will you join me the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag the United States of America and to the stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all good evening and welcome to the Monday July 8 2024 meeting of the Westport um select board under Mass General Law chapter 38 section 20f this meeting is being recorded we got some fancy new equipment in here so we'll see how it goes none of us are quite sure how to maybe Jim and Paula know how to work it we're getting got ways to go um I wanted to start the evening by um recognizing the uh folks who participated and and made possible the Fourth of July parade that's one of my favorite things about living in Westport is the community spirit that you see participating in the parade there were a massive number of participants in the parade and then um being able to to line um you all the people that went out and came and lined the route it was really a tremendous undertaking I want to really extend thanks to all the people who made that possible um the Fourth of July committee is a private entity that organizes that um but also we had participation from the Westport police department and the highway department so thank you to everyone who made that possible we do want to um acknowledge this evening the passing of John bordon Jr Captain um he uh John attended Mass Maritime Academy where he gained the skills to become a professional Mariner and Robert Roger Williams University earning a degree in engineering John had an adventurous soul and a sailor Spirit enjoying all things involving the sea he was a skilled boat captain a successful offshore lobsterman a daily quah hoger on the Westport River an avid M of the well Westport shellfish commission and a leader for fishing conservation efforts he enjoyed hunting Sports reading Woodworking and travel he's going to be remembered for his love of nature wealth of knowledge sense of humor which was always accompanied by infectious laughter and I don't know if he was a part of the founding of shellstock but he was certainly very involved in shellstock and the shellfish and our sympathies go out to his family anybody want to say anything about uh captain right thank you um the first item on the agenda tonight is a public hearing see the applicants can come forward this um application was a request of Deep D Shukla to transfer an off- premises Package Store license from SNH Supreme liquor Inc to 787 Liquors Corp doing business as state road package also the request to pledge inventory and collateral and to point shaben Patel as manager the business is located at 787 um State Road Road can you introduce yourself sure uh thank you boy good evening my name is Matthew Porter I'm the attorney for 787 L hi my name so we need you to turn them green this is the the first of the there we go we go got that Paula yeah two made go again are we good no okay perfect um so as dipy said she's one of the principls of 787 liquor Corp also along with us is uh Shila Ben Patel Miss Patel is the other principal of the operation uh she'll also be the license manager meaning she'll be the one responsible for the day-to-day operations um so they're anywhere between 40 to 50 hours per week yeah try turning one of them off there we go oh there we go we've learned something already so this relates to the sale of uh state road package no major anticipated changes to the business whatsoever um both of these operators are experienced in the liquor industry Miss Shukla has three other stores which they've operated very successfully and very responsib responsibly so you certainly understand the rules and responsibilities that come along with this type of business U both these individuals are alcohol tip certified there's no major anticipated changes to the structure of the business of the hours um so it'll remain you know fairly status quo um but as I said you know very experienced operation um there is a request before the board in addition to the transfer license for a pledge of license uh to the seller uh so the seller is financing the transaction SNH uh Supreme liquor zinc so we' be uh asking that the board approve that pledge of license as well um but beyond that I can certainly answer any questions that the board may have and Miss shl can as well one question uh what are the other three stores that are any of them in the Westport Community none in the Westport nope and then where are they so we have uh sandwich hyanis and Fair Haven are the other three yep and Miss Patel actually lives um in Westport so she Westport resident as well which make it fairly easy to operate um so I do want to um note that we are in receipt of a favorable police report Paula is all the rest of the paperwork in order is there any questions from the board this is a public hearing is there any um comments from the public seeing none what's the pleasure of the board I'll move it second so we have a move to transfer the license and um I don't know what we're doing allowing the request to pledge the inventory and collateral so we have a motion in a second is there any discussion going appoint the man and appoint the manager sorry deput sh so there three things we're doing there okay yes so it would be uh just it would be sha Patel is the manager the other oh sh Patel that's okay thank you for the correction sure um any further discussion all in favor I and you oppose that's unanimous thank you good luck EXC thank you very much good night the next item on the agenda is license and permits we have a request from the Holy Ghost ghost Club 179 Sodom Road for 1day liquor licenses um for Sunday July 28 11 to5 at Family Reunion Saturday August 3 12 to 4 for a class reunion Saturday August 10 5 to 9 for a fundraiser Saturday August 24 1 to 7 for a cancer fundraiser Thursday August 29 1 to 7 for a wedding Saturday September 14 4-10 for wedding uh we are in receipt of a favorable police report with recommendations for details I'll move with recommendations second is there any discussion anything from the public all in favor I I any oppose that's unanimous um the next item on the agenda is some appointments and resignations um I do want to call out on the economic development task force and the infrastructure oversight committee I've been in contact with the chair of the planning board and the chair of the finance committee and both of them have told that their boards have not yet selected um their representative for these committees um so there are two planning board there's one planning board rep on the economic development one seat on the economic development for planning board one seat for finance committee and then on infrastructure oversight there are two planning board seats and one um finance committee both of those chairs have asked us not to make those appointments tonight um so I just want to call that to the attention of the board so that would be the planning board representatives and the finance committee Representatives so um does anybody I want to I I would like to pass over the fincom and the planning board um ones for a future meeting but does anybody want to discuss that okay so I'm going to read them if we have uh like I said I'm going to pass over the the planning board and the fincom but um if anybody wants to put a hold on any of these just say hold and we'll talk about them separately um cultural Council Rob delgardo cultural Council Tom Pierce Economic Development task force Morris May Economic Development task force Steven oulette as a select board representative economic de development task board Benjamin walbeck infrastructure oversight committee Joseph Amaral businessto business infrastructure oversight uh Gerald coutino at large infrastructure um we're passing over that one um myy May from Economic Development Steve wette as select board representative Joseph Rio at large um we're passing over planning and finance um internet advisory committee David Cole Personnel Board Nancy holworth public we Emily Emily Nickerson and Recreation Commission um Stacy Silva boutwell so that was all of the names on the agenda with the exception of the planning board and finance committee see you know hold all move second do we have a motion and a second is there any discussion all in favor I so my understanding is that the finance committee is meeting tomorrow to appoint their representative and that the planning board is meeting next mon do they meet on Monday next week um the planning board is meeting and they'll appoint their two their representatives um so we can handle those at our next meeting the next item is a discussion on short-term rental from Rich Brewer requested this um so dick you want to talk to us sure Madam chair other uh microphone on as I get used to this so after the town meeting at our select board meeting that followed we talked about the things we have to do to brush up on and follow through on and and do to get ready for the next town meeting or get ready for other things in between and the one item that we talked about we talked about a couple of things one of which is Route Six and we pretty much much covered that and the other one was the short-term rental situation um the reason I thought we should talk about it is because uh we're kind of in a an untenable position to put it mildly so we have something that uh since the motion failed at town meeting which would have made short-term rentals legal but with restrictions because of that failure we're back to where we were before which is short-term rentals are prohibited in the town of Westport uh leaving aside the fact that it's never really been enforced and the town collects revenue for it and so does the State uh that leads me to conclude we've got a situation here that at some point in time it's got to be remedied and I think we can put our heads together and figure something out maybe we need a different U motion at the next town meeting I don't know I won't prescribe an answer for this uh Quagmire we're in but I think we can work together so I what I was suggesting that we do is get all our heads together mainly the planning board the help of Michael Baris who here tonight and Zoning Board of Appeals and have at it and say what what can we do here what can we uh what can we do to get this thing fixed in some way that's better than what it is now because the status quo right now I don't think anybody's happy with it and it's it's a great big contradiction as far as I'm concerned so we've got to iron it out and it's it seems that after 50 years of this maybe it's that's the time has come so I thought we should give it another try and we put it on the agenda to have some open discussion and to see if there's any uh potential ways to remedy this problem um and that's all I have for to say opening remarks I know we might want to hear from Michael on the survey that's done on online that is soliciting opinion from citizens as to what some of the things that we should do here what should we do next how do you feel about this how do you feel about that so with that introduction I would say I'll turn it back to you as chair just to lead the discussion all right so I see that we have Michael bruss the town planner and we have um Richard manard Roger manard um from zoning board of appeals did you guys want to come forward and kind of participate in this discussion with us can I just say one thing first sure I think it's a really good idea to have a discussion on this but we all need to understand that the select board has no authority to do anything regarding zoning issues that's all right I think it's a really good idea that we discuss it get it all out in the open and start over again but we all you know we have to understand that the select board really doesn't have a role in in this other than facilitating things so um just to be very clear we're having a discussion item on the agenda tonight no action item so we're not going to take any action but I yes that's discussion so I'm going to invite you guys to come forward to sit with us I feel like you have information offer go ahead can I get a clarification on that cuz the select board certainly has big role to play in putting articles at town meeting yes and and and that's what where this might end up anyway so I I think our role here is quite predominant so I wonder if we can start um dick you mentioned um a survey from the planning board so yes so you need to turn them green although apparently only one at a time one in the middle Apparently one at a time um so um Michael can you maybe talk about what the planning board is is doing um so far yeah so the planning board would like to bring forth articles at town meeting 2025 and so in service of informing drafting a new um or revising the bylaw that was brought to town meeting in 2024 we posted a survey that has been up for uh almost a month now and we're going to leave it up for another week and we would really like folks in town to go take that survey um we've had about 400 responses so far which is pretty pretty good for for a smaller Community um and that data is going to inform really after town meeting where we wanted to know where things went wrong um we wanted to get the finger on the pulse of what the community was feeling um in terms of different preferences for short-term rentals and um so we could go back to the drawing board and develop a z a zoning bylaw that would be um a little bit more attractive for folks to vote for at town meeting and so before we even go and start redrafting any of the language we would like to have this data in place to inform that um to inform future discussions and so once we have those Community preferences um established in in the the survey data then it I think it'll be it'll give us much more fruitful discussions um when we reconvene the short-term rental committee which is the planning board the planning board did ask and um recommended that the short-term commit short-term rental committee reconvene at at a future date and it was agreed that we should wait until this data has been developed can you talk a little bit about um the process that is like the the they follow last time but you're going to follow again the process for public hearings and things like that so as if you were targeting a um the town meeting so in May of 25 um what is the process that we go through before we make zoning proposes so last year well on on a base level what you would do is you would have articles that are or not articles but you would have a zoning byw that would be discussed before the planning board and You' get a you know General indication of are these articles that they or items that they would like to bring forth to a planning board public hearing and if so then we would warn a public hearing and there would be a public hearing um in the typically we would have it in the town Annex unless we're anticipating overflow or something like that but and then those um those draft bylaws would then be recommended for town meeting what we would do for the short-term rental committee is have a little bit longer of a process to um to solicit more public input throughout that throughout drafting the bylaw that's what we did with Roger um um and members of the planning board and the Board of Health last year so the process that we start started last year was in I think it was late summer early fall and um there was a a committee with members appointed from the planning board zoning board of appeals and Board of Health um and there was six or seven public meetings for that um and so we would have a similar process moving forward for town meeting next year um with the short-term rental committee reconvening and then providing those recommendations to the planning board the planning board would then take those recommendations and have a public hearing um and then they would vote on those recommendations for placement on on the town meeting um articles all right I'm going to ask for um Roger input but is there anything anybody have any comments or questions for Michael and anything he just said where do they where do people find the survey if you go right to the homepage it is the top item on the news section um it says short-term rental survey and you just have to click a couple links it's pretty easy to get there okay thank you um so Roger you're a chair of the zoning board of appeals so can you talk a little bit about um the zba's role in this well the the zba's role U is primarily on on uh any appeal that comes to us from a ceent assist order so if the zoning enforcement officer has to issue a ceas assist order to anybody who is a short-term renter and that person then appeals it then it would come to the zoning board of appeals for judication as as to the uh the appropriateness of the appeal so I just want to um make sure I understand so because we talked about you you said at the outset that this s word didn't have a role so we do have a role in plac items on the warrant although although we typically post whatever the planning board asks us to do but the zoning enforcement officer also reports to the select board so um is is that true in the role of zoning enforcement officer um we don't typically dictate specific actions that he takes but he does work for us he does yes all right so so we do have a role in that we employ the person who would be issuing somebody a cent assist order right and I discussed this with attorney Blake and he was pretty adamant that and you can again you can verify that you can talk to attorney Blake that um uh essentially that the select board really doesn't have a role other than passing an article for for any new um zoning bylaw uh I mean you uh mean I read in news that you know that there could be a moratorium or something that's not something that could be done by by the select board uh you could certainly work with Ralph the the zoning enforcement officer on on on how to enforce it but uh uh putting it you know any kind of blanket uh response to this is is something that's that's not within your purview does that does the CBA have any current cases related to this no we do not you don't okay so right now um there's nothing that you're aware of or that's in front of you now correct related to much we have nothing related to short-term rentals so um would you um um I don't know if you guys have taken a position or not but um is it is it your opinion that we there needs to be some action prior to the May 25 Tom meeting or is it is waiting until may seem like it's probably okay I don't know if you have I agree with Mike we we need to um uh we need to reestablish the shortterm rental committee to generate a uh a set of bylaws that are hopefully uh appropriate for the town uh uh we did this again I think we had six or seven meetings all open to the uh to the public we had a lot of open discussion uh and we came up with a set of bylaws that went to the planning board and the planning board then had a couple of of meetings and they you know they changed as appropriate and then that became an article for the for the town meeting and I would expect this time would be the same except now we're going to have the the results of the of a survey and Having learned from going through this once you know hopefully we can iron out the you know the the major uh you know problem areas of uh you know it it is really tough to balance we all want to allow short-term rentals they've been here forever I don't think anybody wants to say that we want to ban them that's not what we want to do but we also want to protect neighborhoods so that Balancing Act is is a difficult one uh too much regulation hurts one side too little hurts the other finding that midd spot is uh is a difficult job I'm I'm having a hard time figuring out why we're talking about this right now I understand it came up it was a followup but now I'm I'm listening to our role and all the questions related to our role and seeing that unless I'm hearing otherwise our only role is to uh maybe get a progress report so we can decide whether or not it's suitable to put on a an article on the agenda for either the next town meeting or special that may occur where this could be discussed in the interim well I think this has been helpful information though to understand what is currently I'm also cognizant of spending a lot of time talking about something we have no authority of I think it's good for all of us to understand how the town is moving and and that there is maybe a way forward so you asked um for this to be on the agenda item so did you have any comments or questions for these guys while they here no not really I mean what I wanted to do is get it on the table for discussion I think we do owe the public and you the obligation of information of education and to let them know when something is unresolved that we're concerned about it and whatever we can do we will help that move that along that's all uh that we're doing here so that people know that were not asleep at the switch was the same thing with route six people are asking me and others well what are you going to do next now well we had to talk about that people want to know that so we have a role to play we also have the role of influence and I would not underestimate the influence of the select board at town meeting in the past I can cite numerous examples where they pretty much listened to a lot of things that we had to say uh so our role is not uh perfunctory here but it's not direct as Roger points out I agree and as far as Craig's comment is concerned yeah now we're at this point now knowing what we now know and we've clarified a few things and we know people are working on it that seems to satisfy thank you do anybody else have anything please guys is there anything else oh go ahead Jim just one thing as far as the SEL 's role anybody can submit a zoning petition select board could submit a zoning petition from moratorium they could submit a zoning petition to change a zoning as as well as the residents but it still has to go through the planning board process public hearing process I also want to point out that the select board can call a town meeting so we could call a Town Meeting prior to May so we don't have no role but um I do appreciate this update because it sounds like things are moving the way they should be did you have another comment no I I'd have no problem having an update if we had got to the point where You' finished the survey you had some recomendations you wanted to come back to meeting in the future to give us an update uh because to your point uh Madam chair is that we may have a special and this may be something that we would want to place on uh for for a special as opposed to waiting till next may my only point was one of process yeah just one just one one question though um we had a subcommittee for short-term rental uh I believe that at the end of June subcommittees are become null and void it depend on how the committee was created we never we never disbanded I we'd have to look and see if there was an end date on the committee I'm not sure how was it created by the select board or was it created by the planning board by the plan so the planning board could make their own appointments and extend those dates they would have those dates it could be a two-year appointment a one- year appointment however they set it up okay yeah you'd have to check how it was set up originally have a meeting next week so we can put out a call for whoever is on the the committee right now if they would like to be reappointed we reappoint them next week okay Jim did you have anything else that's it is there anything from the public okay all right well thank you for your time I appreciate somebody has hand up oh somebody if you sorry um you have to come to the microphone and can you just say your name please I'm Susan CLA I just wanted to comment that um with the survey it would just be a concern that um you know how valid is it in terms of who responds um you know I'm on the side of we need this regulated and I think that there's probably a um uh you know the the real estate Community would have a a way of bringing out a lot of respondents who would be more inclined to say you know let's keep the regulations down to a minimum so I just want to you know indicate a not note of caution about that thank you thank you just just one comment on that one of the first questions is are you a renter or not I me it's so that we can get a feel for if uh if there were 500 responders and 400 of them are short-term renters then you know but I mean but to her point it's an anonymous survey you don't really know and it may or may not be indicative right but I would urge people to follow there's going to be a number of public meetings on this topic so I urge people who care deeply about this to be following um the agendas can you yes I'm Karen conry um and I would also like to say that uh I know a little bit about um how websites operate and I did notice when I took the um survey which was very good by the way um there's no way to determine where that web traffic is coming from where it's originating so you really don't know if the respondents or the 400 are really all Westport residents could they be other folks in the real estate business or in the investor business that we know we're beginning to see a lot of in this town who have you know know a financial interest in doing that um we don't know how many people took the survey multiple times so you can't have a really clear clean you know um actual sense of what people are are doing until you actually were able to put a firewall up so that only those Town residents could come in and you could well ultimately is the voters who are voting at town meeting are going to decide right and so ultimately the voters are are registered voters are the that attend town meeting are going to be the decision makers but I think they understand the limitations of an anonymous survey and it's just one input um they're going to have a number of public meetings okay good because we're we're concerned about how much weight that survey would carry in going to the short-term rental committee you know would they say well we have X percentage that is um pro- short-term rentals in residential agriculture cultural zones when there are quite a few of us out there maybe in the minority who knows maybe the majority the way the web traffic King man comes in um that don't really have a voice so I guess I'm concern the other thing I would like to suggest and I went to a number of the short-term rental meetings I would suggest that you um bring in some stakeholders into that meeting you know um those of us who are you know living in this short-term rental world all around us in an agricultural neighborhood those who are realtors those who are investors I think until you really understand what everyone's objectives are really can't make um decisions until we have everybody who is a stakeholder at the table and having these discussions just a thought thank you thank you is there anything else okay thank you thank you guys thank you um next on the agenda we have a presentation from the long-term building committee and I believe we were given a copy of this so we can follow along you don't have to look at the distance screen I can you just introduce yourself please absolutely I'm Christopher Thrasher of drift Road and I am the chair of the Westport uh long ter building committee so um just wanted to begin uh very quickly with acknowledgement of the committee uh the committee members uh in this current term uh as well I think that's next I'm sorry there we go so uh members of the of the current committee and also thank you to uh Miss Brown and uh Miss Cindy Brown and uh Evan jendro whove uh uh have attended uh tonight's meeting as well um and also thank you to the previous members of the committee whose uh terms expired on the the 30th of of June so uh real quickly I just wanted to have a quick discussion on the Mandate of the long-term building committee um so this was the article that was passed at the uh town meeting in 2023 that allocated $200,000 uh for uh uh a feasibility study and and potential project manager uh currently there uh still is 197,000 available in that uh appropriation uh I did want to ask Mr Hardman so the uh there is there another 2,000 that's outstanding from that I I need to confirm that I don't believe so but I need to confirm okay thank you very much so there's a possibility there we go still trying to figure out the new Fango technology here so uh so there is uh there there was 3,000 spent for for one particular consultant but the bulk of that uh of that authorization uh Still Still Remains um one thing I think is worth noting here and will probably uh be be more of a discussion item further down this presentation is is a question of exactly what the Mandate for the long-term building committee is uh going forward and I think that this uh this past year the committee spent uh a very large amount of time uh going over previous uh discussions that had happened uh from uh from previous long-term building committees and and a lot of the discussion was focused on the potential uh what potential use or what potential uh eventuality should should be uh talked about as opposed to working on a strategic plan for a single recommendation or for a single item so that'll come uh come into more Focus here down down the line so uh just to real quickly um looking at the uh the problem statement here uh is that there is a this is a significant property uh it's uh 62.1 Acres it's one of the largest if not the largest parcel that the the town currently owns um the uh it's very crucial uh in in my mind and the committee's mind that the uh a strategic plan really be developed one way or the other going forward uh to figure out what what is going to be done with this building so uh just want to go ahead and move forward real quickly to the current building conditions uh currently the uses of the building are uh the School administration offices which there is a uh a tentative schedule uh that the school committee will be vacating those offices uh out of as well uh for the out of school time program uh the building is of course used as a polling place on Election Day there is uh the gyms utilized by by basketball leagues and then uh there there are other uh extensive recreational uses both by the uh the Westport School uh Department as well as the community at Large uh and and no matter what there there continues to be there will always continue be to be a need for a athletic fields one way or the other um so some current issues with the building this is uh not an exhaustive list to say the least uh that there is a a boiler that needs replacement uh there's been an ongoing issue with with termites which Mr hard I believe the the last uh was treated it has been treated in June okay excellent uh there are some some potential well issues that have have come to light as well and uh there is the potential for increased maintenance and insurance costs uh with underutilization of the building uh if especially if if the the building is is fully vacated uh so just going to go over real quickly kind of the the all of the options that were evaluated one way or the other by the committee uh this kind of gets into the Mandate aspect where there there were obviously a lot of options being kicked around uh including of course maintaining the status quo selling the building and sight as it is demolishing uh the building and then selling the site uh demolishing the building and maintaining the site uh mothballing the property or uh renovation for municipal use or even uh renovation for school for the use uh for a future school um So based on the the sentiment uh of of the committee and uh of the of the community that we we've had several uh individuals come forward to at committee meetings to uh to give their their uh Impressions um the committee does believe that selling the building and the site would not be a prudent use of town resources it is again one of the one of the largest Parcels that the town owns and uh there is a a need for athletic fields going forward no matter what happens to uh to the building now if if so if let's say this site was sold and the school department would have need for brand new athletic fields no matter what um also a consideration is that the the 20 2022 appraisal of the property uh is likely a little overestimate a little bit of an overestimate given the current market uh conditions um so with with the uh with all the good ideas that have been kicked around the number one issue of course is that no matter what happens with this building there is no money in the general operations budget to fund uh any kind of significant additional cost and this was something the committee kept in mind uh always when when discussing what to potentially do um no matter what whe no matter what the uh the the decision that that that comes is whenever that decision is made it's going to cost money there's no way around it uh so uh also a couple things the committee was was considering was issues with other town properties including uh this this town hall the town Annex Council and aging buildings uh their uh obviously significant issues with with several Town buildings uh and and it's it's going to uh certainly be something to eval valate as far as the the use uh for these buildings going forward and also the potential that possibly some of these other buildings might present a a more viable uh sales option for the town if the town was ever to divest the properties then uh some of these other buildings might might fetch a little bit more than uh and be be more realistic to to put on the market than than the old High School site um the one item that was eliminated from the consideration was the continued use of the property as a school um based on on the requirements of of uh school buildings and and also the the requirements student wise right now uh it was it was for for the town of Westport it was not seen as a as a realistic option for to convert the the uh the building back to school use uh and again there was a lot of community sentiment uh where uh there's there's an overwhelming support for uh for preserving and repurposing that the high school building uh of course you know it it is going to it's going to cost money no matter what so with all these with all these things uh with all these things considered uh the committee narrowed it down to to three options right now uh to uh to talk about and the the first was to demolish and and uh de demolish the building and maintain the site uh to mothball the building or to renovate the building for municipal use and you can see the the estimated costs and these are based on uh previous stuff studies uh so the the these these estimates are are very much Ballpark and could not I wouldn't rely on them at this point but it's you know the ballpark figures involved in demolishing the building from 2 to 8 million uh mothballing that the mothballing the building is is your immediate costs would be hard to know but long-term certainly would be significant costs incurred if even if if you just mothball the building and renovating the building for municipal use was anywhere from 10 to $35 million depending on uh what plans so I I did want to go real quick into some of the other studies that have been uh pre previous studies and reports that have been uh created for this uh for this uh this issue um there was a a code analysis update most recently uh and also I I included a couple slides here from uh the uh the 2020 uh adaptive reuse analysis um so just to show uh some of the other potential that were discussed as far as re uh reusing the uh the building and uh that the next slide is is a reuse scenario for municipal offices as well these were all from the uh the 2020 report so uh ultimately coming down to the recommendation of the long-term building committee and before I read this I want to mention um there was significant discussions as to what would be the right recommendation to make in terms uh or keeping in mind that no matter what recommendation we made it more than likely was going to require an override or debt exclusion in order to to pay for the options uh the board excuse me the the committee voted at the meeting on July 1st to uh recommend that the select board take appropriate steps to immediately develop a strategic plan to renovate the old high school building for municipal use and part of the thinking in terms of uh of making that recommendation is that that dollar amount is certainly the highest figure on the table and we feel that as a committee felt that it's appropriate to present the town with the option to preserve the building and and renovate the building for municipal use uh knowing that it would cost a significant amount and and knowing that it would require such such a vote so the idea is that if the if the town does feel that uh they want to to preser and and renovate this building it it's going to require the funding so let's start let's start with that large dollar amount and see if it uh see if it goes through and and go from there um so just real quick on the potential next steps and this is actually something I would I would uh ask the the select board to to consider here in terms of uh what you would like the the long-term building committee to do going forward um with this this narrowed recommendation um if you want to get the next next slide here uh if there was to be a strategic plan developed uh it it would need it would need to include an evaluation of all the existing Town buildings it would need to include uh up-to-date renovation estimates uh for uh ultimately to come up with a with a uh dollar amount for a debt exclusion question and uh if the if the committee or if the select board rather would be willing to uh to begin the process of creating a strategic plan it's it's certainly My Hope and then the committee's hope that this could uh get get kickstarted to the point where a a ballot question could possibly be created for the uh for the November ballot I know that's a it's a tight window uh but again It ultimately it's the S the sentiment of the committee that the town deserves the right to vote on whether uh to make a significant outl of funds in order to create a uh a comprehensive Municipal uh space so that's that is uh that that's where the committee is at at this moment and I will certainly take any any questions you all may have thank you so I just want to start we have two select board members that are on the committee so I just want to give you the opportunity um if those of you who are on the committee if you wanted to add anything Manny or Craig well it was a was a 5 to nothing or eight to nothing vote uh so I obviously voted in favor of the recommendation that's before us um one of the reasons that I did is I looked at some of the existing buildings outside of this building and realized that they are probably less suitable for their uses than reuse of the high school would be and I called to attention the annex which is a horror show in terms of trying to get in navigate you have be between handicapped accessibility and OCC and and the fact that the building is built on a split level that um it is a it is not a user friendly customer friendly building for the town and that the a portion of the fmer high school uh would be uh not withstanding some of the cost of doing that would probably be better second example is the cson agent um I spent some time there I participate in one of the programs place is Chuck full people it's backto backto back activities it is probably a building even with their current budget that could be better utilized in terms of the types of activities that are being conducted there again I wouldn't suggest moving the council in aging and being that the only Department being located but if you look at the combination of the annex and of the U uh the council and agent as well as the fact that I think it's really at best with all due respect to our representatives from the school committee that I think that that decision to try to collapse School administration into existing buildings was a budget adaptation for the current fiscal year it's not a good long-term plan for the use of skill ad for the use of school administrative uh needs so School administration Town Annex and um uh um the council and aging all are underutilized or not appropriate facilities for the types of activities that they have which may be better I use the word may not will be uh better uses of this if it's in the high school thank did you have anything you want to add Craig I I agree with you 100% And and I appreciate your input just getting on this committee right in the end here um Chris has been working pretty hard on it Sean leech has been on on it um one of the one of you know it was a unanimous vote and one of my my feeling on the whole thing is the reason I voted unanimous was the community outreach on wanting to keep the building um and you know when the school committee was saying they're going to move the administrative buildings out and it's exactly what you said not that they they can even ABS I I I think it's a task to try to absorb into the existing buildings and it's not going to happen I mean I I hear anything was going to happen with the daycare that could definitely be expanded there now the fields that are always being used and I I do disagree a little bit about the the number on the um the renovation because I I believe this could be a phased renovation and it could be something that we could accomplish with the sale of some of these other buildings and so forth um and immediately just the use that the school has in it and you know asked the the school department to stay in there now and we can expand on that um these other buildings we really don't know exactly how much with throwing at them all the time so and with the savings would be um but again mostly the community outreach on keeping that building because they we're using it every day um so I just have a couple questions so the um the the study that was done in 22 um so that was not part of that 200,000 so we funded that before the 200,000 is that correct that's correct so there was a study that was done it's about 2 years old now um for the ReUse um so I just want to clarify this so the the money that's why that that spend isn't more on that yes the studies all the studies that were done uh were done with previous uh previous allocations okay yeah and then um I just wanted that um I know you probably thought it was a long shot when we've tried to put something on the federal ballot before we were Nicks you're not allowed to put other you're not allowed to put local um local questions on on a federal ballot so we it would not be possible to put it on the November ballot unless something has changed I also think that would be not enough time to gather sufficient Community input on the and the costs associated with it but just on the face of it you can't put something on the federal ballot we could we can't put it on the September Ballot or The November ballot um but you could put it on the April ballot put it on the April to September we can't to November we may be able to but the deadline is very early it's like early August oh okay and I'm not 100% sure so it's possible you could make the November but unlikely the presidential one that's the tough one I thought that you couldn't think we could on that we have to clarify oh you can so and you can't on the September the primary ballot okay I'm mistaken um but um but to put a debt exclusion on the ballot you need a number to the community I don't think you have that um I've been on the record since 2018 is I think we should sell the building and the property but I know that's not popular and but I think that these next steps um are the right ones I think we need to do the assessment of the town-owned properties so we understand what we're dealing with there um I think we need to update the costs and perhaps in a phased approach like what Mr Sor just said because um you know if we can if we can phase it in or we can um if there's some way to get the different uses classifi different for code updates and things like that then I think we should explore that so I think that that evaluating the current buildings getting the up-to-date estimates so that we have a solid um maybe if not a single plan but at least a road map for how we get there and then preparing the debt exclusion and and preparing the community to kind of get on board the debt exclusion and you didn't note it here but I'm sure you're also on mind if there's grants o grant opportunities and other opportunities for funding I would want I would that would be the only thing I would add to the next steps that I think the committee should do is look for um explore other kind of possibilities funding so I don't know anybody have any comments go ahead there a few comments think they're in line with yours Madam chair but uh Chris regarding the the article 26 which is the $200,000 you hire a consultant to do a feasibility study does your or did your committee have any view on that should we do that so this is actually part of what I was was speaking to with the the idea of the Mandate of the committee um this commit at the beginning of our our term uh was no matter what nobody wants to throw money uh for for Consultants without actually giving okay this is the you know the steps the steps we would like that consultant to take this is how the either the direction uh that we'd like you to go or or it it was there was an overall sentiment that we didn't want to just throw money away on another study and that turned into a kind of a a rehashing in some cases of old arguments or and old options throwing up throwing around all the old options as as far as what to do with this building and and frankly I I think it's fair to say the committee kind of got stuck in the mud going over the options over and over and over again and it it it is certainly my hope both as a a Community member as well as a the chair of this committee at least for now that I if you all as as a select board would recommend that a strategic plan be developed surrounding creating uh a a municipal if you want to call it a Civic Center or town however uh you want you want to refer to it as if if this was the Mandate going forward that there needs to be a strategic plan that evaluates all of the Town buildings sees what is reasonable or what is realistic to actually utilize that building for and and also taking the the phased approach that that was was mentioned here um I think the key is is if there is that Mandate of a strategic plan this becomes a lot more streamlined and then it's also very it's a lot easier to go back to that appropriation say okay we have we have money for a consultant now here's what we actually want the consultant to do this is what we want a project manager to do and I think that was a key element that frankly had been missing for the majority of the term of this of the committee this this year this past year so I I continue I applaud you for not spending money foolishly try of course we don't necessarily have to spend $200,000 the amount of money we need we also have a previous survey that was done yes it stopped short of being a feasibility study but did have valuable information as to the cost of a number of things um and for example they talk about the uh renovation of buildings here and how much it would cost $4 million and not realiz this rest was $4 million to at this Bild $4 million more than that to renovate the annex um one thing that a consultant could do for us is in terms of feasibility is answer some questions that we've been pondering for example what do we do with this building um I'm particularly interested as other towns have done they sometimes take old buildings put an addition onto them and consolidate some functions there so I can envision this building could be renovated and put an extension on the back and and the functions of the annex that an Al Perform there could be there that also takes care of the annex problem which I agree is a problem then you would have a usable building uh right here for the next 50 years plan right you got to make a big enough of course that doesn't solve every Department's problem I don't know if that would help the highway department they could have it office here but not necessarily trucks or anything the consant agent a agency is cons on Aging is a different problem and I don't I don't think that we should really build a plan around that there are other solutions to their problems uh and I'm I serve as the leaz on from the board of Selectmen I'll be having a meeting with them again tomorrow they just did a strategic plan and understand long term they've got to come up with some solutions themselves and can't rely on the town to keep funding money because their needs are growing and the funding is limited so the idea of strategic plan is I think is a good one and but I would certainly take advantage of uh consultant the right the right one who would answer the questions as to what are some of the things we could do here obviously I don't think right now the mood is such that a debt exclusion for $29 million or 30 which was the number that was put in there by the U utile consulting firm uh in that could be off but it could be low also somebody once said to me well it could be off and I said yeah it could be off high and could be off low I don't see that being feasible but but a smaller uh project like the one I described would probably be more in the the number of like $8 million $9 million just what it says here I have no reason to to doubt it that I think is more salable and more palatable and does offer a long-term solution for the town employees who are domiciled here so I I take that I guess my question is your committee doesn't necessarily have a problem with any of what I've said I would think you don't have to agree with me on any of but what I'm saying is conceptually if we're doing a strategic plan this fits in with that concept yes no I I would absolutely agree with that I think the it's worth noting here that in the end the two options that the K the committee was really kicking around uh in in conversations uh came down to recommending a strategic plan to to renovate for municipal offices or demolishing the building and it was the sentiment uh the committee and certainly my sentiment that it would be a lot harder to ask the town to vote for $2 to3 million or however much it would cost to demolish the building to but if we were to go to the town with that idea first I just feel like that would be a whole lot less palatable uh asking uh the town to you know do a debt exclusion and that for the the cost of the Demolition and and you get nothing for it so it was it from there it really evolved to okay well should we start high and then go from there uh as far as at the end of the day the the the voters of Westport should have the opportunity to have a real substantive vote um not just a vote of you know what what what would you like to do it with it in a perfect world but a vote with hey this is what's going to cost realistically you know an up or down vote uh with a number I do agree that ultimately a strategic plan should be uh it should Encompass the uses for of all municipal buildings it should evaluate all the municipal buildings there's no question and and and whether it's a renovation or addition here or uh you know addition at the Council on Aging whatever that is I do believe that should be all be part of the same overall overall plan are you done yeah I'm done go ahead you you you just made half of my point which is we can't go to the town asking for money until we ask all the what ifs the other sites have been addressed yes we're going to say okay we're going to do this let's say demolish the bill we're going to do this and put something else this what about the what about the what you know what about the annex what about the council and agent so we we need to be able to in terms of the the the concept of a plan be able to answer what is our approach to all of the building that may become Surplus or need substantial Renovations in order to maintain the current level of utility um I think that's kind of what the committee was doing we we looked at all of those things and I I think not last town meeting the town meeting before I think it was voted at that town meeting that the selectman decide what to do with the building so I I I think the building committee's recommendation to move forward with municipal buildings is something that the select man have in their in their jurisdiction right now for town meeting to vote to say all right we're going to use this for municipal buildings and this strategic plan that obviously if we if we do decide that that's what we're going to do the Strategic plan has to be developed on how we're going to do it but I think I think the whole idea was in that to meeting they were you know and I and I also sat in the master plan review committee meeting where they they discussed the other uses of this building and that's where demolition was discussed and and and donating to Housing Trust and all this other stuff but again that was the reason I voted the way I did at this meeting was because of the public and the need that the town has and the use that was still using it so that's why I think in the phase moving in and the selectman in my opinion I might be wrong Jim but I thought that's what we voted that town meeting was to decide what we going to do with it no this the town meeting vote authorize the Selectmen to sell the building that's what the town meeting vote did um so that's it that's what it did so um uh we probably would have the authority to renovate but we have no money right so in order to get money to do any work associated with that building would require a town meeting a different town meeting vote right so we had a we had a town meeting vote to authorize this $200,000 which I believe we can spend which I actually think we should spend it on this hiring someone to help us with this these evaluating the buildings and the coming up to the estimates right so we have this authorization to spend money to hire somebody to help us do that we have an authorization to sell the building if that's what we decide to do um but anything beyond the $200,000 we would need an appropriation from town meeting could Jim could you could you do you have a copy of that authorization in Al the toown meeting on exactly what it said the get up you can look for it um I'm going to anybody I'm going to I'm going to Cindy because she's on the committee but is there anybody before we go to Cindy go ahead uh thank you very much Cindy Brown I'm a member of the long-term building committee um I can't emphasize enough the the points that Mr Thrasher has made and certainly other members of the committee I think really we we as a committee have been really looking for uh after after narrowing down the the very many possibilities that he outlined early in in his um uh in his uh uh show that his slideshow was that uh you know we narrowed it down to three as Christopher said I I would find it very difficult to go to a town meeting to go to a town meeting or a vote and ask voters for I think the estimates are closer to$ three to5 million to tear down a building and you have nothing to you have nothing in your hands after that we couldn't get an override for $1 million for operations for one so to ask the voters for four or5 million to knock down a building and you get nothing in return for it more or less you still have the land I think is a very big big swallow I mean that's that's tough so that was one of the reasons why I felt that we really should move to renovate it I think the you know the the Council on Aging needs I think you know we've got some parking issues there maybe they didn't warm up to it initially um they didn't like all of the the space there but a lot of that had to do with parking and with some of the the decor and how the how the building was designed that could be fixed in a renovation so it it really would click off a lot of boxes Mr VES at one of our uh last meetings had indicated that 400 kids use the basketball program at the recreation they're not the town teams so if you don't make a Town School team the independent basketball leagues 400 different kids used that that that gymnasium last year so if we eliminate the building or sell the building or abandon the building even mothballing it that's a program that's going to be eliminated so there a lot of issues of things that have been going on in that building mothballing it to me is not you know if we don't have an endgame and you're mothballing it you're just sinking money into it for no reason at all you have no endgame so it's either knock it down or build it up so we might as well build it up it's a tremendous asset you know I think that there are many future uses for that building uh and it's and it's worth preserving um I think that it's it's an excellent idea to include uh the survey of the other Town buildings some of them have uh perhaps some historical leans on them that may not allow us to uh sell the building but perhaps they can be repurposed so I think that uh our committee was really looking for guidance from the select board as to which way should we go we've been we've been swirling this around for years and we really would like a direction uh of which way of those three options that have now been narrowed down which one should we be aiming towards because I think that that would help uh help a lot thank you thank you I just want to go back to Mr sar's comment so article 31 of the town meeting which doesn't have the year which which tell me which year it was to see if the town will vote to transfer the care maintenance and operation of the Westport senior Junior High School located at 19 Main Road and Westport from the school committee to the board of Selectmen so that was transferring authority to the board of Selectmen and further that the Westport Board of Selectmen be authorized to transfer ownership of said property on such terms as they deem appropriate within law and or take any other action relative there too so it was authorization to transfer own ownership of the building did that answer your question about that article so so that wouldn't include keeping ownership we could keep it because it because the the first part of the vote transferred the care maintenance and operation to the select board the second part of it authorized us but did not require us to transfer ownership of the building so we would be we would be able to authorize turning this into a municipal building we can authorize whatever we want to do with the building correct we could like we did we we leased it to the school department right so we can do that correct we need money to fund any kind of investment which would require an appropriation of some sort and and we're presently using it so that could be a good a good reason to authorize using it as a municipal building to continue using it as we seek funds to renovate we could consider that hi Tony Vieira it's actually been eight years or more since we've been dealing with this and we've had a number of studies and consultants and we do have the data that you're asking about dated now but some it was done in 2016 some was done in 2018 some was done in 2020 some was 2022 one of the issues we always had uh the chair and a number of the members of the board of selectman have been to meetings for businesses to business over those years we've had here hearings about it and we we've got community input and one thing is clear that I I think the vast majority of people would like to keep the town hall and keep this area in Central Village and I think that's pretty clear and and I think one of the things I would suggest that the U um selectman look at is the again to go back to look at those studies or go down to the assessor office and see what the current value would be of the annex and what the current value would be of the Council on Aging and then talk to a realtor and see what they think the market would be for those because there's a revenue Source there that we should have pretty good feel for before we ever go to a town meeting or before we ever think about putting something on a ballot we need a revenue Source that's what's divided Us in the past nobody's going to pay for $30 million for renovation now having said that my background is in education I've done 35 of these throughout the state and I've never paid close to $30 million let alone the figures that people talking about now I've also been involved in moving people around in the town here in close by in both cities and so I I think the Consultants uh I'm not sure if they've had that experience uh or how they base their decisions but this is a town decision and I think the town over the last eight years we've we've come to realization that we have spent a lot of money in this building but it's probably worth keeping in in the center of our town I'm not sure that we feel the same way about the annex it doesn't serve the purpose doesn't serve the purpose as an Annex for us spacewise it's not handicap accessible they well issues there are all kinds of stuff doesn't even Ser the purpose for the nursery if that was a private Nursery in any place in town it'd be closed down tomorrow so we get that issue now we get the Council on Aging we have spent all kinds of money in the Council on Aging and it's still too small we've made the parking lot bigger but we didn't able to do anything inside and we're limited on what we can do inside that probably has a better value in real estate those two buildings back on the tax roll would have an ongoing tax benefit to the town and we would then in those two areas we either got to decide what we're going to do with that are we going to build another Annex are we going to do something in the back here are we going to do something with Council on Aging and we look at those figures for new construction you know I think they going to be a lot higher than what we're going to do in renovation for the high school at least in the short term long-term planning committee two chairs ago and a totally different committee had had you know came to the conclusion and matter of fact I I met with this town admin a gym and and we had some people that were interested in buying the high school if it went out the bid if because at that point it sounded like the administration was kind of interested in getting rid of the building and and we had some estimates on what they were going to pay if it ever went out the bid but it never went out the bid I think we have an opportunity now to look at those other two buildings look at what the cost is going to be if we don't move them what's the term the next 12 months the next 5 years you total that up and you look at moving those same offices with the expand expion opportunities that they have in high school I think it's it's a good kind of a business model that makes sense for our community I would not recommend that we go to town meeting we have a special town meeting we have anything else until you do that and you can find out tomorrow morning by going down to the assessor's office and get a pretty good idea what the assessor value at it and don't tell me you don't you don't think that's fair think of your own property look at other property it's pretty close might even be higher it's probably probably about 80% of what the value would be on the market you don't have to listen list to me I'm not a real estate person but there are a lot of people that work in this town that could give you a pretty good estimate of those properties we are not handicap accessible in any of the Town buildings the way we are in high school so this idea about well we got to do all these major Renovations in high school you know well if the school goes out it'll the the price tag will go up so I hope the school doesn't go out of there we move the people from the Middle School using the Sheriff's Office to to the high school now there was some cost I'm sure involved but it certainly wasn't big when using the Sheriff's Office office you know and I don't think we had any major problems in doing that there are other ways we have people we have large uh moving companies in town that could do some of the moving I would suggest over the next few months we start looking at some of this stuff we have areas of town right now including the highway Department's office including the annex I'm not saying you move the highway department I'm not saying you move the town hall but it's not really any standard that you going to use for your zoning board of appeals or for your building department or for plan planning board they would vote it down because it doesn't meet it but we kind of look the other way it's been 8 years we've got to have some action and the plan I would agree though don't go to town meeting with a figure that you don't have a source of how you're going to pay for it I think that has to be part of the plan and I think if we do that I'll tell you I you know I'm here tonight because people ask me to come there's a lot of of interest in holding on to the property and using it because they see it as a value they see it's the most a valuable property in town that we own it probably if you do the assessments probably is and we're looking about destroying it Knocking it down and paying to have that done I don't understand this we got to move at some point we got to have a plan but it has to have what the cost is going to be with the renovations that we're going to do some people want say well you know we've got to we going to move we got to put all new equipment in all new uh you know uh desk and chairs and so forth well maybe but I don't know I mean I moved a lot of buildings we didn't do that we using what we have and down the road we when we can budget it we put those things in let's kind of come together we build consensus I think one of the things that was dividing us all the time was this area and I think this area has maybe it's a museum down the road I don't know but it has some value within our community and I don't think we it's we've got to still do upgrades for handicap accessibility in it's building everybody want to use the bathroom try looking at it you know anybody want some water you want to use the elevator we had meetings here public meetings that people couldn't get in cuz the elevator wasn't working you know Tony I appreciate your passion um the recommendation from the committee is to form form the Strategic plan you're talking about to evaluate um and assess all of the town-owned properties and for their use and what and the cost associated with that and to create up toate estimates so that we would have a solid number to present to the town and to explore funding courses and so far four of the five members of this board seem to have been expressing a favorable um impression of that recommendation to proceed that way no one tonight has been suggesting that we tear the building down Madam chair and I agree with the cost that you're concerned with but there's studies there that address what you're saying right now and do this work we can do it again but the assessment really can be done in internally pretty quickly that we have in front of us for the renovation of the building to accommodate municipal use is in excess of $20 million so I think that before we go out and ask for $20 million we need to reinvest I'm talking about the assessment of the other buildings that would be Revenue to the town and I'm also talking about the money that we spent in this building in The Last 5 Years the money we spent next door now if that's fine and we're ready to go with it and then we got another five years without any other renovation fine but it's not and we did the same thing with a council aging it's not so we're throwing millions of dollars in the buildings that don't serve the purpose that we need so that's what I'm trying to get to I agree that we should not do this and ask the taxpayers to pick up 30 million or 20 million whatever the figure is for the renovation I'm saying we need a plan on how we're going to deal with these see what the cost is going to be and then see what the alternative would be if we used the high school because we have that as a valuable piece now again that's the recommendation from the committee and four of us have already expressed uh support of that recommendation so I I don't I appreciate your passion but I I think I think you're talking to people who already agree with you except that when I read on we didn't talk about the revenue source and what I heard tonight was setting up a special town meeting or a a meeting in the fall or next spring to bring it to the voters I'm saying before you bring it to the voters we have to have a a a business model A business plan that has debits and credits and we're going to have expense and we're going to have Revenue we haven't said the revenue piece we've just said the expense yes thank you agree R Elias Harley lean uh I'm in here just to support the the kids that are using the fields now I just left the ball practice at 177 four of those fields that are not even fully completed yet are being used right now the two at the high school are being used right now and I I've been an advocate for Youth Sports for the last 40 years the 400 kids they're talking about went out of town because of covid and other other things that happened and played to to the numbers of 125 uh kids going to Idan but now we brought it back in the last two years to to around this 400 number um I just I just don't want to sell the kid short down the road and I think we ought to keep this building and and you don't know what's going to happen to the other buildings that you're talking about uh on Reed Road who knows what would happen there if the if if the Council on agent wasn't there I'm sure the business that's right next door would probably swapped out up in a hobby I can hear Al Le saying one thing we can't continue to sell bread for 80 cents when we're paying the dollar I understand the town situation as far as taxes go but you know what we we have the best fire department best police department and the best school going we don't have anything recreational for the kids every town around us has that and we have a great Recreation Grill I'm done thank you thank you so I think so we have this as a discussion item and not as an action item but so my recommendation is for the long-term building committee to come back to us with what do you need to pursue this strategic plan I I completely agree that um with the focus being on what should we do with all these options there's a lot a lot of swirl over over time um but if we're now focused on we want to use it for municipal building so let's figure out how to what would take to make that happen so I would ask that um we come back at a future meeting as soon as you guys can come up with what you need um with what do you need from us do do you have a bid for a contract for someone to help us do you not need that you can you can do it on your own own like what is it that you would need from us so that we could act directly on that is anybody um is anybody have any about that approach about asking them to do that I got a question for you Jim who's going to figure out what we're going to do for the winter because if that building freezes we're done and there's already boiler problems we're still working on that with the school department I don't know if they've officially voted yet to we haven't received anything in writing saying if say defer to the chair there EV jro chair of the school so the the committee is not the committee has discussed uh options to winterize um but that would certainly involve discussions with the Town Administrator the the building is under the priew of the select board so we would certainly be willing to discuss with the board um you know that going forward and our custodial staff knows the building and can you know Assist in that process if we if we decide to winterize it um and if I could just for a second to address a short-term use so the the school committee as a as a as brought up by Mr duer and I appreciate the the sentiment um saw the you know the the budget that we had approved at town meeting and increasing need but you know uh a budget that doesn't quite get there so we had to come up with some cuts and without sort of reducing additional staff we found this is an area where we could reduce approximately $90,000 in the school's budget um and also support staff that's that's well we're short staffed in our other school building so this allows some additional support by having some other Personnel in those school buildings so that's that's where that came into play but I was one of the five votes that uh voted on this recommendation favorably to the select board so uh but just on the winterization piece that the school committee is open to working with the select board on how to proceed with that going forward well we need to Giddy up because we got a November election we got a September election and last year they had portable heaters for the for the workers so it's not going to work out well uh we actually we have to get our act together for that before winter comes in well there's definitely a short-term concerns about definitely we got to figure out what we're going to do with that we got to figure out talk to the schools is if I could is it definitely out of the question that admin's going to stay there the committee is not has not taken a formal vote but this was part of our when we look at our fy2 budget these Cuts were included as as part of that all right because obviously if we don't use the building too as I brought up before you got the problem legionaires you got a problem with the water so we got problems all the way around mechanical and drinking water and whatnot so we got to we got to move kind of quick on that because that water is sitting there for a couple of months we're going to have headaches well I mean the long-term building committee you're not going to get the proposal and a Deb exclusion and all that before winter yeah that's what I mean we need to come up with a shortterm plan for now to keep things Rock and rolling soim if we could yeah we're talking about kids using it for basketball so we need to know if it's going to be winterized or if we're going to get rental maybe put a little fuel oil in whatever we got to do but we got to figure out a game plan I I will add that the uh if I could Madam chair that the the conversations that our business office has had so far with the Town Administrator have included that we would maintain the fields um and that's been included in our budget and also uh maintain the use of facilities for the gym and the fields uh outside of school use also so that's been part of the conversation and we could make it uh in the discussions that I've had so far with our our staff we could make it work um either way whether the election was kept in that building or moved over to uh the new building so either way that the school staff can make that work when does the agreement expire if I could we don't have an official agreement with them um already expired before we did the budget this year we right kind of talked about it and assumed that they were going to stay in the building there will be some costs associated with this which it may save the school $90,000 but um it may cost the town more than that so I think overall savings I I think there's going to be an overall cost to them moving out to the to the town so I think that um I think that this particular discussion might be going beyond the bounds of what we have on this discussion item but I do think um maybe um would appropriate at the next meeting would you have a recommendation or an update for us or do meetings I would say two meetings but we could try for next meeting I'd like to get it for next meeting if we can okay so if you continue to work with the school department on that just just one point it it it came to our attention that a that it would be very hard to uh our current insurer will not ensure that building as a vacant building and B the cost of maybe going out in the market to purchase insurance to ensure a vacant building may actually be more than the amount of money that we're currently spending or spent last year in the building so that's another one of those sticky wickets that we're going to encounter sooner rather than later is that that's on your radar the the things you're yeah I don't have't I've talked to the insurance company a few times uh they do not insure vacant buildings uh they wanted occupied by more than 31% for them to cover it um so they're supposed to be coming down to take a look at what the uses are we've talked to them about a number of uses the fields the gyms the using it for it storage and we tried to get up over 30 35% um we would have to sell that to them and they would have to agree to it and would the school administration even be 30% of the building well they use the school admin there they Ed the auditorium for um for uh seminars and stuff so yes it was close all right so we but we'll get an update on that but the cost could go anywhere from 75 up to $200,000 just for insurance so we may be asking the school committee to please stay and work out their budget Madam chair if I if I may just briefly interject so the school committee is uh and fullclosure I am on the school committee we're meeting first thing tomorrow morning actually uh this is on the agenda and uh forgive me Mr chair if I'm speaking out a turn here but there are some options on the table uh where it may be feasible to uh move staff to uh support uh the the the schools uh the the in offices in the schools and still be able to M maintain some level of of usage to try and hit that that number that's necessary for the insurance cost so so I appreciate that it's going to be but that we also need to move quickly right so by win yeah by Fall y I mean could could we asked the school committee if we if we were deciding to move forward and keep the building as a municipal building if they would stay in as tenants so I I would certainly have to defer to uh the chair here and to the committee and the the the full committee for that I I would say our our our goal with the with the move here is is I mean I don't think the situation is ideal right we're dealing with budget cuts um but the the goal here is to save $90,000 and support our staff in the other buildings but you know if if there's a situation that changes in the future where that would involve the the use of that building by the school department I think that's that that could be on the table I mean without seeing a you know a proposal I couldn't speak on behalf of the committee we haven't discussed that but I don't think the the committee is opposed to to maintaining use Syd uh I just had a quick I have my finance committee hat on now I'm going to take off my long-term building committee hat um I I think you have to be very conscious of the amounts of quickly how those dollars are going to add up for insurance and maintenance and keeping the the heat on and whatnot all winter so um you know you would have to call a special town meeting to come because none of that was on the budget none so um yeah time is of of the essence thank you madam chair just if I could one last Point uh I think long long term the the commit view is that it wasn't sustainable without the direction from the town on where to go with the building we you know to maintain that size of a building with the the issues that it already has and compounding issues over time um to bake that into our budget and I also understand that the town's budget as well it wasn't you know a sustainable thing about uh having a plan developed or a direction for us to sort of look towards so that was a consideration as part of this also so I just wanted to not that okay thank you do you feel like you have sufficient guidance of where we would like you to focus to come back to us next yes indeed I uh we'll we'll speak with with Mr hardnet and uh it's my hope that with you put putting some some stuff together as far as maybe an action item for to get to get that mandate I spoke with I spoke about earlier uh that that I think would be uh right for the agenda on the next meeting or perhaps the one after that so good Jim the 500,000 from Mike is that all depleted that was a bond right appropriation I don't know if it was ever officially appropriated I don't believe it was all right could you just update us on that if you could check on and actually I would also ask Mr Harden if there are any other allocations or Appropriations that have been made over the years in which there are funds remaining regarding that building specifically there are a couple of Warrant articles out there that had some expense money for the high school so we we'll get that together as well excellent all right thank you very much thank you madam shair thank you thank the next item in the agenda is a request to accept the following donations from the Council on Aging know which sheet I should be reading got um we have uh totaling $395 $20 Jean gay for equipment loan $200 Jerry forier for sdp scholarship $35 Marilyn cross for techel $20 David sever for techel $20 Pat sers for techel $100 Joseph Swift in the memory of Joe Collins motion to accept second any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous and we have a request from Bonnie stel is she here she's um okay working tonight at the library she's working um the library director to post an the assistant director vacant position so Jim you want to tell us about this we just uh she recently took over the head position the library director's position the assistant is vacant and I recommend the board um post a position for hiring second second that's right you can't make the motion is one of those trickle ones that come happen um is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um we have a request from Betty Slade and Robin Winters to hold a dedication ceremony on Tuesday September 8th at 300 p.m. at the site of the new Mariners lost at se monument at the point do you want to come forward I know a lot of time has been taken up so we'll quickly get to it so you're Betty and this is Robin this is Robin I'm Betty Slade and Robin wyers we um I don't know how it all be again but I don't know so long ago but we decided that um we would look again um at the history going back to 1800 of the Mariners who were lost at sea who lived in Westport and we uh kuki mcumber did the first Mariners lost to Sea Monument which was really wonderful and he had a dedication and we've added about 38 names going back to 1800 and it includes the cuffy family the cuffy and wayer family they lost six um young men older men uh at CA so we would like to have a dedication on September 8th a Sunday at 3 p.m. with a rain date of September 17th 15th 15th Sunday the 15th and that should say it says Tuesday was it it should be Sunday we change it Sunday Sunday that's better Sunday September 8th at 3 p.m. so that's a Sunday we're inviting you to come if you will we will let people know uh about it and hope that others will come we're planning to um have drumming by a native American group uh we will sing the Navy have the Navy Anthem sng sing I can't sing en enable him um at the same time and a few words and then for tosing of the wreath wreath from by um Milton brard I'm going to confirm with Randy soon as I get the confirmation that we can do this Milton II so it'll be taking up that area at the point for about half an hour and yeah so we would like permission to do that okay anybody have any questions I'll move it second so we have a motion in a second um to allow the um the dedication ceremony I'm not surprised at all Betty that this came from you this is a total Betty thing and I think you're the one that uncovered a lot of the research yeah she's amazing she works at the library too not to shot my own Marine horn but um I thought of the idea and Betty um said what are you going to do with those names and I said well I'd like to add them to the monument if it's possible and then she jumped in and added a bunch of names herself and Richard gford jumped in and who else in the group the research committee and and then we got a donation uh $122,000 to fund them huge because we had so many names we needed a much bigger monument and Alban's monuments did it it's already in so take a look look okay all right so we have motion to second to um allow the dedication ceremony is there any further discussion all in favor I I that's J Sunday September 8th right 8th September 8th with a rain date of Sunday 15 okay thank you thank you you'll send the note over to the PD right just give a heads up so the next item in the agenda was um the request to create do you have oh yeah I don't I'm missing a page you're missing a page okay so the next item was a request to create an offshore wind advisory committee um so I've heard from a few people on this some people supporting the creation of a committee some people saying it's a little too early um I just want to start off by saying there is no proposal before the Westport Select board or any Westport Town official um regarding wind projects offshore but we do know that Westport has been mentioned as a potential location in some of the plans that have gone out so there's no immediate issue before the town regarding this um but there's a lot of stuff getting thrown at us a lot of information um from both the wind companies who have been asking for an opportunity to be I forget which one somebody has been asking to talk to the select board this Vineyard wind Vineyard wind um so Vineyard wind has been has been offering their services to come talk to us to give to to talk to the town um so I just thought we'd maybe have a have a chat about whether we should um create a committee to look at this or whether some of our existing committees are sufficient um for example Conservation Commission Economic Development um the climate resiliency um so I just wanted to have a conversation about that does anybody have any thoughts I was thinking we might want to start with climate resiliency um since it's it's there's a planning and strategic element to this because um my understanding is we're not on any short list of use of um uh a trans construction of a transmission land in in in the town of Westport it's an alternate proposal should something not be uh work in either New London or um naraga Bay going up into the what used to be the Bron Power Station because those are the two uh connection points those would be the two connection points the mic Clos sorry sorry those would be the two connection points to the um transmission grid which would be uh so we we're not really linked to the grid uh through the town through any transmission lines running through Westport but we could be a secondary site um and I but I I've not done no research on this and I think that if we were to consider this further before creating a separate subcommittee we may want to bring the parties who have spent some time thinking about this or or or dealing with it which would be a Vineyard wind we also have a consultant to Vineyard win who happens to be a town resident who I think will be more than happy uh to speak to that they also have a community relations person uh for their project who is a former uh City new bford city councelor that's in charge of is responsible for their public relations and we also have the client resilient the climate resiliency committee which I think would be looking at uh how the town responds in general to uh issues that that that that are thrust upon is due to climate change so so my I'm I serve on the climate resilience committee and I think um I mean I I think that's certainly one suggestion that I could bring to that committee to see what they to get their input um my reaction is that that committee probably would not want to be tasked with that which doesn't mean we wouldn't task them with it but um they're working right now on plans in like maybe five or six different areas of town to to to kind of come back with a report um so they weren't specifically tasked yet with any kind of and again there is no specific project to advise on either um we believe there might be projects in the future um so one of the options certainly would be um just the have the select board um be the ones that are maybe if something comes up or when we want to get an update we could just hear that I can bring it to the climate resilience committee but like I said I'm not sure that they would want to be tsed with that specific I think um I mean I did hear from some people who were basically suggesting we delay until there's actually something before us so that I mean I think that's valid um to delay forming a committee until we actually have something to actually talk about um because right now you'd have a committee that maybe would meet um with the vineyard wind who's been asking to meet with us um and I think that's about all they would do so if that's all the the activity then maybe they just meet with us to clarify my my my point was that we would have that come before us not to create committee until we had a chance to hear the from the D Representatives directly and timing I have no particular um predisposition in terms of what makes sense okay anybody else have anything before I go to the public go ahead hi I would like to speak in favor of forming this committee I uh um first of all the climate resiliency committee um this is not under their purview I'm on the clacy uh climate resiliency committee um and I just I don't think it's the the proper venue for it uh I we are front and center in uh a major proposal Vineyard North uh North East Northeast wind my my concern as a as somebody that's been studying this a lot and has read thousands of pages uh of information about Vineyard wind and about their various proposals is that the way that the wind companies work is they work with a couple of people um a couple of town officials usually the Town Administrator and maybe one or two people on the board of Selectmen and that it's all sort of done um on in small committees not even a committee just sort of behind closed doors they come in and they they talk about what they're going to do and how great it is and then they have a lot of input and then once they're ready to go with it all that the town officials have heard is their sales pitch and how good it's going to be for the town and uh no one has really uh learned about um all the um um all the other aspects of what they are planning so another aspect of this is that I think a lot of us or many people feel that this is something that is going to be happening and is happening to other towns uh all around especially out on the cape and that we would like to be part of the discussion not at the end when it's like okay here's the deal what do you think should we go with it what's your input here but along the way so that we can then uh talk openly to other people around town that are concerned about it so that it is more transparent and that people don't feel like information is being kept from them that they feel like they are a part of this from the very beginning and I think that's good for everybody I think that's whether wherever you are on this um on offshore wind or them bringing the cabling the high voltage cabling through Westport wherever you're at on it I think that it makes for better better feelings and more trust if every if the people if there's a committee if there are people that are at the table at the beginning and can bring up different aspects of it does it need to meet every week or every other week probably not but I would think that when V wind is asking to meet with Town officials that it sure would be nice to have a few more people there that aren't that do have quite a bit of knowledge about about this and could ask maybe different questions more knowledgeable questions um to Vineyard wind uh rather than saying oh okay well that sounds good or so I would think that it would behoove the board of Selectmen and the town to have a few other people involved that really do make a point to um to educate themselves and keep up with this um and so I would I would really like to ask you to please form this committee and I would like very much to be on it thank you thank you I would agree with the previous speaker um I I think one of the things that I hear about all the time and you must if you go down the West B point if you talk to fishermen if you talk to people that have businesses down at the harbor um they're quite concerned um but it's lack of knowledge one way or the other they don't know the impacts and so forth and I think by forming a committee and having participation from the fishing industry and people that have businesses down in that area that may if it comes in that way they talk about you know what the options going to be for Westport uh what kind of disturbance that will be financially to them may put a lot of people lot of business so they they talk about this all the time and and the fear of the unknown is is difficult so I would encourage that you consider those folks even people on drift Road along Route 88 down in that area those are all crucial areas I'm not speaking for or against but but I think the knowledge base as a previous speaker spoke gives you a lot more clout if you're a member of a committee within the town to research this and to see the impact that's been throughout the the the country uh in in other countries even and trying to implement this kind of strategy and bring it in on land thank you so I think I think the thing for me is I I think that when there is actually something that needs to be evaluated so if for example um we had a project that was starting the phases of a host Community agreement I think we would need it somebody to specifically advise us if there was something like something like that in front of us and there simply isn't yet any we don't have a proposal that directly affects us we don't have anybody suggesting we should start talking about a host Community agreement so I do think that those conversations need to be public when they're there um but but they haven't happened yet right now all we have is a requ you know Vineyard wind just kind of pops up every once in a while says hey we're happy to talk to you whenever you want to talk to us and that's about it that's all we've had so maybe the appropriate Forum like you suggested correig maybe is like okay at some point we have them talk to us certainly at some point when we have an issue to decide then we maybe want to reconsider the committee and David Cole i' I've been following this for for three or four years and organized a webinar on the subject a few years ago with you m Dartmouth people and I I think that there is much opportunity to participate in preliminary discussions to learn about the pro what's being proposed and discussed what's being proposed the Bureau of ocean energy management is required to go through a lengthy hearing process and an environmental U appraisal of the project and all people are invited to come and speak at that and to learn about it that went on in the earlier stages of Vineyard wind and it will with this project as you say there's no specific proposal yet to come in through Westport it's just been put forward as one possibility and if that ever does come to pass why we have a Conservation Commission which is specifically mandated to look at the environmental effects of such an activity and they would be expected to take that responsibility bring it to the select board whoever necessary hold hearings here so I think we've already got a committee that is appropriately charged uh to do it and we ought to stick with that and not muddy the waters with creating another committee that that may turn into a largely propaganda machine right so what's the pleasure of the board do we want to move forward do we want to wait um I I would be under the sentiment of forming committee um Bo's already been at the high school talking about this stuff I mean the windmills are already being built out there uh I think we we we need we need a committee that can communicate and and take the information coming in and let the let the town's people know what's going on I mean it's happening right now they're building them right now so to say we're not going to do a committee now I think it would be a mistake but that's my opinion Bo went to the high school they did the big presentation I mean I went to the presentation there were there weren't very many people there so I think if we had a committee that they could meet with the committee the committee could let us know what's going on we can let the town's people know what's going on we can inform the fishermen they I mean those people can be at those meetings yes I'm in favor of forming the committee this is a big issue uh with implications that we cannot even contemplate the pr of time but should something evolve it's going to be significant we've got people who want to do this and spend their time uh it's like a watchdog no set of eyes and ears I think there's no downside in forming the committee all right so if we were to form this committee so um so Jim provided possible committee makeup of the of the makeup committee so and this is just a this was just a first pass at it right so the the idea was to have a select board member a planning board member a member of the Conservation Commission a finance Committee Member I think somebody just said the fisherman um so I'm not sure if that would be the shellfish or just a a fisherman specifically um um someone in the fish something involved in the fishing Community I think would be important um and then uh the recommendation was to have three at large position so if we added the um the someone specific in the fishing industry um then that would be two at large positions but does that seem like the right makeup if we were to have a motion to create a committee or there thoughts about that I don't know fincom on it but if it works fine I don't know like fincom I yeah I mean it it's not necessarily immediately obvious that there would be Financial although if it ended up with the host Community agreement that was certainly by financial and generally better to include fincom than to not include fincom but that's one I just have a question about conservation my understanding is a conservation committee is Not By Design a proactive committee but a reactive committee so they they only get involved in evaluating proposals as opposed to talking about the wha ifs and and and plans for so I actually you know I I could see that that is something were proposed or there was a project proposed that the conservation committee would be uh uh front and center for this but I'm not sure that they're again I'm not a member I never have been a member of the conservation committee but I've always viewed them as more of a reactive committee than than a planning and devel velopment committee so I'm Phil wiberg I'm a member of the Conservation Commission um but just a piece of background because I think one thing in creating the committee um which I'm not opposed to would be almost creating a charter for the committee in the way that so right now the project is commenced in the Bureau of ocean management if you went to the website you would see that the total analysis they do has kind of kicked off and scheduled to go over the next two years um and they control everything that's in federal waters including the sighting and the construction and all the mitigation that's associated with that there is a proposal um for the uh transmission line to uh land at horse neck Beach and then go up route route 88 just conceptually that's what they're doing um then the next step is going to happen when it enters state waters so the state controls Waters from 7even miles out and so at the point that assuming it gets through Bureau of ocean management it comes to the state then there's going to be a whole another environmental review process that's conducted by the state through the meepa process and then finally when it gets to the shore the Conservation Commission would get involved that would have jurisdiction of uh what the impacts were to Wetlands uh moving up through the shoreline and then whatever however they're moving up if it goes up route up route um 88 whatever Wetlands impacts there would be so I think there could be a role for or positive role for the committee if there was energy and expertise to take it on to look at the transmission line uh other alternatives to where the landing should be should it be someplace else you should not be here kind of do that participate in that impact analysis what I don't think makes sense would for the committee to get involved in should the project be constructed and how the construction could take place because that's out in federal waters that's totally under the control of uh the federal agencies or reviewed a bunch of these so I think it would help to focus the charter of the committee um and whether or not they want to get involved will probably depend upon the phase in which the project is moving forward because they may not talk about the transmission line for a year and really focus on the on the Wind Farm itself um and then certainly we could get more involved could get more involved when it gets into the gets into the state process and work with the state agencies that are all involved there's a laundry list of agencies that get involved in this coastal zone management and division of marine fisheries and there are a lot of uh Fisher organizations that are going to participate that participate in that um as well that are always organized around these facilities but it's a lot to do with the construction and where it is and how it affects their fishing grounds yeah this is way this way it's been difficult for me to kind of understand that because the project we have no control over the project itself we have very little control over most of the transmission but until it hits Westport and if the host Community agreement is necessary that's when it finally affects us which I think is a pretty long way out um but um what what do you have a thought though about what Mr Dua just said about um that I don't concom serves on other committees in in an advisory capacity does it not I I think it does yes it does yeah so we've had we've had conom on other committees kind of participating to to kind of provide expert to the committee that's reviewing I just POS it as a question not as an observation I I think it really gets to do we want to invest energy in commenting on whether or not the project should come here to Westport and where it should land or do we really want to focus on what happens when after the feds and the state say this is the right this is where it's going to end up this is the place that it makes most sense to focus on well how is it really going to how is the construction and the collateral impacts of having the line here how is that going to affect us and how we want to avoid mitigate minimize is the Mantra of what the conservations commission is supposed to do you know the impact so how early do you how how far out do you want to get to say something and um one advantage that the commission has is when a project proponent comes in and the commission doesn't have the expertise to evaluate it you know it can it can request the project proponent to pay for that uh so you know maybe there is some reason at some point to do that uh I've never been involved I mean you know I've worked with the Department of Environmental Protection for a really long time I've never really directly been involved in uh you know one of these projects but I think the question is how how the select if you're going to do this what are you looking for the uh committee to really focus on and I think that would really help yeah I think I think you're I think you're really right on there the charge to the committee because I in my opinion the charge to the committee would be only to advise the select board on issues that are directly impacting Westport because a committee under our guidance wouldn't be able to advocate for or against a specific project right we couldn't take a political position on it but we would I would be looking for advice about the impacts to Westport that might be coming and what we would need to somebody keeping an eye on the projects enough to kind of warn us about these are the potential impacts to Westport but I think you're right that it can't be are we for or against wind that's not the point the point is to advise us on how best once it comes to us how to how to deal with that or what our options are I agree um yeah I don't think that should be the charge of the committee to to take a stand one way or the other I think the charge of the committee should be to learn everything we can about it and um to have uh I I can just tell you this I have been to probably seven or eight of of information sessions since this began um including the webinar that you put together uh Mr Cole and um I if I if I had just listened to what was was put forth at those meetings uh I would know very very little about this um a year is going to come up really quick and um the first thing that the uh the wind a wi project generally does is put in the um the transmission lines so we so the so if they come through Westport which we are front and center in their construction operation plan for this particular project um they would do that right off the bat and I think it would behoove us to really know what the Project's about also look at um uh host Community agreements from other communities around us and what they've done out on the cape to understand um what the host Community Agreements are about because they've got a lot of really good lawyers and we um you know we could spend some time understanding that better uh understand the project understand what the cabling entails um just to educate ourselves so that when this does come forward which I would be very surprised if it didn't even if it's a year that we're not just starting from ground one um that we that we really have we have a good knowledge base to figure out where we want to go with it and um as far as um propaganda I don't think that that I I don't think that has anything to do with this committee I see it as totally information gathering educating ourselves focusing on Westport and this particular uh the idea of cabling coming through Westport so thank you Mr Cole just briefly i' just like to mention that the uh water Alliance Westport River Watershed Alliance which has been protecting the Waters of Westport for 40 years has just submitted a letter to the Bureau of ocean Energy Management highlighting a number of issues about which they're concern concerned and uh asking the boem to be sure to look at these things I'll give you a copy of the letter so you can have it thank you so what is the pleasure of the board I would suggest if anything we we we delay and figure out what the exact charge would be and get input from the Committees if they think it's going to be realistic for them to be on such a committee all right so um I think what I'm hearing you say is that we um maybe PLL these committees to see what they think about um their committee being represented on on this type of committee so to pull the planning board the concom finance committee um I think wara I think that's a that's a good one to think about someone from the fishing industry so um I don't know what do you all think yeah and I would suggest just writing up the charge because every every committee uh you know has questions down the line what we're charged to do and we make it clear so um does somebody want to what do we want to do does somebody want to volunteer to to write up that charge do we want to think about it and come back to it at a future meeting Jim could you just look at see if anybody else has something similar in the other Coastal communities see what their makeup is and and what their charge is I don't think we got to rewrite the wheel especially like and I don't think it's very that complicated either so I mean I could write it up but it would just be uh you know all right so let's Jim if you can or Paula whoever is going to end up doing this reach out to um the various committees um in town to see if they have an interest in participating in offshore wind committee um we should we should ask climate resilience um and then you can ask Economic Development maybe if you think so so I mean I don't know what do you think we're getting any money off as relevant as anybody we can end up with all Selectmen on it so let's um so let's go out and um so let's go out and just check in with these different groups that might be impacted or might want to participate Che and see if they're interested um we can work on like a draft of a of a charter um to know exactly what they're doing is everybody okay go ahead yeah uh I mean the planning board's already discussed it and and I believe I I believe the chair from the climate resiliency is on the planning board yes and he also discussed it and and and had an interest in being part of this committee okay great all right is everybody okay with that approach okay all right okay we're moving on thank you to those participated in that conversation um we have a request from Michael burus the town planner to approve the town of Westport support letter to the coastal zone resilience grant program welcome back Mr buris thank you do you all have a copy of the letter I I saw one in the in the package oh yes we have then there's one one for your signature as well so this Grant application is coming on the heels of some of the conversations we had surrounding um coming up with a strategy for managing e Beach and so through discussions with the planning board we have decided to apply for this grant for westport's major barrier Beach areas um which are East Beach Atlantic Avenue and Beach Avenue and so the purpose of this Grant application will be to identify the risks the existing risks and projected risks with climate change um to those areas provide guidelines for their protection and then develop recommendations to manage those Beach those barrier Beach areas and um so this is an application that's due next week on the 19th we are going to contribute 10% match on an approximately $165,000 request um I'm not asking this the select board for any match we're going to be providing a substantial amount of in kind contribution through staff time and also um Chris Capone the conservation agent is going to approach the Conservation Commission tomorrow to um receive a commitment of the conservation's Wetland funds to make up the difference of whatever um can't be in can't be met through in kind contributions does anybody have any questions about this well done I support i' move it yeah I second I mean this is what came up in uh various discussions surrounding East Beach we had the state agencies in this room and the and postal Zone management basically steered us to this grant program he'd be foolish not to apply for it y all right so we have a motion a second is there any discussion all in favor I that's humous thank you Mr buris is this the one I was supposed to sign yes yes okay um 5f a request from Tanya Ryden Board of Health chair to approve the memorandum of understanding with the scouts for use of space at the transfer station welcome is Ryden you can you introduce yourself uh my name is Chad brow I'm the scout master of troop 100 okay welcome um so Tanya do you want to give us a a little overview of what we're talking about here today sure um uh the Scout program has has a bottle and can redemption program as a fundraiser at the transfer station has been there for a long time I think there were some other organizations that did it before um but due to increased uh usage of the transfer station um we're having a lot more traffic we need additional space for additional dumpsters we have one um that was funding was approved at town meeting I just as you just switch the mics there wait I meant press the buttoned press the green on that one and the red on that one there you go thank you all right I thought there was only one working sorry um uh um we have a dumpster that we need to place and we there is not enough room to um accommodate all of that usage um we did explore some other options to see but because of the cap landfill there's constraints about expanding um so we have been working with the scouts to come up with a solution um and there's a a space um what we we're calling lot three you have a map um which is the lower lot there's um three areas down there and this would be the third one the furthest before you exit the um transfer station um uh to to be able to accommodate the scout and also the bike recycling program which is currently behind the glass dumpster not the safest place um for a function like that um so that's we would um and so we've negotiated an agreement um uh with the scouts um around our various responsibilities um this was reviewed by Town Council who who indicated that it needed to be approved uh or signed by the select board as the executive Authority we only manage the transfer station we don't aren't responsible for the land so um in your packet is theou I was just going to ask I don't think it's in here oh the legal letter is the the the opinion from KP laws in here but I don't see I sent everything we have a copy I've seen it because I saw an advance but I don't think it's in the packet um I I I did send it no you did send it we we had it um um uh well I can outline it if you could do that I don't Madam chair yeah go ahead could you read it into the record the legal opinion and that two pages um I can please um uh okay would you like me to read it I I you want to read it um well it sounds like your voic is okay um so this is a memorandum of understanding for the use of Westport transfer station property for scout troop 100 bottle and can redemption program this agreement is made by and between town of Westport Mass select board here and after select board on behalf of the Board of Health which oversees and manages the transfer station at 72 Hicks Bridge Road and Westport Scout Troop 100 Our Lady of Grace Church Westport Mass here and after troop 100 collectively the parties for the purpose of setting forth the terms of use for troop 100 to operate a bottle and can redemption fundraising program at the Westport transfer St St whereas the parties agree it is mutually beneficial to offer a bottle and can redemption program for transfer station users and for troop 100 to gain fundraising revenues there from and whereas due to space constraints for the transfer station continuing operations The Troop 100 bottle and can redemption program must be relocated and operated in lower lot three see attached map I don't know if you have it um I'll just show it to you the lower the lower L yeah it's just sort of um um uh now therefore the parties agreed to the following terms and responsibilities select board through the Board of Health shall provide suitable space at lower lot 3 consistent with troop 100 site plan of proposed operation site preparation will be scheduled and shall proceed upon execution of this agreement by both parties um shall schedule a mutually agreeable date and time to facilitate the program move to lot three with minimum disruption to other transfer station users shall provide lot three entrance and exit signs to direct facility user access shall provide a copy of the current transfer station regulation to troop 100 which we have provided and we may distribute informational flyers and provide other signage support as may be mutually agreed um troop 100 um which includes all supervising adults and Troop members as applicable shall be responsible for re relocation of all troop 100 Redemption program related equipment and supplies to lot three no later than August 14th 2024 unless otherwise mutually agreed um shall comply with the transer station regulation at all times including but not limited to section 2.1 U mandatory permit sticker for each vehicle entering the facility and 3.0 conduct of permit holders and visitors shall it use the facility at their own risk and shall assume all risk and liability associated with the operation of the Redemption program shall maintain appropriate liability insurance to operate the Redemption program shall provide an insurance binder to the town which they have already done and I forward it I don't know if you have it um but it's we do I have it okay um shall ensure any troop youth youth troop member is under adult or parent supervision at all times youth Under 12 May exit a vehicle only in lot three and shall remain in lot three at all times adults May discard non-accepted items from the Redemption receptacles into the appropriate transfer station container by re-entering through the main entrance by vehicle only um shall maintain the lot three Redemption area in a neat and presentable condition shall consult with and follow instruction of transfer station staff to address any concerns that arise shall provide current contact information for a primary and secondary responsible representative for troop 100 and shall notify the Board of Health director or senior agent should there be a change in contact person shall ensure a minimum weekly cleanup and sorting of returnable bottles cans and Plastics or as frequently as needed uh this agreement shall take effect upon signature of both parties and shall remain in effect until June 30th 2027 upon which date the agreement can be renewed and amended if necessary for successive three-year terms or until the closure of the transfer station or the troop 100 Redemption program whichever comes first if the select board or troop 100 seeks to terminate this agreement before it concludes they shall inform the other party in writing of their plans 30 days before before the termination will go into effect Tre 100 agrees to remove all Redemption related equipment and supplies prior to the termination date this agreement constitutes the entire and complete agreement between the parties and supplants all prior agreements or understandings relative to the bottle and can redemption program this agreement may not be amended except in writing agreed to by the parties and executed in the same manner as the agreement itself if any part of this agreement is deemed to be invalid by remainder the remainder of the agreement shall remain enforcable to the extent Allowed by law this agreement incorporates all applicable provisions of Massachusetts law in witness thereof the parties have agreed um and then there's a signature page um and and there was a suggestion uh this was between the select board and Troop 100 there was a suggestion the select the Board of Health could sign as well so we have an alternate signature page if that's the desire of the select board and then the legal opinion that was included in the packet um the the primary concern was the authority to sign the agreement um so that's been changed already so it was originally written that between the Board of Health and the um Scout Troop um they've revised that so it's properly between the select board and the Scout Troop um but they legal did Rec U did agree that um that uh it could be executed by both the select board and the Board of Health so that was the the first one so either we need to execute it on our own or we should include Board of Health to that point Madam chair I think since the Board of Health is responsible for the execution and oversight of the agreement that it would be three parties troop 100 select board and the Board of Health I I think that would be appropriate myself and then the second one which I believe was also addressed um after this draft was um so one was about appropriating public funds for private use right so we're allowing the Scout Troop um to use a part of public property and so there was a question about whether we expended Town funds um on behalf of the scouts so they Town Council advis that we um should only do any kind of projects that are changing the transfer station if it's the benefit of the town and not as an obligation to the troop and I believe that's been Rewritten um to kind of address that where that any kind of improvements are being made are for the transfer station improvements not specifically for the troop so I both of those were accommodated in that in that and um as I said we're going to use the it for bike recycling as well um and it is beneficial to transfer station users to be able to have access to the program um it reduces our um waste stream and so on so it it is mutually beneficial um and I think it's a program that uh residents really would um be um very disappointed to see gone you yeah uh I can see the need for the agreement um I'm just a little concerned on on relocating it to where you would like to relocate it do does the town have its own bottle and can containers at the landfill we have a we have plastic recycling we have glass recycling we have metal recycling so people who choose not to participate in the Scout Redemption program can discard all of those items in those containers or they can go to a Redemption Center like at Le to get their money themselves so so so my concern with that would be that that once you enter the transfer station you discard all your stuff and then you realize as you're leaving that there's a bottle and can redemption for the scouts right that's why we talked about signage um and uh informational Flyers to help people adjust um they'll be signage you know scope Redemption program relocated here and um it actually will be safer because there's a we're planning to have an entrance and separate exit um from that lot three so um there's not so much cross traffic with people's running around to the various Redemption um uh containers um with the rest of their stuff and their trash and so on so um I think there will be a period of adjustment for people to to to get with the program but it'll only take one time and then they'll know where to go so um we're going to we've committed to working with the scouts to uh make to help inform the public um and make that transition as smooth as possible where is it right now uh it is currently between the um plastic and glass recycling and can you just talk again about why you needed to move it sure um be uh many people have started using the transfer station that may have previously used um private haulers because the fees have gone up a lot on private hauling is what we're hearing um and so we're having we have a lot more um traffic uh through the transfer station um and the bins fill up really quickly um and those of you who are familiar with the Staffing constraints we only have one person who's um has licenses to um Hall um containers um so we have to use contractors at this point because that person is out on leave so we have nobody who can drive um so uh we need we run out of space um and we need to have an extra dumpster to handle the capacity so we don't have to close down um one of the bins you know like close down um plastic recycling and people will not be able what I have to put in the trash which cost us more money because it's more waste and is not uh could we could get charged if we have too much recycling in the waste stream we get fined um so um so we're trying to accommodate the increased traffic um uh with and managing so that we don't have to close down any um of the uh regular recycling operations so and you're going to put them with a with a with a dump the compost no no uh it's a little lot um there are three lots down below we we we met and uh explored the with the third lot um so the compost is first there's a second lot and then a third lot which is right at the corner as you uh go back up the hill and so we're proposing an there's the map an entrance um and there'll be another sign there showing where to enter and then a separate exit um on the way up the hill out the um out the transfer station so this is uh currently um a vacant area that is not being used um compost area is just to the left of that this is the wooded area right on the corner I mean I'm I'm in favor of having an agreement with the scouts but I'm really not in favor of having having them move their dumpster that it seems to me like they're providing a service to the town also that benefits the scouts and the youth um if you move it to the bottom you're going to be all the people are going to be that use haulers like I do and if he decided to go there now they're going to be dumping everything off as soon as they get there and and the scouts are going to be missing out I think they're are giving you a service they're hauling those bottles away themselves when you're already saying you have a problem with you want to add another dumpster that you can't remove maybe the scouts need to put a bigger dumpster in there I do want to um point out can you talk about how long you guys have been negotiating this and looking at it because it's been months in the making right uh yes originally we had hoped for it for July 1st um because the dump is already on when did you start talking um I don't know I don't know who you are but you seem to have I'm Steve we I'm the committee chair of troop 100 long time Westport resident longtime facilitator of bottle and can recycling program between Westport Music boosters and Troop 100 um Chad and the board have been discussing since early April late April about the need to relocate we had a meeting with uh Mike and the board uh early mid May to come up with pros and cons of all the various areas that were available to move to we understand the need that the it's Town property town has precedence over any of the facilities in any of the areas at the landfill so basically after a good two-hour meeting and in um brainstorming back and forth this was the best area to move to we do realize there will be a drop off initially because of people you know move my cheese where do I where do I get my cheese um but hopefully through signage informational Flyers handed out and Etc five six weeks later we might we should be back at full volume our biggest fear is people using it to dump um and to avoid fees and use it as a dump site uh we do get normal trash in our area as it is now if it's hidden from sight it might get a little worse so we appreciate the ability to um put it back where it belongs after we sort it out um so that's kind of the his the current history of where we are and where we're at um Chad as scout master heads up the whole program with the scouts the funding that is raised is goes 100% back to the program and to the scouts um we've been able to not have to charge parents every time we go on a camping trip we're able to subsidize trips away out of town trips summer camp trips because of this program without it we'll be back to Hawking candy bars and popcorn um everywhere every weekend to keep our funds up so we really appreciate what the town is done for us thank you how long have you been doing that program at I have I personally I started in 1996 when my oldest son joined the band um The Troop took it over somewhere around 2006 2007 after the band was um after the marching band disbanded and the music boosters no longer found it VI as a viable fundraiser project because with no ban there was no volunteers to run it they approached the troop and we said we'll give it a shot and now almost 20 years later we're still at it and it's been at the transfer station all the time at the transfer station all the time we initially were on the left- hand side where they used the salt and sand dispersement when the initial landfill uh expansion was done 15 years ago um they gave us that Conor on the right hand side and and when this negotiation came up the Board of Health contacted you guys and looking that they needed to move remove the dump yes yeah they contacted Chad first and sees the primary at that time where were they proposing they were proposing to move the dump off the site they were proposing to put us almost where the glass and the bicycles are But there again because of the issues with the capping of that area it just wasn't feasible as a site from uh not so much a location but physically the site was not um adequate I I did hear that they were looking to move it right out of there and put it over here which I thank you anybody else all right so what's the pleasure of the board I'll move the agreement second so we're moving the agreement um with both signatories to the Board of Health and the St board yes all right so is that okay all right um so we have a motion in a second to approve the agreement with both boards signing um is there any further discussion yes uh okay so both boards are signing but as as we know this is an agreement and and I would I would hope that we have some continued input from the scouts and and maybe come in you know like you guys obviously have a record of what's what's happening and let's see how this moves forward in the next in the next couple of months here um so can you talk about when does the contract effective dates um well it would be upon signature um and until for how long oh oh till June 30th 2027 just years uh three years just to make it um you know to make sure you relook at it so it's a so it's a three-year contract y um I would use the word contract but it's a memorandum of understanding so it's a three-year memorandum understanding I think if there are significant issues maybe they can come back and renegotiate but um it's a three-year just a three-year understanding right can I ask yeah what those issues are that you see I don't see any issues at all oh it sound I thought I think it's phenomenal that you guys were able to come to an agreement because I I know it was um shocking to hear that you wouldn't be able to be there at all and I know that some of the initial locations didn't work work out so well and I I think it's phenomenal that you guys were able to work together and walk the site and come up with something that works so I really appreciate that I do think it's an important public service that you're doing I'm I'm really glad that it's supporting the Scout Troop I think that's phenomenal so I hope that we can continue to make sure that your donation maybe with more users of the transfer station maybe you're going to get more so I'm hoping that's the way it goes for you because I would like you to see see you successful thank you all right anything else before you vote all right so all in favor I opposed so that's unanimous thank you thank you um item 5G on the agenda is request to award the fiscal 2025 motor fuels bid to Dennis K Burke 555 Constitution Drive In Taunton is it just is it just the chair signing yeah just the chair signing okay oh I might just Ender the wrong place well it says draft you know what I signed it in the wrong spot anyway thank you you have another copy well you don't want to shut it all the way cuz then it be closed me it's been shut the whole I I signed I signed it on the wrong place but it says draft at the top [Laughter] meeting come on in to be a sinus open meeting come in sorry about that everybody being here okay so while we're signing that Jim you want to talk about the fuel contract yeah so every year we go out to bid for um fuel for the fire department police department Highway um cemetery and a couple of other departments we had two biders this year um Dennis Brook was the low bidder um we recommend that um border selectman prove his contract he's coming at a price right now and this fluctuate based on the um the rates as the year goes on it's based on a certain percentage uh percentage of a some rate in Boston if they use uh everybody used the standard rate so um the operating expenses and profit costs were a little bit less for for Burk so his price came in less than um nun and brothers petroleum so I'd recommend the board approve the Dennis K brick Inc uh fuel motor fuel BD contract uh so moved second any discussion is this the present provider I think so we go back and forth every year they kind of like swap but I'm pretty sure it's brick that we have now okay we've had them both many times yep any other discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous we have a request from John Mendes Community TV director to approve the part-time production assistant position do you want to talk about you want Jim to talk about I can do okay I know how to clear a room you so this position um my board um rightfully so has been asking me to improve the public content on our public Channel get more Westport stations more more Westport content on the channels and um that's going back to my route so I'm doing a lot of that right now um in this in the budget for fi25 we put in a little bit of extra money to hopefully hire a part-timer that can help me with that also fill in with Valerie when she goes away or helps her with other meetings um this is her third meeting today so this position would come in really good um so we're just asking for approval and as usual this does not come out of the town's budget it's from the cable the cable advisory funds second we on cable um approve this to bring it forward and like John said we want we're trying to improve the content so people hang in there so Jim you have a note here about um we'd normally go to the Personnel bow first do you want to talk about that yeah we it's just the timing of the Year between the end of the fiscal year and the appointments um Personnel Board has not been able to get Quorum um and it may be a week or two before we do that and I think it's important that we get this filled we will submit it back to the Personnel Board um just for their review right I'm I'm hopeful that we can have a Personnel board meeting next Tuesday or Wednesday so just to be clear to everybody she's weing her personel oh yes so I I put I put the PE hat on now it's the Personnel Board Cindy Brown chair of the Personnel Board so uh I think I can get a quorum Tuesday or Wednesday next week okay it's been difficult with the expiration of terms and Holiday and whatnot so um a couple of things I've got a Board of Health item that's also pending so we'll try to make the formalities of all this next week do you have any concerns with us approving this tonight not at all okay so do I need to move it subject to or we just move just move it I'll move it oh did you already do that I'm sorry did we already have a motion a second okay any further discussion all in favor I John just while you're here anything you want to talk about with westbo Community TV um yeah sure so um we're live streaming everything now since the last time we met um we're live streaming now we have our new server which controls all the peg channels in town the the three peg channels in town so that's helping us program channels um it's so much easier than um what we've been doing over the years is it going out on um Charter also or just the live stream on YouTube no both so we're on right now we're on cable and live on YouTube yeah y all right thank you no thank you folks appreciate it also been very helpful and Valerie as well in getting some of this stuff hooked up and getting us moving forward and we'll have all the bugs worked out in a few weeks we'll all figure out how to use it yeah yeah they just finished Wednesday the 3D so okay so all right thank you all right thanks um next item we have is the Town Administrator report just a few updates on the town hall updates um the three restrooms here have been painted the ceiling's been repaired put a new floor in the basement uh restroom um thanks to the AAR from Senator Rodricks we were able to upgrade the technology um in this office we're also able to um award a contract for the website upgrade which should start within the next month or so and that's probably a two to four month process um we're currently work just started working on that um town meeting approved a small um Community preservation Grant which is going to help us we want want to paint the whole building we just didn't have enough money so we're going to concentrate on the entrances uh one the north east south and all all sides all the entrances we get them painted and cleaned up a new handicap railing out front facing the Le area um so we're just making some mining improvements to clean things up um Kathy Stanley the town's energy consultant continues to work with b2q on the design of the Town Hall HVAC system um this was about an $800,000 project that was funded with grants and uh energy incen incentives we also had a small funding portion about 150,000 that will come from CPC um which is going to fund some of the electrical upgrades which were needed whether we did this project or not so um that's in the process the macumber loop main project this is extending the water line we've talked about a number of times along Route Six from the housing authority to Washington Street and then looping the line down gford road to to the mcumber school and down Osborne Street um we're probably looking at about a $4 to5 million project is a $4 million grant that we've gotten from the uh EPA and the mass D and we'll be using some Opa funding to cover the difference um and that has gone out to bid the bid opening is tentatively scheduled for August 6th so fairly soon uh Mar marijuana Community host agreements I just put in your package it's a new guidance there was a new court case that was approved or not approved but uh decided last month that gave a little bit more credit to the previous host agreements uh the Cannabis Control Commission was taking the stance that under the new regulations any old host agreements were no longer valid for fees this recent case which wasn't a PR setting case I guess but it's it's um they think it's going to continue allows us to go after those fees so we're going to have to meet again at some point with um the current marijuana establishment and work out those fees that we had um in the original host agreement whether we modify them keep them or whatever we did because we had put a hold on on that right they paid us the sales tax but not the fees associated with the they still required to pay the the tax to the state and we get um 3% back on that chat up communications uh there's a couple of upgrades and a couple of fee increases that were included in the packet um these are fairly standard come in every couple of months we get some increases um couple of other quick things the um State revolving fund loan that we had applied for for the route six was specific to that first phase first section between Fall River and Route 88 where we did not get authorization to borrow that money um I got to send them a letter saying that we're out of the program this year and that we want to be considered for next year and I just wanted to run that by the board uh we have the Hadley um conservation case which is around the Deval pond that's been going on for she probably a couple of years now uh we just received notice today that that case has been dismissed by the federal courts I think uh they have a year to appeal it so it may come back in the the state court but right now it's done at least for now so that's that's been going on for a long time um Fall River water billing a meeting with the town city administrator on Wednesday just to go over what we found on our end uh we've been meeting with Paul furl and the the director of community services for a number of months and we're hoping that we meet with the town ad the city administrator we might be able to get a little closer so I will'll get back to on that and then uh the town hall Annex the well is in the well is functioning we need to do a 24-hour pump test that was just approved by mass D so we're tentatively scheduling the pump test for Saturday after 2 o' after the farmers market um going into Sunday as long as I can get the engineer to agree to it uh he's checking on that now if not we may have to push it back a little earlier on Saturday but we're going to try not to do that that's all I have thank you um we have the approved the minutes of June 3rd I have reviewed the minutes and recommend approval second any discussion all in favor I I I that's unanimous um we have a report on the bill warrant the bill warrant from a week ago is in the file everything was in order it was fairly routine right thank you um so now we have the liaison committee reports or suggestions for future agenda items so Craig you want to start nothing new to report Well we I'm on the leign for the uh long-term building committee I think we've had a very detailed update okay and nothing new on the affordable housing trust thank you uh two things remember that at our next Board of Select meeting select board meeting 22nd of July we will have auditor Town auditor Tony Ro I joining us probably by Zoom or whatever you call it nowadays will Cindy put on another hat for that one I actually love you're not in regarding the Council on Aging uh I will be attending their monthly meeting tomorrow as your lay is on uh they had a change in U officer ship and the new uh Irene Buck has stepped down after several years of excellent work and ien Eileen monrie is the new president and she'll be conducting her first meeting tomorrow other than that uh that's that's all I have and um I don't have anything climate resilience is meeting on on the 18th of July um that's really all I have see um sured Jim ran a heck of a meeting Jim Whit's the vice chair and he he did a great job um Public Safety is always in the summer straight out we some of you might have saw the pictures of the fire this morning and they've got 1500 calls for the year already on on fire we appreciate all they do Jim the status uh on our desk is that still going to be worked on next year yeah we just got um I just signed a purchase order for the materials all right as my arm sticks to this varnish here it's interesting so all right yeah I just wanted to catch up on that bonfire or something yeah yes it' be great and again thanks to the parade committee for the hard work I don't have anything further okay um do we have any comments or statements from the the public we actually have two public here which is really exciting for the end of the meeting she's just keeping valone company in the back um I do want to point out we are about to go into executive session but um we're we're only going to return to open to adjourn there will be no business conducted after executive session um I do want to remind everyone that we do have a number of vacancies um boards and committees for those of you who have been appointed recently you do need to get sworn in again so head on down to see Kristen um to get sworn in if you're interested in serving on any kind of committee please talk to someone because lots of even if it doesn't look like there's an opening there's a lot of people that have been there a really long time and would welcome someone coming in to take their place um I don't think we have anything on the under 48 hour rule no okay um so uh I will entertain a motion pursuant to the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 38 section 21A where the chair declares an open meeting will have a detrimental effect to a discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with Westport permanent firefighters Association local 1802 V discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining the highway department ask me Council 93 local 1701 C discuss strategy with respect to Collective baining the Westport Police Association and D approved minutes of June 3rd 2024 so Mo St wette second Richard uh any discussion all in favor many so as I I Ste I sha I Richard I Craig Dutra all so we are in executive session