one select board and one Board of Health that's fine did did you do anything with Community Representatives oh he changed it from one to two he did change it to two yeah okay the individuals with lived experience um was going to be either um from a family member who's lost someone because we know we have a few people in town that are interested in being on the committee because they've lost Sons or they've lost children um and the other one hopefully someone who's in recovery um which I have contacted someone I know who's been in recovery for over 20 years um he's not sure he wants to be on the committee but he's going to see if he can find someone else in wport so and I just approached um officer rebello about someone from Department coming on okay so we talked about that we had a whole presentation and we talked about this um at our last meeting I two weeks ago we had a whole presentation we talked about this the charter um was proposed you can see um the other change he made was that the members will serve a three-year term so this would be to um end date people to have Perpetual dates and that's it anybody have any questions or comments no I think that's a good idea I just had one n pick on the uh item seven terms of service members will serve a term of three years and it says with the possibility of renewal I think that's a little bit vague as to who we're talking about I think it would be clear to say well to put a period after three years and then the new sentence the terms will be renewable without limitation period I assume what what the intent is here is that if somebody starts a three-year term they could do a second one maybe a third one make sense so this the possibility of renewals you don't I don't think we want the possibility we want it to be assured because we have a number of boards that are appointed that we have people have been on for decades yeah so I mean no I think I think that your amendment makes it clearer I think it doesn't change anything materially and it makes it clearer and yeah well and depend on how the funding is dispersed over time um I have this Grand idea that um the money coming in ends in um 2038 that we use it so wisely that we can expand or extend um how long we're able to use the money so um that's where the committee comes in and making decisions and presenting that to the select board okay um so what do we f up how do we we feel about creating the committee so we need I need a motion to approve um the committee Charter as amended as they're just talked about uh second oh you move I didn't move it I was just entertaining motion so move second you're moving your second okay ping pong this is to create the committee with the charter with the Amendments that Jim had in here that was in our packet and that dick just mentioned right any further discussion on that all in I that's unanimous and so then I wanted to see if there was a select board member who wishes to serve on the committee I would be interested you're interested is anybody else interested in that so I move the appointment of Craig Dutra as the select representative on this committee second any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um so if you can um Craig work with Paula to get kind of coordinated um to get the appointments and things so Paula can you let these people these departments and stuff know um that we're looking for representatives from them okay you also see Jim note here that I would I would recomend maximum nine members total um for the committee and assume that iive which speak from the Board of Health would be the staff and resource person for the committee um we've discussed it um Matt has um said that she would have time to provide some support but that she's not going to be actually on the committee right right um so and she's really although I have many years of experience in mental health um she has a lot of direct experience on addressing the needs in the community of people with addiction and so I Look to her as a resource for myself in in moving forward as well um we're very lucky to have her in town um she's an incredible uh resource and person to be engaging other communities and working together collaboration is really important and she's really good at getting us to collaborate and the more we collaborate the better off we're going to be great just my interest is I've had a I've had actually my first job as a college student was a a youth Outreach worker in the city of Taunton targeting was the employer was the Taunton Municipal drug commission awful name but sounded like a pharmacy but it was uh but more specifically recently uh another thing that attracts me to the committee is it has funding responsibility ities and looking at applications for Grants and um my experience with both foundations and United Way has covered funding a lot of Substance Abuse Prevention and treatment programs and so I have I bring the funders perspective from that as well and I and I really appreciate that um when I I I read about your past history with the United Way I said oh that would be a really great fit if he would agree to do it so okay okay all right thank you very much thank you the next item we have is a discussion is an update from Roger Fernandez on the rot six macomer Loop waterline project welcome Mr Fernandez thank you very much Madam chair thank you um so Manny this was your agenda item so I wonder if you can kick us off on what you'd like to hear from the discussion okay so so Roger what's what's your title on this project project manager assistant of town project management yep okay so um couple couple of things so we went out to bid we awarded the bid correct they're getting ready to start do do we have a start date we do so I'm going back up so instead of like I was thinking more of an overview of what what we wanted to talk about can can we how about if we go ahead and just review um kind of the summary that you gave us in the packet and then if we have questions then we can ask okay so I don't I don't know if you have the the material in the packet but if you can just kind of run through that not word for word or anything but sure so I'd like them to go word for word cuz I again I'm getting a lot of questions out there well no we certainly have time for questions but I don't think you want them to read the document that's right in your pack I think the public would would would would like would you like me to read the document yes please why don't you read it I don't have it in front of me how did you read it no I haven't so um why don't you um review the contents of the document sure Mr Source can go look at the details in this packet and we can post it online but I think it'll cover all the topics I'll post it on the topic so we can get some transparency we have transparency weion to talk about right now sure no problem so so uh um as we indicated so we did receive last week a schedule from the contractor and he stated to start uh the 21st of October uh there's one hurdle that remains as you look at the update that I provided it has to do with finalizing the state highway access permit we think we're drawing closer to that um we we do anticipate that we'll have that in hand in advance of the starter work um so some of the other items we need to work out with mass do are some of the uh uh work restrictions currently the permit Li limits the work from 9 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. uh we'll be asking for a waiver for from Mass do for work to be able to transpire between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. this is not out of the normal this is normal sort of uh process with them um we're going to also ask for a um a waiver with respect to the uh prohibitions of work uh after November 15 if we get a summer like we did last year we're hoping to be able to continue work right through the end of December um in terms of schedule the contract it feels like he'll be able to finish most of the project by the end of the year again caveat being if we don't see snow flying before then um in terms of uh impacts uh know so uh lane closures uh we we've discussed uh uh the traffic management plan we've had a pre-construction meeting with the uh that included the police department the contractor in anticipates not having to close more than one lane down at a time in in large part because most of the water main itself is located in the median in the grass area in the median um the only uh cross connections if you will are going to take place when that contractor uh extends the service connections to the to the property lines um uh so it is the intent to have a comprehensive notification process to those folks that we anticipate that will be impacted uh those director Butters as we move um down uh route six and up Osborne and onto um U I'm sorry up gford and on to Osborne and in the next section of the update uh we have um just a little chronology in terms of what we submitted uh to mass do so the permitting process started all the way back in March 18th of 2024 they've reviewed the 75 and 100% design documents um and again we're just working on this last little bit that has to do with u um uh blowout connections uh with the mass do um on the next page you'll find just an overall project schedule um uh as you may recall we were received notification of the past Grant the project in in in all parts Associated uh being funded through a a grant that was that award notice went out March 1st we advertised in in J on July 2nd um we received the notice to proceed from pias on July 5th and held a bid opening on uh August 6th um the good news is the bids that we received and maybe Mr Haron it's already updated regarding the bids we received very um very good bids on the project um and uh as I said we had the preconstruction meeting on September 12th um and the uh contract is planning on mobilizing on October 21st um the water M will go in hopefully as I said by the end of December we should but we should anticipate work because we're at the end of the year the road restoration aspects will have to happen next year because of the weather we can't do Paving um in January and February as you as you well know um in terms of um next steps um uh the available budget um we've done a per uh based on the available budget which includes um um the pasas uh which is a $4 million Grant there are other uh B um funds out there that were uh that we're going to be presenting to the initially to the ioc and I think ultimately to to the select board regarding um extension of the project limits uh right now the Pas is going to fund about 11,000 ft of of water main but we have uh when we consider the arpa funding uh 1286 $ 12295 and the Senator's e aark in addition to the CDs funds um and the town match it's important to note that the CDs funds will require Town match which we can discuss uh we'll have the opportunity to install almost another 9,000 ft of uh water main um which is in and around $2 million of additional work um so uh so we've we've begun to look at some of those different uh project expansion options um and uh we're prepared to discuss those and see what would make the most sense in terms of expend extending or expanding the project to use that money it's important to note that sort of the oper funds have to be committed before the end of the year as I'm sure you're aware and so uh we're poised to do that uh the CDs funds the Congressional uh directed spending funds won't become available till January which kind of Dov Tails nicely to the schedule um but that that funding which is 959 ,000 is going to require a local match of about $239,000 um so that is really the quick and dirty update regarding the project but things are moving along as as we had hoped so Mr Sor just because U I want to make sure they're thorough here so going through the I think he touched everything that was on here but um the update so um the onea was to finalize the state um Highway access permit and um the schedule that he just reviewed um is below uh or the 75% 100% complete was done on July 1 and we're just waiting for that final permit issuance um just have a note here that despite holding a permit for the phase one sewer Works which is originally issued in June the Water Project is in a different section of Route 6 and is just water as a result we had to resubmit the mass do access permit um he mentioned the work hours restriction so right now the permits restrict work hours from 9: to 3 but we're anticipating a waiver to extend the work hours um the contractor plans to work from 7:00 to 5: um he mentioned the seasonal work restrictions so typically they prohibit work after November 15 but we expect that they will wave that and allow us to continue as he described um talked about the lane closures which are still working out but there's Closing one lane during construction um coordinating with the police department and then you talked about the notification um to the abuts and property owners and businesses and then you went through the project schedule so we're expecting so we're expecting to start a construction on October 21 but we're waiting for the State Highway access permit um and then the next um step we talked you you're doing a cost benefit analysis to explore the potential expansion options um for presentation to the infrastructure oversight committee and recommendation to the select board so you talked about the 11,000 uh feet so I got I had a question there on that one but I'm going to keep going um you talked about the funding that you just talked about with with or without the um Congressional funds um and then I don't think you mentioned this just now but the land acquisition at 35 State Road and meet works at 287 has been successfully completed through friendly land taking so I did have a question on the um so the uh you're looking at where we might since we have budget um where might expand and um you're preparing for a presentation to the infrastructure oversite what when are you expecting to have that information available for review by that committee when yeah oh it's it's we've completed that um so we have a budget breakdown that shows all the different funding sources and then um how much based on the current bid that we receive it's a unit price contract so we know what each linear foot of pipe will cost will cost and so we're able to assign the funding sources to meet the criteria of the grants so we can only use past for certain things but but we've assigned that properly and the remaining funds uh We've we have a detail that illustrates some of the neighborhoods that we could go into in order to make uh or U expand some of the existing uh infrastructure into those neighborhoods so we have that ostensibly completed okay thank you I given all that background now your have question well I was aware of much of that I I did sit in the preconstruction meeting so um the utility access which is the water per permit um so where our hold up is because of the blowoff at the end correct so is that is that a new utility access permit that we applied you you so what happened to the utility access permit for because it was in the other section they made us go through the whole what do you mean by the other section and the for the the initial one was submitted for the water Pro uh sewer project it was a sewer and water project right but that is that that section the we did receive a access permit for that but this section is not in the same section so Mass do didn't let us just amend the existing permit what do you mean by not in the same section I don't I don't I don't it's well it's it starts it starts at East Briggs Road and continues to Washington street where the other section was down by whites right and extended further up so that section of roadway was not in the original access permit we we did we went out to bid for the whole well he gave you the answer the answer is the permit is for one section of Road and what they need the permit now for is a different section not interrupt me and let me speak with Mr answered no this is a board question he's answered the question it's a different section of fair enough so so that SEC so we did receive we did go out to bid and we did receive similar to we did we did not we we went out to bid and we don't have the permit for the section that's already been bid and awarded the same thing happened with the larger $35 million project if you recall we changed the scope of the project to include the first phase and the two additional phases so that first phase was permitted and the SE the subsequent two phases were not permanent so even though the bid went out the permit was not in hand okay um so so the utility access permit now who signed the utility access permit I believe that was signed by Mr Hardman I believe okay representing the select board yes okay just want to make that clear because we've had some we've had some issues on that okay and and and the holdup is basically because of the blowoff putting water in Mass highways yes yeah so we need we need an inch and a half connection into a drain manhole and and a blowoff valve is just intended to do a couple things uh circulate the water so the water doesn't become stagnant at the end of the pipe run and also to allow some pressure relief if needed in the piping system and the the mass doot generally isn't crazy about having um Services tied into this into their infrastructure they've allowed it in the past so we we're escalating that so that they will just allow this very small connection into the manhole and and our our um phase one sewer and water um when we were going for the utility access they didn't have a blowoff because it was extended all the way to the end correct so the other thing is is and that was one of the things Jimmy had mentioned that we were kicking around on what we were going to do with the with the remaining funds for this right so um I mean that that's my big concern and that's what people are calling along this line on wanting to tie in and you know obviously we need customers so we want to know we need to know what we're going to do and we need to know we're going to use the money um now this P this this pasas grant when did we apply for that Grant um I just had it here in the schedule we applied uh well I know we received the award letter let's see ending around March first so I'm thinking we applied in 2003 if I had to guess it was late in two maybe September of 2003 more or less 23 23 and 23 I'm sorry not 2 has been that long and who applied for that we worked it was a team effort it was Cent fer I worked on it with them and as did Mr haret yep so uh I mean are we looking you know as we move forward in the construction because we have we have another area in town that you know um there was some stuff on on um that Senator Rodricks had posted um about another grant that that um a Lady of Grace Church got for 150,000 for contamination up off of Sanford road but are we are we looking to to um apply for a grant for next year so we can keep continuing this AB just I mean so I've been doing this for a little while okay a $5 million Grant is something to be celebrated and so between the CDs and the $4 million past Grant um I'm giving you permission to Pat yourselves on the back that's a pretty good deal um but I would say that the intent is you know uh assuming approval by the board and everybody that I'm working for here that we would continue to apply buy for this money you know do we continue to do that well cuz cuz basically it's long overdue because the existing water man was installed in 1986 right and this is this is the first extension of watermain since 1986 it's been a while and and did you read the report from Mass do um you know on the the status of the groundwater in the Rix coridor I did not no but I did give it to the whole board um right Mike bur from playing and had gun it's you know um have you read the integrated water planfield integrated water plan yeah Steve have you read the clanfield integrated water bits and pieces yeah okay so I mean it's kind of it's kind of critical that we we extend this a little bit further like to get to the end of Route Six because of stuff that's in that report yeah and and now the the other report from Sanford road with you know there's residents that the DPS come up giving them filters and some people said oh they filters but um you know and that's also the drinking water supply that's you know the north nor southw Tua as a drinking water supply so we got contamination up around that way so we really need to look to um extend the water main up Sanford Road also so um I just you know it seems to be a confusion on who's looking for Grants but you're our project manager on this now so I I would hope that we can we could continue and what not miss any opportunities well yep so we've applied for massworks CDs um past srf and a lot of these more than once we were denied last year for the for the CDs Grant um was not a surprise they don't first we have to show that we can spend this money then we'll go back to the well but so um and a lot of the ones that I've mentioned we've applied multiple times as you know as you know and they're uh competitive um West West support is not the only Community looking for these grants the $4 million grant that you did receive from Pat as you know is the biggest one in the Commonwealth there is no bigger um by far we have a need that's why we were able to they identified the need it's that's not the end of it we we need to we need to keep trying absolutely agree yeah it's very important about the clean water in Westport so I agree did anybody else have any questions about the report he gave us have one simple question it has to do with e which is notification process for property owners and businesses could you expanding that just a little bit for us sure we're we're we're we're talking about uh is uh anything from handing out flyers to physically knocking on doors and making sure that we get to people uh I don't think there's anything um um better than having a conversation with someone in terms of what they can expect you can you can put it you can we'll have document documents that sort of illustrate what they can anticipate we'll put that on the town website but uh but having that one to one is always helpful because there's only so much information you can put down in the document so we anticipate doing that um on the entire project good anything else we'll also be having a meeting too once a Crews stopped traveling the world members stopped traveling the world have a meeting so yeah so did you have anything on that no going forward there were a couple things related to this project that um Manny that you brought up at the last meeting that um Jim followed up on so I just wanted to make aware the public aware so one of the topics that came up was um conversation about the drainage improvements around Route 6 um that there was a suggestion that the town was waiting for I mean that the state was waiting for us to do something and um so we talked to the project engineer for District 5 um uh who's responsible for the route six quarter and they said there is no uh there are no imminent plans for drainage improvements for the route six Corridor so um there there weren't any um there so that's not a we're not holding them up and then the other one um was a mention of um prohibiting Wells um there was a suggestion that we might not be able to drill Wells on the route six quarter um so Jim reached out to um Mass D and they said that they hadn't heard anything about prohibiting Wells and they just confirmed with the Bureau of waste site cleanup they haven't issued any edict prohibiting private Wells um they could um uh deny a facility that would become a a public water supply from installing when public water available as long as the public water system has the capacity to take on however private Wells that are not classified as Public Water Systems um will still remain under Board of Health so the gist of all that is that homeowners who have a need to drill a well along the Route 6 Corridor are able to do so there's no prohibition against that okay so I understand the wells are under the Board of Health jurisdiction so we we've extended this where the water main ends right now and where it's going by we've we've had Wells drilled last year that the Board of Health came in and made them without that they weren't selling their house they came in made them do a new septic and drill a new well um with the water main less than 500 ft away so my concern with this and since this has been in since 1986 is that our residents you know now you're going to get a well that that the report in Route 6 says the groundwater is contaminated and it's migrating into the aquafer I agree I think we need water over there okay I think the homeowners need water over there I've never disputed that we don't need to stop right now we need to keep keep going while we get the momentum but I just don't want anyone to be concerned that they weren't going to be able to drill a well one that is not a known fact we don't know well I I think they should be concerned about the known fact that the groundwater is contaminated and the report from Mass Highway says it's migrating into the aquaa that's what my concern is agree okay I'm also concerned about that all right anything else from Mr Fernandes while we have right thank you thank you for coming I appreciate itk you my pleasure my pleasure thank you let us know as soon as you get that paperwork done State gives you the permit so we can rock and roll thank you we'll do just a little bit thank you yeah um so the next item on the agenda was also at the request of Mr sores an update on the town's broadband system um was there anything specifically we did have information in your packet about the funding and about the status of the loops so did you have any specific questions I was just wondering when that next that next phase was going to be constructed so the next um so that last Loop um we have not gone out to bid yet so it hasn't gone out to bid um we kind of slowed down the work that was proceeding on that so um there is no project in the flight right now so is it is it actually going out to bid or is it going to go to a a contract that it's already approved uh I believe it'll go out to bed we just haven't submitted it is that what happened on the last one um the last one was in $88,000 projects that probably wasn't that probably talking about the loop that went down Sanford road that we was installed last year came back up Highland Avenue yeah I don't know the grant was I mean we paid for it I done it's completed I understand but did that go out to bid I believe it did but I don't have it right in front of me okay could you find that out if that went out to bid if it was just a wateren well on the Town Administrator I'm sure I'll have that information when we come back I'm sure it went out to bid it was approved it was a $200,000 contract I do want to point out um you didn't just ask about funding but um the the total amount that's been spent so far on fiber in town um has we've spent about $900,000 so far um that not last Loop if we do proceed with it it'll be about another 300 of the 900,000 that spent about 700,000 of that was for our own Municipal purposes so that was the network that connects all the town facilities the town buildings the school the old high school so most of that work um Mo the bulk of that 900,000 um was Town use um the and it the town um paid about $230,000 out of arpa and about another so about the town paid about 300,000 um from various sources and then 400 it was about 800,000 I guess from the town the loop that you're talking about so the one that was just completed was a completely um a grant award um we had a 5% match which is part of the police details and stuff um this new one that we have not yet gone out for bid is a $300,000 project um of which which we would uh we agreed to commit $52,000 from arpa but we haven't actually gone to bid so that might not even happen so the total Town expenditures almost all of the Town expenditures are for what's in use right now by the municipality so so what's in use by the municipality so that replaced what was existing um so they I'm not sure what was well we didn't have existing highspeed internet between the town it was in the meaning that it's this is actually a redundant Loop so so the I I'm I don't know what you're talking about with redundant Loop but the the new build out there was a huge project with the had a warrant article to pay for it that um connected the town buildings and then there was another uh funding from the cares act that connected School Loop and then we tie it into the old high school right Val comment Valerie cable coordinator was the 200,000 from the cable account that was voted on tell meeting once was that to be used on that yeah so it was the warrant article was 221,000 and then the cable funds were 265,000 so yeah that was cable funds that that um paid for some of that thank you but we haven't gone out to bid on that last one we might not we might decide not to do it I was just wondering on the in the package there's a map and it's kind of cut off I think that was maybe just the way it was put together but it doesn't show the harbor is that blue loop that includes the point does that go down to the harbor as well it goes to the Harbor Master shed I don't know that I don't think it goes beyond the Harbor Master shed so do this not include the harbor I'm talking about the harbor area over the coed Club in that area there yeah no there's the um the blue only goes to the municipal the town buildings it only goes to the town buildings right oh I see okay understood understood that's all on poll on Telephone polls yes and there's no residence tied into that at all no this not and there's no there's no plans for our our own town run Broadband for residents is there well we had a plan for it and um we believe that um we need to find additional funding from outside sources we don't want to go to the town we no one on the committee wants to bring a $25 million bond issue before Westport to finish it right so we're looking at opportunities for public private partnership but we've scaled back you know if we don't if if West doesn't want to invest in infrastructure this is not the highest priority infrastructure project we have in town definitely it's not it's absolutely not water needs to take I agree um but so that's why we kind of scaled back and stopped doing stuff need the grants that's the only reason War if we get grants then grants make a lot of sense if we can start tying in some of this people because we had high need they're underserved the the loops that we have were there for socioeconomic reasons that we got those grants and if there's a way to tie them in um then we we should do that right so but we're still trying to find the right kind of partnership to be able to do that without it having to come back on the taxpayers CU we we've said all along we want subscribers to pay for the system we don't want taxpayers to pay for it anything else on that we don't have a report from the Town Administrator um tonight because he's taking the day off um we have minutes from September 23rd I've read the minutes I don't see anything that uh you moved them what you move yes second we have a motion a second to approve the minutes of September 23rd is there any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous I we have a report on the bill warrant all was well that was completed on October the 2nd 1.8 million I know that's real money but in these things it's the normal amount we look at every other week and everything was as it should be on time and complete thank you all right thank you um the next item we have have Selman liaison committee reports and suggestions for future agenda items so Craig um the major one I'm sitting on is the affordable housing trust we have not met since the last time we met affordable we meet next week and you had the opioid get together what and you had the opioid get together to go that committee is just being formed yeah but I mean you had a didn't you have a were you had a seminar or something you were going to yes I did do the I did the OPI seminar um matter of fact there were several of us on that call okay um it was very helpful the MMA one right yes and that was the one that sort of after looking at some of the models that we using in some of the other communities led me to be a little bit more interested in this committee and believe that there was some things they were looking at programs um they had a national Focus we looked at some best practices nationally on this through the seminar but there were also some uh best practices um regionally within Massachusetts and some of I think that are in parts of the state that would be uh demographically similar to Westport so um it all in all was pretty helpful it was efficient with 1 hour and 15 minutes so thank you dick uh nothing really to report I continue to visit the Council on Aging issue leison and they are working on a strategic plan that was mentioned by um elae monrie when she came in here a couple of things that will'll be going on soon though is capital Improvement planning committee hasn't met yet but we're ready to start that shortly as we discussed today in a different place and the audit committee has a meeting on October the 28th so that's uh all I have in terms of lison reports but this is also um uh future agenda items we' just completed Mr Hart Net's review and salary and contract review I think it's important to remind ourselves we got to start working again on the next list of goals uh that go with that and a lot of it's going to be the same but uh I would urge um chair to remind Jim of that and he'll prepare that for us as he has done in the past all right thank you um I haven't had any um committee meetings I do want to thank the organizers of the Westport Harvest Festival that was a really nice event and they just lucked out with beautiful weather um but it was really nice to see um the vendors that were there all the people that were there it was a really lovely event well before I forget too uh we hope our Westbard do make out good in this Florida storm coming because we have a lot of Westport people down there right now we do hope they turn out uh for the better um we had the big sured annual meeting and Westport projects were on display uh you know the bike path and Route Six and whatnot and other um signals and all that good stuff Westport dominated the door prize where myself Michael bis and Jim White and all won a prize so we represented well um I think that's it for the other stuff was just prep so we're still uh of course Mike bis again is working on the trails Grant where we're getting money to connect um the bicycle path so a lot of a lot of Grants getting used to this town and big projects thank you any so one more thing back on the on the infrastructure and on the water m going in so one of the things is the VFW so the VFW actually has has a well with one of those treatment systems on it and one of the problems with the with with the wells with a treatment system is the required testing because that is a public well so I I think that's one of the things that um when Jimmy gets back that we should we should task Roger um on can you know using some of that money to connect the VFW in as soon as possible so that they can you know I mean this is this is very substantial to test these to test these systems so as soon as we can get as many people as we can connected to the Municipal Water Supply and another thing that I I did want to mention when Roger was here that um all the public that this water mains going by so that they understand it's not they are not being taxed for this water man to go by their house they're going to put a service in front of their house they're not going to be obligated to tie into this should the need for them to replace their well that's the only time they're going to need to tie in so just want to make that clear that no tax dollars are being used to install this water main and it's it's going to be to the benefit to provide clean water to the residents of Westport and and and we need to commend we do need to commend Roger on on his efforts on that Grant but I just want to stress that we need to we need to keep moving forward we like like we said that that paperwork that came from Forever the main was installed in 1986 yeah for the same exact reason for past contamination and we have this is the first water main extension since 1986 so you know just got to keep moving forward thank you all right um do we have any comments and statements from the public we have two public here neither one have a comment or statement all right um I just want to remind the public that we have a lot of vacancies on our committees even if it doesn't look like a committee has a vacancy please reach out um because we need all the help we can get and we can find a place for you I'm not aware goe no I was going to say why don't you say our next meeting date again our next meeting date is going to be three weeks from today on October 28 um so we're skipping a week and then we're going to have October 28 and November 4 together um check the uh the town clerk has a website they can talk about voter registration so we're getting into election season so there's an early voting starts next week I think um so check the absentee Bots are on the mail um and uh check this town cler CER early voting and um Regular voting locations um Paula do we have anything under the 48 hour okay I think we're done motion to adour Second any discussion all in favor i i f we are adjourned